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Katrina, two years later

By Last Night in Little Rock, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 09:45:53 AM EST
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Two years ago, we burned up this website with postings about Katrina and the debacle of the government's response. How far have they (we) come?

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox had the best live coverage, and the public knew more than the government. The best coverage anywhere: The New Orleans Times-Picayue. Even when they couldn't a publish a print edition because their printing press was flooded, they published a massive number of stories online, and they had a depth of coverage and understanding that only a local could have.

More....

I still have Spike Lee's HBO "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" on my TiVo, and I'm watching it tonight. It was heartbreaking to watch Lee's masterpiece the first time, but I couldn't bring myself to erase it. Now I'm glad I didn't.

I'm also TiVoing CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 tonight.

As citizens, we have a duty to revisit Katrina and the aftermath. It tells us volumes about government and its failures to protect us from a known danger. One can only ask: Why did the Bush Administration do so little, so late? The events of August 2005 remind us of four years and one month earlier when the government had warnings of another potential disaster.

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    Katrina, two years later | 25 comments (25 topical)

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    I had driven through New Orleans (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:02:13 PM EST
    about a week before Katrina on my way home from protesting at Crawford.  In living through two huge blizzards in Colorado Springs in my lifetime and both times having Army troops out of Fort Carson give aid I expected the helicopters to leave Fort Rucker AL as soon the first reports started coming in of a flooded New Orleans and people standing on roof tops.  Even my husband took part in relief efforts in Colorado Springs last blizzard where they landed Army helicopters in Walmart parking lots that were clear enough and loaded up mostly prescriptions and baby formula and some diapers and air dropped them to residents living East of the city and literally buried in snow.  If you could get to a phone the Army would help.  At Fort Rucker though pilots asking what was happening where they were concerned and when something was going to happen were told that Fort Rucker was standing down.  The National Guard was handling this and George Bush's new creation of the U.S. Northern Command, which was his way of bypassing in the military all those by the book old boy networks that would ask too many questions all the time.  Last year during hurricane season the Northern Command was quick to announce that Fort Rucker was on alert.  At least something has changed for the better.  Fort Rucker has amassed the nations largest supply of helicopters in North America.  It is the home of Army Aviation and where you come to learn to fly and take every aviation career advancing course.  Army pilots call it Mother Rucker.  They were four hours from being able to stage in Mobile and help rescue civilians and drop food supplies but instead they paced the floors and watched the televisions until they grew numb from what they were seeing.

    It was obvious to everyone who (none / 0) (#2)
    by Pancho on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:14:45 PM EST
    was paying ANY attention at all that New Orleans was going to be in BIG trouble, at least a couple of days before Katrina hit. As difficult as it may have been for some to get out(this is debatable), was it really a better plan to expect to be rescued by helicopters after the fact? Even so, thousands of helicopter trips were made to rescue those who chose not to evacuate.

    I remember telling my wife that New Orleans was going to be destroyed.Staying in the city was just plain stupid. It is unreasonable and highly arrogant to expect to protect a city that lies below sea level from a category five hurricane.

    Parent

    The strength of Katrina (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:21:14 PM EST
    was more than most expected down here.  The strength of