Riders on the Storm
There is a disinformation campaign in the media that everyone trapped by hurricane Katrina wanted to remain. Those trapped are being characterized as all being poor and minority.
Sorry, but that is not the reality.
The people who evacuated were those who had access to private vehicles, had enough cash to cover gas, whose vehicles could operate at 25mph or less for hours on end.
There are two daily trains from New Orleans, one to New York, the other to Chicago, and the Orlando to LA train that runs three times a week. They shut down early because the tracks have to cross the same bodies of water as the Interstates.
There aren’t that many buses still running, and bus service was cut off.
The airlines did not put on extra flights to get people out of New Orleans.
The rental car fleet exited the city.
There were hundreds of people who did not want to remain in New Orleans stuck in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. These were people who didn’t live in the city, had platinum cards in their wallets, and a few whose cards really were platinum. There was no transportation.
When hurricanes hit everything reverts to cash. Nobody gives a damn how much money you have in your bank, or how big your credit line is, they want cash.
This was the end of the month. Many retirement checks and military checks are received on the first day of the month, and Social Security checks on the third.
Let’s stop blaming the victims, including those who are white, upper class Yankees.
Editor: Steve at The News Blog is reporting that elements from my neighbors at the 16th Special Operations Wing have landed in New Orleans and their helicopters are staging out of Jackson.
They had to evacuate because of the hurricane and just flew back on Tuesday.
