Bush says response is "unacceptable"

[muskrat89]

I belong to another forum, one comprised of Outdoor Writers. One of the writers, Tom Gresham, lives in Louisiana. This is part of what he posted today (we were worried about he and some other members that we hadn't heard of since the hurricane):

I live in Louisiana.

First. Do not believe a word of anything you read in the New York Times.  Period.  Parade rest.

Bob Herbert and Molly Ivans are just snipers.  They know nothing other than their political idiology.  Morons with megaphones.

Anyone trying to make political capital out of this national tragedy should be shot and hung on the fence.

America has been gut shot.  New Orleans is Bagdad on the Bayou.

What you have seen on TV doesn't capture one percent of the damage here.  The area is the size of Great Britain.  Why didn't the rescue people get there faster?  Many reasons, not the least of which is that "the authorties" will always let you down, but also, it is a HUGE area in which no ground movement was possible for days, there was no communication, and few who were not here really understood the extent of the damage.  I fear that Bush was getting bad info.  The governor of LA screwed up in spades.  The mayor of New Orleans should be arrested for his malfeasance.

Having said that, the people were wonderful.  We have thousands of refugees in my town.  I've been housing 12 family members from South Louisiana and Mississippi.  My son's house in New Orleans is under 12 feet of water, and will be for another month.  Total loss.  My church is providing simple things like toothbrushes,etc.  That gives you an idea of the scope of the needs.

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Shelie Jackson Lee should be arrested for inciting to riot.  Of course, their rice bowls depend on formenting racial unrest.

Only a racist could imagine that there were racial motivations on the speed with which help arrived.

If you want to help (and not just bitch at each other) make a substantial donation to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, or some group.  Go to www.nra.org and choose one of the many organizations on the list th

 

[Armymedic]

Your friend speaks of scale, I was talking to my wife about the scale of numbers and why they couldn't evacuate those people faster...

first buses: There were 50 000 (roughly people) in the Super Dome. An average city bus carries 50 pax, a cruiser (Greyhound) carries 40 pax, so you need roughly 1000 buses/bus trips just to evac the Dome. Then the round trip drive for the buses...how long?

Helicopters: The CG copters and Blackhawks you seen on tv can only carry 3-7 evacuees, depending on what medical pers and equipment the have on board. Also they are flying them to the evac area (which thankfully is close) so lets say 1 hour round trip. Every 4th trip a refuel and rest stop for roughly and hour...and flying only in daylight. So each copter may evac up to a max of 40 evacuees every day.

They were talking the other day about evacuating up to 100 000 people....huge scale in numbers.

Scale of this will be unfathomable to us who are not there to see.

 

[Ubique RCA]

To say that the city did enough before the incident would be less than true. The city had fueled city school busses sitting there doing nothing ...when a teenager of reportedly 15 years old comendeered a bus put his family on it and drove to texas (picking up other along the way). Now tell me that the city did enough before the incident. Which begs another question....when all of this is going on there are people who are complaining that they are stranded and couldn't leave the city, sure there are those that were but if a 15 year old can drive a bus 8 hours to Texas I'm sure that some could have left.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1763947,00.html

 

[tomahawk6]

http://epaper.ardemgaz.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=ArDemocrat/2005/09/07&ID=Ar00101

Problem's with the coordination of Guard units.

 

[Kirkhill]

:blotto:

 

[tomahawk6]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?hp&ex=1126324800&en=905e7a862e1c0023&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Politics complicates the flow of relief forces. No big surprise I suppose.

 

[muskrat89]

More food for thought....


Interesting note on FOXNews.com:

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,168846,00.html

Excerpts:
The Sierra Club and other groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi River levees because the plan would jeopardize Louisiana forests.
And the New Orleans Times-Picayune has reported that "Save our Wetlands" successfully sued the corps of engineers three decades ago to stop construction on floodgates to block storm surges from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchatrain, saying they were too damaging to the lake's eco-system.

 

[muskrat89]

More lunacy

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1479745/posts


The Red Cross Blocked

The Fox News Channel's Major Garrett was just on my show extending the story he had just reported on Brit Hume's show: The Red Cross is confirming to Garrett that it had prepositioned water, food, blankets and hygiene products for delivery to the Superdome and the Convention Center in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, but were blocked from delivering those supplies by orders of the Louisiana state government, which did not want to attract people to the Superdome and/or Convention Center. Garrett has no paper trail yet, but will follow up on his verbal confirmation from sources at the highest levels of the Red Cross.

 

[Infanteer]

Looks like the FEMA guy (who got fired from the horsy club) is taking the first fall.

 

[Kirkhill]

Couple of brilliant articles in the Globe and Mail today from Margaret Wente and Rex Murphy

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050910/COREX10/TPColumnists/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050910/COWENT10/TPColumnists/

Couldn't help but link Wente's column (Bureaucracy Kills, Kills, Kills) to this article where Gomery seems to be planning to take on the politicization and corruption of the Civil Service.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050910.wxgomery10/BNStory/National/

Oh to have a Non-Partisan, NON VOTING, Civil Service and not a BUREAUCRACY.

 

[Kirkhill]

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/002660.html

Follow these links on taking responsibility and the reason for the sudden urge for "bipartisanism" on the part of the Democratic leadership in Washington.

Seems like another politician forgot that microphones are ALWAYS live.