you're sick of hearing about all this, but

...two, ok, three—well, really four Katrina-related items.

#1.I don't know if more $$$ is needed or not, but you want to donate cash to non-holy-rollers, here's one option: the AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund has set up a special Hurricane Relief Fund (contributions are tax-deductible).

#2. Apparently, Venezuelan pres Hugo Chavez (you know, the one Pat Robertson wants assassinated) has offered to send a supply of cheap oil to help with the fuel crisis.

Apparently, the U.S. "has not decided whether to accept" this offer from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Yeah, study that one a bit more, wouldja?

#3. A lot of folks are really pissed at Michael Marcavage, and rightly so. Franklin & his commenters rant beautifully on this topic.

No disrespect or disagreement, but I'm reserving my fury for two people who—unlike the pathetic, miserable Mr. Marcavage, whose surplus of bile will probably eat out his innards and save us the trouble of bothering about him—have both the responsibility and the capability of saving the lives of thousands of miserable people in New Orleans, and whose totally stupid, misplaced, ridiculous (I can't even think of enough adjectives here) responses are redolent with ignorant self-satisfied superiority, and certainly can be suspected of racism as well.

Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco: "Anytime ya got a buncha poor Black folks all together, you know yer gonna need some biiiiiig scary guns."

No food, no water, but here's what we got for ya: "They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will," Blanco said.

FEMA head Mike Brown: "Maybe if we let those dumb n_____s sit in their own shit with their dead grandmas for a coupla days they'll evacuate next time we say evacuate, a-heh heh heh heh."

Commenting on the death toll, predicted into the thousands, Brown told CNN, "Unfortunately, that [high death toll] is going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings..." [Like YOU, asshole!]... Piling on the condescension, Brown continued, "[W]e've got to figure out some way to convince people that whenever warnings go out it's for their own good."

Extra irony:Brown's complete title is "Undersecretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security." His prior qualification for this job? Some other government posts and, prior to that, he was a lawyer.

It just kills me how all these folks keep saying that this is the best that could have been done. It's that typical American thing—it's us doing it, so it must be the best, because we're the best, QED.

If this had happened in Japan, you'd see some goddamn Emergency Preparedness.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So if you were gonna go live in some other country because this one is too ridiculous, where would you go? I mean, realistically. Taking suggestions now...