A few answers but...

Thank you for your patience. I will get back to my St. Louis story and post some more pixs but this Katrina thing has been occupying my attention. As I said in my last post, most answers to the questions I posed will have to wait (as they should) until a later time but bits of info are trickling in. A ray of hope that the nation will see this less as a political event and more as a human, American event is the most recent CNN poll - When asked to identify who was most responsible for the problems in New Orleans after the hurricane, 38% of Americans said no one was really to blame, while 13% cited Bush, 18% the federal agencies, and 25% state and local officials.
Who do you think is MOST responsible for the problems in New Orleans after the hurricane -- [ROTATED: George W. Bush, federal agencies, (or) state and local officials], or is no one really to blame?
George W.Bush - 13%, Federal agencies - 18%, State/local officials - 25%, No one to blame -38%, No opinion - 6% - 2005 Sept 5-6 (From the Gallup site)

This, to me, shows great restraint on the part of a vast majority of Americans - (if polls are to be trusted...) understanding that the scope of this disaster is unprecidented. I heard one statistic (don't remember where) that in a non-emergency situation, it would take at least 3 days to evacuate a city the size of New Orleans. So, maybe the expecations were unreasonable to begin with.

One note about travel - Matt and I decided at 5:00 pm on Labor Day to ride down to Mt. Scott to watch the sunset. I will have to include some pictures of this beautiful later - I am at work - no pixs here. We were able to get there early enough to ride thru the Refuge - grasslands, bison. longhorns, deer, mountain... beautiful and golden just before sunset. We reached the summit and parked, and stood together facing west just as the sun slipped behid some low clouds. The sky turned all the wonderful colors - as John Mayer says - of a cowboy cliche... Perfect!

I'll post again soon...