Posted on 09/04/2005 2:14:54 PM PDT by No Longer Free State
OK, folks, it's time for a football analogy to describe what happened here with federal aid for Katrina.
Lets say the offense called a counter-trey (running play) to the right (Gulfport/Biloxi). The defense called a running defense play to the left (New Orleans) and set up to defend. The defensive captain (FEMA director) saw the offense set up and correctly read the play to the right. He did the right thing and called an audible to adjust the defense to the right.
So, the offense (Mother Nature) snaps the ball and everybody (offense & defense) starts moving to the right. The running back hits the line & does some damage - driving the lines a few yards deep into the defense. The defense swarms to the point of penetration and is getting a handle on things, when that Bitch running back fools everyone and runs backwards & around the end to the left (breaking the levy in NOLA). Most of the defense is tied up with the initial penetration, and one skinny little defensive end (NOLA first responders) is left to stop the biggest, baddest running back in the league. The DB slows down the ball carrier, but not much.
Lucky for us, though, we've got some very agile and talented folks backing up the defensive line. They've been able to get back to that skinny DB, latch onto the ball carrier, and have drug it just about to its knees, and done so short of the end zone - and done it while still containing the rest of the offensive line to keep them from breaking the ball carrier loose, again.
This was an incredibly flexible defense that reacted to two major penetrations at nearly the same time and prevented the loss of the game.
As LTG Honore has been trying to make clear to everyone, this was two disasters. The first and most obvious to the folks on defense was the worst parts of the hurricane hitting Gulfport/Biloxi and tearing a state-wide hole through Mississippi. Even the press idiots who have been so quick to criticize everyone at the federal level were at first proclaiming from the highest transmission tower that NOLA had dodged a bullet. Gulfport/Biloxi area, however, were leveled. They even started moving cameras there.
Then, on Tuesday, the levy broke. The defense couldn't STOP reacting to the very real, very severe damage on the coasts AND inland areas of LA, MS, and AL, even as they then had to switch focus and find resources to do something we've never done in my memory in recent history - evacuate the whole of a major American city. This second, major disaster had to be handled, even though most resources had already been moving for over 24 hours to help with the first.
Critics of how the feds reacted to two different and nearly simultaneous disasters, both in an area with damn little remaining infrastructure, just don't comprehend what the challenges were.
Yes, that's what I think.
Dave
I think the disaster-planners had aready assumed that the flood threat would come from Lake Poncetrain AFTER the storm moved up the Mississippi Valley. They were just hoping that the levees would hold...
Here is beloved's [No Longer Free State] thoughts, on point as usual.
To further the football analogy, would somebody please explain to me why Louisiana and New Orleans thought it was a good idea to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium for a team which isn't any good when they have a city which is sinking.
Great analogy.
To continue with the analogy, the NOLA defense players had NOT PRACTISED the plays in their playbook and when the the Quarterback Katrina called the play they were ok until the Flood Running Back appeared out of nowhere and was rushing the offense away down the field. Then the NOLA defense ran to the sidelines crying and screaming!
Liberal Football at its finest!( and they WILL be paid millions for this game!)
Tongue in cheek....maybe some of them are hockey fans such as myself and don't understand football lingo.
I think we need to call off-sides and technical fouls on Blanco/Nagin and some of the media coverage. Then perhaps we'll see some penalties in the '06 playoffs.
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