One Trick Pony

I've been awfully repetitive these last couple days, but, frankly, Hurricane Katrina is the only game in town. Check out this fresh-from-the-wires AP story:

"'We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,' and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: 'Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.'

"The frightening estimate came as Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans' breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, while authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in the Big Easy and all but abandon the flooded-out city.

"There will be a 'total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months,' Nagin said."

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan cautions against saying that this in any way worse than 9/11. After all, Sullivan says, we don't yet know how many people died and this hurricane was not pre-meditated. Interestingly, this last point highlights an interesting philosophical problem for people who would say 9/11 is worse but maintain that hate crimes consist of thought policing. This much is clear: Hurricane Katrina, along with last year's tsunami, is a reminder of how powerful natural forces are in this world. They simply are more powerful than virtually anything humans have yet to create.

--Matt Singer

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