 Dusty:Starlight:Culture
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if only it were kerry
2005-09-02 7:29 a.m. I've been so distracted by this New Orleans disaster that I just stall out and go through the motions of the day. It's beyond the fact that I adored the city, equated so much of it with my father's family, and often said it's the only other US city I could see myself living in. It's this total chaos, and these sudden third-world country conditions. I never thought I'd hear the phrase "American refugees" on the radio in my lifetime. But perhaps I've been naive. Perhaps I have a tendency to be very naive. Since people have been asking, and I assume they still will: Sandi is fine, and somehow managed to get to her parents in North Carolina. Her home in the Garden District has been destroyed, and she hasn't been able to contact several of her friends. She was crying on the phone yesterday, and I was too. Well it's a good thing we had cut local city maintenence spending programs (you know, the ones that fund disaster relief and do routine checks on things like levees) and re-routed that money to the war and homeland security. In fact, just last week I heard that a huge chunk of that homeland security money was going to help fund the renegade "minutemen" border patrol in Arizona and New Mexico, which keeps Mexican illegals from coming into the country. Yes, god damn those Mexicans, coming into this country and terrorizing us by picking fruit for ten cents an hour! Who do they think they are? Well in my opinion, that's money well spent. I started school and thank god; I have a great distraction from this. This century's obsession with "LIVE 24 HR COVERAGE!" and news-saturation pulls me in from time to time. I couldn't look away after Sept. 11 either, and had to consciously make efforts to leave the damn thing off. But last night I heard about roving "bands of thugs" looting hospitals in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and then about a ten year old girl who was raped. Then I watched reports about people starving, dying of thirst, and toxic flood waters harboring diseases no one is vaccinated against or used to. I had to wonder if I suddenly had been transported to the Darfur reigon, or if this is our sudden reality. This is SHAMEFUL for the richest country in the world. None of this should be happening. Good luck with that gas thing. xoxox
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