Since the Olympics are on I have been feeling patriotic lately and purely because I am competitive and I like to see my team win. I'm one of those obnoxious Americans that only think we do well when we win gold and I yell, "You suck, I could do better than you!" when someone screws up in the smallest of ways.

Then tonight I decided to catch up on my TV shows that I have been TiVo-ing and that is when the patriotism that I have been feeling over the past week flew out the window. I decided to TiVo Oprah because I knew Anderson Cooper was going to be on her show reporting on what has been happening down in the areas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina and I love me some Anderson Cooper.



Okay people, I knew that those poor people were being neglected, but I had no idea how bad it really is. I knew that FEMA wasn't doing anything and has been pulling a lot of bereaucratic bullshit when asked why they aren't getting anything done, but dear lord they have done absolutely nothing. I knew that people were being kicked out of their hotels and their apartments, but what I did not realize is how little FEMA has done to clean up the devastated areas.

It has been 6 months since Hurricane Katrina and you are still not able to walk on the grass because ecoli is in the ground that you can become infected with! With that in mind, people are living in trailers on this infected grass because they have nowhere to go! People's possessions are still everywhere. It doesn't look like the bulldozers have cleared anything and it has been 6 months!!!!! The government isn't doing anything to clear away all the wreckage and they have the balls to kick people out of hotels and apartments because they don't want to pay for them anymore? Are you serious? These people are still in those hotels and apartments because they have nowhere else to go! They don't choose to be crammed onto a cruise ship cabin or have 6 people living in one tiny hotel room. People don't choose to live like this!

Ignorance really is the American way. Most White Americans didn't think the lack of response by the government days after the hurricane hit was a racial issue. I'm sorry, but if the hurricane had hit, oh I don't know TEXAS, the way it had hit Louisiana and Mississippi, you sure as hell know that Bush would have sent FEMA out there the day it happened! New Orleans has a huge African American community and is also one of poorest cities in the United States. Why is this, my friends? Because the system works against minorities! Why didn't people evacuate like they were advised? Because they were too poor and therefore did not have the means to do so! Why did these people then sit on their roofs for days and days after the hurricane hit? Once again, the system works against minorities. It's a vicious cycle and it's infuriating and I'm ashamed to be an American!

We are the largest economy in the world. We are fighting a bullshit trillion dollar war against people who have never done anything to us and you're telling me that we don't have the money to help out our own people? What's wrong with this picture?

Normally I would whine about Republicans and the Bush administration, but not this time. I've always known this, but in the back of my mind I try and tell myself I am associated with the better party being a Democrat and all, but the representation for the Democratic party are no better than the Republicans. They don't seem to be doing a whole lot trying to change what is going on in New Orleans and that is why I have decided that I am going to be an Independent from now on. I've been leaning that way for a couple months now and seeing what is going on down there has pushed me over the edge. I refuse to be associated with two horribly corrupt parties any longer.

Americans need to open up their eyes and see what is going on around them in their own country and see what their own President is doing. President Clinton was impeached for cheating on his wife which was none of our business. President Bush has sent us into a war on false pretenses, he did not respond to his own suffering people for 5 days while watching them wither away on national television, he had reports that 9/11 was going to occur, but ignored the reports, has not found the man that killed 3,000 people, need I go on? Think of all the scandals that have been going on over only the past two years of this administration and just think of how much more is going to come out over the next two years. Scary thought, isn't it?

I know this is long and if you've read this far I'm surprised. Watching that show just dragged out all the anger and sadness that I felt when Katrina first occurred all over again and I needed to get it off my chest. If you don't agree with me, don't bother writing a nasty comment because I will read the first sentence and then stop and delete your comment. I don't want to hear any opposition because you're just another ignorant American if you disagree with me.