Making Baby Jesus Cry

[nononono]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Great. What was really needed in Lousiana last week was a strong leader with the forceful presence to make sure that everyone watching on their TVs across America thought all was going well. If only Blanco had been more, Bush-like.

• "Yesterday, I was hoping President Bush would come away from his tour of the regional devastation triggered by Hurricane Katrina with a new understanding for the magnitude of the suffering and for the abject failures of the current Federal Emergency Management Agency. 24 hours later, the President has yet to answer my call for a cabinet-level official to lead our efforts. Meanwhile, FEMA, now a shell of what it once was, continues to be overwhelmed by the task at hand.
  
  "I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims -- far more efficiently than buses -- FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.
  
  "But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government.
  
  "Mr. President, I'm imploring you once again to get a cabinet-level official stood up as soon as possible to get this entire operation moving forward regionwide with all the resources -- military and otherwise -- necessary to relieve the unmitigated suffering and economic damage that is unfolding."

What about all the state resources? Are there none? Are they all being used? These are honest questions.

Funny, Nagin now seems pleased enough with the feds' assistance, particularly since Gen. Honore arrived. Note the use of a GENERAL, not a CABINET-LEVEL OFFICIAL that she's whining about above - more evidence of how the Gov. just doesn't seem to get it.

[baltassoc]

Ah hem.

[nononono]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Jesus Fucking Christ, penske. If you aren't getting paid for this by some GOP 527 group or foundation, then you should be.

Yowee! But test scores don't lie, do they? That post seemed one of the least political....

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by nononono
Yowee! But test scores don't lie, do they? That post seemed one of the least political....

I'm sure he was just quoting at random. It's just unreadable. I'm embarrassed to be seen posting here, really.

[sgtclub]

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."

I have nothing but praise for Penn. He's gotten off his ass and is trying to make a difference. More than I can say for myself.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
I'm sure he was just quoting at random. It's just unreadable. I'm embarrassed to be seen posting here, really.

Quoting what at random? Do you assert Louisana's standardised test scores are not at or near the bottom of the barrel? Are you wilfully ignorant or just a moron.

You should be embarassed. Generally.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
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?)

how come Guiliani was the point guy after 9/11 if all this stuff is Federal?

Forced evacuation would require lots of soldiers and probably a death or two. We really don't know how many would need to be forcibly evacuated because the city didn't get to providing transportation for those who wanted to leave.

And forced evacuation would be extreme, until the levees broke. People always sit through hurricaines, and the aftermath.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I have nothing but praise for Penn. He's gotten off his ass and is trying to make a difference. More than I can say for myself.

Thanks.

eta: I thought that said Penske. Merde!

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Quoting what at random? Do you assert Louisana's standardised test scores are not at or near the bottom of the barrel? Are you wilfully ignorant or just a moron.

You should be embarassed. Generally.

One of the virtues of limited government, probably.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
how come Guiliani was the point guy after 9/11 if all this stuff is Federal?

.

Guiliani is a Republican and by extension a leader. Ironically, Nagin used to be a Republican but switched to a party where he felt more at home, i.e. the party of opportunistic finger pointing no-responsibility non-leadership.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
One of the virtues of limited government, probably.

Problem is, for poor people, the government asserts a monopoly on the provision of education. The teachers unions see to it that the monopoly marginalises the poor. Uneducated underclasses makes it easier to keep those voters on the Dem plantation dependent on the socialistic nanny state programs the dems pimp as their saving grace.

[nononono]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
how come Guiliani was the point guy after 9/11 if all this stuff is Federal?

Forced evacuation would require lots of soldiers and probably a death or two. We really don't know how many would need to be forcibly evacuated because the city didn't get to providing transportation for those who wanted to leave.

And forced evacuation would be extreme, until the levees broke. People always sit through hurricaines, and the aftermath.

There are less drastic ways to encourage leaving. Tierney in the NYT talks about what in another part of the country subject to a lot of hurricaine activity have done to get people moving. Last year I know people living in that part of VA who'd never left for a hurricaine did go when the word came down that it could be a huge one. There are ways to make it sound really serious.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/op...tml?oref=login

[you have to login to the times]

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Problem is, for poor people, the government asserts a monopoly on the provision of education. The teachers unions see to it that the monopoly marginalises the poor. Uneducated underclasses makes it easier to keep those voters on the Dem plantation dependent on the socialistic nanny state programs the dems pimp as their saving grace.

From what i can gather about his education, much of what you've said here will have gone over his head.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Guiliani is a Republican and by extension a leader. Ironically, Nagin used to be a Republican but switched to a party where he felt more at home, i.e. the party of opportunistic finger pointing no-responsibility non-leadership.

You give both too much credit. Giuliani saw political opportunity in directing recovery. Nagin sees it in casting the spotlight upstream.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
From what i can gather about his education, much of what you've said here will have gone over his head.

Whose, again?