Interesting thought

Are you seriously trying to imply that this is comparable to having your city submerged under polluted water?

That'd be kind of like chiding the administrators of Baghdad because you live in a bad neighborhood in Chicago and have some shootings but you know how to deal with it.

Great point.

I recently finished David McCullough's excellent "The Johnstown Flood". There, a swollen river combined with a ruptured dam to wipe out most of Johnstown, PA.

The next morning, the survivors did not wait for government assistance; in fact, they didn't even look to the local gov't for leadership. They promptly "elected" one of the town's leading businessmen to take charge. He did and promptly organized teams to search for survivors, collect and bury the dead, set up field hospitals to treat the injured, etc. At the same time, farmers and residents from the surrounding countryside began arriving in Johnstown with food, clothing, and other supplies.

While I recognize that the Johnstown Flood happened almost 120 years ago, I still was struck by how different the response was in Johnstown compared to the response in New Orleans in 2005. While the Red Cross and the state and federal governments did play roles in the relief and recovery efforts, unlike today, the locals did not sit around waiting for them to show up.

Now, for the pesky little facts about this 2004 blizzard in North Dakota:

1. Government did a lot, starting with hiring snow plows. National Guard and state emergency workers dug people out.

2. North Dakota did, in fact, ask for Federal aid.

Ahh, now you've moved on from actually supporting this stupid email, to implying criticisms of New Orleans for supposedly not doing things that they did in fact do (like searching for survivors in citizen teams without waiting for the government to start doing the same). You've also moved on to a comparison that's at least a little bit closer than the insane one the email you posted is trying to make, though you don't seem to realize it's still a really bad comparison. But at least you've completely disavowed this ridiculous email you just posted, yes?

You're right; it was all George Bush's fault. The original letter wasn't really posted here by David, though. The site was hacked by Halliburton on Dick Cheney's orders. At least that's what I read at the KOS.

COS, you've denied your own point: no one in North Dakota blamed the Bush Administration for ANY of the damage or slowness to respond to the blizzard disaster. Nor did they bring ANY of it on themselves, as New Orleans did, way back when the French decided to build a city below river level, and ever since, with the failure to realize that such a city would not be viable in the long term.

Nor did you see, up close and personal on your home television, ANY residents of North Dakota crying the blues or trying to snivel up more aid or looting or shooting each other, as we did with NOLA.

To me, COS, your message (and that of the Poverty Pimps of NOLA) resembles the action of a cockroach which thashes and scuttles about when the covering rock is pulled off of it, exposing it to the light of day.

I agree with the general sentiment - the behavior of many of New Orleans citizens was reprehensible; however, I don't think the big blizzard is a good comparison. There is a distinct difference between having 6 feet of snow piled up against your house and having 6 feet of water piled up against your house. True, it is possible that enough snow can cave in your roof, but that much water will simply tear your house off its foundation and sweep it completely away, along with every thing you own (and perhaps yourself and/or some family members).

There is also a big difference in that the U.S. Gubmint, in the form of the Army Corps of Engineers, arguably made the effects of the flooding worse with all of the modification of the river that has been done in the last 100 years.

The general point of the above is (generally) valid; unfortunately, I don't think the comparison is a good one.

Just like I found in the catbox...and, like a vet, I'll partially dissect this essay, and see what's wrong with the critter that produced it.

I'll start with the carefully quoted Category "5". Thus showing the standard right-wing tactic of "hint, but don't say it!". You mean that your blizzard was just as bad as Katrina, but you handled it just fine because you're a good old american studmuffin. (But you won't actually SAY you had it worse than Katrina, because deep down inside, you know it's crap.)
In response: Bullshit. 44 inches of snow? big whoop. You get at least a foot a couple of times a year, a couple of feet at a time every couple of years, and most importantly, snow doesn't fill your house and chase you out onto the roof. Snow is something that your community is PERFECTLY prepared to handle, because you deal with it ALL THE TIME.
FEMA didn't do anything, because the state and local governments already had the situation in hand, because they do the snow-clearing thing ALL THE TIME.
Your SUV-drivers didn't have a reason to run away, so they were there to head out and help out. Helping people who got themselves into trouble, by travelling when they knew a blizzard was coming.

Imagine - you had the fortitude to build fire in fireplaces, and scoop up snow for water. Snow makes clean water, try scooping up water that's had bodies floating in it, and see how you like drinking it.

But most importantly, the good old "welfare" talking point - most of the refugees were not on welfare - they were just too poor to take off on a couple day's notice, and didn't have anyplace/anyone to go to. (But that's not right-wing politically correct, so you just pretend that everyone who works can afford a car and a few months in a hotel)

So let's look at the overall results -
Katrina - Billions in property damage, many hundreds of deaths, still a shambles after 16 months.
Blizzard - Millions in property damage, a few dozen deaths at most, and everything back to normal in a week or two.

So imagine that - you don't get a lot of attention for a "Biblical" event that you and your government were prepared for, that didn't destroy thousands of homes, that didn't kill hundreds of people, that didn't result in bodies stacked on public streets..
Wah.

Comment to Bob Crichton. It seems you are a little thin-skinned here. Do you really believe that the e-mail was intended as a true, like-for-like comparison between the blizzard and Hurricane Katrina?

The hypocrisy of liberals knows no limits. Liberals have no problem comparing Pres. Bush to Hitler, or comparing troops in Iraq to storm troopers. But when someone sends out an e-mail loosely comparing a blizzard to Hurricane Katrina, the howls of indignation are unleashed.

So, while your efforts at dissecting the differences between the blizzard and Katrina may make you feel better, they weren't necessary.

So, Ryan, please enlighten us as to the entertainment value of comparing the horrific experience of helplessly watching your wife or your baby or your elderly mother dragged away, along with every meager possession you have in the world, in rushing floodwaters even as you desperately cling to debris to avoid being swept away yourself to the trauma of having to shovel snow. Because, you know, I'm a liberal who obviously doesn't appreciate the hilarity of such a comparison.