Bayerworld - The Rantings of Craig Bayer

Sometimes I think that New Orleans deserves what it got

Yesterday New Orleans reelected William Jefferson, its esteemed representative who shrugs off banks for his own freezer where the feds found $90,000 cash.  Here is an article in the Washington Post about what Jefferson did.  What is even more incredible is that during the hight of the recovery efforts in Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson ordered the national guard to take him to his house so he could pick up some personal belongings.  When their convey got stuck at Jefferson's home, they had to get a helicopter that was searching for survivors to help the congressman out.  The Helicopter wasted 45 minutes with Jefferson who finally refused to be airlifted.  It already had 4 survivors in it and managed to pickup several more after Jefferson, until it ran out of fuel and was forced to land.  The National Guard had to send another truck to pull Jefferson out.  Jefferson was able to recover a laptop and several suit cases of belongs in his hour long search of his home.   

New Orleans, you cannot reelect Jefferson and then bitch that the Federal Government is not  doing enough.  New Orleans looks like a third world country at times because the people elect third world politicians.

Who is John Galt?

I am so pissed about Katrina Part 3: Good News

Okay so I said what I needed to say and want to leave on a positive note.  People in Louisiana are so sick of hearing about Katrina and I will try not to speak about it again.  I spent the anniversary of Katrina vacationing in Chicago which I was supposed to do last year except that Katrina ruined those plans.  Anyway, here are the before and after pictures of my house:

I am so pissed about Katrina Part 2: George Bush does not care about...

So here is what really pissed me off about Spike Lee's documentary.  One part showed Dick Cheney giving a speech in Mississippi.  It featured two locals who went up to the Vice President and said " Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney."  The next feature was people critical of Mr. Bush for waiting as long as he did to come to New Orleans. 

So whats the point?  When the Vice President comes down to talk you yell obscenities at him and when the president does not immediately come down, you criticize him.

See, we can't blame the local New Orlean's Government because they are mostly black and the argument that the local government does not care about black people does not look that good.  Therefore, we must go to the federal level and blame the white president and then we have classic black / white issue.  Never mind that most of the people that died during Katrina in New Orleans were white, which is pretty interesting considering the city has a black majority.  I am so sick of the media trying to turn everything into a racial issue.  Most common sense people could care less about a person's race.

So, the moral is we have a federal system of governemnt and the state and local governments should be the primary responders for everts like Katrina.  George Bush does not have the power to will away Hurricanes.

I am so pissed about Katrina Part 1

I just managed to get through 8 minutes of Spike Lee's Requiem for New Orleans and I am so pissed off.  I guess I probably should watch the whole thing but I would probably break something and my house just recently finished getting repaired from Katrina.  I am not a huge Bush fan but I think he and the federal government got a bad rap during Hurricane Katrina.  Katrina was not like the Tsunami where there was no warning.  If people decided to stay in New Orleans during the hurricane then that was their choice and no one should be held responsible except them.  I know there are some people without cars who lived in New Orleans.  They have friends with cars.  They could have made some sort of arrangements.  I might be crazy but I believe that in the Year 2005 anyone can arrange to travel 70 miles.  If you cannot do this, please don't have children.

In 1998, I was freshman at Loyola University of New Orleans.  Hurricane George was in the Gulf and looked like it was heading towards New Orleans.  Two weeks before, a heavy rain had flooded the entire city.  I took one look at that hurricane and decided to get the fuck out of New Orleans.  I have lived there for only one month but could easily figure out what would happen if a direct hit occurred.  Anyone who has seen a heavy ran fall in New Orleans knew what would happen if a hurricane came close. 

There was only one problem, I had no car.  I did three things: 

1. Went to the store and bought a case of bud light.
2. Made a sign that said "Need Ride to Baton Rouge, free case of beer"
3. Waited at the bottom of my dorm for 20 minutes.

I got my ride to Baton Rouge and never felt better.  Even though that hurricane missed New Orleans, every time one came close to the city, I got out of there. 

A couple weeks after Katrina, Rita was brewing in the Gulf and looked like it could hit New Orleans again.  Mayor Nagin ordered everyone out of the city and there were some who refused to leave.  The city had just gotten wiped out from Katrina and they still refused to leave.  People will make dumb decisions and they should be blamed, not the government.

Hurricane Predictions

One of my favorite scientists, William Gray did an interview on why Hurricane activity has been increasing.  I think it is pretty good and can be read here.