NOAH'S VINEYARD
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(never mind the garbage above-cheerio)
Nearly every culture has a flood story. The three best known come from ancient middle eastern sources of Genesis in the Bible, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha.
Unfortunately, so do those overwhelmed by tsunamis and hurricanes. Cruising the news relates the failure of govenment officials to consider those most affected by natural disasters. Admittedly, they waffled over the fates of the low-income and incapacitated because calling a full evacuation would require immediate resources. The delay cost lives and billions of dollars as the levees in New Orleans were overwhelmed first by the impact of hurricane winds and then by the pressures of waters on all sides.
The result is catastrophic: not only in the loss of properties, income and business statistics; but also in those things which can never be undone. The loss of human life and personal achievement, hours and hours of human endeavor washed across the face of the earth And in all the suffering and hardship that these people, dispersed across the United States, endure; there are those who smugly say that they are better off. Condemnatory comments are strewn across the net, damning new Orleans and its occupants for having a gay parade, being a "loser town" and the target of God's vindictive destruction.
How Now?
"Oh Mary, consider this seriously. They are a lot better off. Wouldn't you want to have a holiday on a cruise liner? Wht level of society were these people? Weren't they just living on the dole anyway? Now they can get a job, somebody will give them free clothes, they'll have ne place to live... Look at it realistically. Do you really think these people deserve... this black mama who lives her entire life off welfare with nine kids, each one from a different man. She kicks them out because so long as they don't have a father she has guaranteed income..."
Which is only slightly worse than the condescending public statement made by Barbara Bush. Baiting as it may be, I hung up.
NYTimes 7 September 200
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/nation...
What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."
