I think we can all agree that Katrina was mismanaged from the federal level all the way down to the local level. Everyone f*cked the pooch on that one.

From Bushy and Brownie doing a heck of a job to Nagin and the Louisiana governer being complete douches.....Everyone sucked and everyone dropped the ball at some point.

And NO actually was a pretty nice town before the Hurricane. Sure it had it's spots where you wouldn't want to be caught dead, but the people I met everytime I went down there were very hospitible.

The idiots that say it was a sh*thole before the hurricane obviously never spent any real time down there.

 

I'll give you the hospitable part. There's nothing quite like southern hospitality.

My best friend who recently toured NO said that it reminded him of the worst parts of Vietnam but not quite as bad as Cambodia. And he's been to both more than once.

 

Well my best friends, uncles, cousin, sisters, brother in law, half brothers, aunt, grandmothers, sisters, best friend said it was like heaven.

 

I agree with just about everything you said. Yeah, every level did have their mishaps but the majority occured at the local level. Had a State of Emergency been declared earlier Federal Aid would have started earlier. Blaming Bush for Louisiana's mishap would be like a homeowner blaming the fire dept. for his house burning down when all he had to do was turn the stove off.

Having lived in NO I will be the first to tell you it is the least modern of all American (major) cities. That said however it is in a league of its own as far as culture, history and bonne temps are concerned. I was there when Katrina hit and there afterwards and the difference is remarkable. It is absolutely nothing like it was.

And for the record, the National Guard unit that could have responded to this disaster (256 Brigade Combat Team) was finishing up a deployment to Baghdad when Katrina happened. Many returned to nothing. That's why the 82nd was brought in.

 

What? My friend's opinion isn't exactly hearsay. Take it or leave it I suppose. I trust his opinion as if it were my own.