Every natural disaster from here on out will be compared to Katrina, and everyone will search for ways to prove that they handled it better than Katrina.

Do you have experience with the breed, Sue?

I've been around them, but never had one. And my friends had a Pyrenees, who share many issues, who had hip and back problems.

everyone will search for ways to prove that they handled it better than Katrina.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass or offensive or stupid, but I would honestly hate to see a disaster that was handled worse. At least from where I was which was in LA, but from all I read and heard from folks here, it was handled in a ginormous clusterfuck that resulted in more deaths than the hurricane and subsequent flooding caused primarily.

And please - if that is an incorrect way that I am perceiving it, feel free to correct me.

Oh, no, it was totally a clusterfuck. I'm just saying, now people will forever think "Well, at least it's not as bad as Katrina," and sometimes they won't think about how that sounds.

I'm with Aims and Dana. Katrina was handled so poorly that "handled better than Katrina" (without more) is almost an insult. As for whether the current oil spill is a worse disaster than Katrina -- I think it's too soon to calculate the full effect of the oil spill, but if (as the current predictions are) it's going to take months just to stop the oil from continuing to spill, I suspect the oil spill is going to end up being worse.

I need to vent for a second. I'm reading various articles and posts about the Nashville flooding, and I keep encountering variations on "WE didn't whine about being victims, WE just helped each other." Am I totally addled to read this as a taking a shot at poor black Katrina victims? Because that's how I'm reading it and it is making me angry.

Me too. Actually more sad than angry. I have no desire to get into a pissing match over "My natural disaster was/is worse than yours."

I would honestly hate to see a disaster that was handled worse.

What they mean when they say, "handled it better" is not that the government handled it better, but that the natives handled it better than "those people" in Louisiana.

I think people forget that Katrina killed 1,800 people and involved a hurricane in addition to flooding. It was a different scale.

I think people don't think before they speak. Also? a lot of them suck. Also? given the chance to see themselves as better than an "other" most will cling to that.

remember, me = the nicest.

The frustrating thing about the oil leak is that there's so little that can be done. It's just too deep.