What a column!

I just finished reading a most excellent column, written by Jim Geraghty, for NRO. You can find it here. I was directed to it from NRO's The Buzz.

Mr. Geraghty's column, entitled "We Failed You? Try Again," takes issue with author Anne Rice blaming America, rather than the incompetence of local/state officials, for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Here part of what Anne had to say:

To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

And here is part of Jim's response:

Ms. Rice, you live in (what was) a very attractive city which lies below sea level. On one side you have a giant lake; on the other side you have the Gulf of Mexico. Running through the middle is the Mississippi River. All of which are above you.

Preventing those giant bodies of water from flooding and drowning you are levees. These levees are described as “century-old.” People have been warning about the devastating effects of a direct hit from a hurricane for decades.

I’ve heard a great deal of complaint in recent days that the federal government may not have allocated enough money to speed up the upgrades to those levees. This does, however, raise the question of why city and state residents were waiting around for the federal government to send enough money to upgrade this, instead of paying for it themselves. I mean, it was only your homes, businesses, and lives at stake. Perhaps these upgrades would have been expensive. If only this city had some sort of events to attract tourists, from which to collect taxes.

Anyway, your state and local officials decided to spend your tax dollars on something else that they (and presumably you) found more important, and then they waited for the rest of the country to pay for these life-preserving necessities.

You have to read the entire column. Mr. Geraghty makes some excellent points and isn't afraid to tell the truth. I really just want to put the whole thing in a post, its so good.