Yesterday was the first time since Katrina struck that I heard the Tragically Hip song, New Orleans is Sinking, playing in public. It was being played on a demo sound centre in a computer store in the Rideau Centre. It's a shame that a Canadian rock classic is probably going to be relegated to obscurity for the next few years but it's certainly understandable. It was oddly jarring to hear it being played.
10 minutes after hearing the song I was walking to a bus stop and saw a teenager, probably about 15-years-old, wearing a New Orleans Hornets basketball jersey and a New Orleans Saints hat. Not something you would have seen three weeks ago. Everyone has their way of showing their support I guess.
Talking to some friends yesterday it was suggested that estimates regarding the Katrina death toll and the time it would take to drain New Orleans were not unlike Liberal surplus estimates. The mayor of New Orleans said last week that the death toll could reach 10,000. Now the general in charge of cleanup says it will be (thankfully) significantly less. Likewise, the original estimate to pump the water out of the city was 80 days- now it's down to 21. I'd hate to say the estimates were off intentionally but being able to reduce the numbers by such a huge margin sure makes it look like the relief effort is off to a great start, doesn't it? Not entirely unlike the Liberals who forecast surpluses of $3--4 billion and end up with surpluses five times larger. Wow, that sounds really cynical, doesn't it?
Cynical, but accurate. My boss likes to call it "managing expectations" which, I guess, is supposed to be different from lying somehow.
Posted by: Kevin | September 13, 2005 at 01:45 AM
I'm worried that they might be lowballing their estimates of the toll in order to sound better. I hope I'm wrong though. We'll see... (or maybe we won't)
Posted by: Rich | September 12, 2005 at 11:18 AM