Such arrogance..

In 1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people were preparing to have a "hurricane party" in the face of a storm named Camille. Were they ignorant of the dangers? Could they have been overconfident? Did they let their egos and pride influence their decision? We'll never know.

What we do know is that the wind was howling outside the posh Richelieu Apartments when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark. Facing the Beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments were directly in the line of danger. A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, "You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm's getting worse." But as others joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta's order to leave. "This is my land," one of them yelled back. "If you want me off, you'll have to arrest me."

Peralta didn't arrest anyone, but he wasn't able to persuade them to leave either. He wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty or so people who gathered there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. They had been warned, but they had no intention of leaving.

It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille's wind speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high.

News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels, go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, Mississippi, where some twenty people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation; the only survivor was a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the following day.

This story reminds me of the arrogance of George Bush. Today, we read in the newspaper that 100 plus Iraqis were killed with another 100 plus injured by a car bomb. The insurgents aren't after the U.S. troops anymore, wise decision, but are after Iraqis and their government. The situation just worsens.

The conservatives don't like to hear the name Viet Nam, but there are so many similarities, it is frightening. If America is able to get out with a bit of reputation left, what we barely did in Viet Nam, then good, but what will we have gained for our $150 billion and mounting? Look at Afganistan, reportedly the second to last country, that is the second worst, for human living conditions. Taliban or no Taliban, they aren't in good shape. I guess its' better to starve under a non-dictatorship, but but not much.

There seems to be no stopping Bush's arrogance. He plows ahead, and there seems to be no end in sight. In fact, the rumors are that he plans the same for Iran and then maybe Syria. How many ongoing wars can the U.S. afford at the expense of the American poor and uneducated children? Hopefully, in three years when his time is up, smarter heads will prevail. I hope so.