katrina didn't bring her to her knees, the government of the united states did.

i was a very small cog in helping to organise relief efforts from california, shipping semi trucks full of needed goods within three days...only to be stopped at the city limits by fema officials.

we arrived, along with some other individuals and well run church groups, long, long, LONG before the government got their shit together.

i managed to get our group through.

i see what happens elsewhere in the world, i feel sorrow there, yet, at the same time... i have such anger, knowing i go to my city, in this nation, and she is still on her knees, with a president who said two years later "this nation cares about you people down here."

hello? you people??

and i wonder why this nation can't rise above what it is slowly becoming.

and unfortunately, policymakers without political will often count on the very fact that people will eventually stop caring instead of doing what needs to be done when asked. was at a very very frustrating event last week at the UN, lots of masturbatory navel-gazing. i think the only outcome was "we've got a lot of good food for thought here" while discussing the complexities of coordinating UNAMID between the UN and the AU. barf.