IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT ... AND ACTUALLY, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, I DON'T FEEL FINE

A thought occurred to me: Should flags be at half-mast right now? We do it both ceremonially (for an entire week when a president dies, like with Reagan last summer) and upon the conclusions of major tragedies (think 9/11 or the Columbia shuttle disaster). It was pretty clear when to lower the flags in those cases. But when is the appropriate time here? After they verify the death toll? Immediately?

Plenty of thoughts occur, as I consider the past week's events:

Tonight I've been telling people that the current situation — the interstate destruction wrought by Katrina, but most urgently the likely end of New Orleans as we know it — is like 9/11 in slow motion. No human enemy in this case, and no necessary war of choice of course, but the death toll and economic impact on the country are comparable. Speculation has it that Dulles could shut down in two weeks' time if the oil pipelines aren't restored. I don't think that will happen, but then, on Monday I was confident enough that Nawlins wouldn't be flooded right now. As for the human cost, the martial law-requiring anarchy in N.O. right now is beyond the horrors of another civic unrest of this coinciding late-20th century/early 21st hurricane cycle. By which I mean, Katrina may yet prove to combine two momentous 1992 events: Hurricane Andrew and the Los Angeles riots.

And for anyone who thinks Iraq was about oil, stop yourself — this is about oil, and related disruptions that may visit upon the entire country in coming weeks. In some areas we're already at European-level gas prices. We haven't been here since the Carter administration.

Right now I have a hard time figuring out which is more disturbing: the relative handful of nightmarish hours during the first weeks of 9/11, or the week (so far) of nightmarish events in New Orleans, and the months that are surely ahead. (For clarity's sake, both are decades-long challenges.) Anyone care to choose?

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posted by WWB at 2:21 AM |