How does one of the richest, most powerful countries in the world be so inept in the handling of this disaster?
Hurricane Katrina
- Thread starter Corso_Pete
- Start date
They knew it was going to happen at least 2 days prior to the event. The apparent lack of planning for this disaster borders on negligence.
G
Guest
Guest
I think you may be close to the truth with that comment. Most of the rich white people seem to have got out of the city before it became too flooded. It appears that most of the ones left were the poor black people who didn't have the money or resources to get out in time.
G
Guest
Guest
I think you may be close to the truth with that comment. Most of the rich white people seem to have got out of the city before it became too flooded. It appears that most of the ones left were the poor black people who didn't have the money or resources to get out in time.
It is sad when the US can spend billions of dollars in Iraq but can't help its own people when a disaster hits. I cannot think of any other major country where delays like this would have happened.
Australia acted so quickly when cyclone Tracy hit Darwin.
It's funny now with all this going on in New Orleans my parents have all of a sudden changed their view on the US being in Iraq in the first place (after years of me arguing with them about it).
It's quite amazing how the media control our views on these situations. Now he is leaving his own people to die and it's being highlighted... but lets not forget this dumb ass tool, who came to power riding his old man's wave, also has no reason for going into Iraq after no weapons of mass destruction were found.
It must pay to be backed by Mr Murdoch...
All those media reports with him admitting he smoked pot quite frequently seemed to get not much further than 'hack' on JJJ.
There is something very, very wrong with this world when we have someone like this leading the most powerful nation on earth- land of the free my ass!
It's quite amazing how the media control our views on these situations. Now he is leaving his own people to die and it's being highlighted... but lets not forget this dumb ass tool, who came to power riding his old man's wave, also has no reason for going into Iraq after no weapons of mass destruction were found.
It must pay to be backed by Mr Murdoch...
All those media reports with him admitting he smoked pot quite frequently seemed to get not much further than 'hack' on JJJ.
There is something very, very wrong with this world when we have someone like this leading the most powerful nation on earth- land of the free my ass!
True- an American guy who was living in the apartment next to me at the time was actually quite distressed that Bush got in, predicting that Gore never would have had a chance in hell of winning because Bush would rig it anyway.
I find it quite bemusing that this sort of situation can go on but then again we aren't much better with GW Bush's lap dog in charge here as well (not that we have much to choose from)
It is a sad state of affairs when we are forced to go against what we know is right to simply side with a larger power.
It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The situation with Mugabe is a disgrace but as we have seen by Bush's reaction to New Orleans, unless the US stands to benefit they are happy to sit on their hands and do nothing- even with their own bloody people.
How safe would you feel being an American at the moment...
I find it quite bemusing that this sort of situation can go on but then again we aren't much better with GW Bush's lap dog in charge here as well (not that we have much to choose from)
It is a sad state of affairs when we are forced to go against what we know is right to simply side with a larger power.
It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The situation with Mugabe is a disgrace but as we have seen by Bush's reaction to New Orleans, unless the US stands to benefit they are happy to sit on their hands and do nothing- even with their own bloody people.
How safe would you feel being an American at the moment...
G
Guest
Guest
From the realist;
If you have not seen the video of Fox's Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera screaming about the incompetence of the relief effort in New Orleans, it is truly compelling and a must-see. The link is here.
At the risk of overstating the integrity or importance of FNC/Smith/Rivera, watching that strengthens my suspicion that the past few days will mark a Walter Cronkite/Vietnam type of tipping point in public opinion about the Bush administration.
Faith-Based Preparedness
....or, you go into a national catastrophe with the FEMA you have.
Over the past few days, I've seen scenes that make my blood boil. A disheveled girl about six years old, clutching a soaked and dirty doll, crying about her family's dead pets and asking for food. A single doctor working triage among thousands of refugees, wondering where his help was while people around him were dying. An elderly woman slumped over in a wheelchair, begging weakly for food and water. Bodies laying abandoned in the street like dead ants around a sandhill after a heavy rainstorm.
This is something one might expect to see in places like Lagos, Kinshasa, Mogadishu, Monrovia or Harare. And as tragic as it would be for people in those third-world cities, the failure of leadership would be expected. Governments there---to the extent they exist at all---don't pretend to make promises they cannot keep, and their citizens know this from long and painful experience. That's not the case here. What has happened in New Orleans and the surrounding areas is a betrayal.
In early 2001, FEMA warned about the top three most likely disasters to hit the United States: a terrorist attack on New York City, a hurricane hitting New Orleans, and an earthquake in San Francisco. The funding for FEMA and the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers was accordingly cut (HT to Josh Marshall here), a fate that befalls so many in and around the Bush administration who make nuisances of themselves by warning prophetically about something that eventually comes to pass. Two of those three disasters are now part of our recent history. And after both, we have endured the "no one could have predicted this" mendacity that in itself is predictable. If the last one happens, will we hear the same excuse?
Holding the administration and the government to account for this is not opportunistic political rhetoric. What has happened should deeply concern us all. How is it that four full years after 9/11---a period of time during which our overarching national priority should have been to upgrade and prepare for a domestic disaster on this scale---we are utterly hapless and helpless when one occurs? If you live in San Francisco or for that matter any city, are you confident that your tax dollars have bought you the minimum level of assistance you would expect if this happened to you? And, distressingly, what message does this send to terrorists who are no doubt watching, nodding to themselves, and silently taking notes?
I've said before that in this administration, carelessness and negligence wear the mask of faith. At what point does faith yield to reality? Will there ever be a moment of accountability? Or, as the president no doubt continues to tell himself, is that what the last election was all about?
If you have not seen the video of Fox's Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera screaming about the incompetence of the relief effort in New Orleans, it is truly compelling and a must-see. The link is here.
At the risk of overstating the integrity or importance of FNC/Smith/Rivera, watching that strengthens my suspicion that the past few days will mark a Walter Cronkite/Vietnam type of tipping point in public opinion about the Bush administration.
Faith-Based Preparedness
....or, you go into a national catastrophe with the FEMA you have.
Over the past few days, I've seen scenes that make my blood boil. A disheveled girl about six years old, clutching a soaked and dirty doll, crying about her family's dead pets and asking for food. A single doctor working triage among thousands of refugees, wondering where his help was while people around him were dying. An elderly woman slumped over in a wheelchair, begging weakly for food and water. Bodies laying abandoned in the street like dead ants around a sandhill after a heavy rainstorm.
This is something one might expect to see in places like Lagos, Kinshasa, Mogadishu, Monrovia or Harare. And as tragic as it would be for people in those third-world cities, the failure of leadership would be expected. Governments there---to the extent they exist at all---don't pretend to make promises they cannot keep, and their citizens know this from long and painful experience. That's not the case here. What has happened in New Orleans and the surrounding areas is a betrayal.
In early 2001, FEMA warned about the top three most likely disasters to hit the United States: a terrorist attack on New York City, a hurricane hitting New Orleans, and an earthquake in San Francisco. The funding for FEMA and the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers was accordingly cut (HT to Josh Marshall here), a fate that befalls so many in and around the Bush administration who make nuisances of themselves by warning prophetically about something that eventually comes to pass. Two of those three disasters are now part of our recent history. And after both, we have endured the "no one could have predicted this" mendacity that in itself is predictable. If the last one happens, will we hear the same excuse?
Holding the administration and the government to account for this is not opportunistic political rhetoric. What has happened should deeply concern us all. How is it that four full years after 9/11---a period of time during which our overarching national priority should have been to upgrade and prepare for a domestic disaster on this scale---we are utterly hapless and helpless when one occurs? If you live in San Francisco or for that matter any city, are you confident that your tax dollars have bought you the minimum level of assistance you would expect if this happened to you? And, distressingly, what message does this send to terrorists who are no doubt watching, nodding to themselves, and silently taking notes?
I've said before that in this administration, carelessness and negligence wear the mask of faith. At what point does faith yield to reality? Will there ever be a moment of accountability? Or, as the president no doubt continues to tell himself, is that what the last election was all about?
G
Guest
Guest
The website name is the cunning realist. He has some interesting commentary.
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
I don't know what you guys generally think about Michael Moore, but his open letter to Dubya was good, I thought. It's also the first email from his mailing list that I know of that's starting to make the rounds of email forwards (if snopes.com has to validate it, then I think we can assume enough people are at least asking about it).
Here in Canada (Daniel: you have no idea how much I just love being able to say that!) I get what could be considered 'the best of both worlds': I get all of the news from the US, but with the Canadian perspective (to a degree). Anyway, this could be wishful thinking here, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a leadership losing ordeal. It's all suddenly becoming very clear to the populace at large how stretched the defence forces are, for example, by the war and people are really starting to question how it's possible that there are not enough people around to help.
There are scientists and the like calling for the total abandonment of the city: they are saying that it's more effort to fix this than to rebuild elsewhere. When people are told that, they start to wonder how things like this could have happened.
On the brighter side, in a roundabout way, this could lead to a 'complete circle' of sorts. For those of us who believe that global warming is one of the major reasons for this, due to oil shortages now people may actually realise how easily things like this disappear, and it might finally lead to people starting to use less petrol-intensive cars.
When the price of fuel goes from 99.7c to 139.9c overnight, you begin to question how sensible that Dodge Ram 2500 was to buy (here's a photo for some perspective on just how ridiculously large these things are... and they're still being driven by soccer mums!).
Just on that note about oil prices: the best quote I've heard so far was a guy talking about the off-shore oil drills that were destroyed in the hurricane. The guy says "some of the drilling platforms are now floating away, being completely torn away from the drilling site, so we think there may be some damage there". You THINK there MAY be SOME damage??
Finally, the other thing I think you'll find is that relief efforts will take longer than they should because I find it hard to believe that the US will take advantage of all of the help that is being offered from other countries. I don't think they can afford to be seen as 'the superpower who needed Cuba to give them doctors'...
That's the end of my rant, except for one thing: Daniel, I think you'll find that John Titor predicted something quite similar to this! 🙂
Here in Canada (Daniel: you have no idea how much I just love being able to say that!) I get what could be considered 'the best of both worlds': I get all of the news from the US, but with the Canadian perspective (to a degree). Anyway, this could be wishful thinking here, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a leadership losing ordeal. It's all suddenly becoming very clear to the populace at large how stretched the defence forces are, for example, by the war and people are really starting to question how it's possible that there are not enough people around to help.
There are scientists and the like calling for the total abandonment of the city: they are saying that it's more effort to fix this than to rebuild elsewhere. When people are told that, they start to wonder how things like this could have happened.
On the brighter side, in a roundabout way, this could lead to a 'complete circle' of sorts. For those of us who believe that global warming is one of the major reasons for this, due to oil shortages now people may actually realise how easily things like this disappear, and it might finally lead to people starting to use less petrol-intensive cars.
When the price of fuel goes from 99.7c to 139.9c overnight, you begin to question how sensible that Dodge Ram 2500 was to buy (here's a photo for some perspective on just how ridiculously large these things are... and they're still being driven by soccer mums!).
Just on that note about oil prices: the best quote I've heard so far was a guy talking about the off-shore oil drills that were destroyed in the hurricane. The guy says "some of the drilling platforms are now floating away, being completely torn away from the drilling site, so we think there may be some damage there". You THINK there MAY be SOME damage??
Finally, the other thing I think you'll find is that relief efforts will take longer than they should because I find it hard to believe that the US will take advantage of all of the help that is being offered from other countries. I don't think they can afford to be seen as 'the superpower who needed Cuba to give them doctors'...
That's the end of my rant, except for one thing: Daniel, I think you'll find that John Titor predicted something quite similar to this! 🙂
Users who are viewing this thread
2020 Ladder
| Team | P | W | D | L | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulldogs | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 74 | 14 |
| 2 | Storm | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 78 | 12 |
| 3 | Raiders | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 58 | 12 |
| 4 | Warriors | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 12 |
| 5 | Broncos | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 78 | 10 |
| 6 | Cowboys | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | -10 | 10 |
| 7 | Sharks | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 39 | 8 |
| 8 | Sea Eagles | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 36 | 8 |
| 9 | Tigers | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 8 |
| 10 | Dragons | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | -8 | 8 |
| 11 | Rabbitohs | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -44 | 8 |
| 12 | Dolphins | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 6 |
| 13 | Roosters | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -52 | 6 |
| 14 | Titans | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -68 | 6 |
| 15 | Knights | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -74 | 6 |
| 16 | Eels | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -107 | 6 |
| 17 | Panthers | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -26 | 4 |
