I think this debates misses a larger point of the total lack of public transit in this country. If we had a decent rail-based transit system, the evacuation would be much faster, and more importantly - *inclusive*. With the car based transport actively promoted by the government it is jeder fuer sich und Gott gegen alles - and those who do not drive either because they are not able or cannot afford a car - are doomed.
I am really surprised that nobody pointed out how fucked the so called transportation "system: in this country is - and it is not just NO or the Bush admin fault - it is the entire fucking country except NYC. What happened in NO would happen in ANY US city because people who call themselves the government care more about cars than about people. An what is even more fucked up, most of the populace goes with the program and cheerleads the assault on public transit under the delusion that this would somehow insulate them from the class and race problem.
PS. If anyone doubts that this country has no transportation system I suggest trying to travel between any pair of medium size cities, say, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, not to mention smaller ones. In any civilized country, you take a train and a few hours. In this fucking rathole - you are basically on your own.
Wojtek
Wojtek