Bodycount: 600

According to Fox News this afternoon.

The History Channel plugged its program Isaac's Storm about the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in the early 20th century, calling it "until Katrina, the most deadly hurricane in American history" That storm killed 6,000. So far, Katrina's toll is one tenth of that. I blame George Bush and Karl Rove for their strategy of lowering expectations. Or is that raising expectations.

This is not to minimize the loss of life, but when you remember where these people were living, and, with the exception of those who were abandoned in a nursing home that was flooded, it would have been difficult to prevent a lot of them. Thousands of people refused to leave their homes when warned, and were stranded as a result. If you fail to heed warnings, can you blame others for not tracking you down and dragging you out of the city? I consider the people who lived in New Orleans, below sea level, in the path of a Cat 5 Hurricane reckless for believing that anybody could save them even in a week.

I sent my contribution, because I recognize that many of these victims had no way to evacuate, or were not given one. I blame much of this on the unpreparedness and incompetence of local and state government. And I don't believe that one should deny help to even the most wanton risk taker. I'm just not convinced that anyone who tried to help should be blamed for not saving more lives. I don't believe in punishing good deeds. It's for those who tried to help to judge their own performance, but if someone tries to ford a flooded river and gets swept away, I don't feel that rescuers who can't reach him to be the cause of his death.

I'll be relieved and thankful if this catastrophe costs fewer than 1000 lives. 10,000 was a believable figure, but the difference between this and the final losses should be credited to those who were blamed at first.