I use the religious context figuratively. Before you get the wrong idea, I abhor all of the loss of life and property that we have observed. I truly hope that the revised projections of lower loss of life end up being correct.

But look at what’s transpired. Here is a catastrophe that had been predicted for at least decades. Decades of time to make preprations. Once it started to actually formulate there was at least several days to put plans into motion (and many were).  The aftermath of the initial strike was also predictable. Yet so many local “first responders” were rendered physically or emotionally impotent. An even greater number that were safe by virtue of being located more remotely, somehow found themselves very “flat footed”. My personal belief is that since 9/11 and 4 years we’ve had to re-enforce the need for better plans and methods to execute them, there was a national expectation that recovery from the above “mis-steps” or the general response would have, should have been more forceful, yet it wasn’t.

And all of this, after an event that as I said, was predictable and visible through the windshield.

After 9/11 I felt helpless. As a result I joined a government organization in order to contribute something. The one I joined actually has received gold stars during its response thus far to Katrina (and as a member agency of DHS I might add). But I must tell you that I have seen, over the past 4 years, even in my own organization, a lot of heat generation from the bureaucratic “Department of Deck Chair Reorganizers”. This from a “well run" government agency. I can only imagine the "all heat and no light" changes made in other agencies that suffer even more from the pressures of political appointments and congressional pork barrel spending.

My main point in writing is that we should all be thankful that it was “Only Katrina”, large enough to wake us up, but small enough……well admit it, it could have been a WHOLE lot worse. And it will be, next time with far worse consequences when much less expected, with much less warning, especially if too many hit the snooze button, or too many continue to produce far more heat than light.


-- Modified on 9/11/2005 4:41:38 PM

"By late last week, Administration aides were describing a three-part comeback plan. The first: Spend freely, and worry about the tab and the consequences later. "Nothing can salve the wounds like money," said an official who helped develop the strategy. "You'll see a much more aggressively engaged President, traveling to the Gulf Coast a lot and sending a lot of people down there."

The second tactic could be summed up as, Don't look back. The White House has sent delegates to meetings in Washington of outside Republican groups who have plans to blame the Democrats and state and local officials. In the meantime, it has no plans to push for a full-scale inquiry like the 9/11 commission, which Bush bitterly opposed until the pressure from Congress and surviving families made resistance futile. Congressional Democrats have said they are unwilling to settle for anything less than an outside panel, but White House officials said they do not intend to give in, and will portray Democrats as politicking if they do not accept a bipartisan panel proposed by Republican congressional leaders. Ken Mehlman, the party's chairman and Bush's campaign manager last year, told TIME that viewers at home will think it's "kind of ghoulish, the extent to which you've got political leaders saying not 'Let's help the people in need' but making snide comments about vacations."

The third move: Develop a new set of goals to announce after Katrina fades. Advisers are proceeding with plans to gin up base-conservative voters for next year's congressional midterm elections with a platform that probably will be focused around tax reform. Because Bush will need a dynamic salesman to make sure that initiative goes better than his Social Security proposal, advisers tell TIME there is once again talk of replacing Treasury Secretary John Snow. There are no plans to delay tax cuts to pay for the New Orleans reconstruction or the Iraq war, and Bush is likely to follow through on his vow to veto anticipated congressional approval of increased federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research."

"This morning, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to the Reliant Park this offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.

While on the tour of a shelter with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, ``Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?''

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed."

For now, the media has taken the gloves off. You might actually see some journalism starting to take place. It's about time, if you ask me.

When Corporate Media, long a Bush ally, starts going the other way, you have to wonder what's next. The GOP has 14 months until Decision 2006; if if were this year, I'd say it's a sure bet they would lose both houses-and they can torque the ballot boxes all they want.

As for Katrina being a "Godsend", ed2000 might be closer to the truth than you think. Katrina wiped out the city with the largest colony of devil worshippers and black magic practicioners, and took out every major casino on the Gulf Coast. Just some food for thought...God must be really pissed off right now.

I believe he is pissed off..and look at the location  of these recent hurricanes: all red states. A pretty clear divine message to repent for their sins of voting for Bush.

A great quote that I saw on dailykos, went like this:

"...If you want to see the real fireworks in Washington, forget about the Democrats. Look instead to the Albert Speer faction of the Republican party going after that of Heinrich Himmler..."

If cracks are appearing in Corporate Media's support for George W., the beginning of the end for George W. and the Dominionists may well be in sight. Already, you have the theocrats in charge of the FCC attempting to censor not only commercial TV, but also cable TV and satellite radio. This must be bad news indeed for TimeWarner, Viacomm and particularly Murdoch's Fox, which thrives on profanity and soft-porn. That's the trouble with these revolutions, as Robespierre was heard to say right before he was guillotined, it's hard to stop them once they get started.

Still, my money is on Wall Street pulling the plug on George W. and Karl. After all, they're the ones writing the checks, not the Dominionists in the hinterlands.

was a God send Too ?  What you say Big Ed ?       Can you spin WMD again for us ?                   Weapons of Mass Distraction I think you mean !!

it's sorta weird to be thankful for disasters, to alert us to prepare for disasters - ??

I have to say, one of the reports I thought was wonderful was the National Guard belatedly arriving to find out their vehicles weren't amphibious.   Duh.   I guess we should be thankful those particular rocket scientists aren't in Iraq getting our equipment wasted.

Personally I don't see any connection to the points I was making, but I'd be interested to learn why you think it's true.

to actually address some real issues. I thought I was actually being quite non-partisian. I related it to very personal facts, not just something I read. I wasn't laying the blame anywhere specific and was taking some responsibilty. I was trying to raise some questions that I hadn't seen anywhere yet.

And what did I get for all my efforts....well it speaks for itself.

-- Modified on 9/12/2005 10:33:14 PM

Why is it better to have a whole city destroyed, lose 20,000 lives to a hurricane and not Osama?  I guess you mean to say that if it were El-Quaida rather than Katrina we would have lost 40,000?  That's what I think you mean?  Otherwise, I can't follow your point.  

Large enough to wake us up?  I thought 9/11 was supposed to be our wake-up call.  I guess  we hit the snooze button.  I don't like to bring a discouraging thought into this blissfully blurry dream, but if we hit the snooze button once, we could hit it again.

Yours usually are.

First off, there’s no evidence that 20,000 have been lost to Katrina. I was speaking to specific events, not in general. I could not have fathomed making such a post had the results been that devastating.

I was saying that regardless of the source of the destruction (natural or man made) it could have been and still can be much much worse next time.

9/11 was obviously not a loud enough wake up call for far too many people, organizations and government at all levels. The reasons for that are many. For example, the video and graphics, have for the most part been brushed under the rug by the media. How many buildings did you see falling down on TV last Sunday, as we “remembered” 9/11? Secondly, 9/11 was not that large of a rescue operation, neither in man power, nor time span. For all intents and purposes the “rescue” ENDED on 9/11.

On a side note...set Bush’s detractors (at any price) aside for a moment.  I believe that had it not been for the expectations of the post 9/11 experience, the failures during Katrina wouldn’t seem as bad.

In my opinion there was too much rearrangement of the deck chairs after 9/11. Certain excellent changes were made, other good ones. Some were WAY TOO costly or ineffective.
No matter how hard we try, no matter the level of planning, one can imagine a catastrophe so mammoth that it would still create a level of chaos that would overwhelm any plan. Imagine for a moment... The entire northwest cauldron of Wyoming’s Yellowstone explodes with the force of a MILLION Mt St. Helens and for starters, everything within 500 miles is dead.

Katrina’s rescue efforts are unmatched since the 1927 flood of the same area (and then some). I believe that it was the event responsible for the eventual genesis of FEMA.

Some communities and states have already announced plan review. Other’s I’m sure were already in good shape. Most probably and sadly remain lifeless.

That then gives rise to a discussion that no doubt will soon occur. How soon, under what circumstances, should the Federal Government (read today as military), step in and “take over” the authority of local and state governments? (i.e. how should it change from today’s requirements under the “Insurrection” laws? I believe that some form of this was needed and did not come from the Feds (during Katrina).