Last night, after a pleasant evening of baking banana bread, Mystic River, and guacamole, I sat down in front of my computer to catch up on the day’s events from some of my favorite internet sites. I have been keeping a close watch on the happenings in New Orleans (as I’m sure the rest of the world is, as well). Up until yesterday, I was under the impression that Katrina was the cause of this entire disaster. Now I see that the government is the real disaster.

Reading all of the late breaking news (NOT from the spin doctors) brings a tear to my eye. America is seriously fu*ked up. The Red Cross has been ordered to stay out of New Orleans. Critical firefighting equipment is being left untouched. Chicago’s offer of manpower and equipment is “snubbed” by FEMA, according to the Mayor. FEMA “forgets” to tell the military to airdrop food and water to the survivors. Northern Command has been ready for days, just waiting for the President to give the orders. Feds delayed paperwork giving permission for National Guard to act. Louisiana begged for federal help on Sunday in a formal request, but the Bush administration says they didn’t know anything about problems until Wednesday. Meanwhile, reporters apparently grow weary of the spin doctors.

Jan found a scary article explaining how US authorities had refused to evacuate British families trapped in New Orleans.

David Aaronovitch of the London Times observes, “It isn’t the failure to act in New Orleans that is the story here, it’s the sheer, uninsured, uncared for, self-disenfranchised scale of the poverty that lies revealed. It looks like a scene from the Third World because that’s the truth. It’s a quiet disaster that’s been going on for years.”

I wanted to write this entry last night, but I decided to first sit down in front of the TV and watch some Fox News to feed my ire. I was asleep withing 10 minutes.

The view of America from abroad is not pretty. Many countries have offered aid, but the official response goes something like: “thanks but we don’t need help with this internal matter”.

Jan’s parents tell us that the news coverage in Britain is overwhelmingly anti-Bush.

Sweden is offering help with water purification and temporary housing (two areas where Sweden has special expertise in disaster relief.) The response: “Vi har inte fått någon signal från USA om vad man konkret är i behov av.” – We haven’t received any indication of what the concrete needs are.

A German blogger says, “Most people here in Germany are stunned that the richest and most powerful country on earth is so slow and incompetent to save it’s own citizens.”

Pathetic.