Is it possible that those dead people are still sitting at the convention center in New Orleans?  Can I believe what I’m seeing on the TV?  That woman in the wheelchair, covered with the plaid blanket is still there?  The person beside her, in the white sheet, is still there?  They’re still there, decomposing in the heat? 

That’s somebody’s mother or grandmother, somebody’s son or daughter. How is it possible that this is happening?  This has passed from being a tragedy to a shame to an outright crime.

Tonight, the only thing that’s more shocking than the abject failure to respond to desperate need in a timely manner is the amazing way the government is being excoriated by the media. Reporter after reporter on the scene in the disaster areas is taking the government to task and holding on like pit bulls. Seems like just yesterday we were all wondering why the media seemed asleep at the wheel over Iraq and scandals like the Downing Street Memo.

As I’ve said before, I’ve always wanted to like my president. I’m an American. And even now, I think he must be a likeable guy, as I see him embracing victims in Biloxi. So this failure of proactive leadership is not the kind of scandal I want to see stick to him. But since the others – like the fraudulent pretext for the war in Iraq – have not stuck, I’ll take the justice I can get. Or a better word might be comeuppance.

Wow. I just watched the mayor of San Antonio, Phil Hardberger, interviewed on CNN.  How refreshing it is to see a public servant who is eloquent, circumspect and compassionate.  Not to mention pragmatic.  I like that guy.  But then I’ve liked most people I’ve met from Texas.  They’re good people.

The rescue of the suffering in New Orleans is just another great example of the failure of the Bush administration.  Ships in route, troops on order to deploy, activated, but not there.  Where are they?  They’re not there, helping the people, and it’s been days. Are they marching from Alaska? The city is insane, there are dead in the streets in America.  This will be part of Bush’s legacy.

You are gone and I
walk in a country I have never
seen before. I never thought
it could hurt so much
or be so beautiful.

I am so sorry for what’s happened in this storm. It’s just terrible. I’m watching CNN, and they’re using highway ramps as boat ramps, bringing to safety in little boats. No way to know how many are still out there, or how many are dead. God help them. And their pets.

What did I do today? I chewed out a possibly retarded, non-English-speaking man for very deliberately leaf-blowering dirt all over my just washed pickup truck. I had a chance to take a deep breath and practice a little tolerance and kindness, and I didn’t. I went off on him. I’d just picked up Tasha’s ashes at the vet’s, and I was in no particular mood to be fudged around with by life. Or whatever cynically comical force sends such people out into the universe with leaf blowers.

What am I thinking about? Taking the doggie – themed poetry magnets off my fridge.

What else? Dinner’s almost ready.

What else? I’m going to church in the morning. Hope I don’t get zapped into a pile of Kingsford BBQ briquets when I get to the door.