Katrina Pity Party - One week and counting
We’re one week out from the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the media is already ramping up for Pity Party 2006.
The media moguls from all the Alphabet Soup conglomerates will be out in full force smothering New Orleans with reporters and camera crews, doing their best to find the saddest, most gut wrenching story to throw out on the air waves. We’ll hear story after story from ticked off individuals who are somehow upset that their beloved city is not back to it’s pre-Katrina state yet (since we all know that it only takes a few months to rebuild an entire city). There will be countless complaints aimed at the American Taxpayer for the slow going progress in New Orleans.
My sympathy goes out to those individuals who were devestated by this natural disaster… BUT, my sympathy stops when responsibility is not taken on behalf of the individual to get THEIR life back the way it is, yet expect the taxpayers to put them back on track.
I’ve already seen plenty of ads for “Expose’s” in the coming week about the SuperDome, etc… and yet one thing seems to be missing… Houston. Houston graciously opened their arms to the displaced victims of hurricane Katrina and what did they get in return? Let’s try skyrocketing social welfare costs, and a crime rate that would make New York City blush. Why not do travelling expose’s to all of the cities and states that welcomed in Katrina evacuee’s… talk about their crime statistics pre/post Katrina victim rescue. Talk about their welfare statistics pre/post Katrina victim rescue. Chances are you won’t see THAT side of the story.
On a side note to the Katrina coverage, expect to see zero coverage of the current Hurricane season. Why? Because as of August 2006… there hasn’t BEEN one.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION ALBERTO - Jun 14 2006
TROPICAL STORM BERYL - Jul 21 2006
TROPICAL DEPRESSION CHRIS - Aug 5 2006 (( 2006 Hurricane and Tropical Storm Data))
Scientists had predicted yet at least 12-15 Hurricanes before December of this year… that estimate is starting to look a bit overstated. According to a paper to be published next month in Geophysical Research Letters, between 2003 and 2005 globally averaged temperatures in the upper levels of the ocean have cooled (( Recent Cooling of the Upper Ocean)). Perhaps the “global warming will bring forth year after year of monster hurricanes” argument was a BIT overstated?
(White to Blue is cooler than average)
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Comments
You’re right about Houston’s crime rate. Except it was always high. This is from 2003:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004902.html
New York’s crime index: 2,917
Houston’s: 7,054
Still, both lower than Oklahoma City’s 10k and Tulsa’s 8k. 
I’m not saying it hasn’t been high before… it’s gotten worse since Katrina, and according to local PD, a very large portion of those arrested for violent crimes were imports from New Orleans.
Houston took in 150,000 evacuees, more than any other city in the US, and have seen at least a 17% increase in crime since those have arrived.
Since I am suspicious of your intent vis-a-vis this post, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the upcoming Carnival of Grief, slated for the 11th of September
Suspicious of my intent? What the hell is that supposed to mean? People that take advantage of a disaster for their own personal gain deserve no press coverage outside of filming their day in court.
With Katrina we had “victims” who were moved into housing (hotels and suites) with no deadline. A very large percentage of these people put forth little or no effort to establish themselves in their new surroundings, earn money and save for the eventual eviction from their housing. When that date arrived, they didn’t move out… they sued the federal government to extend the deadline.
Now, can you tell me why I should feel sorry for these people?
As for 9/11… The victims of this disaster did not have days to escape their impending doom… They didn’t even know it was coming until it hit. For those families that lost someone on 9/11 I feel their loss. For those families that immediately jumped onto Primetime television and courtrooms to gather up all the press they could for their own personal gain. I have no sympathy.
Actually, Houston’s crime rate dropped by 2%, although murders are up. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020500884_2.html) According to the same article, the number is 150-200k. Houston is about 2m people, so that’s a 10% jump in population. You would REALLY THINK that a 200k influx of poor people without jobs would increase crime, and it’s frankly surprising to see the decrease.
I have a theory. The Houston PD wants compensation from FEMA for enforcement, and in order to get the money, it has to provide a reason. So it’s talking up an increase in crime, even though the numbers don’t add up.
Nice try, Houston PD.
Heh…you should have read the paper more closely.
As for Katrina…I dunno, I guess losing an entire city might take some time to repair. I too am at a loss as to why the media would want to make a big deal out of the first anniversary of the biggest natural disaster in our history.
Since I am suspicious of your intent vis-a-vis this post, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the upcoming Carnival of Grief, slated for the 11th of September.