The Politics of Katrina

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Originally Posted by Nbadan

So the extent of W's public concern the last two days has been a 2 sentence mention during a photo-opt and having his pilot drop his luxurious AF1 from 30,000 to 20,000 feet so he could get a good look-see, and you find that to be adequate leadership in this time of crisis?

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First of all, you don't know that he hasn't been communicating with people who are more closely-involved in the crisis or ordering the mobilization of whatever assistance he can.

But besides that, what should he do? What leadership should he be providing? You don't like a two sentence mention; well, would a 30 minute television speech be better? I don't see how, since it's not like those who are most immediately affected by the circumstances (people who won't have power for weeks, or perhaps months) are going to see or hear anything the President does for some time. Should he don scuba equipment and swim down Canal Street? That would be asinine. Should he go to the Superdome and visit with displaced families? Why, when the structure is in enough disrepair to send those very families scrambling to Houston?

I just don't see what more the man is supposed to do, and I don't see why my friends on the Left have chosen to see this as an opportunity to politicize an inherently non-political occurrence. I don't support this President, but this isn't his mess.

Trying to make immediate political gains on the backs of suffering people is just offensive.

The next thing he does do will be shrugged off as a photo op anyway.

What Bush apparently needed to do is be dropped into a flooded New Orleans neighborhood, walk on the water and then command the waters to part and lead his people to the promised land (or Baton Rouge, as it were). When they reach it, then W will have to feed the masses with five loaves of bread (whole wheat, not that white shit) and a couple of smoked Atlantic salmon.

Or perhaps we can regard Nbadan as perhaps the most entertaining crackpot the internets have ever seen.

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Originally Posted by Nbadan

So the extent of W's public concern the last two days has been a 2 sentence mention during a photo-opt and having his pilot drop his luxurious AF1 from 30,000 to 20,000 feet so he could get a good look-see, and you find that to be adequate leadership in this time of crisis?

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http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/w....114d6821.html

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is back at the White House, after getting a first-hand view of some of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

As Air Force One carried Bush back from his Texas ranch, it flew over New Orleans at about 2,500 feet, and then descended to about 1,700 feet over Mississippi. Bush peered through a window at the scene below. Both of his fists were clenched, and his face was grim.

A spokesman later quoted him as saying, "It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

At one point, the president saw a hard-hit coastal community and told his staff, "It's totally wiped out."

Bush is scheduled to make public remarks about the hurricane later today in the Rose Garden. Before then, he's meeting with a White House task force on recovery efforts.

Bush is expected to visit the region by week's end. The White House is working to make sure the visit won't disrupt the relief efforts.

Dan, without Bush, your life would be meaningless.

http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/050830/wasserman.gif

Dan, the president is about to speak!! You can start jerking off now.

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Originally Posted by Jelly

Dan, the president is about to speak!! You can start jerking off now.

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:rolleyes

Yeah, yeah, all the criticism is just a liberal conspiracy to make W look bad in the face of this human tragedy.

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Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues
August 30, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

more...

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Editor and Publisher

But of course, none of this matters because its crying over spilt milk. So what if valuable money that could have lessened the severity of this tragedy is going to Iraq, it's all water under the bridge now.

Ah yes, it's Bush's fault.

Since Katrina is drawing attention away from the situation in Iraq, Bush is responsible for the 'cane too.

quit being so sarcastic dude

get your own sitcom

One of the television anchors just summarized the big picture W and the other leaders in Washington. Here are some of his comments, and some of my own.

In the next few hours thousands more are going to die due to rising flood waters from the breached levees, and due to being trapped in attics without food, water and in some cases air.

Over 1 million people are now refugees --homeless, without jobs, without means to provide for their subsistence, and likely to be wandering the South for months.

Huge numbers of uninsured people seeking medical care for the inevitable health crisis that is coming. Hundreds of thousands will lose their medical health insurance because they lost their jobs. Disease will follow those exposed to the toxic and contaminated floodwaters.

Tens of thousands of displaced children will need to enroll in new school districts.

These people have lost everything except their debt which will follow them wherever they go. They have houses to pay for which no longer exist. Flood damage is likely not covered by most homeowners policies, which means no homeowners insurance proceeds to pay off the mortgage debt still owing. Same with car loans. Not to mention credit card debt. Bankruptcy is likely the only choice for the great majority who have nothing.

Access to bank accounts will be delayed. Mail will pile up somewhere outside the city, and take months to deliver.

The mental health of a million people who will examine what could have been done and what was done, what was communicated by their government officials and what was not disclosed.

Huge numbers of deaths, and the burying of bodies without identification since there is no way to preserve them and stop the spread of disease. If you lost everything, how can you pay the funeral and burial costs -- especially when they cannot be buried in the NO area because of standing water?

AND IT ALL WILL AFFECT EVERY CITIZEN IN THIS COUNTRY.

There will be gasoline shortages. Commerce travelling up and down the Mississipi River will be affected.

Cities and local governments will have to accomodate these homeless at a time they are already stretched to the limit.

Interest rates will go up on everything as a result of loss of collateral assets and defaults on payment of outstanding loans.

The $26 billion quoted as insurance costs is substantially less than the real costs from loss of homes and infrastructure which were uninsured. Add in deductibles and copays of 25% or more where there is insurance coverage.

None of this even takes into account the cost of rebuilding NO and restoring essential services of electricity, gas, water, sewer, and levees.

THERE IS A REAL QUESTION WHETHER NEW ORLEANS WILL BE REBUILT.

NO, it is a regional disaster covering hundreds of miles of LA, MISS, ALA and FLA before that -- all competing for available government aid, which is already limited and the hurrican season has just began.

That is the extent that this will affect EVERYONE and why we are all looking for proactive leadership from our President and his staff.

Chill the fuck out man... lay the politics aside for a few minutes.. your choking on your own hate. They wanted to use the choppers to rescue people first...

They had the army core looking at it. Listen fast and hard water is a beast.. it will rip your shit up... it's not like plugging a hole it's a big project.

I really fucking hate those of you that are such idiots that you force people like FWD to defend Bush.

I heard some guy on the radio say today that "whom ever rebuilds the south will win in '08."

Any truth to that you think?

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Originally Posted by JoeChalupa

I heard some guy on the radio say today that "whom ever rebuilds the south will win in '08."

Any truth to that you think?

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I don't understand why, two days after this tragic occurrence, people are already thinking in those terms.

Rebuilding the South isn't about Democrats or Republicans or Progressives or Conservatives or Libertarians or Communists. It's about Americans coming together in a time of crisis to help those who are in grave need. We all win if the South is rebuilt; red states and blue states alike. I doubt that many in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama are terribly concerned with the outcome of an election that is still 3 years away.

This isn't about the President and it isn't about domestic policy. This is about the worst hurricane disaster in the history of the United States -- no change in federal policy would have limited the damage that Katrina did.

It's not a political issue, no matter how many people try to spin it that way. Those who try to make this about politics have completely lost perspective on what's really important to the people in this country.

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Originally Posted by MannyIsGod

I really fucking hate those of you that are such idiots that you force people like FWD to defend Bush.

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:lol

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Originally Posted by Nbadan

how W cut ]Clinton's Emergency Mitigation Program that would have taken measures to minimize damage from this type of natural disaster in the New Orleans area.

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Leave it to the forum's resident leftist nutjob to quote an article from the highly intelligent discussions at DU.

Sad...so sad...tinfoil hat getting loose, Dan?

"Need some wood"?

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how W cut ]Clinton's Emergency Mitigation Program that would have taken measures to minimize damage from this type of natural disaster in the New Orleans area.

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Dude, it's taken decades to build up "global warming." And Bush is somehow supposed to snap his fingers and fix it all in two terms? That's some good crack you're smoking.

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Originally Posted by Useruser666

There is no doubt in my mind that you have proven racial profiling has been committed here! :spin :blah :shootme :rolleyes

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so it hasn't been proven that you're a smug anglo-saxan who is blind to obvious racism

this thread started by NBADan posting some very obvious 'blips' in the media


just because he puts his own opinion on it, and mookie talks shit to the first blatantly conservative post doesn't mean that the entire 'lefty left liberal' world is trying to focus on side shit like this, and im pretty sure dan and mookie didn't want to start that either

sometimes i feel like im the only sane person in the world. Does that make me crazy?
Why is it i see the same pattern every fucking god damn time..on radio, tv, internet, anything

a "liberal" mentions something, thinks it may be of importance (yes nbadan put in his own opinion with the bush picture/captions, yes mookie may have talked shit about Bush).......but why is it the "conservatives" focus on this instead of the original topic mentioned

why keep focusing on why 'lefty left liberals' are wrong instead of addressing the fucking issue...you make side bull shit issues over stuff that was bull shit to begin with

LETS MAKE IT FUCKING SIMPLE

Yes or No, what NBADan originally posted about is obvious racism


i dont want to hear about how left is wrong or how we should be focusing on the tragedy that happened (no fucking shit)

just because this tragedy happened doesn't mean we need to turn a blind eye on racism

and just because someone points out racism doesn't mean they want to start a fucking Verbal War about it, nor does it mean they want Racism to be the central issue about Katrina

God forbid a fucking American step out of his 'equal' world and admit "yes this is bull shit, the media sucks"


Yes or No, what NBADan originally posted about is obvious racism
Yes or No, what NBADan originally posted about is obvious racism
Yes or No, what NBADan originally posted about is obvious racism
Yes or No, what NBADan originally posted about is obvious racism


a single word response would give us all more of a clue about you than the bull shit all of you are spewing the past 3 pages

i'll start


YES

when minorities stop crying about racism they will finally rise up..

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Mayor blasts failure to patch levee breaches
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Posted: 7:21 a.m. EDT (11:21 GMT)

(snip)

According to the mayor, Black Hawk helicopters were scheduled to pick up and drop massive 3,000-pound sandbags in the 17th Street Canal breach, but were diverted on rescue missions. Nagin said neglecting to fix the problem has set the city behind by at least a month.

"I had laid out like an eight-week to ten-week timeline where we could get the city back in semblance of order. It's probably been pushed back another four weeks as a result of this," Nagin said.

"That four weeks is going to stop all commerce in the city of New Orleans. It also impacts the nation, because no domestic oil production will happen in southeast Louisiana."

Nagin said he expects relief efforts in the city to improve as New Orleans, the National Guard and FEMA combine their command centers for better communication, followup and accountability.

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CNN

FEMA is a real mess, both from cut funds and from the fallout from a Bolton clone, Albaugh, being sent in by the Bush Administration. He was so insanely abusive and disruptive, many of the career FEMA management personnel left. The disastrously mismanaged mission in New Orleans has cost lives and according to Mayor Nagin, set back by a month the schedule for reopening New Orleans. Here's a post on the Bolton Clone dispatched to FEMA:

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This man has a truly violent temper and short trigger to go with it. At one of his first meetings with career FEMA high level staff, one woman who was called on to make a report started out by introducing herself to Albaugh with her name and title. He went ballistic, screaming and raging - DID SHE THINK HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO SHE WAS?!?!?!? HOW DARE SHE PRESUME SUCH A THING??? . . .yada, yada, yada along the same line for minutes to the dead silence of everyone else in the room who had never seen such a display of temper. In other words, someone following standard business etiquette was screamed at and berated in front of her peers.

This was typical behavior for Albaugh, and one result was that many, many of the top level FEMA people left for other jobs or took early retirement because Albaugh wouldn't allow them to do the jobs they were trained to do. This was a tremendous loss of institutional knowledge for the relatively small federal agency. Albaugh hated being at FEMA and left after about a year. Although he had zip experience with disaster relief or any kind of government/public service before his explosive period with FEMA, when he left there he started a very high priced consulting firm on counter-terrorism.

Bush initially put Albaugh in place to gut FEMA - I mean why should all that federal money go to people in trouble and need through some natural disaster. Bush's attitude was that if you weren't wealthy enough to private pay someone to help you handle a disaster, you deserved whatever befell you. Anyway, when 9/11 occurred, he couldn't outwardly gut FEMA, but he pretty much emasculated it by putting it under DHS.

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Originally Posted by Nbadan

CNN

FEMA is a real mess, both from cut funds and from the fallout from a Bolton clone, Albaugh, being sent in by the Bush Administration. He was so insanely abusive and disruptive, many of the career FEMA management personnel left. The disastrously mismanaged mission in New Orleans has cost lives and according to Mayor Nagin, set back by a month the schedule for reopening New Orleans. Here's a post on the Bolton Clone dispatched to FEMA:

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Keep focusing on yesterday's problems. Whatever you do, don't tax yourself with anything that is REALLY significant at this point.

If there's a chance to keep throwing bombs, don't miss it.

Bashing the President and the Administration is FAR more important than dealing with the problems of Ryan Samuels, the man I just saw sobbing openly on CNN, extolling people to help him find his extended familiy. Pillorying the President for some minor political gain (if any) is more useful right now than offering whatever help you can (monetary or physical) to deal with the true human problems that exist.

For crissakes, we're in monsterous trouble if politics is more concerned with incremental, rhetorical gains earned by finger-pointing and criticism than with trying to actually solve the problems that exist in a time of crisis.

FWDT...Welcome to the reality of the modern Democratic Party. I give it 6 months till you are separating it from yourself totally...if you don't buy into the rampant whacko politicizing you'll soon be getting the neocon label.

How long will it be until the newest Democratic poster child (Hillary won't do it again, she's trying to appear "moderate") holds up a newspaper in Congress with the Headline "Bush Knew" (about the hurricane, yet did nothing to stop it).