clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 That is pretty damn disgusting, unless you are just trying to be sarcastic. 427976[/snapback] I am not being sarcastic.....I'm being 100% honest. I truly wonder how BushCo would have handled this if the year was 2004 I noticed the cheesy photo ops yesterday. People say that Gov. Blanco didn't request help from the Feds/FEMA...read this Letter to Bush (pdf file) It's deplorable to me that anyone wants to absolve BushCo of blame. His FEMA director is a political hack who was appointed with no emergency management experience and it clearly shows. Bush is no leader. The day after the hurricane hit, he's off "strumming a geetar" His a$$ should have been in DC before the hurricane hit. I'm not impressed by the response.....more could have been done sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 BTW: I'm also not impressed with the local authorities who waited far too long to order the mandatory evacuation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1billsfan Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Katrina 2005: not an election yr, gross incompetance from BushCo on down the chain, Bush won Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, majority of those lost were African-American and poor Hurricanes in Florida 2004: Brothers's the Gov, Election yr, swing state, response was much, much better Discuss 427975[/snapback] Gross incompetence or gross apathy? Whatever it was, it was too damn late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Gross incompetence or gross apathy? Whatever it was, it was too damn late. 428060[/snapback] My point exactly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Five years after discovering they had suicide terrorism within their borders, Americans are now being introduced to the notion of having their own "refugees", too. Tens of thousands of them are being bussed to neighbouring states from the city's convention and sports centres, where they have been sleeping for days. The state of Texas has announced that it will accept 23,000 refugees in Houston's Astrodome. An unsettling - and internationally embarrassing - aspect of this mass movement is the discovery that almost all the unfortunates stranded in New Orleans are black. Most Americans consider defacto segregation a fading reality.They may be right. But the TV footage challenges that view, to put it mildly. Under the weight of homeless migrants from New Orleans, the previously sleepy state capital of Baton Rouge hasbecome the largest city in Louisiana, like some Middle Eastern border city that people pour into in search of asylum. A staunch conservative editorialist, Christopher Caldwell (of the Weekly Standard) 9/2/05 This is part of my justification of my first post. This is being broadcast around the world and doesn't make look good in the eyes of the world. We can move the 82nd Airborne to a warzone is less time than it took to begin real relief to those in New Orleans...it's sad and embarassing BTW: I'm a veteran of the US Army and was stationed in Louisiana at Ft. Polk for a few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigAL Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 And they were. Why do you think a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans was ordered, with people saying publicly "This the situation we've all feared for years"? 428043[/snapback] Funny, I don't see anything of that nature in FEMA's press release archives prior to the storm. FEMA Press Releases Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I don't blame President Bush. In fact, I cannot blame one single person for the travesty that has occurred here. If I was going to blame anyone, it would be the following (in order): 1) The corrupt local officials in New Orleans, who were more interested in lining their pockets than protecting their citizens. 2) The looters and those who somehow believe that society (read: Whitey) has had it in for them for so long that when disaster strikes, it's their RIGHT to go into a Wal-Mart and steal DVD players and Sopranos box sets. 3) The media. I usually watch Fox News, but Shepard Smith has become insufferable, so I turn the channel whenever he's on. Someone said here the other day if you want agenda-free coverage, watch the Weather Channel. I agree 100%. And the Frosty Haired One, Anderson Cooper, is probably going to become a star because of this. Go home guys, and let Jim Cantore and J-Lo handle this one. 4) Why did so many stay? Even if I was so poor I had to walk, my @$$ would have been out of New Orleans by Saturday night. People seem to have little concept of the fury of Nature. 5) FEMA. They didn't do a real good job the first few days, but they seem to have gotten their bearings in the last 36 hours. The slow response (once again) is not the President's fault. Do you honestly believe he wanted to see lower-class people suffer? What a bunch of B.S. If you're gonna blame anyone, blame the bureaucrats. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Funny, I don't see anything of that nature in FEMA's press release archives prior to the storm. FEMA Press Releases 428073[/snapback] If I can find a link.....New Orleans newspaper article laid out this scenario of a Cat 4/5 hurricane. It was from a few yrs ago and it's seemingly very prophetic......FEMA director said a couple of days ago that New Orleans was a priority w.r.t disaster planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clumping platelets Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my first post........I'm just deeply affected by what I've seen and it really angers me that more wasn't done sooner. I hate incompetance regardless of political affliation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothrop Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 but it is like everthing , to many layers of people that have to ok what is done and no one took the bull by the horns and said just do it . 427984[/snapback] Again, this is what the Department of Homeland Security was designed to prevent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigAL Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 If I can find a link.....New Orleans newspaper article laid out this scenario of a Cat 4/5 hurricane. It was from a few yrs ago and it's seemingly very prophetic......FEMA director said a couple of days ago that New Orleans was a priority w.r.t disaster planning. 428097[/snapback] I'm specifically referring to FEMA's activity to get the wrod out about the dire consequences of staying based on the hypthetical scenario they ran with Hurricane PAM. If FEmA knew had bad it was going to be. They should have been telling people "if you stay, there's a good chace you'll die or be stranded for days before we can get to you" They new how poor some sections of NO are. Both FEMA and the Local autorities should have done more to bus those people out of there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my first post........I'm just deeply affected by what I've seen and it really angers me that more wasn't done sooner. I hate incompetance regardless of political affliation 428098[/snapback] Thank you Clumoy for raising these issues the way you did and I say more power to you. The fact that some folks seem to want to separate the two issues of the racial divide in our society and the economic divide in our society as though there was no relationship at all between these two things merely shows that this issue really needs some discussion for folks to get some reality about it or at least see the realiy that other folks feel they see. I'm also fully in favor of moving all post about the Gulf Coast to the PPP board to leave TSW being about football. I am quite thankful to SDS and the moderators for allowing this conversation to happen here because this disaster is so huge. In fact I would be pleased to see the Gulf Coat post stay here over the weekend, but I certainly advocate moving them ALL to PPP by Monday at the latest and to leave here at TSW a pinned post urging folks to link and give to the Red Cross. However, i think you were right on target with your posts and observations and keep 'em coming until all Gulf Coast posts are moved to PPP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Perhaps a temporary forum of it's own? There's a lot of people who won't go near PPP that might want to read or have input. Is this possible, Scott? Could always delete or archive it later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Perhaps a temporary forum of it's own? There's a lot of people who won't go near PPP that might want to read or have input. Is this possible, Scott? Could always delete or archive it later. 428106[/snapback] I was thinking similar. Sub-forum of the Wall. There are obviously both PPP and non-PPP folks who want to discuss this...some even in a civil manner. It would be nice to have topic related threads rather than making the same argument across 100 topics...maybe even move the stuff that had been pushed over to PPP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Yo, Scooter, you out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted September 3, 2005 Author Share Posted September 3, 2005 Yo, Scooter, you out there? 428109[/snapback] Give me 5 minutes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 They should have been telling people "if you stay, there's a good chace you'll die or be stranded for days before we can get to you" They new how poor some sections of NO are. Both FEMA and the Local autorities should have done more to bus those people out of there. 428103[/snapback] 1) It's not FEMA's job. 2) The people who's job it was to get the warnings out - NOAA, for example, and the city - did. 3) The mayor of New Orleans himself, when he told people to go to the Superdome, speficially told people to be prepared to be there as much as a week without support. 4) The New Orleans emergency response plan had written into it specifically that anyone left in the city would be on their own for as much as a week with no support. The city government itself knew that they'd be on their own for days. 5) People are forgetting that, after the storm passed, everyone started saying that New Orleans dodged the worst of it. The crisis - the levees failing - begain after everyone started saying the worst had passed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Funny, I don't see anything of that nature in FEMA's press release archives prior to the storm. FEMA Press Releases 428073[/snapback] It's not FEMA's job. It's the city of New Orleans' job...and they were saying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OGTEleven Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 The blame game is what bugs me the most. NBC/CNN seem to be spending more time on explaining why this is all Bush's fault than covering the disaster. (BTW, this is one case where coverage could actually help. Communication is still weak and media reports can help authorities). I actually heard an NPR reporter state that when she asked a victim (still in NO) what was her feeling about the disaster that the answer was "I feel abandoned by the federal government". Not "I'm trying to survive" or "I'm wondering about family and/or other victims" or even "We need help now". The answer was specific to which branch of government had failed. That sounded pretty much made up to me. Republican radio says "this is tragic but all the Dem mayor and governor's fault" using very similar sound bites. Congresspeople and Senators are playing the same game. This depresses me because it displays that all of these groups care MUCH more about maintaining and gaining power than they do about the disaster itself. Maybe if they cared about the disaster more in the first place (before it happened, immediately after and now) there would be fewer problems to blame on others. BTW regular citizens like you and me are playing the same stupid game and this thread is evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigAL Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 It's not FEMA's job. It's the city of New Orleans' job...and they were saying it. 428114[/snapback] So it's not FEMA's job to say "hey we did this study that shows a category 3 will devastate your area, that the plans you have in place are inadequate, and you should be doing this instead?" My only point is if they new a category 3 was going to be so terrible, then surely they understood how severe things were going to get. Yes I can say that the NO Mayor and LA Governor did not do particularly good jobs either, but FEMA new what they were doing and had planned. You would think that they would be more prepared to handle things themselves considering what they knew was in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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