Rita's effect felt as far away as Baton Rouge

So last night Scott, Susan and I huddled in our spartan apartment in the Chateau Dijon complex in Baton Rouge (hoping soon to be able to relocate to the Chateau Poupon) and watched the 'Disaster Channel' (a/k/a CNN).   Aaron Brown was wearing his all-consternation-all-the-time face as public officials were paraded across the screen like kids in a line to see Santa Claus. But this was not joyousness, it was about fear-mongering --which is what the media does best (and, of course, makes the most money off of).   Horrific images of Katrina's aftermath were served up as appetizers in anticipation of a seven course meal of catastrophic devastation.

God, the media loves a good catastrophe, and this hurricane season has been a precious gift from the gods.  This morning the Fox channel was offering some hurricane special that had some sort of tagline about 'operation freedom' or something. 

What exactly is the connection between 'freedom' and hurricanes?  Can someone explain that to me?

I'm sure if I watched the Disaster Channel more I'd be better informed and better understand these things (I stopped watching TV a year ago, except for sports and, recently, Katrina and Rita).  The post-Rita CNN coverage, from what I can tell, consists of guys with ballcaps and orange blazers standing in front of rain spotted cameras pointing out things like fallen trees and downed stoplights.  After 45 minutes I felt like I was watching a tape loop.  I couldn't bear it anymore.  Me and my buddies wandered out to experience the real world. Baton Rouge had some power outages and a lot of shops were closed, but we managed to find some stuff that was open.  First we went to Chili's for lunch and then went to the Wal-Mart where we saw this grim reminder of wide reaching impact of Hurricane Rita.

I tell you, we are living in some serious times.  But people are just going to have to adjust

Comments

[Sarah Fetters]

Thank God for the Purdue-Minnesota football game. Itoo am ready for something other than grief, disaster, andand more hurricanes. We endured all of that last year inin Orlando, but not to your extent-----but we under-stand!! I love reading your blog and truly want youto get back to your "real" life. I send lots of happysunshine your way and many carefree happy days in NewOrleans.

[Robert]

Hey Ernie, good to see you kept up the blogging. I did as well, though not on my usual topic, and clearly not as regularly as you.

I returned to Metairie this morning, and am planning on commuting irregularly to Baton Rouge (C&K opened an office on Highland) until the CBD is up and running. I've had an email or two from JR, and I am already planning a lunch at Galatoire's. Frivolous? Sure, but so am I.

Cheers,

Robert

[Stanley Feldman]

I am burned out from the disaster news too. I headed out to watch the Saints game and decided at the last minute to have a film festival instead. I saw Flight Plan and Corpse Bride in that order. I recommend them highly, both as movies and shelter from the "news."

[Spare Change]

http://www.CrisisSearch.com has a search engine with thousands of disaster related websites and even a brand new crisis web blog for (online message forums) where we are seeking forum postings in aspects of disaster relief (housing, healthcare, rebuilding, evacuation routes, crisis planning, helpful charities, survival stories, missing persons/pets etc.). Please add helpful websites to the searchable crisis database or feel free to post your ideas for diaster prevention to recovery on our blogs.