Don't know what to say

I thank God that relief has started making its way to New Orleans and other areas ravaged by Katrina and the aftermath. I'm also very angry and feel useless when I see how long it took to get there and how many have died and are dying. My anger is not at Bush, it's not at the LA governor, nor FEMA, nor the mayor. My anger is at the system in general. The bureacracy in this country is to blame for this, I think. It hasn't been created by one person in one year, but over years and years. People are so afraid to go against the rule book about who they must report to, how to get approval for activities, about what forms they must fill out, that people in "the richest country in the world" are suffering utter horror. State governments have offered boats and other help and were turned away in the beginning because there was no permission to bring them in. I understand that people can't just go in there willy-nilly and start trying to rescue people because it would cause utter chaos. But if other government officials are trying to help it astounds me that they were completely turned away.

I don't have the answers, for sure. We don't want the government in every aspect of our lives, but when something like this happens we are upset because they aren't immediately there forcing people to evacuate or with food and supplies. It's a bit of a catch-22. I'm not a fan of Bush by any stretch of the imagination, but I can't sit here and blame him for this whole thing. The government is set up with all these checks and balances, which is usually a good thing. However, in a time of crisis they don't seem to have the authority to throw out the rule book and make some common sense decisions. If they did have that authority, how often would they be able to do the same in matters we want them to stay away from?

For whatever reasons people stayed behind, my thoughts are with them. Nobody deserves to die in the way hundreds, perhaps thousands, have died in the South this past week. I feel that I cannot do anything to help them much right now, just a very minimal donation. I do have bags of clothes I've put off taking somewhere, so will start looking around for people in my area who are taking these types of donations there. It seems at the moment people need buses and vehicles and medical care more than what I can give them. I think I can do more good later with these goods when the initial shock of this event has been forgotten and other events fill up the news. I fear that this is something for which donations will be needed for months, if not longer. These people aren't just going to be able to go back to their homes in a few days, or even a few weeks.