Couldn't the local residents and officials from New Orleans take a look around for themselves and see that the levee system was inadequate before the storm. I think the strategy there was hope and pray instead of action. Human Nature is such that unless it is right in front of our faces or an immediate threat we tend to dismiss it. I'm from the Northeast. I know nothing of the levee system in New Orleans. Nor should I be expected to care. I have no vested interest. But the residents, activists and politicians in the area should have taken care of this potential problem way before Katrina. Didn't any engineers even do a test? An emergency plan? If my house was located in a major flood zone with an aging and inadequate levee holding back the sea, I'd think of contacting my local congressman to see what they were doing about it. It is the failure of the local government for not addressing the levee problem before Katrina and it is the problem of the Federal Government for resting on its laurels after Katrina. How can anyone expect a ravaged area to organize evac and rescue without outside help while the government watches them get deeper and deeper under water. We rush to the aide of natural disaster victims half a world away (as we should). But the government was reluctant to get involved in a national matter. Once the city began sinking the FEMA exec should have been on the phone to the president to say, "Those people need help." Isn't that his job? Isn't it the job of the executive branch of government to enforce laws and protect the people of this country, rich or poor? We can send poor people over to Iraq to fight; the government has no problem with that. But we can't go in and rescue poor folks when they're drowning. I don't get the mentality of this administration.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Oil
This is the main reason why we need to look for alternate sources of energy beyond petroleum. The money Westerners pour into the Middle East for our oil dependency (guilty as charged here as well so I cast no stones at anyone) is supporting evil dictatorships, Fundamentalist terror organizations and suppressive regimes. Our only recourse to this type of rhetoric is to seriously look at alternative fuel methods. If we can loosen our dependence on oil we will strike a blow at all these countries. They exist in this form more or less because of Western influence and our influence is because of oil dependency. I wholly disagree with the current administration’s tactics. They have done nothing but feed the flames of hate for Westerners by acting EXACTLY how they expect us to act. I say, we withdraw support for all these countries by withdrawing the only thing that keeps status quo over there: OIL. If the brutal and wealthy can’t control the people with their money-power then perhaps real humanitarian change can occur. And with that perhaps education will raise up that region. It’s a long road that I do not expect to see in my lifetime but perhaps in my children’s or their children’s lifetime we will finally see the Middle East know peace and in turn we will be free of the terror threat that roils from dissatisfaction, oppression, poverty, religious brainwashing and hate.
