Katrina/Guatemala

The Red Cross can't accept my blood since last October I visited Chichén Itzá, a "malaria-risk" Mayan ruin in the Yucatan. My claret won't be clean (in theory) until 12 months from that date -- October 2005 is the earliest I can donate. However, since I'll be in Guatemala for the next few weeks, I imagine I'll have to wait another 12 months from now. I think anywhere outside Guatemala City, which I know I'll be venturing beyond, is tainted as well. WHA-temala? Yeah, it was a surprise for me, too. I've been back in the States for barely a week and I'm already off again. This time it's for work, but you better believe that I'll be mixing some pleasure in there, too.

I was going to write a long, boring blog about the government's lack of response to Katrina, but now I won't have time. However, I would like to share with you, dear reader, some of the things I've learned in the past week.

• Over the past four and a half years, the traditional and essential wall separating Church and State in this country has been turned into a shower curtain. Thanks to Bush and his medieval policies, much of the world now views American Christianity as a wacky cult. Pat Robertson is currently cashing in on the Hurricane disaster relief, due to FEMA's official sponsorship of his corrupt Christian charity. Think Robertson is a stand-up guy doing God's work? Stop being an idiot, he's not. Read Max Blumenthal's September 7 piece in The Nation to learn why.
  
  
• Bush Sr. had a policy that the U.S. shouldn't lose any more wetlands; Clinton also set tough policies on environmental protection for coastal wetlands. Bush Jr. repealed all those policies in favor of business interests, opening up 20 million acres for development. Read Molly Ivins's well-researched September 1 editorial from the Chicago Tribune to find out how much funding the Bush White House has cut from the Army Corps of Engineers budget and how much of the National Guard has been diverted to Iraq.
  
  
• Bush told Diane Sawyer that no one "anticipated the levees would breach". Bullshit. Read this Scientific American article from October 2001 which leads with, "A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city". Great graphic illustrations accompany detailed explanations of root causes and the only possible solution to the problem: rebuilding marshes to absorb high waters and reconnecting the barrier islands to protect the marshes.
  
  
• Joseph Hughes has made a pictorial timeline for August 29-30. See what Dubya was doing while Americans were dying. Click the shit-eating grin below to watch our leader playing with guitars and birthday cakes in Southern California and Arizona.
  
  
  
  
• I have to thank my Uncle Anthony in Hong Kong for bringing my attention to this, Keith Olbermann's scathing commentary on Michael Chertoff's idiocy. Click on the picture to play the QuickTime.
  
  
• Speaking of great commentary, I can't resist linking to The Daily Show's hilarious piece on the two Michaels (Chertoff and Brown), aptly entitled "Meet the F**ckers". Click the picture to play video. (Thanks go out to OneGoodMove for posting both these last ones.)
  

And so, dear reader, I leave you for Central America. Please take care of the U.S. for me while I'm gone -- because, you know, our leaders aren't very good at that sort of thing.