Hurricane Katrina: Best and worst. Fortunately, most people show their best side when such events occur. Unfortunately, some show their worst (looters and snipers?!? sheesh) and the media loves to focus on the ugly dramas. Still, I will give the media credit for helping with infomation when few other communication options were available. There have been many cases in which only the news people seemed to know about stranded folks, and while they were not equipped to rescue them, they've alerted the rescue crews.

There has been a lot of criticism about the way this thing has been handled, but I think the nature and scope of it is just something we haven't faced before. The affected area is not one or two counties in Florida, it's a huge chunk of the Gulf coast. While the usual recovery might have worked for affected areas, individually, there's just too much area to be dealt with all at once. Also, when monster hurricanes have hit in the past, the water usually receded immediately and made it possible to get help in there right away. Of course this is just not true in New Orleans especially.

Thumbs Up: Major kudos to the folks who accurately predicted the hurricane's path, got the warning out in time, and seriously enough, to save hundreds of thousands of people. It's wonderful that neighboring regions (especially Houston TX) have stepped up to offer unprecedented assistance with relocation, etc. It's terrific to see other countries actually offering aid to the US (seeing as how we seem to bail out everyone else when they need it). I also applaud the decision to cut off water and food drops to people who are still refusing to be evacuated from the cesspool that still exists in New Orleans. Cheers to those people who have wisely realized they should relocate permanently.

Thumbs Down: I have no pity for people who could have evacuated but chose not to. I have no pity for people who still won't leave when rescuers have gone through so much trouble to find them. I have absolutely no pity or tolerance for the criminals who have jeopardized the relief effort by taking pot shots at rescue workers. IMO, the authorities should be allowed to kill them on sight because they jeopardize many innocent lives with their idiocy.

We will learn a lot from this event and, as I've stated, I think we will need that knowledge. I'm sure there will be endless debates about what could have or should have been done. However, the powers seem to have had their priorities fairly well in order: save lives, then deal with the rest. That's the best thing we can do.