What should we learn from Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath?
(published 12-Sep-2005, Appleton Post-Crescent)
That we're candidates for wet packs for believing that if only the right people were in charge then we'd be better off. Consider: hundreds of New Orleans school buses wallowing up to their windows in water; the Louisiana state government refusing to allow the Red Cross to bring in water and food to the Superdome because it would be a "magnet for more people;" the Houston Astrodome operations people refusing to let volunteers set up a low-power informational radio station; Robert Kennedy, Jr., blaming Mississippi governor Haley Barbour for burying Kyoto thus exacerbating global warming and making hurricanes more deadly. Kennedy's just a nut job, but you see my point! The thousands of NASA employees and maybe one shuttle mission a year; the Department of Education's No School Remains Honest Act; and the Transportation Safety Administration searching my 70+ year old mom, fer cryin' out loud! We're certifiably insane!