Posted on 09/02/2005 6:00:16 AM PDT by wotan
Thanks for the enlightenment; we don't live with the threat of major flooding here in Tidewater Virginia.
"Yes, given our screwed up, socialist system, we can blame, within that system, Governor Blanco for incompetence"
Definately a lot of blame there.
"the Congress for cutting funds for New Orleans flood control"
New Orleans flood control is a local issue. If it's too large of an issue for the local area to handle, then it should be a state issue.
There's no reason that there should have been federal dollars funding flood control in New Orleans.
"FEMA for slow response"
FEMA moved resources into place even before the hurricane hit.
However, disaster relief for New Orleans and the State is the responsibility of New Orleans and the State. In the case where the state resources are not sufficient to deal with the task. The governor has the authority to call up the national guard.
In a huge disaster like this we all need to pull together as a country and lend a hand. However, the infrastructure in LA has been destroyed. It takes a lot of time to move stores of food and drinking water into place when the infrastructure is wiped out.
The States need to be prepared. They can't assume that the federal government is going to take care of things. The federal government doesn't even have the constitutional authority to step in and take care of things.
"but the real cause of the disaster is the people of New Orleans and the entitlement mentality that infects them."
Bingo!
"They preferred rolling the dice year after year on whether their city would live or die to actually doing anything to ensure that it wouldn't die - beyond looking for an open nipple on the Big Sow in Washington."
New Orleans is an area with a lot of wealth, yet they did not take steps to provide for their own safety and have resources available in the event of a disaster.
The reason sufficient help is slow in comming is that LA wasn't prepared.
Careful; you're poking truth into the eyes of the PC.
Then why do we have DHS? Why do we send literally 50% on the dollar of our cash to these people?
Its not only the people that are to blame for not moving etc, but the governments on all levels to which we send our $$$$ are useless.
It bothers me to say this but before anyone throws rocks a anyone else consider this. Have you ever tried to get a vast army to move in lockstep? The recovery effort requires a coordinated effort. You have the emergency supplies in place but no trucks to move them. When you get the trucks you need a fuel supply for them along the way. To say nothing of drivers and all of the other things needed to move an army. Could all of this been ready to roll in 3 days? Think about it.
Not a problem, BTW you live in a lovely part of the country.
I wish I hadn't posted that. My gut reaction to your post was that you are passing judgement on others. We all do it, all the time. I was referring to the bible passage where Jesus said to to take more care about the log in your own eye than the splinter in your brother's eye.
But I too quickly passed judgement on your thoughts as well. I think I know what you were trying to say and perhaps you have a point. Forgive me. I just wish that at least here at FREE REPULBIC we could be civil with each other. I also wish a lot of other things, praying would probably be more productive, I don't know what else any of us can do about this except send money
I agree with you.
When it costs more to repair a car than it's worth the car is considered 'totaled' and then may be salvaged. If you can compare the two, determine fair market value of southern New Orleans, attempting to factor in intangibles, and make a large park out of it, salvaging from Bourbon St. and so forth what is salvagable.
And have you noticed that, culpable or not, Charlie Gibson (he took the hand-off from Diane Sawyers this AM) and others are still politicing this, `banging the drum' for President Bush's head? Where were these people when Clinton was having others fall on their swords for his screw-ups?
That's a big difference between the two presidents: George steps up while Bill stepped down. (That is, until we tried to throw him out for malfeasance, then he fought like a tiger . . .)
Read about how Patton dealt with the German Argonne offensive in less than 72 hours. Yes it can be done.
The buck stops at the mayor of each affected city, the president of each affected parish, and the governors of the affected states. Gov. Blanco seemed stunned that the federal government was immediately on the scene. Why did she have that opinion? It was because she, like millions of Americans, believes that we don't truly have a "federal" government, but a "national" government. She mistakenly believes that her state is but a subdivision within that national government and that she's somewhere on that org chart.
She's wrong. Her state is her responsibility. That she was not prepared for a disaster like this is her fault. I know this sounds callous, but in fact there is no responsibility on the part of the federal government to help the states deal with such disasters. Go look at the Constitution yourself and you'll see for yourself. There is nothing in there that authorizes Congress to appropriate funds for disaster relief and nothing about the Executive Branch dealing with disaster relief.
There is an account of Congress voting to provide relief to a veteran's widow when her house burned down. This occurred sometime in the 1830's and the account details how U.S. Rep. Davy Crockett - yes, that Davy Crockett - convinced Congress it was wrong to appropriate those funds as it was not their money to give. Click here.
Yes, there is a precedent. And that is the problem. Originally, the states were like sovereign nations of their own. The Constitution created a union of those states with a limited federal government to keep the states trading together and to protect them from foreign invasion, etc. Over the years, the states became more and more dependent upon the federal government and the original model was forgotten. State militias were relegated to the National Guard which was basically turned over to the federal government with very little state control.
In the aftermath of the hurricane we're seeing two things. Among the people in NO we're seeing the results of decades of leftist brainwashing that convinces a large number of people that they are "entitled" to something as well as widespread acceptance of the ghetto thug culture. With the people responsible for governing these people we're seeing the results of decades of leftist dependence upon the federal government to fix every little problem.
I'm not going to blame Bush. I'm not going to blame FEMA. I blame the people of NO, their mayor, their parish presidents, and their governor for being unprepared. This is not the federal government's fault, this is their fault. The people have forgotten that they are the government. And now they've got the government that they deserve and it has proven to be deadly.
I'm not saying the Federal Government should not respond to this specific crisis. There really is no other choice at this point. The state utterly failed to live up to its responsibility and somebody has to do something. I'm just lamenting the fact that our federal model is so unrecognizable from what it was intended to be and that because that has happened we're seeing its deadly results.
But what I really don't get is this: The governor, the mayor, any and all elected officials KNEW how many impoverished people there were in N.O. who COULD NOT PHYSICALLY leave (not the ones who CHOSE to stay). So, how much EASIER would it have been last Thursday or Friday to send in the National Guard to evacuate people BEFORE the storm?
My thoughts exactly.
In June of 1976 the Grand Teton Dam collapsed sending 80 billion gallons of water into the community of Rexburg, Idaho. Two thirds of the city was destroyed. Was there any rioting? No. Looting? No. In fact, when the Red Cross and the Federal Government did respond to this major disaster, they found that they were barely needed. The city had organized themselves to respond to the disaster. The predominately Mormon community came out and helped each other, to recover what they could, to provide relief for those left homeless, and to keep order. In fact, those who responded to the disaster actually got schooled by the community and the LDS Church in how to deal with a major disaster.
Compare what happened 3 decades ago in Idaho to what is happening in New Orleans right now and it is that much more sickening. I've been pondering lately how thin our civilized society is and how it may break down easily under stress. I had no idea until this hurricane tore through New Orleans and the surrounding area just how thin a veneer our civilization is in some areas of the country. Areas of the country that were dark blue on the map of the last presidential election.
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Adams
"Then why do we have DHS? Why do we send literally 50% on the dollar of our cash to these people?
Its not only the people that are to blame for not moving etc, but the governments on all levels to which we send our $$$$ are useless."
Useless? Tens of thousands of troops are pouring into LA to help in the relief efforts. FEMA is there doing their jobs.
This is a disaster that covers a 90,000 square mile area.
The infrastructure is trashed.
Moving resources into place takes time.
We're having to move resources from across the nation because of both the magnitude of the disaster and the lack of preparedness in that area.
Relief efforts are being hampered by roving bands of criminals. New York is a rough place, but when a disaster occurred there, people pulled together. The police and emergency services took a huge loss but those that remained put forth a monumentous effort to restore order and save lives.
In New Orleans, there are large numbers of police who are resigning and turning their backs on people when they are needed.
There are many, many brave people comming together in New Orleans to save people, but you hardly hear about that.
The relief effort has been mobilized far faster that such efforts in the past, yet all you hear is that it's a disgrace that we can't move more people to a safe area more quickly.
Twenty percent of the population of New Orleans remained behind despite the evacuation order. That's a massive number of people to move a long distance to safety with much of the roadways impassible.
The waterways are clogged with bardges and wreckage.
Volunters who are trying to help are being shot at.
This is a horrible disaster and a small and violent portion of the population is making it much worse.
The relief effort is going to take time, but what can be done is being done.
What is left to be said? Excellent points, and I'm not going to argue cultural differences, law and order are critical to appropriate action in a disaster situation.
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