Katrina Ramblings
As I went on my Friday night go get a beer downtown excursion last night, a couples of things became clear. 1) in a blue county in a purple state you can bet that the bar talk will be blaming Bush for what's going on in the South and 2) if you are willing to speak up and can back up what you say some people will actually listen.
I was amazed. All it took was a quiet, "Actually if it weren't for Bush, fewer people would have evacuated." or a "Things are going OK right now in Iraq and with 2/3 of the National Guard still around here, that really is plenty." and people quieted down their mob blame Bush mentality. Not that I changed anyone's minds but......So..gather your facts and don't be afraid to speak up.
Katrina bites and hindsite will teach us a lot. One being that people often don't listen. In New Orleans people are warned every hurricane season about what to keep on hand and to plan their evacuations.
The President himself ordered the mandatory evacuation because the local government was being wishy washy. And why wouldn't they? How many times have the media cried wolf down there about the weather? (see above link) Even around here-in a good year-they speak of massive fires and drought. When I lived in CA every year was the "worst" dry year. It didn't matter if Lake Shasta was 300 feet below the damn or 2 feet below the damn Northern CA was in trouble! Doom, Doom!
Crime is/was a real problem in New Orleans. And the victims and perpetrators of those crimes are black. Why? Because most of the people in the city are black! (those towns in AL and MS that were ruined are mostly white) And why is all of the suffering on TV black? Because the media went to New Orleans! And why wouldn't they? That's the city known and loved by the rest of us. Who plans their big southern vacation to Biloxi? People go to New Orleans! So instead of the Kanye West plan (in a nutshell "accuse, accuse, accuse"), I think a little active problem solving is in order. Hugh Hewitt has some bullet points. The guy is a dynamo coming up with his "adopt a church" plan etc. The point being-like at VCA All Pets in Bouler Colorado, instead of placing "complaint box", put in a "solutions box".
And there are plenty of complaints. Plenty of things that, if I were king, I would've done different. But instead, I'm going with Captain Ed this weekend. Not really, I'm going out of town this weekend. But knowing full well that the people that are working to help are helping and it's going to get better and better quickly. As of yesterday a lot of progress was being made.
I was amazed. All it took was a quiet, "Actually if it weren't for Bush, fewer people would have evacuated." or a "Things are going OK right now in Iraq and with 2/3 of the National Guard still around here, that really is plenty." and people quieted down their mob blame Bush mentality. Not that I changed anyone's minds but......So..gather your facts and don't be afraid to speak up.
Katrina bites and hindsite will teach us a lot. One being that people often don't listen. In New Orleans people are warned every hurricane season about what to keep on hand and to plan their evacuations.
The President himself ordered the mandatory evacuation because the local government was being wishy washy. And why wouldn't they? How many times have the media cried wolf down there about the weather? (see above link) Even around here-in a good year-they speak of massive fires and drought. When I lived in CA every year was the "worst" dry year. It didn't matter if Lake Shasta was 300 feet below the damn or 2 feet below the damn Northern CA was in trouble! Doom, Doom!
Crime is/was a real problem in New Orleans. And the victims and perpetrators of those crimes are black. Why? Because most of the people in the city are black! (those towns in AL and MS that were ruined are mostly white) And why is all of the suffering on TV black? Because the media went to New Orleans! And why wouldn't they? That's the city known and loved by the rest of us. Who plans their big southern vacation to Biloxi? People go to New Orleans! So instead of the Kanye West plan (in a nutshell "accuse, accuse, accuse"), I think a little active problem solving is in order. Hugh Hewitt has some bullet points. The guy is a dynamo coming up with his "adopt a church" plan etc. The point being-like at VCA All Pets in Bouler Colorado, instead of placing "complaint box", put in a "solutions box".
And there are plenty of complaints. Plenty of things that, if I were king, I would've done different. But instead, I'm going with Captain Ed this weekend. Not really, I'm going out of town this weekend. But knowing full well that the people that are working to help are helping and it's going to get better and better quickly. As of yesterday a lot of progress was being made.
posted by Terri at
7:08 AM
