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Thank you.

So what should you do when your people are suffering horrifically?

Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy!

Another classic day in the life of George Wanker Bush.

</step on soapbox>
America - the model country that the rest of the world needs to emulate:
- so many too poor to leave New Orleans, so get killed or become homeless
- then they aren't offered housing by the rich unaffected states up north, only until their homes can be repaired
- then they can't buy food for their kids because the electricity is off, shops are closed and ATMs aren't working so they have to steal to feed their kids
- so the police are told to 'shoot to kill' the poor and homeless
- the army can't help in large enough numbers, because they're occuped 'elsewhere'
- the president visits only four days later and acts by helping lower the gas prices?!! [I don't mean to get political, only query the priorities]

People, we need compassion, open your homes and wallets to those in need, the poor, the homeless, the smelly and dirty ones who've lost loved ones and everything they own, making yourself richer by becoming a few dollars poorer. I intend to. Now THIS would be worth emulating around the world... </step off soapbox>

So what should you do when your people are suffering horrifically?

It's all those perfectly healthy folks who chose to remain before the storm hit that are overloading the relief system.


Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy!

They wouldn't have to shoot to kill if people didn't take advantage of the situation and disrupt relief efforts by shooting at helicopters and doctors trying to help them.


Another classic day in the life of George Wanker Bush.

Well congradulations, your idioic rant just made up my mind to vote for the person you'll bash the next election.


And in closing I would like to remind you of a important comment


Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" - John F. Kennedy

Bring God back to this country and pray He'll show us the way.

MW--voice ..As in--listen to it when you hear it.

If I rememebr right, there was several days notice the hurricane was approaching.

As a last resort, a healthy human can easily walk 10-20 miles in a day if needed too.

A lot more people could have left if they applied the effort, right now they are spending that effort shooting, looting, grave robbing, raping, living like animals and complaining for their own stupid decisions.

When you live in a city 12 feet below sea level surrounded by water and leeves and a hurricane approaches, you take what you can and leave.

Most of those people have no one to blame but themselves.


The City of New Orleans will have to be abandonded, start walking.

One can dowload airael pictures of New Orleans here

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/Katrina7_3.ZIP


Looks like to me that most of the poor residential areas are hit the worse, guess the zoning board, the governor, contractors and buisness developers are rubbing their hands in glee right now.

The Supreme Court just ruled City's can take people's property if it's in the interest of development.

I'm guessing a lot of apartment buildings and new commercial buildings will be going up where those houses are.

Naturally they will be several feet above sea level, great chance to fill in the "soup bowl" up quite a bit.

God, stop the damn spin already. No one has ordered troops to kill people looting for food and water. In fact, there have been reported instances of police and troops overseeing such "looting" to feed the starving and thirsty.

The "shoot-to-kill" order refers to those scumbags roaming the city with weapons, shooting people at random, raping women and children, and sniping at hospital workers attempting to evacuate patients.

And as everyone in charge must have anticipated, these dregs of humanity are crass cowards, so the arrival of the National Guard troops has made them vanish. There will be no mass shootings.

"Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy!"

Do you have a better way to stop all-out anarchy? Somehow I don't think that handing out flowers and asking everyone to be nice will be very effective. There are times when the only way to restore order is through sheer suppression. I fully support the authorities' use of "any means necessary" if that's what it takes.

"Another classic day in the life of George Wanker Bush."

I will say the disaster response has had the rotten smell of... politics. When so many are dead and dying, there's no place for political BS. When this is over, I pray there's a severe audit of the response, so we don't have any "mishandling" in the future.

From: Toby Anstis

"So what should you do when your people are suffering horrifically? Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy! Another classic day in the life of George Wanker Bush."

Toby, I live in New Orleans. I have lost my house, my job, and nearly lost members of my family.

You are a stupid, ignorant asshole. StFU.

Land sake's! We sure do have some fierce problems to contend with
in the deep south. I'll help the best way I know how.


CT ======]------------ Words of wisdom

Not giving a penny to those monkeys. The victims of the tsunami didn't freak out like this. Shame on you, black america. We will never forget your behavior!

"Bring God back to this country and pray He'll show us the way."

Since you have opened it up for discussion: Where was God when the hurricane was coming? I for one think there is too much "God" in this country. If you personally get some satisfaction from your faith then good for you. However, if there is a God that allows "natural disasters" and all the other destruction around the world then I am very comfortable not following him.

My mother got air lifted from the roof of her apartment complex Thursday afternoon by a coast guard helicopter. She had been surviving in her apartment with no Power, running water or a working phone for almost 4 days (she is a resourceful woman). She was one of many tens if not hundreds of thousands in the city with no means of escape once it was known how bad Katrina was going to be. Until I heard from her Thursday night, I did not know how she was or what she had been going through.

Leaving the city in a crisis situation is much more difficult than people realize - there are only so many highways out (and remember the city is surrounded by bodies of water and a vast marsh land - so walking out, as pete suggested, would be idiotic during a coming hurricane), and even the people with transportation were on the highways in a dangerous parking lot of people panicking to get out of the city before they would run out of gas. Many people that chose to stay because they knew the situation on the highways was bad, and have already weathered out countless storms in New Orleans over the years (several this year in fact).

Having grown up in New Orleans, I can tell you that the growing racial and economic disparity there was bound to crack open for all to see at some point - it's just a shame that it had to happen at a time of crisis. But I do believe that the same tensions exist in most American urban cities these days, and don't think that because New Orleans is one of the poorer cities in the US that if a period of crisis occured in any other city that similar events would not take place - they would.

The rich are getting richer, the poor masses are continuing to grow in number, while the middle class is slowly dissapearing in the US. Believe it.

People that have been powerless for generations are taking this opportunity to seize power - even if it is temporary. Chaos continues while State and Federal aid slowly trickles into the city. It is frustrating beyond words, but honestly - it's hardly surprising what is going on there.

If you have ever lived in New Orleans you know what I'm saying is true - if you have visited, you have probably seen the happy tourist side of the city, but to live there you get a sense of how dangerous it actually is, and which parts of the city you would never venture into for your own safety (this is true of many US cities - Washington DC, Houston, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Miami etc.)

Best wishes to those who might also have family and friends still trapped in this crazy situation - hopefully they will be able to get out soon.

Growth is life. Grow strong. I have my doubts...LET THE SUN SHINE IN!!!





CT ======]------------- Runaway trainers...ping

pete - I'm just re-reading your post and I am pretty amazed by some of the things you said:

"If I rememebr right, there was several days notice the hurricane was approaching."

Yes, and the highways were jammed for all of those days with all the people with enough resources to leave.

Even Fats Domino (the famous jazz blues singer from the 50s) chose to stay with his wife and daugher - and was living in the 9th ward - one of the first neighbourhoods to flood

Also, Bush took the unprecedented move of declaring Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as in a "state of emergency" on the Saturday. This should have mobilized supplies, national guard troops and emergency personnel to the scene even before the Storm hit land on Monday. When did it finally show up? Friday... how ridiculous is that? Even Bush admitted that the response time was deplorable!

"As a last resort, a healthy human can easily walk 10-20 miles in a day if needed too."

dude, if you ever visited the city or simply looked over the city on maps.google you would know how stupid that response is. The size of the storm spanned the entire gulf of Mexico, and was still effecting Cuba when it hit land...

"A lot more people could have left if they applied the effort, right now they are spending that effort shooting, looting, grave robbing, raping, living like animals and complaining for their own stupid decisions."

A small minority of people are making the news, as CNN paints the most horrific picture of the people there. What CNN has failed to show are all the great stories of people (black and white) working together to survive, and get each other out safely. As far as stealing things like food, water clothing and supplies, I have no problem with that - we are talking about survival in a situation where 5 days after the storm hit the federal government has finally decided to show up and help out.

I ask you, how far did federal help have to travel to get to New Orleans? 1000 miles? 100 miles? The federal government can be any place on the globe in 10 minutes, but couldn't make it to one of their own states (and we aren't talking Alaska or Hawaii either) for almost a week...

"When you live in a city 12 feet below sea level surrounded by water and leeves and a hurricane approaches, you take what you can and leave."

Those that could, did. A lot of those people only made it to Mississippi, and were faced with an even worse situation, if not complete annihilation at the very apex of that storm. It's mother nature, and she was pissed.

Also, the original parts of the city (French Quarter, mid-town and garden districts) are well above sea level, as when they were settled, levee technology was pretty new at the time. As the city developed, they had to begin to reclaim the surrounding marsh land to inhabit it - the best way to accomplish this was with a good levee system and pumps to get the water out. The catastrophic error that occurred on Monday after the storm blew by, was that many of the pumping stations failed when they got wet! I blame antiquated equipment and municipal, state and federal funding issues on that one. That type of infrastructure should be up-to-date and emergency ready - which obviously it was not.

"Most of those people have no one to blame but themselves."

For what, choosing to survive the only way they know how? You have no idea dude...


"The City of New Orleans will have to be abandonded, start walking."

For now, perhaps. Two things:

a) There will be people who will still not leave their homes and that city - even now! Mark my words - there will still be people living in third-world conditions for weeks, if not months.

b) New Orleans will re-build, and rise from this disaster like a phoenix from a flame. The old sections of the city are shake and bruised, but are fine for the most part - but this city will re-build, and the people will return (most of them, anyway).

~~.__.~~
[][]00[][]

Butter backs!



CT ======]---------- Everyone can't run WITH the bulls!

The problem isn't hurricanes, levey systems, or any other crap like that, it's poverty. The way society is stacked the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, and it's only getting worse. Yes this is horrible, but the same exact thing is going on all across america, all the hurricane did was shake the pot a little. This could easily happen in any other slum in the world.

Believe it or not this is what many people live their lives for, do you know how much money people have made off this already? Do you know how much the news executives, the people who are going to orchestrate the rebuilding, countless charities and scams, and the government are going to profit from this? Most of the money you are going to give will only make the problem worse. RIch get richer, corruption, murder, poverty, racism, human nature, not a whole lot you can do about it.

Personally, and i really hope I don't offend anybody with this (though I am sure I will), I think darwin needs to get a little more into the human gene-pool. It's really bad that all these people died and stuff but a lot of them were just going to be drug dealers and dead weights to society. The people who could get out, did, the people who could survive, did, that's evolution.

And about the governor there, I want him for president, that guy is awesome. He just cuts all the bull shit and tells you what needs to be done.

http://www.crunchweb.net/87billion/ If we can spend that much on the war with an EIGHT TRILLION DOLLAR debt, then they don't need any more of my money. If you want to give something, give your time. Your money won't help, it will hurt.

You know what would be really stupid, I mean, reeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllly stuuuuuuupd? If they rebuild, which I know they will, It's insane. You KNOW this will happen again, there is NOTHING you can do about it. And they are going to go right ahead and rebuild.

This is a little off topic but I think humans need to get back to nature a little, stop eating processed bleached glucose infused shit, stop absolutely NEEDING electricity produced from the burning of oil into our environment, and stop acting like complete morons. When you eat nothing but shit, then you need shit to survive, and drugs to hide the side effects. Not a lot of people died from the actual hurricane it's self, the bulk of them will die from diarrhea in the next 6 weeks.

BTW, "Holy Mackerel" (third post), you did your whole "<step on soap box>" shtick wrong, to end it you did "</step off soap box>" which is double negetive, so you never left the soap box. You should have either done <step on soap box> and then </step on soap box>, or <step on soap box>, <step off soap box>. But true HTML would be the first one.

You have just read the point of view of a 13 year old high school student, go ahead, tell me how I should think.

MW: serious

Yes, and the highways were jammed for all of those days with all the people with enough resources to leave.

FYI millions evacuated, a few hundred thousand decided to stay. If the highyways were jammed for the millions a few hundred thousand isn't going to make much difference.

Even Fats Domino (the famous jazz blues singer from the 50s) chose to stay with his wife and daugher - and was living in the 9th ward - one of the first neighbourhoods to flood

Kind of stupid of him wasn't it? I'm surre someone whould have paid to fly him and his family out. I'm willing to bet five bucks he will say he should have left now.

This should have mobilized supplies, national guard troops and emergency personnel to the scene even before the Storm hit land on Monday.

Well that's really stupid, I can just see 20,000 army and national guard vehicles under 20 feet of water, helicopters and planes overturned.

When did it finally show up? Friday... how ridiculous is that? Even Bush admitted that the response time was deplorable!

Well it takes time to mobile forces of that magnatude, funding has to be authorized etc.

dude, if you ever visited the city or simply looked over the city on maps.google you would know how stupid that response is. The size of the storm spanned the entire gulf of Mexico, and was still effecting Cuba when it hit land...

Yes but they could have walked out of the areas that were prone to flooding, that's where the problem is right now.

As far as stealing things like food, water clothing and supplies, I have no problem with that

Neither do I, one has to survive, but it doesn't have to resort to violence, grave robbing, taking items that are clearly luxury goods, shooting at relief workers and doctors, raping, setting fires and all that sh*t.

I ask you, how far did federal help have to travel to get to New Orleans? 1000 miles? 100 miles? The federal government can be any place on the globe in 10 minutes, but couldn't make it to one of their own states (and we aren't talking Alaska or Hawaii either) for almost a week...

Wow, now this is where your gravely mistaken. I have been in the military and around the world and no way in hell can anyone be anywhere on the globe in 10 minutes. Much less organize, store and ship supplies, heavy equipment and troops of a magnitude required for relief operations neccessary in the hard struck areas.

You have been watching too much TV.


For what, choosing to survive the only way they know how? You have no idea dude...

Well you don't have the foggiest idea of what I have been through and a few days of discomfort is nothing, trust me.

Those people deserve what they got for not leaving when they should, they have no one to blame but themselves. The government is not responsible to make sure their lives are just peachy.

New Orleans is just plain f*cked, all those residential houses will be condemmed and torn down by the order of the City, the land will be rezoned, filled in and apartment housing build and more commercial property built.

It will take YEARS for that and 25-30 years to build the levees higher.

Of course those leeves make a nice terrorist target, I think the city should be moved.

I think darwin needs to get a little more into the human gene-pool.

It can't do that because war has largely been abandoned, and given the situation in New Orleans, people better prepare in case the the whole economy of the US goes down and tens of millions of looters, rapists, robbers and theives take to the streets.

There won't be this "we will cooperate together" and "the governement will help us" situation, it will be "kill first and take what they got later"

username -

BRAVO!


American culture is that of the consumer. Buy more stuff, buy more gear, and that empty feeling will go away. We are loosing our connection with the people around us, the land, the animals, and finally with ourselves. We sit in front of a TV for hours every day and are controlled - told what to believe, how to live, what to think, and what to buy.

This catastrophe in New Orleans has revealed a real problem in America (and western culture generally). If a typical person making minimum wage can't house and feed themselves and their children, and are forced to struggle and scrape by to survive on a day to day basis, then what happens when their home/apartment is flushed away in a flood? Do you think the assistance they are hopefully going to get from the government is really going to help them get back onto their feet (back to the struggle and poverty). It's no wonder that there are roving bands of people with guns shooting at people in uniforms...

It's not surprising - until the status quo changes in America, these problems will continue, and only get worse.

MDN word - "trying"

pete

I'm not going waste any more of my time arguing with someone who doesn't understand that city or what has been going on within it it for the last week.

"FYI millions evacuated, a few hundred thousand decided to stay. If the highyways were jammed for the millions a few hundred thousand isn't going to make much difference."

it's is estimated that a million people left the city - no telling how many of those people fled to Mississippi only to face an even worse catastrophe. I could show you pictures my mother took of the I-10 jammed like a parking lot taking people 10 hours to get as far as what would have normally taken minutes...

"Well that's really stupid, I can just see 20,000 army and national guard vehicles under 20 feet of water, helicopters and planes overturned."

If they had been able to hold that levee, there would be a completely different scene in that city right now. My point wasn't that they should have necessarily been there prior to the storm, but should have begun mobilizing for it. If forces show up a full 6 days after an area in declared in a state of emergency, then somewhere someplace, some people have a lot of serious questions to answer for. What if it had been a "terrorist event", a bomb or some biological attack? how long would have they waited before trying to help/save fellow Americans - it's inexcusable.

"Well it takes time to mobile forces of that magnatude, funding has to be authorized etc."

It was authorized - a week ago, by bush declaring that state of emergency across those three states before the storm even hit. This delay in deployment has cost many lives.

"Yes but they could have walked out of the areas that were prone to flooding, that's where the problem is right now."

Walking out during a hurricane? Do you know what a hurricane is like? The major arteries out of that city are across large bodies of water and swamp land. It would have taken days to walk to safety. A lot of people that chose to stay (my mother included) I think fared much better in the long run by doing so.

"Neither do I, one has to survive, but it doesn't have to resort to violence, grave robbing, taking items that are clearly luxury goods, shooting at relief workers and doctors, raping, setting fires and all that sh*t."

I agree - this it is a sign of a much deeper problem - one that exists all across America.

"Wow, now this is where your gravely mistaken. I have been in the military and around the world and no way in hell can anyone be anywhere on the globe in 10 minutes. Much less organize, store and ship supplies, heavy equipment and troops of a magnitude required for relief operations neccessary in the hard struck areas."

I guess I was referring to getting into these areas by air.

"You have been watching too much TV."

We all have - I have been watching CNN for days, and I hate it - they have been pushing the most negative and fearful aspects of this catastrophe, and while I was not in contact with my mother, it made it very difficult to deal with.

"Well you don't have the foggiest idea of what I have been through and a few days of discomfort is nothing, trust me."

Like what? Tell me your story Pete - I am all ears.

"Those people deserve what they got for not leaving when they should, they have no one to blame but themselves. The government is not responsible to make sure their lives are just peachy."

Actually, I think the government is directly responsible for the safety and well being of all of it's citizens, including those without the resources or ability to leave a city in the face of such a storm.

"New Orleans is just plain f*cked, all those residential houses will be condemmed and torn down by the order of the City, the land will be rezoned, filled in and apartment housing build and more commercial property built."

You are right

"It will take YEARS for that and 25-30 years to build the levees higher."

Most of the existing levee system held, and will continue to function as the future levee system for that city - Yes, they will rebuild sections and fortify it it, but once they fix the broken sections, and pump the water out, the city will get moving again.

"Of course those leeves make a nice terrorist target, I think the city should be moved."

Moved? That's funny! I think New York is a pretty good terrorist target - maybe we should move it next to Denver or someplace safer...

Please...

"Did you know? Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross Salary for year ending 06/30/03 was $651,957"

how much has she donated?

Don't Give Your Hurricane Donations to the Red Cross
Establishment charities have history of withholding disaster funds

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | September 1 2005

As the aftermath of hurricane Katrina continues to wreak mayhem and havoc amid reports of mass looting, shooting at rescue helicopters, rapes and murders, establishment media organs are promoting the Red Cross as a worthy organization to give donations to.

The biggest website in the world, Yahoo.com, displays a Red Cross donation link prominently on its front page.

Every time there is a major catastrophe the Red Cross and similar organizations like United Way are given all the media attention while other charities are left in the shadows. This is not to say that the vast majority of Red Cross workers are not decent people who simply want to help those in need.

But what the media fails consistently to remember in their promotion of the organization is that the Red Cross have been caught time and time again withholding money in the wake of horrible disasters that require immediate release of funds.

The Red Cross, under the Liberty Fund, collected $564 million in donations after 9/11. Months after the event, the Red Cross had distributed only $154 million. The Red Cross' explanation for keeping the majority of the money was that it would be used to help 'fight the war on terror'. To the victims, this meant that the money was going towards bombing broken backed third world countries like Afghanistan and setting up surveillance cameras and expanding the police state in US cities, and not towards helping them rebuild their lives.



Then Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy arrogantly responded when questioned about the withholding of funds by stating, "The Liberty Fund is a war fund. It has evolved into a war fund."

Despite the family members of victims of 9/11 complaining bitterly to a House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight panel, the issue seemed to be brushed under the carpet and the mud didn't stick.

The Red Cross' scandalous activities reach back far before 9/11.

After the devastating San Francisco earthquake in 1989, the Red Cross passed on only $10 million of the $50 million that had been raised, and banked the rest.



Similar donations after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the Red River flooding in 1997 were also greedily withheld.

Smaller charities that were involved with the 2004 Tsunami relief project went public to say that large charities like Red Cross and United Way were engaged in secret backroom negotiations with each other that meant a large portion of the donation money was purposefully restricted from reaching the most needy areas affected by the disaster.

The history is clear, the Red Cross and other large so-called charities are in actual fact front group collection agencies for the military industrial complex.

Many informed historians have even alleged that the Red Cross was used as a Skull and Bones cover to overthrow The Russian Czar and pave the way for the rise of the Bolsheviks.

Do not give any money to the Red Cross unless you support the expansion of empire abroad and police state at home. Find a smaller trustworthy organization in the local area of New Orleans and make your donation to them.

There's really nothing better than facing danger straight on with
a gleam in your eye...knowing that, when it's all over, you still got it!

The Mouth of the Missisippi, no problem, mon.


CT ====]------------- Gangway...HERE We come!

"So what should you do when your people are suffering horrifically?

Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy!

Another classic day in the life of George Wanker Bush."

Toby, come on. Put your ignorance on a shelf, huh? How about they were given permission to shoot to kill because of the roaming bands of gang members who got a hold of weapons and are taking advantage of this situation by doing things like, oh, I dunno, keeping several firemen and their families hostage in a building by trying to snipe them if they leave, or shooting at Paramedics who are trying to evacuate a nursing home? But I guess you'd say it's not these idiots fault that they act this way. I don't know how, but I'm sure you'll come up with some excuse.

Two words: Personal Responsibility. The lack of this is ruining our country.

Surely this hurricane is W's fault too

My immediate thought was that why did those idiots stay when they had plenty of warning.

Then it came out that a lot of the people that stayed behind couldn't afford to pay for travel and accommodation.

Who knows what the real truth is - maybe some stayed who were able to leave whilst others had no choice.

Question is did FEMA set up places for those in financial difficulties to evacuate to and provide transportation? Probably not. Whilst most could probably scrap together the cash to leave for a few days, it could put them in serious debt. Maybe some thought the risk was worth it, especially if the storm wasn't too bad.

The violence that has occurred is not acceptable but then neither was the lame attempt to get people to safety before the storm hit.

I personally think that compulsory evacuation should be considered in these situations. Provide shelter, transportation for those who need it, but get them out of harms way before disaster strikes. The time and effort rescusing thousands of people could have been spent starting repairing the damage done by Katrina. Civil liberties does not count for much when you're dead.

MW "states" seriously that was what is was!

Dale Sorel,
that's the thing, most of this isn't the hurricane's fault,

fires: gas lines leeking, put there by humans

raping: the hurricane isn't making people rape 13 year old girls

looting: ill bet you that a lot of people like it there right now, no law, millions of dollars of stuff just lying around, and you've got a gun. Keep in mind that these people were below the poverity line before this hapened, is that the hurricane's fault?

All the white people* got out ok, was the hurricane racist?

All this horriable shit that is going on, just take a second to think, is this the hurricane's fault, or our's?

You have just read the point of view of a 13 year old high school student, go ahead, tell me how I should think.

MW: quite

*By white people, I am not referring entirely to the color of people's skin (there are some black people that are really white, and some white people that are really black), I am refering to the class of people known as "whites".

I just gave a donation to American Red Cross (via iTunes)! Oh, iTunes, what can't you do?!

"Answer: send in troops with a shoot-to-kill policy!"

Last I checked, this order came from the governor of Louisiana, who happens to be a Democrat by the way...so at least get your facts straight before you say something stupid...

What I find amusing is that the bleeding heart liberals out there didn't seem to give a damn about the victims of this hurricane until around Wednesday when they could use the excuse of a slow federal response (which was actually more the fault of LA's governor than anyone else) to bash Bush.

And you sure didn't see Apple promoting donations until 2-3 days after the hurricane had hit either. Why was their response to those suffering in LA and MS so slow? Was it because the hurricane hit "red" states in the south that Al Gore lost in 2000 so they didn't really care?

They most certainly reacted much quicker to the tsunami tragedy than this one in our own country. Hell, Apple used their entire home page to promote contributing to tsunami relief for several days. But with Katrina, it took several days to simply get a small button that links you to iTunes to make a donation (which is in essence an underhanded self promotion tactic since the link doesn't work if iTunes isn't installed first, so you're redirected to the iTunes download page instead).

Aside from the suffering of those effected by the storm, the ugliest thing to come out of this tragedy has been the politicizing of the event by those looking to gain from it. Instead of focusing on the victims and recovery, it was nothing more than a blame game to them. But with libs in the US, this is pretty much standard policy, so it's no real surprise anyway.

God, there sure are a lot of racist goons out there! I didn't know you knuckleheads could use a computer!

What was the Governor of Lousiana doing? That clueless housewife has the State Police, the National Guard, all state agencies, parish sheriffs, etc all at her disposal, plus marshall law, comendeering rights, etc.

While federal help is needed, the first to be there and to get the situation under conrol are the STATE AUTHORITIES! That dumbass housewife was almost crying in camera ... 'ohhh its soooo heartbreaking'.

And that dumbass mayor of New Orleans ... he's no Guilana (spelling?)

That mayor is AWESOME!!!!!!!!

I want him for president.

MW: data

Reality Check:

There were a load of us bleeding-heart liberals who were saying during the election season last year that this administration had been terrible for the more deprived in society and you know what we got from flag-waving Republican cheerleaders? Comments such as [I]You're all pinko tree-huggers[/i} or [I]GWB is the greatest president ever[/I].

Well, ignoring the fact that - on the basis of achievements so far - GWB is hardly an Abraham Lincoln or a Theodore Roosevelt, what the last ten days has shown is that this administration has taken the idea that the Executive branch should reserve its activities for the foreign policy arena just a step or two too far, especially given that the Legislature can't seem to pass a piece of legislation or agree on anything without somehow adding on some pork-barrel parcel for their own constituency.

And let's just remind everyone: the Executive is Republican, the House of Representatives has a Republican majority and the Senate has a Republican majority, and - just for good measure - the likelihood, following the death of the Chief Justice, is that the Supreme Court will also land up being led by a conservative Republican agenda. So before we start blaming Democrats for the state of the nation, try doing a quick reality check of your own.

GIVE?!!

I already did.. I PAY MY FICKIN' TAXES!!

I am single an pay MORE tax to our school system than the people with children do.
I am poor, but pay taxes so CEO's of companies so they can charge us $5.00 per MRE that costs $.50 (or less!) to make.
I am poor, but support a total stranger in my home, a soldier in this state's National Guard because his family kicked him out. [Yes, he has BEGGED his chain-of-command to volunteer to go to the disaster, out of a sense of patriotism and as a means to make a few extra dollars, but the military said "No! Stay there. Be poor. We don't need your help."]

If the politicians want to stuff my taxes into their buddies' pockets, FINE! But, don't start asking for MORE money because they have none left. The Red Cross shouldn't have to support suffering Americans, that's why we PAY TAXES!!! IF the Red Cross must go to a 3rd world country, then I give extra to what I regularly give to them.

If you haven't got it all figured out yet that your government is NOT going to give enough aid fast enough... unless your mansion in Beverly HIlls is about to burn... then perhaps you're just too stupid or naive to survive in America.

If you give money to make up to the government's greed, then there will be no discussion or debate about raising more money for the future. Cold? Callous? Yea, perhaps, but it is not unusual for a few to suffer or be sacrificed so the the vast majority will have a better life in the future.

The only good from all of this is PROOF that Bush is ONLY in office to feed more money to his buddies and has NO LEADERSHIP qualities whatsoever!!!! He is loving this!! Now, he has a new way for the government to give BILLIONS to his oil buddies under the guise of "building new refineries and pipelines". That cost should fall to the companies for doing risky business in a hurricane zone. But no, rather than losing on that gamble, they will reap BILLIONS of dollars for "rebuilding". No loss, in fact a huge profit from this disaster.

Many more large businesses are already counting their soon-to-come profits from this disaster.

If yer stupid enough to live behind a wall with a lake on one side and an ocean on the other, or build a home on a mound of mud in an earthquake zone, or one on a beach with known erosion, or just dumb enough to step in front of a train... then fick y'all. Evolution is suppose to get rid of the stupid ones from the DNA gene pool. But, we in our own stupidity spend our money to keep these idiots around. At this rate, humans will be a packed planet of total idiots. If you look at how and who we elect to lead us, perhaps we're there already!!

The money runs out, and there's no fuel for the fire, and people wake
up to these facts...they'll be singing a different tune.

Name THAT TUNE!


CT ======]------------- I was working in the lab late one night...

What people don't understand here is that the US is the United States of America, each "State" has it's own ruler, supreme court system, consitution and ways of doing things. They are seperate powers.

This problem with New Orleans was predicted and even practiced long in advance. It was predicted at least 200,000 people would be unable or unwilling to leave and that adequate transportation and force would be required to move these people out of harms way.

It was the state and local governments responsibility to have these resources at their disposal, instead they were reling upon neighboring states to assist instead of making themselves self-reliant.

It takes time to bring in extra police officers, buses and resources to execute a forceful evacuation, by the time they got there the hurricane would have struck. Not to mention that neighboring states also have to protect and serve their own people.

So the State Government and the Mayor of New Orleans is directly responsible for failing to adequatly prepare for this.


As I look at the overhead pictures I see entire fleets, FLEETS of trucks that could have been used, thousands of cars, but are now underwater.


So coming down to brass tacks, it's not poverty, it was the

1: lack of planning on the state and city government.

2: people refusing to leave when ordered and not preparing

3: acting like animals instead of trying to be human beings.

in actuality, I think this was the plan all along, the state decided if a flood occured they would need to evacutate the whole city.

instead of being the bad guy and forcing people to leave, they would just let them suffer and that would motivate them to leave. After all the state would say if they refuse our evacuation orders then they took their own life in their own hands.

Maybe the state was hoping they could reduce their welfare rolls a bit.

izod,

So izod, you didn't go get your mother before this happened and just let her suffer through this ordeal, then you come here and complain.

I hope the governement sends you a bill for the $5000 airlift.

BTW, I have been through the great depression and vietnam.

So quit your whining.

MacAnimal:

I'm perfectly aware of the whole subsidiarity thing that goes on between Federal and State governments.

However, what cannot be denied is that THREE separate states got the bejaysus kicked out of them by Katrina: Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, is getting the bad press because of the civil unrest, but the scene of devastation from Mississippi is no better and neither has the response of Federal government.

Surely FEMA, under the direction of the DHS, should have had resources ready to go, rather than waiting for the Chief Executive to declare that the response is inadequate.

But this administration seems so occupied in the vision of spreading democracy under the guise of fighting terrorism that it is unable to deal with the more mundane (if one could call the vision of hell we've seen on television mundane) issues of running the country, and the Federal Legislature is incapable of holding the Executive to account because it's so busy tilting at windmills or putting its nose in the trough.

I normally make it a point not to agree with Newt Gingrich, but the man has a point when he asks whether - if this is the best the Federal Government can do when it knows something is coming for a week -how the hell would it perform if something unexpected happened.

MCCR,

You seem to be under the illusion as well that the Federal Government is this all powerful bootmless resource identity that one can tap at will.

Right now our Federal Government is quite taxed making sure those terrorist bastards that killed thousands of people in NYC are not a threat to us. Billions of dollars and a lot of resources are tied up in Homeland Security.

The situation in New Orleans is just like Iraq, it got uncivilized and out of control and became a danger to the world society.

Or perhaps you forgot about Nazi Germany or WWWII Japan?

I don't think the US Government really cares if a country is Democratic or not, as long as it's under control and not a threat to world peace and therefore our peace.

FYI, FEMA was integrated into the Department of Homeland Security, it's not it's own identity anymore.

Homeland Security, you know terrorists running around with backback nukes, are more of a priority than a few states hit by a hurricane, which are just fine if people would have left the strike zone. Especially New Orleans.

New Orleans disaster was waiting to happen and the State is responsible for not having the resources ready, the people are responsible for not leaving when ordered.

If people don't have the common sense to leave a impending disaster, they should get everything they deserve.

I'll let you into some info, the Federal Government underwrites a lot of insurance companies to do buisness in hurricane prone areas, once they pay out, they don't anyone rebuild in certain areas again.

The DofHS/FEMA engaged in a power struggle with the Governor of LA, they wanted LA to fork over control of New Orleans, since they don't have the resources to rescue etc.

This is so the Federal Government can finally fix New Orleans, either fill it in higher than sea level, or simply abandon the city.

LA of course didn't like Fed control, but without the resources to rescue and repair New Orleans they are pretty much f*sked. And it's a hole they put themselves in by not having enough transportation and manpower to forcefully evacuate the remaining residents.

So I guess finally LA gave up control and now the Feds will fix New Orleans, but first everyone will have to leave and many months spend reparing and demolishing.

Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if all the roads are blocked off and all the good people weeded out leaving all the trouble makers last to be dealt with.

HAHAHAHA!!! I hope the army kills all of them, white or black, just like the guy who jumped up on a military vehicle and got his ass wasted.

I'm proud to say that I am not giving one dime to the hurricane relief.

I might sound cruel, but this is the situation.

People need to have a backup plan and resources in case disaster strikes. At least the predictable ones for crying out loud!!!!

The only people they can really count on is themselves.

People are quick to charge up their credit cards to the max, not save money and live paycheck to paycheck. So they have forsaken having a backup fund.

If I give, this just encourages people to accept handouts, that "help" will always just a cry away.

Well screw that! I work hard to have money for my emergency relief, spare food, clothing and gas.

And some dumb shmuck who refuses to leave a impending diaster or a idiodic state government who refuses to plan for the disaster is going to get help from me?

Screw them.

If something happens that was unpredictable, they get my support.

But ignoring a predictable event?

SCREW THEM

Let them suffer, dumb b&stards;

Love you pete,

"Give a man a fish and he'll be begging you forever, teach him how to fish and he'll feed himself."

All the people who were in the hospitals should sue the State government for not evacuating them.

Also all the State known handicapped people should sue them too.

Heck everyone who didn't have a ride out before the hurricane and asked the State for instance should sue as well.

Seems Gov. Blanco and the mayor of New Orleans is to blame

The reason for the delay in Federal assistance was the refusal of Gov. Blanco to work with the Federal Government.

One sign of the continuing battle over who was in charge was Governor Blanco's refusal to sign an agreement proposed by the White House to share control of National Guard forces with the federal authorities.

Under the White House plan, Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré would oversee both the National Guard and the active duty federal troops, reporting jointly to the president and Ms. Blanco.

How fair can that be? Did she think she could command the active duty forces of the US military?


Then the Mayor of New Orleans has this to say

But Mayor Nagin said the root of the breakdown was the failure of the federal government to deliver relief supplies and personnel quickly.

Like duh, if the Gov. Blanco won't jointly work with the federal folks in charge of the US military, releif efforts cannot be coordinated. Food could go to the wrong place and peopel wouldn't know where it is.

The fact of the matter is Gov Blanco REFUSED to work with Federal relief efforts to coordinate a effective response to this tradgedy.

"She would lose control when she had been in control from the very beginning," said Ms. Bottcher, the governor's press secretary.

In a clear slap at Mr. Chertoff and the FEMA director, Michael D. Brown, Governor Blanco announced Saturday that she had hired James Lee Witt, the director of FEMA during the Clinton administration, to advise her on the recovery.

LA GOV. BLANCO POLITICS KILLED THE PEOPLE OF NEW ORLEANS


Search "After Failures, Officials Play Blame Game" in the NY Times online

I donated.

"I donated."

So did I. Some here are obviously so perfect they can wash their hands of others' suffering, but I'm a bit more forgiving when people make mistakes.

Listen to this dope of a governor, she's dumber than Bush!

"Bring back our troops from Iraq so they can help here"

Really? like it would take at least 4 days to fly the troops LA contributed to the war on terrorism, not to mention all their combat gear etc. How many people would die until then?

"We need 40,000 troops, anything in uniform right away"

40,000 TROOPS? That's almost half of whats in Iraq to squash a whole country, that's about how many police officers there are in NYC, with a population of over 16 million people. How many people left in New Orleans? 50,000?

Where does this dumb broad get her figures from? Out of her butt?

I can see by just listening to her that she doesn't even know what she's talking about.

She finally signed a order to use the State's school busses to evacuate the remaining citizens of New Orleans. AFTER THE HURRICANE!!!

I can see why FEMA needed to take control, this broad is DUMB, she is afraid of losing control because she knows she is dumb.

Friends of LA and New Orleans, your Governor is a ditz and your Mayor is a idiot.

She even admits they had no communication structure after the storm, no mobile phones, no sat phones, nothing, not even a cb radio. Nothing set up in advance in case the "big one" hits.

NOW HOW IS SHE GOING TO COMMAND 40,000 TROOPS WITH NO COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE?

I thought Bush was dumb, but at least he's controlled by the smart one's around him.

Gov. Blanco is a frigging moron!!!

http://www.gov.state.la.us/video_archives/HK Sept 2.mp3


http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Tom and Dave,

You just contributed to the problem. Don't you know those people acted up just to get something?

Don't you know people will suck you dry if you let them?



Rule #1 Don't reward behavior that you don't want reinforced.

Rule #2 Don't respond to negative beahvior.

Rule #3 Reward only positive behavior.


Let the stupid people suffer, they are responsible for walking in front of a moving bus, we are not responsible for the cost of patching them up afterwards.

I would like to see all those people billed for cost of their rescue.

They just took food out of the mouth of my own for their STUPID behavior.

THEY KNEW WHAT TO EXPECT

http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,68738,00.html?tw=rss.TEK


"It's inexplicable how unprepared for the flooding they were." He said a slow decline over several years in funding for emergency management was partly to blame.

What happened was this, the states were relying upon FEMA to bail them out, but when FEMA was absorbed into Homeland Security, a much greater threat, apparantly LA failed to step in and make sure a plan was in place for disaster response.

What's even worse is that they drilled on this, to work out the problems, but they appeared anyway.

I'm glad the Feds gave LA the cold shoulder, gets the States off the Fed teet and more seelf reliant.

The Fed is busy with Homeland Security and terroism, a much greater threat.

People need to change their thinking from a government that takes care of them, to people taking care of themselves.

No one has a right to a free lunch.

pete

That's some serious baggage you're carrying. I'm sorry that's the way your world is. I really am.