Reply With Quote
Can I add Michael "know-nothing" Chertoff to your list?
Get this friggin bozo out of here and put someone in that can handle the job properly.
Can I add Michael "know-nothing" Chertoff to your list?
The above two are a good place to start.
I'd prefer prison, actually.
I wonder why this never came up last year when florida got hit by like 5 hurricanes, the response was great... probably cause the gov. knew how to work with the fed's.
now we have a area as big as the UK destroyed and people want instant disaster relief with a gov. that I think lost it, everytime she is on TV it looks like she is basically shaking from fear or something.... apparently she wasn't prepared and made alot of mistakes...
remember we are talking about a disaster about the size of UK, 90,000 square miles no one can phantom a disaster that big, but that is what we have...
5 Days on a bridge begging for water is not asking for instant disaster relief
To be fair, I think for all intents and purposes Lt. Gen. Honore has already replaced Brown running the show.
I'm still not willing to politicize this situation.
But it is disturbing to me that more than one of the many involved state and federal agencies appears to have had virtually no clue about what was going on in New Orleans, despite the widespread media coverage of the dire conditions.
I'm not generally a big fan of the media and thought as late as Monday that many in their group were in this more for the big show than anything else. But, I have to say, since Tuesday morning, the media has done a fantastic job of keeping people (except, apparently, the state and federal agencies that needed to respond) aware of what was happening. IMO, their continued efforts to sound the calls for relief -- to demonstrate how horrendous things were -- have been invaluable to finally getting things done.
^ Amen
All Bs aside. This is not a Bush lovers vs the Kerry lovers debate.
This is just stupidity one many levels. And that's what makes it so frustrating to accept,
If FEMA ,Bush, and others would just say.."we ed up" then folks could move on, But every chance they get when they are on tv is just them talking about what they are going to do, and what they have done, No one seems to want to take the blame, and that is whats so frustrating. I come in here and I see Bush lovers making one excuse after another, which makes me now bielive that it's true what they say, Bush can do no wrong............
1) Separation of Federal Govt and State Govt
2) State Govt assesses and determines need
3) State Govt pe ions Fed Govt
4) Fed Govt acts.
#2 was the delay, not #4. Not to be a Bush-ite, but HE acted after HE saw what was happening overhead. Blame #2...And no, I am neither repub or dem. Like to think I am an independent THINKER! No labels needed.
This isn't a federalism situation. President Bush declared the region a disaster area before the hurricane hit. When the President makes that kind of a declaration, it's no longer a state's rights question, since the declaration of emergency gets the federal government involved. To put it another way, by the time Katrina made landfall, the governments of LA, MS, and AL were already past #3.
Umm, no. I don't think the families of the thousands of victims are just gonna forgive and forget and all those political gains that Republicans bragged about making with African-Americans before this tragedy, that's gone too.If FEMA ,Bush, and others would just say.."we ed up" then folks could move on, But every chance they get when they are on tv is just them talking about what they are going to do, and what they have done, No one seems to want to take the blame, and that is whats so frustrating. I come in here and I see Bush lovers making one excuse after another, which makes me now bielive that it's true what they say, Bush can do no wrong............
shrub/Repug values ideology (actually, he doesn't know WTF that is) over competence, as seen in his political appointees who have run (down) his FEMA:
Killed by Contempt
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal inep ude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
What caused that paralysis? President Bush certainly failed his test. After 9/11, all the country really needed from him was a speech. This time it needed action - and he didn't deliver.
But the federal government's lethal inep ude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?
Does anyone remember the fight over federalizing airport security? Even after 9/11, the administration and conservative members of Congress tried to keep airport security in the hands of private companies. They were more worried about adding federal employees than about closing a deadly hole in national security.
Of course, the attempt to keep airport security private wasn't just about philosophy; it was also an attempt to protect private interests. But that's not really a contradiction. Ideological cynicism about government easily morphs into a readiness to treat government spending as a way to reward your friends. After all, if you don't believe government can do any good, why not?
Which brings us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In my last column, I asked whether the Bush administration had destroyed FEMA's effectiveness. Now we know the answer.
Several recent news analyses on FEMA's sorry state have attributed the agency's decline to its inclusion in the Department of Homeland Security, whose prime concern is terrorism, not natural disasters. But that supposed change in focus misses a crucial part of the story.
For one thing, the undermining of FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office. Instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency, Mr. Bush appointed Joseph Allbaugh, a close political confidant. Mr. Allbaugh quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs.
You might have expected the administration to reconsider its hostility to emergency preparedness after 9/11 - after all, emergency management is as important in the aftermath of a terrorist attack as it is following a natural disaster. As many people have noticed, the failed response to Katrina shows that we are less ready to cope with a terrorist attack today than we were four years ago.
But the downgrading of FEMA continued, with the appointment of Michael Brown as Mr. Allbaugh's successor.
Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency's director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale.
That contempt, as I've said, reflects a general hostility to the role of government as a force for good. And Americans living along the Gulf Coast have now reaped the consequences of that hostility.
The administration has always tried to treat 9/11 purely as a lesson about good versus evil. But disasters must be coped with, even if they aren't caused by evildoers. Now we have another deadly lesson in why we need an effective government, and why dedicated public servants deserve our respect. Will we listen?
E-mail: [email protected]
I am not democrat. I just don't want Bush as president. Why does everyone think beacuse you don't like Bush, your a dremocrat? I really feel deep down inside many of you can't stand him also. Your just to embarassed to say so.
Well, want in one hand and crap in the other...then, see which one fills up the fastest.I want Mike Brown fired from FEMA
Brown has done a commendable job in the face of a local and state incompetence of such magnitude.
That must explain why the Gov of LA did not want the Feds to take pver then, adding yet another delay in the process...
The truth will out, folks. When it's all said and done, we will find out a couple of things:
1) New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, and the State of Louisiana made no preparation for the catastrophe they knew was possible, and;
2) New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, and the State of Louisiana resisted early federal attempts at assisting them manage a crisis that was quickly reeling out of their control.
This will all me made difficult because the Mayor of New Orleans happens to be black and, to criticize him, is being characterized as being racist.
Not true.
It merely make federal resources available to the states to use at THEIR discretion. It streamlines the bureaucratic processes so that aid can be mobilized faster when the state requests it.
My bad. I'm didn't look for an answer before I posted, and shouldn't have done that. Apologies.
In any event, I still think that the blame game that's in progress is a misplacement of priorities. Get the problem solved. Once the problem is solved and people are accounted for, then we can worry about assessing blame for the compounding that everyone is having to deal with.
That's what Bush said earlier, but I'm sure that people will say he's just trying to deflect the blame until Rove can spin it away, or some bull like that.In any event, I still think that the blame game that's in progress is a misplacement of priorities. Get the problem solved. Once the problem is solved and people are accounted for, then we can worry about assessing blame for the compounding that everyone is having to deal with.
, we are going to be dissecting this disaster for years.
Like Bush said - there's still people who need rescuing, when we're done with that, done with recovering the victims, then we can talk. Until then it's all about the people of La., Ms, and Alabama.
^^ It's also what Bill Clinton has been saying for the last couple of days.
And Condi Rice. And I agree with all of them.
People needed rescueing last Tuesday. We already see the Rove spin machine hard at work attempting to shift any responsibility for this fiasco to the locals, and people like TRO are buying it up.
It's noble to talk about wanting to rescue the NO victims, but this is politics and politics doesn't just stop.
Politics don't stop for you because you're twisted and have extremely ed-up priorities.
Oh, you don't know me, so quit.Politics don't stop for you because you're twisted and have extremely ed-up priorities.
And the Coast Guard and National Guard were in the air and on the ground, beginning MONDAY, searching house-to-house. The problem occurred when it turned out that city shelters were not properly PREPARED to handle the evacuees they received. That was the responsibility of local, parish, and state officials to ensure. If the convention center and Superdome had had enough supplies and adequate backup generators with fuel to support the number of evacuees that could have been reasonably expected, there would have been no issue.
Again, I ask you, what did the local, parish, and state government do to prepare for this catastrophe? Why were there acres of sunken school and metro buses? Why were there no supplies at the Superdome or Convention Center? , they even admitted that it was a call from the President of the United States, on Saturday, that prompted them to issue the emergency evacuation order that probably saved tens of thousands more lives.
You're an idiot Dan and, it's good to see most (damn near everyone), in this forum, recognize that.
You know, it's really sad that we've ended up talking about politics and blame while the disaster is still on-going however, with people like Dan and most of the mainstream media spreading lies and talking out their asses about things they no nothing about, it's become necessary in order for the proper process to keep going.
There are only so many helicopters and duece-n-a-halves that can be assembled in one place at one time without a major cluster . In fact, had the City of New Orleans done what was appropriate, started the mandatory evacuation earlier and properly stocked and secured the designated shelters for a sufficient amount of time, what was available on Tuesday would have been sufficient to do the job.
And another thing I'd like to address in this post is the whole idea that this gives us an idea of how the federal government would respond to a terrorist attack. That's bull .
First, a terrorist attack is under the purview of the federal government and no state, parish, or local permission/authorization is necessary to respond. If we're invaded by a foreign enemy -- or attacked by a domestic one -- the federal government has the cons utional obligation and authority to move in and take over immediately, which -- I dare say -- is the plan.
Natural disasters are under the purview of the states for planning, mitigation, response, and recovery. The federal government has and, hopefully, always will act in a support role. Otherwise, you get the dreaded federalizing and martial law the people who are ing now always about.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
