Let me start this post by saying all the “right” things – Hurricane Katrina was a horrible thing, It is bad that people are suffering, etc. Yeah, I know all that so don’t bother sending me nasty comments about my insensitivity but…

The people in New Orleans should be glad that I’m not running rescue operations. After what I’ve seen on the news yesterday I’d be giving IQ tests and reality checks that people have to pass before I picked them up.

For example, there was the man who was yelling because in the middle of the storm “the City of New Orleans cut my power!”

My response would be, “Hey, dumba#^! There was a hurricane!!! The city did not cut your power, Mother Nature did.”

In the same vein there was a woman talking about how unprepared the city was because her toilet wouldn’t flush.

IQ/Reality test question #1 – Do electrical applicances like water pumps in toilets work when there is no electricity?

Question #2 – Do you really think that you are so important that in the middle of a natural disaster the City of New Orleans decided to take time to screw with you personally?

The answer to each of those is no, by the way. I wonder if their cluelessness has to do with living in a hot climate. They don’t have to deal with all the blizzards and ice storms that routinely cut power here. Perhaps they have never had to learn that Nature trumps man-made power grids any day.

For those of you thinking that I’m horrible for yelling at poor people who had no way to get out I offer up the comments of the rich white guy with a wife and two kids. He chose not to leave because his building was built after Camille so it was supposed to withstand hurricanes. Stupid decision #1. Then he decided he would be safest if he went to the 15th floor to watch the storm. Stupid decision #2. When the windows started blowing out he decided to move down a few floors. Then he needed rescued because even though his building was still standing the city shut down. Didn’t think there might be problems that would affect your self-centered hurricane-proof life?

These three were interviewed one after the other on FoxNews during the half hour I was cooking dinner last night. I had to get away from the news then because I was so disgusted with the people they were interviewing. There is a fine tradition in this country of pulling together and helping out after a natural disaster. But the people last night seemed to be offended that anyone would dare upset their lives and to hell with anyone else. They had no consideration for the people risking their lives to come get them after they ignored all the warnings to get out. Maybe Fox just found the three nastiest people they could find to interview but if these guys are representative of what the rescue crews have to deal with no wonder they are having such a hard time.