in article TZWRe.82217$084.51854@attbi_s22, Jay Honeck at
wrote on 9/2/05 4:48 AM:

If tourists couldn't get out, even with plenty of warning, what options do
you think poor people had?

No, you need to ask that slightly differently. "If tourists couldn't get
out, what options do you think native New Orleaneans (or whatever they are
called) had?"

I'd wager that someone who lived there would have a heckuva lot more "street
knowledge" on how to get out, than a lost tourist would.

As the story develops over time, it's all coming down to this: Those who
knew, and could, got out. Those who didn't -- or didn't care -- stayed.

I don't know about the story you're hearing, but what I'm hearing is that a
heck of a lot of people simply had no way of leaving. Believe it or not, it
really IS that simple. Hell, I heard a woman at the N.O. Ritz Carlton
interviewed. She said the hotel was packed with (presumably well-off)
tourists just like herself, who had tried like hell to get out of town last
Saturday. These are rich people we're talking about, Jay--people who can
charter a plane if they have to. And THEY couldn't get out.

But all of this begs a much larger question: if the people of New Orleans
had "plenty of warning", and should be held accountable for not getting out
in time, why in the hell are their so many apologists for the feds not being
prepared?