Let Them Eat Cake

2 years ago today, the fiercest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States came ashore, devastating the Gulf Coast. 2 years ago today, countless thousands of people lost their homes and their businesses to driving winds, relentless rains and the ever-rising floodwaters. 2 years ago today, people lost their neighborhoods, their towns and their cities to Katrina's fury. 2 years ago today, two-thousand people lost their lives.

And 2 years ago today, while American citizens died in the streets of American cities, George W. Bush was too busy doing this to be bothered:
Recovery along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has been slow, to say the least. Entire neighborhoods still lay in ruins, people's lives remain shattered. People continue to reside in cities other than their own because they still have no place to come home to. And the Federal government continues to fail the people of the Gulf Coast today as they did the day Katrina hit.

Bush dutifully trotted himself down to New Orleans today for what's becoming his annual Gulf Coast photo-op and said the usual and expected things, expressed his feigned sorrow at the tragedy and loss Katrina inflicted, but when he gets back on Air Force 1 and goes back to Washington, not a damn thing will have changed. That this Administration has given no-bid contracts to Halliburton to rebuild New Orleans and that Halliburton is only rebuilding in areas where large casinos and other corporate entities can set up shop should tell you all you need to know about where their priorities are at. Neither this Administration nor Halliburton are helping the regular and real people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to rebuild their lives and their homes.

That the devastation along the Gulf Coast is as bad in most areas today as it was 2 years ago is unconscionable. That we're spending countless billions in Iraq and doing nothing to help those living in those ravaged areas along the Gulf Coast is a testament to the callous and uncaring attitude of this Administration. This government... this nation... should be deeply ashamed. Above anything and everything else, we should be taking care of our own.

Word has come down that next month, Bush will be asking (demanding) another $50 BILLION from Congress to continue funding the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. $50 billion. Don't you think that money would be better spent rebuilding the Gulf Coast and putting shattered lives back together again? Don't you think that money would be better spent rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of this country? Don't you think $50 billion could be better spent in this country rather than handing it over to Halliburton and the other corporate entities operating in Iraq?

I am urging everybody to sign this petition. The petition is to show our support for a bill sponsored by Senators Dodd, Kerry, Boxer, Brown, Durbin, Obama and Landrieu, the Gulf Coast Recovery Act of 2007 (S.1668). It will help provide affordable housing to those who lost everything to Katrina. And if you're so moved, I'm urging everybody to contact their Senators and their Congresscritters and demand that they support the Gulf Coast Recovery Act of 2007.

It's 2 years after Katrina. It's well beyond time we help our fellow citizens rebuild and move on with their lives. It's well beyond time that we force the government to take action.

If you feel so moved, please feel free to forward this along or repost it. The further we spread our message, the louder our collective voices will be. It's time we're heard.

And now, I'll leave you with this video, produced by Robert Greenwald...

~Kevin S.