01 September 2005

Jeudi Triste



"Sad Thursday." I had to remove my Tuesday post on Katrina because while the storm itself paled in comparison to the hype, its aftermath has proved tragically otherwise, as has the pathetically sluggish response. This blog is intended to be a light-hearted distraction from occurrences like these but I am going to indulge just three thoughts.

1) Water. I don't understand how this country has the power, resources and cash to rebuild the infrastructure and political landscape of Iraq and Afghanistan but cannot figure out how to get some potable water to New Orleans and surrounding towns after four full days.

2) Looting. I'm tired of hearing about the "moral bankruptcy" of looters when a giant percentage are "looting" for milk, baby formula, groceries and medicine because they have to. They've been completely abandoned and people are dying unnecessarily all around them. Of course there are the jackasses going after HDTVs and diamonds but they will likely die from dehydration after all that heavy lifting anyway.

The "big question" on every news station today was posed as some great philosophical conundrum:

Q: If someone you loved had a heart condition and needed their medication to live, would you steal it?

A: I would hurl a trash barrel through a Walgreens window in a heartbeat. I don't know ANYONE who wouldn't.

3 Cruel Irony: Almost 8,000 National Guardsmen from Mississippi and Louisiana who are working so hard overseas, trying to do the right thing, are now compounded with horrendous worry about their families at home -- who have been so worried about them for so many months. And they're powerless to help them. The city is in complete anarchy and it all seems so unnecessary.

This situation in New Orleans is sad and terrifying and shows just how prepared we are for the next terrorist attack. You can make donations here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Web 2.0 Math
Here's today's Web 2.0 math quiz. What do you get when you add: Kiko plus Writely plus the smarts and the spare $4 billion these guys will have soon? Yup.
Hi, I was just searching through some blogs and found yours. I also have a similar site. If you are interested, you can visit my raw food diet related site. I have about 103 free articles on raw food diets, antioxidants, detox and body cleansing and raw food diet.

KJ said...

To Anonymous: Um...what?

Love you longtime! said...

Q: If someone you loved had a heart condition and needed their medication to live, would you steal it?
.....Nice line, very profound! Seriously.

Here in Mumbai(Bombay), the same situation happened on 26th July. It rained and I was stuck in floods.... i know wt the residents of New Orleans are going through.