Katrina

I'm finally off Katrina duty for a couple of days. By yesterday, i just couldn't process it anymore. On top of it all, yesterday was the 9/11 anniversary. I left work a little early. It was just too much.

All week, the Red Cross and FEMA were so overwhelmed and disorganized. As soon as they sent out one press release, they'd send out another rescinding what you just posted for all the world to see. You'd change it and an hour later, it would change again. It's truly a miracle there was not a riot down there early in the week. There were lines with 2,000-3,000 people waiting. Then they'd come out and say, "we're closed, go home." And sometimes all these people would have to find shuttles and buses back. It was a real mess. They'd tell them to go to Western Union to get their money. Saturday morning the VP of communications for WU called us and said don't tell people to go to WU. They were not equipped to handle those crowds. And to get money from WU you have to have a claim number. Many, if not most, of those folks didn't have one because no one told them they needed one. Just crazy.

And FEMA flacks called us all this last Saturday morning trying to cover their ass over a debit-card thing you may have heard about. Originally they told all these Houston evacuees they'd get their assistance through debit cards. So thousands lined up for them. Turns out they only had something like 5,000 cards. So when they ran out, they said the program had ended. So we said that the program was "scrubbed." They called the next day to say, no, it was a pilot program, an experiment. Therefore, it wasn't scrubbed. Like that was supposed to make sense. And some of us trying to follow events are wondering about all this time they're spending on spin and damage control. And doing an amazingly bad job of it at that. Fire all those bastards. There's no way to spin this.

But, at the same time, it was miraculous to see people in this area turn out to help. On Labor Day weekend, something like 14,500 people turned out all over town to volunteer to help at shelters, food banks, churches, donation drives, you name it. And the city of Houston, Harris County and the state of Texas saved the day. If they hadn't stepped up, it would have been unimaginable. Nearly half of New Orleans found refuge in Texas. And more than half of them were in Houston. The really amazing part is, not only did Texas et al step up, but like 80-90% of those people are out of shelters today, moving on in one way or another. And there were no riots, very little crime, no speakable damage to the Astrodome or convention center. Somehow, those in charge knew how to manage it. Just amazing.

My heroes amid all this are Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels. They were the Rudy Giulianis of the evacuee mess. Something like two days after the storm, White and Eckels canceled all the events scheduled for the convention center and brought the Astrodome out of mothballs. White said if someone was going to sue over it, they could explain that to the American people. He and Eckels kicked ass. I should mention White is up for re-election. But even so, I'm not sure his actions are those of a man concerned about votes. Rick Perry's taking some credit, but I'm not sure how much he initiated. He's also facing an election, but he's not a courageous man. If this had backfired, he would have let White and Eckels take the fall.

And all the stories of these people. People writing into us, looking for their children, their parents, their pets. Thanking the guy that saved them after three days in the attic. Saying they watched, helpless, as toddlers slipped into the water to drown. I'd just sit there and cry, editing stuff. A reporter would be dictating from the Dome, trying not to cry.

Last night, Vlad and I watched this special on the Discovery Channel about the last minutes of Flight 93, the 9/11 flight that crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers revolted against the hijackers. It was a 2-hour special. about halfway through, we were both just sobbing like babies. I said to him, " I just can't take anymore sadness."

It's just all beyond words now. One of the huge tragedies out of this for me is the realization there are no leaders in this country, outside of the odd mayor or county judge. This Bush administration and its Rasputin, Karl Rove, only want to find an excuse. They got rid of the FEMA guy who had no emergency management experience. This is a guy Bush hired. And there's the tired spin of blaming Democrats, this time Gov. Kathleen Blanco. She was useless in this, to be sure. She's governor of one of the most corrupt governments in the U.S., except for that of the city of New Orleans. That's not to say she's corrupt. It's just not surprising that Louisiana choked. And where are the Democrats? Nancy Pelosi, minority House bobblehead, just blathers her usual, "Bad Bush, bad Bush, bad Bush." Brilliant, Nancy. People are still in their attics and haven't eaten since Tuesday. This is the best you can do?

No one in the federal government stepped up. There are no leaders anymore. Clinton would have acted. Reagan would have acted. These guys ... . God help us.

Vlad and I are going to see "March of the Penguins" tonight. We need to watch some penguins march in a big way.