I'm sure that many of us have been glued to the round the clock news coverage of this horrible storm. Now it seems to me that by some miracle of god (and there's still time left) the city of New Orleans has been saved and not completely destroyed. I'm sure that there have been some fatalities, destruction of priceless personal items, businesses, lives, homes, and historic places within the city. There has been flooding, a levee did break, the Super Dome did take some damage, and the clean up cost will no doubt be at a minimum in the billions. However, by some miracle the city of New Orleans has not been destroyed. That said, there has been enormous destruction of the New Orleans suburbs, Missisipi, coastal Alabama, and the off shore oil drilling. But there is one burning question that I ponder and I'm kinda bothered actually.
Think about the impact of this storm, there can be no doubt that New Orleans is one of the most important cities in our country. It's not even that large but it is a key part of our nation's history and culture. Even today, despite being a poor city, it still has importance to our economy, although mainly it's the gulf coast that is key to our nation's oil and natural gas supply. Now as I have watched this coverage, I have seen herculean attempts to cover this storm. Reporters out in the middle of the hurricane risking being drowned, blown away, or electrocuted. Reporters hunkered down in the French Quarter sending out blackberry emails to the CNN headquarters and reporting via sattelite. There are so many reporters on this not to mention all the meteorologists with radars and satellites and the what not mapping every slight movement of the storm. Here comes my question though, why was a similar effort not made to save New Orleans and the gulf coast by the government? Yes, every politician who comes on seems to pat the other one's back and that's fine I guess. But it seems like herculean efforts to protect the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas were not taken.
Now this is risky because it's apples and oranges really. But even in Southern California with our 320 days a year of 75 degrees, sunny skies, slight breezes, and zero humidity, we still have natural disasters and problems to deal with. Yes, the nature of California's natural disasters are different then hurricanes. We don't have hurricanes or tornadoes and while there is fear of them, we haven't had tsunamis. Instead we have earthquakes, landslides, wild fires, and riots (this is to see if you're actually pating attention). Also, when we have storms, it can get pretty bad. Southern California is built for 365 days of sunshine and 75 degrees. So we do have occasional flooding and damage when there are storms. However, there is a difference in attitude in terms of prevention and preparation. Our local elected officials, for their flaws, seem to be very good at keeping our population safe. While we can't predict an earthquake or a wildfire, there is a lot of prevenention taken. There are all sorts of contingency plans that we have for dealing with emergencies. Herculean efforts for disasters and responding to disasters.
Now a hurricane is of course different in terms of preparation and the emergency response. But here is what bothers me. It seems like there was much more effort put into covering the hurricane then preventing damage and fatalities and human suffering. And that really bothers me. Yes, it is great that the news media is good at covering this and that we're able to watch human catastrophe unfold before our eyes. However, it would be nice to see an actual effort in preventing damage and problems. And I plan on donating and sending supplies to emergency releif organizations although not the Red Cross since they're anti gay. I'll find another one though. My point though is, we need to be a nation of doers, not watchers.
Two last thoughts. I've been watching FOX News for most of the coverage. Just saw Shephard Smith reporting live from the French Quarter, the guy is hot. Can't CNN or some left wing cable news channel (founded by Daily Kos members) hire him or something and turn him back from the dark side? And seeing the French Quarter intact made me cheer. I am ecstatic, it wasn't destroyed as predicted. Yes, there's damage and a lot of suffering but it wasn't destroyed and that's the best news I've heard today.