5 years ago today

[texasjohn]

I believe the normal distribution curve applies to individuals in many dimensions:

intelligence and understanding vs low IQ and misunderstanding
haves vs have nots
advanced education vs minimal education
logic vs illogic
foresight vs live in the moment
jobs that pay for food, shelter, transportation, insurance, savings vs below minimum wage
employable intellectual skills vs minimal employable skills
high income vs no income
youth and strength vs age and infirmity/disability
positions of power vs powerlessness
selflessness vs selfishness
greed vs generosity
lucky vs unlucky
mental health vs mental illness
nature vs nurture
gay vs straight
tenacity a la Don Quixote vs realistic life stance
honesty vs dishonesty
pacifism vs violence
selective memory vs perfect recall (a la John Dean)
analytical skill vs preconceived conclusion
decision and action vs indecision and inaction
reality vs fantasy

NONE of us are immune to being somewhere on each of these spectrum. Not you, not me, not the President, not your elected officials at any level, not any citizen, not any one. These spectrum and likely several dozen more in aggregate determine how we respond to any particular stimulus at a particular point in our life. And, the world of nature and man impacts us and our response according to the sum of its instantaneous power vectors.

A gargantuan event such as Katrina exposes these dimensions because the result of thousands of people's placement along the various dimensions is exposed all at the same time. Reality becomes starkly apparent and cannot be ignored.

The interpretation of that reality and why it happened is, again, in the eye of the beholder and subject, again, to the beholder's placement along the multitudinous spectrums of life.

It's a story as old as time, told in story, song, fable and parable:
Robin Hood
Scrooge
Elvita Peron
Moby Dick
French Revolution
Bible/Koran/Talmud/etc.
Gold rush
Westward expansion
Indian wars
Robber Barons
Texas Revolution/Alamo/Goliad/San Jacinto
Immigration to America..early, and ongoing

Now, I've reviewed carefully and believe that the above is not a political statement....so, don't YOU get this thread closed by your reply. In fact, no reply is fine with me.

Tallyho8, thanks for your careful, on site, eyewitness report and analysis. Good job:thumbsup:

 

[keegs]

The argument for many who lived in St Bernard and in the lower ninth ward was that many of their homes were built above sea level and relatively safe from hurricanes until the Feds constructed a huge poorly designed canal (MRGO) against their wishes and protests, merely as a pork barrel project, and it directed the hurricane storm surge 50 miles from the gulf onto their property.

A rather poor analogy of that would be if the Feds decided to construct a poorly designed dam right up the creek from your home, against your wishes, and it broke and washed away your home, would you expect them to pay for the damage they caused while folks hundreds of miles away criticized you for not getting flood insurance.

Or if a car owned by a federal agency and driven by federal workers ran into your parked car and destroyed it, should they pay for it?

Or if that same car ran into your home and burned it down should they pay for it?

Or if that car runs into your tractor in your yard and you break your leg, should they pay for it?

Well, I believe that if the feds do something stupid, against your wishes, that causes an earthquake, ice storm, river flood, tornado or drought, then they should be held accountable for it.

Tallyho,

My guess is that MRGO was an idea driven by the likes of the energy, ocean shipping/container, agribusiness......and other self interested industries and investors, with deep pockets and an army of lobbiests in Washington, looking to make their bottom lines that much bigger ....regardless of the consequences. Isn't that how these things always pan out?

I think implicating the poor and elderly for the high costs of the disaster is misdirected. I don't think many of those who wound up at one of the shelters in the city owned their own homes let alone flood insurance. Many have since left NO.

 

[texasjohn]

Keegs, I think that you and Tallyho8 are in violent AGREEMENT....MRGO was not in the best long term interests of many NO residents and that many NO poor and elderly were victims of MRGO and Katrina.

Perhaps your 2nd paragraph comments are directed at a different TBN poster?

 

[keegs]

Perhaps your 2nd paragraph comments are directed at a different TBN poster?

Tex...it was very early in the morning...not sure who I was directing my comments to.

 

[tallyho8]

In the wake of Katrina there was so much lawlessness and reckless behaviors for people to write about that it upsets me when people have to make up untrue stories to add to the horrors to make it seem even worse than it was.

The news media was responsible for many slanted stories and half-truths in an attempt to garner high ratings for their shows and many of their inaccurate stories were 100% believed by their viewers. Even the smallest lie when perpetuated helps create negative feelings about the people of New Orleans and the efforts to rebuild the coast.

I have read many untruths by posters about events occurring in New Orleans pre and post Katrina and it would require several pages of this forum for me to rebut all of them so I will take just one simple statement as an example to show how the media's false reporting has caused many to believe that the citizens of New Orleans behavior was worse than actuality.

A previous poster wrote " that evacuees in the Superdome were flushing all sorts of crap down the toilets and stopping them up." People believe this because of false and slanted half-truth reporting as the news media reported that feces was inappropriately spread throughout the Superdome.

Here is what they should have reported: Thousands of evacuees were trapped in the Superdome without restroom facilities for 3 days. There was no electricity, no air conditioning in 100 degree heat, no running water and no way to flush the toilets IF the evacuees had been able to find them. The bathrooms had no windows or skylights and were designed so that no outside lights could enter them and were pitch black caverns that were impossible for anyone to negotiate in order to even find a toilet. Very few people brought flashlights with a 3 day supply of batteries and when entering the Superdome the police searched everyone and confiscated their cigarette lighters so there was absolutely no source of light in the bathrooms. People had to search for non-congested areas where a man could hold up a blanket in a corner in order to give his wife and children some privacy so they could relieve themselves. Many people did not have blankets or people to hold up the blankets for them.......etc.

Then after suffering these indignations and tortures worse than waterboarding for several days the news media shows up to film these people who have lost everything they owned including their dignity and the viewing audience at home is thinking how dirty and vile these people are and what are they complaining about since they had free room and board for the last few days.

 

[texbaylea]

My only comment is that the news media's concentration on New Orleans is a gross disservice to every one. What about the rest of the middle Gulf coast and what about IKE the forgotten hurricane.

AS always "If it bleeds, it leads". Also I think that covering the NO story lets them have a place to party after they report.

Vernon

 

[keegs]

My only comment is that the news media's concentration on New Orleans is a gross disservice to every one. What about the rest of the middle Gulf coast and what about IKE the forgotten hurricane.

AS always "If it bleeds, it leads". Also I think that covering the NO story lets them have a place to party after they report.

Vernon

Vern,

I agree with your "if it bleeds it leads" characterization of the media. To what extent the consumer has a role in that is unclear to me.

On the other hand, as I recall it, while the media was reporting the increasingly desperate conditions in the NO shelters, the Secretary of Homeland Security seemed to minimize the scale of the disaster. One can only wonder where he was getting is information from.

There's certainly allot of blame to go around here but my sense is we may not all take away the same lessons from that event.

 

[beppington]

Combining the topics of this thread with this Land Survey one, does anyone know if anybody in Katrina's path had not only their home disappear but also their land? I read where some barrier islands are now gone. Didn't know if there were any homes on any of those? If your actual land disappears, how is that handled?? I guess insurance pays you somehow?

 

[tallyho8]

Combining the topics of this thread with this Land Survey one, does anyone know if anybody in Katrina's path had not only their home disappear but also their land? I read where some barrier islands are now gone. Didn't know if there were any homes on any of those? If your actual land disappears, how is that handled?? I guess insurance pays you somehow?

As far as I know, there is no insurance that covers land. And in many areas once a property is covered with water it reverts to the government which owns the property up to the water's edge.

There have been many court cases over this in the past over islands in the Mississippi River. They gradually lose land on the upriver side and gain land on the downriver side, basically moving downriver. Once they are not where the survey says they were, you lose possession of them.

 

[milkman]

In the wake of Katrina there was so much lawlessness and reckless behaviors for people to write about that it upsets me when people have to make up untrue stories to add to the horrors to make it seem even worse than it was.

The news media was responsible for many slanted stories and half-truths in an attempt to garner high ratings for their shows and many of their inaccurate stories were 100% believed by their viewers. Even the smallest lie when perpetuated helps create negative feelings about the people of New Orleans and the efforts to rebuild the coast.

I have read many untruths by posters about events occurring in New Orleans pre and post Katrina and it would require several pages of this forum for me to rebut all of them so I will take just one simple statement as an example to show how the media's false reporting has caused many to believe that the citizens of New Orleans behavior was worse than actuality.

A previous poster wrote " that evacuees in the Superdome were flushing all sorts of crap down the toilets and stopping them up." People believe this because of false and slanted half-truth reporting as the news media reported that feces was inappropriately spread throughout the Superdome.

Here is what they should have reported: Thousands of evacuees were trapped in the Superdome without restroom facilities for 3 days. There was no electricity, no air conditioning in 100 degree heat, no running water and no way to flush the toilets IF the evacuees had been able to find them. The bathrooms had no windows or skylights and were designed so that no outside lights could enter them and were pitch black caverns that were impossible for anyone to negotiate in order to even find a toilet. Very few people brought flashlights with a 3 day supply of batteries and when entering the Superdome the police searched everyone and confiscated their cigarette lighters so there was absolutely no source of light in the bathrooms. People had to search for non-congested areas where a man could hold up a blanket in a corner in order to give his wife and children some privacy so they could relieve themselves. Many people did not have blankets or people to hold up the blankets for them.......etc.

Then after suffering these indignations and tortures worse than waterboarding for several days the news media shows up to film these people who have lost everything they owned including their dignity and the viewing audience at home is thinking how dirty and vile these people are and what are they complaining about since they had free room and board for the last few days.

Thank you. And if they couldn't afford a car to get to work they should get off their lazy *** and get a better paying job. (sarcasm off)