This is less of a structured diary, short on numbers, lacking pictures. It was originally a post on a rescued diary, and felt moved to make it a separate diary. Sorry for the possibility of spamming. This diary is more along the lines of a stream of consciousness, flowing from thoughts and images generated almost one year ago, in the aftermanth of Hurricane Katrina. Although our area was not affected directly by the hurricane, we were hit with (and continue to feel) some of the ripples from her. These are my own thoughts; I don't mind if my own thoughts get lost in the wave of Katrina diaries this week. Just keep in mind that we can never forget what happened on the Gulf Coast.

[WARNING: some words toward the end are considered very politically incorrect. Don't say you were warned, m'kay?]

I heard Pat Buchanan this morning on the radio, ranting on about some "Hispanic threat," and how they/we don't assimilate, how we're different from all other previous waves of immigrants. I thought my head was going to explode, mostly because I was agreeing with O'Reilly that Buchanan had just gone Way. Too. Far.

Well, one good turn deserves another.

Greetings, Super-Kossacks!

Please indulge me for a moment, forgive my name-calling toward the target of my ire. I know this diary speaks to a topic far less important than, say, President Carter's, but I've got a bee in my bonnet right now.

As a Californian-in-exile, my fiancée and I sometimes get a bit tired of living in the Bible Belt (but it's cheaper than Los Angeles, so we deal). However, sometimes I see signs of hope for liberal beliefs here in the Lone Star State.

I am a Unitarian Universalist, who tries to follow (I emphasize "tries") a basic moral, the one mentioned by Rabbi Hillel. He said something along the lines of loving your neighbor and regarding the rest of scripture as commentary. I also have grown to become something of a strong agnostic: I really don't have The Answers, and I don't plan on ever having them.

It's been about four months since Hurricane Katrina unleashed her wrath on the Gulf Coast. However, the damage continues to unfold. I saw this story today, buried in the depths of The Dallas Morning News this morning. I've linked directly to the New York Times source here:

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Hurricane Takes a Further Toll: Suicides Up in New Orleans
By ADAM NOSSITER
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 26 - Mental health professionals say this city appears to be experiencing a sharp increase in suicides in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and interviews and statistics suggest that the rate is now double or more the national and local averages.

It's not just the poor and destitute, either, who have suffered the mental and emotional effects of it all (more below the fold):

Hello, Kossacks,

Now this has to be the most pathetic excuse for Bush's depraved, callous disregard for the people of the Gulf Coast. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's because he's a Yankee. According to an old family friend, quoted in a "USA Today" article last week, Bush showed "awkwardness" because of the way he was raised. Well, they got that half-right, but he wasn't a emotionally tone-deaf, unempathetic boob because of any "New England-y" cultural attribute, I'd reckon. The link to the story is:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-08-bush-compassion_x.htm

Here's the part that made me go "whaaaa?" (below the fold):

There will be some people who say "let's leave politics out of this; there are people to take care of."

This is a big country. Life goes on. We must rescue survivors and tend to the displaced, help them as best we can and are able. Please help as you are able.

Hey,

First of all, I'm fully aware that I need to take some significant relaxation, but there's work to be done here and elsewhere.

I was reading that diary about the man who fell to his death in the Louisiana Superdome. A Kossack posted a link about Jonah Goldberg's glib, cynical, rude, nasty blurb about the conditions in the Superdome. This pissed me off. More below the fold....

Hello,

At last...my first diary!

I've been pretty tweaked by Pat Robertson's comments earlier this week, about "taking out" Venezuela president Hugo Chavez. It moved me to write a letter to the editor. I e-mailed the following letter (below the fold) to the local newspaper, The Beaumont Enterprise. For a Hearst fish-wrap, in a Red state, it's pretty well-balanced as far as their opinions and editorials. There is a chance I'll get published; they did publish one of my letters, opposing the anti-gay-marriage amendment on the ballot in Texas this November. That happened earlier this week.

Thanks for reading.