"...did NOTHING to evacuate New Orleans' low-income population..."
That's not true. In their emergency plan they TOLD the people to find a ride with a friend or relative. (Note that NO has an avg. of about 14% that use mass transit - so presumablly many/most of those people don't have cars.
And I would offer a ride to someone, but by the time I load my wife, three kids, dog, cat and supplies in the minivan - we're stopping by to pickup grandma on the way out.
Thank you for making one of the more rational and honest statements on this thread.
This entire summer the City not only send DVD's to citizens telling them how to evacuate but also bought commercial time to inform the people that the City did not have the resources to evacuate the people and everyone would be on their own.
The people were warned but were left with two options:
Leave their homes and have their homes looted with 100% certainty.
Ride out the storm and protect their belongings.