Re: Condolences to the hurricane victims.

> I offer my condolences and sympathies to the victims
> and their loved ones.
As do I.  I suggest that everyone go right away to
redcross.org and make a donation for Hurricane relief;
I have already done so. They're saying this hurricane is
the worst in American history, but in fact they mean that
not only in damage done to buildings (which is obvious), but
in human lives. It's possible it will surpass the Great
Hurricane of 1900 that leveled Galveston, killing 12,000
people.

One thing I don't understand is everyone blaming the
authorities for slow responses.  Bush declared the areas
disaster zones *before* the hurricane struck land, and
after the hurricane struck all the roads were destroyed, so
relief supplies would have been destroyed in already present,
or very difficult to get into the city, no matter what
preparations had been made.  No, the real blame for this
hurricane in a sense is the guy three centuries ago who built
a city in a place not intended for human habitation, one that
puts so many people in harm's way from storms and floods.
The French royal authorities even said so at the time.
What's even more disgusting is that people, notably Trittin
in Germany, have been trying to capitolize politically on
other people's suffering like this by bashing Bush.

Anyways, this is off-topic, so I don't intend on saying
anything more on the list.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637