Ghost of BiB

You really have to admire the diplodocussian. I'm a little disappointed that after all that, he blew "throughout". But, it's not worth picking over. I have bigger fish to fry.

I'm not appologizing for that, either.

Should, coulda, woulda. I don't say that to be a prick, but there are probably thousands of parallels. Hopefully, we don't get slapped again before the next hundred billion dollar disaster hits. I don't put this on the executive branch as much as I put it on the state and congress. All are concentrating on New Orleans right now. I don't think that I've seen anyone whosoever mention that there's a lot more to the country than New Orleans. Appropriations don't come from the President, whether his name is Hoover, Truman, Carter, Ford, Clinton or Bush. Money gets spent on flavor of the month, and who can deal the best. Speaking of money, I haven't looked it up yet, but I wonder what New Orleans has done with their "Homeland Defense - Emergency Response" money they got from the federal government. Might have bought a few porta-johns and some MRE's? When one wants to look at overall costs, that kind of stuff is less than pocket change. I really hope someone does their homework on that one. Scotty should have beamed in the 82nd Airborne 10 minutes after the storm hit, but when you decide you are going to put 20,000 people into a football stadium as your "plan" you better be able to feed and water them.

Last week, while I was at NORTHCOM they brought in people from USAID to help coordinate international relief efforts. As crazy as that place was sometimes, I doubt they would have spared the chairs if there wasn't a good reason. And, you have my thoughts. FWIW. I sort of have a good idea about what things were and are like down there. I hope they are a little better, but it's going to take a long time and a lot of work. Not to mention people helping each other.

Thank you. When I tried to say that, I was "unfairly going over the top bashing the press". You made it much more clear than I. The first few days of Katrina were being handled in vignettes. Part of that is because communications were destroyed, and the press didn't have anything else to cover. By the time there were means and available people to talk to them, the city story took on a life of it's own. News networks know ratings. They can all get by with it, because it IS news, but that doesn't mean anyone is getting the story. I would go as far as to suspect that some networks, and reporters deliberately stayed away from the operations people because any information relating to the overall response would dilute the human suffering angle. I could really start to get pricky about this, and it wouldn't be to defend anyone - though I'm sure it would be taken that way. It's like the foreign policy stuff we discuss here. One group reads, researches and studies before jumping in. The other two groups (both far left and right) jump in, period. With all the information sources we have available to us, there just isn't any excuse for not being at least moderately informed about virtually ANY issue. As with so many other things, conversations are usually more constructive when the discussees are talking from a common ground. And, a lot of times the facts are ugly, and definitely don't do well in our press. Fact is, people can live many days without food. They can live several days without much or even any water, if they behave themselves. That's just the way things are. One common thread I keep seeing here and elsewhere is not the rescue of people trapped by the flooding, it's the "rescue" of those at the Superdome. Just exactly who's fault is it that virtually nobody understands basic survival skills? Remember the shots from the Superdome before anything happened. People were specifically told to bring certain things. How many were empty handed? I wouldn't have been there in the first place, but were I, I would have arrived with some trippled up garbage bags containing anything I could find that would hold water. Being hungry is not the same thing as starving. Nobody is going to starve in a week. OK, flame away.

That sounds remarkably like some conversations I've heard lately. The lad does have a way with words, though.

I was impressed. Way cool.

Without an adequate sized force also trained in crowd control, I think it possible we could have seen a Kent State x 10. That not only would have been a further and worse tragedy, but I can only imagine the nation's response after film at 11. I don't say that from the perspective of "making things look good", so don't even start, anyone. The damage to the psyche of the country would be very severe were that to happen. It's probably better to point fingers and shout that Bush hates black people because order and supplies weren't on hand than it is to have outnumbered guardsmen gunning them down during a riot.

Better than "Very Pedestrian" but I prefer "Virile Professional". Usually stuck with "Very Polish", though.

Absolutely not. I don't take it personally. I just don't get a good feel that a lot of people from many different perspectives have a good idea of what the federal government is DESIGNED to provide in an emergency management role vs. what was "expected". All the "set piece" stuff is working pretty well. It's the ad hoc that had to be developed on the fly that is at issue. Consequence Management is a multi-layered system and approach. There are things broke that need fixing, but I'm still of the mind that if the system worked as designed, with both NO and LA doing their part, this would not be the controversy it has become. A regional consequence management plan should involve more than throwing one's hands in the air and screaming help. OK, Shephard Smith was at the Superdome. Whoopie. It's a lot easier to get a reporter, a producer and a camera man into something than it is a battalion and a few hundred tons of supplies. Doing anything short of that in that particular, unique situation could well have caused more rioting, lawlessness and death. Just a thought on my part, but I might weigh the value of dropping a pallet or two of water into 20,000 people already at the crazy point with the expected result vs waiting a day or two and going in with some sort of rational plan to assist everyone. I don't think many are truly grasping how bad the "security" issues were in those first couple of days. There were a lot of people absolutely NOT willing to step up and help their fellow man. People are not necessarily good, or willing to act civilized in a disaster.

Oh, I thought it meant venearealed perportrator. My bad. Carry on.

Unfortunately for Bush Bashers, none of them seem to have the first idea of what is involved in this type of response, or what is supposed to happen - let alone what is possible, but go on ahead and have at it. It apparantly makes y'all feel better.

With all the issues and problems facing this country, and it's future - I still have a hard time working out why this is such an issue, from either side.

I've never been a VP. Just thought I'd chime in.

And I didn't pick a single one of them. I think I'm on to something here...

"You're looking at the two best teams in the NFC"... Could have fooled me, last night.

We got together to get you a card, but spent the money on beer instead. Happy Birthday, anyway ya big lug.

...turn out the lights...

Was she singing? I didn't notice.

Yeah, and the price of gas has really cut down on running over family pets.

Perhaps they should try something light opera?

And I kick dogs and trip old ladies in stairwells.

Penalties. Both red zone production and third down conversion were badly affected by penalties. The Texan's TD was a direct result as well. This is something that needs to get fixed. The offense isn't going to be able to dig out of many 1-20's or 3-12's against a lot of the teams they'll face this year. Bothered me through the pre-season (last several seasons, actually) and is going to cost some winable games.

I have a hard time getting past their cheerleader site.

OK, she's not fickle.