News from Around the World

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On the human side of Hurricane Katrina there is ample blame to go around, beginning and ending with the ultra-corrupt nature of Louisiana politics and its corrosive impact on the greater New Orleans community. Nevertheless, this is a natural disaster unprecedented in the history of our nation. Certainly others have endured worse; Pompey, Krakatoa, Lisbon and even Galveston (6000 dead) to name a few. There have been numerous natural disasters that have claimed far more lives and that have destroyed whole cities. Still, for Americans and particularly those directly impacted, the catastrophe in New Orleans seems apocalyptic.