I could go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about Honolulu Blue's comments, but I really don't want this to turn into a gun control debate either.

Bottom line is we do have the right to keep and bear arms, and many people in New Orleans are exercising that right in a lawful manner. Many others sure as heck wish they could.

I agree- assault rifles are A-okay, but damn those gay people getting married infringes on my rights in a way my neighbor having a gun does not. But fair enough - save this for another thread.

WWL-TV is reporting thunderstorms just south of the city.

What happens if lighting hits water that has thousands of people standing in it?

Fox News shows fires spreading in the city...

I don't think it's too bad unless you're in the immediate vicinity. But more rain is NOT what that city needs right now.

You hear it from me, and I'm pretty sure this is a case where I'm a long way from alone too.

Ugh. CNN has decided to show dead people. Covered up, but still...

SI

Anybody in Baton Rouge that can confirm this:

http://tigersmack.com/ and http://joshbritton.com/2005/09/01/ba...uge-situation/



The Baton Rouge paper (2theadvocate.com) has this:

[quote]
Baton Rouge Police spokesman, Officer L’Jean McKneely said this morning that rumors of escalating crime downtown are untrue.



“No looting, no burglaries and no home invasions,” McKneely said. “We are getting calls coming from New Orleans, where 911 calls are rolling into Baton Rouge. We believe those things are happening in New Orleans, but they are not happening here.”



McKneely said with such an influx of refugees coming from New Orleans into the Baton Rouge River Center there has been confusion, so officials decided to shut down the Governmental Building, which is next door.



Baton Rouge Police closed off most north-south streets downtown to establish a presence.



“Nothing major has happened down there, we are just establishing a presence early,” McKneely said. “It is just a show of force.”



“We want the community to know we are here and that we are talking care of business,” he added.



“We are just trying to put a cap on all these rumors. People should have patience and be calm. If something major happens they are going to hear it from us,” McKneely said.
[quote]

Oh I definitely agree with your first paragraph. I am only asking why people think they should be shot. I know some people may not be totally serious with that, but why such strong anger considering it goes on in any riot or after most sports championships. I know there is a difference and I even mentioned that they should be prosecuted, but I won't go as far as believing that they should be thought of as the same way as a murderer or rapist.

And your second issue is only bound to become more of a problem as time passes by with no help. I realize that everyone is doing everything that they can in this situation, but it doesn't help me feel any better about the situation at all knowing that more people are going to die to anything other than starvation.

Edited to correct wording.

Because that's going to be the only way to stop a pack of animals that has lost rhyme, reason, or concern for civilization or anything other than their own primal urges.

And at this point, I'm not sure that even that will be as effective a deterrent as is needed.

So I am assuming that this will include the children who are looting the stores as well because they were either told to or they just happened to see others doing it and don't really know any better.

Something interesting from the WWL blog:

If they loot, then you must shoot.

SI

Man, you are so jaded. Did you own a store that got looted or something? Why the anger? You seem level headed except when it comes to politics and this disaster. What is really angering you with this whole situation?

I'm not trying to be inflammatory, Antmeister, but how would you handle a gun-toting gang of looters? Specifically, if they are confronted by law enforcement but do not stand down?

Well personally, I seperate that and children.

Is that directed toward me?

If so, I think that's more than obvious. No one is advocating gunning-down child looters. Come on.

I'm of the opinion to shoot to wound, unless fired upon, which means shoot to kill. Regarding children, well, that's a different kettle of fish. I'm not sure there is a right answer there. Children really are more likely to act in this way because they see adults doing so. Best way to handle that is to control the adults. Thinking a little more, child looters should still be apprehended but with minimal force, if possible (except if said child is for whatever reason toting a gun, in which case everything short of lethal force should be exercised, if possible and deadly force as a last resort).

I believe most people are similar in thinking. It's unfortunate to resort to force to quell such actions, but frankly, talking at them isn't going to get very far. If anything, we're finally getting insight into what would happen if law and order did break down anywhere else in the country. There will be lessons drawn from this experience. Hard, ugly lessons, but lessons nonetheless.

Basically what WSUcougar just asked you would be my same question.

And no, I've never owned retail, so I'm spared from direct lootee experience. But those stores & owners aren't the only victims of these criminals.
Just the anecdotes that have trickled out of New Orleans so far include:
S&R cops being shot at while trapped on a roof, a cop shot in the freakin' forehead (either a very lucky shot OR a very calculated cold-blooded one), a retirement home bus hijacked & their supplies stolen, military helicopters engaged in rescue/ evacuation work being fired upon, EMT's under fire while trying to help those in the most serious need, hospitals forced to evacuate due in part to concerns about looters threatening the safety of both staff & patients, armed gangs roaming neighborhoods firing randomly shouting for residents to "get out, cause we're coming", a bus full of medical supplies being hijacked, set fires that further delayed evacuation efforts ... dammit Ant, the list grows by the hour and you're wondering "why the hostility"?

Jesus Christ man, does a house have to fall on you or something?

Directed towards what this was in response to.

First of all, I only read on this thread that there were "rumors" of gangs with guns taking over grocery stores. The only shootings I heard on any of the news I heard or read dealt with the stadium. I can't tell you how many stories that I heard during the Rodney King riots that were totally untrue. And there are plenty of ways to deal with that crowd, especially when a number of them are just innocent bystanders hoping to get help.

And if you are telling me that any child should be shot for looting, I feel sorry that you feel that way. I am just under the firm belief that someone shouldn't get shot and killed because they took a DVD player or a pair of sneaker or even a shopping basket full of unneccessary items for survival for that matter.

EF,
Glad to hear things are settling down for you and that you've found a place to be while you're back in LA until things calm down in NO and you can go back there (if? would you?).

As an update on my brother, my folks just wired him some money since he really wasn't prepared to set up "long term" anywhere (he didn't take clothes or anything with him, just his cat, his laptop, and a few changes of clothes, not his entire wardrobe). We're going under the assumption that he's lost everything--even if his place wasn't hit by flooding (which it may not have been), between fires and looters, and his place being on the ground floor, realism is moving in in place of optimism. He's currently in Austin, TX, with his girlfriend and her father. He's not sure what his next plan is--he's either going to look for employment in Austin, or move out to Portland (where he has other friends) or come back here to Maryland.

I hope that the rest of you in NO (or with family in NO) are starting to get "settled" one way or the other, too!

/tk

Then we're in such a fundamental & basic disagreement that we aren't likely to find much to agree on in the whole genre.

I've gotta think it's more than just a couple of incidents and a lot of rumors if they've gotten to the point where they have ceased evacuating people. That leads me to believe it's a lot worse. In this situation, people are willing to take a bit of risk on to save other people's lives and if those people think it's too dangerous then it's a bad situation.

SI

No, I never even insinuated such a thing. Please don't misrepresent me.

I think you are making this an either/or scenario when it clearly isn't one. There should be levels of force.

But it's also very likely, in my opinion, that some (many?) of the looters have totally lost their respect for law, civilization, and anything but their own primal activities. Some are armed, and many more are dangerous. So I repeat the question:

How would you handle these types of looters?

It kindof starts getting numb after a while, but wow, that last segment on WWL was just, well, I don't know what words to put to it...

SI

I know it's legit hard to keep track of the large amount of info, so I'm not dogging you one bit for that, but, just from the latest version of the AP story:

But some Federal Emergency Management rescue operations were suspended in areas where gunfire has broken out, Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington. "In areas where our employees have been determined to potentially be in danger, we have pulled back," he said.

"Hospitals are trying to evacuate," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesman at the city emergency operations center. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, "You better come get my family.

In a sign of growing lawlessness, Tenet HealthCare Corp. asked authorities late Wednesday to help evacuate a fully functioning hospital in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water and medical supplies was held up at gunpoint.

Of the top of my head, the cops-on-the-roof story was from yesterday morning (happened Tuesday night), I believe the shot in the head but survived cop story was from fairly early on Tuesday.

No I just don't see the situation in the same matter. You are linking looters to murderers, potential murderers and hijackers. Sure looting is a part of this grand chaos, but I won't go so far as to shoot everyone in sight that looks like they are about to do something wrong.

What I am saying is that if there is zero tolerance for looting and enforced strongly, innocent people are going to die who are just trying to survive. I agree with you that people are taking advantage of the situation, but it is not as simple as shoot all that loot.

And my comments weren't meant to slander you in any way. I was just saying that when you get angry, you refuse to see it past a black and white (no pun intended) issue.

Glad to hear that he is safe. Like him, we only brought a few days worth of clothes. I also brought expensive small electronics such as the PSP, our digital camera, some games that didn't take up much space, jewelry and sentimental stuff (wedding pictures and other wedding momentos.) However, we didn't have much room in the 2 cars with 5 adults and 4 pets. That is part of why these furnished apartments sound so nice in Shreveport - they will provide linens, dishes, silverware, and all of that sort of stuff. I'll need to buy some more dress clothes, etc.

As far as the question of if/when will we go back. If they eventually move the LSU Medical School back into New Orleans (which I completely expect they eventually will), I'll move back to the New Orleans area. However, as I mentioned in this thread or the other thread, I expect that my home buying efforts will shift from the Slidell/New Orleans area to the LaPlace area.

I'm also expecting to see my stuff destroyed or stolen by looters. If it isn't, I'll consider myself very lucky. Most of our expensive stuff is on the 2nd floor so we might get lucky if the looters don't break in as we know it didn't flood to bad near our place.

I feel better that we at least have a plan now. Of course, part of that plan will be dictated by the LSU Department Head meeting later today. I could end up still working in Baton Rouge in which case I'll probably have to be seperated from Kathy for 4-5 days/week and then drive back to "our apartment" for weekends.

FWIW, I didn't take them as slanderous at all. Especially not since I believe very strongly that much of life is black-and-white. Nothing slanderous or offensive at all in you saying something that I generally acknowledge.

And probably surprisingly to some, I'm not particularly mad at you or anything either. We totally & completely come at this from different angles I think & it seems likely that each of us has views that are totally incomprehensible to the other. That's just how it is sometimes in life.

Read up...


http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

Well if I misintrepeted, sorry, but I guess we have different definitions on what a looter is. If someone is taking crap whether or not it is for survival then that is a looter. If someone is firing upon the police, I call that a potential murderer. So I am not talking about taking the same course of action for people who are trying to take out the police or possible help. I am strictly talking about those that are only looting. I am not lumping everyone in that chaos a looter. Could the gun toting people be called looters? I have no idea if they are stealing and shooting, but either way once they fire the gun at another human being, the definition changes.

What was it about? I missed it.


Sorry to break up the looting discussion (but isn't there another thread)

Jeebs thanks for the link. That is really sad that it is quickly degenerating this many days out from the hurricane. My arguement was in regards to the looters and not necessarily the rapists, murders, etc that are harming other human beings directly. It was just my opinion that the looters shouldn't be treated in the same way as the other criminals as others on this thread would like to see them handled (by way of shooting them). And don't get me wrong, if there is a mixture of both on the same street and the military has to take action, I am not naive to believe that they shouldn't take the best action best for them. I am just saying that if they are strictly come upon a group of looters who wield no weapons, they shouldn't be shot to death. Just my 5 1/2 cents.

Yeah, but there's been talk about merging the thread anyways since this is kindof a giant "Katrina" dumping thread- it's not like the thread is about it reaching category 5 any more.

As to the first part, there was a hospital in one of the parrishes talking about how their generators was about to fail and how every attempt to get people transported to the airlift location wasn't happening fast enough and kept getting diverted- basically there's just not enough resources on the ground and the fact that FEMA had to pull back is making things even worse. And there were these two fairly composed women among the staff who were talking about how if the hospital goes dark, there's no way their one security guard can keep people out and how if they didn't get these people out by tonight, they were probably all going to die to the looters outside. Then one of them broke up a little because the helipad site was for patients only and how their staff of about 40, even if they got all the patients out, would have to find their own way out of there. It was just chilling and one of those things that just makes your heart really go out to them and wish you could go do something to help.

SI

Is there any chance that the medical shoool will be able to help you find an apartment in Baton Rouge?

I've written emails to three of my bosses. None of them have replied. Right now, things are still chaotic. I can't wait any longer to hear from them as I called at least a dozen apartment complexes in Baton Rouge, and everyone of them told me the entire city's apartments are full. I called 6-7 apartment complexes in Lake Charles and was told they are all full. I called 6-7 complexes in Lafayette and they were all full. I had to act. I got us 2 furnished apartments in Shreveport (2 - 2 bedroom fully furnished apartments.)

We won't be able to move in until around September 9th, so we'll stay at the hotel here (in North Little Rock, AR) until at least Weds the 7th. If my boss gets ahold of me before the 7th, I guess I could cancel since the lady at the front desk of the apartment complex said she would understand if our plans changed, but she will hold the apartment for us. She plans on calling me on the 7th to see if our plans have changed or to let us know if it is still a go for the 9th for one of the 2 apartments. The second apartment will be ready by the 12th.

I'm really anxious to see what is posted on the website after the 3PM meeting of LSU Medical School Department Heads today.

I worked the graveyard shift at the LSU-Shreveport shelter last night. They were housing 800 folks on Tue and last night it was around 1,000. It's still going up.

The Red Cross has a great set-up and the folks that made it this far north are pretty up-beat with all things considered. There was enough clothes and food and toiletries and medical supplies to take care of probably another 500 people on site. The donations from the local community were very important to its success.

The gymnasium was converted into a sleeping all and it was wall to wall cots. The hallways were lined with air mattresses and cots. Thankfully the air conditioning was in good order.

On the negative side, there was one fight that started when somebody was slamming a door and disturbing everybody at 2 in the morning. That brought in the cops, but amazingly the local Shreveport cops that showed up didn't want to arrest the guy. They took the instigator to another part of the building and the on-site cops and security made sure he cooled out.

A local pizza shop brought pizza's at 2:30 in the morning. Mostly just volunteers were still awake at that point, and cops. The cops were also the only ones awake when the donuts arrived. Amazing how that works, eh?

By daybreak, I noticed the outside of the building was covered in graffiti. I mean, every square inch as high as 7 feet was covered. That pissed off some janitor who was cursing up a storm since he figured he would be the one to have to clean it up. Thankfully it wasn't done with paint-but chalks- so a little water should do the trick.

It was like a little make-shift city. There was a baby ward so the little ones could cry without disturbing the masses and there were some very old folks there as well who needed to be carted around by wheelchair, and everyone in between. Mostly black and hispanic.

These folks couldn't just stay in hotels forever and once they realized New Orleans wasn't opening back up, they sought out the shelters. Bus-loads of displaced folks were brought in to another shelter that FEMA set up across town. A few of the men even headed out to the employment office and got temp jobs while they were in the Shreveport area. To help pay the bills while they were away.

I sat around with a couple of volunteers guarding the baby diapers from about 3 to 4:30 with a 50 year old woman and a 20 year old male student. We talked about the strangest things seeing as how we didn't know each other. We were kind of punch drunk at that point, so it was good conversation to keep us awake.

Later, I visited a lady that was handing out toothbrushes and soap and clean underwear as the adults started waking up and wanting to shower. So I pitched in to help. A lady walked up and said she needed a pair of underwear. I asked her what size and was scolded by a Red Cross lady, "Don't ever ask a woman that!". But the lady gives her size and says, "I don't really care about that right now." And smiled. I got her what she requested. I asked everytime for the next half hour or so that I was there and I think her response summed it up for everybody. Privacy is only something that is important when your creature comforts are in order, I suppose.

The kids were shipped off to school around 6:45 this morning, which I thought was pretty cool. That gave them a chance to do something besides hang out at the gymansium.

The next shift of volunteers arrived on schedule at 0800 and I left for home to get some sleep of my own. A new found appreciation for a good clean bed and dry walls and roof around me. I'm glad I got to help them out, even if just to make them feel a bit more comfortable and welcome. Nobody deserves what they got.

Whereabouts?

Awesome. Thanks for some uplifting news.

I typically don't plug the show here, but thought you guys might be interested in a couple of guests we're having on today:

3:30 Eastern- Frontlines Report on the aftermath of Katrina, Bo Boehringer, Press Sec. For the La. Dept. of Wild Life & Fisheries

5:40 What to expect with gas prices and supplies post Katrina, Dan Gilligan, Pres. of the Petroleum Marketers Assoc. of America

All times are Eastern. You can view the show at www.nranews.com or listen on Sirius Patriot 141.

Hillside Apartments
9250 Dean Road


Apparently it is in the Southwest side of Shreveport. I was told it was only 15-20 minutes from the medical school.

Sounds like Fats Domino tried to ride out the storm and is now missing...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9159941/

Damn good post! That's very cool you helped out and it was nice to read a positive side of the situation. I must say I am actually amazed at how many cities are actually willing to participate in helping out the people in that city.

Too long to quote, but great post, Dutch :)

SI

From CNN

Dola,

If you are looking for info on loved ones, you may try this site.

http://www.scipionus.com/

Me too.

Glad to read there's people like Dutch out there.

jesus. from the interdictor posts it seems like the goddamn third world down there. it's amazing how little times it takes people to revert back to a "primitive" state after something like this. truly truly frightening. i don't even know what to say, the magnitude of the destruction and suffering just has me...speechless.

Dutch is there anything you need?

Sounds like you got a plan together. Will your wife have to look for a new place of employment?

Found this somewhat weird, working on a hotel business paper, regarding the luxury chains (Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton), and on the Ritz site, the pages for the New Orleans hotels (they have two) are just weird. http://www.ritzcarlton.com/corporate...ns/default.asp

I thought I heard him say he needed naked pics of pregnant women, but that could have just been sovreignstar mumbling in the bathroom.

That is the plan. She has enough of a resume and experience that she'll hopefully get a job cooking somewhere in the city. Hopefully, I'll be able to see private patients or work at a clinic in the city or the surrounding area.

Listening to CNN. this is Heartwrenching. I cannot believe that in our country we cant get enough help in there to these people. We are sitting back while they die...

They keep saying its "too unsafe" to go help them.....well of course. the people are desperate to live and are acting in desperation!!!

This is awful. They have to just go in there!!!

Ok Eaglesfan, I just gotta know...was your trip to Little Rock a date? :p


And did you get out of cleaning the bathrooms?

You first, cowboy.

obviously not me, asshat, those that are trained. The people that are sitting on the outskirts "planning". Or shifting their plan from search and rescue to security...They HAVE to go get them or they will die!! Its not hard to understand!! Why cant they drop food and water in....thats easy to do.

lol, actually, *I* don't need anything.

Those folks that are here? I think northern Louisiana is the best place for residents of N.O. to go. The people here still associate with the folks of New Orleans as their own Louisiana folks, so the support is very strong.

About 4 of us from my squadron were ready to jump into a truck and drive to New Orleans yesterday but the cops talked us out of it.

"What they don't need is more warm bodies to take care of down there. They need people with certain skills. Security, search and rescue, doctors, nurses."

And what can people away from Louisiana do? Private donations are the absolute best, you can give it to anybody, but the Red Cross is probably one of the most organized groups out there to donate money to. You would be amazed how far a 20 dollar bill will go when the Red Cross is using it.

Total Collected: $9,967,300 Number of Donors: 68,970

that is the Red Cross's donations thus far through yahoo.

People dying. We should go in to save them. Except when we do, we get shot and die. Then we die and they die. Brilliant!



Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying efforts shouldn't be made to save people where possible. However, those efforts do need to be worth the risk.

I am not familiar with that area. Sounds like it's on the other side of the airport which is pretty far away from me. I'm on the other side of the Red River to the east.

Again, food and water drops are easy and cost effective.

You think that those with the guns aren't just going to horde it all, Flasch?

Beat me to it.

I assume you're willing to risk a significant amount of bloodshed against American civilians (lawless ones, mind you, but Americans nonetheless) and the attending flak that will no doubt eminate from certain quarters over the handling of the situation, particularly given who will be the most likely targets of NG or police personnel. That is the only surefire way to secure the situation, but it will not be tidy in the least.

But Flasch, they're trying to get people to leave the city. Not wait around for food and water.

President Bush appearing on television now with both former Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton. Man.

Except that they are shooting at the choppers. The last plan was for the military to get there and take over relief efforts (since it's illegal in this country for them to operate militarily inside our borders), so the Guard and Police (who are legal) can establish security. But it takes time to get the military there.

Remember, it's barely 48 hours since the levies broke and everything went to pot, and I don't think anyone was expecting so many armed mobs this quickly.

I'm sure the gangs with guns will appreciate that.

Simply tossing in stuff for people to fight over won't necessarily help things. In areas where things are realtively secure or controlled, by all means. However, simply rushing in may lead to more problems than it solves. That's my point.

Simply wringing your hands and yelling 'do something, do something' doesn't mean that what gets done will help.

The major gas pipeline for the East Coast is back online, but only operating at 50% capacity.

So I guess it is a half pipe.


Ba-dum-bump



*groan*

My god, this is tragedy on a massive scale...

From CNN.com

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it." --President Bush

Brilliant post :D

SI

FEMA is hiring for their call center in MD. They're paying $15/hour. Looking for 400 people.

http://hurricaid.com/2005/09/fema_needs_people.php

powerful stuff just now on CNN, viewer e-mails responding to "how would you rate the response of the federal government to this disaster." I won't summarize cuz i don't want to threadjack this into a political thread, but one thing really struck me. one viewer pointed out:

"we can invade a country on the other side of the world but we can't drop bottled water from a helicopter onto a street in New Orleans." too true...too true.

this is not my America. How were we not better prepared for this? Republicans...Democrats, whatever. We knew this was liable to happen at some point, the fact that we were not better prepared is simply inexcusable.

There has been some great quality time here in Little Rock, but it is certainly not a date :p

Fortunately, I put off cleaning the bathrooms, so I did get out of cleaning the bathroom. There is a small bright side to everything ;)

Can Bush authorize the real military to go in there? The ones that are trained in urban warfare? Are there any troops available that fit that description or are they committed to other fronts? That is what this is becoming, urban warfare.

Dutch, that is a good point about Shreveport being a good place to go with people being supportive. Hopefully, someone will show some kindness and hire a chef even if she might only be there for 2-3 months. Also, I know a few of the staff at LSU-Shreveport Psychiatry department so hopefully they can help me with work.

Yes. I hope people see the difference between prediction and preparedness. Of course you cannot predict the exact moment a levee will break just as we could not predict that people would fly planes into the WTC. Also, you can't expect large-scale disaster relief to run smoothly. But, especially considering the amounts of resources being plied into homeland security these days, it really is a wonder why disaster preparedness wasn't better than it was...

Damn. And me in Kansas :(

SI

I'm pretty sure that legally, he can not.

Just wait until you get back and she tells you that you have to clean the whole house because you didn't finish before ;)

SI

My only question to you is:

What did you do to prepare for this?

Also, invading another country took months, if not years to do, and there are many that would claim it still wasn't done properly. Comparing the two is simply grasping at straws.

WSUCougar, that post made me laugh and I was about to reply to it, but it looks like you deleted it. Anyway, I took it in the humorous light that it was intended :)

I've been trying to figure this out the last couple of days. Where is WWL operating out of? Do they have a spot in outlying New Orleans or did they move to a nearby city or what?

SI

Just imagine the cleanup job you'll have when you get to go back, though! :eek:

I don't know the details, but I have heard several people say that.

A time of crisis is not the time to change the rules, but I wonder if after this has blown over we might not want to revisit that. Maybe allow the President with the approval of 3/4 of both houses of congress to authorize domestic military use for a limited period of time.

There are huge pros and cons to a proposal like that, and now is NOT the time to debate them. But when things cool down, it may be a subject worth visiting.

But the related point can be made about homeland security. Looking at the news and the people giving interviews, it does seem that the NO situation does fall under the jurisdiction of homeland security, at least somewhat. If homeland security is not fully up to speed with this disaster, it does leave a few question marks about their potential performance in the aftermath of a large-scale terrorist attack.

They could use some good cajun chef's. All they know how to do up here is shoot the food, not cook it. :D

better than nothin'...letting people keel over from dehydration is unacceptable no matter what. Yes, go in, militarily shoot anyone who shoots at you but right behind the front line troops should be pils of water and food. Most of the tropps will begreeted with flowers and cheering...sound familiar.

buzzbee, don't split hairs. I was using the communal "we" and not the personal "we." I paid my taxes though to help prepare for it, how about that? Fine, how was "the government" not better prepared for this? FEMA had scenarios about this, and now we find out that there is still plenty that they cannot do. Why?

I'm sure this has been posted before, but it couldn't hurt to post it again. It has links to resources for victims, people looking to help, and people looking for missing loved ones.

http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topi...-resources-vgn

I don't disagree. However, for DT to state that this is not my America, and that to not be better prepared is inexcusable is just a bit dramatic.

It is pretty obvious that a great many people knew this was a possibility. Hell, I lived there ten years ago and people knew it. So, why weren't we better prepared? Good question, and one that probably won't ever be fully answered, but will be analyzed pretty heavily.

I guess I'm not as suprised as others that we weren't prepared for this. Yes, we knew it was a distinct possibility, but would we realistically prepared for such a catastrophic event, and stayed at the ready to deal with it? Not likely. Better prepared, yes. Prepared? No way in hell.

Geez, WWL does so much better coverage. You can tell the concern and awe is genuine, even if it's local quality news. Now they're just showing some video they just got in from the Mississippi coast where it's a neighborhood with big, rich houses and if not for things like a pool in the backyard or maybe fine tile floors, you'd never know there were houses there. The anchors are just in awe and the video is just mind boggling: "There are no landmarks or anything there- it's impossible to tell where it was taken"

SI

A valid question and one I'm sure will be analyzed quite extensively. My guess is that there is simply no way to prepare for a disaster of this scope. Could they have been better prepared? Of course, but to call the lack of preparation inexcusable is just a bit off base, IMO. I don't necessarily disagree with your sentiment, but rather your delivery.