The Doubter reaches a breaking point

I've always tried to maintain a civil tone in matters of discussion. But my emotions have been running high, especially since I watched the video of Shep Smith's frustration over the situation in New Orleans. I strongly urge you to watch this powerful video clip, it has left me with a new found respect for Smith and Rivera, who broke ranks with the rest of their station to voice their concern for the plight of the victims of Katrina still trapped (inexplicably by military force) in the city. I can't get the sound of Smith's voice out of my head, the voice of a man who has had his spirit broken by witnessing first hand human suffering and then having to listen to people (some of them from his own channel) lie to America about what's really happening. See here for example.

Well, earlier today I had a breakdown of sorts, and released a rare invective, something I usually frown upon. But right or wrong, it reflects what I'm feeling right now, so I'm going to transcribe it here.

"There's ineptitude from government at other levels as well. We're only focusing on one thing - why relief efforts were so late."

You know what, I can live with ineptitude. What I find absolutely intolerable, though, is the refusal of gov't officials to own up to their failure to respond adequately. Let's hear someone in gov't say, "A heavy burden weighs on my conscience, because I know that I failed the people I'm sworn to protect. I should have done more. This is simply inexcusable."

But no, we get these slick slimy son of a bitches outright lying. Lying to the American public. And I'm going to start right at the top. Pres. Bush set the tone for accountability in this administration: that tone being there is none. Promote and reward failure, deny and explain away any wrongdoing.

FEMA predicted in 2001 this would happen. Four years later with advance notice and they still couldn't handle it. Four years of saying 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, it changed everything, we've got to take your civil liberties away and consolidate more power in the executive branch and trade some democracy for secrecy, and they were just as unprepared for this disaster as they were for 9/11. I'm sick of them. I'm sick of their b.s rhetoric.

What do we have to show for it? 1800 dead soldiers in Iraq, 25000 dead Iraqi civilians, a trillion dollar deficit, an American city wiped off of the map, and a concentration of wealth unseen since the Gilded Age. We've seen who gets left behind by this gov't ... their dead bodies are floating in the cesspool that once was New Orleans.