This Friday marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans. It's starting to look like the folks in the Crescent City might be spending that day making another hejira northward: Hurricane Gustav is on track to strengthen in the Gulf in the next few days, and make a beeline for Louisiana. A lot could happen between now and then, and there's no telling for sure where this storm will go. Certainly it's awful for the people wherever it strikes land. But Lord have mercy, I pray it will spare New Orleans. Another Katrina-like blow, and the city could well be done for good.
On a political note, it surely has not escaped the notice of the Republican Party convention planners that their convention will begin as what looks to be a major hurricane will be striking, or will have just struck, the United States. For many Americans -- certainly for me -- the bottom fell out for the Bush administration with Katrina and "Heck of a job, Brownie." The prospect of something similar happening during the GOP convention this year has got to be keeping party mandarins up at night this week.
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As someone whose home abutts an undammed river, and I mean like six inches off the bank, I am not one who can criticize people for living in New Orleans. But I could easily go to a new home if I lost this one, and hundreds of thousands in New Orleans could not. Let's just pray that the Republicans don't get this particular comeuppance in the next few days.
I see several favorable comments about my "cool" new book, "Hurricane of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution." Thank you.
In the course of my research and writing about the deadly hurricane that pounded America in 1775 and eventually hit Newfoundland, killing 4,000, I couldn't help but compare hurricanes then and now.
First of all, it was a nearly universal belief that hurricanes and other natural disasters were a sign of divine providence in human affairs. How it played out during the Revolution is a key part of my narrative. Ben Franklin was perhaps the exception, and his materialist understanding of nature seems to have taken hold to the exclusion of a religious understanding of hurricanes (for the most part) today.
Secondly, there was very little government aid at the time, and when there was, it was generally to prevent starvation rather than rebuild. There was also relatively little insurance, save maritime insurance, so people generally relied upon family, neighbors, and their own work ethic to pull themselvs up after the devastation of a hurricane.
Thirdly, there were usually one or two mentions of the storm in each of the sources I used. It struck me as odd, but I believe I figured it out. There was no blame game for years as with Katrina as bloated bureaucracies each blamed the other for the failures. People suffered the devastation (without warning, mind you), cleaned up, buried and mourned their dead, and moved on with their lives. Life was hard and not too many people listened when you complained.
I'll be glad to add more insights from my book. For a plug, get it on Amazon.com and catch me on C-SPAN's Book TV in the coming months.
Thanks!
Tony Williams
Author, "Hurricane of Independence"
Brownie foregot that they blew the leavee's
Kathleen Blanco was the most inept governor ever to lead a state, along with mayor ray naygen and sen. mary launder the democrats were more concerned with their political careers then the people of new orleans never since nero fiddled while rome burned have we ever seen such a display of incompetence, Gov. Jindal will make sure the state is prepared for gustav.
IN FACT the hurricane will HELP the republicans. It is the ONLY way BUSH won't attend the convention. Just imagine Bush standing beside McCain at the convention. Just imagine all the press -except FoxNews :)- going ballistic again: "John McCain runs for George Bush's third term".
No BUSH beside McCain is in fact the BEST THING that can happen to republicans.
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