Katrina +True Poverty=Sad times ahead

More often than not, natural disasters strike in places outside the United States, We do get the occasional hurricanes and earthquakes, but most disasters often occur in other countries, particularly the third world. But this week the US was struck by a hurricane that was massive not so much in scale, (it was a category 4 when it hit land) but in damage from the aftermath. The city of New Orleans was absolutely hammered primarily to a broken levee that let out massive amounts of water onto the city that is below sea level by about 3 to 6 feet. So that is what you are seeing on television, all that water causing death and mayhem. New Orleans is a vibrant, albeit mostly impoverished city. When I visited the city twice in the late 1990s, I found the place to be very colorful, a lot of mixtures on beautiful folks, nice titty bars, and of course a lot of poverty, not unlike what you'd see in a third world. Yes folks, we have true poverty in the United States, not some bullshit poverty claims that some hustle others with to sustain a comfortable lifestyle, but real out and out, abject poverty. I've seen it and it is really sad.

"I know where you got your shoes," is a pretty good scam that occurs everyday on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A man, almost always a black man will come up to you and bet you $5 that he knows where you got your shoes, and when you take that bet, the standard reply is "you got those shoes right here on Bourbon Street." In a sense it is true because them there shoes you got on your feet are right there, in the now, in New Orleans. So you gotta pay up, because if you don't the man usually has some muscle to threaten you to pay up. Its a pretty good hustle, and it works more often than not.

The hustle going on right now is that of mayhem and what looks like bits of anarchy, as looters have started to rear their ugly heads. But, in the fluid situation that is happening right now, do the cops focus on saving those who need to be saved, or focus on protecting property? Some police are breaking into some of the convenience stores and handing out needed food and water to those in immediate need and they should be applauded, because based on the looks of what is being seen just on the TV alone, it is going to be a long time before New Orleans and the other affected cities in the south return to normal.

One thing leaves me wondering, which countries will come to our aid? Where is the "coalition of the willing?"