Katrina, Katrina, Katrina!

It is 12:30 and I am listening to Whiskeytown right now. Well as per usual it has been a little while since my last blog but I think this is good because it keeps you on your toes. It seems we have had a major natural disaster occur lately and I have yet to comment on it. That's about to change. First though, are some quick hits.

Scottie: Well, in regards to your post on my last blog about Scottie from Star Trek, I reiterate that for what ever reason, Star Trek was not a huge influence on my formative years. I respect it's place in the Nerd Hall of Fame and I love the characters but I was not really into it as a kid. I think it was my parents protection realizing the serious social and romantic consequences that Star Trek could have upon people later in life, that kept me from it. That and the cheap special effects and lack of action. I am not sure my parents protection on my social and romantic life was sufficient though.

Spam on the Run: It appears the mysterious spammer has found my blog as well. I am now forced to, against my will, initiate the anti-spam verification. Sorry. Keep posting though because it does spur me on. ALSO, it has caused me to think of a great term for blogging Spam. I now call it BLAM. Blog+Spam, get it? There will be no blamming here please.

Disclaimer: If you read through all the next sections then you are truly a friend of New Prussia. It is a hunk of reading but I did add some humor at the end.


The Bad in New Orleans: Well first for the most serious stuff. As some of you may know, I led a mission trip to New Orleans last spring break. We worked with a homeless shelter, an HIV hospice and helped clean up a church. I am sure it is all ruined. I was greatly touched by the people to and the inner city we ministered in. Most were poor minorities or homeless, just the type that did not make it out. I have to wonder if any of them are still alive. I have to wonder if the church, which had recently been renovated, still exists. One of the girls on the trip and I had the privilege and honor of leading a semi-homeless guy named Cedric to Christ. He was down on his luck but trying to get back on his feet. That was on spring break and I wonder if it was the last call for him. Is he okay or will I only see him in eternity now? It is one thing to see the stuff on TV, to know it is happening. It is a strangely sad and surreal experience to see it happen, knowing it effected people you were trying to help just a few months ago.
Secondly, I have to wonder to myself, isn't this really just the beginning? Was not all of these horribly things and much, much more predicted in the Bible as time grows short in the world? 9-11, a Tsunami, five or six hurricanes in a row last year, now this one. A new famine in Africa and more flooding in China and other places as well. There are seismic tremblings and minor eruptions of St. Helens in Washington as well. "Wars and rumors of wars," so to speak. I do not mean to say I think the end is here or the rapture will happen within the next year or anything like that. I just mean it is only going to get worse. Think of the reputation New Orleans has. Not just the homosexuality and party mentality but also think of all the crime, the injustice, the crooked officials and cops, the mafia as well as all the crazy Voodoo and witchcraft practiced there. Does this not seem like judgment? I know it is not en vogue for Christians to say this and I know that this is not necessarily all judgment and God can do good things through this, but I can't help but think of the similarities here. I am staying well away from California for some time. I also think all this political grandstanding ticks me off and that leads me to the next point.

The Not as Bad: Now that I have paid some dues let me say a few things. I think all of this political stuff is a load of pig crap. It is definitly not what needs to happen right now. That being said, I will jump right in.

Federal Distress: We all know the government looked slow in this issue. First let me criticize the President. I support Bush for the most part, but I do think he made a few mistakes in the relief effort. I know he was meeting with advisors at his ranch and I know he was saddened by what was going on, BUT I think it was really stupid of him to stay at his ranch as long as he did, and I think it looked horrible. I can't see why he didn't jump on Air Force One and get back to Washington ASAP. He made a big mistake by not publicly taking more initiative sooner. Also as the head of the government the buck does stop with him, so technically he is to blame in a weird unfair kind of way and he did appoint the FEMA director. Yes, the President is not perfect and made a few mistakes but that was not what costs all those lives.

From what I gather, there were a few major errors made here. 1. FEMA and company thought their response systems were sufficient and they weren't. It was only when they find out they aren't that it is to late. Like if you are dehydrated, by the time you feel thirsty it is to late. As far as I can tell, the bulk of the blame should go to the Gov. and Mayor of Louisana. There are laws that prohibit the President from ordering troops into a city for relief. This is done to keep Presidents from becoming dictators and to protect freedom. What it takes is for the Gov. of the state to officially ask for help as well as sign some paper work. The storm hit Sunday night-Monday morning, the levee broke Tuesday, the paper work for help did not get signed until Wednesday. The GOVERNER did not ask for help until Wednesday? And people want to blame the president? Compare this to Mississippi, where albeit, the flooding was not as bad but certainly they were in need of help.. The Governor there called for help very early on and what happened? Help arrived in time and the whole mess in New Orleans did not happen there. I suppose people forget that side of it. Correct me if I am mistaken but I believe there are black people in Mississippi as well. Maybe Bush just hates the black people in New Orleans.
There are all sorts of other stories coming out as well. The Mayor and Gov. did not declare mandatory evacuations, nor did they use the city buses to transport people out. I have even read Bush called them the Friday before the storm hit and begged them to sign the necessary paper work but they would not do it for political reasons. What does the left want? Would they have prefered that the President break the law and send in troops without the proper legal authority? They already think he is a tyrant, is that what they want? Would they prefer it that way instead?
This taxing Levee issue is supposed to be Bush's fault as well. Did people want Bush to fly down there and stick his finger in the break to stop it? Apparently he did not approve funding for state projects that included levee repairs. That is balderdash. The truth is that the levee repairs have been on the books for decades now. At LEAST since the Reagan era if not longer. Why did they not get fixed or funded sooner? Let's look at some reason. For a long time LA refused to raise their legal drinking age to 21, because they would not do this, they got very little federal aid for projects and what aid they did get went mainly to highway maintenece, not levee's. So you can blame the crappy LA government for that. Back during the Clinton years they got funding for projects as well. Where did that money go? It has now come out that a lot of it went to, instead of levee's, building a Marina to support ships?...no...off shore refineries or drilling rigs? no.....hmm where could that money have gone...oh I know, Riverboat Casino's. Yes, it seems a lot of the money for levee's and other work was redirected to help support Riverboat gambling. Let's have a BIG round of applause for the notoriously corrupt state of LA. I could go on and on about this and write pages. I am blown away by the stupidity of people at times.

ABC-Disaster Company: Did anyone see the ABC special the other night on potential disasters in the U.S.A and how we are not ready for them. It made me sick to see them sensationalizing all of this. Their was an earthquake in San Francisco and a plague and nuclear explosion in New York. They simulated these things and showed how unprepared the Government was. Let me see....I think there is word for these kinds of things. Oh yeah, they are called disasters! Of course you can't be prepared for them. You can do the best you can and certainly we can do better, but no one will every be able to be fully prepared for these things. Not for millions of people.

That being said, here are some other probable disasters that the U.S.A. would not be prepared for and that would also, inevitably be George Bush's fault. I have also listed possible course's of action to prevent these things.

-All the bears in North America descend upon Seattle in post-hibernation hunger. This can be prevented by hunting all bears to extinction. Even the Chicago bears.

-Vikings raid the northeast coast, raping and pillaging everything along their paths. In a gross oversight FEMA has absolutely no Viking Invasion Contingency Plan. The best defense is a good offense, invade Scandinavia now OR summon the legendary return of King Arthur and his round table to unify the states and ward off the evil aggressors.

-Disco makes a huge comeback. This might be the scariest disaster of all. It made a mild comeback a few years ago but was avoided for the most part. Next time we may not be so lucky. If it does start to happen the best thing to do is play plenty of Led Zepplin and Rolling Stones as loud and as long as possible. (Note: if New Kids on the Block comeback then it is all over.)

-Atlas gets tired of holding up the earth and throws it off his shoulders. The best plan here it to keep Atlas very happy and content and feed him lots of Campbell's Chunky Beef Soup. (I could not think of anything better then this. Sorry)

-George Bush meets with wizards and summons a giant meteor to hit the earth and split it open. The best action here is, as long as we time the split right, to let it hit, separating the Eastern Hemisphere from us forever. I mean, isn't the Eastern Hemisphere really more trouble then it is worth? Actually the best thing to do is to let the meteor hit the EU.

-Giant squids crawl out from the ocean and devour all in their path. Answer-Operation Calamari, involving government funded openings of thousands of Sushi bars throughout the world.

Well, this is at the top of the list of likely events. There are many other such as alien invasions, vampire prince appearances, and Magneto's return to earth, but the list is just to long. The important thing to remember is that whatever happens, Don't Panic. Cheers.


P.S. Maybe for my next blog, I will have an interview with a real live disaster relief expert and FEMA analyst, my hero Andrew McMahan. He knows everything about disaster planning. After all, he went to Africa and he can tell you, the battle is real!