It seems that Glenn Reynolds, Pajamas Media, the NY Times, and the LA Times are finally catching on to things we’ve covered at Wizbang for (in many cases) months.
Since the storm hit, I’ve repeatedly said that 80% of what the media was reporting was flat wrong. They’re just now figuring that out. I knew 3 months ago that white people were disproportionally effected by the storm. And I was sitting in a hotel room in Memphis TN at the time. Over a week ago I blogged that More white people died per capita a fact just now getting around the blogosphere.
It was a point I made so well, it got plagiarized here.
Now the NY Times and the LA Times run front pages stories saying what I knew 3 months ago – that they were clueless all thru the storm.
One of the things the NY Times found was that, “Of those who failed to heed evacuation orders, many were offered a ride or could have driven themselves out of danger – a finding that contrasts with earlier reports that victims were trapped by a lack of transportation.” 3 months ago I tried to “bust the group think” by posting: “The Katrina Evacuation: A Phenomenal Success.
Back in September Kevin posted about the fact the reports of deaths was deeply flawed. For some reason that report didn’t tip the media they were blowing it.
So I’m glad Wizbang is no longer a voice in the wilderness. We’ve lead the way in other parts of the story too. From the fact that Katrina was probably a Category 1 storm by the time it hit New Orleans* to the fact Mayor Nagin had hundreds of busses that could have been used to evacuate the Dome and never used them. – Not to mention the Corps of Engineers posts.
Am I bragging? Yogi Berra said it ain’t braggin’ if you really done it. – And we’ve done it.
Glad to know the rest of the world is catching up.
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You left out the part where I mentioned that the brunt of the storm basically missed New Orleans – on August 29.
That’s great that Wizbang is being featured in the national press. The most clicked-on websites are the cartoon network and Paris Hilton. To see more information:
http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20051219-100741-5398r
It has been interesting reading your first hand accounts Paul.
The most interesting that I read from you was about how someone like yourself makes a claim for compensation (FEMA, insurance, anything);
http://wizbangblog.com/archives/006933.php
I wish you a speedy recovery and continued success.
Your advantage was that you were there, and you were aware.
And you don’t need a J-school degree to report just exactly what you see.
That’s the power of the blogosphere.
Yeah, but, what about their BONGS?!?!
end/snip.
Seriously (seriously), I always perceive any and all reports from emergency situations (and otherwise) as to racial deeds as a problem or issue of the perception of him/her/the source reporting.
Not that that does not occur (it has, it does), but that most often today, there’s usually someone instrumental or louder than everyone else projecting perceptions onto situations.
The other thing was this plight as to Louisiana. From the actual Hurricane itself, the state of Mississippi had greater deaths than did Louisiana. It was reported soon after the Hurricane landed but was completely written over and ignored by all the noise, among other things, from and about New Orleans.
Another myth that needs to be deflated is the one about the poor people without cars not having a way to get out of New Orleans. I would wager my life that 95% of the people in the Dome or Convention Center never asked a friend, son, fellow church member, or neighbor for a ride out of town. It wasn’t that they couldn’t leave town, they didn’t even try to leave town. Most people who really wanted to evacuate could have found some way. If all of these people couldn’t leave because they don’t have cars, what’s to explain the twenty cars on every Ninth Ward block? I haven’t driven in that area since early October, but when I did, there were flooded cars everywhere. Staying behind to face a Category 4 storm of 160 mph winds heading straight for New Orleans was a choice. If the storm hadn’t veered east, they wouldn’t have been able to be plucked off of rooftops as they would have drowned.
>From the actual Hurricane itself, the state of Mississippi had greater deaths than did Louisiana. It was reported soon after the Hurricane landed but was completely written over and ignored by all the noise, among other things, from and about New Orleans.
Susie… My dear drug abusing friend….
Just over 1300 people have died because of Katrina. Of those, 1100 of them in Louisiana and over 900 from New Orleans. Mississippi has just over 200 in the whole state.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Put down the crack pipe.
Yeah, Suise… Those 900+ people who died in New Orleans… They were just “noise” huh?
“Screw them” right?
Lets see. The US Corps of Engineers design limit for the Levees was a Cat 3 storm. But they failed on a Cat 2 Storm.
Methinks some head and butt kicking should be undertaken!.
I think the media doesn’t want to correct itself, because it is far more damaging a cudgel to beat the president with “racism, black people died and you didn’t care” then to tell the truth which is that there wasn’t a racist element to this at all, and white people were hurt at a similar to higher rate than the blacks.
Storms aren’t racist, they come in, and take whatever and whoever they can. The smartest thing to do in the face of a storm that size, is to get out of the way and get out of it as quickly as possible.
Sure evacuation can be a pain in the butt, but dying is a whole lot worse.
The Safir Simpson scale measures of Katrina when it hit NOLA may have been a Cat 1 or Cat 2 – which would explain the wind damage – or lack thereof.
Here’s a track of the storm, with data points along the way.
However, it doesn’t explain storm surges, and subsequent flooding. When Katrina came ashore, it did so as a far stronger storm, and the track meant that the storm pushed large amounts of water ahead of it. So, even as the storm was far weaker by the time it hit NOLA, it was still pushing huge amounts of water into the NOLA region. That’s what did the damage, not the wind.
I’d swear I left a comment here yesterday (under my “TLB” pseudonym). Maybe I was just dreaming I left a comment or something.
Paul Replies You did leave a comment. I deleted it. There are enough kooky conspiracy theories running around without my posts being used to propagate them.
You are welcome to post whatever you want on your blog. You are even welcome to come shill for your blog if you have a reasonable post.
But leave the conspiracy theories at the door.
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I wouldn’t jump to conclusions based on preliminary data.
Paul Replies Again My point EXACTLY.