So, it's morning, and the best way to wake myself up is to complain about things that piss me off. Here goes.

I guess there's some righteous morons who think that Katrina is punishment for everything from southern decadence, abortionists, to what happened to the gaza strip, to Iraq, and to NOLA being a "wicked city".

I had no idea that todays genetics would allow the size of such enormous heads up such tight asses, but you learn something new every day.

Why is it that EVERY time something bad happens in America that it is so obviously God's punishment? Does God really send out that many memos to his "pals" when he checks his daily planner and decides to decimate cities via wind or water?

This kinda of infantile bullshit is why I cringe at the thought of being human half the time, that people still have the capacity to be this stupid and self righteous. These idiots wouldn't be spewing this kind of crap if some sort of disaster hit where they were living tomorrow (and chances are they'd still think some ELSE's bad actions were accountable, not theirs).

If you say that natural disasters are God's punishment, then who was at fault for that tsunami that hit India and parts of lower Asia? I imagine God was unhappy with them because some of them weren't right wing christians with big mouths and an even bigger egos?
I could list of any number of disasters that have happened around the world and throughout our history - such as say...Hitler systematically destroying the Jewish population.
Let me guess, God was punishing them as well? Or maybe he was hell bent on clocking specific countries like Germany or Poland?

There are some takes that say not GOD is responsible, but SATAN; that evil attracts evil. While this applies much better to Hitler's case, and don't see how it applies to New Orleans. Las Vegas has FAR more debauchery in it on a larger scale, and I have yet to see ANY kind of natural disaster hit there, And what about Rio with it's Carnival? I'm sorry, but NOLA has nothing on the "scantily clad" that parade around there. Oh, and did I mention that Brazil is extremely CATHOLIC? MUCH LIKE NEW ORLEANS?!!! How can you deny the religious content of a city which is divided into PARISHES instead of counties?

AS I have previously mentioned in earlier posts, there's not a city without some sort of corruption, stupidity, ignorance, or debauchery of some sort. If God was really doling out punishment, he'd be wacking every major city in every part of the world. I'd say San Francisco was due for another earthquake. While I do believe that negative energy does attract negative energy, I don't believe that it can call up a storm that levels several cities - not just the "wicked" one.

God doesn't brew up storms just to justify someone else's agenda - nor does Satan, as he surely has his own in any case.

When a bad natural event strikes, I don't believe God has that much of anything to do with putting it in motion. I do however, agree with Mike in that our REACTION to it is a test of our humanity. How do we face the adversity? Do we point fingers of blame at each other? Do we deny our responsibility in the face of the disaster? Do we go on a power trip because we're in the position to? Do we sit back from far away and blame the damage on the lack of support of our exclusive political and religious opinions? Do we fall into ignorance and fail to understand what the issues really are?

Or do we see that innocent people are suffering and need to be taken care of? D0 we instead, cut through the red tape and get money and supplies where they are needed? Do we fess us for our mistakes and then do whatever we can to right things? Do we extend our hand to our fellow man instead of slapping them across the face?

Let's face it, the world is an imperfect place, and things get broken now and then. Nothing is meant to last forever here. It's not meant to be perfect, and shit does happen.
But when it does, and people are affected, it's not a time to put negativity into play. If negative attracts negative, then you can bet your ass that those who dish it out will get it back in time, in one way or another.

The best we can do is be TOLERANT and KIND and GIVING to one another. Like breeds like. Who the hell wants to focus on the shit when you could be focusing on the good and ACCOMPLISHING something?

If you haven't guessed by now, I think that whoever thinks New Orleans got hit because of Mardi Gras ( which as those ignorant of its history don't know is a celebration rooted in CATHOLICISM), haunted cemetery tours (you can't swing a dead gator without hitting a cemetery, and let's face it, the entire CITY of New Orleans has gotta be the most haunted place in the country with all the death it's seen), or Voodoo (a spirituality that once again, incorporates portions of Catholicism) - anyone who picks out these lame reasons as an invitation for a storm is completely and utterly FULL OF SHIT.

What about Slidell? What about Gulf Port? Must be a boatload of wicked there too. Those bad bad people who settled in the gulf. And let me guess, God is punishing the Carolinas with Ophelia now. Rrrright.

The major problem I see here is ignorance, pure unadulterated ignorance, a
lthough we can't rule out stupidity, egoism, self righteousness, pig headedness, intolerance, and mean spiritedness.

So to perhaps close the gap on some of the ignorance, I thought I'd post a few links to counteract the crap.

Here's some info on the history of Mardi Gras:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/MardiGras/default.asp
http://www.eastjeffersonparish.com/culture/MARDIGRA/HISTORY/history.htm
http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/story.htm

And as far as the UNDEAD or HAUNTED spooky aspect,
New Orleans has been a city steeped in death since its inception due to disease, flooding, fires, etc. It is not a city that holds this severe FEAR of death the way many other people do, because death was as common and natural as life although it was a sorrowful event for the living. Historically, people visited the cemeteries frequently to commune with their dead relatives, and often literal feasts and banquets were laid out - especially during All Saints Day (another religious holiday). People celebrated the lives of their dead - not feared them.
This sort of practice, while it's fallen off in NOLA culture, is evident in Mexican culture on Day of the Dead - All Souls Day. Once again - Catholic.

I can't tell you how tired I am of people who open their mouths or their blogs/what-have-you without THINKING first. I'm sick of the fucking black and white views, the people who don't do their research, the US (or in some cases ME) VS THEM mentality, the pure intolerance that is being wielded.

You know what I think GOD wants? He wants people to take accountability for their words and actions, to actually be HUMAN to each other instead of acting like a bunch of uppity children.
There's no room for this kind of bullshit anymore. If you won't help us fix the problems in our world with love and respect then SHUT THE HELL UP because no one wants to hear your narrow minded, uneducated complaints.