I'm Ill On So Many Levels...

I know that it was only a matter of time, but even I am shocked by the speed and ferociousness with which bloggers and pundits who will use any opportunity to make a political point are digging in to Bush and his administration in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

I mean, if you would like to be critical of the Federal government for not getting aid to the dehydrated, hungry, poor, homeless evacuees down South, fine. Frankly, I found watching today's footage of sick, elderly, young, old, babies and grandparents going through so much suffering to be extremely distressing and beyond frustrating. Where are the airlifts of water and food? Why wasn't formula dropped down so that maybe the reported infant deaths in the shelters due to starvation could have been prevented? Today is Thursday, and the hurricane happened Monday! I found myself screaming at the TV screen while a FEMA representative tried to explain on CNN why food and water hasn't yet reached so many refugees:"Don't explain to us, buster - JUST GET IT THERE!!". I, too, am angry. I, too, want answers.

That being said, to blame the breaching of the levees in New Orleans solely on GWB is just absurd. Some choice lines I found in the blogosphere:

Bush is already focusing on avoiding any kind of accountability for this tragedy. But his budget cuts are responsible for for what we're seeing.

Um, no. A hurricane was responsible for what we're seeing.

For an hour or so, I contemplated the idea of turning it into a crusade: No-one in the blue states (where the money is) should give one dime of aid to the victims of this hurricane, which devastated Bush-friendly regions.

Why did I flirt with such a callous attitude?

Because it should be obvious to all that this tragedy was not just an act of God. Dubya and his diety conspired to transform mere disaster into an unprecedented mega-catastrophe.
So why was I thinking of starting a movement against giving aid to the stricken areas?

Because these are red states. They voted for Bush. These ninnies obviously wanted these policies, and they deserve to live with the consequences of their votes.

Again, the consequences of their votes is a direct hit by a major, Category 4/5 hurricane, forcing them out of their homes? How exactly does that work??

Another point is that Louisiana has a state government, the City of New Orleans has a local government. If fixing the levees was such an immediate concern, then they bore as much responsibility as the Federal government for finding a way to get this done.

Sadly, though we can Monday-morning quarterback from now until New Orleans is pumped dry about who should have known, and how they should have reinforced the levees before this hurricane hit, and so on...but it won't bring back the dead, or rebuild the destroyed homes. It also can't change the fact that this was an act of God. A natural disaster. One that was surely beyond the ken of all but the most prescient.
So please, everyone, stop politicizing and donate to the victims.

Special kudos to Former President Clinton who resisted the urge to play politics when interviewed on CNN today. His quote:

CLINTON: Yes, I think that's important to point out. Because when you say that they should have done this, that or the other thing first, you can look at that problem in isolation, and you can say that.

But look at all the other things they had to deal with. I'm telling you, nobody thought this was going to happen like this. But what happened here is they escaped -- New Orleans escaped Katrina. But it brought all the water up the Mississippi River and all in the Pontchartrain, and then when it started running and that levee broke, they had problems they never could have foreseen.

And so I just think that we need to recognize right now there's a confident effort under way. People are doing the best they can. And I just don't think it's the time to worry about that. We need to keep people alive and get them back to life -- normal life.

Beautiful.