if this is how the most powerful country in the world treats its citizens, we are in deep trouble. there are many people out in the world who are criticizing the government, FEMA, George Bush and anyone associated with the aftermath of Katrina. they will probably express my anger and amazement far better than i can. an article like this does a pretty good job to start.

let me just say this. a government owes its citizens a few basic things. we elect people who are supposed to run our government and provide for those basic things. i firmly believe that one of those basic things is to protect its citizens. when a hurricane destroys a city and the people of that city have to wait days for even the most basic needs of food and water and some who can’t wait end up dying from dehydration or starvation, the government has failed on a massive level.

the people who were elected to run our country have proven once again they do not have an effective plan to manage a crisis. if they can’t handle something as basic as giving water and food to people who need it in an emergency, how can we expect them to be able to manage a war or a “war on terror”. simply put, they can’t.

i am not going to put the blame completely at the doorstep of the white house and the President but surely, some of it should go there. if you cut millions from the army corps of engineers so that the corps cannot complete the levy system, you have a problem. and as we know, the levy system failed in a big way. even if,as some are saying, the funding cuts were not directly responsible, because you can’t now for sure what would have happened, only what did happen, it still looks bad and someone should be accountable for it.

although, the depth and breadth of the incompetence and blame can be spread around to many other people including the director or FEMA, who has actually never had a job even remotely close to the one he has now and was, in fact, asked to resign his last job for incompetence. i also fault the state and local governments of Louisiana for not doing enough. if you tell people to evacuate to a certain location, try having some food and water there for them. make a plan and work the plan. its not really that hard to figure out.

if you live in New Orleans and surrounding areas, you know where you live. you also know that something like this could happen. so, if you know these facts and make a disaster plan which involves directing people to evacuate to a place such as the Superdome, try having some provisions and facilities for people when they get there. you had a day in advance to at least have some sort of provisions for these people and what happened? nothing. only further suffering that could have been mitigated if someone in charge would have had a plan or a clue.

i really didn’t want this to be a rant against the government or against anyone, really. i just expect a few things as a citizen of this great country. i did not vote for George Bush but it doesn’t make me feel any better. the people in New Orleans needed the help and leadership of the people that they trusted to be in charge. the people they trusted let them down. i really hope we learn something from all of this so that the people who died while waiting for food and water didn’t die for nothing.

sadly, it seems our government will not learn anything and they keep having a problem accepting blame for anything or even admitting that something actually is wrong at all. blaming the locals or saying that no one could have predicted a disaster like this is complete bull. man, the balls on these people. i’m sure the President will keep telling everyone that they are doing a great job and defend the director of FEMA forever. in fact, i wonder how long it will be until the President gives William Brown a Medal of Freedom?