When the fantasy goes awry

You know when Billy and Papa Bush get together, something has gone horribly wrong. I'm speaking of our former presidents of course. They got together with W to reach out to the fortunate (A.K.A the private sector and filthy rich) for help with the recovery of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They got together for the Tsunami in the Pacific and were able to put together quite a relief package for the victims of the nations effected. But when they have to get together to call upon the upper class and private business communities to pitch in for this latest disaster in New Orleans (least we forget the rest of Coastal Lousiana and Mississippi) there is obviously a problem.

The thing is, there was a problem long before Hurricane Katrina came along. About 40 miles north of here is the County of Charlotte. Within Charlotte are the cities of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, both decimated by another Hurricane, Charley. There are still people living in those areas that have tarps covering their damaged roofs, people still waiting for their insurance companies to pony up what they promise in the TV commercials. Chris Rock said it best "they should call it 'in case shit'." In case shit happens, those companies, after taking premium after premium, deductible after deductible, will pay you back in order to restore what you have lost. But people in Charlotte County wait. On the Florida panhandle when you say the name Ivan people twitch. They are still punch drunk from a hurricane that came and went almost a year to the day. Insurance companies are doing the same dance. I'm sure those companies are in warm ups now for the dance of the century, cause let's face it, New Orleans will never be the same.

The interesting thing about it is that most of these people you've been seeing in pictures and on news reports were dirt poor before the storm came blowing through. When they said they lost everything they had, they did. There is no insurance for these people. They were struggling to pay the rent, much like a growing majority, including myself, are trying to do. We're trying to do it in an age where inflation is out of control, a child's education is an after thought, and our president is taking a vacation. For a month and a half! Yes, I realize that W has the all makings of the oval office down in Crawford, but it is paricularly intriguing that during his time at his ranch the country has gone to hell in a handbasket. And all he seems to be able to do is ride his horse and play the acoustic guitar (I imagine he is playing it badly, it makes me feel better). In other words he's hiding, not just from a woman who's son died in Iraq, but from a country he has failed. Iraq had free elections, great. They wrote a constitution, super great. But how is that helping me, how is that making me safe. How is that making my dollar worth more. Yeah, Sadaam was a bad, bad man, but is he as bad ass as the dude in North Korea who can reach San Fransisco with a nuclear missle, I think not. One of W's first actions as president was to give everybody a tax rebate, followed by a tax cut. Now I'm not an economist, but I've taking enough finance classes to know you can't fight a war without income. And where's your tax cut now? You are paying more for gas, milk and other essentials than you ever had. If you leave the country and exchange your money for say Euros or Yen, you're getting the short end of the stick. The tax cut was a scam to let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the oldest trick in the book. Reagan pulled it in the '80's and I was too young to matter and anybody my age back then was too coked up to notice, which brings me back to Billy and Papa Bush. Why were they sitting there hat in hand, asking for corporations and upper elite in this country to give to help those in New Orleans? Because the country is flat broke, "sorry Nawlings, we spent our last billion giving our soldiers in Iraq substandard equipment and my bonehead son gave y'all a tax cut a couple years back. Our bad." The Bastard (AKA He supported W in 2000 so he really is a bastard) was right, this is going to get worse before it gets better-but not just for New Orleans, but for everyone.

Florida gets a large portion of it's gas from the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Lousiana and Mississippi, so I woke up this morning to gas stations without gas. I work in a business that relies on new construction, without gas I can't get there to use my genenrator in order to use power tools on wood or steel or concrete that was delivered by a truck that takes gasoline or diesel in order to run. A family business that at the moment is two strong that could simply be wiped out because we can't get gas. And I live in THE fastest growing area in the entire state of Florida and one of the top five fastest growing areas in the country which means we can't build enough, but just take away our gas and inflate the housing market and check back with me in six months. I'll be back up in New York living with my parents apologizing to the elder for bad mouthing the Dark Lord of the Sith-I mean Local 3.

No, Captain Nemo and I aren't there yet, but do you see how easy it is to make that jump. These poor people in New Orleans were victims before the storm. Victims of government that, more often than not, has turned it's back on them, or worse, pretended they didn't exist. My cousin, who works in an administrative capacity for the company I work for, sent $100 dollars to a relief fund for the victims of this tragedy yeterday. $100 we didn't have, but it was the right thing to do. I joked today, after seeing that food and water was finally being air-lifted into the makeshift shelters, that if it wasn't for our $100 they still be thirsty and hungry. In hindsight it wasn't ajoke. If it wasn't for those $100, $50, whatever donation people could make, it wouldn't have happened. The Red Cross can only do so much. They are still reeling from last hurricane season, a mudslide in California, and a Tsunami in Asia. I think it's high time the insurance magnates, the Haliburtons, and old money establishments of this country pony up some dough for those of us who have given them their good fortune by not not burning them down to the fucking ground. Yes, I realize this is a capitalist society and that's the way it goes but there is no sale without a client, and the clients are getting restless. The American Dream is a fantasy, most of us aren't living it, we're just living...barely.

the motherfucking motherfucker.

People have commented that I come across in rage on this blog. Well, yeah, it's a writing style, but much more than that anyone who truly knows me knows I get a little nutziod when it comes to truth and justice. I put it to you this way: When it comes to this blog, consider the Bastard (AKA Viva Las Bastard) the Minister of Information, and consider me the Minister of War. "Me say war"