Spent the last couple days watching.

[Ghost of BiB]

I had hoped to bring something to the table here, have pretty well decided not to. There's just way too much venom, and anything I could write now would be taken as "Republican Propoganda". I've been working in a 24 hour per day operations center comprised of representatives of every organization from FEMA to TSA to Coast Guard to NASA to FBI to Corps of Engineers and and many beyond that and in between. They are essentially a information nexus providing situational awareness to the leadership of the country, and also to the state and local governments. I've been associated with government for a long time. That's everyone's government, from Ford to Bush 2. In all that time, I've never seen anything like this. Blame who you want, and continue to B word about photo ops or whatever, but this country right now is pulling out all the stops. There are thousands of problems, and people are working themselves past exaustion to try to solve them. And a tremendous amount have been solved and are on their way to being solved. And it's only been a week. No where in history in any part of the world has a government had to contend with so many things, and have gotten so much accomplished in a matter of days. So screw it, B word on - point at every little friggen thing you can and make sure you vote for whoever CNN, MSNBC, FOX or whoever tells you next time votes come around. I'm looking at this stuff pretty well head on from overhead. I know that nothing is getting portrayed in the media right, some of it is bias and want of ratings - but I've learned more so in the last couple of days that the networks are taking snapshots. No one is approaching this story from the whole. Were that to actually happen, maybe some people could take some comfort that no one in the world could do what we are doing now, that it's devestation, a tragedy and it isn't going to be perfect. But it sure is impressive.

[SilverNRed]

I had hoped to bring something to the table here, have pretty well decided not to. There's just way too much venom, and anything I could write now would be taken as "Republican Propoganda". I've been working in a 24 hour per day operations center comprised of representatives of every organization from FEMA to TSA to Coast Guard to NASA to FBI to Corps of Engineers and and many beyond that and  in between. They are essentially a information nexus providing situational awareness to the leadership of the country, and also to the state and local governments. I've been associated with government for a long time. That's everyone's government, from Ford to Bush 2. In all that time, I've never seen anything like this. Blame who you want, and continue to B word about photo ops or whatever, but this country right now is pulling out all the stops. There are thousands of problems, and people are working themselves past exaustion to try to solve them. And a tremendous amount have been solved and are on their way to being solved. And it's only been a week. No where in history in any part of the world has a government had to contend with so many things, and have gotten so much accomplished in a matter of days. So screw it, B word on - point at every little friggen thing you can and make sure you vote for whoever CNN, MSNBC, FOX or whoever tells you next time votes come around. I'm looking at this stuff pretty well head on from overhead. I know that nothing is getting portrayed in the media right, some of it is bias and want of ratings - but I've learned more so in the last couple of days that the networks are taking snapshots. No one is approaching this story from the whole. Were that to actually happen, maybe some people could take some comfort that no one in the world could do what we are doing now, that it's devestation, a tragedy and it isn't going to be perfect. But it sure is impressive.

432847[/snapback]

What? You mean we don't have to feel bad about America all the time? Gosh, I thought we were only allowed to feel shame about our country anymore....

 

Keep up the good work down there, boss.

[KRC]

I had hoped to bring something to the table here, have pretty well decided not to. There's just way too much venom, and anything I could write now would be taken as "Republican Propoganda". I've been working in a 24 hour per day operations center comprised of representatives of every organization from FEMA to TSA to Coast Guard to NASA to FBI to Corps of Engineers and and many beyond that and  in between. They are essentially a information nexus providing situational awareness to the leadership of the country, and also to the state and local governments. I've been associated with government for a long time. That's everyone's government, from Ford to Bush 2. In all that time, I've never seen anything like this. Blame who you want, and continue to B word about photo ops or whatever, but this country right now is pulling out all the stops. There are thousands of problems, and people are working themselves past exaustion to try to solve them. And a tremendous amount have been solved and are on their way to being solved. And it's only been a week. No where in history in any part of the world has a government had to contend with so many things, and have gotten so much accomplished in a matter of days. So screw it, B word on - point at every little friggen thing you can and make sure you vote for whoever CNN, MSNBC, FOX or whoever tells you next time votes come around. I'm looking at this stuff pretty well head on from overhead. I know that nothing is getting portrayed in the media right, some of it is bias and want of ratings - but I've learned more so in the last couple of days that the networks are taking snapshots. No one is approaching this story from the whole. Were that to actually happen, maybe some people could take some comfort that no one in the world could do what we are doing now, that it's devestation, a tragedy and it isn't going to be perfect. But it sure is impressive.

432847[/snapback]

 

 

The media is twisting things?

 

[VABills]

So it's your fault. If you were doing something other then watching TV and listening to these guys at the opns center the problem would be fixed.

[1billsfan]

I had hoped to bring something to the table here, have pretty well decided not to. There's just way too much venom, and anything I could write now would be taken as "Republican Propoganda". I've been working in a 24 hour per day operations center comprised of representatives of every organization from FEMA to TSA to Coast Guard to NASA to FBI to Corps of Engineers and and many beyond that and  in between. They are essentially a information nexus providing situational awareness to the leadership of the country, and also to the state and local governments. I've been associated with government for a long time. That's everyone's government, from Ford to Bush 2. In all that time, I've never seen anything like this. Blame who you want, and continue to B word about photo ops or whatever, but this country right now is pulling out all the stops. There are thousands of problems, and people are working themselves past exaustion to try to solve them. And a tremendous amount have been solved and are on their way to being solved. And it's only been a week. No where in history in any part of the world has a government had to contend with so many things, and have gotten so much accomplished in a matter of days. So screw it, B word on - point at every little friggen thing you can and make sure you vote for whoever CNN, MSNBC, FOX or whoever tells you next time votes come around. I'm looking at this stuff pretty well head on from overhead. I know that nothing is getting portrayed in the media right, some of it is bias and want of ratings - but I've learned more so in the last couple of days that the networks are taking snapshots. No one is approaching this story from the whole. Were that to actually happen, maybe some people could take some comfort that no one in the world could do what we are doing now, that it's devestation, a tragedy and it isn't going to be perfect. But it sure is impressive.

432847[/snapback]

 

First, I think it's great work that you're doing and I very much appreciate your efforts helping out during this severe crisis. However, I think your attack on the media is unfair. Of course there's been some over-the-top histrionics by many reporters on television, but during the first four days there was shockingly very little response from governmental emergency agencies the media was truly effective in being inside New Orleans and showing America the human tragedy happening in the one place the government wasn't. As a side note, in the last couple of days I've seen dosens of stories showing the amazing work being done by the men and women of the emergency and relief agencies. I haven't seen the media attack those people, only the heads of the government and emergency operations which were clearly not doing their job. The media served as a window for all of this country to see that there's something very wrong with it's leadership when America meets with a major catastrophy.

 

Keep up the great work.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Thanks.

 

Keep all the great work! I am glad somebody else is work 24/7.

 

We have a ravaged gulf coast and a major American city that has been lost physically, environmentally and spirtually!

 

It better be impressive, as a proud American I would expect nothing but the best.

 

Look at it from the big picture and the response is just awesome.

 

From the individual human element, hurry up with that water... I am dying here.

 

Why not the venom?

 

As an American, I expect everything short of a picnic.

 

The NOLA side of this tragedy was very avoidable.

 

The sad part is, us average American taxpayers will be paying a lot more now than if we would have made an investment in preventive maintainence.

 

Again... Keep up the great work!

 

[Typical TBD Guy]

432847[/snapback]

 

Points well taken, BiB, but there is a huge difference between hard work and efficient hard work. Our government (from federal on down to local) engages all too often in the former and not the latter.

 

Could a Herculean finish on the part of our government make up for a pathetically slow start? In the case of maybe up to 1000+ dead people and their families, the answer is "no." Too little too late for them. The federal government poorly managed the funding to support Louisiana's wetlands and NO's levees, and the local/state government poorly executed an evacuation plan for the hundreds of thousands of poor people and elderly people who couldn't leave NO up to 72 hours before Katrina struck.

 

Noble federal workers like yourself appear to be victims of a giant government machine that seems hopelessly jammed from red tape. The solution is to downsize, consolidate, and streamline various areas of the federal bureaucracy so guys like you can become more efficient contributors. The hardest part, I suspect, is finding political leaders who would be willing to make that happen... certainly the Bush administration hasn't (not saying the Dems would either). Government is more bloated than ever since he took office in 2000. Not to mention that his appointed leaders seem more incompetent and less qualified for their respective positions than in governments past (examples of this abound with all sorts of religious fanatics in science government positions who believe evolution and global warming are still up for debate... ).

 

And finally, FWIW, I think your media criticism is a little over the top. With the exception of the talking heads pulling out the race card in this disaster, I think they are doing an EXCELLENT job. We can't, as a nation, prevent future calamities if we don't get down to the dirty details of why this one happened like it did. America currently has no faith in the Department of Homeland Security, but it's not because the media is being too inflammatory; it's because the evidence is too damning.

 

Sorry for the somewhat long post. Try to keep your spirits up, Bib. Watch some Bills football this weekend.