Here comes the story of the hurricane

Here comes the story of the hurricane

The sheer scale of the disaster on the Gulf is likely to have as much or more impact on everyday life than 9/11. I have little to add but a few links.

Boing Boing quotes email attributed to a rescue worker in New Orleans:

The poorest 20% (you can argue with the number -- 10%? 18%? no one knows) of the city was left behind to drown. This was the plan. Forget the sanctimonious bullshit about the bullheaded people who wouldn't leave. The evacuation plan was strictly laissez-faire. It depended on privately owned vehicles, and on having ready cash to fund an evacuation. The planners knew full well that the poor, who in new orleans are overwhelmingly black, wouldn't be able to get out. The resources -- meaning, the political will -- weren't there to get them out.

MyDD has an overwhelming but excellent overview of the economic impact of the disaster.

Media: enough with the looting already. There's more important life and death stuff to worry about. And a pox on those who say the storm was God's retribution on either a) white supremacists or b) the New Orleans gay community. (I've seen both but refuse to give `em the links.)

And sports may seem irrelevant now but as a Wisconsin native, thoughts of Southern Mississippi naturally make me think of Brett Favre, a guy who's made millions of us very happy and had more than his share of personal bad breaks. Once again:

His mother and grandmother spent Monday night in the attic as water inundated their entire house in Kiln, Miss. in five to 10 minutes. Bonita Favre told Brett that Hurricane Camille did not compare to this one. She indicated the family home is "destroyed" and probably will be bulldozed.

That's just one of hundreds of thousands of stories.

This feels like one of those Jason or Freddy or Alien movies where the killer seemingly comes back from the dead, then strikes back unexpectedly. That Monday morning sigh of relief seems so long ago...