Gustav
I keep checking the NOAA tracking page for Gustav. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to change — it might weaken a bit, but it’s unlikely to veer off into the Atlantic.
They’re doing a lot of things right this time around that were screwed up for Katrina– ordering an evacuation early, providing buses for those who don’t have cars. We’re pretty good at defending against the last threat — that’s why security is so good on airplanes, and so bad on subways or container ships. Which makes me wonder what we’re still missing.
Perhaps more fundamentally, if Gustav hits near New Orleans and the levees don’t hold, it’s hard to imagine people coming back to rebuild again.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I suspect what we’re missing here is that what happened probably won’t happen again, and then we’ll become complacent. I look forward the the Republican Convention being rained out in the sunshine though. That would be a good outcome — no real harm, while lots of chickens run around saying the sky is falling, juxtaposed against the tragedy of Katrina against the fiddling of George Bush.
I honestly believe that these republicans are incapable of providing even the most basic of public services because they see the government as having an ideological rather than practical goal.
(I think Dems have to be careful to avoid words that smack of treating Gustav as some for of retribution, though. It smacks too much of the ugliness that spewed from the right wing after Katrina).