Obviously, some holy rollers on the right are already blaming Katrina on homosexuals and abortion clinics, of which New Orleans lacked neither. The looting and lawlessness, however, brought something else to mind: Baghdad.
Remember Baghdad after the U.S. invasion? Remember the devastation from the bombing? Remember the looting of priceless vestiges of Mesopotamian civilization from the Iraq Museum?
Could New Orleans be my Higher Power's Cosmic Payback?
Somewhere else comes to mind as well: Chernobyl. Ronald Reagan has been credited for bringing down the "Evil Empire" practically single-handed -- depending on whom you ask, of course. What's less popular wisdom is that he had a lot of help from the Soviet Union's own apparachiks. A blatant disregard for nuclear safety procedures created the Chernobyl disaster, in which a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor went out of control, creating explosions and a fireball that blew off the reactor's lid. No fewer than 135 thousand people had to leave their homes due to radiation contamination. That was 1986. Within five years, the Soviet Union was no more.
It's been known for years that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. But our politicians gave the levee in New Orleans, which was sadly in need of repair, a lower priority than the war in Iraq, tax cuts for the top 1% and, most recently, a pork package that includes bridges to nowhere in Alaska. Now that the inevitable has happened, perhaps Americans will be awakened from their long sleep and have finally had enough.
Perhaps New Orleans is my Higher Power's way of doing a Cosmic Cleanup.
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