Seen it before

With all the Louisiana refugees being put up at places such as sports arenas, empty malls and Kelly U.S.A., I'm getting a distinct sense of deja vu. Not deja vu in the literal sense, though. Back in 1980, when 125,000 Cubans fled the Castro dictatorship during the Mariel Boat Lift, it seemed like the country went through much the same struggles as it tried to cope with the vast numbers of refugees. Almost all of the Cubans landed in Florida back then, but I clearly remember families staying temporarily in the elementary school gym in my hometown of Columbus, Texas, as they waited to be processed and get on with their lives. I also vaguely recall an underlying sense of hostility directed towards the immigrant Cubans, that these foriegners were an imposition and taking advantage of the U.S., that they should "go back from where they came from." Even my Hispanic classmates viewed them somewhat warily, since they "spoke Cuban" rather than the Tex-Mex Spanish of local Hispanics. So I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that folks such as Barbara Bush are already taking shots at the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees -- cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases -- former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.

"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.

Sounds to me like she feels these people deserved what they got. Maybe I should hook her up with Father Foster?

Now Playing: Electric Light Orchestra Afterglow