Katrina

And what to say, really? 

It's hard to find any words for this devastating hurricane.  I haven't watched much of the t.v. coverage because it only makes me feel more overwhelmed and helpless and angry at the pathetic failure of our government relief system and the very worst of human nature.  From today's New York Times front page:

Outside the Hyatt hotel next to the Superdome, scores of tour buses in ankle-deep water waited to evacuate people who had been living in and around the stadium. "It's been hell," said Donnieka Rhinehart, 26, a nursing assistant who said she had lived in the stadium with her two small children since Monday. She said she saw a rape and heard that a girl's throat had been cut.

Brad and I gave our donation to the Red Cross and the Humane Society.  You do what you can.  Anita Taylor from NewsGator who I met in Paris in April has gone to Houston to volunteer there. 

I think there will be plenty of finger pointing and enough blame to go around (twice), but don't necessarily think that will change anything the next time a Category 4 hurricane comes around.  Watching a silly action movie yesterday that takes place in Miami and kept thinking how Miami would be devastated by 140 m.p.h. winds and remembering Hurricane Andrew which directly caused only 26 deaths.  Katrina is something else entirely, more like the tsunami on Boxing Day, which has caused over 300,000 deaths.

I  did think this comment by the person in charge of the military task force was especially egregious, even among so many egregious official statements. 

And a thought for the day:

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.   -John Donne, poet (1573-1631)

Comments

[Ed Flaherty]

I just caught up with your top 10 restaurant list (sorry for the long delay). Next time you are in New York, try 3 of my favorites if you haven't already:

1. Aureole on the upper east side. Creative American Cuisine. One of my alltime favorites along with the Four Seasons. Sit upstairs where it is quieter.

2. La Bernadin- some of the best french seafood I have had (in the States).

3. Jean Georges in the base of the Trump building on the SW corner of Central Park for a nice lunch (french of course).

[Alex]

Here's a link to a first person (by an Emergency Medical Tech who was in the city on vacation) account of the events that took place when a number of NO residents tried to walk out of the city thru some of the only dry routes out.

This is egregious, racist and probably criminal. And if it isn't it should be.

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18427.shtml

[Alex]

The response to katrina has been horrendous and many public officials have crossed the line into egregious behavior. You should look into the events that took place on Ponchartrain Highway, where they wouldn't let people walk out of the city.

I think the comments by the General have been taken out of context and seriously misunderstood. He seemed to be saying that he understands why people are frustrated and that he gets frustrated when he's held up by the paper running out at the cash register. So it seems to me he is actually saying he can't even imagine the level of frustration that the victims of Katrina are experiencing.