The desperation and lawlessness are what I think folks should be preparing themselves for at this point. This is what happens time and again when folks become distressed and desperate; social norms break down and chaos reigns.

I need to locate a manual pump for my well and stockpile staples. Back in '97 we lost power for 8 days during the icestorm, which was a debilitating enough lesson to learn, and I shudder to think what that would be like if the scale were exponentially more devastating. Our culture has become accustomed to the free-flow of people, goods and information, so if that flow is restricted or halted, I think we'd break down rather quickly into a state of civil strife.

If he does go, it will be politicking. If he doesn't go, he doesn't really give a damn.

Sir. The Private believes that any answer he gives will be the wrong one and if he reverses himself, the Senior Drill Instructor will beat him harder. Sir.

You know, Bush has been called a moron. Sometimes I believe him and all the other Presidents that came before him were morons. Whatever they do will irritate someone. You can't win for losing.

In the absence of law enforcement not much can be done. Maybe kevlar? The potentially good news around here is that most of the time it’s so cold and wet that many will huddle in any available shelter rather than being hot an angry.

We have a fair amount of camping/food and shelter supplies for a modest disaster. We have several water buckets, siphons, generators et cetera. But most of our plans revolve around a house being intact enough to recover stuff. I've thought about buying a couple of smallish motor bikes as they are good when roads are not, but for the time we have our bicycles

Once again with Bush the absence of choice is his direction. If he wanted to do the right thing he’d say something to the effect of “I flew over the area and saw the terrible and shocking devastation. Rather than spending a lot of the tax payers money on something that doesn’t really help anyone, I've decided to forego a trip and instead contribute an extra (fill in the blank) to the disaster relief.”

That would send a positive message. But the idea is beyond the comprehension of Mr. ceremonial mission accomplished. He’ll probably show up wearing a flight suit or perhaps a pink polo shirt or other idiotic garment to help remind all that this is another of of the important things he does for the country.

Hey, I remember that ice storm. I was visiting my parents over Christmas. Yesterday's SF Chron had a good editorial outlining the fragility of Cals. Sacramento Delta levy system and how an earthquake could flood huge parts of the central valley and imperil the water supply of 20 million people. I'll try to post it later.

We take a lot for granted in our great land. We're out on several limbs at once.

Talk about out on a limb -- come on down to my neck of the woods -- er, I mean cacti. I can't imagine how many people would die here if utilities suddenly became unavailable during the summer.

I don't want to jump wholesale onto the Bush Bashing bandwagon but it does appear that some serious foot dragging has been going on regarding preparing for the inevitable disaster in NOLA that has been warned about for years. The current congress reportedly voted to delay funding levy repair just before they left for vacation recently.

Details at 11.

The locals who have been devastated by this hurricane are screaming out that the govt is slow to respond, and I agree that certain things could have gone smoother.

Having said that, it is the single biggest natural disaster to hit the US. Not everyone will be happy with the results.

Can you imagine the logistical nightmare they must be facing? How many red cross vans were shown flooded out on the news? Ambulances, fire trucks?

It's kinda hard to get to people when the roads have washed out or are still flooded.

I'm very curious as to the mindset of the state and city govt prior to the storm.

They knew it was going to hit 3 days before.

Was there an evacuation order?

Hindsight is always 20/20 but it would have been a lot easier to get a *****load of buses and order people to leave.

Then again, those who stayed behind would have been looting earlier.

It's a no win situation for all concerned.

:(

I go to my office a couple times a month, when I'm not there I use a laptop and cellphone Bush can get by just fine at his ranch or on AirForce one, I do agree that he could have done more sooner though.

It is kinda petty to be squawking so soon. I see people really losing it and I guess I don't blame them, but Lordy, something this big takes time to sort out.

Can you imagine being a representative of the gub-mint of any kind and wade into that mess? A policeman or a fireman, whatever? People would mob you with questions, complaints, at least the ones that aren't shooting at you.

I heard Bush today on the Radio. He's getting his feet under him, I think, sounding comforting, optimistic and strong. I don't want him to fall on his face, not now anyway. (Oh, I'm a bastard all right :sun_smile )

Lets face it. Any politician touring a desaster site is doing it for politics and politics only. He knows about as much of the subject as I do about open heart surgery. IMO, they should save the money for something else. Let the people who know how to handle this sorta thing do it. Fly the Dutch experts who deal with dam stuff in. So what if he sees it for himself? What will it mean to him? He can't figure out what to do with it. Let me ask you this, if you have a serious engine problem, who do you want looking at it? Do you want Gilly who is a MB tech or do you want me who probably will look at it and say "Oh, it sounds bad."?