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A bit of dialogue I had today: Person: They should shoot all of those looters in New Orleans in the head. Me: All of them? What if they're just looking for something to eat? Person: Shoot 'em all. Me: You're...

I have been taking heat for the post that points out the lack of International aid to the US for the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Here is one email:In light of your unbelievably ignorant and ridiculous post US on...

Gone with the Water

From an article in the October 2004 issue of National Geographic magazine:

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however?the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

Sound familiar? Read on:

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Fortunately the casualty rate doesn't seem to be this high for NOLA, but the rest sounds spot on.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't?yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

Pretty good for a year in advance. Imagine what would have happened if the Louisiana state government, and the City of New Orleans had made some realistic emergency plans based on this sort of projection.

Like it should have been their priority, since they're the ones directly on the scene - right? As it turned out, wrong!

Doug Wiken has a post regarding the passing of Chief Justice William Rehnquist titled, Justice with Racing Stripes Croaks. Excerpt:This death unlike the thousands of deaths in New Orleans gives the Texas smirking weasel another opportunity to screw up another...

John Leo on the MSM Looking the Other Way. Excerpt:On August 6, as her 15 minutes of fame was just beginning, Cindy Sheehan used an odd term in a TV interview with Mark Knoller of CBS. She referred to the...

The main editorial in today's Rapid City Journal: Journal editorial, 9-4: Give credit to John Thune By The Journal Editorial Board Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. - President John F. Kennedy Many people deserve credit...

Time for a Sheriff's Relief Fund update. Today I wrote a check and took it to the bank for deposit. Y'all donated $55 so far. The deposit slip is available for the donors to look at. If you wish to...

Blacks fault lack of local leadership

Some in the black community are beginning to question what happened to the black leadership during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, especially in the city of New Orleans.

The Donks' old lock-step loyalty is getting frayed in the face of some unpleasant doses of reality ignoring party affiliation.

"Mayor Nagin has blamed everyone else except himself," said the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. "The mayor failed in his duty to evacuate and protect the people of New Orleans. ... The truth is, black people died not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco," he said...."If black folks want to blame someone for this tragedy, they only need to look in the mirror. Hopefully, this will help black people realize the folly of depending on the government or leaders and serve as a notice to avert future tragedies in other cities," he said.

A light in the forest! But speaking of other cities, note the post next to this one, about Long Beach: the hits just keep on coming!

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