Katrina
I know that this topic has been beaten to death by every newcaster, blogger and wanna-be scientist predicting the end of civilization as we know it, but I just have to say a few things.
1. Go to this site: Foamy's Take of Katrina. It's great, but not safe for work.
2. M's business is primarily in the south, New Orleans and Mississippi to be exact. Besides the fact that his business is going to be sorely hurt by this, he considers most of his customers to be friends. About 99% of his NOLA customers lost everything. And, on top of what the hurricane took, the looters are taking the rest. Fucking criminal.
3. Looting. Feed yourselves, keep yourself alive. Feed your family. If you're starving and thirsty, break that plate glass window and steal water. Steal food. If you steal a TV, I hope that it drags you down into the Cholera infested sewage that you're trekking through.
4. I'm heartened by the outpouring of help coming from all areas of the US and the world in general. On craigslist's New Orleans site, people are offering their homes, cars, couches, and money to anyone who needs it. Thank God we're not ALL heartless pricks.
5. This whole thing is making me sick, the same way 9/11 made me sick. It's been pointless deaths all around. People were told to evacuate, and they didn't heed the warnings, and now they're thinking that thousands of people are dead. It is just unfathomable. They're pouring into Texas now, and we'll make space for them. The Astrodome in Houston and Reunion Area in Dallas are going to be housing tens of thousands of people, and they're desparate for jobs. I can't imagine what is going to happen to this country in the next 6 months.
6. The day that Katrina hit, over 800 people, mostly women and children, were killed in Iraq in a stampede that was brought on by rumors of a suicide bomber in their midst. This happened in Bagdhad. It seems to have gotten lost in the Katrina reporting. Lucky for George that people care much more about loss of American lives than loss of HUMAN life. American first, Human second, I guess.
So, that's it for my thoughts today. I started writing again, a short story that I think has some really good potential. Maybe I'll start posting bits of it here. It may actually turn out to be a medium story. Not short enough to be short, not long enough for a novel. I don't know where to go with it really. I'm hoping that on my honeymoon I'll be able to get some good writing in, but I'll probably just be really drunk the whole time. 66 days till my wedding. Not that I'm counting...