How New Orleans is being handled.

[MalReynolds]

I found this on another site, and I thought that it made a lot of sense. I'm removing the statements about Kayne West because at this point, they are irrellevant.

I don't think most people understand the delay in reaching everyone hit by Katrina.
A. The area destroyed is roughly the size of the ENTIRE United kingdom. no country on Earth keeps enough back-up supplies and rations to deal with a situation of this magnitude.
B. You can't drive down the streets to rescue, you must use small fishing boats or helicopters to rescue the thousands and thousands (and thousands) of people and you are looking at 4,5, or 6 people per boat/copter at most each trip. How many trips do you think it would take these small boats? They can only go so many miles before they run out of gas, and the debris most likely blocks most streets. And when you add idiots shooting at the rescuers, well these arent navy seals going in here, most are emt's or just average unarmed people trying to save lives.
C. Should the Mayor/Governor/President evacuate the entire south coastal area states everytime a hurricane approaches? Do you know how many hurricanes come ashore every year? People wouldn't listen, because the looters would stay and go nuts, as you saw here.
D. The people were told TO LEAVE THE AREA, they choose not to, or unfortunatly they were too poor or unable to leave.

And, I read somewhere on here that someone is saying that Bush spent more than 48% of his presidency on vacation? That simply cannot be true. That statistic is staggering. It's true that he's taken more vacation time than any other president, but half of his presidency is a bit ludicrus.

Anyways, the point in the post is that while our reaction was slow, it was also slowed by the magnitude of this event. I don't think anyone in New Orleans expected it to be as bad as it was. I don't think, no matter how much of an idiot he is, the President really knew how bad it was going to be. I know I didn't, and I'm a well informed youth. All I thought was, "Well, this is another hurricane in hurricane season. Best brace myself for storms the blow up north."

No matter how badly this was "bungled" or "handled poorly", I think that what is most important is what's happening now. I didn't see anyone on here get up in arms when this was actually happening. I saw posts about "Sluts: Ladies, Keep on Truckin" but I didn't see anything about how the aftermath was being handled... That is, until newscasters started talking about how poorly it was being handled.

But I digress... I think the situation was shitty to begin with. But it's not like the President was being malicious, sitting in the White House rubbing his hands together and laughing at the tragedy. Mobilizing troops takes time...

And I didn't think they would need to be moblized.

Mal

PS: Don't delete this. I put a lot of time into it.

[QreepyBORIS]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

No, I think Raegan has him beat by a couple days. Maybe that changed recently.

He has spent 340 days on vacation, if I remember. It was in TIME magazine's statistics column thinger. That's somewhat less than 48%.

[MalReynolds]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

That's 18-20 odd percent. Not great, but about 48% less than 48%.

Mal

[Cenright]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

Right now, things are moving as fast as possible. They sent those that had to stay to the Super Dome. They already evacuated those people. Those didn't have a choice. The rest of the people, or at least a good part of them, just CHOSE not to leave. And many of them mobbed the Super Dome afterward, just to steal a spot from those that had no choice. I'm sorry but people today think about nothing but themselves.

Those that chose to stay, chose to take the chances. There was a woman that chose to stay, even though she had 2 children to think about. She tried to push in and get those children evacuated on the Super Dome busses. When they refused her, she threw a fit and told those rescuers that "I hope you can live with your conscience!" Now, who should be having the guilt, the one that refused to help them get out the second time, or the mother that refused to get them out the first time?

And now others are saying the rescues arent going fast enough. (I would put money on the fact that the people accusing rescuers of not going fast enough, aren't the ones that are doing the rescuing.)

Sorry if I feel sick about the selfishness of so many people in the world.

[QreepyBORIS]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

They might not be the ones doing the rescuing, but it is not too unlikely that they are the the ones getting rescued (or not).

As well as many others, of course.

[Jam930]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

I Agree with this 100%. I'm tired of people exaggerating the blame of the "delayed" reaction on Bush or the government. Seems like a new trend or something.

Of course the whole thing is going to suck... doesn't always mean we need to stretch blame to people.


A friend showed me this earlier today, kinda relevant, I thought it was pretty funny:

http://kerrystopshurricane.ytmnd.com/

[stretchypanda]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

I've been waiting for another of these topics to come up. 4srs.

Mississippi took the hardest hit in this hurricane, but nobody seems to be paying as much attention to the towns that were completely wiped out in southern MS as they are to NO. Because none of the cities in MS are as... "important"(?) as New Orleans is, and ALSO because they're not complaining. The mayor of one of the towns that was destroyed actually stayed to wait out the hurricane (as did many others along the gulf coast of Mississippi, partly because they weren't expecting a direct hit and partly because most of them had lived through Hurricane Camille in '62). He was there to help his townspeople when they needed it.

The governor of Mississippi made my day yesterday, during an interview with Katie Couric. When asked if he was just a little disapointed in the way the federal government and the Bush administration had responded (because the media is just having a hell of a time blaming this entire catastrophe on one man), Gov. Barbour replied, "Well, Katie, this is not about POLITICS. Republican, Democrat, black, white -- we were ALL affected and we ALL have to pull together to get through it."

And I'd like to quote a post on the Xanga of one of my former TAG students, a resident of Choudrant, LA:

In watching coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one thought comes to mind again and again: Why the hell did we elect Kathleen Blanco. She did good with some things, but in others she has fallen far short of par, especially in responding to this disaster.

On the national news, we see where federal officials are jumping all over the White House (I will stand up for George on this issue) and the military for not responding quickly enough to the crisis in New Orleans. First off, they couldn't rush federal aid to us in the massive quanitities needed unless the governor requested it. They can send limited aid, but not huge amounts. Unfortunately for everyone in our state, Blanco didn't. An evacuation before the storm wasn't even ordered until less than 24 hours before, and that was by the mayor of the city, not by anyone on the state level. Also, once the storm was over, that order was lifted, which helped to contribute to the chaos that erupted.

As for aid from other areas being slow getting here, take the infamous examples of the people stranded in the Superdome and New Orleans' convention center. We can see clip after clip on the news in which people scream that they need food, water, and medicine. Note to everyone, the Red Cross had it ready to roll in as soon as the winds from the storm died down. They were not allowed to take it in though because Louisiana Homeland Security wouldn't let them deliver it for several days. Why? The Superdome was a "shelter of last resort", which apparently means people should bring there own food and water. Basically, this meant Homeland Security (state level, not national) was trying to get people to leave by depriving them of these items.

People can blame whomever they wish, be it George, FEMA, the Red Cross, even Ray Nagin. However, all we really have to blame are ourselves and our pitiful excuse of a state government, which can't even follow its own emergency plans, which called for everything from evacuations using school buses to immediate testing and rebuilding of breached levies (which didn't happen until they busted 24 hours after the storm hit.)

EDIT: Just a couple of things: 1) Even though I live in Louisiana, its about time that the media started paying attention to areas other than New Orleans. Mississippi bore the brunt of the storm, and needs aid just as much as we do. 2) Even here in Louisiana, not enough attention is being given to the parishes farther south of New Orleans that broke a lot of the force of the storm.
And for any of those who wonder why so many people didn't leave (speaking of those south of N.O., not those in the city), it is actually quite simple. For these people (mostly crazy Cajuns - I can call them that, they're my friends), hurricanes are a way of life. There are older couples who have lived through storm after storm of all levels, never having left their homes. For these people, the idea will never cross their minds to leave because, for them, you don't run form the storm, you board up and sit it out. Unfortunately, this will probably be why many bodies will be found further south, especially in St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes.

[Jam930]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

There are older couples who have lived through storm after storm of all levels, never having left their homes. For these people, the idea will never cross their minds to leave because, for them, you don't run form the storm, you board up and sit it out. Unfortunately, this will probably be why many bodies will be found further south, especially in St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes.

...I think, even after seeing all of this, that I would be tempted to try to sit out a hurricane. I think it would be an amazing experience... for good or for worse.

To really believe that a hurricane could rip down and flood everything you've worked for in a few hours has got to be hard.

I wonder how many people jumped into their storm shelters and got flooded.

[stretchypanda]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

My parents grew up in Oklahoma, now they live in Mississippi. I was freaked out when I knew the hurricane was coming right at them, but my mom was like, "Psh -- these people are sissies." Ahh, tornado survivors.

She also said that if she'd been in any real danger, if a big-ass hurricane was threatening her home, she'd probably just load the horses and whatever memories she wanted to save into the trailer and leave and never come back.

[talisman]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

It's not really about that people stayed behind, that's to be expected. It's not that all the poor couldn't evacuate, that's to be expected to. The real question is why planning wasn't put into place before the storm hit, when it was known the storm would hit.

I AM critical of the response because I feel that if such a storm is approaching and the damage it can cause is known (and it was known, many times have people stressed the perilous situation faced by new orleans should a hurricane strike it), the authorities should "game" the storm. Send buses in BEFORE the storm hits and have them waiting very near the likely to be affected region. Begin mobilizing as soon as the potential disaster is known. Officials waited until AFTER the storm hit to really begin diving into the logistics and even then had their feet tied with bureaucracy (having to wait until the governor asks the president for aid and such).

I think that if you simply say "oh man this storm was so bad no one could have known the logistics are impossibly complicated" you're being naive and unaware of the resources this nation possesses. Why weren't food distribution companies (for example in the canned goods, water bottling companies, and produce companies) anywhere that had experience with trucks called and asked to offer their services immediately should the damage by the storm warrant it.

And why the hell is the director of FEMA the prior head of the arabian horse racing league or whatever? Why didn't bush appoint someone much more qualified to run it, such as someone in red cross? and why did congress confirm the nomination (not sure if they had to or not)?

Furthermore, Bush's personal response to the situation, and I just mean the way he talked about the disaster and his speeches following it were terrible. He needs to be strong and willing to criticize his own government when it needs criticism, in public. He knows the relief effort was botched for the first two days... he said as much in person to Mayor Nagin, as Nagin revealed on 60 Minutes.

the problem with the response to this storm was that the authorities waited until after the storm to really begin focusing their efforts on helping those affected. If the disaster is possible, and it was known that this particular flooding situation was possible, then you start acting immediately, in the days before the storm, making sure the resources are in place and setting up logistics then.

It's not like buses couldn't get into the city in the two days after the storm. Private organizations, such as the Hilton hotel managed to contact a busing company and get all it's guests out long before even the first buses began arriving at the Superdome.

Don't just say "man no one could have predicted the degree of destruction this hurricane would bring, and the logistics are just impossible to figure out." You plan for the worst and hope for the best... and the governments of both states and the federal government were far too sluggish in accomplishing this.

edit: lol brown got fired. don't think the government doesn't know it fucked up.

[-Skooter-]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

I was ultimately the one who wrote the 48% quote. (Go figure that you're conflicting with something, and I said it, HAHA) Anyways, I READ it, knowing whether or not it's true, is another thing. It was in a book somewhere... I found it interesting, because everytime we have a crisis, he's at the beach, or his ranch... Never quite convienent. Anyways, If I can find the article, I'll definitely post.

[MalReynolds]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

I really think he plans it that way. When shit happens, he knows in advance, and is thusly at the beach or at his ranch.

Actually, what I hear is that his ranch can function with most of the services of the White House. Same with Air Force One... All you really need is a fax machine and phone with the conference all feature. Yeah, him on vacation a lot is a bit much, but I'm not debating wether or not he's out to play. I think the situation was handled about as well as was to be expected...

Mal

[jewpinthethird]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina

Just a timeline of events before and after Katrina.

[-Skooter-]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

August 26th : 11:50PM - Blanco & President George W. Bush have phone conversations; in which Bush allegedly requests that the governor turn over control of the Louisiana National Guard to FEMA; the governor refuses.[2]

August 27th: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for a voluntary evacuation of the city. The emergency plans rely on citizens to bring their own 3-day supply of food and water to the Superdome and Convention Center. Although current Louisiana Emergency Evacuation guidelines allow use of public school buses, no idle school buses are used to transport the poor." [3]

It really is saddening when the government of Louisianna actually throws there own people in the water and says sink or swim... I still believe that Bush should have tried to overthrow governor Blanco... She's an idiot.

[stretchypanda]

RE: How New Orleans is being handled.

See? Dubya worked on his vacation!

And State Officials TURNED DOWN FEDERAL AID.

Thursday, September 1
The national president of the American Red Cross, Marsha Evans, requests to pass out food and water to those taking shelter at the Superdome. The red cross is rebuffed by state officals.

The feds continually requested that control be handed over to them to handle this crisis, and LouisiaNa turned them down.

They don't tell you these things on the news. Why? It wouldn't make the federal government look like the bad guy anymore.