Mexico Medical Student |

First of all, my heart goes out to all the victims of all kinds from all areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. I urge all of my readers–what few you are *cricket* *cricket*–to donate to the American Red Cross or the charity/relief agency of your choice to help.

I am proud to be a Texan and Houstonian, as all of the stranded Superdome refugees are being transported via hundreds of buses (FEMA is going to figure out how to clear the path, I suppose) to the Astrodome in Houston. Ever since Reliant Stadium opened, dwarfing the Astrodome, we have been wondering what to do about the 8th Wonder of the World that housed greats like Nolan Ryan and Earl Campbell. Political infighting has led nowhere, but that’s a good thing now, since the ‘Dome can be put to so much better use in this time of need than any of the other proposed ideas (including complete demolition).

As a fellow Texan, I’m also pissed at President Bush for being so “absent” during this crisis. His homage to the damage: cutting his vacation short by a few days, but not before spending a couple more days in Crawford, Texas first. The administration says that Crawford is as capable as the White House in terms of communication, but not only do I not believe it (you can’t just send a runner up the Hill to drag a senator to the West Wing), but what kind of message does that send to the country? It’s disgusting, as is the delayed deployment of military/national guard troops to provide security to this area. This was quoted today from CNN:

The president decided he should be in the nation’s capital given the magnitude of destruction and death caused by Katrina, one of the most severe storms to ever hit the United States.

You think? I know you’re slow, W, but you could have arrived at this decision, um…Monday evening or Tuesday morning. Not once has he scheduled a news conference, but perhaps he’s waiting until he goes back to DC. I want to see soldiers–our men and women of the US Armed Services–protecting our own citizens for a change. Yes, naval vessels are rightly being deployed from Norfolk, the Army Corps of Engineers is working on the levee situation, so I know that military assistance is not being ignored, but the vast majority of search, rescue and security has been left up to first responders who were overwhelmed from the beginning. This is “Homeland Security” at its worst, becoming an even larger bureaucratic behemoth slowing down Job#1: protecting our own here at home.