From the New Orleans Times Picayune. Be sure to read their Open Letter to The President.
And don't be distracted by our failure, says Homeland Security. Also in that article you can read just what local leaders have been experiencing when asking for Federal aid:
"It was not until Saturday, six days after Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, that federal assistance finally arrived in Plaquemines Parish, a community of 27,000 southeast of New Orleans, said Amos Cormier, chairman of the Plaquemines Parish Council.
Asked what kind of assistance the Federal Emergency Management Agency brought Saturday, Cormier said, "They were two guys in a car."
He said the National Guard also arrived Saturday, even though their presence was requested Wednesday. The parish had to deputize dozens of firefighters and parish workers, giving them weapons to maintain order and prevent looting.
"Bureaucracy has committed murder here," Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said on Meet the Press yesterday. "Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off, and we've got to start with some new leadership."
Then was this observation over the staged phot-op by Pres. Bush.
So many people here in ET are searching for ways to help, both for right now and for in the long days ahead. But also remember the amazing efforts to document the lives lost and the search for people taking place thru on-line journals, message boards, and traditional news sources are vital. Ways for you to help are all around -- just look.
And me, I think it is important to keep refering to "Refugees" and not "evacuees". Don't window dress the horrors.
"I don't feel like I'm in the U.S.," says Scott. Lovett, 22, said. "I feel like I'm in a war. All the guns, the chaos."
....sigh....
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