Katrina Media Coverage
Since the Katrina disaster, I've been somewhat obsessed with the news from New Orleans and the gulf coast. I'm annoyed by some of the pundits and talking heads who simply don't seem to appreciate the massive scale of the damage. This usually comes out as criticism of FEMA and other Federal agencies. Am I alone in realizing that this disaster is an order of magnitude bigger than any other in the history of this country? Do people really think that the federal government can swoop down and provide a million meals a day overnight? The Federal government is not a bottomless well from which the resources to replace AN ENTIRE CITY can instantly spring.
I watched Cynthia Tucker on Real Time with Bill Mahr last night lay the entire blame for the disaster at the feet of FEMA. No action from the Federal Government could have prevented the massive suffering of refugees from an entire American city. Does Ms. Tucker, or anyone else, suppose that there's 100,000 federal employees just standing by ready for a disaster ten, or a hundred, times bigger than anything this country has ever seen? People who believe this are the same kind of people who don't bother to even do as much as keep a few gallons of emergency drinking water on hand, and instead expect 911 to swoop down and protect them from any harm.
Most of the blame should be directed at New Orleans and their levee board. This kind of disaster has been predicted for generations. And the city did not invest enough to protect itself. Now the US taxpayers are going to be stuck with a bill of approximately $2000 per family to help rebuild a city that should have taken care of itself. There are those who blame Congress for not allocating enough money for New Orleans levee improvement. The tax payers, however, should not be responsible for providing for the safety of every homeowner, no matter how precarious the location of their home. If your city wants to develop a flood plain, your CITY should pay for the protect of that development.
More immediately, blame for the lack of evacuation from poor New Orleans neighborhoods and general preparedness belongs to the Mayor of New Orleans. You might not know it to hear Ray Nagin screaming at FEMA, but the city did, in fact, have a plan for evacuating the city, including mass transit resources for evacuating residents without the means to evacuate themselves. When questioned about why the plan was never put into action, the mayor defended himself by saying that that most of the bus drivers walked off the job as the storm approached. Mitigating the enormous human suffering had to start with local evacuation plans and emergency planning.
I have other complaints with the news coverage. Tucker Carlson on The Situation complained that National Guard troupes were seen standing near the bodies of victims without moving them. Bodies can not simply be swept off the street by whoever happens to be standing near them. The scene must be handled by trained coroners in order to collect all possible forensic data about the person's identity and the exact cause of death. It's a tragedy that these limited resources were overwhelmed by Katrina but taking shots at the National Guard who performed fantastically in the wake of the storm is simply not justified.
There's more than enough blame to go around. And it's a crime that there are so many innocent people trapped in the middle of it all. Please think of them and donate to the Red Cross .
I watched Cynthia Tucker on Real Time with Bill Mahr last night lay the entire blame for the disaster at the feet of FEMA. No action from the Federal Government could have prevented the massive suffering of refugees from an entire American city. Does Ms. Tucker, or anyone else, suppose that there's 100,000 federal employees just standing by ready for a disaster ten, or a hundred, times bigger than anything this country has ever seen? People who believe this are the same kind of people who don't bother to even do as much as keep a few gallons of emergency drinking water on hand, and instead expect 911 to swoop down and protect them from any harm.
Most of the blame should be directed at New Orleans and their levee board. This kind of disaster has been predicted for generations. And the city did not invest enough to protect itself. Now the US taxpayers are going to be stuck with a bill of approximately $2000 per family to help rebuild a city that should have taken care of itself. There are those who blame Congress for not allocating enough money for New Orleans levee improvement. The tax payers, however, should not be responsible for providing for the safety of every homeowner, no matter how precarious the location of their home. If your city wants to develop a flood plain, your CITY should pay for the protect of that development.
More immediately, blame for the lack of evacuation from poor New Orleans neighborhoods and general preparedness belongs to the Mayor of New Orleans. You might not know it to hear Ray Nagin screaming at FEMA, but the city did, in fact, have a plan for evacuating the city, including mass transit resources for evacuating residents without the means to evacuate themselves. When questioned about why the plan was never put into action, the mayor defended himself by saying that that most of the bus drivers walked off the job as the storm approached. Mitigating the enormous human suffering had to start with local evacuation plans and emergency planning.
I have other complaints with the news coverage. Tucker Carlson on The Situation complained that National Guard troupes were seen standing near the bodies of victims without moving them. Bodies can not simply be swept off the street by whoever happens to be standing near them. The scene must be handled by trained coroners in order to collect all possible forensic data about the person's identity and the exact cause of death. It's a tragedy that these limited resources were overwhelmed by Katrina but taking shots at the National Guard who performed fantastically in the wake of the storm is simply not justified.
There's more than enough blame to go around. And it's a crime that there are so many innocent people trapped in the middle of it all. Please think of them and donate to the Red Cross .
posted by Chris at 18:05
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