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Nov. 17, 2009
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JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
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Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 7, 2005 / 3 Elul, 5765

The finger of blame is being pointed in the wrong direction

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Catastrophe brings out the best in good people, and the worst in bad people. We've seen plenty of both among the victims of Hurricane Katrina and their rescuers, and in the news coverage of the disaster.

An area the size of Idaho has been devastated. Shelter must be found for more than a million people. The death toll may approach the nearly 8,000 killed by the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. Economic damage figures to be north of $100 billion.

Katrina was a natural disaster, a reminder that environmentalists have their principal thesis backwards. They fear we humans will destroy the planet. Katrina showed yet again how easily the planet can destroy us.

Perhaps because pointing the finger at someone makes us feel more in control than in fact we are, perhaps because it is hard for trial lawyers to sue Mother Nature, there is a natural tendency to find some human villain to blame. This is compounded by political opportunists who — like looters — seek to profit from the misery of others.

There were two tragedies wrought by Katrina. The first was the devastation the hurricane caused — mostly on Mississippi's Gulf Coast — when it came ashore. There was nothing any mortal could have done to prevent this.

The second tragedy was the failure of the levees protecting New Orleans to hold back the storm surge. There is no way a levee 15 feet high can protect against a 22-foot storm surge.

If the levees had been higher and stronger, the damage Katrina inflicted on New Orleans could have been minimized. Given that there were several CAT-IV hurricanes in the Gulf in the early 20th Century, and the damage that would be inflicted on New Orleans if it were hit by a storm like Katrina had long been predicted, this is apparently a case of negligence. But since no federal administration from the time of Franklin Roosevelt on has sought to build levees strong enough to withstand a Katrina force hurricane, finger-pointing is pointless.

It took nearly four days before meaningful help arrived for thousands who gathered for shelter in New Orleans' Superdome, prompting many in the news media to describe the federal relief effort as a "shame" and a "national disgrace."

This says more about the ignorance and bias of journalists than it does about the federal relief effort. Because the fundamental fact — unreported by any major media outlet — is that the federal response to Katrina has been much more swift than to any previous natural disaster, despite far greater challenges.

Katrina made landfall at 6:10 a.m. Central time last Monday. The main levee protecting New Orleans breached around 1:00 a.m. Tuesday. By Friday, hundreds of tons of relief supplies were pouring into the area, despite the fact that many of the roads and airports were covered with water or strewn with debris. The rapid federal response was made possible because President Bush declared federal emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi the Friday before Katrina struck, permitting relief supplies to be prepositioned.

Much suffering might have been alleviated if authorities in Louisiana had acted as promptly. Bush asked Friday that a mandatory evacuation be ordered, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco took a day to think about it, and refused Bush's request to put the Louisiana National Guard under federal control.

Mayor Ray Nagin didn't order a mandatory evacuation until Sunday morning.

New Orleans had a plan to use the city's buses to evacuate those who did not have automobiles, but no effort was made to implement it.

Looting began shortly after the levee was breached early Tuesday, but Gov. Blanco didn't authorize the National Guard to help enforce the law, or ask for help from National Guard troops outside Louisiana until Wednesday.

Order broke down mostly because two thirds of the New Orleans police force was AWOL, and some cops were among the looters. It's hard to see how this is President Bush's fault. But Blanco and Nagin are blaming Bush for their own shortcomings, and the news media are trumpeting their charges without examining them.

Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are working 18-20 hours a day to help Katrina's victims. More than 100,000 have been provided with food and shelter.

Not all are as grateful as they might be. Jervis Bergeron complained that he wasn't told he was being evacuated to Utah. Jervis has a future in Democratic politics, or in journalism.

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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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