Let's Not Fall In To The Trap...

I feel the rage that all of us feel; there are no excuses for the lack of action - or for that matter, the negative actions - our Federal Government undertook last week. I spend most of my daily breaks reading and researching and figuring out what went wrong, who was responsible (we know), and ways to help the victims. In the last few days, I've noticed a bad trend in our own rhetoric...

More below the fold.

However, now that we have a full-on rescue and recover operation going on, there are MANY, MANY good people in the military, National Guard, Coast Guard (who have NOT BEEN PRAISED ENOUGH) and even FEMA who are helping people, risking their own health and lives helping others. These people deserve praise and thanks.

It's important to remember that they are simply following orders, under the command of the people in command. It's easy to fall in to the trap of criticizing EVERYONE involved, and frankly, that's just wrong.

A very close friend of mine is a Captain in the Coast Guard, working out of New Orleans (full-time). His stories are amazing, and I know they have saved over 26,000 people as of a few days ago. After chatting with him, I had to reassure him that those on the left are not "anti-troop", as it were, but rather angry (fuming) at those that made so many horrid mistakes in the hours and days following the catastrophe.

PLEASE, make sure that when you make your arguments and vent your anger, make sure to make that particular point -- we don't need to be falsely labeled as 'anti-troop', etc. We're not.

****
And, for what it's worth, the good people and photographers at Flickr are having their own auction to help the victims. Please take a look, buy some great art, and help the victims at the same time!

The auction address: http://www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction/

And, FWIW, the link(s) to my own part of the auction:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction/discuss/80200/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction/discuss/79853/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/katrina_auction/discuss/79929/