Two of three--

We've heard that Bob Aspirin is currently alive, and waiting for evacuation. Those who have been checking out the news know that this is not entirely comforting.

New Orleans folk have been shooting at helicopters trying to get the sickest people out of hospitals. Or shooting at boats trying to deliver emergency supplies. I know they are terrified, but the people of New Orleans aren't handling this as well as the people of New York handled 9/11. Granted, there was only one catastrophe in NYC that day (NO has faced first a Category 4 Hurricane and then massive flooding)--but the people of NY didn't know that. They didn't know if the next stage was gonna be bombers, in the air or on the ground.

New York did us proud. I grieve for the people of New Orleans. They've lost more than their city.

Passing this on--

Lifted from noiseinmyhead.

From someone on the ground in New Orleans--

http://mgno.com/

Warning--this is scary stuff. The NO police are impotent, unable to communicate with each other, their vehicles underwater. Gangs roam the streets, looting, raping, killing people. It's not Beirut yet, but it's ugly, and getting worse.

NOW they get around to it.

The Congress has just voted emergency funds of 10.5 billion dollars for relief efforts dealing with Hurricane Katrina.

An interesting quote, taken from http://www.andrewsullivan.com (a conservative who is willing to admit liberals and moderates occasionally have a point).

"'I'm not saying it wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have,' said Michael Parker, a former Republican Mississippi congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from October 2001 until March 2002, when he was ousted after publicly criticizing a Bush administration proposal to cut the corps' budget." - from the Chicago Tribune, noted by Josh Marshall.

( Warning--Rant Follows )

Idiots. We're being governed by idiots. I know this won't reach the people who voted for Bush, but IF YOU DIDN'T VOTE, REGISTER, DAMMIT! There ARE choices between better and worse.