Quote Originally Posted by Catfish Bob View Post
^really?
Yes, New Orleans, if you didn't have a car you weren't allowed to leave the city. You had to go to the Super Dome. Even if you were willing to walk, the national guard would not let people evacuate by walking on side of the road.
Really? I'd like to see some evidence of that. There's none in those links, and frankly I don't believe it's true, mainly because it's a fact that a lot of people DID evacuate out of New Orleans on foot. But remember, 80% of New Orleans was underwater, over 20 feet high in some places. By the time the floodwaters peaked, no walking routes existed, including "the side of the road." The roads were FLOODED, THAT's what prevented some people from walking out. Now as far the gun confiscation, I don't blame you for having a problem with that. But I'd like to point out that some of those people in those wealthy neighborhoods, who had the ways and means to evacuate early but refused to do so, ended up having to be rescued by chopper, needlessly risking the lives of their rescuers, and delaying the rescue of other people who couldn't have evacuated if they tried.

There's plenty to criticize in the Bush administration's response to Katrina, and the Obama administration's response to the gulf oil blowout. But I really think saying they were deliberately botched is just over the top.