By now, we've all been inundated with the horrors of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Sad thing is, two weeks have passed, and it seems to get bleaker by the day. After witnessing the unconscionable behavior of citizens and government alike, I'm inclined to believe that it's best just to leave the place flooded and let it sink into some dank, dismal and embarrasing corner of history.

My first gripe is with the people of New Orleans. In a time of crisis, they should have come together to help one another and rise above this. Instead, it became an "each man for himself" fiasco, and we have widespread looting, emergency personnel being physically assaulted, and hospitals being raided. The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves. This isn't America, it's fucking Somalia or Croatia I'm seeing on the news, and I'm more than a bit dismayed and embarrased for us all.

Of course, Jesse Jackson and friends want to bring race into it, and they even blamed the President, claiming that the Federal government was slow in helping because the victims were largely black. Why does this man even get a voice in our media? We now know that governor Blanco knew that New Orleans was completely unprepared for something like this, and in a 1998 memo, the mayor Nagin even said that in such an event, his constituents were responsible for their own safety. The State and local governments were responsible and remiss in protecting their people, but since those are both run by Democrats, it's just not feasible to blame them, I guess.

However, my biggest dissapointment is with the New Orleans police. They have shown themselves to be just the inept, corrupt cowards that many have called them for years. I've spoken with many police officers who are not the least bit surprised that over a third of the NOPD have gone AWOL. These are the same idiots that thought it would be a good idea to turn 50 convicted felons loose in the Superdome on their own recognizance, resulting in several rapes and murders. They've even been caught participating in the very looting that they should have been curtailing. Here's one newsfeed that shows it quite clearly: WalMart being looted. An NOPD spokeswoman claimed that these were security guards, but look closely at the patches on their arms–those are sworn NOPD officers.

It gets worse. Since the NOPD were obviously too incompetent and craven to do their jobs, 100 police officers from the California Highway Patrol were brought down and sworn in. Their first act? Swearing to "uphold the Constitution." Their second act? To break that oath by engaging in house-by-house searches without cause or warrant, as well as forced evictions and confiscations of personal property. In case the first video didn't turn your stomach enough, here's a nice one in which an elderly woman is forced onto a military transport after having her home invaded, her gun taken and her person assaulted, all while being told, "it's for your own good."

Remember those words when they come knocking on your door someday: It's for your own good. It has never been the province of the government to determine such things, nor to enforce them. This isn't America anymore, gang, and I'm starting to wonder how long it's been slipping into this under our noses.

As Americans, we should all be shocked by this. We should all be angry, not just at the government, but at ourselves, for what we've allowed it to become. After all, in a democracy, we get the government we deserve, and after looking at the situation in New Orleans and the lack of public outcry, it's obvious that we no longer deserve much. If it happens there, it can happen here. None of those officers deserve to wear the badge, and none of the state and municipal officials who left their people to suffer deserve to breathe free air.

My prayers go out to the people of New Orleans and to the National Guardsmen, medical personnel, clergy and volunteers who are down their placing their lives and health at risk to help the survivors.