Katrina - Not a National Shame

So, I get home last night after a long day of contributing to society to find the latest edition of Newsweek awaiting me.

Now, I must be rather clear on the front-side; I think that Newsweek is probably one of my least favorite magazines and only receive it through a free subscription. I do enjoy reading it though, solely based on the fact that I enjoy seeing how the liberal media can twist all things to support the left.

The cover states the following: "Poverty, Race and Katrina - Lessons of a National Shame." How dare an organization that literally serves news to the entire world take such an anti-American position as "lessons of a national shame". Katrina is anything but a national shame - Katrina is a natural disaster - a disaster like the 2004 Tsunami, a disaster like hurricane Andrew, a disaster like the San Francisco earthquake, etc. It is not a "national shame" and to those who say that the response by the government (local, state, and federal) was a shame - I say open your eyes and educate yourself prior to making assinie statements.

Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, roughly 96 hours after it hit Southern Florida as a weak category I hurricane. On August 25th, as the storm moved across Florida and headed for the warm waters of Gulf of Mexico what, where, when and how Katrina would strike again was anyone's guess. No one knew exactly what was going to happen next and independent of hind-sight no one today can look back to the 25th of August and say, "yeah, I saw all of this coming." It wasn't until Thursday, August 27, 2005 and Friday, August 28, 2005 that Katrina's future could start to be correctly determined. I have thoroughly researched the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) advisories, forecasts, strike probabilities, etc. over the last several days; and here is what I have found. As of Saturday, August 27, at 2200 EDT the NHC had still only predicted a 26% chance that the eye of Hurricane Katrina would pass within a 65 miles window of New Orleans...a 26% on Saturday night. So, having said that...and listening to the whines of all the "talking heads" of where was the support, where was the staging, where was the relief workers, where was the military...as of Saturday night there was only a predicted 26% chance that New Orleans was going to get hit by Katrina. So, my question to all these people is - with only a 26% chance that New Orleans was going to get hit...why move everything there as so many have apparently thought appropriate?

As of Friday, August 26, 2005 the NHC predicted a strike probability on New Orleans of only 17%. With that information in mind and the majority of individuals already beginning their weekend all over the United States, what would all the detractors have done? Would they have called out the 82nd Airborne and had them head to Louisiana. Now remember that the 82nd Airborne is one of the only "major" U.S. Military units that is available for rapid deployment. Would they have staged relief supplies for hundreds of thousands just outside of New Orleans. let's be honest with the weekend upon the United States and a still unpredictable storm, there really was nothing more to do than wait and see. It is not always the best answer, but sometimes it is the only answer.

I am not going to deny that mistakes were made, that things could have been done better; I am going to tell you that I am proud of the way America has responded to this natural disaster. We have given more and provided more to the people that were effected by Katrina than any other natural disaster. I just wish that some of the people effected would give as much back as they are being given.