These are the times that try men's souls

I originally wrote this as a comment on Jocelyn’s site but since it’s what’s going on in my head and is a huge rant I’m going to reprint it here.

New Orleans is a war zone. There are dead and dying in the streets. Criminals with guns are taking advantage of the situation and citizens who are desperate are committing acts of desperation. The poor folks in the Superdome and the NO Convention Center are not there because they were too stupid to leave ahead of the storm. They are there because they were too poor to leave. There is a lot of blame to go around today, five days into this tragic situation.

Guess what? The time for pointing fingers is OVER, folks. The only finger pointing I want to hear is: food goes there, water goes there, the adequate shelter is over yonder, and, oh yeah, here's a certain amount of money per family to set themselves up temorarily someplace else. That and the National Guard goes everywhere in New Orleans. Give the city a big camo enema. This is a period where martial law is in effect.

This is a dire situation. Think of the other LA, Los Angeles. It took just one incident - just one senseless, stupid, shameful piece of police overreaction to cause the oppressed people, the poor people, the people who feel they have been treated shabbily and have nothing to lose, to start a riot and trash their own neighborhoods. Frustration and alienation and poverty in the greatest nation in the world creates situations where, given the absence of law, there will be violence and bloodshed.

I'm not even pointed that finger; I'm saying that I'm not going to judge the survivors of Katrina now. I'm going to send money and clothing and whatever else I can do as one person to help.

Laying blame comes AFTER order is restored, after the dead are buried, after the survivors have their basic needs met.

This is a national emergency. It will take a nation to solve. We're strong enough to solve it and we will, but spending energy on laying blame and Monday-morning quarter-backing a situation that we in Alaska and Illinois and all the other places far away from the devastation is a waste of time and energy.

The time for bitching, people, is over. The time for action is upon us. Remember when we prayed that our men and women in the Gulf would be safe? Remember when that Gulf was the Persian Gulf? Now it's the Gulf of Mexico, my friends, and they need our thoughts, our prayers, and our resources.

To a large extent I blame the media for all the finger pointing, but I'm not even going to point the finger at them. I'm going to use my fingers to write this and to write a check and to find out what else I can do to help.

I'm now getting off of my soapbox.

The people in the Gulf Coast need my soap.