OK, so I’ve been out of town all week (doctors appointments and the ILTA conference) and I get back to find that the hurricane over Jamaica (that’s right, Jamaica … the island below Cuba, about 1200 miles from New Orleans) which is being reported pretty much everywhere in the world as likely to hit somewhere in the Gulf Coast sometime next week (1200 miles at 7 MPH…you do the math) is being treated in New Orleans as an uber Katrina event.
I’m talking National Guard call ups, impending mandatory evacuations, cancelled mail service starting today, announcement that there will be ABSOLUTELY no shelters for people stuck in the storm (thanks Ray …. brilliant move) Coming home from the airport last night the line of cars leaving town went on for miles. So we’ve gone from no reaction in 2005 to total overreaction in 2008. How ironic on the anniversary of Katrina ….. whatever happened to just plain smart politicians? Whatever happened to taking care of protecting the public without whipping people into a hysterical frenzy?
Chris Rose said it best in his column today: “OK, people. Get ahold of yourselves! Remain calm.” Or, in the immortal words of Bart SImpson (which I can tell you from personal experience you do NOT want to say to a TSA agent at an airport), “don’t have a cow dude”.
