The situation on the Gulf Coast is still fairly grim. The evacuation is nearly complete, and much needed supplies are now pouring in. But the communities that are still hurting the most are the small inland towns that were cut off from communications and that still don’t have power restored. The power utilities are making Herculean efforts to get power restored, but is is a slow process. Their crews are working around the clock. These are good men doing a commendable job.
The bureaucrats at FEMA are getting mostly bad reviews for their performance in coordinating the disaster relief effort. Who ever dreamed up the concept of managing an emergency? Methinks that in the long run it will be religious charities and small private charity organizations that will do the most good for the most folks, using funds with the greatest efficiency. Large charity organizations and government bureaucracies always tend toward high overhead costs, misdirected efforts, and gross inefficiency.
There have been some interesting exchanges about the implications of Hurricane Katrina over on The Claire Files (The discussion forums at Claire Wolfe’s blog.)
Over at Keep and Bear Arms there are some tidbits about firearm used for self defense, post-Katrina. I’m sure that it is just a matter of time before that hopeless Hopolophobe Josh Sugarman and the rest of the civilian disarmament crowd get around to claiming that privately owned guns somehow caused the looting problem. I have news for them: Guns aren’t the cause of looting. They are the solution.
And don’t miss the 20 Most Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina