Take Care of Our Own First.

I know that I have kept my mouth shut about the Iraq situation for the most part, but this article enfuriated me. Particularly this quote:

At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry people broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

"I don't treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "I buried my dog." He added: "You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can't get them down here."

And this one:

Many people had dogs and they cannot take them on the bus. A police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.

And most importantly:

Terry Ebbert, head of the city's emergency operations, warned that the slow evacuation at the Superdome had become an "incredibly explosive situation," and he bitterly complained that FEMA was not offering enough help.

"This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace," he said. "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

I think Bush is in for some serious trouble. Gas prices are insane, a national disaster is pushing people to the brink of anarchy, looting and rapes are barely being contained, and we STILL support a war in Iraq? Where’s all the aid and support from other countries? Where is the reciprocation for being the planet’s big brother? I think it is time to let the world take care of itself for a while. We have our own problems.

Here’s a doozie:

In a rare morning TV interview Thursday, President Bush, who is due to tour the flooded areas Friday for a second time this week, told Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer: "I hope people don't play politics during this period of time. This is a natural disaster, the like of which our country has never seen before."

That’s your job, Mr. President. Play politics. Get support. Calm people. Be a leader. It sounds to me like you are afraid the American public will like you even less after this event and are ordering us not to. Address the people and suffer the consequences of not supplying enough resources to your own country. You need your eyes opened.

If you want REAL reports of what is going on in Louisiana from people other than the media, Zipa is the only company at ground zero with internet access. For their stories, you might want to look at this livejournal account receiving about 3000 visitors an hour.