Breakdown

I was willing to cut the government some slack after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf States. The first rule of rescue (as least as far as I know) is to wait for the situation to stabilize before the relief can come in. And this situation was so different than the Tsunami - the water, in this case, didn't wash out as violently as it washed in. So yeah... I was willing to accept the FEMA line, and even defend it, for Day One following the levee break. And even Day Two, as water was still rising. But not at Day Three. And by Day Four, I was getting pissed. And then Days Five, Six and now Seven and on.
Props to Anderson Cooper of CNN for taking the pols to task. He chided a Senator from LA for thanking Congress and other "leaders" for passing an aid package while "people are dying" on the streets of New Orleans. Props to Brit Hume of FOX. Props to the New Orleans Times Picayune for calling for the clean sweep of FEMA "leadership."

Was this disaster a side effect of our "culture of fear" - born out of 9/11, manipulated by the artists in Washington, D.C. to their own electability benefit? After 9/11, we were nicer to each other, but our focus turned inward - to protecting ourselves from harm. Pretty much closing ourselves in to our own lives, and watching news just to figure out if we're going to harmed by anything. We practice fire drills in our office buildings, and we make sure we have everyone's cell phone number handy.

Did this bite-sized approach to safety lead to the failures in New Orleans? It was pretty well known that the levees were old and could fail in a Cat. 4 or 5 storm. But WHY wasn't there an evacuation plan, especially for those who did not have the means to escape? Total frigging neglect.

It's time to turn our "culture of fear" into a "culture of righteous anger." Fear diminished your power - you tend to listen to "leaders" who seem to have the answers. Anger is motivating, and righteous anger demands accountability and responsibility from all citizens.

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore. Part of this is from my experience this weekend. My company was involved in the relief effort and the organizing agencies seemed to be in a complete state of chaos. All the while, we managed to open a special fund to help the employees in the area (more than $60,000 through 1,100 donations), and we are pay-protecting them. Our emergency response people were totally organized - finding our employees and the family members with them, arranging temporary housing and getting them food and water. Yes - the scale was smaller. We have about 40 people in the area. But our response team is smaller, too - less than 10 people at first, supplemented by volunteers throughout the weekend.

Oy.

If this doesn't radicalize people into activism, I don't know what will.