the professor's view

It's clear from the reviews of Treme, the new TV series from the makers of The Wire, that it makes a big difference whether you call Hurricane Katrina a 'natural' disaster or a 'manmade' one. For the latter, of course, there are two charges. One is that the levees were never strong enough, and that was known. The other is that the response following the breaching of the levees was totally inadequate. From the first episode, this appears to be a major theme. The Telegraph reports:

It is the job of Creighton Bernette, a novelist and Tulane University professor, played by John Goodman, to place blame and voice the outrage of neglect that many New Orleans residents and others have expressed about the port city’s slow recovery.