We've been hearing about this for days now -- and what have we gotten? A president who *boo hoo* cut his vacation short (despite the fact we're engaged in a war right now -- I mean, he'd only had 4 weeks off
) a government that's pathetic at best in its response time, and the "promise" of military sent in to help the beleagured city. Meanwhile, there's people wasting away on rooftops while helicopters sit idle, violent looting and dangerous behavior, guns being shot at what little support there is, babies and those with disabilities dying from lack of needed items like formula, post-natal care, and insulin, and a city full of people in every state of chaos. And what's the president doing today?
Making a fly over. Well call in the band, our problems are solved now!
There's no reason ANY of this shit should have gotten to this point. We can spend BILLIONS on air support for an engagement half a world away, and yet it takes 5 days to get military support and a few choppers to one of our own cities in turmoil. How hard is it to drop supplies to people on rooftops from a helicopter? Maybe you can't get them out right at this moment, BUT YOU CAN AT LEAST GET THEM SOME GODDAMN CLEAN WATER TO DRINK! Holy crap. If all this wasn't bad enough, you've got gas stations across the country gouging the HELL out of people for gas (it's up to 4 or 5 bucks for a gallon of gas down there!) And what do we get from our president in respect to assistance? "If you don't need gas, don't buy it." Well congratulations Einstein, you want a cookie!?
At least we're officially accepting aid from other countries offering it, no matter how little it is -- I was afraid our government would try and brush it off. At least the citizens of this country are able to mobilize efforts through blood-drives, donations, and volunteer work, despite the dogged specter of a controversial war, increasing debt burden, and skyrocketting gas prices. It goes to show that this country really is a country of the people, and that no matter how shitty the bureaucracy and how inept and ignorant the empty suits in power are, we're still able to put our daily BS aside and help our fellow citizens in need. I know (as of 6 pm yesterday) just my state of NH alone had already tallied up nearly $800,000 in relief funds, plus many volunteers and numerous companies offering their aid. I'm glad to see our federal government is as much on-the-ball
