Four years today and the slime that rules us all

[If here via Tertia please scroll down, links under "HOW YOU CAN HELP"]

Four years ago today I was spending my last day in Israel on the kibbutz. I was supposed to have flown home the day before but JIP, with that uncanny cat sense they have, had decided not to come back to the room at all. Uzi and I looked everywhere for her and in the end he drove me to the airport so I could postpone the flight. She showed up immediately after our return and was very much distressed bcs she was forced to stay in till the next day, and then it was Humungous Pet Carrier Time for her and the baby (Tripod was abt 4-5 months old then).

And I remember being on that aeroplane and knowing that coming back was the right decision bcs Vet School was absolutely the right thing for me [HA!], but that it was breaking my heart. Uzi and I had spent a good 3 hours at the airport just sitting on trolleys and talking bcs we were early, and we also took pics of us and the cats in/on the pet carrier. The notion that everything was never going to be the same was so strongly w me I couldn't bring myself to have the film developped. I don't even know where said film is, much to my added grief now. I believe I'd have overcome my reticence if I'd known that was the last time I'd see Uzi alive. Don't cry Pip, you'll be back so very soon, and we'll visit each other often anyway, it will almost be the same thing.

Yesterday was a bad Uzi day even bfr I remembered the date. Then I did. Then it was an even worse day.

New Orleans... I've just woken up after 3 h of sleep, I woke up at 5.17 am thinking of all those at the Dome and everywhere else. I have been very effective at watching even less news than usual but information does filter in and my stomach has been increasingly heavy. Last night I was reading a blog by a nurse, a blog I used to enjoy loads bcs she often goes into detail abt clinical cases and procedures. She was talking abt a man who is devastated bcs he doesn't know what became of his 3 cats, which he had to abandon behind as he evacuated. And then she said something like "Oh well, as long as that is your biggest problem." And I was left staring at a computer screen wondering how on earth someone who chose nursing for a job can show this much compassion.* I know leaving my animals behind would kill me - actually, I wouldn't leave them behind, EVER. That would be as unconscionable as abandoning children, I think. It breaks my heart into minute pieces just thinking abt all those pets and strays. I've accepted the responsibility, it is mine till the end. How could I ever live w myself otherwise?

This was the last straw and now the floodgates of hell are open again. Imagine your city w all the supermarkets under water, all your familiar landmarks gone, imagine your house is only visible at roof level and you have got nothing but the clothes you are wearing. You have lost everything. EVERYTHING. It's unimaginable really, and there's too much water in it again, too much death and misery through water again. But this time, unlike the tsunami that killed Uzi, so much could have been prevented bcs WE KNEW IT WAS COMING! Hey Bush boy, how's the holiday going? You enjoying yourself there, love? How's that golf handicap? Should be close to 0 w all the practice you've been getting. Must be good to rule the world, all this free time and pahtying.

Bush is a murderer and a worse one w every day that goes by. Iraque wasn't bad enough, apparently - where is he now? Where are you, you coward, now that women are being raped in the Dome and no one does anything to prevent it? Now that armed groups have claimed their power back in the worst possible way, now that people are left starving and dying of thirst because life as we know it is over in New Orleans and there is nowhere to turn to for things we take so granted every day such as bread and water, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BLEEDING IDIOT? There are people stranded everywhere and no one coming to their rescue! Katrina was devastating enough but that the very poor (and very black, how surprising, and no one mentions it - reverse racism at its best, see how PC shit can kill?) are now being blamed for not having done what they were told - they are POOR, how could they have evacuated? With what money, with what means? And how were they to anyway, after traffic came to a near halt due to the human stampede, even if they had found the means? Where were you, Bush boy, where are you still?

Bush is a criminal, is what I think, and he belongs in jail, preferably Guantanamo-like. He makes me sick with disgust and shame and I curse the day this man was elected - and America, the world thanks you, really we do, how could we not, our fate in the hands of an acephalous wannabe cowboy. If there ever are photos of him in his underwear in the newspaper, believe me I'll keep mum. Forget abt fair, let's talk justice now. I wish I could spit in his face or smack him soundly across that lying mouth of his. The man makes me lose all composure and I feel my blood boiling!

Read this, he says it so clearly. And she does as well.

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HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you're feeling overwhelmed, donating IS something you can do and you may save lives and help give thousands some dignity and hope back. If you're concerned abt whether your money will be used properly, make sure you choose a bona fide organisation.

• The Fug girls have put together an amazing collection of links for money donations here, as has The Truth Laid Bear.
• If you want to donate goods go here, these people are gathering comfort goods to make life easier for those who have lost everything and will at some point be relocated to hotels.
• You can register to house the now homeless here.
• You can help the animals here and here. Please find out how to and help them and their worried owners.
• And blood, you can give blood even if you can't afford to donate money. There never is enough and now it's certainly needed. Some of us would give a lot to be able to and aren't allowed, please don't waste what is a truly wondrous gift.

Update: I put my money where my mouth is and have donated both to people and to animals. Do you know, I could never donate for anything Tsunami-related and it increased my sense of loss bcs those people, the survivors who lost their houses and their families or part of it, were victims as well. Less than Uzi, of course, but victims nevertheless and I have been refusing to help. I simply couldn't and I still cannot even look at advertising banners. This time I wasn't a coward, see, and my money will help, my money will make a difference, I will make a difference instead of simply wringing my hands and crying and breathing on in general.

*Update 2: I went back to that nurse's blog bcs I wanted to leave a comment and as it turns out she didn't say what I thought she did, it was a misunderstanding, she is heartbroken over the animals as well, and I am very grateful that I can keep on reading and thinking good things abt her. Sorry abt that again, HN!

Update 3: Kayne West is my new hero. It took balls indeed, and more anger than I like to think abt. And through Dovbear I found this: Ted Koppel slaying Michael Brown, Director of FEMA. Indeed. Astonishing! He didn't even know the difference between the Convention Centre and the Dome! [The American habit of over-using one's first name when replying is rather annoying, gah!] There's also this piece where Shepard Smith tells you how people are locked inside the Convention Centre, and how a checkpoint has been set up on a major road preventing people from going into Gretna, Louisianna, where there is electricity and hope, how anyone walking out of New Orleans is sent right back in, and a very disturbing Hannity person says he wants to get perspective and an absolutely shell-shocked Smith yells back THIS IS PERSPECTIVE!

Update 4: In awe of her, as usual.