Online scams emerge in Katrina's wake

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The Fed's Response: Hi, Pagan Jim.

You said:

Do you think the respons such that it is might in part be due to a lack of resources ie many from the national guard and reserves being in Iraq and all the moneys being sent/spent there of supplies and equipment?

As I said, if someone wants to criticize the government's response, that's fine, but to respond by parodying the anti-abortion anti-gay (or pro-family, depending on your perspective, I guess) issue is entirely out of place. These are real life-and-death issues we're dealing with, and an impromptu appearance of a Mike Cox wanna-be isn't really appropriate.

The disaster was caused by some 18th-century levees breaking because they got hit by a storm they weren't designed to weather. As I see it, successive generations of administrations on the federal, state and local level all failed. In fact, New Orleans had planned for a hurricane (the article is on CNN), but the simulation could only show the lives that would potentially be lost in a "worst-case" scenario. It couldn't help avoid the disaster.

Has the response been less-than-inspiring so far? Of course. Hell, even Bush now admits that the response was inadequate. But look at the scale of the destruction. Is there any possible way to think that rescue efforts could go smoothly? My understanding (and memory) is that the administration declared Louisiana and Kentucky disaster areas before Katrina even hit. It would be hard to be more proactive than that. I think the national guard scarcity is a failure, but not of the type you're talking about. In part, it's a failure to imagine the worst in human beings (and I use that term somewhat loosely in this context). I don't think even New Orleans natives anticipated seeing roving bands of armed brigands on the streets the day after the disaster. (I can understand looting food, but when you go for TVs, jeans and jewelry, you're just scum.) The level of National Guard presence now seemingly necessary would be unneeded if certain of New Orleans' citizens hadn't decided to transform it into downtown Falluja.

In the end, it's literally centuries of administrative neglect that has done New Orleans in (at least for now). To put the onus of such a disaster on one man is folly.; Posted by: bhartman36 Posted on: 09/02/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use