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November 17, 2005

HypoChristians in the midst of us

Actual conversation, Monday morning, August 29th:

Jeff: "Somebody reminded me about Hurricane Georges -- remember that one? They had opened the Superdome as a shelter, but a bunch of people in there thought they would be not only sheltered but fed, and entertained -- "

Lee: "Georges?"

Trish (raised eyebrows, bemused look): "Entertained?!? and fed?"

Jeff: "-- so there was a lot of damage, furniture stolen out of offices and so on..."

Randy: "Well maybe -- if the Superdome got washed away, it wouldn't be any great loss..."

Lee: "Yeah, they could just turn on the gas, y'know...!"

(laughter; then, as I walked out)

Lee: "Jeff had to leave on that one -- !"

Jeff, over his shoulder: "Lightning might strike, y'know, not takin' any chances!"

Lee was joking, I know that; he said as much later. Randy's comment -- not too sure. And he was the one gushing about W's "compassionate" hug-the-9/11-girl photo-op. Libertarian, you say? HypoChristian, I say.

Reported yesterday on CNN:

Dozens of families have returned to what is left of their homes and found, lying amidst the mold and the wreckage, a body, forgotten, abandoned. Maybe it's their mother or their grandmother, sometimes even their missing child. The state called off searching house to house in New Orleans well over a month ago. They said they completed the job.

(snip)

There was no joy for Paul Murphy in this homecoming. When he walked into his house in New Orleans' Ninth Ward last month for the first time since Katrina, it was shock and anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I'm thinking that, OK, I was going to come and salvage a few pictures or something. And I walk in here. I found my grandma on the floor dead.

DORNIN: Since November 1, 10 bodies have been found in the ruins of the Ninth Ward. The last area, known as the Lower Ninth, will open to residents December 1. Coroner Frank Minyard worries about what people will find.

(on camera): You're fully expecting that more bodies will come in once they open the Ninth Ward?

FRANK MINYARD, ORLEANS PARISH CORONER: Yes. And I think it's -- it's going to come in for a good while. There's so much rubbish around that they might find people in the rubbish. DORNIN (voice-over): They already have. And there are still many bodies left unidentified and unclaimed.

(snip)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: You warned us October 3. When the state stopped house- to-house searching for the deceased, you said, it was a bad idea, that there were more people out there. Now the death toll, it turns out, has jumped by 104. And -- and families are returning to find the bodies of their loved ones still in their homes. How does -- it's got to infuriate you.

JACK STEPHENS, SAINT BERNARD PARISH SHERIFF: Well, you know, you just wonder what provoked that decision.

(snip)

It was a horrible -- it was a gruesome sight. Very -- and again, people don't deserve any more grief and pain than they're going through right now. I mean, this whole process has been so excruciatingly screwed up and slow that, I mean, you're starting to feel a real sense of anger and hostility on the part of people locally and, my God, it's well-deserved.

It is a disgrace that this is happening in America. This is the country that took great pains to recover every little bit of human remains at Ground Zero after 9/11. Now we won't even bother to search homes in which we know bodies remain. This is not a matter of time or resources. The authorities simply chose not to take the time or allocate the resources to Do the Right Thing.

Well maybe, if Jesus were here, he'd remind you:

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, "Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!"

And there's this: "For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." Deuteronomy 15:11 (KJV)

But I'm more in the mood for Rev. Jules Winfield: "Ezekiel 25:17? 'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.'"

Posted by Jeff at November 17, 2005 06:53 AM