Good job Mayor!

As I look at this picture, by my count, I see at least 230 busses.
Assuming that each bus has a capacity to safely carry 50 to 60 people, let's go with the LOWER of the two figures.
50 x 230 = 11,500 people.
This would be the amount of people that could be evacuated on just ONE run, from this ONE bus yard.
Why are these buses sitting here, flooded?
C. Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans has been quite vocal about the lack of speed at which rescue efforts have taken place...and he has a point. It's tough to get into a city that's underwater. It's even tougher to get OUT of one...especially when there's hundreds of busses that COULD have been used, sitting flooded in now useless yards.
But perhaps methinks thou protesteth too much Mr. Nagan.
Mayor, maybe you were never in the military. So maybe you were never versed in the "6 P-Program" - Prior Planning Prevent Piss-Poor Performance. Wasn't it you that announced a MANDATORY evacuation of the city? Did ya think that the poor people would just magically fly out? Were you, or were you not elected to serve and PROTECT the citizens of New Orleans? ALL OF THEM? Did you NOT see the NOAA bulletins regarding the severity of Katrina and the possibility of TOTAL disaster? I did, and I live in Connecticut!
I look at the school busses above. I read the weather report PRIOR to the storm hitting. I hear your outrage, and somehow it seems shallow at best. Why weren't these busses sent into poor neighborhoods to get the people to safety? And somehow it's hard to believe that the city of New Orleans didn't have rescue boats at it's disposal...does BELOW SEA LEVEL ring a bell? If not the city, then citizen volunteers who DO have boats should have been activated to save some people. There was a story of a courageous man, who "stole" a bus and loaded it with strangers and got the hell out of the city. Those people were saved by someone who never knew them, (or asked for their votes). Perhaps you should have considered an equally courageous act. Maybe YOU are the person who doesn't give a rat's butt about the poor in your community...after all, it IS your community isn't it? It is your city. Somehow after the storm hits, and it's virtually impossible to get into New Orleans IMMEDIATELY, it's Washington's fault that people are stuck there? What the hell where these poor people still doing there in the first place? Was there no evacuation plan for the poor? You did know there were poor people in New Orleans...right? Did you not know where they were? I'll bet you knew at election time. In a city that's located BELOW SEA LEVEL I find it hard to believe that there was NO prior large scale evacuation plan in place to deal with the thousands of poor people who would NOT be able to jump into their SUV's and scidadle! Now you come out with...it's WASHINGTON'S FAULT??? You arrogant toad! YOU are the Mayor!
What the hell were you thinking?
I see that you were able to find a bus to pack with TOURISTS that were trapped in a hotel and get them safely to the front of the line and out of town. I'm sure that the people of New Orleans will appreciate your doing your best for the tourist industry in town, and they'll be sure to remember your thoughtfulness...as they bury their dead...and the next time they vote.
Good job Ray, you're right on the ball.
Maybe playing the race card will get you great kudos from the media elite, but the people of New Orleans, your constituents, (even the POOR ones), are smarter than that...and may just have longer memories than you'd like.