solitude... ahhh, solitude!

well, almost.

we were in the mountains, which provided the solice. however, the debate shattered the air like chainsaws after a tornado.

it was "progressive debate" i'd say. you know, the kind when people have differences of opinions yet agree to disagree.

j.c., mike, wendell, tom, natalie, her friend and i spent the afternoon grilling out, swimming in the lake, taking stupid pictures and talking about current events.

the main, of course, was hurricane katrina. it turns out we all agreed that it was a devastating event, something we've none seen the likes of. even september eleventh, in all it's atrociousneess, pales.

yet, it seems, they think it's president bush's fault. while i don't totally exonerate him, i don't believe the blame falls upon his shoulders. there are so many more people who should share blame, and more of it.

for example... the mayor of new orleans should have prepared and served his city better. that means allowing his police force to enforce the mandatory evacuation orders he gave. that means lining city buses for those elderly and impovershed to hop aboard and leave town.

then, the governor, the democratic woman she is, should have had in place her states national guard troops to help the city and county governments with evacuations. she should have had them on call no later than the time katrina initially left the florida coast.

one important call no one made... to fema. a letter was written but help was not requested.

the reason we have local, city, county and state governments is to handle situations smaller than those reserved for our national government. no one can expect our president to micro-manage the country.

we coul debate this forever. there will be blame. fema will share some as will the president.

but i dare say the most will fall directly upon the watches of the local, county and state governments of the state of louisiana.

oh... i got on my soap box.

we also talked about coming out, growing up and some other stuff.

it wasn't as interesting.