Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Katrina and World Support?

Peter, I realize I will be in the minority on this for quite some time, partially because of how this entire event has been reported, and partially because people look at this and say : "I am going to blame the other party". I still think the response from the federal government (this means The Coast Guard, National Guard units outside the affected states, Homeland Security, and the military) has been extraordinary.

For example, your link stated "Bush takes responsibility for slow response".

Yet, here are the quotes from the President:

In reply to:

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"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong," said Bush.

I'm not going to defend the process going in, but I am going to defend the people who are on the front line of saving lives," he added. "I also want people in America to understand how hard people are working to save lives down there in not only New Orleans, but surrounding parishes and along the Gulf Coast."

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Next, I may have missed this, but can you point me to where President Bush has blamed anyone else for this disaster ?

So if it's all Bush's fault, does that mean that the feds now have to come up with a disaster preparedness plan for EVERY city in America?
They'll need to look at the infrastructure of every city to identify weak points that may fail in any contingency. No big deal - I'm sure there are plenty of folks in DC intimately familiar with Prado Dam, the topography of Corona (my hometown), and every detail of every other city in the US. Shouldn't be too much work, or too costly, eh?
Or... Perhaps state and municipal gov'ts should be doing the assessing, planning and calculating? Then notify the feds and the public of their disaster plans and what roles the feds and the public might be required to play. That seems to make more sense.
Folks around here are all suddenly concerned about "the big one" again. And the local media is more than happy to fan the flames. They sure love having the public careen from one imaginary (or impending ) crisis to another, don't they?

If it takes constant media stories about impending disasted to get people to assemble an earthquake preparedness kit for their home, I'm all for it.

They need to put a heated dome over North Dakota and Minnesota with a heated grid which is switched on November 1st, then left on until April 15th. I'm all for this and I think gasoline taxes should be raised to pay for it. I'll walk as long as I am can feel the warmth.

"If it takes constant media stories about impending disasted to get people to assemble an earthquake preparedness kit for their home, I'm all for it."

I would be, too, except if the disaster doesn't hit in the next few months they'll have the public all in a frenzy about ____________________ by then. Can't keep going on and on about "the big one" year after year. Six months from now the public crisis that has everybody's knickers in a twist will be something else (missing teens, corporate scandal, leaked memos, whatever).
Disaster kits have to be maintained; fresh batteries, fresh water, rotating fresh food stocks, etc... Assuming the public lacks the discipline to do the job, a burden falls on gov't to provide for the public good. A distant centralized gov't seems less well suited to the management and disbursement of such reserves as do local gov'ts. Shorter response/delivery time, better knowledge of the local population's tastes and needs, etc... (Apparently there are no Creole or "soul food" flavored MREs ).
Disasters happen.
Anybody else find the little speech John Roberts gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee moving? I was getting kind of choked up myself, being a sensitive new-age kind of guy.

While we are waiting for all the finger pointing by President Bush ... a hypothetical question:

From this point on, If a hurricane of, say, category 3 or higher, is headed towards any city, should federal troops then force mandatory evacuation ahead of the storm ?

And, if they do, will they be given a total pass so that noone will say they over reacting ?

That's a gross oversimplification. Really what needs to happen is better communication btw. the federal and local govenments. We need to devise a reliable system of disaster management countrywide. This system needs to have both general and state-specific directives. Where that line is between federal and state needs to be solid, not fuzzy.

If creating a hard storm severity evacuation threshhold is what a state and the feds agree on, then so be it.

Peter, You are basing this on what you are reading from the mouths of journalists. I still think people will eventually look at the response from the various factions of the Federal government and wonder how they did this operation so well.

I have a very good friend who is an army helicopter pilot. What I am getting from him is not even CLOSE to what the media is telling us.

And Peter, I know you think what I posted was "over simplified", it wasn't. I think people will scream bloody murder the first time they are forced to leave their homes and the hurricane misses.

Those people are the same that are screaming now.

Well, I've been away for a long while, wow did this thread grow... not gonna even pretend to say I read it all either.



Just wanted to say that since I posted this I have seen some support from rest of the world and I am thankful for that. In fact it reached the point that really surprised me. Thats a good thing.

Inane - good to see you back...

And - for those who want a different perspective, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this editorial:

The Post Gazette is not exactly a right wing magazine, either...

The Feds don't suck nearly as much as the media wants you to believe they do