New Orleans' Refugees, Bush's Haters, Political Jockeying and Iraq

Three weeks ago now, Hurricane Katrina came thundering into Gulfport, Ms and Biloxi, Ms. Of course other towns and communities were equally as hard hit as these two, but they were at the geographic epicenter of the storm's fury. Living here in Texas, we've lived with the possibility of a direct hit from hurricanes every year and we have been hit before. Unfortunately, Katrina came ashore virtually the strongest possible category, a catagory 5 just before landfall, weakening at the last moment to a dangerous catagory 4, winds diminished only 10 mph. Last year, Florida bore the brunt of the worst hurricane season in our nation's history: Three category 3 or worse storms came ashore, one over the very same area Katrina took, hitting Gulfport and Biloxi then as well.
Residents in those areas took the full brunt of the storm again, and the Federal response to those storms was adequate. Florida's legislature spent record amounts of Uncle's money to rebuild and medicate the hurting population. What was different this time?

Let's examine: As far as Federal response outside New Orleans, there doesn't seem to be overt amounts of cries to the tune New Orleans residents have made. In fact, nowhere else does there seem to be the equal inasmuch the outcry of racism, calculated delays and other ridiculous assertions made by irresponsible leaders and grandstanding politicians. Resources in place before the storm hit were accessed as planned, and assistance started to roll as soon as the storm's clouds passed over. National Guard troops and supplies that were earmarked for public assistance got staged and dissemminated as planned almost everywhere exept New Orleans!
For some reason, the local and regional government institutions in and around there just collapsed. Residents, largely black and poor, were left to deal with lawlessness and abscene conditions while help and assistance was purposely slowed to them. I believe this aggregious failing of the people of that region should be investigated and the people in charge should be made to pay the price for failing to do their jobs. Period. I would be remiss if I didn't characterize my disgust for the display of anarchy by the poor, largely black residents of New Orleans in the wake of the storm. Everyone knew the looters would strike: it's typical. When the cat is away, mice play, and without the police to keep order, low-brow people had no compunction about raping their local businesses for selfish desires. We saw this type of behaviour in Los Angeles after Rodney King's trial verdict, a racially charged situation. What hurt my heart was the reports of raping and killing inside the New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome. Without law enforcement present, thugs and punk gangsters took control of these buildings, ran amok terrorizing the people inside, and reportedly raping and killing at will. The people who endured these hours of horror deserve the indictment, trial and convictions of these thugs, as well as the decision-makers who allowed them to gain control in the first place.
One final thought, we heard scattered reports that some were taking shots at police helicopters, some of these reports from the diamond and gold exchange neighborhoods. What has become of these valuable resources? Have these businesses lost their contents too? Would it be out of the realm of possibility to believe that some of these businesses actuall looted themselves in hope of federal bailout once the smoke cleared? I'm willing to be we'll never know for sure. One thing is for sure, snipers place strategically on rooftops to dissuade patrols early on speaks of well managed and executed pre-planning. Someone else had planned for this disaster.
Oh yea, and why don't we make sure the damned leveies are suitable for the future.

Democratic strategerists jumped on the "weak federal response" bandwagon, and even before the rain had stopped, Bush was slammed for having too many troops in Baghdad to be able to deal with this homeland disaster. It never fails, if there is a way for events happening on the ground to be twisted into making President Bush look bad, it's going to be done. Get used to it, nothing will make these doomsayers happy, and in '08, Liberals and Democrats will be spanked again, even if they trot out freshman Senator Obama-the dems just don't make sense.

Finally, it's Iraq. Work keeps going on there, milestones are being reached, schools and hospitals and roads are being opened, the population is on the verge of ratifying their new constitution, but the insurgency keeps going. It's all about who you choose to believe now. If you listen to the pro-Palestinian, anti-American diatribe, the US military machine is on it's heels in the wake of this wave of violence this past week. It's doom and gloom if you listen to them, but if you listen to the measured response to these questions by US Military leaders, you realize there is nothing surprising about this or virtually anything else going on there. The military is the only governing body adept at dealing with these rougue factions trying to forestall democracy and justice in Iraq. Insurgent leaders are nothing more than power brokers who want to remain in charge via oppression and fear. It pleases me to know that we're kicking their asses, one by one. I tend to believe the leadership on the ground there when they say that this latest wave of attacks are the dying final gasps of activity from these insurgency forces. They will be , before too long, defunct.
Iraq will be a free state, and if the Sunni's would ostracise the militants in their midst, they too would benefit from the new constitution.

Homework: Check out "war with China.com", a website with links to various websites, some peace sites, some war sites. Also, Ballistic Missle Defense is back in the news, look into it, America leads the world in war deterrent.  ¶ 7:47 AM