Empire Struck by Hurricane

To quote my friend David, who was anticipating someone else's writing, "this natural disaster was man-made, and ... the tragedy is really the fault of the government, the capitalists and the wealthy." Our government simply doesn't do things for the poor and the needy, except tax them and make them work with little protection. We are spending billions in Iraq for the wealthy, and a flooded New Orleans simply doesn't light a fire under our political leaders and their corporate masters the way a war for natural resources does. Someone was quoted as saying the situation was like a 3rd World Country. We are the richest, most powerful nation on earth, or in history. Yet our country is full of the working poor, the uninsured, and failing public infrastructure. We can send thousands of troops, ships, missiles, guns, high-tech equipment, helicopters and jets to the other side of the world to fight an unecessary war, but the first food trickles into a major American city devestated by a hurricane several days after the storm.

Loot, loot, loot away! Before the food arrived, Bush did announce a zero tolerance policy on looting. Just as our troops protected the oil wells before anything else after the fall of Baghdad, the first thought of the politicians is to protect property and wealth in this country as well. These people are in the middle of a disaster without power, with the threat of disease looming and with no help from the federal government. They deserve every can of beans, pair of pants, and DVD player they can get.