Reflections on Katrina & Bureaucratic Hubris

From the Sewanee Alumni List:

As I drove down Gulf Beach Highway on the west side of Pensacola early this a.m. to get the paper, I was struck by the realization that, just over one year ago this week Hurricane Ivan came ashore right at the spot I was headed to get this morning's New York Times.

With new debris piles from Hurricane Dennis mixed in with the now one-year old detritus remaining from Ivan, the ruined houses and businesses belying last year's promises of the brothers Bush to "repair and rebuild", at very near the exact spot where GWB visited these people of West Pensacola, I pass a still-damaged Catholic church with a sign reading: "Katrina Donations Collection Center".

These people KNOW what it's like - like all long time residents of this coast do.

Inside the NYTimes is a special section on the storm, complete with a detailed timeline of who said/did what when; local, state, federal, defense, FEMA, etc.

In my opinion, it's a truly damning statement that as our politicians attempt to wrap themselves in the 9/11 tragedy once again these 4 years later - now, amid the results of the Conservative's veiled gutting of FEMA, Homeland Security, and emergency preparedness God has peeled back the veneer to reveal the soft underbelly of the Beast for all the world, including our enemies, to see.

Sorry for the outburst this morning folks, but I feel sick, almost physically sickened, by all this.

- may God have mercy -