The Po Show

So Angry

Damn it, there was a reason I wasn't watching the news, was skipping over the threads on my 'net group (not the August list, my Gymboree related group) concerning the aftermath of Katrina. I couldn't watch the news because I could not bear to see the suffering and devastation, and I couldn't stand to hear the idiot pundits go around and around. I didn't want to hear a bunch of middle America women (who ostensibly are together because they're addicted to putting Gymboree clothing on their children) go back and forth about who's to blame or not to blame for the hideous situation. I just didn't want to hear it.

Tonight though, everyone is asleep (including Ross) so I made the mistake of reading the thread entitled something like "Don't blame Bush, here's some information" with this lame "explanation" about how it wasn't his fault that he didn't do more right away, that a president doesn't have the authority to send in troops without first being invited by the state (so instead he went to San Diego to hang with his business peeps). This whole "I'm so glad you posted this" parade followed, with all these women talking about how poor W is doing his best and he's such a Godly man and Clinton or Kerry never would have had his compassion for the victims. Oh my fucking god I want to kill someone.

A woman who lives outside Baton Rouge and is LIVING this whole thing (she's in good shape, comparatively: she has power and her family is all safe. They can't drink their water and all the local stores are running out of food and bottled water, but hopefully that will change soon) posted about the lack of funding for the Army Corp of Engineers for levee renovation and about how that impacted the devastation. I'm glad she did, though it probably won't shut up the idiots who don't realize that the HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars squandered on Iraq could have prevented or ameliorated so much, if not virtually all, the suffering. Money to put poor people on buses and get them the hell out of there before the hurricane. Money to make sure those damn levees held. Money to feed and shelter the people who were trapped there. Money to compensate every single person who lost a home or business.

This is why I was avoiding this whole issue, because now I know I'm not sleeping tonight. I can't stick my head back in the sand again, now that I've seen the infuriating stupidity out here.