Katrina -an eye-witness perspective

seagull · Post by **seagull** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:52 pm

I think George Bush has RocknRoll fooled!

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:22 pm

Wow! Just like a Canadian.

Kuwait $500MIL
Saudi Arabia $250MIL
Even India gave a few Million.

Canada----a big fat ZERO

Thanks Rock and Roll for telling the real story. The one where the help should have started from. The CITY and the STATE. Yes the federal government was to blame also. The TRUE photo op is one where the blame is shifted from the state and local government directly to the president BY THE MEDIA. The media would have been much nicer to a democratic president and you know it. It is always easier to shift blame and that is one of the biggest problems with the western civilization. No one wants to take responsibility. a very good and costly lesson learned.

I gave a nice donation to the Red Cross to do what I could do so why don't you do the same.

I know this should be a Bi-partisan forum, but you started it.

Do you know why the new Canadian navy ships all have glass bottom hulls?

So they can see their old navy.

Good night!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:42 pm

seagull wrote:I think George Bush has RocknRoll fooled!

I think seagull should fly away.

WillSucceed · Post by **WillSucceed** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 6:29 pm

Hey Kirk:
That was a GREAT post that you wrote. Clever, insightful, mature, balanced, intelligent and, perhaps best of all, really witty. Thanks so much for your contribution; you have enriched us all.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:22 pm

I think something we all can agree on is how awful we all feel about what happened in New Orleans as a result of Katrina. As you all sit here and point a finger of blame on why the help wasn't close to what it should have been, whose fault that was, why President Bush visited and did what he did, and why what happened as a result of it all, it does nobody any good, including all the blood pressures that are rising of those who got upset and replied to each other in frustration and emotion.

We are all emotional when we see things on TV and hear and read the stories and feel helpless. These are things you hate to see happen anywhere, let alone in our own country. But fighting amongts ourselves won't change what has already happened. Let's try to put opinions about facts aside for now and make our contributions to help the people who really need it right now. We should just be thanking the Lord above that we are not in their situation and do what we can to help.

In other words, please don't fight over this. There is enough grief to go around without making more on this forum. This is a help site, not a forum for political argument. I'm sure there are other sites for that.

PS: Way to go, R&R, for helping in whatever way you could. Very admirable.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:00 pm

Capt,

Fox News last night at 11:30 they listed what the 16 nations that made offers of help, whether accepted or not and only Iran and N. Korea have been rejected. The only thing Canada offered officially was two rescue helicoptors, period. No hospital ships, Britain did, the HMS Comfort. Kuwait tops the list with 500M worth of money and gasoline.

I also take issue with Canadians badmouthing my President, I fought in the service of my country for that right, while you guys sided with France and Germany in the war against Iraq. I love your country, but don't agree with your politics.

Meanwhile, why don't we all donate cpap equipment we don't use to the cause?

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:03 pm

Sleepless in LI is right, any more commentary on politics should go off list, so I am done.

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:37 pm

Yes you are so right. I get a little upset when I see the bashing.

I do have two mask, one new never used and one used only during a sleep study that are sitting in a drawer doing me no good whatsoever. I also have a humidifier that I could donate.

How do we go about donated such items?

Thanks for the support! Time for O'Reilly.

God bless those who are suffering from the results of Katrina and God bless America.

Capt.

seagull · Post by **seagull** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:51 pm

I do assume there was a LOT of snoring at the shelters!! Excellent idea to donate cpap.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:09 pm

The one thing completely overlooked in this is that there is a thing called states rights. (The south should remember it well, as they went to war over it) It is irony at its best to see a southern state complain that the fed did not rush in and usurp states rights, regardless of the circumstance. You can't have it both ways. If the federal response is so poor, than WHY is Alabama and Mississippi getting the aid that they need? Because they ASKED FOR IT. I know that a number of states TRIED to send police officers and were TURNED BACK by the Louisiana State Police and told that they didn't need help. (This happened while there was chaos shown on national TV) Additionally The Mayor of New Orleans cared so much for his constituents that he made sure that his influential friends got "first out" privileges instead of those in the most need. Seems to me that the locals have a lot of blame in this.

The only way that Pres Bush could have gone in without the requisite permission would have been to enact the following executive orders

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

Now, if Pres Bush enacted all of the above, do you think he would have been accused usurping states rights, individual rights, the ACLU would be suing and the media accusing him of being a mad power hungry maniac. (Remember, these would be enacted nationwide, not just in New Orleans)

Additionally, he was relying on the accuracy of the reports from the LOCAL officials, not the media. (we all know that the media is a bunch of straight shooting folks right?)

Please think before accusing the president of inaction. That is of course if you still consider personal freedoms afforded by our constitution mean anything.

Flower51 · Post by **Flower51** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:13 pm

The cpap equipment will be useful once people are relocated into places where there is electricity available to them. I'd imagine some of the mass shelters might have difficulty providing outlets for cpapers? Don't know for sure. It is definitely a good idea to donate unused equipment and will be a relief physically and emotionally to know that need will be taken care of. A matter of life and death for some. Here in Ohio we've prepared the convention center for evacuees but the local news said that those who were planning to come here decided they wanted to find shelter closer to their home state so it is now "ify" re their coming here. Also in Akron, OH many churches of varying denominations joined together to help in any way they can. Terry

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): news, CPAP

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:36 pm

Guest,

I don't know who you are but I like your argument. Please go to LoneStarTimes .com and post your comments or send me permission too quote you and I will.

Well said!

neversleeps · Post by **neversleeps** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:39 am

I read the initial post this morning before there were any replies. I came back to it tonight and saw the rest.

Thank you, rock and roll. Thank you for having the courage to write your response.

I saw news footage of devastated, angry people in New Orleans screaming for President Bush to make an appearance-- to come and see for himself the ravages of Katrina, and accusing him of being a coward. He came. Now people are berating him for tying up the airport. Go figure.

It is amazing to me that the state of Louisiana didn't have a carefully laid out plan in the event such a major hurricane struck New Orleans. It has been well-documented in hundreds of articles and books over the years as to what the consequences would be. A city existing below sea-level necessitates extraordinary contingency plans be in place. The plans they did have fell abysmally short. It is mind-boggling and, dare I say, negligent.

I'm also amazed the state government didn't proceed as Mississippi and Alabama did in getting immediate assistance. Did they think it was unnecessary? When they recognized what was happening, did they think they could handle it with the "systems" (such as they were) they had in place with their local authorities? Most sobering of all, did they not know (or know how) to ask for help? Isn't that something every state government should know?

Lastly, I'm amazed that anyone truly believes this is somehow the fault of the President of the United States.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:25 am

Go for it R & R. It needs to be said. The folks to "blame" are the locals. Yes FEMA could have been more coordinated, but NOTHING of this magnitude has happened, and water tends to make it much more difficult to effect rescue. Notice that no one is complaining about Mississippi and Alabama where a) the locals asked for help, and b) they received it.

I would like to know what happened to Rev. Jesse Jackson's 7 buses that he PROMISED to help bring the people out of the bowels of the slave ship. They never showed, but he got HIS photo op.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:29 am

Here are some URL's that are interesting reading. They pertain to the story and people that wrote the story that Will originally posted. As you can see in the first URL, there are lots of comments about it. Anyway, you'll get the idea of what their political philosophy is.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sfsocialists/3687.html

http://www.sfsocialists.org/

http://www.socialistworker.org/2003-2/4 ... _790.shtml

Thanks R & R and previous "Guest" posters.

Also, thanks Will for posting it. It brought out some interesting information about our local, state and federal government functions.
Unfortunately, this "disaster" in New Orleans was made worse by the failures at the lower levels first.....local then state before it got to the feds. That's where the bureaucracy starts. They were warned to evacuate the city earlier that weekend and didn't. There are (at least) three other states that probably had MORE devistation and yet New Orleans gets all of the coverage.
It's sad that everything has to be politicized.