a message to those who assault rescue workers

This morning was the latest – and most extreme – example of violence directed toward rescue workers in New Orleans.

To those who dare shoot at or assault rescue workers:

You are the lowest of the low. There is abolutely nothing that justifies your actions. While I realize that help has been slow in coming (due in large part to fiscal recklessness and misguided security decisions by the Bush administration, but also due to the sheer enormity of Katrina’s destruction), shooting at U.S. military helicopters that are carrying injured and ill storm victims is not the answer to your problems and will not accelerate getting aid to you and your loved ones.

Help will come, albeit not as quickly as you may like. Local, state and federal authorities, as well as numerous charities and volunteer organizations, are working as hard as they possibly can to get food, supplies and help to you. Numerous logistical hurdles exist that make expediency in administering aid nigh on impossible.

So please: be patient and calm, and help will come. And remember: firing on military vehicles in most situations will result in the military firing back – and they tend to be very well armed and to have very good aim.