Bush to New Orleans: Feel Better

In the face of one of the most catastrophic natural events to ever hit a major American city, here's what George Bush had to say:

The folks on the Gulf Coast are going to need the help of this country for a long time. This is going to be a difficult road. The challenges that we face on the ground are unprecedented. But there's no doubt in my mind we're going to succeed.

Right now, the days seem awfully dark for those affected. I understand that. But I'm confident that, with time, you'll get your life back in order. New communities will flourish. The great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet. And America will be a stronger place for it.

What is this, a fucking high school football game?

Many other outlets are disturbed by Bush's seeming lack of concern, among them the NY Times which published this scathing editorial; and CNN's Jack Cafferty, who offered these remarks.

Of even further interest is this article from The American Prospect that appeared back in May of this year warning of the catastrophic flooding that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane would inflict on New Orleans. Turns out that N'awlins was planning to begin upgrading its levees with monetary assistance from the federal government, but the cash ended up being diverted to fund the ongoing shithole that is Iraq.

And don't even get me started on how long the Bush administration has been denying that global warming exists. What happened to New Orleans is, I fear, just a warm-up act (if you'll pardon the pun).

Meanwhile, rats are eating corpses, children in the Superdome are being raped, and looters are taking over the cities. Some fucking help, Mr. President?

Something you can do: As part of Blog for Relief Weekend, I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to donate to Habitat for Humanity, one of many organizations providing concrete assistance to victims of Katrina. You can learn about the other organizations here, and more about the Blog for Relief efforts here. In order to track the level of donation per blog, you can log your contribution.

I'm a relative newbie in the Blogsphere, but I like being able to offer some real assistance while I continue bitching about our useless president. And, yes, it's a political situation now.