THE LESSON OF KATRINA

The lingering lesson of Hurricane Katrina is the great value of self-reliance and the terrible danger of dependence.

It was a huge storm. Possibly the largest natural disaster ever to hit the United States. It was the storm of the century.

But it taught us more about human nature than it did about the power of nature. More frightening than the storm itself, was the widespread personal failure demonstrated in its wake.

It was a peek into the entitlement culture and a sad display of the unwillingness and inability of some Americans to take the slightest responsibility for themselves and their wellbeing.

Certainly, this is a generalization. There were clearly many people and communities who stood up to the storm and its damage stoically, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and working tirelessly to clean up and rebuild.

Instead, the year since Katrina has been a national sob session. It’s as if we’re all paralyzed by some giant fit of post-traumatic stress disorder. We have made whining an art form, and a year’s news coverage has been an endless rehash of just two stories – the pathetic helplessness of individuals and the incompetent failure of government.

We have spent a year celebrating weakness, enthroning entitlement and demanding sympathy. It has been a shameful time, not for what the government didn’t do for the people, but for what they seem too good or too lazy to do for themselves.

First of all, this wasn’t the world’s first disaster. Certainly it was historic, but it was not unprecedented. Calamity has been humankind’s near-constant companion. All peoples in all times have been faced with incredible challenges, large and small. Fires, earthquakes, floods, tidal waves, plagues, blizzards, droughts, famines and even hurricanes.

And through them all people have survived. They have dug deep and found in themselves the grit and determination necessary to survive. And if they didn’t, they didn’t. They died. And stouter, tougher people took their places.

But the example of Katrina was something else altogether. Instead of displaying the best of human strengths, it highlighted the worst. Instead of showing people’s native toughness, it showed their selfish weakness.

Countless sob stories talked about displaced people whose highest ambition seemed to be sitting on a cot in an evacuation center angrily wondering when they were going to get their FEMA trailer. Sometimes you didn’t know whether it was the wake of a disaster or a giant welfare scam. People angrily demanded that somebody come do things for them.

It was the welfare mentality at its worst. A selfish, chip-on-the-shoulder sense of entitlement that recognized nothing but unreasonable desire. There was no consideration of the difficulty of relieving an entire region of the country, of the physical impossibility of serving so many people instantly. A sub-culture of dependent people, demanding instant gratification, bit the hand the feeds them.

Even now, after a year, the only politically correct perspective on the hurricane is the one regurgitated nightly by the evening news – sob story after sob story of people demanding that somebody do something. While invariably the people involved have done nothing to help themselves or anyone else.

After astounding amounts of taxpayer money were sent for relief, more hundreds of millions were donated by concerned Americans. And all that has been heard from anyone is a cry for more, more, more.

Compounding it all has been a relentless attack on the federal government with the seeming intent of damaging public confidence. That has presumably been done as a partisan media attack on President Bush, but it has come at the cost of national peace of mind. A year’s worth of trashing in the press has reduced public confidence in the government’s ability to respond to a disaster by between a quarter and a third.

Not the government response that has been the staple of a year’s newscasts, but the personal response which those newscasts so often showed to be shameful and failed.

Those who have done best in the wake of this disaster are those who were self-reliant, who took the cards they were dealt and made the most of them. The ones who worked and cleaned and rebuilt.

While those who were dependent, whose mindset was based on the assumption that others had an obligation to take care of them, have failed miserably. They have whined for bigger payments and more services, gotten both and insisted that it was not enough. Each new largesse has engendered not gratitude, but anger. Each new benefit has created more dependence and personal failure.

Another lesson is that the scumbags of the Democrat "mainstream" newsrooms will sink as low as they have to in order to smear Republicans by editorially morphing an agency like FEMA into a "first responder" while at the same time asserting that Bush and the Republican Congress reacted poorly (and subliminally suggesting that maybe the Republicans in fact caused the hurricane by their environmental policies).

Naturally, most of these Democrat newsrooms also went into full spin cycle to protect the Democrat mayor and the Democrat governor from responsibility, and no way would these Democrat newsrooms examine the welfare-state's role in the New Orleans circus as neighborhoods full of government-dependent illiterates flailed their arms in helplessness.

Well said. Have you noticed that whenEVER the DemocRATS cause a disaster the MSM helps them blame it on Republicans anyway?

"[During the Hurricane Katrina Catastrophe Louisiana Governor Kathleen] Blanco -- whose political style relies on appointing commissions, studying problems and taking a long time to make decisions -- did not exactly inspire confidence as a leader in a crisis."-- Byron York, HERE Mayor Nagin slams Blanco for wasting 24 hours before allowing in the Feds HERE. She didn't even invite EMAC in until it was too late.

SHAME on the media for burying this story about [the Democrat-led] Louisiana authorities preventing the Red Cross and Salvation Army from delivering food, water, medicine, and care to the people trapped in the Superdome, Convention Center and all throughout New Orleans.

[Why] "Did the press miss the most damning aspect of the Katrina video, namely: How could anything serious (e.g. "Louisiana can't handle this. Get that f-----g governor to let us take over") get done at a videotaped meeting?" -- Mickey Kaus, HERE

^----> KATRINA: WHAT WENT RIGHT <^----
(Hint for the terminally clueless: The Coast Guard was the ONLY FEDERAL"first responder" there; the rest were supposed to be STATE and LOCAL (City and County). FEMA was NEVER supposed to be a "first responder.") (Duh)

From a year ago:

The Stone Age Press is facing a disaster of historic proportions and do they strengthen their failing levies of credibility? Of course not, they report this natural disaster as if it were Abu Grabass as their George Bush billy club of the Month. This was by far the worst case of news reporting in the history of this country. Within 24 hours of the breaking of the levy the Samestream press were reporting this as President Bush was willingly killing New Orleans.

They are like skydivers w/o parachutes who rather than flap their arms they have decided to do a delta tuck into the deck and make a dramatic splash of self importance. There could not been a more cut and dry story about a natural disaster than hurricane Katrina, yet they could not put away their extremist politics for a day. Most people wanted to see the disaster and witness as much of the rescue as they could possibly see. Nobody expected to have the worst hurricane to hit America be without suffering but we knew that Americans would come together to help the victims. It was a very simple story to report yet from the minute the levy broke it became a story about the reporters raging hated of President Bush.

The only question left with PravdABDNC is whether they are getting their marching orders from HilaryCare’s or the DNC’s war room? Anyone who is in business knows that if you are offering a product to the consumer you must make it attractive or useful. They obviously know that you must put attractive people in front cameras, but that has not translated into the actual product which has become unwatchable.

Most people would rather spend a night in the Super Dome than watch Spitball or Shepard Sheep & Georalldo. While watching Smith and Whereswaldo’s metrosexual hissy fit we were waiting for a chair to come flying across the stage. Did Whereswaldo get divorced and married again while he was down there? The only people who were not going nuts were the people in the stadium who kept nervously looking for the Rubber Truck to take these 2 Crackpots away. And they were the best of the reporting.

When there was a Big 3 monopoly these clowns could get away with their agenda, however those days are long gone. Now, Rush is America’s anchorman while he and Drudge reach tens of millions of Americans who are sick of the liberal diet of hatred. We can go to the same sources the reporters have and get the information that would have never seen the light of day. The Dinosaurs’ time has passed and this story was the final nail in their glass coffin. From Franken to Russert they walked lockstep with a message that was so far removed from the story as their credibility is from reality. In their world you have the execution before the investigation, when all we want are the facts since there will be plenty of time for reflection. They want everyone who made a mistake wired, well ok; look into your well used mirrors.

Finally, these knee jerk; heavy on the jerk reactionaries had to go to the race deck. President Bush is trying to kill Blacks because everyone knows that Republicans are racist, sexist, xenophobes as opposed to the all loving Democrats. You know that they are running out of evidence when they have to drag a Blackman behind a pickup again. Prove to us you are not a racist! Well since I am a racist, although not as racist as most Blacks, Hispanics or Democrats; I will say that this hurricane was not a racist hurricane. No it didn’t hit Boston, it hit Louisiana and Mississippi which are predominately Black. You could make an argument that God is a racist yet since he made Blacks it is a hard one to make. We know much of the rescuing was of Blacks by Whites in the hurricane that should mean that this was a non-racist event. If they were using dogs, batons and water hoses to push them back into the water, THAT would be a racist event.

The fact is that there were thousands of Whites risking their lives and reaching out to these people because they were people who were suffering. This was a colorless disaster where people didn’t ask who was who, but are you hurting? America is the most caring and giving Country in the World no matter which part of the racial gumbo you are. Why anyone would bother to reach for this card just a desperate an attempt to damage a story of inspiration and courage that will last throughout the ages. It will be up to The Space Age Press to report the truth, while the Stone-age levy pours over it’s sodden banks of hatred once more.
Enough braying.

Pray for W, New Orleans and Our Freedom Fighting Troops

you had to channel surf to find katrina bush bashing, ithought it was on every channel

• Bringing Back the Bayou
• 60 Minutes
• After Katrina
• Animal Cops Houston - "Hurricane Rita Response"
• Book TV - "Douglas Brinkley"
• Book TV - "Eyes of the Storm: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita"
• Book TV - "The Katrina Collection: An Afternoon With Authors"
• Bringing Back the Bayou
• Engineering New Orleans
• Eye of the Storm: The 2005 LSU Tigers Football Season
• Frontline - "The Storm"
• Good Morning America
• Hope and Recovery ... After the Storm
• Hurricane Katrina Babies
• In the Sun: Michael Stipe and Special Guests
• It Could Happen Tomorrow - "Katrina: The Lost Episode"
• Katrina: A Health Disaster
• Katrina: American Catastrophe
• Katrina: Send in the Guard
• Katrina: The Long Road Back
• Killer Hurricane: Anatomy of Katrina
• Life After Katrina
• Meet the Press
• MSNBC Special - "Rising From Ruin, Revisited"
• Nature - "Katrina's Animal Rescue"
• New Orleans Music in Exile
• New Orleans: My Home, My Life, My Love
• Noticias Univisión Presenta ... - "Primer Aniversario de Katrina"
• Nova - "Storm That Drowned a City"
• Proyecto Katrina
• Rebuilding New Orleans
• Religion & Ethics Newsweekly - "Katrina One-Year Aftermath; Sperm Donation"
• S.O.S.: Saving Ourselves: One Year Later
• Sharp Talk With Al Sharpton
• Storm Stories - "Coast Guard Storm Stories: Katrina: After the Flood"
• Storm Stories - "Coast Guard Storm Stories: Katrina: Stranded"
• Storm Stories - "Coast Guard Storm Stories: Katrina: the First 24 Hours"
• Storm Stories - "Katrina Anniversary Special"
• Storm Stories - "Postmark Katrina"
• Surviving Katrina
• The Dog Whisperer - "Isis & Tina, Nugget and Katrina Dogs"
• The Dog Whisperer - "Katrina Dogs Part 2, Major Jones and Josie"
• The Early Show
• The Seven Days That Changed New Orleans
• To the Contrary
• Today
• Trading Spaces - "Mississippi: Southern Hospitality"
• When Disaster Strikes - "New Orleans: Flood of the Century"
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts - "Acts I & II"
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts - "Acts III & IV"
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts - "Acts I-IV"

This story about trying to blame the people who remained in New Orleans is relevant, but frankly is overplayed. The real story is the failure of the State of Louisiana, who in my opinion were guilty of the worst civil rights crime committed in a generation, but which may never be told because the so-called "Civil Rights Lobby" will never let a Democrat be investigated for an offense as egregious as that which Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and her administration actually committed in the Katrina disaster response.

I'm a Louisianian. I live in Lafayette some 180 miles WNW of New Orleans and I'm still not finished addressing the damage Hurricane Rita, which so many of you have forgotten about and which would have been the most powerful hurricane to hit the country in 13 years if it weren't for Katrina less than one month earlier. (Boy, weren't we lucky here?) I have personally endured no fewer than four Category 3 or better storms in my life and at least four others of lesser strength. I know hurricanes very well and to this date I am amazed that the most basic aspect of any hurricane recovery story has still not been addressed regarding Katrina. And I want all of you to hear me clearly when I speak the most simple truth about hurricanes and post-storm recovery.

It's always about the access roads connecting a striken area to the outside world.

No matter how much anyone and everyone tries to complicate the story and turn heads in one direction or another to suit their personal agenda or to attempt to show something profound which they see regarding Katrina, the most basic fact of life in a hurricane recovery scenario remains the same.

It's always about the access roads connecting a striken area to the outside world.

I have been able to glean bits and pieces of the story of the access roads connecting New Orleans to the outside world from local TV news stories, newspaper articles, first-hand accounts given to me by my relatives on the scene, accounts of individuals involved in rescue and relief in the area immediately after the storm and more. Here are the basics:

1. After Katrina passed New Orleans the I-10 West bridge connecting western Jefferson Parish and the greater New Orleans area with La Place and 1-10 West to Baton Rouge was down and would not be restored for days.

2. The Ponchartrain Causeway bridge connecting the greater New Orleans area to Mandeville and the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain was down and would not be restored for weeks.

3. Both the 1-10 East and U.S. 90 East bridges connecting eastern New Orleans to Slidell and the approaches to the Mississippi Coast, across the straits known as the "Rigolets," were down and would not be restored for weeks.

4. Overland access into New Orleans east via St. Bernard Parish was irrelevant because St. Bernard Parish was underwater (over 90% of it in fact).

All of the above leave only two access roads remaining permitting relief coming into New Orleans: the Airline Highway (U.S. 61 North to Baton Rouge via the east bank of the Mississippi River), which was itself covered with small amounts of water in spots, but was still passable; and the so-called "Crescent City Connector" bridge (Business 90) connecting Gretna and the West Bank with the center of the city. Since the West Bank was almost entirely above water, this was the truly important bridge.

As I watched the Katrina coverage on TV -- to be honest our family was very active in trying to locate numerous relatives who were dislocated and we were participating in local relief drives, so we didn't watch as much as we could have -- I kept asking myself that most basic question; "what access roads are available and who is controlling them?" And all I saw on the national news was footage of the helicopter rescues and the awful scenes at the Superdome and the Convention Center and up on the I-10 expressway near the Superdome with one TV commentator after another asking the same question -- "when is help going to get here?" It somehow never seemed to occur to those news commenators that they might just get up off their a$$e$ and go find out what the holdup was by looking at the access roads, because what they would have seen would have told them everything they needed to know.

Simply put; the State of Louisiana controlled the Airline Highway and did not permit all relief and rescue which people wanted to bring into New Orleans the opportunity to get there. They forbade the Red Cross and Salvation Army -- who were both loaded up, gassed up, and ready to go by Tuesday evening in Baton Rouge -- from going to New Orleans until Saturday, six days after the storm and following the arrival of the National Guard. In the first 48 hours after the storm passed they turned back numerous private relief convoys with boats and hospital supplies who attempted to go to relieve the situation. And they did not permit the press to show their roadblocks and emergency management on-site. Just ask yourselves this question: have you ever seen a picture of a roadblock or access road into New Orleans following Katrina beyond the shots from the air of the rebuilding of the bridges? It was a press blackout of the worst kind, because the State of Louisiana was using a "stick" -- and that "stick" was deprivation and starvation -- to force the population remaining in New Orleans to get up and evacuate because they were convinced they wouldn't leave otherwise.

And the scene with the other bridge, the "Crescent City Connector" was even worse. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office, the City of Gretna, and numerous other police agencies -- I still don't know the full role the Louisiana State Police may have played in all of this -- closed the bridge down on the Tuesday after the storm, preventing all access to the center of the city from its most easily-accessible bridge. Part of that closure was legitimate fear on their part of violence and looting migrating across the bridge from central New Orleans into their community, a local shopping mall was in fact torched the day before. But the problem with their action is that they were occupying a federal highway bridge that crossed parish boundaries and, as local governments, they did not have the authority to exercise this kind of police power. That belonged to the State of Louisiana and/or the federal government and, I assure you, there were NO federal police agencies active in controlling road access in the aftermath of the storm. Those policemen in Gretna and the West Bank had the right to control the entrance and exit ramps to protect their municipalities, but that is not what they did. No; they seized control of the bridge itself and denied the right of free passage to those people stranded at the Superdome and Convention Center -- and that right of free passage is a civil right -- as well as denying the right of rescue and relief efforts to reach the city overland. Next time you hear Mayor Nagin discuss the seizure of that bridge, listen carefully. Nagin made some HUGE mistakes, but they were before the storm hit in his failure to execute a proper evacuation. His complaints about the closure of the Crescent City Connector bridge are very much on the mark.

So in conclusion; may I say that this first anniversary of Katrina is not the one that matters. No; next year's anniversary will be much more important. We'll be conducting a gubernatorial campaign then and there is no way that all of these issues will remain buried. They will get out in the open. There are too many people who want this story told. And that includes Ray Nagin.

You all have one more year to wait for the truth. That truth will focus on the story of the access roads. Because it's always about the access roads following a hurricane.

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