"This is America? This is an outrage."- Page 12

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:04am

Dede--it's past political warfare. It's the simple fact that justice must be served. It's the fact that this country is NOT prepared to help its people in either a natural disaster or a terror attack.

And these are very worthy discussions. It's perfectly acceptable for people to both be concerned about the people affected by this disaster and have dialogues about what went wrong. We did it after 9/11. We've done it after every terrible event. Even the most political of posts here take nothing away from the human center of this horrible event.

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:05am

I hope you are well.

It is a political thing. The man who allowed your fellow citizens to die was elected to protect them and he failed. He failed. This is political. He should be impeached and brought up on charges of criminal negligence. This is reality. Many of the people who failed New Orleans are elected officials and they must pay for what they have done.

[dededarlin]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 1:10am

no, i do understand that it is political...that's not what i meant. what i was offended by were the people who were saying it was "a great moment in time" and that they were having fun, etc....

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:28am

Congressman Timothy Roemer, the former 9/11 Commissioner, was just on MSNBC saying that the richest, most powerful country in the world failed to get its citizens water in the aftermath of the hurricane. He pointed out that if it ever becomes necessary to evacuate an American city due to chemical or nuclear terrorist attack, we learned from Katrina that we won't be able to do it. He also said that people shouldn't engage in "The Blame Game," (god, how sick I am of that phrase) and that what we have to do is "get it right."

Dede, I believe that what you see happening here in this thread the strong reaction to the crystal clear evidence that this adminsitration, this vacationing president, the FEMA under W, are the ones who have now officially failed on SUCH a grand scale that citizens of this country were left to die of dehydration and a host of other reasons, while the system was in paralysis.

Clearly, this is not something that this group of not-very-bright people is going to be able to clear up any time soon. They're not suddenly "going to get better at it." It's pretty clear that in the event of a SURPRISE attack, they are not going to be able to "get it right," the irony of course being that their re-election battle cry was that they were the only people who would be able to get it right.

In that way, this is very political.

Updated On: 9/8/05 at 09:28 AM

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 9:30am

Dededarlin,
I'm from Louisiana too, although I do not live there now.
What was fun was finding the information for Yawper to show him that, in the event of a natural disaster, the Federal Government is supposed to step in and be in control. They did not.

If you honestly think anyone could possibly be having fun, well, that'd just be wrong and I'm sorry for giving you that impression.

I don't think I said it's a great moment in time but I would have to say it most certainly is. Great doesn't necessarily mean good. It's a momentous event to be sure.

[Yawper]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 10:40am

Your cherry picking of the documents you linked means nothing - if anyone is truly interested I strongly suggest reading those documents in full.

And I guarantee you federal, state and local officials will all share blame when this debacle is dissected.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:21am

Awesome, Yawper. As usual, people want proof but show no admission of the proof shown.
I cherry picked so I wouldn't have to put the entire document up.
But, again, you only want to believe what you want to believe and the document (as well as the Stafford Act) clearly show that the Federal government, when it steps in, is the chief coordinator of relief efforts.
I am not clearing Nagin, Blanco and the rest of the Louisiana government of all blame...but clearly, from the outset, Blanco knew she was going to be outresourced in this disaster and conceded to Federal relief, which did not come in time.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 12:43pm

Anyone who tries to defend Bush, his admin, and FEMA are clearly delusional. And, it's past Bush hating and tin foil hat wearing liberal tongue wagging. It's simply about these are the people in charge and they can't do their jobs.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 6:19pm

The billions of dollars spent on Homeland Security to protect this nation in event of natural disaster or terrorist attack went to WHAT exactly? What is a government for if not to protect its citizens? It is the federal government's job when natural disaster hits.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 7:04pm

Oh NAMO! How dare you play THE BLAME GAME! You should know full well that it is NOT ok to play THE BLAME GAME unless you are blaming the EVIL DEMOCRATIC leaders of Louisiana who failed. That is the ONLY time it is ok to play THE BLAME GAME.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:18pm

I guess I just won The Shame Game by accidentally playing The Blame Glame.

Next is Chertoff!
Chertoff Chertoff Bo-Bertoff
Banana-fanna for fertoff
Mee my mo jerkoff
Chertoff!

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:19pm

The funniest post in weeks!!! Thanks!!!!!!!

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/05 at 11:22pm

C'mere, Namo--I'LL shame you...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 12:16pm

"I am stunned by an interview I conducted with New Orleans Detective Lawrence Dupree. He told me they were trying to rescue people with a helicopter and the people were so poor they were afraid it would cost too much to get a ride and they had no money for a 'ticket.' Dupree was shaken telling us the story. He just couldn't believe these people were afraid they'd be charged for a rescue."

- Posted on CNN.com Sept. 5 by CNN's Drew Griffin in New Orleans.

Speaking of shame.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 2:03pm

I suck at the BLAME GAME. In college, we would play STRIP BLAME and I was always naked in 10 minutes.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/9/05 at 3:14pm

oooh--when's the next party!?

Posted: 9/9/05 at 7:59pm

Radio host Glenn Beck talks about his hatred for the Katrina victims and the families of the 9-11 victims. He tells us how much he hates both of them.

captain_obvious, I think we have found your soul mate!

edit: I resisted starting yet one more Katrina thread.

Glenn Beck called hurricane survivors in New Orleans Updated On: 9/9/05 at 07:59 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/10/05 at 12:52am

The Washington Post reported that five of the top eight FEMA officials had little experience in handling disasters and owed their jobs to their Republican political ties to Bush.

Brown is a friend of former Bush campaign director Joe Allbaugh, the previous FEMA head who was a major Bush fund-raiser. Last week, as criticism of his response to the disaster swelled, Bush gave him a public vote of confidence, saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Hold the phone! Wasn't it this President who was going to restore honor and dignity to the White House? Must've been somebody else.
AP Article

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 7:53pm

Would anyone else agree that this is one of the most powerful threads in BWW history? This thread should be preserved in a time capsule.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 10:09pm

Word.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 10:24pm

I remember how apocalyptic everything felt when this was going on.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 12:08am

Reminds me of how many posters I love here. Some of whom I've actually met.

[wink]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 7:16am

I just started working back in a refurbished ER after working for weeks in a FEMA ER trailer that costs $30,000 a day. FEMA has made a lot of unfullfilled promises to homeless residents here in the Midwest. One of my co-workers who lost her home spends an average of four hours a week on hold when she calls FEMA about yet another complication or the same pile of forms she fills out twice a week.


Despite this disaster in my city, I can at least breathe a sigh of relief that Namo is back on BWW.

You were sorely missed Namo.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 10:06am

I have a FEMA story. My sister used to live in a trailer in Florida and during a hurricane her trailer received a great deal of damage-mostly to the roof. It ended up with a hole in the roof. FEMA wouldn't offer any money to fix the roof because they claimed that my sister did the damage herself.

Meanwhile, she's handicapped and in a wheelchair.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 9:46pm

Bump.