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1. Hurricane Relief: Too Little Too Late

   Our government at work after 4 years of Homeland Security preparedness http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9162009/site/newsweek/

   Its time for our National Leadership to speak out regarding the lack of timely response on behalf of our Federal Govt in the South. Many thousands of American lives will be lost in the next few days alone if the situation in the south is not brought under control immediately. On Tuesday, our President was in California shaking hands, joking it up, and PLAYING GUITAR with country music musicians on a Navy Ship, rather than taking command of the situation in the Southern States, a situation, which by all predictions on Sunday and Monday, could easily end up with the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Our President did not put National guard troops into action or mobilize Navy relief efforts until Wednesday (by all accounts five days late), by the time those shamefully modest resources get into place, fully one week will have passed, any many people will be dead.

   Our Nation has had four years to prepare for such an event as Hurricane Katrina,with billions spent on FEMA, the Homeland Security Dept. and NorthCom, and yet the response to the situation is woefully tardy, and woefully indequate. I call on all Americans to speak with one voice and demand the Federal Government TRIPLE the troops (30,000 to cover and area the size of England is nowhere near enough) and resources sent to the area immediately. Minuites are precious, and our American brothers and sisters are dying needlessly of starvation and dehydration. It takes a human being three or four days to die of dehydration, and there are over 100,000 people in New Orleans alone, not counting other ares, who have not had food or water for at least that long. For the first time in modern history, Americans may witness tens of thousands of people die from starvation in the next two or three days. Food and water should be being airdropped into unreachable areas, as we did in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they’re not. Hundreds of Military Helicopters should be being used to tranport the thousnds of people caught on rooftops, but as of Thursday, only FOUR helicopters were being used in search and rescue in the whole city of New Orleans, and those were being shot at. Civilian helicopter operators should be being recruited, commandeered if necesary, to help with airlifts, but they are not. Thousands of Coast Guard Reserves Nationwide should be being called up, but so far only five hundred have. Marine Amphibious assault vehicles should be being used to get to the neighborhoods tht have not been reached yet, but they are not. The FEMA holding camps that are set up at military bases around the US, and that are capable of holding up to three million people collectively, should be being readied to hold refugees, but they are not. The USS Comfort, the Navy’s floating hospital ship, will not be deployed until Sunday of this week…one must wonder why it was not standing at the ready ten days ago, in position to arrive as soon as the storm winds died down on Tuesday. American Babies are dying in their mother’s arms while our government lumbers into action like a herd of bedraggled, apathetic snails.

   ?This is a national disgrace,? said Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans? emergency operations. ?FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control,? Ebbert said. ?We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can?t bail out the city of New Orleans.”advertisement. “We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking but we?re not getting supplies.?
   He said the evacuation was almost entirely a Louisiana operation. ?This is not a FEMA operation. I haven?t seen a single FEMA guy.?

   News reports showed a crowd of refugees, including children, stranded without adequate food, water or medical attention at New Orleans’ downtown convention center, even though it had been designated a shelter after the Superdome filled up. Seven bodies were strewn outside. When was asked on National Public Radio why no help had been sent, Homeland Security Secretary Miachel Chertoff said he was unaware of the problem (!). One must truly marvel at the incopetency of a man who must be the ONLY person in America who was unaware of the situation at the Convention Center.

   ?This is a desperate SOS,? New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said in a statement made available to CNN. ?Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don?t anticipate enough buses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people?. ?They don’t have a clue what’s going on down there,? the Mayor told WWL-AM Thursday night.” Mayor Nagin warned that thousands of residents could die if remaining water supplies are cut off or contaminated. Some 50,000 residents are still on rooftops awaiting rescue, he said. Many if not most have past the “Golden 72 hours” without food or water that Emergency Experts know are crucial to survival.

   As of Friday, a chemical explosion is spreading noxious fumes around the already destroyed city of New Orleans, threatening thousands. Not since the Civil War have we seen such destruction, such suffereing on US soil. 911 pales in comparison. This is truly a National Disgrace of tragic porportions, and the situation needs to be adressed NOW, before thousands more, perhaps tens of thousnads die needlessly of starvation and third world diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

   The American people need to call Senators, Representatives, Governors, the White House, the Media, Celebrities, Clergy etc. and demand that someone speak out, and take action. We have spent billions in Homeland Security preparedness, have tremendous resources, and yet are government is dispersing aid like molasses from an eye dropper, while people die. Many thousands more will die in the next few days if action is not taken.

   Time to speak up America. Time to wake up Mr. President.

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