Only the Cows Can Come Home

The New York Times reports on Rita evacuees lining up to return:

Mr. Reeves has worked in the last year in Angola, Morocco and Brunei. With a mouthful of Skoal, he described how he had once persuaded customs officials in Luanda to turn a blind eye to a package of Louisiana alligator meat in his luggage.

"Now I can't get past my own deputy sheriff," an irritated Mr. Reeves said, explaining that he was trying to get food and water to his two brothers in Cameron, the most southwestern of Louisiana's parishes, where coastal areas were torn apart over the weekend by Hurricane Rita.

Indeed, at the roadblock, the police and two soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division let the occasional truck loaded with horses or cattle go by but otherwise barred civilians from entering the parish on Monday.

Comments

[Evan Williams]

This only makes sense. We all know how the "private sector" dropped the ball after Katrina...

[Eryk Boston]

And they wonder why people are reluctant to evacuate when a storm is coming.....

[Ron Hardin]

It's a way of showing you're in control, which is especially important when you're not.

The original way of dealing with disasters scaled with population. If you have a million victims, you have a million people helping each other.

If you beat people down enough, you can remedy that, and you're the only authorized helpers. Then you win.

[joe]

The feds should be putting locals in the lead role, and working to support their efforts and expand their capacity. This is what you get when the enterprise is conceived around people who don't know the local conditions swooping in from outside and taking over.

But enough about Iraq. The government's disaster response has been deeply flawed as well.

[MP]

Does anyone around here feel that the government should have any authority, ever, to evict people from or prevent people from their homes?

[MP]

OK...I shouldn't have said "ever", because there are plenty of legitimate reasons, such as a default on a contract (i.e. a mortgage). I guess I should be more specific and focus on the "public services are not available" issue that is apparently their justification in the the ravaged areas.

[crimethink]

You're right, joe, the feds should have left these matters in the hands of the highly qualified Louisiana govt. Say, why are there federal troops in LA anyway... trying to remember...