I personally know a Pennsylvania Constable whose duties include guarding water supply facilities, and he said that many of the things that we don’t hear would scare the shit out of us. Additionally he said that that homeland security even in areas outside of NYC are horribly underfunded and often mismanaged.

Sure, almost everything we learn these days as news is a kind of hearsay based on whatever is popular, or what some “official” says, or what will keep people tuned in, but how do we know the truth?

I tend to believe that the “worst case senario” is possible. It may never happen, but it doesn’t mean it can’t. We should prepare as best as we can unless we are really comfortable with situations like New Orleans. Unfortunately, there could be more that we do to protect ourselves at home if we only had the resources to do so. If only there weren’t a war we were involved in…

The endless PR and activism barrage, intended no doubt in a helpful spirit, has erased the factual situation in the mind of the public, leaving only a sensationalist cartoon, which listeners either accept or reject, none of them prepared to unearth or pursue any other sources.

So… in the end…musings of the sort.. “I wonder just how vulnerable we ARE”,
are a strange amateurization of the disaster-mitigation field, pulling in
well-meaning folks with absolutely no basis upon which to participate, yet having been
hyped to clamor over whatever responsible professionals either are, or are not doing.

In the end, the competent portion of society–office holders and disaster staff at FEMA, etc. either pursue a “Total Protection”
gambit for some asset (Let’s say…the White House), or a “Let it sink” strategy, such as has been applied to our 70% minority Creole City in Louisiana, or some percent mix, somewhere between.

A total protection of our entire civilization
would have us underground, suited up, carrying MRE’s and waterbags with us everywhere,
and in fact….people will not live that way.

They take rollercoasters, oblivious to recent rollercoaster deaths.

They smoke, oblivious to 30 years of warnings.

They snowboard, waterski, mountainclimb, and enter into unwise personal relationships, for the feel of it,
and danger is actively pursued.

A dozen popular entertainment shows sensationalize trivial danger encounters
as “reality TV”…

and truth be told, no population anywhere has ever been safe.
(Near earth Apollo objects whiz toward us even as we speak)

I personally urge authorities to raise New Orleans, as Galveston was raised, but sadly, it probably is not going to be feasible, for a city so demographically “outside the box”.

In the future, before citing the Indian Point scenario as a “Known disaster waiting to happen”, please think of what I’ve told you here…. it’s been spun up.