Fires

I am glued to the TV watching these fires. I imagine like most folks are.
I can not fathom the fear this would invoke. All of it is just too much.

What I found so interesting last night is that it appears to have happened to white upper middle class and above. When they showed all the people at the stadium in San Diego the newcasters wanted to point out over and over again how it was a "fun" place to be. They had everything they needed. Then he showed a woman who said that they had so much food and water that they didn't know what to do with it all. (then give to those that don't have everything like the City Mission - duh! bragging about your riches really bugs me)

None of this sat well with me. I turned to my husband and asked, "is it me or are they putting a spin on this that is not the reality or to prove that a lesson was learned from Katrina and they are indeed in need of nothing?"

I so want to believe that "we" learned our lesson. However I don't believe that to be the case. Am I being cynical? Perhaps. But perhaps the fact is that they are not showing a full picture. Perhaps if this happened in South LA there would be no more food and fun at the stadium. Perhaps if it had happened in Compton no one would come put out the fires. Perhaps if in a poor community of LA instead of Malibu or San Diego or Orange County the warnings of evacuating wouldn't have been so quick and swift.

I know, I know, there are still hardships and having no fire trucks anywhere near you when you see the fire in your back yard has to be so damn frightening to say the least. My friend who lives in O.C. said that they can see the fire about 1/2 mile away and there were no fireman, fire trucks, no planes overhead. How scary is that? No help and not even from the National Guard who normally are on our land to protect us - but where are they? .....in Iraq for GW doing his dirty deeds.

I hope that I am indeed just cyncial and we all learned our lessons from Katrina. But with this administration it is hard to believe that they can get anything right other than patting each other on the back, deflecting, lying, and controling the media.