"My hero is a bus thief"

One of the silver linings of this week's mess is an introduction to Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle. In this column, he puts post-Hurricane Katrina life into context:

When I heard President Bush on Thursday morning call for "zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this," it gave me shivers.... [because] Wednesday, 20-year-old Jabbar Gibson modestly confessed that he had commandeered a school bus in New Orleans, then picked up about 70 passengers before heading out for the 13-hour trek to Houston.

Had Gibson been apprehended in New Orleans, he'd probably be in jail (bus theft is a felony). On MSNBC, I watched as a family was arrested after allegedly stoling a car to try to leave New Orleans. Gibson's action was, as Casey notes, "heroic." Color me one who would steal bread for my family, if push came to shove like it has for many who are stranded.

Casey also puts the disaster into context while diffusing the incessant TV images of poor black victims:

Yet imagine that the entire population of The Woodlands, mostly white and prosperous, were confined for five days to an Astrodome that had no air conditioning, few working toilets, no showers, dwindling supplies of food and water, inadequate medical assistance and a likelihood that things would only get worse.

Anyone who thinks they would politely, without anger, queue up for an inadequate number of delayed buses has never driven I-45 during rush hour.

Two thumbs up for Rick Casey!

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Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Politics