I have in mind a song right now…

What a Wonderful world…by Louis Armstrong…Satchmo…

Why?

Because what I have in mind when I’m thinking of that song, is the scenes from the movie “Good Morning, Vietnam”, where that song is playing in the soundtrack while death and destruction reign supreme in air and land based warfare in the Viet Nam war.

We are seeing, truly for the first time, break down of American Civilization in an American City, DAYS after a horrendous and widespread regional catastrophe. Hundreds of dead…possible thousands. A city abandoned…by all who can leave…and those left, having nothing to live on, live with, or live for.

No food…no clean water…no electricity…no communications…no hope.

Dead bodies littering the many feet deep neighborhoods, as rescuers focus on the living. Reports of cannabilism, AFTER FOUR DAYS, but a civil rights advocate…who says…

“It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive. Four days after the storm, thousands of blacks in New Orleans are dying like dogs. No-one has come to help them.”

…yet offers no sources of the proof of canabilism.

Tens of thousands stranded in or near the superdome…without food/water/sanitation/electricity. Some have been moved to Houston’s Astrodome, others to Dallas and San Antonio.

Over 15,000 National Guardsman are in place, with another 15,000 moving that way. Active military, FEMA, Red Cross, and other support agencies moving EVERYTHING they have in that direction.

Bush pledging support and unlimited funds for recovery and support…but not fast enough.

NO support from other nations to speak of…only WONDER at how fast civilized humanity denigrated into tribes of roving bands of spikey haired mutants, killers, rapists, and all manner of other thugs, in all the major foreign press media outlets.

The world’s last super power, is now the bastard stepchild when it comes to nations helping each other through the worst that nature can bring. Isolationalism in reverse. A nation falling apart internally, while others only laugh and point.

What ill will does this become a harbinger of for our near and distant future?

67% of the populace of New Orleans is black. Much has been made of the media of the whites and above-poverty level citizens being evacuated first…while most of what has been seen on TV was black families still on rooftops and wading through waste and chest deep water.

The city’s school buses, that could have been used to evacuate thousands out of New Orleans to safer areas farther north or east, sit parked together, side by side, unused and drowned, and useless…in several feet of water.

The mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin, pleaing as loudly as possible for ALL the assistance the world can send…and seems to be ignored by most of society…because tens of thousands of HIS constituents are still unable to help themselves…and didn’t seek help until it was too late.

So…what is wrong here? Where did the mayor go wrong? The city fathers? The state legislature? Congress? The current, and previous presidents?

What COULD have been done to MITIGATE ( i.e. To make less severe or more bearable: allay, alleviate, assuage, comfort, ease, lessen, lighten2, palliate, relieve. See increase/decrease) the effects of a modern, catastrophic, massive hurricane, that we see EVERY YEAR somewhere in the world?

How could individual citizens have been more prepared in knowing what to do, and when to do it/

What should the city/state have done to increase ANY safety buffers, equipment, infrastructure, or emergency management planning?

What could the petroleum industry have done to NOT see the effects we will now have to deal with with lost rigs, damaged fuel manufacturing plants, destroyed transportation systems, and more, causing a world wide shortage in vehicle and heating fuel?

Will New Orleans, the city, have to be abandoned, as is feared by many in the state right now?

Too many questions…not enough answers.

I’ll spend the next few days trying to cover these issues, here in this blog, so stay tuned. Your comments and observations are welcome.

Rich