Katrina

We have been watching the coverage of the Katrina aftermath on the morning and evening news these past few days. Who cannot help but weep at the suffering and frustration of the people still holding onto life in New Orleans and other areas laid waste by this hurricane?


Matt Lauer speaking to Tim Russert this morning on the Today Show asked, "Are those responsible for rescuing these people (in New Orleans) ready for some very hard questions?" He is referring to why the people in New Orleans aren't being rescued or given food and water sooner than they are.

One clue, Matt, is in one sentence glossed over by NBC News last night: Shots were fired on the rescue helicopter and rescue operations were then suspended.

Katie Couric had just spoken with FEMA director, Michael Brown, about this issue. His response was that they must wait for the 30,000 national guard troops to establish order in the City before it would be safe for rescue workers to enter and bring aide.

There will be speculation for many years over who is at fault for the delays in rescue operations in New Orleans. Matt Lauer brought up one of his "hard questions" which pointed the finger at the government for not providing enough funding for the poor in our major cities to have the means to flee in times of impending danger.

No doubt, there are some people in our major cities and elsewhere who, by no fault of their own, have no means of escape in this type of situation. These would include the elderly with no family and the otherwise infirm and family-less. However, there are many more who have set themselves up for disaster by relying on the government in the first place for their sole means of support. Except for Social Security, public aide programs were never meant to be for permanent sustenance. Their purpose is to provide emergency aide during times of hardship. When they are misused and abused, they become a form of slavery all their own. Those who depend on the government for their means of support generally do not get enough to sustain life. Most supplement these cash and food stamp programs with food pantries, commodities, and local shelter handouts. Many of the folks trapped in New Orleans are used to being given "emergency aide." They have been living off of it, most of them, all of their lives.

My husband has been saying (since our years of living in a poor neighborhood in Peoria, Illinois, for seven years) that it wouldn't take long for anarchy to break out if welfare programs were suspended. He said that there would be complete chaos and lawlessness especially in the larger cities. There just wouldn't be enough police to handle the situation.

I'm almost ready to call him a prophet.

Here's an article that was passed on to me that explains this a lot better than I can:
http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1026

--Marcia