Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Florida, Mississippi, Alabama...and Louisiana
TH and I were just catching up on the phone talking about the tragedy of Louisiana when the subject of FEMA came up. Now I appreciate that lots of folks want this fella Brown's head on a platter, and it may be deserved. But I remember a number of whoppers last summer pounding down on Florida with excellent local, state and federal responses, well coordinated, amid tremendous and unrelenting duress. Four hurricanes in 60 days if memory serves me.
My parents used to me tell me to try to understand what differed in similar circumstances that led to different results. In this case, there was the natural, unfortunate topographical reality that New Orleans was largely below sea level. And it seems that there was a further unfortunate human resource reality that the local folks managing the crisis, which was bound to be very bad given the topography problem, demonstrated themselves to be utterly and remorselessly incompetent. I have now had an opportunity to see these people in the context of press conferences. I would not hire them to walk my dog, wash my underwear, take out my garbage. If an IQ test were administered to these people, and the results publicized, we would shake our heads in shock. Is there anybody, anything there?
I suspect this will sort itself out in the next set of local elections when these dolts will undoubtedly be thrown out of office. Let's remember please that these people actually caught a break -- Katrina actually missed a direct hit by a tiny bit. But first they were reluctant to issue a mandatory evacuation, then they made no provision to assist those who could not or failed to evacuate, and then finally the local gendarmes failed to act in a fashion designed for glory -- quite the contrary it seems. Local law enforcement behaved like the Iraqi brigades in Fallujah in April -- many quit the field or joined the bad guys. How very French. Hmmm. I didn't say that. Well, whatever.
So let's please exercise some common sense here as we begin to get our collective heads (and perhaps wisdom?) around the tragic circumstances in New Orleans. And in the interim, let's do whatever we can to help. I am proud to credit the CP kids and some of their schoolmates with 9 hours of fundraising on the eastern end of Long Island over three days this past weekend. They sold cookies and lemonade for donations which were generously made by strangers and passers-by, raising $3500, which 4 different parents then levered up to a $10,000 kitty for donating. Way to go kids! And not once did they rip a single person or blame anybody. They somehow grasped the magnitude and the unimaginable nature of the event better than most adults I think.
My parents used to me tell me to try to understand what differed in similar circumstances that led to different results. In this case, there was the natural, unfortunate topographical reality that New Orleans was largely below sea level. And it seems that there was a further unfortunate human resource reality that the local folks managing the crisis, which was bound to be very bad given the topography problem, demonstrated themselves to be utterly and remorselessly incompetent. I have now had an opportunity to see these people in the context of press conferences. I would not hire them to walk my dog, wash my underwear, take out my garbage. If an IQ test were administered to these people, and the results publicized, we would shake our heads in shock. Is there anybody, anything there?
I suspect this will sort itself out in the next set of local elections when these dolts will undoubtedly be thrown out of office. Let's remember please that these people actually caught a break -- Katrina actually missed a direct hit by a tiny bit. But first they were reluctant to issue a mandatory evacuation, then they made no provision to assist those who could not or failed to evacuate, and then finally the local gendarmes failed to act in a fashion designed for glory -- quite the contrary it seems. Local law enforcement behaved like the Iraqi brigades in Fallujah in April -- many quit the field or joined the bad guys. How very French. Hmmm. I didn't say that. Well, whatever.
So let's please exercise some common sense here as we begin to get our collective heads (and perhaps wisdom?) around the tragic circumstances in New Orleans. And in the interim, let's do whatever we can to help. I am proud to credit the CP kids and some of their schoolmates with 9 hours of fundraising on the eastern end of Long Island over three days this past weekend. They sold cookies and lemonade for donations which were generously made by strangers and passers-by, raising $3500, which 4 different parents then levered up to a $10,000 kitty for donating. Way to go kids! And not once did they rip a single person or blame anybody. They somehow grasped the magnitude and the unimaginable nature of the event better than most adults I think.
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