(no subject)
Sep. 3rd, 2005 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katallisonA quote from Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, just scrolled across the bottom of the screen on CNN:
Katrina "breathtaking in its suddenness."
Uh, let's see. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground called it as a major threat to New Orleans on the afternoon of Friday the 26th, which was *three days* before landfall. The NWS made it official Saturday morning. The federal disaster declaration (for what that was worth) was -- Sunday, right? Hell, by 7 a.m. Sunday morning even *I*, complete ignoramus average citizen, was engaging in public freak-out about what was getting ready to happen.
I dunno, maybe Homeland Security takes the weekends off. Maybe to Chertoff a couple of days lead time *is* "breathtaking suddenness." Maybe Homeland Security expects that, oh, let's say, the next terrorist attack will be announced a week ahead of time, with engraved notices giving details of location and probable effects. (Lord knows nobody had *any* advance ideas about the probable effect of a hurricane strike on New Orleans, right?)
Katrina "breathtaking in its suddenness."
Uh, let's see. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground called it as a major threat to New Orleans on the afternoon of Friday the 26th, which was *three days* before landfall. The NWS made it official Saturday morning. The federal disaster declaration (for what that was worth) was -- Sunday, right? Hell, by 7 a.m. Sunday morning even *I*, complete ignoramus average citizen, was engaging in public freak-out about what was getting ready to happen.
I dunno, maybe Homeland Security takes the weekends off. Maybe to Chertoff a couple of days lead time *is* "breathtaking suddenness." Maybe Homeland Security expects that, oh, let's say, the next terrorist attack will be announced a week ahead of time, with engraved notices giving details of location and probable effects. (Lord knows nobody had *any* advance ideas about the probable effect of a hurricane strike on New Orleans, right?)