Welcome to the 'Third World,' America

The Bush administrations reaction (or lack thereof) to the disaster of hurricane Katrina is perfect culmination of George W. Bush's legacy of turning the US into a third-world country.

First our elections are run like a third world country, with open fraud, corruption and an oddly un-American inability to count. Then we find ourselves with an unelected leader who does whatever he wants, the citizens and treasury be damned (and we have been).

Then Bush's criminal neglect (yet more grounds for impeachment) and insane desire to conquer Iraq meant he was blind to everything but his wishful thinking, his “faith-based” reality as he himself called it.

Let's be clear--the severity of this disaster is the fault of George W. Bush and the Republicans in congress and senate.

They have had all the power for the past six years, so they must take all the responsibility. They are constantly preaching "personal responsibility," which means we all have to take responsibility for our actions, so it's time they took responsibility for theirs.

Bush, in particular, is responsible. Why? If his administration had invested in upgrading the levees, which they knew were a disaster waiting to happen (they'd been warned by FEMA, independent experts and the press), they would have spared countless lives and trillions of dollars. You’d think that if even all they care about is money they’d at least think about that. But they are so supremely short-sighted they don’t even think their actions have consequences, or if they do, that they will matter (so far, they've miraculously managed to avoid the consequences).

Another reason--If the national guard and coast guard and reservists and military were here, they could have airlifted people and supplies, prevented looting, set up emergency shelters and hospitals. But they were 10,000 miles away, taking care of citizens of another country--or at least giving it a noble if futile effort.

If Bush hadn’t squanders a trillion dollars on an unnecessary war we would have the money to rebuild everything—better--rather than how it will be built, which is faster and cheaper.

While even I can’t blame the storm on W, we all must finally assign blame where it so clearly lies--in the lap of the Bush administration--they are solely responsible for the severity of the outcome. They may be trying to blame not just Clinton, but Carter, but they can no longer keep passing the buck when they have spent six years making decisions that have directly lead to this.

I know the South will dry out, that somehow the houses will be torn down to the studs and rebuilt, that somehow lives will be rebuilt.

I even have a suggestion of where the money can come from--the oil companies—their profits are up 30% from last year! Not revenues, but profits. I am a capitalist, I believe companies are in business to make a profit, but I also believe that excessive profits are a sign of profiteering, a war crime, and a crime against our country. Just as Enron was proven to be stealing from Americans, oil companies are doing the same thing now, to the tune of billions. And no one is stopping them, because they are all friends of the Bush family. That's no secret. They don't even try to keep it secret. The facts are all out there, plain as the noses on their Pinocchio faces.

Meanwhile--I don’t know how so many lives, in such a huge area can overcome this—or how it can possible not set the south back 20 years at least.

I also don’t know how the US can once again stand up proudly in the world and claim we’re the richest and strongest. I don't know how we can pretend that a huge number of our own people are living in poverty. How we can hide the fact that the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer, and more widespread.

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BUSH HAS PROVEN WE ARE NO LONGER A SUPERPOWER.

• Bush has proven how weak we really are. We can't take down a little country with almost no military, even by spending hundreds of billions. We can't fight their rocks with our rockets.
• Bush has proven we don’t take care of our own infrastructure, much less our own people.
• Bush has proven his “homeland security” is a total sham, a bizarro world where the politicians are congratulating themselves on a “remarkable response” while cities are flooded and burning at the same time (but I guess that is remarkable).
• Bush has proven that should this have been an “actual” emergency, like a terrorist attack, that his government would be not only unable, but apparently unwilling to step in and do its job—working for its citizens.
• Bush has proven how weak and bankrupt—both morally and financially our country has become in only six years.
  

That is a remarkable achievement, terribly remarkable.

Now, if the people affected (and those watching) don’t go out and start voting, and if they don’t start voting OUT the people who did this to them and voting IN people who pledge to actually help them, at home, in their life, with their jobs and their health, then maybe the fundamentalists are right—maybe God is trying to wash away the sinners, only I’d substitute “brain-dead lemmings” for sinners.

Because if God really wanted to wash away the sinners, he would have flooded the White House and probably three quarters of Congress. I can’t imagine that God’s aim is that far off.

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