Preparations For Katrina

I hate to say this, but I am dismayed at the preparations taken relative to Katrina. The media keeps reporting that people trapped in New Orleans are for the most part, the poor and disadvantaged. Prior to the hurricane hitting, weather experts were predicting that this would be a hurrican that would bring total devastation. So I don't understand, why do poor people have to beg motorists for money to fill their gas tanks, or beg for rides to the Superdome or out of town? Why wasn't the National Guard there prior to the storm hitting with tanks, buses, etc to stop on every corner and take the poor out of this city? Surely, someone could have ordered that buses, as many as needed, would go to New Orleans and get people who were desparate.

Everyone knew that this was going to be a devastating hurricane. The analysts said that New Orleans might be completely gone, even prior to it's arrival. Why does it seem that all that was done was to warn everyone to get out, set up a few shelters, and hope for the best? Didn't they have enough forsight to consider that if this hurricane was going to be so huge, that the shelters may not hold up? What is a mandatory evacuation anyway? What good is that if the poor have no way to get out?

Today, efforts to evacuate the Superdome were halted because some people were actually shooting at evacuation vehicles/aircraft. The National Guard responded by saying that they were goign to send 100 guard troops, and the coordinator of this effort said that is not enough, they need 1000 to stop the rioting. The National Guard ought to be flooding and overpowering New Orleans, but alas, they are fighting a war thousands of miles away.

Sorry, I am not trying to make a bad situation worse, I am just venting about how this appears to me. It makes me very sad.