I think the key factor here is population density. New Orleans As of the census of 2000, there were 484,674 people, 188,251 households, and 112,950 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,684.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,036.4 /km²). There were 215,091 housing units at an average density of 1,191.3 inhabitants per square mile (460.0 /km²). Iowa As of 2007, Iowa has an estimated population of 2,988,046, which is an increase of 15,480, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 61,722 or 2.1%, since the year 2000.
people like rush attract listeners vis-a-vis the "lowest hanging fruit" principle... all you need to do is lure listeners in with emotional bait (fear mongering, racist undertones, etc.) and.... voila! rush appeases to the lowest common demonitator and purposely ignores rational explanantions and logic because that wont make him rich.
Apparently that msg doesn't quite resonate with the citizens of New Orleans... being that they reelected Ray Nagin
If you can't see the difference between what Rush said and what Gore said, that is terribly, terribly sad.
There are a huge number of key differences. Timing is one. Geography another. Escape routes another. Logistical complexity another. Communications yet another. I could go on, but Katrina threads have a way of really pissing me off.
the people in new orleans were stranded, it was nothing to rebuild from, its not that hard to understand.
Oooops...it was 125mph sustained The winds caused structural damage to buildings, and the resulting storm surge due to the winds off the Gulf had a lot to do with the levees breaking. If you really believe that the floods in Iowa are comparable to a strong cat 3 hurricane hitting New Orleans, then it is pretty hopeless to reason with you.
As I've mentioned before, the winds also blew down the comm system that first responders use. The delay in getting Federal help to set up temporary repeaters and provide caches of handheld radios was a definite factor and unlike anything that happened in the Midwest. The Rush/basso comparisons are absurd.
Try again... "Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the hurricane center, estimated that the highest winds in New Orleans were about 100 mph." Last time I checked, someone with thier house is up to its roof in water is about the same anywhere. Levee's were breached in both situations. A Catastrophe of flooding is what it is...a very sad situation.
But that is like saying a house fire is the same as a forest fire. Yes there was flooding in both situations the scope and duration of that flooding, the differences in geography and population density are very different.
I don't know why people are complaining about Bush and the Feds re: NOLA. I worked with a bunch of Katrina evacuees, and not one of them blamed Bush or the feds. All their hate was for Nagin and especially for the governor who refused federal aid. I don't particularly like Bush, but that was a states-rights issue that he couldn't do much about. Isn't he on-record asking the governor multiple times if she wanted federal help? That's my understanding of it, anyway.
To answer your question, yes. And they were supposed to rebuild that dam a long time ago which if it was rebuilt, none of that would have happened, at least not as bad.
I generally don't agree with your politics---half-baked knee-jerk conservative crap---but on Ray Nagin I'll agree. Doesn't matter anyway. He's a Repug in Dem clothing, an oreo if ever there was one. Spent the hurricane hiding in a hotel. At least Blanco physically faced an angry crowd on the ground during the storm. Of all the mistake-makers, though, only one (Blanco) lost her job over the whole thing. Bush's infamy lives on, and Nagin's, too.
It's racist to wonder why people in Iowa and the non-New Orleans areas hit by Katrina attempted to pull themselves together without widespread looting and violence?
