Katrina Updates

As of 11:10 PM Eastern:

Known dead: 59. Neither the police nor the media have any idea as to how many of these deaths resulted from the hurricane, the police, or armed citizens killing one another in the streets.
The bridge shootout we reported upon resulted in 2 criminals dead, 3 injured and one recently captured. No updates on the downed relief helicopter, Geraldo is too busy helping little old ladies in and out of their wheelchairs.

The town is packed, literally packed with media representatives from around the world, and none of them are doing any reporting save for special, preplanned stories that are telling us the same thing over and over again. If one were to spend this time looking for abject failures, start with the Governor, the Mayor, local law enforcement authorities and finally last but certainly not least, the media.

While breaking stories were occuring there simply was no one to report them, for they were otherwise occupied with presenting entertainment offerings that bore no relationship to the CURRENT state of affairs. We continue to see days-old video of flood waters that have long since receeded, primarily because such pictures are visceral attention getters, but NOT up to the minute news.

Now think about this; the irony of a town comprised of reporters who cannot or will not report the news. There are few, very few residents of New Orleans remaining except for the criminal element who continue to elude or violently confront the police, and instead of following the news as it happens, we're subjected to old video and commiseration as to what went wrong.

So what DID go wrong? The FIRST and foremost response that could have saved dozens of lives would have been for the inital evacuation to have been conducted by state and local officials. Everyone knew this was coming, everyone knew it could be extremely dangerous, and the Federal Government strongly urged a complete evacuation. The Feds can not just waltz in and take control, they have to rely upon the state and local services to intitate plans of action, and THEN, and only then provide assistance. New Orleans COULD NOT and CANNOT be kept free from the harm a storm of this magnitude can deliver. This is not possible. For decades everyone who paid the least bit of attention KNEW it was not possible.

What no one counted on was the levee system disintegrating AFTER the inital impact.

The word went out that New Orleans was spared, remember that?

And remember the people alongside the road begging the police to take them elsewhere? Before all hell broke loose? And do you remember the responses the people were getting from the police? Stay put...help is on the way...but the mayor and Governor exhaled a sigh of relief and at that point dropped the ball.

It bears repeating that the safety and welfare of residents is FIRST and FOREMOST the responsibility of the local governments. But Governor Blanco waited until Wednesday, two days after the hurricane hit to ask for help from nearby states, and by then the situation was veering out of control. People were traveling to the emergency shelters on their OWN, before these shelters could be provisioned and manned by security and that is NOT the fault of ANY Federal agency.

The mayor of New Orleans played craps with the Governor and both of them came up snake eyes. The emergency escalated far beyond their powers to add or detract, and the Feds arrived to sort out an incredible mess, a mess ENTIRELY avoidable if the evacuation had gone on as planned. But when you know you're getting a free ride, it's no-harm, no-foul.

Oh, and by the way; both Mayor and Governor are liberal Democrats so who did you THINK the mainstream media was going to blame if and when the shit hit the fan? Bingo. Instead of hounding the local governments, hitting them with the hard questions as to why they dropped the ball and what were they going to do now to rectify their mistakes, the media followed trails of soggy footprints to see what misery they could sell us.

By the way-Part II...if you happen to see any of the missing, runaway cops from New Orleans, be kind enough to tell them that the situation is under control, and the mayor's found enough dry socks for everyone so they can head home now. Can you imagine the hysteria coming from the news outlets if FEMA or the National Guard explained that the reason they weren't moving faster was because the men were getting tired of walking around with wet feet? Worked for the Chief of Police in the Big Easy. But he's a Democrat too.