FDR said: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

This country is being lead by fear. The local police officer buying an automatic weapon because he is in fear of what might happen to the news stand salesperson and the cup for a bottle of water because of fear of what might happen in the New Orleans terminal.

The police officer can't trust his own government to provide support in times of need and the saleperson won't take chances with a bottle of water even though other terminals around the country will let you drink from the bottle. Fear.

And what does this get us? A false sense of security because of the hassle one has to go through.

And where does this lead us? Straight to the late-night comedian monologues.

Right after 9/11 any possible threat was reported on the news for a week or more, the liquid bomb story lasted 36 hours and then became fodder for jokes.

Maybe bad jokes are a way of dealing with the underlying fear that's hanging over the country or maybe the government should stop using fear to make us think they are in control and doing something.

Instead of reacting to possible threats and crying FEAR the government has to take charge.

Bush has said that Iraq is no longer his problem - the timeline for a solution exceeds his term in office - and has handed it off to the next administration. Bush has said Israel has a right to self-defense, let the bombs continue to fall on Lebanon and the UN will clean up the mess later.

The Republicans goes along with Bush and the Democrats complain but aren't doing anything about it.

Where is it all going? Who knows.

This is in reply to Tennessee Slave GGGGranddaughter about the New Orleans debutante season after Katrina. There was no debutante season. I don’t know where she got the information about that but, life in New Orleans following the storm was difficult at best. She makes it seem as if all white New Orleans girls come out. I have lived in this area most of my life and I didn’t come out. Most of the families with girls that age were not back in town. The majority of schools in the area didn’t open until Jan. ’06. The media reports in most cases were patently false. What was true was greatly exaggerated and played up for all it was worth. There were people of all races and colors abandoned at the superdome. Everyone suffered after Katrina, white, black, asian, Hispanic, everyone. I should know, I returned to the city on Sept. 1 to go to work and nothing in the city functioned for almost 2 months. It makes me so angry when I see things like this from people who have NO IDEA what it was like in this city after the storm. Driving back to the hotel (it was 30 miles away) at night after work was the worst. There were no people, no lights, no life. What was once a vibrant place was reduced to a third world country in the space of one day. So, before you make broad generalizations about white society and black society, make sure you have your facts straight. And by the way, there was a debutante season this year. It included both black and white debs.

Barbara - Concur.

Nagin doesn't seem that bright at his best - I don't know what the citizens of N.O. thought they were proving by re-electing someone who was instrumental in pooching the first response.

Brian Williams, you are surpassing what Tom Brokaw did. You are an excellent journalist in every way and I appreciate that. Keep up the good, yet sober work. We need more honest and sincere news reporters in a day where news integrity is dwindelling and our reality is more depressing. I was in New Orleans this summer for a week, and it can never be fully covered. I appreciate that you continue to shine light on this subject while other networks shy away.

When do we decide to take matters into our own hands and build homes and communities that can either withstand the types of natural disasters a given area is prone to or move to areas less threatening? What, are we Neanderthals that we can’t figure “Gee, this is a hurricane zone, maybe I should build a home stronger than what my local codes call for.” Or, “Gee, this is a fault line, maybe I should look at the property two counties over.” Is that so unreasonable? Living below sea-level was bad enough without being in one of the most active hurricane regions in the world. What about Miami right there on the tip of FL? Don’t people care to feel safe? In the end, what is all this talk of National Security when we will likely die off from our own stupidity long before any terrorist has had a chance to blow us up?

Potential Solutions:
Instead of trying to out-class our neighbors with extravagant formal living areas (that are hardly ever used), and fancy/decorative exteriors (with things like dormers, staggered rooflines, and garage extensions), we need features that will help us cope during times of hardship and disaster. Regardless of where we choose to live, our homes should have:

A more basic, efficient, and less wind-resistant ‘square’ shape. Decorative exterior features really only provide more places for the roof to leak, more surface area for heat to escape, and a greater potential for severe damage to occur.

A bunk bed visitors’ room sized for four bunk beds to help during mass evacuations.

All bedrooms should be more equally sized for adults to use. This gives close family members and friends a much more permanent and comfortable place to stay if their home was destroyed or if they were let go from their job or got a divorce.

Kitchen, dining, and living areas should all be walled off to prevent a damaged wall or window in one area from adversely affecting the entire home. This is also more efficient, prevents the rapid spread of fire and smoke, and lowers noise levels!

The garage should be sized to protect AND support the service repair vans that many builders and contractors privately own.

Garage closets are needed to help keep valuable equipment secure (in case the garage door is blown out) and to help eliminate the absolutely horrific amount of garage clutter we see today.

There should also be an attic greenhouse to supplement food provisions and rainwater holding tanks to provide fresh drinking water… and so on!

Chris Eldridge
Author of: Preparing for a Super-Disaster and Environmental Practices (www.trafford.com/04-2708)

The biggest mistake that has been made has been the failure to bring in a "Recovery Czar." Someone on the order of Rudi Giuliani, Colin Powell, or Gen. Honore. Nagin could have been hailed as brilliant and a hero to turn over the very difficult recovery task and busy himself running the city government.

I also very much appreciate the continuing coverage of this disaster by NBC and Brian Williams. Even with all of the pictures and descriptions, you can't know and grasp how bad it is until you've stood in it.

From what I've been reading/hearing on the news the reason New Orleans has not received the monies they're expecting is due to their failure to provide the federal government with the proper checks and balances paperwork as to how the funds will be spent.
I'm with the masses who are glad that the rebuilding will not move forward until this proper paperwork is provided.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again for the continued coverage of the condition of New Orleans. NBC seems to be the only news media that has been so steadfast in its coverage of this extremely important story, this against pressures that some network executives must be exerting to move on to other news stories. Thanks for pushing back.

I really can't understand none of this. Why all the he should do this and he didn't do that. Can't there be just togetherness among every one. New Orleans need the help of all of us. It will never get back to the old Orleans and we all need to accept that, but we can make it liveable. Just accept the fact that some errors was made and lets move on. These people need us. Mayor Nagin I am sure you have your hands full but this is no time for insults. Pull it together and stop trieing to defend yourself. The people in New Orleans need to also get it together. This is no time to be so bitter against each other. Wasn't there enough killing there already. We all have said our prayers for New Orleans and every one involved, now can we please join hands and do what we have to. Thanks

Hello Brian, I wondered if there is some way that an ordinary American, such as myself, could see a documentary about the "coming out parties" and their articles in the N.O. area, that went on 'as usual' just after Katrina hit & devistated the area of New Orleans? I saw just a tiny blurp on TV discussing this subject, saying that it was actually TRUE that the Black people WERE just left out to rot, & business as usual went on for the white people whose daughters were 'coming out'. Just puke! Is the Civil War REALLY just as new (to the rich, white BIGGOT IDIOTS) as it was back 100 years ago? Are people (white biggots) there just as stupid as they were then? THEY LOST! (One photo showed a Klue Klux Clan in the background - how disgusting is that?!)

I am white, 2 daughters that never 'came out' just college grads & successful, 5 grandchildren, 1 a MARINE (which IS something to write about), 62 years old, married 44 years, disabled & NORMAL. My GGGGrandfather had slaves in that area (TN) of the world, which is absolutely disgusting to me. WE do our own work, without the help of a disadvantaged person...I am VERY interested in that part of the world and WHY did they still act as if there was not death, devistation, HORROR all around them happening to those that were doing the complaining (for a reason) at the Superdone? THEY ARE People too - I DO NOT CARE THE COLOR OF their skin! Not rich (like some) but PEOPLE, made by God Himself! Worthy of an article, I hope!
Most sincerely,
Idaho formerly CA

With all due respect to the citizens of New Orleans, I wish you had elected the other guy for Mayor. I do not think Mayor Nagin is acting with respect on your behalf. I see him as a prime example of "the best defense is a good offense".

Mayor Nagin appears to believe by offending the rest of the U.S. with his tasteless comments, we will grab our tools and equipment and hurry down to help rebuild his city. I can assure you that until he gets his police force under control and starts preventing theft of heavy equipment and other building supplies, I will go no where near New Orleans. These are concerns that affect all levels of economic structure of his city.

Nagin, lose the attitude - either get help for your citizens (all of your citizens) or turn over your job to someone who can and will.

Brian,
Welcome Back to New Orleans. You have been a constant reminder to those outside of New Orleans and surrounding areas that things have not improved much here. I admire you for your continued effort to cover this story and for not forgetting our plight.

No plastic bottles in the terminal? HUH? I've been on 10 flight legs since the defining incident at Heathrow and no one has said anything about not being able to buy and consume bottled liquids in the terminal. You cannot carry them through the security check station and you cannot carry them on board the aircraft even after purchasing them in the secure area of the airport. You may certainly walk around with a plastic bottle in the following airports: Norfolk, VA; La Guardia (NYC); Charlotte/Douglas; Denver and JFK. The lady who wanted to pour your Aquafina into a plastic cup is (or the people running the airport in New Orleans are) out to lunch.

Interesting post--but something you said has me perplexed: "Tomorrow I will talk to President Bush here in New Orleans, just as I imagine I might in New York, on the next awful anniversary we are due to cover in September."

You didn't mention planning to ask anything about Katrina's anniversary or the recovery effort--I hope these will be coming up in conversation, too. I'd like to ask Bush why he's not bringing any new promises of aid when Louisiana, Mississippi, and the other Gulf states are still having so many problems. I'm aware that the storm zone did receive lots of aid--but this was post-Katrina relief and not anything meant to be long-lasting (for example, for repairs to New Orleans' infrastructure which is still in war zone-like conditions.)

Here's something I've been wondering about that really has me troubled with the anniversaries of 9/11 and Katrina fast approaching. I know many might say this was because on 9/11 America was under attack and that Katrina was just a big storm. But I feel that not only would such an answer be cliched and simplistic, it would also be an extremely callous and insensitive discounting of what all the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and the rest of the storm zone who suffered losses and traumas and are still in a world of hurt have been going through.

So I'm curious: 5 years after 9/11 occurred, no American, as far as I know, has complained that 9/11 is old news, that we should get over it, and that it's time to move on.

Why, then, have Americans--even as early as 3 months after Katrina (or even sooner) have been complaining that Katrina is old news, that we should get over it, and that it's time to move on?

Brian - I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you are already at work. Anyone who does as comprehensive a job as you do has got to put in enormous amounts of time in preparation.

It seems that we live in a time of terrible tragedies. Years ago in an internet message group about yarn/crafts, I met a woman from Haifa and we started corresponding. She has spent the recent weeks of the war with her family in a small shelter beneath her home in Haifa, and she and I have managed to continue messaging during this time. Mirjam was born during WWII and grew up in Israel - she recollects various events in her life in relation to which war was ongoing at the time. Yesterday she wrote that she will be sending me a gift for my 'kind letters of support'during the past weeks. She's got it backwards. I owe her, for the 13 pages messages of courage, history, and resolve from her that I now have in an MS Word file. For me, it is an extraordinary look into a life that is lived by many others, but not me.

Yesterday I saw you one-up the pompous Michael Kay frequently on an enormously entertaining Centerstage program on YES. I particularly liked your plea to George at the end. Surely an appearance on the pitching mound at the stadium is in the offing.

Stay safe.
Joan Chapman, Cheshire CT.