Hurricanes and other blowhards

You'd think what with half the Deep South underwater in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Daily Kos' mainstay front-pager Armando would take some time out from nursing his online ego to allow Kossacks to utilize the blog as a erstwhile information clearinghouse, as many other high-profile sites have -- including Fark.com, which got props from the Christian Science Monitor for setting up a thread whereby Farkers could offer those displaced by the storm refuge, room, and board.

Instead what the Kos community got was a tiresome and pedantic threadjack as Armando refused to concede that giving his Katrina update post the headline "New Orleans Spared The Worst" was a poor choice of words, especially in light of the fact that the hurricane had only then just passed the Big Easy and it was anyone's guess how the system of levees would fare when the storm surge was augmented by sustained heavy rains.

While it's true that a direct hit from Katrina could have done more wind damage to New Orleans, the primary concern for the city has always been whether or not it would flood, since the entire urban area is several feet below sea level in a basin sandwiched between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. If the levees holding all of that water back were to fail, that would be the worst possible scenario for N.O. -- whether the city had received the full brunt of the hurricane or not. Moreover, such a subjective determination as "the worst" unnecessarily belittled the suffering of those who had lost their property and/or their lives. It would have been more accurate to say something like "New Orleans Spared Direct Hit" -- and better journalism, to boot.

Kossacks with a clue attempted to explain this to Armando, only to be met with systematic denials and complaints of ad hominem attacks. After all, he had lived through several Category Four and Five hurricanes in the Caribbean, so he must know what he's talking about when it comes to New Orleans. Armando locutus est, causa finita est. So while those with family, friends, and other loved ones along the Gulf Coast attempted to glean whatever real-time information that they could about the storm's progress and damage, they were forced to wade through Armando's tireless portestations of his infallibility:

"I stand by my headline." As if anyone cares!

To compound the arrogance (as well as ensure that he would get the final word no matter what), Armando lead his next Katrina thread post "Mississippi Bears The Brunt; New Orleans Escapes the Worst". Never mind now that, as feared, the levees have failed and the city is 80% under water, some of it as deep as 20 feet. The worst has indeed come to pass for New Orleans -- but don't hold your breath waiting for a retraction from Armando. I'm not exactly sure why Markos keeps him around, unless it's part of some ill-conceived strategy to draw criticism away from himself...