Belphegor - 09-03-2005 - Updated Tue/Thu/Sat

Still going

Are you sick of Katrina yet? It saturates the news, the blogs, the conversations, it's all New Orleans this and New Orleans that. You're thinking, "I donated what I could, and now I'm done and would like to get on with my life without the nigh perpetual guilt trip ringing in my ears." Yeah, well, tough.

I've been forcing myself to keep listening to these NPR reports, reading the interviews and blogs, watching the footage. This is, without much doubt, the greatest disaster in the history of our nation. And of course, it comes at a time when we are least prepared for this sort of thing. Some have said it's Bush's fault. Frankly, I'm more inclined to take FactCheck.org's take on the issue. After all, Michael Moore, the attack dog of the left, didn't throw aid resource links or anything about Katrina up on his front page until just the other day. He was too busy beating the Cindy Sheehan drum. Maybe I'm expecting too much of him, but he had the same reaction time to this disaster as the president, then attacks the president for not reacting fast enough. Seems almost like he only became truly interested when he could use it as ammo against Bush. Lame, Mr. Moore. Very lame.

I'm not anti-Moore. I loved the stuff he did on The Awful Truth, but lately I just get the feeling that he's focused on profiting from this political landscape rather than defending the little guy. He's latched on to the thing that will make him the most money, and stopped going after the rest of the crooks and villains and greedy misers out there. I miss the days when he'd set up a mock funeral in front of an insurance company's headquarters in an effort to get some poor schmoe a new pancreas. Now it takes him 4 days to get around to calling for aid for the biggest disaster America has ever seen.

Meanwhile, for an interesting look at what's going on down there in New Orleans, there's a LiveJournal community for NO that can give you some idea of what people are experiencing down there, in part. Those with internet access. They aren't the worst off ones though. If you want to hear some truly scary things, listen to the irate Mayor of New Orleans in a radio interview. At least no one is looking at this as a chance to capitalize on human suffering.

It's important to remember that it's not just New Orleans, but massive parts of Louisianna, Alabama and Mississippi, not to mention Florida, that got hit and are underwater now. Those people are scattered now, hungry, homeless, and in great need. So if you haven't donated, or you could donate more, go here to donate to the Houston Food Bank, or see how you can volunteer.