Hurricane Relief?

I'm furious. CNN International has finally switched off their regular news programmes to show coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The UK media has done a pretty good job of reporting on how bad things are in the US states that were hit, but the coverage is limited as they report on other world events. But now I'm getting the bigger picture of just what is going on in Louisiana and Mississippi.

One of the first bits of news I heard on Tuesday was that George Bush was releasing oil reserves to help out the refineries that lost their supplies. Need I say more? Not releasing food and water to victims. Not deploying troops to help save people's lives. He released oil.

I've heard an excellent interview with a furious Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin. He wants help and has been asking and begging. He can't believe that the government was able to send troops so quickly after 9/11 first to Afghanistan and then Iraq is so slow to help US citizens on US soil.

I'm also ashamed to hear how bands of armed US citizens are roaming the streets, shooting at those who are there to help in the rescue effort. It reminds me of Stephen King's "The Stand".