When No One and Everyone Is To Blame

I don't know why exactly I was relieved to learn the Manganos were acquitted of negligent homicide charges, but I guess it has something to do with erring on the side of not ruining peoples' lives for no good reason. Until I read more about the case just before trial started, my impression from media reports and Foti was that these heartless people just left senior citizens in their nursing home to die. After finding out that the Manganos stayed at St. Rita's with their children and grandchildren through the storm, my whole view of them changed. Mabel Mangano can't swim. We all knew the storm would be bad. We were all equally shocked to find out just HOW bad. Katrina's surge and the levee failures ushered in horrors beyond what most of us were really capable of understanding before August 29, 2005.

On the other hand, I can't totally let them off the hook. Were they responsible for those people who drowned? Yes. Fourteen hundred+ people died, so alot of us made a lot of mistakes and wrong decisions. As one juror said: "Why were these two people singled out when so many people made so many mistakes?"

My views have nothing to do with whether the state or the parish officially called for mandatory evacuation or not, or whether the Corps is to blame for levee failure. I'm not happy or sad for the Manganos or for those who died and their families or for you and me, because this disaster and our actions during those tense, horrific days, like so much in life, can't be shoved into the black-or-white, right-vs.-wrong, guilty-or-innocent mentality that pervades our answer-seeking, justice-must-be-done culture. Many tragedies do not happen because people are greedy or evil or reckless but because tragedies happen. Shortsightedness, foolheartedness, and poor judgment are human nature; and they may be to blame, but do they a criminal make?

The REAL Rudy: Command Center

And Now...For Some Much Needed Peaceful Reflection

For lack of time, or wasteful use of it, I haven't had the chance to share my thoughts on Dubya's K+2 visit to us. As it turns out, everybody -- from Shelley Midura, to James Gill, to my personal blogger friends, and even the BR Advocate editorial staff -- more or less shared what I probably would have.

I'd be remiss, however, if I didn't share at least one thought I had about Bush and his visit.

Come to think of it, that pretty much sums it up for me.

Mahalia Jackson - Just A Closer Walk With Thee

One of New Orleans' finest, a gift to all the world. There's just something about hearing HER sing THIS song at this time of commemoration. If you have even the slightest bit of New Orleans in you, you know exactly why I can't even find the words to explain