Coyote's Canyon Journal

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

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Location: Canyon State of Mind, United States

I enjoy writing. I don't actually make a living with my English degree, so I keep a blog for fun. The blog is first draft, and as a former editor I apologize for any weird errors that may be present. I do not apologize for writing about things that matter to me. Thanks for reading.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Homeland Insecurity.

I haven't written because it seemed pretty inconsequential to anything going on in the deep south right now. The ineptness of the federal response to Katrina has been a real eye opener. This is outrageous. And if this is how the new, illustrious, post-9/11 Homeland Security Department responds, then I am terribly insecure. I probably will never live in a city again (I don't now, and after this week...). But even the people in Biloxi weren't getting aid until yesterday. It is terrible, and frankly, the lack of response smacks of a deeply sinister agenda to let the old, infirm, and very young die so they don't have to be taken care of over the next three months, and the medical costs of this disaster aren't as high.

I am really angry right now, I mean...if someone asked me what I thought I might start yelling or something. I broke down and cried on Wednesday because I felt like FEMA actually wanted people to die. The creation of the Homeland Security department was the biggest expansion of government since FDR, and this is what we get?? After all that tax money?? THEY CAN'T EVEN EVACUATE OR DEAL WITH A CRISIS IN A MAJOR CITY? NEW ORLEANS ISN'T EVEN A "BIG" CITY! And watching Chertoff on TV, talking about how great the recovery was going...I wanted to slap him every time I saw the Convention Center footage of N.O., or the people in Biloxi just wandering, aimlessly, asking where they could get water. And they made excuses! You know, helicopters would work if the roads were messy or underwater. Just air drop food and water!! How fucking HARD would that be? Joe Scarborough did the right thing this week, calling for help on national TV, begging anyone close enough to drive to Biloxi and just drop stuff off. It must have been extremely gratifying when those private charities and individuals showed up and DID help when FEMA was nowhere to be seen. As a senator, he may not have been able to even do that much. The power of TV... it's more immediate.

People, we are on our own. If you don't think that you need to prepare for a disaster, think again. Nobody will be coming, at least anytime soon, should you need the mere basics to survive like food and water. Do whatever you can to prepare, and--if there is warning for your particular disaster--find a way to evacuate even if it means you have to walk 20 miles to get out of town. A church would put you up at the least.

And as far as the 2006 elections are concerned...WATCH OUT southern red states; you are about to be bonnie blue again. I sure would hate to be an incumbent in the south in 2006. Heads are going to roll. I hope the other 200 million Americans out there watching are just as furious as I am, because this is UNACCEPTABLE. Homeland Security gets an "F" on this effort.

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