contemplativeWell, now that this is descending into polarisation and partisan politics, I think a few things need to be said.
The racial dimension: this really needs to stop. Go have a look at the demographics of the city, especially the demographics of the poor (as in the people who may not have the resources to evacuate). You'll quickly find out why so many people left in the city are black. This rubbish that George Bush doesn't care about black people needs to be put in the garbage bin. If you're going to say Bush doesn't care about anyone, at least make it something you can make a reasonable argument for, such as the poor.
The political dimension: in fact, how about we just stop the fingerpointing? I'm seeing anti-Bush people fling all the blame at Bush and Bush supporters fling all the blame at local politicians who were on TV crying for help, and while I have no problem with discussing and analysing the activities of different people involved, the time for mudslinging is over. There have been strong emotions this week (I'd know, I let loose some of them in comments on some other journals), but now's the time for cooler heads to start prevailing. Let's have an investigation - though did I hear right that Bush is heading it? come on, at least make it independent - and find out who dropped how many balls, where, when, and why. How this tragedy turned into the total kerfuffle it is must be ascertained and measures taken to ensure it never happens again, and racial divisions and partisan politics WILL NOT HELP THAT PROCESS.
I'm still trying to understand how this happened. A lot of people in countries worldwide look up to the US as the most advanced and powerful country in the world, and that if anyone could handle such a tragedy, it wuld be America. I certainly thought the US would be able to handle the response with swiftness and competence after being impressed by the efficiency and organisaiton I observed in June. How could everything go so horrifically wrong? Why did New Orleans come to resemble a third world country? It defies belief.
