if you don't know, now you know...

this is an excerpt of some old news:

It is unclear exactly how much the disengagement plan is costing the Israeli government. But last month it was reported Israel is seeking an additional $2 billion dollars or more in aid from the United States to help pay for the plan - which would in effect double the amount of aid Israel already receives from the U.S. The costs of the withdrawal include operations carried out by security forces as well as moving and compensating the settlers.
A majority of the settlers have accepted a compensation package from the government in return for leaving Gaza. An average family can expect to receive the equivalent of $150,000 to $400,000 in compensation, depending on house size, the number of children and length of residence in the occupied territories. On top of that, there are removal expenses, two years" free rent and redundancy compensation.

and this is an excerpt of some (relatively) new news:

Dispossessed families of Hurricane Katrina will receive debit cards good for $2,000 to spend on clothing and other immediate needs, the Bush administration announced Wednesday, working to recast a relief effort drawing scant praise from Republicans and scathing criticism from top congressional Democrats.

this says it all...

here's a link to a powerful transcript of an interview with new orleans mayor ray nagin. god bless him for speaking so honestly.

flooded with sadness...

i've been so busy the last few days that i hardly had any time to think about hurricane katrina. outside of what i read online, i hadn't really had a chance to watch any footage or sit in front of the tv long enough to get an idea of how devastating the situation in the south really is.

until yesterday.

i started watching a special report on the hurricane, and it blew my fucking mind. i mean, bangladesh has floods every year, so i wasn't really surprised by the way people were talking about this hurricane. but when i saw the footage of people walking around in shoulder-deep stagnant waters while two and three story houses just sat there submerged just shy of their rooftops, it really hit me. the sight of people standing on their rooftops just waiting for hours, without any kind of food or drinkable water, for a rescue helicopter to come by and get them was just heart wrenching.

my initial thoughts on the matter were that surely the u.s. had more resources than bangladesh does, to handle such a disaster. but as the days go by i'm wondering if that statement is in fact true. there are still thousands of people unaccounted for, areas that haven't even been searched yet, and thousands of other people dead, dying or just trying to get a scrap of bread to survive.

it is truly shocking how nonchalant president bush has been throughout this whole thing. i mean, his speech did really nothing more than state the obvious, ending it with a promise to send help as soon as possible. so he's gonna hit congress up for some emergency funds and what not. big whoop. how long will that take? how is that going to help the 60,000+ people that haven't eaten or drank a decent glass of water in the past few days? why aren't there a million national guard folks in helicopters out there distributing relief to the survivors?

well, maybe because THEY'RE ALL IN FUCKING IRAQ!

i don't know. i mean, sure things don't happen overnight (except natural disasters) but it just seems like everything is working so slowly. and i'm not even down there, so imagine how the people down there are feeling!

as for the looters... is it really necessary to divert 1500 soldiers from their rescue mission to go deal with looters? i mean, i can't say i blame the folks for going into stores to get food. where the hell else are they gonna get it? relief efforts are slim, and people are starving with no money. money, right now, means nothing down there. it's only about survival. and you can't survive without food. so let 'em steal some food... what's the big fucking deal? what's this "zero tolerance" bullshit bush is talking about? if he were out there he'd do the same damn thing. and so would i. especially if i had to feed my kids.

it's just such a sad situation down there right now. i cried. it reminded me of how i felt after the tsunami. here we are, at war for no reason, scared to death of another terrorist attack, when overnight an act of god causes destruction so much worse than any terrorist attack so far. this should be a wake up call for america, man. a wake up call to say "get your fucking nose out of everybody else's business and take care of your own damn people".