Truth vs. Perception
I know that FEMA is not trying to kill anyone...they are just incompetent and part of a giant bureaucracy that is just as deadly when time is of the essence. That being said, it was AMAZING to watch TV news reporters take off the gloves and scream at politicians this week. I felt some sense of relief, actually, that people were asking hard questions. What pissed me off was the canned talking points they kept getting instead of a sincere apology from inexperienced administration appointees in charge of FEMA and Homeland Security.
BBC NEWS | Viewpoint: Has Katrina saved US media?
I think that Hurricane Katrina will forever change the way the media interacts with the President and the administration as a whole for the rest of the term. There is no doubt that something changed when reporters on the ground had to see what the survivors were going through when there was supposed to be help there and no help was coming. There will be no more soft ball questions...no more polite deference...no more listening to answers that make no sense and staying quiet. What will be interesting will be how the administration tries to spin this and pin it on local officials, although I cannot see how that could be when the federal budget for flood control in New Orleans has been consistently cut since 2002. And never mind the gigantic transportation bill just passed by congress that is nothing but local pork...now that's money well spent. I hope Louisiana got some money in that.
I've been checking in on Louisiana web sites for businesses and colleges in N.O., and it seems everyone is optimistic that the city should be back to normal for tourism and students by January. I'm very heartened by all this, as I have not been since the early 90s and I was planning on going this winter. I'm concerned that the city may be rebuilt into some bad Disneyland version of New Orleans...all image and no soul. I hope and pray that this does not happen, but I'm not optimistic enough to think that the town will ever be the same again. It will be similar, but perhaps more like a N.O. in a dream. The vibe will be different, to be sure. I can't wait to help out the tourism economy there, and I'm sure many other people feel the same.
BBC NEWS | Viewpoint: Has Katrina saved US media?
I think that Hurricane Katrina will forever change the way the media interacts with the President and the administration as a whole for the rest of the term. There is no doubt that something changed when reporters on the ground had to see what the survivors were going through when there was supposed to be help there and no help was coming. There will be no more soft ball questions...no more polite deference...no more listening to answers that make no sense and staying quiet. What will be interesting will be how the administration tries to spin this and pin it on local officials, although I cannot see how that could be when the federal budget for flood control in New Orleans has been consistently cut since 2002. And never mind the gigantic transportation bill just passed by congress that is nothing but local pork...now that's money well spent. I hope Louisiana got some money in that.
I've been checking in on Louisiana web sites for businesses and colleges in N.O., and it seems everyone is optimistic that the city should be back to normal for tourism and students by January. I'm very heartened by all this, as I have not been since the early 90s and I was planning on going this winter. I'm concerned that the city may be rebuilt into some bad Disneyland version of New Orleans...all image and no soul. I hope and pray that this does not happen, but I'm not optimistic enough to think that the town will ever be the same again. It will be similar, but perhaps more like a N.O. in a dream. The vibe will be different, to be sure. I can't wait to help out the tourism economy there, and I'm sure many other people feel the same.
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