The Unlearned Lesson Of Katrina

In the press coverage of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we expect a fair bit of the usual throwing around of blame for political advantage, but to my surprise that has not been the main theme of the coverage (though Ted Kennedy couldn't resist a crudely partisan tirade). Instead, the dominant theme of the anniversary coverage is what is not being mentioned. Having reported the wrong story about the flooding of New Orleans one year ago, the press is trying to protect its distortion by excising from history the events that gave many Americans their greatest shock.

This was anticipated well before the storm because everyone with a brain knew how dependent the poor inner city residents were (are) on the govt.

The problem in NO was that even though it was recognized in strategic planning, the local govt refused to do anything about it other than to tell the poor people that they would be on their own during and after the storm, so they better get out before the storm to a shelter in another city. An easy thing to say, but when you live month to month on a welfare check and it is the last days of the month, there is no money to by a bus ticket or a train ticket for you and your family to get out of town. When they heard this, they could not believe that Nagin was going to screw them. They thought for sure that buses would come to pick them up, even though they were told there would be no buses.

This is the sickness of a semi-socialist system that the democrats have set up in NOLA and in elsewhere. The poor are totally dependent on govt handouts for generations, and yet it is not a true socialism in effect, so that when a disaster strikes, the poor are abandoned by the govt to deal with problems for which they have no skills to solve.

the only lesson I learned is screw New Orleans and its chocolate mayor...not one cent in charitable contributions...where has all that has been donated gone so far?....it certainly did not help the citizens!....guess it was needed to insure naggins/landreiu/blancos political re-election funds! After all they feel the pain of those disposed citizens that are making their contributions to increase higher crime rates in Houston/Atlanta/Dallas, etc. And all of this is Bush's fault!...again, the lesson learned is these people need to take some responsibility for themselves and not depend solely on the government and handouts!

As beautifully as this piece is written, it fails to adequately document the blindness and rage ,much of it racist, that also prevails throughout the country as well as the dreadful prospect for even the most thoughtful and incisive analysis,which this article is, to be totally misunderstood by so many ignorant members of the great unwashed here in these United States.

If anything could be more utterly alarming, it is this staggering idiocy that must be contemplated as Islamic terrorists rachet up their activities for bringing major terroist actions to our country.

We are worse than ill-prepared. We are sitting ducks for the outrageous aftermath of criminal actions that are certain to come from our own moronic "citizens" as the aftermath plays out like it has in Katrina.

The setting is ripe for us to defeat ourselves by mass public criminal over-reactions everywhere. The terrorists are counting on this "Katrina Effect", I am certain

I read an article the other day quoting the "conventional wisdom" that Bush "didn't even warn" NOLA.

Just for the record, here's the ACTUAL warning:

WWUS74 KLIX 282139 NPWLIX ...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA... ...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED... MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS. THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

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