Posted on 09/01/2005 10:47:50 AM PDT by B4Ranch
Reading the threads on FR lately has been discouraging.
It appears that everyone is searching for someone to blame. Thankfully, to many FReepers, the local officials are Democrats.
May I ask one question? Would you refuse aid to someone in need from the catastrophic hurricane and subsequent flooding to an Independent or a Democrat?
Is someone's political affiliation reason to question their intelligence regarding natural catastrophes? Or whether they deserve your financial assistance in this time of need?
I don't recall Christ saying anything about politics determining whether to assist people in need. I think this is a time for everyone to pull together. Please shut your eyes to a persons ethnicity, skin color, religion or political affiliations.
We are looking at Americans in need here, not illegal aliens. Yes, there is some looting going on but I do think the majority of people are just attempting to survive. The other ones will pay their dues in days to come, of that I'm certain.
So, if you have any ideas on how to make this recovery more efficient would you mind sharing your ideas? I will forward the entire thread to a few Congressmen for their perusal. Hopefully they will forward your ideas on to the officials in charge.
Not only natural catastrophes, but in many other situations as well. When one expresses ignorance of the facts and merely repeats mindlessly frustrating "liberal talking points", the intelligent thing to do is to either question their motives or intelligence. I suspect that in the vast majority of cases it is a problem of ignorance rather than intelligence.
I don't recall Christ saying anything about politics determining whether to assist people in need
Perhaps you should consider what he has to say about certain Pharisees and the Sadducees. I'm thinking that Christ might have asked what greater need does a man have then the salvation of his soul?
Would you refuse aid to someone in need from the catastrophic hurricane and subsequent flooding to an Independent or a Democrat?
Obviously not, but do you happen to know if moveon.org has done more than put links to the Red Cross? I noted that George Steinbrenner donated 1 million dollars to help in the relief effort, do you happen to know how much George Soros has donated to the cause? I read where chevron gave 8 million toward the effort. Other corporate donations have come in from Culligan, Dupont, Lilly, Anheuser-(excuse the term)-Bush, Wal-Mart has donated 1 million to the Salvation Army, not including the "donations" made to the looters, and many other corporate giants of our economy have come forwarded to be counted.
Perhaps you don't have the same sense of community that my wife and I do towards our neighbors.
I recall watching the TV as people were driving out of town. Pickup trucks with empty beds, cars with only one or two people in them.
Is that how you would have driven out of town? Myself, I would have made sure that my older neighbors who didn't drive anymore were riding in one of my family vehicles, that they would have all of their needed medication with them, etc.
Brieux has his chance at making sure there was a better disaster plan in place. He didn't do it either.
Thanks. Some of us are not smart enough for sarcasm. :-)
Rush just read an article in American Thinker about why Houston became the oil center of the USA instead of New Orleans when New Orleans had a head start of many years and an obvious geographic advantage. The answer that became apparent was that N.O. and Louisiana had corrupt political systems where the good ole boys got rich through a variety of legal and illegal schemes.
Houston, on the other hand, had a can do attitude and a desire to expand and grow. The fact that Houston was young and relativly small and New Orleans was old and large by comparison may have influenced that. The politics of N.O. and Lousiana was well engrained, probably beginning with Houie Long, where Houston was just getting started.
Both Lousiana and N.O. as well as Texas and Houston had been Democrat strongholds all during those formative years of the oil industry. The answer seems to be the values of the politicians, not their parties.
I wish we would all just stop the blame game and realize that Mother Nature does what she does. We can do nothing to defend ourselves from Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, etc. We can only be prepared....
I knew the Superdome was going to be hell within 24-48 hours or the first indication that the city started to flood. NOLA doesn't have a mid air sewage system. Flooding and sewage systems do not mix well.
When you live in the city most vulnerable to hurricanes in the country - and are surrounded by water and below sea level - and realize you may only have 48 hours to react to one - you need a comprehensive disaster plan to evacutate anyone who wants to leave and doesn't have a car.
There has been study after study about what would happen if NOLA flooded. Despite that, the state and local government had no plan for getting out people without cars. Guess what? They still have to get them out. And now it is exponentially harder and thousands are dead and order is gone.
That is where we need to look - and to make disaster planning a much greater priority and not accept excuses - Texas has a COUNTY JUDGE activating a plan to make the Astrodome available within 48 hours for 25,000 people with cots and supplies and transport - but NOLA and Louisiana doesn't have a mayor or governor capable of doing anything resembling that. We need to see why disaster planning in Texas works - and why it failed so horribly in Louisiana. Or else we'll do this all over again someday.
"We are just complaining about the lack of effort by the officials down there who just happen to be democrats."
And if the officials down there happened to be republicans, you would be complaining about the abuse from the MSM.
Quit complaining, just say a prayer that you are thankful that you are safe and ask the same for everyone in NOLA.
- Geroge W. Bush, this morning on ABC's "Good Morning America"
As someone who's managed people and projects for thirty years, I find I'm asking myself a really sickening question.
And and that I really, really don't like it when I give myself an honest answer to that question:
"If I had to make the choice, and had an important project requiring advance planning and the ability to execute under difficult circumstances, would I be better off assigning it to George W. Bush, or Osama Bin Laden?"
Based on performance, I'd fire this President and much of his team in a heartbeat.
Instead, I'm stuck with them for three years.
And the other resume on my desk is from Hillary Clinton.
The reality of failed leadership - from both Republicans and Democrats - is sickening, and America deserves better.
Disaster planning works in TX because they weren't hit by the Hurricane. They have phones, computers, power, etc. It makes it easier to communicate and plan.
Phones, computers and power worked just fine in NOLA in the 48 hours up until Katrina closed on the region.
Disaster planning works in Texas because they adequately planned and tested their plans.
It would have taken one long, long train and I don't know how many freight cars to move the entire city to a 10 hour ride to safety. But, Oh No!, we can't ask people to ride in a freight car like a hobo! We prefer to carry them out in body bags after the storm.
Bush invaded Iraq better than vice versa.
FEMA's mantra is that states have to take care of the first 72 hours. Louisiana failed to do that - they didn't even take care of the 48 hours before the storm.
Are you reading the same site that I am?
There have been a number of posts questioning the constitutionality of a federaly funded relief, but that doesn't mean people are against helping those hurt by this disaster. It's merely a matter of questioning why the effort should be done by the federal government rather than the sate and local government as well as private charities.
There have been a lot of post suggesting that NO should not be rebuilt in it's current location, or at least federal tax dolars should not be used for that purpose.
There's a lot of people who want the problem of the looters to be addressed severely, but that is done to protect the vast majority of the people there.
"I don't recall Christ saying anything about politics determining whether to assist people in need. I think this is a time for everyone to pull together. Please shut your eyes to a persons ethnicity, skin color, religion or political affiliations."
I don't think Christ said to leave everything to the government and they will take care of you either.
Or a bunch of school buses from upstate. Even if they parked twenty at each interstate rest area upstate or outside scools for 48 hours - at least there would be running water and bathrooms.
Disaster planning is about not having phones, computers, power, etc.!
You got me wrong, B4. I would be organizing the neighborhood way before the need. And when disaster struck, I would be doing all I could to take care of anyone within my reach.
I am bewailing the lack of similar organization in neighborhoods who depend on politicians to take care of their every need.
You can go back to sleep now.
"Or a bunch of school buses from upstate. Even if they parked twenty at each interstate rest area upstate or outside scools for 48 hours - at least there would be running water and bathrooms."
Excelent idea!
Where does self responsibility come into this picture?
I feel that I am responsible for the safety of my wife and daughters from hurricanes, snow storms, floods, civil disturbances, etc. I am not willing to advocate this responsibility to the Mayor, Governor or the President.
When I hear, even a rumor that there is going to be a catastrophic event, I always do some checking to see if anyone of my family could be affected. If so I make plans to remove them from the area.
Anyone in NO who is willing to sit around until they are ordered to leave the area has, IMO, advocated a personal responsibility that I am unwilling to do.
Just the mention of a CAT 5 hurricane coming North should have alarmed every reasonable person on the entire Gulf of Mexico.
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