Burma on the bayou
No two hurricanes or cyclones are alike. The most notorious one of our lifetime, Katrina, was a perfectly cruel storm that toppled levees and caused catastrophic flooding in a densely populated city that was already grappling with an under-the-radar crisis of poverty.
Ike was a different kind of storm -- more spread out, leaving few casualties but causing damage across a wider area and leaving behind different problems but insidious ones none the less -- a heavily populated area that will be without power for weeks and as many communities also lack water and other necessities. If anything, as Richard Blair points out at Philly's All Spin Zone, the government response in one way resembles the reaction of the backwards junta running Burma.
They don't want you to know what's going on.
As with the presidential election, some of this is on the media. With all the different news outlets that we have in this country, the short attention spans are stunning: With a crisis on Wall Street and Obama and McCain and Palin and that other guy, Ike is already yesterday's news, even as it remains a growing humanitarian disaster for thousands here in America. That should not be.
I want to be careful about jumping to a conclusion, but there's growing evidence that despite all the squawking about Katrina that FEMA, and the state authorities they work with, still have a lot of room for improvement -- another mess for America's spring 2009 cleanup.
Here's how you can help.