New Orleans
Like many people, I have been following the disaster in New Orleans with horror and amazement.

I just read a report on The Guardian where a UK reporter is on the scene as thousands of local people are still trapped and in many cases seriously ill.

This is in a nation which is spending $5 billion plus a month in running a "war" in the Middle East with the most advanced technologies and most well resourced military in the world.

It is becoming apparent that US President George W. Bush is completely out of his league. His speech on the disaster was appalling and makes disturbing viewing. Don't take my word for it – see the original at the White House website.

This is what the New York Times said in an editorial on the subject:
"George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end."

I agree with the New York Times in this case.

The disaster has been made far worse by the fact that under the "leadership" of a self-interested, arrogant elite, it is the poor, the old and the sick – and in this case - the black – who have been left without help.

It is a disgrace that such a thing could happen in the world's wealthiest country.

Looking at some local photos by people on the ground there is disturbing and shocking.

All the authorities can do is talk about "shoot to kill." They represent a sick system.

They must go – and their New Zealand equivalents must not be allowed to take power here.
- posted by Victor @ 1:53 PM