Thoughts On Katrina

Matt and I are off to Greece at 6am tomorrow morning for a week of sand, sea and cocktails. The packing's done, the travellers cheques are in and Matt's playing Rainbow Six while I'm chatting to uni freshers online. I haven't been on a beach that's not been in Britain before, so I'm more excited than a sugar-high kid at Christmas.

But it doesn't seem so great amidst the news from New Orleans. It's turned from an ecological disaster into a political one, and I want to throw my two cents into the debate. Why wasn't more done to prevent the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina? Just what did the Bush administration think they were doing? Why cover up the fact that the levees were going to break? Why congratulate the head of FEMA for getting there five days late? Why are politicians congratulating each other when there are still people stranded and dying?

Of course, you need only leave it to Michael Moore to say what everybody's thinking, and he has in this open letter to the president.

If that strikes a chord with you, head on over and visit The Martian Anthropologist. The sheer arrogance of some political figures in America is well-documented, especially in the latest post, the Dumb Human Awards. (Troops with guns? How lucky the underprivileged are? FEMA doing "a heck of a job"?) However, even if you do nothing else, download the interview with the president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana that's been linked to there. I defy you not to be moved.

Finally, read The Shattered Prayer. It's the blog of a survivor of the hurricane, evacuated from New Orleans to Arkansas. For a ground-level, first-hand account of the effects of the disaster on political and personal levels, read this. I only hope that the politicians who are patting each other on the back right now will come to read this.

My thoughts are with all those affected by the disaster. May you win over bureaucracy and your useless administration.