Happy Aniversary

Today marks the one year date of Katrina. If you live around these parts it's kind of hard not to hear some talk of it. On tv that's all they're showing. I just heard our Governor paraphase (and not that well) Pogo's "We have met the enemy and he is us."

On another channel I saw Emeril is hosting a big music bash to raise money for Katrina relief. This is the same Emeril that was too busy with his book signing to come down after the hurricane and help feed the relief workers. The same guy that let most of his people go. While the other big restaruant owners in the city were out on the street helping to feed the people. Brennans paid their staff till they re opened, including the wait staff. Emeril was too busy. But he wasn't too busy to give an interview in New York and say he thought New Orleans was too far gone to recover. You can count on one thing as far as I'm concerned, I'll never set foot in a place owned by Emeril.

Since last year I've read a few of the books that have come out about the hurricane. Some of them have made me re think some of my assumptions that I made earlier. From the showing of the Governor of this state during the hurricane and afterwards I had very little respect. I thought she looked and sounded lost. I thought she did little or nothing to help. But after reading these books I've seen she did more than she is given credit for. Far from what should have been accomplished I've come to the conclusion that she tried a lot more than I thought. And she got some things accomplished. She kept Bush from walking in and taking complete control of the situation, which would have only made a bad thing worse. And after the hurricane I had a higher respect for the city's Mayor. He seemed to be out on the street, helping, using his voice to yell for attention. Well, a lot that isn't what it seemed. He basically fled to a high floor on one of the hotels downtown and decided to stay there. He refused to go to the Superdome and try to offer comfort to all those trapped people. He was afraid. (And on a side note, the Governor did go to the Dome, she refused to let photographers or news people to go with her). And since the storm Nagin has done nothing but put his foot in his mouth more than any one person should be able to. Calling the 9/11 diaster a big hole in the ground? How dumb can one man be?

I've been at work all day so I really haven't had a lot of time to reflect on Katrina. Which is probably for the best. Of the many people that was effected by the storm, I was very lucky. My home was not destroyed, none of my family was lost. Things weren't perfect, far from it, but it could have been a lot worse for me. So if anything I guess I should feel thankful.

The last few days have been kind of deja vu with a hurricane out in the Atlantic and heading into the Gulf. They say it's supposed to hit Florida, which looking back a year or so ago, is what they said about Katrina.