Gross ineptitude and callous disregard are the only two phrases which come to mind in characterizing the federal relief efforts in NO. For the past few days I have watched the news coverage and spoken with colleagues trapped in the NO area, and my feelings are moving more and more towards anger. As we learn more about the failure of our government to protect and serve all of its citizens my frustration and fury grows stronger. It now seems that the DHS kept the Red Cross from bringing relief into NO; that relief delivery was halted for Mr. Bush’s photo op; and that instead of being unaware of the effects of Katrina federal officials had been briefed by NHC the day before.
Given the history of how incompetence in our government has been handled in the past, I am sure we only months away from a ceremony awarding some honor to FEMA director Mike Brown (who was fired from his prior job, overseeing horse shows, for incompetence).
In ancient times we would have called upon the furies to bring justice to those who are untouchable and have offended the laws of humanity. Today we seem to be left with few other options. Those who failed our brothers and sisters in the storm ravaged areas are secure in their political positions; our leader brays about compassion and sacrifice while he pushes through another tax cut for the wealthy. As citizens we have shown remarkable compassion and empathy — we have sent money, and goods, we have opened our homes to those who have lost theirs, we have demonstrated that America is a land of caring neighbors. Why can’t we expect the same from our government?
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Aside from a lot of bad personal stuff going on, the situation in NO has just made me numb. All of this is just unbelievable — Americans dying of dehydration, Americans raping children, Americans stealing to survive. We’ve seen enormous acts of heroism and sacrifice, but it is the darker side of this tragedy which draws my attention. People abandoned, desperate, and suffering will breakdown and behave as brutes: they take food and clothing to survive; the take guns to feel safe and protected; they take things to feel propertied; and they perform unspeakable acts to feel in control of their lives. We cannot imagine the pain and loss of these people — our neighbors; our fellow citizens.
Thomas Hobbes wrote, several hundred years ago, that before the organization of civic society that life was short, brutish, and nasty. In the aftermath of this storm, it seems that we have returned to our roots. Yet, this behavior is not limited to the children of Katrina, but seems to extend to those sitting in their upholstered offices.
One ‘christan’ has spoken with glee of the destruction:
“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion — it’s free of all of those things now,” Shanks says. “God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there — and now we’re going to start over again.”
It is hard to imagine anyone suggesting that the citizens of NO are the recipients of some kind of divine or earthly justice — let alone a man of christ. The spirit of these words are more reflective of Torquemada then of a modern pastor. It is men like this, and others who cite divine retribution for the storm, and those who profit from this despair that are the true criminals — they are the looters of the human spirit, the defilers of the American dream.
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I’ve spent many days in NOCs trying to keep an ISP up and running through various local disasters, but the guys at directNIC.com in New Orleans are amazing. The amount of work and dedication these people have put in to keep their few remaining customers up and running is inspiring.
One of OPs is blogging his experience. His tale is pretty chilling: people looting, cops looting, general chaos in New Orleans. Very sad stuff. My thoughts are with all the people suffering in this tragedy:
It is a zoo out there though, make no mistake. It’s the wild kingdom. It’s Lord of the Flies. That doesn’t mean there’s murder on every street corner. But what it does mean is that the rule of law has collapsed, that there is no order, and that property rights cannot and are not being enforced. Anyone who is on the streets is in immediate danger of being robbed and killed. It’s that bad.
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