Ghost of BiB

People just don't have anything in their memories to compare this to. 9/11 is about it - and it had such an impact on us that I don't think people realize that it structurally affected a small area. As far as this type of disaster goes, it is quantum levels above what happened there. As sick as it sounds, a WMD event, such as a low yield nuke would be a heck of a lot easier to deal with than this. You raise a good point about the hospitals. You don't have to treat dead people. This thing has left thousands of uninjured survivors, many who have become casualties through the environment and the elements. When you look at it, the scale boggles the mind. Then, add in the sociological impact. It's not safe there, for those trying to help. There are probably areas of Iraq safer than NO and Biloxi right now. How does one cope with what amounts to insurgency in one of our own cities, against our own citizens? I'm sure, or at least I hope, that someone some day will do the study of this catastrophe from the social standpoint - how quickly a civilized society can break down into anarchy and chaos. Blame who you will...but our fellow Americans are some interesting people. It's been a vicious week - but it's only been a week, and many people reverted to animal days ago. There is some crazy stuff going on out there, and it's not about "looting for food". That's never been an issue (to anyone not panicking) and one thing I'll give the authorities credit on is that they didn't make it one. There was a point where the Mayor shifted emphasis from rescue to "stopping the looting". I think this was a couched phrase for "getting anarchy and violence" under control, or try. You don't stop search and rescue over looting. No one really cares about TV sets, either. It's what has occurred on a more visceral level. It took less than 72 hours for what amounts to us getting out of control. There are plenty of bodies with gunshot wounds. It runs to both sides of the extreme. There are anarchist organizations within our own nation advocating and urging violence, there are white supremacists offering a bounty for black looters shot, with proof. There are black radical organizations urging "resistance". I would have thought at one time, that this might show the world why we are who we are. We are Americans. I now fear we have. This country has just lost a lot more credibility in the eyes of the world than any war adventure could ever make happen. We have turned on ourselves at every level. On CNN/FOX (Gawd...Geraldo needs to go somewhere). From our streets to our President, and all in between. The world watches, you know? What we see on TV and what is said is listened to by the rest of the world. We don't listen to bitching in wherever Indonesia, but the world watches us. If anything has shown our vulnerability as a country, let alone a nation, it's been this past week. We didn't shave and we didn't apply our makeup. Thanks to a collective effort of our own making, the world is watching our failures, not our strengths. Blame whoever you want for all that, I'm sure it's whoever's fault. Let's blame Bush or Clinton!!! There's a thought! If you take the TV away, what have we Americans become?

Can I interest you in some gaily colored floatation devices? The one with the horsie head and the polka dots is really big this season.

OK, Devil's advocate here. If you are the city of NO, and you know "x" percentage of your population is in that kind of shape, you know that in spite of what you told anybody you can't evacuate them in a timely manner, you have been told upfront that if something happens you may not get any help for several days, your city is below sea level...etc. Would it not be prudent to have strategically placed stockpiles of water and MRE's to cover your own butt until the cavalry arrives?

It's just about to that point on the other board.

Ahhh...the sweet smell of cordite. Have fun, Rob. I'll be looking for your email.

I think tragedy IS routine, and a form letter ensures that the t's get crossed and the i's get dotted so all parties know the requirements of the Stafford Act are being complied with. This isn't limited to hurricanes. There's wildfires, floods, earthquakes, tornados...There's room in there for additional explanations of things. Sometimes a form letter can be a good thing. These things should happen pretty well in a hurry (current events notwithstanding) and having something essentially pre-formatted cuts out the trying to figure out what they want factor. A lot of government, especially the military works the same way. My usual line of work is operational planning. A warplan can be as thick as two telephone books, but it's under a standard format called JOPES. The intent is that anyone picking it up wanting to know for example what the consequence management plan is for that situation can immediately go to Annex T and not have to scan through 1,100 pages to find what they need to know.

Bump?

I wish I had the State Department angle on this. This could be a foot in the door to improve relations with a lot of people. Of course there is a lot of manipulation involved (2 million bbls of oil per day?), by all parties - I wouldn't take some of those offers at face value, but still... Too bad that America is using this opportunity to show the rest of the world what a hateful, spiteful and spoiled country this is. Just watch the news. They are.

Georgia Ivan Florida Ivan Anyone notice a common theme in how these are written and formatted?

He was a force for a long time.

And, someone at FEMA approved their plan or at least approved the State's plan who was supposed to approve the county plan. The after actions/lessons learned from this is going to read like the Britannica. I'm wondering if they had something doable, and just didn't execute it? I'm still bothered by the sight of city busses under water. And, I'm not going down there, I'm going to Colorado Springs, NORTHCOM operations center. By no means am I roughing it. Radisson and maybe with a little luck a warm cowgirl.

Over there it is called "someone is lying".

And I answered you on PPP. Did you read the letter and do you understand what it says?

I have no doubt whatsoever that hundreds of things went wrong. I hope to know more Tuesday night. Part of the reason for my visit is to gather lessons learned so I can apply them to another interagency effort going on. I'm sure there is plenty of blame to go around. I doubt anyone will get any praise. A lady friend of mine is an Army Helicopter pilot flying relief down there right now. I'm pretty sure they are already exausted, and I hope that not too many crash before it's over with. I still put the start of this snowball at the city government of NO. There is absolutely no reason why they could not have executed an adequate evacuation plan. Had they done so, a heck of a lot of the rest of this wouldn't even be discussed. IMO, I don't think anyone in government fully understood that NO still had several thousands of people in it for quite a while after the fact. That shouldn't have been the case. IMO, there was a big "holy shidt" from a lot of quarters. The city government folded and panicked. I think a lot of things in place had to get shuffled and redone on the fly. If you look at the numbers that have been rescued and evacuated over the last week, then look at the video of the masses still standing around, it doesn't paint a pretty picture. There's been breakdowns up and down the chain, but it starts there.

For me, no. I really don't drive anywhere besides to work and back, anyway.

7 WRs for a power running team?

I'm working on "The Persian Puzzle" by Pollack. Might as well start reading up on Iran.

I think that there is a difference between "believing what the administration is trying to do" and actually knowing what is supposed to happen and when. You can believe that I know what I'm talking about, or not. With an audience this volatile (I'm not saying you) it is impossible to adequately explain how things work without starting a bunch of wars. The fact is, people just don't want to hear the truth and a lot of that is because the truth is not pretty. As for your "definite lack of leadership", unless someone knows what is supposed to happen, I don't know how that accusation can be made - of anyone. I suppose saying things like the Coast Guard has rescued 10,000 people in the last few days is biased. It doesn't sound bad, so it must be spun. It's better and more balanced to say that they didn't rescue whoever drowned in their attic a day after the storm.

I've showed so much bias and situation spinning to this point, I'm sure I could see where you'd be skeptical.

I'm pretty cold hearted, cynical and practical. But stuff like this really makes me shake my head. Also makes me sad. Some people who had a chance to try to show what is best about us, instead chose to find angles to divide and blame. I really don't want to get too deep into the "race card", but it seems as though it is being shoved down our throats from a variety of sources. Once again, I see a lot of complaints about "leadership" from the President, but people like the Mayor and Ms. Mosely Braun are supposed to be leaders too.

Point one. I think there is every chance, more like a probability that this took place. Do you think a study based on New Orleans was conducted without any interaction from New Orleans? Point two. I say again. Things are done in a sequence. The first step in the sequence is for the local authorities to have their stuff together. Maybe I'm misreading, but your phrasing sounds like the federal government has to be eternally prepared and funded to accomodate whatever mistakes are made by everyone else. If that be the case, why make anyone less than Washington be responsible for anything? Perhaps all coastal cities should ignore any type of disaster planning, we can open another branch of government with the several thousands of people it would take to do nothing but plan and fund mitigation efforts. I can see a few billion here. Should the federal government survey every possible natural disaster situation and stockpile every possible supply and hire people to cover every possible eventuality on standby?

Love to, but I don't think I'll have the time.

I know it's hard...but every year I tell myself to REALLY judge after the first quarter. If they have a 2-2 split after the first 4 games, I'll be happy. 1-3 is survivable, 0-4 will be agony. TSW is going to be pretty interesting come September. I'd be less concerned about pre-season if we weren't starting an untested QB with a suspect O-line, and actually had a kicker. Yes, this year pre-season does matter. What makes anyone think they are going to see anything radically different out of the offense in the beginning of the season? Eat vanilla all we want, but if you can't convert vanilla, how are you going to convert rocky-road?

Probably hooked up to a 19 inch B/W. Plus, the parking sucks if you're down in the lower lot.

True. Sorry for being stupid. Still, there are things besides field goals. (and the occasional worrisome extra point) As the Bills put a lot of emphasis on special teams play, does introducing a new kicker one week out of the opener have any real effect on coverages, on-side kick schemes, etc? Or, is the kicker that irrelevant to the other 10?