Making Baby Jesus Cry

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Is that true whenever the Coast Guard rescues a boater, or is there some special secret law that absolves a Republican president in these circumstances so long as a state or local official can be blamed?

I think the Coast Guard has primary jurisdiction in that case but my law of the sea knowledge might be watery. NPI.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Mark Morial* was on Meet the Press this weekend (along with others).

Among other things he mentioned, was that after their experience with Hurricane Georges in 1998, they realized 25% of the N.O. would refuse an evacuation order. Where was the city's plan to confront this reality?

*Former corrupt† Mayor of New Orleans

†This may be redundant.

It is redundant.

Did he have any insight as to why Nagin (D) failed to employ the buses? Why? WHY??????

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Still entrenched in your defence. Further, people like Sean Penn can help, not by seeking out media ops to engage in rescue operations that they are ill-suited to be involved in and the attendant platforms to spout their partisan rhetoric, rather they can give money and lots of it.

Perhaps there are other ways that Sean Penn could have helped, and I suspect that you are right. But we don't really know how effective he was, do we, since all that story told us is that his boat had some water in it.

Sean Penn is probably worth tens of millions of dollars if not hundreds. He espouses fairly socialistic rhetoric. Why not keep a million or two to live on (that is more than enough for his projected lifespan, especially if he is so fucking stupid that he sets sail without the drain plug in) and give the rest to NO? Oh wait, he's a limousine liberal.

Well, you know more than I do about Sean Penn's net worth and his views, and I applaud you for reading People magazine so carefully and sharing the choice bits with us here. I'm little confused, though, because none of the limousine conservatives I know of have decided to give all their money to New Orleans. Is there some hypocrisy in getting of your ass and going there to help that I'm missing?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
NotMe is gone. I can't say how I know that, but you have to trust me on this one. Gone.

I will miss it. *sniff*

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Perhaps there are other ways that Sean Penn could have helped, and I suspect that you are right. But we don't really know how effective he was, do we, since all that story told us is that his boat had some water in it.

I take back everytihng I said about him. It looks like its good he's there, as he seems to have found an area where the hundreds of boats and helicopters have yet to find.

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/...temId=20274160

• Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has been assisting rescue efforts in New Orleans, said the US government did not "seem to be inclined to help".
  
  "We were pulling drowning people out of the water, it's the ultimate distress and human suffering ... dead bodies," he told GMTV.
  
  Penn said he had spent nine hours on Monday searching the water for people and during all that time he saw just three boats carrying US officials.
  
  "There are people that are dying right now and I mean babies and old people and everybody in between - they're dying. There are people dying and (the US government are) not putting the boats in the water, I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Is that true whenever the Coast Guard rescues a boater, or is there some special secret law that absolves a Republican president in these circumstances so long as a state or local official can be blamed?

This would be a better analogy if the ocean surrounding the united states weren't subject, pursuant to statute, to the jurisdiction of the federal government.

ETA: Merde. STP.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
I think when someone dies, unless it is someone devoid of any redeeming humanity, eg Castro or Arafat, the polite thing is to offer praise. If you can't do that best to keep your mouth shut, although in Souter's case, in context, he has a duty to history and the public to make a comment. And he did. Classless.

I can't believe that Souter didn't include praise for Rehnquist when he spoke to Linda Greenhouse, and you can't believe that that New York Times wouldn't have recited any such comments in its article. One of us must be wrong.

Speaking of which, what do you think about Dersh-bag calling Rehnquist a "thug" within hours of his death? Classy?

I missed that.

You spend a lot of time attending to the public utterances of people like Sean Penn and Alan Dershowitz (and, of course, HRC) who bother you. If it was the gays who bothered you, I would say you were repressed, NTTAWWT. I think it means you're a closet liberal.

Welcome aboard.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
This would be a better analogy if the ocean surrounding the united states weren't subject, pursuant to statute, to the jurisdiction of the federal government.

ETA: Merde. STP.

Good point. So when making a rescue, the Coast Guard determines whether a boater is beyond three miles from the shore, and only then proceeds? Thanks for clearing that one up.

I have very little doubt that when the spin subsides, it will be determined that Nagin and Blanco, inter alia, made some errors, but I have a very hard time believing that one of them will be failing to have timely asked for federal aid. If there's anything that most states do very well, it's ask for federal resources, and Louisiana is surely right up there in this department.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Perhaps there are other ways that Sean Penn could have helped, and I suspect that you are right. But we don't really know how effective he was, do we, since all that story told us is that his boat had some water in it.

He aborted his mission.

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Well, you know more than I do about Sean Penn's net worth and his views, and I applaud you for reading People magazine so carefully and sharing the choice bits with us her

Nice politics of personal destruction Ty. I don't read People (except in the checkout line). The entertainment industry is tens of billions of dollars industry. By reading the Wall Street Journal I get some basic knowledge about it and Sean Penn's contribution to the same. From that I am extrapolating, which is why there was a relatively wide range to my estimate.

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I'm little confused, though, because none of the limousine conservatives I know of have decided to give all their money to New Orleans. Is there some hypocrisy in getting of your ass and going there to help that I'm missing?

There is no such thing as a limousing repiblican. Republicans are capitalists not socialists and as such there is no reason to expect that they should give anything away for free. They pay the taxes that fund the Dems social projects.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I take back everytihng I said about him. It looks like its good he's there, as he seems to have found an area where the hundreds of boats and helicopters have yet to find.

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/...temId=20274160

• Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has been assisting rescue efforts in New Orleans, said the US government did not "seem to be inclined to help".
  
  "We were pulling drowning people out of the water, it's the ultimate distress and human suffering ... dead bodies," he told GMTV.
  
  Penn said he had spent nine hours on Monday searching the water for people and during all that time he saw just three boats carrying US officials.
  
  "There are people that are dying right now and I mean babies and old people and everybody in between - they're dying. There are people dying and (the US government are) not putting the boats in the water, I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."

As long as he has helped at least one person, who cares what his intentions are? Almost all volunteer work/charity is done out of self-interest. People feel better about themselves when they help other people or try to help other people.

[nononono]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Does chronological order matter? Nagin was the first responder, his failure set up the Feds opportunity to render a unacceptable performance.

FWIW, Nagin's latest spin:

After days of blaming the federal officials for not responding quickly enough to the Hurricane Katrina crisis, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin praised President Bush on Monday - and charged that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco had delayed federal rescue efforts by 24-hours.

"I'm so happy that the president came down here," Nagin said of Bush's Friday visit to Louisiana in an interview with CNN. "He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action."

But Nagin had harsh words for his state's leaders, telling CNN: "What the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate."


Or course no acceptance of any blame on his part. The dems are really pieces of work.

What an unbelievable mess. Here's the full version of what Nagin said on CNN about this. Blanco's office was apparently unavailable for comment:

NAGIN: Look, I've gotten promises to -- I can't stand anymore promises. I don't want to hear anymore promises. I want to see stuff done. And that's why I'm so happy that the president came down here, because I think they were feeding him a line of bull also. And they were telling him things weren't as bad as it was.

He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action.

And what the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate.

And then, the president and the governor sat down. We were in Air Force One. I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die.'

S. O'BRIEN: What date was this? When did you say that? When did you say...

NAGIN: Whenever air Force One was here.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

NAGIN: And this was after I called him on the telephone two days earlier. And I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two need to get together on the same page, because of the lack of coordination, people are dying in my city.'

S. O'BRIEN: That's two days ago.

NAGIN: They both shook -- I don't know the exact date. They both shook their head and said yes. I said, 'Great.' I said, 'Everybody in this room is getting ready to leave.' There was senators and his cabinet people, you name it, they were there. Generals. I said, 'Everybody right now, we're leaving. These two people need to sit in a room together and make a doggone decision right now.'

S. O'BRIEN: And was that done?

NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."

He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.

S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?

NAGIN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?

NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating [I'm guessing he really said advocate - this was a rush transcript] a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.

S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.

NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I take back everytihng I said about him. It looks like its good he's there, as he seems to have found an area where the hundreds of boats and helicopters have yet to find.

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/...temId=20274160

• Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has been assisting rescue efforts in New Orleans, said the US government did not "seem to be inclined to help".
  
  "We were pulling drowning people out of the water, it's the ultimate distress and human suffering ... dead bodies," he told GMTV.
  
  Penn said he had spent nine hours on Monday searching the water for people and during all that time he saw just three boats carrying US officials.
  
  "There are people that are dying right now and I mean babies and old people and everybody in between - they're dying. There are people dying and (the US government are) not putting the boats in the water, I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."

Of course, he fails to point out the criminal negligence of Nagin and Blanco. Where were the buses that left those people behind? Why did Nagin fail to dispatch them per the plan? Why? WHY?!?!?!??!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Mark Morial was on Meet the Press this weekend (along with others).

Among other things he mentioned, was that after their experience with Hurricane Georges in 1998, they realized 25% of the N.O. would refuse an evacuation order. Where was the city's plan to confront this reality?

Where was anyone's plan to confront this? I've read that FEMA identified three situations as the biggest threats to the U.S.: a terrorist attack on New York City, an earthquake in San Francisco, and a hurricane hitting New Orleans. I've also read that when planners got together to plan for the latter, someone would bring up the question of what to do about the people who did not self-evacuate, and there'd be a lot of dumb stares. No one had a plan.

So there was a huge failure here, by a variety of people. This includes the DHS and FEMA, whose mission statements suggest that preparing for events like this is their job. If this is how they've been doing their jobs, those of us in NYC and SF have a lot to worry about. (Would you trust your average big-city mayor to plan for one of these disasters?)

[nononono]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Good point. So when making a rescue, the Coast Guard determines whether a boater is beyond three miles from the shore, and only then proceeds? Thanks for clearing that one up.

I have very little doubt that when the spin subsides, it will be determined that Nagin and Blanco, inter alia, made some errors, but I have a very hard time believing that one of them will be failing to have timely asked for federal aid. If there's anything that most states do very well, it's ask for federal resources, and Louisiana is surely right up there in this department.

Ty, according to that transcript of Nagin, Blanco couldn't or wouldn't make a decision when she had the president right in front of her offering options. Granted, the transcript doesn't say what the Pres. offered, but if it is true she needed 24 hours to make a decision, then she truly has no business being in charge of anything.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Of course, he fails to point out the criminal negligence of Nagin and Blanco. Where were the buses that left those people behind? Why did Nagin fail to dispatch them per the plan? Why? WHY?!?!?!??!

And why did it take so long for Blanco and Nagin to get the National Guard there? Oh, wait...