E. B. White and the Jackass media

Hugh Hewitt posts a piece by E. B. White about Hurricane Edna from 1954:

It became evident to me after a few fast rounds with the radio that the broadcasters had opened up on Edna awfully far in advance, before she had come out of her corner, and were spending themselves at a reckless rate. During the morning hours, they were having a tough time keeping Edna going at the velocity demanded of emergency broadcasting. I heard one fellow from, I think, Riverside, Long Island, interviewing his out-of-dorrs man, who had been sent abroad in a car to look over conditions on the eastern end of the island.

"How would you say the roads were?" asked the tense voice.

"They were wet," replied the reporter who seemed to be ina a sulk.

"Would you say the spray from the puddles was dasjing up around the mudguards?" inquired the desperate radioman.

"Yeah," replied the reporter.

It was one of those confused moments, emotionally, when the listener could not be quite sure what position radio was taking--for hurricanes or against them....

I guess they'll never grow up.

I'd really like to see some recommendations for rebuilding NOLA on pontoons. The Dutch have built highway that floats all the time. With the availability of things like plastic foam, that may not be such a crazy idea.