Thursday, September 08, 2005

Katrina Fallout

Many are beginning to question why the government failed so miserably for thousands of people. When the large majority of the victims are black, it’s rather easy to make the leap to assume that racism is at the core. The question I keep hearing is would the government have acted so slowly if the victims were primarily white. I actually don't think it matters WHY help was so slow. I personally find it hard to believe that someone actually thought hey we could jump in here but we should go ahead and let them suffer because they are black. I think it much more likely that incompetence was the cause.

Lack of experience!
Lack of imagination!
Lack initiative!

It all amounts to an absolute failure to meet the needs of American citizens.

I for one am sick and tired of hearing politicians say this or that problem was "unimaginable". I don't care if its flying planes into a building, insurgency resolve or levees breaking and destroying transportation and communication channels. It’s YOUR JOB to imagine these types of things. To admit that these things were unimaginable is to say that you have no business having the job in the first place.

There is enough blame to go around for all levels of government.

  • The Mayor could have done more to get more poor people out of the city.
  • The Governor could have acted faster to request federal assistance
  • The Federal government should have been much faster to respond with troops and supplies.


In the next few weeks there will be a large masturbation session called "congressional hearings". These hearings will have no real purpose except to fool people into believing that something is being done about this national embarrassment. A report will be issued and suggestions will be made. I am sure everyone will have plenty of excuses that will be spun by both sides of the isle. No one will tell the truth which is, "We probably could have done more to prevent this tragedy but we didn't think it was likely so we didn't allocate any funds for it" and "We weren't organized or prepared enough". Nothing productive will be born of these hearing, no one will take any responsibility for their failures and many American citizens will have died in vain unless the American people decide to demand higher standards from the people that we elect.