[shortstop]

We've all been reading and hearing about Katrina for the past few days. It's been a direct or sometimes indirect wall to wall bash of the Bush administration from the start. This editorial by Lonsberry is the best and most accurate of anything I've heard yet.

[poobear]

"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."

This author NAILED it!

[firewalk]

bttt

[bmwcyle]

Lesson-----Chocolate Cities don't work well.

[JFC]

It's been a direct or sometimes indirect wall to wall bash of the Bush administration from the start.

Your right... I am sick of hearing anouy Katrina cry babies. I know there are many heroes but mdm wants to focus in on the down and needy who can not TAKE CARE of themselves.............. nbc is first in the blame Bush game..........

[Christian4Bush]

Thank you so much for posting this.

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Media is as media does." They just can't wait to bash the administration on anything and everything, from actual faults (to which they have no better idea) to imagined ones (where only they see an imminent threat...which, ironically, is how many of them described Iraq prior to us going in there - not the President's description.

So we ride the wave, hopefully countering the lies and the spin, and continuing to contrast our plan for victory to the Democrats' plan for defeat - of Bush and the Republicans.

I think it's time for a "high-up" in the Administration to say what is painfully obvious to most of us, and let political correctness be damned: Perhaps we could finish the war much faster, and start to bring some of our brave troops home, if the Democrats were as committed to defeating America's enemies as they are about defeating America's leaders.

[edzo4]

I suggest for next mardi gras they should make floats that really do float.

[roses of sharon]

The only lesson of Katrina is that the next time there is a disaster and you see a news van and reporters, run the other way.

Reporters are the scum of our society, they are leaches, punks, agitators, bastards, political hacks, commie-vampires, elitist snobs, creeps, and should have their teeth knocked out whenever they approach.

[greasepaint]

the lesson of Katrina
is to put floodgates on the canals

[ßuddaßudd]

My favorite Katrina quote.

“Watching cradle-to-grave liberalism shred itself to pieces in the calming breeze of reality” by FReeper BureaucratusMaximus 9/2/05

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent column, and certainly dead on.

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.

[marron]

The Gulf Coast is in the hurricane zone. It has always been in the hurricane zone, and it always will be.

Katrina, as bad as it was, was not a unique event. Hurricanes come every year, several times a year. If you are going to live on the Gulf Coast, you accept this and devise strategies for dealing with it. If you are going to be a public official in a Gulf Coast community, hurricanes are a part of your bailiwick, just as surely as roads, sewers, and trash pickup.

Four states were hit hard by several hurricanes in close succession. In three of four states, people have set about to rebuild with little fanfare. They are essentially the same people spread across the region, but only in New Orleans, under the disastrous watch of Nagin and Blanco do we have this ugly example of what happens when unworthy people hold office.

The press are doing their best to re-write history, but in doing so they have to ignore the fact that New Orleans was only one city out of several hit, that Louisiana was only one out of four badly hit. And it was only there that the people went out of control, the police went out of control, rescue workers were denied entry at the governor's order, and the victims sealed in and prevented from escaping.

The Katrina situation in New Orleans was criminal, and Nagin and Blanco should be removed from office in shame. Instead their party and a dishonest press have rallied to their defense.

[SueRae]

I'd like to buy the author a drink. He has spoken the truth. I can only imagine the hate mail he's gonna get on this one but it needs to be said, shouted from the rooftops. Well-written piece.

[Mack the knife]

Another lesson from Katrina is that the Press will not hold Democrats accountable for their failure to perform their sworn duties.

How much money was allocated by the Federal, State, and local governments to keep the levies in shape?

How much of that money was diverted for more glamorous projects by the Democrats in the House and Senate, by Democrats at the State level, by Democrats at the local level?

How much oversight was actually given to how the money was spent (for example, there are at least 8 local Levy boards in New Orleans responsible for different parts of the Levy, each independently elected, each accountable to no one).

This cries out for an investigatory reporter to extract the information and lay it out for the public to see. But the Press is on the side of the Democrats, so it won't happen -- better to just blame George Bush.

Between New Orleans Levys, Big Dig Tunnel, and the lack of illegal immigration law enforcement, there is plenty of evidence that you can't trust the government to protect its citizens.

[fatnotlazy]

"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.

But they didn’t make the news."

****

That's right. There are those still recovering from storms which occurred almost 2 years ago. Where I live, we still have flood damage from Hurricane Ivan in October 2004. But people aren't waiting around for a handout. They are getting themselves together. I'm really sick and tired of all this whining and moaning from and about New Orleans. If the other places hit hard by storms can rebuild, so can they. I think we've pumped enough money into NO's recovery. It's time they do their part and get their act together.

[Swiss]

Another important thing to remember about Katrina is never ever say that a member of the press is "Stuck on Stupid".

Ever since General Honore said that he has disappeared down the press's memory hole as a non person.

I have not seen even a picture of him in recent coverage.

[38special]

While channel surfing last night I came across a CNN Katrina story as it started and it immediately went into Bush bashing mode.

[DustyMoment]

I am sick of the whining and gnashing of teeth over Katrina. The people with the responsibility to secure the safety of the citizens did nothing. Bush pushed Blanco to declare a state of emergency and order an evacuation.

And he got bashed for not doing enough.

Bush offered Amtrak trains to move people out of New Orleans (since Nagin couldn't find the keys to all of those buses), but Blanco/Nagin turned him down.

And Bush gets bashed for not doing enough.

Any number of private citizens with equipment, boats, trucks, food, water, etc., INCLUDING the Red Cross tried to get into Nawlins in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and they were turned away by Lousyana NG trrops, state and local police.

And Bush gets bashed for this as well.

Any number of nutjobs (including Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan) claimed that the Bush administration blew the levees and turned their backs on the people of Nawlins because they hate blacks (a despicable charge, at best!).

And Bush gets bashed.

In the meantime, Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin gets away with continuing to do nothing and, in fact, even gets re-elected for doing nothing then makes comments about NYC not fixing their big "hole" after 5 years.

What part of this sordid story does the MSM not get and when are they going to point fingers at the REAL cuplrits - Blanco and Nagin???

[bray]

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

[D1X1E]

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

It is a lesson that those who most need to learn it, have not learned. Those whose life before Katrina was subsidized by government handouts unfortunately see no need to change now.

[StJacques]

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.