Death Toll in Lousiana Alone might Top 10,000

A US Senator from Lousiana predicted today the the death toll from hurricane Katrina will START at 10,000 and go up.

"My guess is that it will start at 10,000, but that is only a guess," Vitter said, adding that he was not basing his remarks on any official death toll or body count.

David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, also called for the immediate deployment of regular US combat troops in New Orleans, saying the build-up of National Guard troops was too slow to quickly restore order. I agree to that.

The Tsunami hit on day one...we were there on day two. What happened here? Those in charge have been too slow in fixing this problem. They should have had troops landing from helicoptors and securing the sensitive areas before the wind stopped. I hope this is not what we can expect if, for God's sake, we get hit with some massive, nationwide terrorist attack.

Where is Our Relief?

If I remember right, last year there was a huge tsunami that wiped out several towns and villages in certain places of the world. I also remember a certain Norwegian diplomat from the U.N. that bad-mouthed the U.S. saying we were "stingy" with our relief money to these poor victims of a natural disaster. There was a national uproar. Our congress immediately coughed up several million dollars...more than the U.N. by the way.

Now, yesterday there was a "catastrophic" hurricane that hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. This was a huge blow to the U.S. and state economies. New Orleans alone is facing environmental disaster.
Maybe I missed it, I don't think so since I stay abreast of news, but have you heard of any country or the U.N. announcing they were coming to the aid of the U.S.? Have you heard anyone from the U.N. denouncing the countries for being "stingy" with their funds?
I Didn't think so.

I believe I know why.

These countries aren't offering aid because they first, do not want to, and second, they know that we do not want or need their measely tokens of aid. They know we are the most powerful nation in the world and we are that way because we know how to take care of our own. They know we will jump to their aid the minute a catastrophe strikes them because that is the way we are. Despite all the america-haters out there that spend their worthless existence trying to find ways to discredit America, we will not hesitate to help another country or group of people.

We will survive this and anything else that comes our way and will be there tomorrow if need be to help another country in need because, that's the way we are.

N'uff Said.

Gates of Fire

Everyone has an opinion about the war in Iraq. Some don't give a rat's butt as long as it doesn't interfere with their lives.
I have a vested interest in this war because I spent 20 years in the military and can relate to what our people are going through over there. Just like in every war, political agendas, public opinion, and reasons for being there, fall to the wayside when someone is trying to kill you. The only thing that matters is taking care of your buddies and living through the ordeal. If you ever go through something like that, you remember who you were with and what happened for the rest of your life. Nothing you do for the rest of your life will ever compare to those minutes under fire.
There are a lot of good blogs from Iraq out there and I link to them to get the word on what is actually happening there. If you haven't done that and all you know about Iraq is from the media...you are definitely uninformed.
I think the best one is from Michael Yon. He's an independent journalist reporting directly from the action. His recent post was very moving and thought provoking. You must take time to read it. If it doesn't move you in one way or another, you have more things to worry about than the war.
He reports two things that were disturbing to me; The first one...In the firefight, there were two soldiers that apparently did nothing. Michael didn't mention what happened to them afterward. The second was the scumbag terrorist they apprehended was a recent release from guess were...Abu Gharib. That's right, he was released to be free to try to kill our troops. He got his though and is probably speaking in falsetto now.
Read the blog. It is the best and I wish Michael the best over there.