Katrina and the news (Updated)

SideNote Completely Unrelated To This Post:All comments will require an extra step in an attempt to foil the evil hoards of blog spammers that think they can profit through F%&#ing with this site.

NOTE: This one qualifies as a serious post. It's one you may not want to read if you're likely to get upset over my frank comments on my opinions.

In e-mails from friends and family over the last week or so, I've heard many comments on the horrible disaster that is continuing in New Orleans. Everyone mentions Katrina and how horrible it all is. Not one person has mentioned how poorly the whole situation is being delt with. If you know where to look, there are virtually hundreds upon hundreds of articles in the news on just that...and trust me when I say that these are not the kind of things you are likely seeing on the evening news.

Most of those articles are easily available to each of you by clicking on my link to WRH or ICH. As they are news blogs, the news reported reflects the opinions of the person who runs the blog. Don't let that throw you though, the vast majority of what is on that site is directly from reputable news sources. This is stuff that you'll not be getting on CNN, Fox or the rest of what you likely see on TV or read in papers. Even the stuff that does come from CNN, etc. is so completely under-aired, you probably never saw it.

I urge all of you to be critical of what you see and read in MSM (MainStream Media).

One interesting tidbit involving Katrina is that nearly every photo or scene of white people going into stores for food and water describes them as "finding" survival necessities. Every one that features a non-white person doing the exact same thing describes them as looting. I couldn't make up anything this good. Check it out for yourself.

Or this: There are 500 airboats packed with supplies (mostly stocked out of the pockets of the owner/pilots) in Florida that can't get permission to enter the area (while the mayor of New Orleans is begging for help from any direction). Canada has an elite disaster assistance team ready to go...they can't get permission to help.

Another thing I can't resist adding: There's a Tuesday night conversation with a paramedic in Gulf Port, Mississippi reported on Free Republic. He described scenes of bodies hanging in trees and entire families found drowned in their homes. When told the official number of dead, "he got very quiet," then said "dude, we are picking up 30 at a time...thousands are dead. Why aren't they saying...? I guess I better shut up then - don't give my name."

How many times have you heard or read little side comments in the news stating that the people there "chose to stay"? A good question to ask about that would be, "Exactly how many people with no cars and not enough money for a bus ticket or hotel room do you think could evacuate?" You don't see a lot of middle or upper middle-class families having to be rescued (or pulled dead from their houses) do you?

Did you know?: This disaster probably couldn't have been completely averted, but in 2001 FEMA listed a hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three most likely disasters to occur in the U.S....just before Bush cut flood control spending in that area by 44% to help fund the war in Iraq. Since 2001, the Army Corps of Engineers has requested $496 million for that project but the Bush administration only budgeted $166 million, according to figures provided by the office of Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.

(Bush) immediately signed a $10.5 billion (that's billion with a "B") disaster aid package passed by Congress — an amount he repeatedly called "just the beginning" of federal expenditures for storm relief. He issued a memorandum saying Hurricane Katrina had created a "severe energy supply interruption" that could damage the national economy, and formally authorized a drawdown of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I wonder how much less money would have had to be spent if he had just allowed the Army Corp of Engineers to prepare for this before it happened?

Guess what?: Any idea who already has the contract to cleanup/re-build the city? That's right! Halliburton. Interesting, huh?

The list goes on.

Don't take my word for it. Don't take any one person or source's word on it. Read and think. Read between the lines and think. Read news from outside the U.S.; it'll often give you more info about what's going on in the U.S. than anything you've seen living there (ask virtually anyone that has lived outside the U.S.). Anyone reading this has an internet hookup and a computer. The news is out there. Don't believe it because you read it (this is especially true on the internet), check the same story from different sources. Every bit of news you read or see comes from someone or some entity with an agenda. If you only watch/read U.S. mainstream media, you are definitely getting all your information from a source with an agenda. Guessing the agenda doesn't really require much more than a little thought and a trained eye.

Sound like a lot of work? It can be, but living with blinders on has it's consequences too. How much is a gallon of gas going for these days? Why?

Sermon over.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by Katrina (the current administration exempted). I can only hope that if a disaster of this magnatude strikes Tokyo, things will be handled better...of course, had Katrina done this damage in Washington D.C. or Crawford, Texas, I imagine things would be handled better too.