Avoiding Another Katrina

Democrats are limited to 2.5 lines. Republicans can get more :)

Sorry about the odd post. For some reason it will not take more than 2 and a half lines from me.

Westerly, Actually, I think you hit the nail on the head. The real comparison, as you say, is the comparison between 2003 and 2007. What many people may find surprising is that the former San Diego Fire Chief resigned in April, 2006. He was frustrated over the city's lack of support for the fire dept, and he said San Diego could never handle another major fire. Believe me, there will be a lot of people questioning why these fires got so big and why didn't we have the resources on hand to immediately attack them and keep the fire manageable.

this conversation is still going on? they just need to get rid of this whole article all together. again, i cannot believe how WELL we all get along in the face of disaster! Its so wonderful who we all UNITE!
I dont think race, economy, or government has anything to do with a state of emergency in the face of a disaster such as CA fires or Katrina and I cannot believe what it all comes down to is - what will people have in the end. People are actually upset that someone might be getting something better or more or faster than someone else? These are two seperate situations involving all different people which obviously gives us different outcomes. It is how the world works.
I also believe that there are more pressing matters that all of us could be turning out attention and time to - and that is for the people who are NOT directly effected by either of the situations (and I'm talking about more than just reading it on the internet or hearing it on the news).

NEWSWEEK - CUT THIS ARTICLE ALREADY

dgu56-i forgot to add, my cousin going through what your mother-in-law is enduring...and youre right it is bad.

Maybe what we should be comparing is ...Is the efficient disaster relief of 2007 better or worse than the 2003 fires. Were mistakes made in 2003? What are the differences between 2003 Governor Gray Davis and 2007 Arnold Schwarzenegger methods of managing these disasters?
Comment to dgu56-then we can agree that it is the system that is flawed- as it is in everything; my insurances have the holes in which abuse can occur-and honest do pay....but is it relevant to human suffering? An act of nature was responsible for New Orleans, everything afterwards was everything and anything that can go wrong in a fragile "system". The question is ...is anything being learnt from it so that the next time (god forbid) will their be something in place for those who are living in it?
A few minutes ago I heard on news that some of fires might be arson.....that is not natural.

Nuff said here. it's not helping anyone. PEACE! live, love and Learn. May God Bless help us all.

Nuff said here. not helping anyone. PEACE! Live, Love and Learn. God Bless us all.

I would just like to say how funny all these posts are about race. I lived in CA for years and the last time I checked white people were the minority...so that has nothing to do with it.

Fires and hurricanes are two different things and you CANT compare them, just because you cant. How about we worry about saving lives and hope we never see the devistation we saw with Katrina ever again.

Sidenote, the person who told that poor person wondering if their sons graveyard was burned was absolutely cruel is telling them to worry about the living....YOU SUCK!

Westerly, you said my posts reflect an anger towards New Orleans. Let me address that. I lived there as a young man and I had more fun there than any where I've since traveled or lived. It's a wonderful city and filled with great people. I travel back every chance I get. Once I spent a whole week living in the French Quarter-never left it. Drank till dawn and had beignets on the river each day. I love that city, much more than I love San Diego, my home town. In fact, I despise the city government in San Diego. It's the most corrupt city in the nation. "Enron by the Sea." But New Orleans has a sickness about it that has to be addressed. I was horrified by Katrina. I hated the way the police behaved, the city officials, the looters and robbers, and the thought of all those poor people who died needlessly saddens me beyond belif. I will never forget, or forgive those re responsible.

To "girlonfire" - Maybe "control" was the wrong word; my point is that it IS possible to FIGHT fire - not so with rain, wind, and floods. At any rate, these two disasters should not be compared at all.

I guess the formatting doesn't transfer from WORD. THe ??? are '. The last sentence cut off reads: Some of those "poor" people are doing better than she does.

To "girlonfire" - Maybe "control" was the wrong word; my point is that it IS possible to FIGHT fire - not so with rain, wind, and floods. At any rate, these two disasters should not be compared at all.

I apologize for this long post: skip it if you want, but it is a personal experience about New Orleans you may enjoy reading about.

I used to live across the river in Gretna (Terrytown) and my mother-in-law still resides there. I visited a few months ago to help her with a few things. She had an insurance surcharge of $225.00 yearly that began to appear on her homeowner???s insurance, and she didn???t know what it was all about. Mind you, this is a 65 year-old lady on a fixed income ($1200.00 per month) and an extra expense hurts. It turns out the surcharge is a state-mandated bill tacked onto her normal homeowner???s insurance. This surcharge will be used to pay the bills of all those who didn???t have insurance during Katrina.

Now, my mother-in-law evacuated from New Orleans days before Katrina hit. This was at my insistence; even I could tell this storm coming in was going to be huge. We bussed her to Houston and when she was allowed to come back her house had been damaged. Her insurance paid for the damage and FEMA paid all her traveling and hotel expenses. She was so thankful she had insurance, even though keeping up the payments on a fixed income is difficult.

But now she has to help pay for those people who didn???t have insurance. She keeps hearing about the $65 BILLION in Katrina aid and wonders why some of that isn???t used instead. But she scrimps and saves, being as responsible as she can, but it???s hard on her.

And that, my friends, is the central problem in New Orleans. The ones who try and do the right thing, be responsible, etc.., are always asked to provide for those who don???t. There is a widespread attitude of ???They owe me??? down there, and too many peoples??? hands are out. And why not? There is no end to the number of people lobbying to ???give to the poor??? and so on.

Now, all that aid money to New Orleans should have spurred a huge economic rebirth. Opportunities should have sprung up right and left. But it didn???t, not for the people there. They refused to take advantage of everything. Instead, what happened was that people from outside the area flooded in to grab the opportunities, principally Latinos. They weren???t stupid; they saw all that opportunity and grabbed it. You might remember the mayor, Ray Nagin, complaining about New Orleans becoming ???brown???? That???s what he was talking about.

Too many of the residents there didn???t want opportunity, they want hand-outs. Now the town is passing laws designed to discourage the Latinos from conducting business. Again, those that are industrious, responsible, hard-working, are again being over-regulated and taxed to help provide for the ???poor.??? There???s no end to it down there. I love New Orleans, but it???s a whole different world there. And this year, when I help my mother-in-law pay that surcharge, I???ll wonder, like she does, why try? Maybe it???s better just to drop the insurance and expect hand-outs after the next disaster. Some of those ???

Forget about FEMA trailors, let's look into Katrina Cottages.

Also, one more time, it is not about the level of assistance provided. That's entitlement thinking. The cult of victimhood. The issue is about the planning and preparing before a crisis, and then the executing of that planning during the crisis. Not just waiting around for da help and complaining.

OK, one more time. The reason it got so bad in New Orleans is because there were too many people who were not evacuated. They had over a week to begin preparations and failed. Yes, the infrastructure was destroyed in NO. But if the people had gotten out the're be no problems, no deaths. By the way, in San Diego all the major freeways were closed, power off in large areas, water gone in large areas, etc.. But we got people out of harm's way before these things became an issue. Get it? Before, not after.