Kill, kill, kill the poor

The response to Katrina by the right-wing blogs has been astounding. Although many major sites finally posted links where readers could donate to the relief effort, there continue to be brain-bending posts on how the victims of the hurricane brought all of this on themselves.

It seems to me that the poor should have had the EASIEST time leaving. They don't need to pay for an extended leave from their home, they could have just packed a few belongings and walked away to start over somewhere else. What did they have to lose?

When the wealthy evacuate, they leave behind nice houses, expensive cars, possibly pets that they treat as members of the family, valuable jewelry, family heirlooms, etc. This makes it emotionally difficult for wealthy people to leave. But by definition, the poor do not have this burden: they either rent their homes, or they are in public housing; their cars are practically junk anyway; and they don't have any valuable possessions. This is what it means to be poor. These people could just pick up their few belongings, buy a one-way bus ticket to any city and be poor there. Supposing they even had jobs in NO, it's not like minimum wage jobs are hard to come by.

Somehow, people should be shot on sight for looting, yet permitted to loot. Why so many posters and commentors feel a need to absolve the government of any responsibility for this mess is beyond me. People need help, not analysis-- there'll be plenty of time for that next month, next year, etc.

Again, I'd suggest that right-wing blogs are much farther to the right than progressive blogs are to the left.