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You'd know better than all of us C.J.

Just saddens me that in a real crisis the good of humanity didn't rise to the top

It truly showed to me how stretxhed Iraq & afghanistan had made them

I think that the authorities didn't take it seriously to be honest
Issue the warning and forget it because its not for real

Incompetence

The response says nothing but racism to me

The richest nation of earth can't find enough transport to help all the afflicted

If it weren't the lead up to an election

The federal gov under the republicans are self serving

Neo-conservatives remember

Arnie would make a great Pres Eh?not sure he's elegible though?

Unfortunately, though racism is a very real phenomenon, there are sections of western society that see racism in almost anything and everything. These people are usually either self deluding zealots who have bought into a pre-packaged ideology, or self serving cynics and professional victims who have a vested interest ascribing it to society?s every utterance or action.

Looking at the California/New Orleans events through the telephoto lens of TV and Internet reports, it seems to me that the difference in outcomes can be attributed to two things ? general post Katrina preparedness, and the differences between the Southern Californian and New Orleans communities. One community rich, ordered, liberal ? and the other (some might say) louche, sleazy and decadent. A decadence, I?ll quickly add, that New Orleans has sold itself on since time immemorial. So when disaster strikes it doesn?t take a PhD to work out which community would first succumb to anarchy and chaos.




Officer Dibble

Easy to say in hindesight OD but then fires are a whole lot more easy to combat against than a once in a blue moon hurricane/flood IMHO

The simple facts are if new orleans had offered those without transport a ride out of town before the category4/5 huricane hit all this racism debate would be DEAD

I agree new orleans preparedness was abysmal but the so was thir planning.Emergency services based in the low lying areas

As for the real issue...diversion of the mississipi for greed which was a major factor in the breeches from what I've read....don't get me started

Lets not forget Dibble....california has the 5th biggest econmy on earth

Yet they still asked for federal assistance...makes me want to vomit to be honest

Where there high value property to be saved there will be assistance where theres low value human cattle there will be aid but it will take time

There are a few differences between the fires in California and the Hurricane Katrina chaos in New Orleans.

Firstly, the Californians get this every October. I've been in the valley (Calabasas & Woodland Hills) when the fires have hit before. It isn't all rich people around there, only on the hills and around Calabasas.

Secondly, when the fires did make people evacuate, they fucking evacuated; they didn't hang around so they could loot their neighbours gear and then get caught up in the destruction like those in New Orleans.

Thirdly, can be controlled to a point. Man can affect fire. We cannot prevent, or guide a hurricane like a flock of sheep. When hurricanes hit, they hit fast, and over a large area; fires will not pick off every house in it's path due to wind change and terrain.

When I was there, once the fire gets within 2 blocks -about a mile- from your house, fire marshals come around and give residents notice to get out. It's then up to you. We packed our cases ready to go and sat in the car. The winds changed when the fires were 1/2 mile away so we were ok. What's important is that I saw no looting of the evacuated houses whatsoever.

The difference, Dibbsy, is that the "anarchy and chaos" were taken as read by the authorities. Patrolman Plod is more likely to rush in to San Diego county and help the good folks evacuate than he is to help those too stubborn or poor to leave behind all they have in, admittedly, a city that sells itself on being seedy.

There was a regional news report up here during the aftermath of Katrina, an interview with a Scot caught up in the mess who expressed surprise that the skies over New Orleans weren't black with the fleets of rescue helicopters. And a news report some days later on there being a 200% rise in locals buying handguns in Baton Rouge due to New Orleans people being sent there to live.

Michael Moore doesn't have the answers for everything---not even close. But he is spot on about an underlying paranoia in the American psyche: this feeling that "someone is coming to take what I have." And sadly, like McShit and Starchuck and all the rest of the detritus, we are assimilating that into our own society.

The reaction to Katrina should have been America's finest hour. Instead, it was a reminder that all the fault lines still exist.