There is a lot of grist here for righties’ “don’t need no gummit help” BS, and Iowans do roll with stuff like this, like the undulations of their beautiful prairie landscape. But this is in no way in even the same league as Hurricane Katrina.

In New Orleans itself and surrounding parishes, it is tragic to see so much that still needs to be cleaned up or repaired. We drove across the bridge into Gretna where the now-deceased vile Sheriff Lee stationed armed cops to prevent hurricane victims from crossing into his parish. So, I literally found myself driving through Gretna with my middle finger extended, which is pretty futile as an lame attempt to register my continuing reaction to that bit of Gretna inhumanity. Then, I came to my better senses and changed my reaction from ‘the finger’ to an open palm and prayer for the souls of these folks who elected Lee.
Also drove through St Bernard’s Parish, or about 15 miles of it’s main road, with one side trip down a residential street, I did not want to make residents uncomfortable seeing an out-of-state licensed car with some drive-by gawkers looking out car windows at their misfortunes. Yes, there are homes rehabbed and once again inhabited next to homes boarded up and apparently abandoned, probably for lack of resources, or dead owners. Yes, there are FEMA trailers in front yards, as well as piles of debris in many front yards [almost three years later!!!].
But, I have to say that the hardest thing to take home from that trip was seeing so many homes that still have those painted circles on their front doors or walls, especially to read the dates of how tragically delayed were those authority checks for live or dead bodies…..twelve days, twenty days and so forth.

I am so sorry for Iowa, and especially Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids, all of which are places I have often been to for various reasons over the past two decades. I was canvassing in Cedar Rapids last fall for Obama…..it is hard to imagine that the entire downtown was flooded. And to see the Student Union at Iowa City sandbagged, but losing against the rising river…. That is often where I parked to walk uphill to other University buildings for meetings.
Last fall, I drove 3-4 thousand miles of Iowa’s two lane roads. I sort of fell in love with rural Iowa, but especially the rise and fall of the two-lane east-west highways as they crossed the many north south rivers in southern Iowa. And especially, I fell in love with the Loess Hills topographic region, the locale where that tornado just days ago hit the Boy Scout Camp, killing four and injuring dozens.

I feel sort of numb after the trip to the Gulf and all the news and pictures out of Iowa. It is beyond me why some folks would want to sit in their above-it-all perches like those continually inhumane right wingers do and make judgmental pronouncements and comparisons about victims of natural disasters. Do you suppose that the righties need their blanket judgments in the same way that the cartoon character Linus needs his blanket? They are so freaking immature, not to mention that they are spoiled screeching brats to boot.