Out of Florida we're barely a blip on the news

[Opusnone]

From two days ago, FYI, Palm Beach columnist

Here's some sobering news, South Florida.

As much as you're hurting, as tired as you are of your broken landscape and the loss of half your power grid -- too bad. The rest of the country doesn't much care.

I know this because I got away for the weekend. My family flew to North Carolina for a nephew's bar mitzvah.

I spent most of three days in a place where the trees were turning red and orange -- and still standing. Where the traffic lights worked. Where the street signs were rightside-up.

My wife and son and I checked into a hotel and had our first hot showers in five days.

We picked up the telephone and heard a dial tone. We dialed, and damned if somebody didn't answer! On the first try!

We could go to a mall, an actual working mall, and buy a new pair of jeans because who knew when we'd be able to wash the laundry back home?

We had re-entered the world of the normal.

Of course we turned on the TV, first thing.

Hard to believe, but the news anchors were not sitting in front of aerial pictures of torn-to-pieces mobile homes. They were not cutting away to news conferences with disaster-relief officials.

snip

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-phoward01nov01,0,2363062.column?coll=sfla-news-col

Lots of blues down here. Wasserman-Schultz said she felt more concerned AFTER a meeting with Federal officials yesterday.
Lots of newly homeless, lots of desperation. Just FYI, DU'ers.
No coverage.

[lonestarnot]

1. I'm sorry.

[malaise]

2. A good friend just called me

to say he's in Jamaica for a rest since all now he does not have power in FL.

[MojoXN]

3. o you think that the lapdog media is going to show...

More human misery and suffering after the Katrina mess? Might reinforce the idea that Americans can't count on government for a goddamn thing when push comes to shove.

By the way, does FPL have Miami juice back on? I spoke with a friend in Little Haiti a week or so ago, and he still had no electricity then. I hope everything gets back to normal ASAP.

MojoXN

[Opusnone]

5. Some of Miami still without power

And frankly, I'm proud of the people down there. We fled last week because we were a bit concerned about violence, etc. But so far it hasn't happened on a large scale.

Maybe if it did the TV crews would be screaming into town. Gotta show those horrible looters, you know?

[annabanana]

4. It is heartbreaking that our reality is completely defined

by media coverage. This is where good people can make a difference. I hope that people who are still "off the grid" are seeing a lot of Democrats, rolling up their sleeves.

[LeftHander]

6. A Bush is Gov....nothing to see hear in FL....

Move along..."Neil and FEMA are doing a heck of a job..."

Reporting on Florida might hurt polls.

[jbnow]

7. I often think of that

There is a hurricane, a flood, tornado or earthquake. We see the news and watch and care. Terrible. Sad. Then the storm is over, the news moves on and we watch other things.

But for people in it the newsworthy event ending was just the start of the long travail, not the end of it.

I do think about them, but I think of it a couple minutes at a time and then go on and do what my standing home, working electricity and so on allow me to do.

People in Iran sleep unsheltered as it snows and I send a little money and a little prayer and care but then I turn on the TV and have a snack.

That really is strange but true

[cmf]

8. Yep, people in Southwest Louisiana could tell you that was going to happen

My mom lives in Lake Charles. The city was totally devastated by hurricane Rita. And that's not to mention the towns that were literally wiped off the map. Yet the news up here (I live in Washington) focused on how Houston and Galveston dodged the bullet and how it caused more flooding in New Orleans. It has been six weeks since the hurricane hit, and she only got running water two weeks ago. Most people we know lost their houses due to their roofs being blown off or trees going through them. She and my grandparents were lucky. Life is far from normal there still.

[Dhalgren]

9. I think that the reason they aren't showing all of the misery and

hardship is because Florida is a Republican state. Mississippi and Alabama didn't get nearly the coverage that Louisiana did. Now, granted, the latter was hit harder, but still... If they show the poor management in Florida it can only be a Republican at fault - either state or federal... Also, how many failures of the Bush regime like this can the media show? People are liable to get the idea that our government is being run by callous, inept, money-grubbing cronies or someting...

[Opusnone]

11. Give the man a prize!

Many local Ft. Lauderdale officials (mayor, congressman) are also repukes. I don't know how they keep getting elected in such a heavy blue area. Mark my words, I am hitting the street hard for good Dems who run here next year.

[HereSince1628]

10. We are all alone, on our own. Wisconsin suffered the greatest

swarm of tornados in its history last summer and one of the worst ever in the midwest. I don't think national awareness of it survived one full news cycle.

Bush even denied it designation as national disaster.