At least that's what Eugene Kane thinks.  Apparently he's never actually stepped foot in the state, or he'd never be so stupid as to make this claim:

This is truly astounding to me.

It seems many people have taken note of this MSNBC report about the relative comfort being provided fire-ravaged victims in California at Qualcomm Stadium.

They are living a pretty comfortable life according to the report.
...
Perhaps California is just much better prepared for a natural disaster than New Orleans. But maybe it's also a sign that race and class does play a part in government response to some of these emergencies.

The only thing truly astounding to me, is that Eugene Kane said this.  Let's cover some basic facts here first.  Hurricanes and forest fires aren't the same thing.  I know, I know, that should be obvious to even the most casual observer, but Kane apparently wasn't aware of this.  While hurricanes destroy infrastructure for an entire region, knock out power and roads, and prevent emergency services from moving around in even the most basic ways, forest fires aren't quite as wide spread and damaging.  Roads remain open in all but a few areas, power outages are less widespread, fewer people require evacuation, and emergency services and insurance companies can actually come into the area while the fire is still going.  And once the fire is out, you can move around almost immediately, whereas it can take a significant time for roads to be passable due to flooding after a hurricane.

Here's another shocker which shouldn't be a shocker.  Natural disasters happen all the time in California.  I mean, all the time.  Forest fires in California are seasonal... every year.  Earthquakes, while random, happen pretty often to greater or lesser degrees somewhere in the state.  Mudslides?  I guarantee you that in a few months from now we'll be hearing about home damage due to mud slides.  Why?  Forest fires burn all the vegetation which holds the ground together, and so when it rains a few months from now, the ground will start moving.  Natural disaster is a regular part of life for the state.

How often does Louisiana get hit with hurricanes?  Once a decade or two... if that?  So California is better prepared, because they do it all the time.  If California wasn't able to handle forest fires, mudslides and earthquakes by now, then they're full of even more flakes and nuts than I thought.  Of course, they also pay for it in much higher costs of living compared to Louisiana, along with higher taxes.  Eugene probably wasn't thinking about that, since in his mind, the Federal government is supposed to pay for absolutely everything.

What's more astounding though, is his assertion that everyone affected by the fires are rich and white.  That's like saying that everyone displaced by Katrina was poor and black.  Yes, Malibu has been getting the lion's share of the news when it comes to the Los Angeles area fires, but the reality is that the greater Los Angeles and San Diego areas have just as large of a minority population as New Orleans.  And if Eugene honestly wants to claim that Latinos get treated better in this country than blacks... then lookout.  I know a few special interest groups which will take exception to that.

But back to the point.  Maybe the news here isn't that California is the oddity because they are handling their natural disasters so well... but rather that this is even stronger proof that the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana did an even worse job that we first thought.  After all... Bush is still President.