Perspective

No pool cage? No sympathy.

No FEMA assistance? You don't need it. Clean up the trees in your yard and quit whining.

No roof? Tough break, but you can rebuild. Material possessions can be replaced. Hey, you're alive.

No food, water, or shelter? No news from family? No survivors? No way out? God help you, because it doesn't look like anyone else will.

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The relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is deplorable. Don't tell me there was no emergency plan in place. How can you not foresee the potential for disaster in a city that has for centuries been at the mercy of high water and levees? And if it was impossible to deal with, why allow anyone to live in such dangerous circumstances? They won't even let me ride in my own car without a seatbelt. Don't tell me it's because Katrina wasn't expected to strike there, either. Charley was headed for Tampa and took an unexpected right turn into Charlotte Harbor. The State of Florida had declared a state of emergency before the storm hit, putting the National Guard on alert and mobilizing power and other emergency crews to move in the minute the winds calmed. Same with Frances, Ivan and Jean. Was this done in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama with the good chance of a category five making landfall? When coastal areas were ordered to evacuate, wasn't transportation provided? Hurricanes are not new to this area. Does our governor have better connections?

Have any doubt our government would competently respond in the aftermath of a large scale attack?

And not to pin all the blame on the government, what about the people sitting in filth at the convention center with reports of rapes and beatings taking place? Are they that dependent on assistance that they can't motivate themselves to navigate the ten blocks or so to the Superdome where evacuations are successfully being carried out? Well, when rescue teams are not being shot at, that is. The storm victims may be in shock, but at some point the survival mechanism should be kicking in. For the people along the coast, they must have heard at least once in their life, like maybe when any number of past storms threatened, that storm surges are the biggest killers in a hurricane. When a surge can be as high as three stories and you live in a one story house, you don't stick around. Hit the road, Jack. Head for the hills. Surely everybody heard about the tsunami last year?

Is everybody living in a fantasy world where bad things don't happen? Where knights in shining armor will always come to your rescue? What has happened to common sense and independence? Hello? Is this thing on?

After Andrew, when panic and violence threatened, didn't emergency planners and our government learn about immediate response? "Where the hell is the cavalry on this one?"

Also after Andrew, Charley, and Ivan, strangely similar rumors surfaced: Nighttime convoys of refrigerator trucks were covertly removing corpses. It was a conspiracy to cover up the true number of victims. Why? Nobody had a very good explanation. Maybe to protect the tourism industry? Maybe to not scare potential residents away? I think that ridiculous story can now be put to rest.