My habit of not opening the email program after the computer crashes (this desktop, or rather MS Windows 98 and IE6, crashed five or six times yesterday) left this email in my inbox too long... the date of this entry is when it was received - and when it should have been posted here... my apologies for the delay...

I hope I am not catching the FEMA disease (I am not joking)...

the writing below was written by my friend Tim who lives in Northern Mississippi... he considers himself lucky to be one of the minority in the state to have power... he's travelled south to bring supplies and try to help friends who have nothing but rubble left of their lives... you can read his messages in this diary through the "PLEASE READ THIS" link on the left... his is a voice you should hear... if you care...

my dear regular readers, I know you care... I know how challenging it is to find words at this time...

most of us are ignoring the situation (or trying to, trying to focus on our lives far from the devastation and cruel proof of man's inhumanity to man)...

or maybe we're staring blankly at their TVs, at a loss for words... we appreciate your comments or notes... it's a situation so unbelievable, as I said in my last entry, that our instinct is to go numb and live in denial...

that is why your words mean even more now than ever...

that is why Tim's words mean more now than ever

that is why I share them with you now...

Message from Mississippi
Part Three - Anger in Mississippi
from timdangerous

I may have felt guilt last night, but tonight I feel mad as hell.

Is this my America I'm watching on CNN?

We can send men to the moon, rebuild entire countries, but we can't drop food and water to dying people in New Orleans, Louisianna???

I sat in my living room today and watched an old lady die in front of my eyes on the television. They pushed her dead body against the building.

What in the HELL is wrong with us?

I'm so livid that I can't even think straight. I'll tell you something else, if one more talking head politician all but says that those people wouldn't be in that situation had they heeded the governments warning to evacuate, I will explode!

These people, these politicians have obviously never lived paycheck to paycheck.

They don't know what its like to decide to buy food that week or pay the car note.

They have never been without top of the line medical coverage and worried about what would happen should they get sick or injured.

Where are the National Gaurd?

I know. In Iraq.

While that's all well and good for us to be there, its no excuse to have drained gaurd numbers so low they cannot respond!

Will a handfull of armed thugs take control over New Orleans?

It seems to me they already have.

Help me with my memory here, but didn't the Congress of the United States reconviene during a freaking holiday to pass a bill concerning Terry Shaivo?

They showed up overnight.

It has been 4 days of recovery efforts and it takes them this long to get back to washington?

Oh, I'm sorry Gulf Coast, its only you?

We only show up overnight for braindead white girls.

Another thing, another crap spewer, Al. Sharpton. Does that man find racism in every single facet of life? Come on, rev, it has nothing to with race and everything to do with money. More than half of New Orleans was and sure as hell is now, living at or below the poverty level. Its got nothing to do whatsover with race. Quit using this disaster as a springboard for your hatred racial rhetoric!

I have a question.

Where is the Mayor of New Orleans?

Not the former Mayor we keep hearing from, I mean the current acting Mayor?

I think he wants us to believe he is at the convention center, but clearly he is not.

I will bet you that in months to come we will hear that, "I was down there with my people." The trouble is, his city needs him giving some form of control.

I know that we have never seen an entire displaced city here, not since the Civil war at any event, but this is not being handled well.

Communication is obviously an afterthought.

Its also obvious that the Federal Director of FEMA isn't watching the same CNN you and I are, because if he were, he'd known about the convention center yesterday, not today at 4 pm!

Why didn't FEMA or at least LEMA know of the city's directions to the people to get to the Superdome or the convention center where they would board buses out of the city to shelters?

How in the WORLD should we at home know that before the Federal Government?

Didn't I hear that FEMA was relying on the media's chopper videos to help them?

Why did they stop?

I'm angry!

People are dying in my own country of dehydration, starvation, and lack of medications.

We aren't talking Africa, SriLanka, I'm telling you that tonight, right now this minute people are dying in Louisianna, United States of America!!!!

Your damned right I'm angry!

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

Amen.

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)