I like that song…
But my thoughts and well wishes go out to the city of New Orleans as they face that horrible hurricane. Hopefully the city doesn’t turn into the American version of Venice.
Once again, I hope they get through it without getting flooded out or anything.
How 'bout you guys? Any thoughts on this nasty storm?
Good luck from me as well. I live in Florida, but I’m away from the storm. We just got a few quick rains is all. Best wishes to you all! 
Well wishes and prayers for everybody dealing with this storm. Take care
I hope there isn’t much damage of any sort. This sort of thing happens when you live right on the coast.
Actually I saw on the news this morning the if there is a flood, it could damage several petrochemical plants in the area, cause gas leaks and such. I hope that doesn’t happen.
Finally saw the news today, didn’t think it was that bad. 
I hope everyone recovers quickly.
This is a serious tragedy and my prayers go to the people in the city of New Orleans.
I have lived through a Category 5 hurricane and know what it’s like to lose everything. (I was in Miami for Andrew) It is perhaps the most frightening thing in the world, having a window pop and then seeing the roof go and soon the house falling down around you.
I also feel terrible about making mean jokes. If you hear any “New Atlantis” jokes or a link to a picture of Katrina and the song “Under the Sea” I am terribly sorry for making them public. Once they hit the internet there is no way to take them back, the only thing I can do is apologize.
This is the US version of the Tsunami disaster. I live about 60 miles east of Mobile in Florida and we got hit by the storm too, but not nearly as hard.
I keep wondering when other countries around the world will help us like they did the people in the Tsunami. It will be a cold day in hell, I say.
I’m in shock still at the whole thing. So many people dead and a city so rich in culture and history destroyed. But The LOOTERS! OMG! They even held up supply trucks for hospitals! There is no excuse! Where are the stories about people coming together?
ps If we could come together ourselves then we wouldn’t even need to worry about what other countries are gonna do.
Yeah such a tragedy 
I’m wondering how much more of these are necessary before Bush starts to believe in the reality of global warming…
Although I wouldn’t approve it, I fear many countries won’t send much help, given the tense relations between the US and the rest of the world during the Iraq war and the war on terrorism. I mean, here in Belgium the story of Katrina covers not even one page in our local newspapers… I think many people are thinking like “well America always likes to think they can handle the world… so they’ll definitely be able to handle their own problems now.” I don’t agree with this, but personally I think a lot of people here do…
I agree mystic, I’d like to see the people in get the help hey deserve, but I hope the rest of the world isn’t too sour to help.
I know this though, if Bush spent the money to help his own people that he did to inade Iraq, the crisis would be reduced dramatically.
I just hope they can get that water out of there somehow, clean up, and rebuild. New Orleans is such a well known city, so rich and interesting. I hope this isn’t the end of a great city.
alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01481437.htm
“I’m not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn’t asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country’s going to rise up and take care of it,” Bush told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
But.
“The State Department said offers so far had come from Belgium, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China, Australia, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela, the Organization of American States, NATO, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, South Korea, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”
This is not a time to be proud, any and all help should be taken.
My Mom wondered about why the US gov’t isn’t doing any more to help… It must be the budget issues. (wouldn’t really be splendid with all the problems). If they were to put more resources and people it may help out a bit more. The States are crumbling while the gov’t focuses only on Iraq and Terror. They can’t quite focus on a war with a struggling homeland.
As for looters, I don’t blame some of them who are really desperate it gets ugly quickly when you’re away from home.
I have been though a few disasters myself (stories?), but nothing really ever really affected me. I have seen a semi-truck crumpled into a ball but there weren’t as many fatalities as in that hurricane.
I’ve been keeping up with this on the news, and I’m shocked at what I’m seeing. People are dying everywhere, and bodies are floating in the water.
But what really got me was when some thug shot at a helicopter that was going to drop some food into a shelter! The copter had to turn around, and no one got any food because of some stupid guy with a gun!
The looters are getting out of control. I’ve got no problem with people taking food from stores and diapers for their babies–heck, I’d do it too, no doubt. But some punks are stealing DVD players and stereos and shoes from stores! You can’t even use the crap you steal!
My heart and prayers go out to these thousands of people.
My heart and prayers really go out to the people of New Orleans. I can’t believe how much city has been destroyed, and the people cope with everything. The people there have lost everything…family members, their homes, and so much more. I really hope that we will eventually hear stories of togetherness and giving, like we heard of from the tragedy of 9-11. IMO, these stories helped us see a light through a terribly tragic event.
As for the US politics… 
…I really don’t agree with what George Bush is doing about anything. Many things that he has done seem quite illogical. Remember that time that he did that billion dollar research on mars? We do research on that, but not about anything that affects us now, like global warming, or alternate fuel sources (I think we rely too much on foriegn oil personally)
But back on subject… 
. My heart really goes out to those affected by hurrican Katrina, I pray that they can cope through all there tragedy.
Djeez, even Venezuela (Chavez) offers to help. Of course the international community wants to help. It’s a natural disaster, and almost everyone can identify and feel compassion for people suffering from it, whatever their nationality or ideology or income is. I agree all help should be taken, otherwise it gives a signal not all help is welcome, and all help is welcome after such a disaster I wish some politicians would learn what is really important in life.
What angers me most is the fact that this disaster could have been largely prevented, or at least tempered… Scientists have been giving warning for years now that the ongoing destruction of New Orleans’ marshes will one day cause a major disaster when a hurricane will hit the city. These marshes are natural buffer areas for the rising waters, and considerably slow down the winds, so they once provided a good protective barrier for the city. Not anymore though, since most of them are gone already, despite years of heavy lobbying by environmental groups and scientific commitees.
Another thing which bothers me: already in 2001 the Bush administration received urgent calls from environmental institutions to strengthen the levees which kept the city protected from the higher waters. But nooo, it wasn’t necessary, and Washington just laughed at the idea… When the US started to fight his wars, there was even a cut of 50% in the budget of those environmental institutions. This meant a drastic decrease in proper investigations of the possible hazards concerning levee breaches, etc…
For years the government received signals that something HAD to be done, but they failed to comply. Now a disaster has truly happened… I’m not sure how Bush will get away with this as easily as he got away with the war in Iraq…
If you guys want some first hand accounts of what’s been really happening in the city, have a look at this blog :
livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
It’s an guy working in a data center in downtown NO who decided to stay there to protect the data… wow, that’s dedication !
By reading it, I was shocked to learn that the police had also been looting extensively. Err, is this subsaharian africa ??
Michael
You know what’s driing me crazy. Why is it taking so long to get help to these people!?!?!? The guard should have been there the first day! There is no excuse, the government should not be sparing anything to get these people what they need! There are people dying left and right and children are starving! Ahhh!
I’ve been seeing news clips of the flooded stores. It’s funny how all the white guys are ‘finding’ food and the black guys are ‘looting’ it.
It’s probably the fact that the articles are written by different authors and it’s probably not intentionally prejudiced, but what are people supposed to do? They have to find food somewhere. Some of these people will start dying of hunger before long.