My questions about Katrina

by Jim Stanley

I have a few questions about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

1. Police and National Guard forces won't rescue people when threatened by sniper fire. Did they not train for such work? Isn't that their job? Are we, or are we not, unable to take out snipers on rooftops? We do quite well at that in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why is it acceptable for military personnel to risk their health and lives to save Iraqis but not to save black and poor white Americans?

2. When Iraqis looted, it was cited by the administration (Rumsfeld) as a natural response for people who are oppressed for years. When black and poor white southerners loot, usually just to get food, diapers, clean water and clothes, it is lawlessness. Why the distinction?

3. Do conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who have attacked flood victims as morons or scofflaws who failed to obey orders, even comprehend the reality that some people don't have cars?

4. How long will it take for some fundamentalist TV or radio preacher to suggest that God is pouring out his wrath on New Orleans for the moral excess of Mardi Gras, the voodoo practiced by a small handful of people in New Orleans or for having a Democratic mayor, Democratic Governor and one Democratic Senator? (Note: since writing this question originally, at least one email from an anti-abortionist has surfaced, claiming that the cloud patterns around Katrina resembled an unborn fetus.)

5. If a Hurricane of the same magnitude struck The Hamptons, Hyannisport, genteel Charleston, South Carolina or some upscale part of Florida...would government be as slow to establish order and bring in much-needed human services? Would the residents of those areas who -- after days of hunger and dirty water -- be castigated as lawless animals for looting grocery and convenience stores?

6. Will the Bush administration accept any of the generous offers of money, specialist support or personnel from the dozens of nations that have approached the state department? What would be wrong with bringing in a thousand unarmed Canadian soldiers to pass out food and water? Or maybe a few hundred Japanese medical troops, who are particularly skilled at disaster response? (I ask because it seems any troops we would use in these capacities are busy fighting an immoral, unnecessary war in Iraq.)

7. When will it be the right time to have a national conversation about the preservation of wetlands?

8. Would Dennis Hastert, who suggested that New Orleans be abandoned and not rebuilt, make the same recommendation if an earthquake wiped out Wilmette or Kenilworth, Illinois?

9. Will any White politician or public figure with access to the national spotlight publicly shame and name the conservative talk radio hosts who are talking about "jungle bunnies", "urban menace looters" and "the black element"? Why fan the flames of hate, especially at a time like this?

10. Why is George W. Bush the first President in my lifetime to look MORE RESTED AND RELAXED after almost six years of occupying the Oval Office? And is there any way we can put his father or Bill Clinton back in charge...and send the Dauphin back to Crawford for a permanent vacation?

11. How can we blame this disaster on Cindy Sheehan, Ted Kennedy, Jane Fonda, Hillary Clinton, blacks in general or homosexuals? Pat Robertson, are you listening?

12. Speaking of the Reverend Robber$on, why is his "Operation Blessing" listed as one of the principal agencies collecting funds for the relief effort in New Orleans? How is Operation Blessing using this money? In the past, OB was notorious for taking disaster relief money and using it to proselytize and convert -- rather than deliver much needed aid and comfort. Is this another payoff by Beelzebush?

13. Why was the response to the Terry Schiavo "crisis" so firm, forceful and immediate while the response to Hurricane Katrina was so flaccid, tentative and timid?

14. Will disenfranchised whites in the south finally realize that conservatives in both parties care nothing for ANY poor person? Will they finally forsake their "angry white male" alliance with Rush Limbaugh and other talk radio thugs and cast their lot with their poor black brothers and sisters?

15. Will we ever be unprepared for a disaster like this again? Or will we finally realize that billions spent on reserve supplies, materials, flood mitigation, vehicles and other items we never have to use is infinitely more preferable to NOT spending the billions...and wishing we had?

Jim Stanley is a freelance writer and journalist from Fort Wayne, Indiana.