In a perfect world, the right evacuation plan might have been used. In a perfect world, it would have worked out that everyone would have been saved. In a perfect world, the government would work in a way that everyone believes it should. Unfortunately, we don't live in perfect world.
The disaster issue is far beyond political now. Kanye West proclaimed that "Bush hates black people" while Condoleezza Rice serves as our Secretary of State. Bush I might add,
has the most diverse cabinet in the history of the United States. You never know, he may rub it in and appoint Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice. Good thing the
Red Cross is bigger than Kanye or they'd about have a funding problem right now. He even made Chris Tucker awkward!
Where are we headed right now as a country? Hurricane Katrina was devasting. America hasn't seen anything like this at all in its 229 year history. 9/11 doesn't even come close as tragedy but in the end will probably still be America's great tragedy because it was so visual and still so new to America, as far as tragedies go. I fear that America will have another Katrina because there always seems to be another big chance during our annual hurricane season. We will not be prepared for the next big one.
I learned today which, you probably missed if you were ranting about Bush's apparent inaction, but I listened to one of the Army Generals speak on CNN. I didn't catch his name but what he pointed out was that Hurricane Katrina was actually two tragedies. First there was the storm on Sunday evening. Hurricane Katrina has sustained 165mph winds and had hurricane force winds 250 miles wide. This storm was huge. But the eye of it actually missed New Orleans. The eye eventually wound up coming ashore in Mississippi. That's why most of the "wind" damage is along the Mississippi Coast and not necessarily in New Orleans. The second tragedy occurred when the massive storm surge and rain breached three levees in New Orleans causing it to flood. Flood waters were still rising on Thursday. The general pointed out, it was difficult to provide relief to an area that was becoming more unsafe. I mean, think about it, it was more than just putting workers at risk during a tragedy, it was about being stupid with their lives. Also, something else to ponder, about 500,000 people lived in New Orleans. Forget the sick and poor, how could they all get away if they were able and willing with the only mandatory notice coming on Saturday?
And who suggested that the city actually give a mandatory evacuation notice?Right, it was Bush's fault.
There is a great picture over on
Cao's Blog. It features a parking lot full busses. I mean, there must be a hundred or so of them. I bet they could have helped out in the situation. But that was the mayors call. Oh he used a few but watch this small chain of events:
Before the storm: "T
his storm is once in a life time" He had no idea what was in store. But yet, how could he? He was right, it was once in a life time. Never Happened Before and Unprecidented are words I think of. How could you plan for this? You couldn't ever. It was beyond the mayor.
My Favorite: "
Get off Your Asses" His proclamation to the feds. Nagin the mayor says, "and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect.." Good job Mayor, show the feds who is boss while you cover up the fact you didn't evacuate fast enough.
But the next day: "
Stop Looting" He pulls 1500 police from searching for people to stopping looters. Gee, I like this man of the people myself. Ya think those business owners who saw their stores getting pillaged all over CNN might have Mr. Nagin in their back pockets? Money talks eh? What about being outmanned? And damn, where were all the feds to take over the jobs of the 1500 officers.
But this was all Bush's fault. His fault the city was below sea level. His fault that New Orleans is 70% African American. His fault that most were poor and couldn't flea.
The bottom line is this folks: New Orleans was dead screwed because of the
Theory of Uniformity. The theory shows that if something was below sea level before, is below sea level now (but dry due to man's technological skill) , it will be under the sea again. The sea continues to try and take it back. I learned about this theory in
college during my for my GE required lab science. The class was called Evolutionary Geology. The Professor was great. Very dry and to the point. One time in class he asked us to write an argumentative 5 paragraph essay on a topic. I got an A and nearly everyone else failed. Why? Because I wrote a one page 5 paragraph essay like he asked and not a thesis with a cover sheet like everyone else. He was really cool though because he felt it was unfair that he expected everyone to listen to him. He gave them another chance. He helped even though they didn't listen. He also told me one thing that sticks with me today: He'd never buy a house in any type of flood plain. Unfortunately Sacramento, is a giant flood plain. I like living here but, even though the state says it's cool not to have flood insurance I have decided to keep my policy paid in full because of that class. A tragedy like Katrina could happen if Folsom Dam was destroyed by a storm in Sacramento.
It is tragic that these people have lost their lives to Katrina. But I wrote this post because I think America is getting tired of the blame. We could not foresee what has happened here. Please donate to the
Red Cross and if you need any help regarding the Hurricane personally,
see this.
