Katrina, Après Vous Le Déluge

I can't watch the news anymore - it's like watching a bad Sunday night made-for-TV disaster movie, except it's real. Those floods aren't special FX, those dead people aren't actors, those looters are not extras playing the bad guys - it's REAL. And there are no lead actors to save the day and make sure we're in bed by 23.00 hours.

The original quote, Après Moi Le Déluge, is attributed to King Louis XV of France (truthfully or otherwise), the 2nd to the last dauphin before the French Revolution turned the country into a republic. Mostly, it referred to his apathy in the face of the disastrous wars he waged, his domestic excesses, financial policies that left the government almost bankrupt, and the upper bourgeoisie's ever-increasing wealth at the expense of everyone else. His son, Louis XVI lost his head soon after.

Sounds familiar?

I believe that history repeats itself again and again and again until we get out of this loop and learn our lessons. It's something much bigger than you and I - it's all part of a grand design (and NO, you cannot teach it in school, you have to learn it from within). You want more proof of this universal interconnectedness? Read this article from Popular Mechanics titled "New Orleans Is Sinking": "They don't bury the dead in New Orleans. The highest point in the city is only 6 ft. above sea level, which makes for watery graves. Fearful that rotting corpses caused epidemics, the city limited ground burials in 1830. Mausoleums built on soggy cemetery grounds became the final resting place for generations. Beyond providing a macabre tourist attraction, these "cities of the dead" serve as a reminder of the Big Easy's vulnerability to flooding. The reason water rushes into graves is that New Orleans sits atop a delta made of unconsolidated material that has washed down the Mississippi River."

Yes, that article was originally published on 11 September 2001.

Katrina may just be GWB's Louis XV.

How about something to brighten the day (or night)?