Katrina: Something Besides Emotion

EDINBURGH--Already having sampled a little of the American network offerings, and anticipating more of the same today as we hit K-day plus one, I'm humbly suggesting you turn off the box, ignore the newspapers, and pick up some heavy reading. Purpose: to understand why New Orleans flooded. Read "The Storm" by Dr. Ivor van Heerden of the LSU Hurricane Center. Read "Path of Destruction" by Mark Schleifstein and John McQuaid, two of the reporters who led the Times-PIcayune's Pulitzer-winning coverage of the disaster. Read the report by the UC Berkeley team that investigated the levee breaches. Tivo the emotional stories if you want, but the best thing you can do for New Orleans, aside from paying a visit and enjoying some great food and great music and great people, is to get past the "natural disaster" myth--Mississippi experienced a natural disaster, New Orleans did not--and understand the situation a little better than you did yesterday.