Let's focus on the real outrages, OK?

[gridlore]

Amid all the finger-pointing and blame assessing surrounding the pathetic response by the Federal government to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, some people have decided to be just outraged by the actions of one administration official.

No, not FEMA chief Michael "It's the victim's fault" Brown, not Dick "Me, I'm in an undisclosed location" Cheney, not even George "Who needs levee upgrades and flood control? I got me a war!" Bush.

No, the transgressor was Condi Rice, and she bought some nice shoes. For this, she is being pilloried by some of the more out-there members of my side of the aisle.

What the fuck, people? The woman is Secretary of State. In case y'all have forgotten, the State Department is in charge of foreign relations. The Gulf Coast states are not, last time I checked, foreign nations. So what role Condi was supposed to take in this disaster is beyond me. Embassies could contact their respective "desks" or the Department of Homeland Security directly with offers of aid, and many have.

Then there's the silly idea that during a time of crisis we all need to wear hair shirts and suffer along with the people in New Orleans. That somehow we all need to reduce ourselves to their level. Bollocks. I'm having a great fucking week, thank you very much. If the Big One hits in the next ten minutes and I find myself eating cold soup and sleeping in my car for the next week, I won't expect anyone to stop their lives just because I'm having a hard time. So the Secretary of State bought some shoes.

Who the fuck cares?

Comments

[lysana.livejournal.com]

*wild applause*

[psychoticdreams.livejournal.com]

I have to agree 100%.

[52beans.livejournal.com]

yeh what the hell am I suppose to do? After I paid my rent and bought some food I have 27 bucks in my bank account. Sorry but I got my own worries & the overkill on teevee is getting on my nerves big time. christ.

My feelings exactly.

[seawasp]

And others were whinging that she had the woman who was shouting at her about it "physically removed", as though this was something shocking. Hey, I'm a major political figure and someone's getting abusive with me in public? In THIS day and age? The woman's lucky she didn't end up arrested. Physical removal is the least that Rice would be expected to do to someone in that situation.

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

On balance - buying a pair of extremely expensive shoes, even when it is your own money and you AREN'T directly responsible for the way others have bungled the response to real tragedy has more than a little of Marie Antoinette's, "Let them eat cake," statement about it. If Rice is as good a diplomat as she is supposed to be, she should have known better.

[52beans.livejournal.com]

with 27 bucks to my name new shoes aren't even an option.

Foamys Rant

[n-1-n.livejournal.com]

check this out if u havent seen it.
http://newgrounds.com/portal/view/262703
this might make u feel better about the fucked up situation.

Re: Foamys Rant

[52beans.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that link. I want to help; I'm a Registered Nurse for godssake. But I'm disabled; that still doesn't mean I've lost the desire to help people. Nursing school is extremely difficult and it kills me not to be able to do jack squat.
My latest statement has been:
"I didn't go to college to live like this."

Which means that because I'm an R.N. sometimes I won't go to a medical facility for help for myself because being on the other side of the desk is just too much for me to handle.

[n-1-n.livejournal.com]

UMM shit ya just realized uve seen the flash... ok fuck it then ignore my previous comment

[karmabreeze.livejournal.com]

What's she supposed to do? Three words: "token black woman". She's the one with the best potential to put an important black face on the poor blacks who comprise the majority of the evacuees.

This isn't how I perceive it, but I can totally see that coming from others.

[blackfyr.livejournal.com]

Actually, I do have one thing to point out about Condi Rice not being in Washington during the time she was out going to the theater, etc. Seems she was falling behind on responding to all the offers of humanitarian aid from other countries. All those offers have to go through her office, and she wasn't there (or in contact) to handle them.

*applause*

[frostmane.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. What I would like to see is FEMA accept all the Dr's that Mr. Castro has offered. Tell him that they will be given a standardized AMA licencing test and then ... those that pass will not only be accepted to help, they will be given green cards and offered "Political Asilium" status. Those that don't pass will be given a "Thank you" and returned to Cuba to Dr. his people.