Buddy, can you spare a dime?

“Here ya go, buddy,” is what the chick at the cafe said to me as she handed me an espresso. Sounds like they’re getting to know me here. But not in any personal way. Guess I’m not very talkative with these guys.
Been watching, as much as I can, the coverage of the New Orleans flood, and subsequent disaster. I watched Geraldo crying, and watched Hannity and Colmes try to put a spin on things to make the government seem more heroic and caring. I saw countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Cuba try to send aid. I even saw a lot of conspiracy theories — one about how this was a ploy to reduce crime and increase tourism by getting the poor people out of Nawlins. There were black people “looting” and white people “searching for supplies”.
All in all, this was a momentous failure, at all levels of government. It’s everyone’s fault. It’s even more ridiculous than the insane “War on Terror” brought about after 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of a country having nothing to do with it. How is it possible that 10,000 people are allowed to die in the aftermath of a storm in a first world nation — the richest, most powerful nation in the world?
If you’re asking the same question, then good. People should be asking these questions. If the press can get in there and interview people in the Superdome, but the Army and National Guard can’t, why is that?
Now we’ve got hundreds of thousands of refugees in their own country. People who are jobless/homeless because their jobs/homes were destroyed. What’s this going to do to the country? Hasn’t anyone thought about this previously? Isn’t there some kind of Cold War manual detailing the long-term consequences of a single destroyed city?
Is there anything we can do to help? That’s pretty much the real question. Aside from all the blaming and threatening and crying, that’s got to be the big question. Can we do anything to help?