A little more on Katrina...

My friend Paul Mitchell posted on the 4th anniversary of Katrina. I started to comment, but what I wanted to say was too long, so I'll do it here.

We all watched what happened. It was truly devastating. Even though I am over 300 miles from where Katrina came ashore, we were fortunate to have a talk radio program that is "state-wide." Moon Griffon (a coonass boy) does a good job of covering Louisiana news and issues for two hours every morning.

He was able to have "boots on the ground" reports from listeners daily. And we were treated (if you want to call it that) to a lot of information that the national media missed, or spun. So, I believe that we were a bit more "in the know" than the average citizen of the US about what was going on in New Orleans.

My thoughts were (and still are) mixed. The national media did everything possible to turn the human suffering into a black eye for Dubya. The alternative media (at least in Louisiana) did everything possible to bloody up Governor Blanco & Ray (G.D. Greyhound) Nagin.

But the truth of the matter is that no one, no government agency, no government official was to "blame."

Senator Mary Landrieu (who I am no fan of) was tagged "Katrina Mary" after answering a question on Fox News about why all those people in New Orleans weren't bused out of town, and forced to remain in the squalor of the Superdome and the Convention Center.

Mary answered "The buses were under water." And she was right. I think it is important to remember that Ray Nagin and New Orleans officials did have a plan for the advent of a hurricane. And they executed it well. The plan was to announce to the city that hurricane shelter would be provided at the Superdome (supposedly built to handle a cat4/5). Everyone was to bring some water, blankets, etc.

If you couldn't get there on foot, stand out at the bus stops, and city buses would transport you...no charge. The plan was executed. Everyone that sought shelter had it. Nagin and Blanco received bitter criticism for not "getting those people out of the path of the storm...getting them moved north before landfall, etc." My friends, that was not an option. It was simply not possible to move tens and tens of thousands of people. The resources were just not available. And the highways were so clogged with people in their personal vehicles that to add to the traffic would have probably done more harm than good.

Gas was in short supply on the evacuation routes anyway, and traffic was at best a slow crawl. The 300 mile trip to Shreveport took some folks I know 22 hours.

Add to that the fact that tens of thousands did not even seek shelter, and did not evacuate on their own either. You could not possibly order everyone in a city the size of New Orleans to evacuate, and provide the means to make it happen. Impossible! Many law abiding, honest folks said, "No way Jose!" Knowing that the criminals were not going anywhere, the good guys were not either. Someone had to stay behind to protect their businesses and homes from looters. The police can only do so much.

So the plan was in place, and it was executed.

No one anticipated that the roof would blow off the Superdome, and the levees would fail.

As I said the other day, if you want to blame anybody, blame the "welfare warriors" that have trapped now three generations in poverty. No car, no money for a motel, no extra diapers for the babies, no nothing! And NO initiative to prepare for personal action in a disaster.

I don't blame Bush, FEMA, Blanco, Nagin, etc. They all worked tirelessly for weeks and months. The logistics of medical care, and supply, and law enforcement, and communications were something that truly could not be prepared for. The nation had never had to deal with a "man made" disaster like this. To expect that any one could have done any better is pie in the sky.

It happened. The milk got spilled. Mississippi has done a much better job of recovering than has SE Louisiana for sure. They have better leadership at the Statehouse than we do. But to be fair, Mississippians were able to get back to the damage within just a few days. Most residents of SE Louisiana were not even allowed back in for many months after the storm, and then only for limited time, etc. Even though taking the brunt of Katrina, Mississippi had the jump on available labor and materials, etc. But surely, the politics, and policies that ruled New Orleans all of my lifetime have hindered, and will continue to hinder recovery there.

And truth be told, it will likely always be a crime-riddled hell hole. I am not optimistic that in 10 years it will be much different than it was the day the levees busted.

I have almost wept over the human suffering that has taken place in the wake of Katrina. I have done my best to put myself in the place of the hundreds of thousands of "stunned" gulf coast residents that found "dead relatives, everything gone, no job, no house, no car, no business, no nothing" when the storm passed. The bravery and selflessness of police/fire/and medical personnel that worked 24/7 with no electricity, no running water, no food supplies, poor communications, etc...the volunteers that came from every corner of the country...these are things that should be heralded, and not forgotten.

THE LESSON OF KATRINA is, and must always be:

Do not rely on government for anything. If you do, you will be sorry. Do not believe that someone else can take better care of you than you can. And walk in that truth.