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"Tell me what you would have done that wasn't done."

I guess DCPatriot (in reply to Blessed, 226) made my point better than I could.

And while this thread happens to be about NOLA, my sister and I were speaking in context of the entire decimated gulf coast area. There are many areas that have not had any help reach them yet.

My question of 'what happened to all the disaster planning, preparedness' was not meant to imply that I had answers. It was meant to express my concern that whatever disaster plans were in place were/are inadequate-- whether a hurricane or a terrorist attack.

I realize, as faithincowboys put it, that "the people of New Orleans are not especially civilized and they are shooting at the people who are trying to rescue them." And IMHO, those who are looting and causing rescue efforts to be diverted instead to law enforcement are culpable for murder. People are dying because of their lawlessness.

As to what I would have done that wasn't done? (Again, totally not the point of my prior post, but I'll play, anyway). For starters--

1) I would have brought in school busses to help evacuate people before Katrina hit
2) I would not have identified the Superdome as a shelter.
3) I would have taken a strong stance on the first incidences of looting.
4) I would have had the folks in the helicopters involved with rescuing people off roofs, also drop water to stranded people that they couldn't get to right away.

I was under the impression the government had been planning for this type of situation ever since (and maybe before) 9-11. It appears their plans suck, to put it mildly. The entire rescue of New Orleans stopped by a couple of gang bangers with guns? Did not plan for gang bangers with guns? What's up with that? We have been repeatedly told that worse far worse then 9-11 was coming, well here it is, where the plan? It appears to me that the only damn plan was to ask Texas if Texas has a plan.

I really, really think we've become a Domino's pizza, wrap it all up in a 30 minute sitcom nation. We're all expert second guessers and Monday Morning quarterbacks who don't throw interceptions. It's just getting old.

The world is a tough place. Good people work hard to keep the train on the rails, but nature and sh*t happen. People who we are told are in survival mode have deemed it necessary to horde plasma televisions and Randy Moss Jerseys and shoot at National Guardsmen and snipe outside of hospitals.

We have a poor, thug-worshipping underclass who mostly can't swim and for whatver reason there were no air conditioned busses to get them out of NO before the storm came. The Democrat machine that makes sure they all get to the polls in style on election day didn't show up to take them out of the city.

So we have many, many people who believe in terrible Republican corporate conspiracies and feel that they are blameless in all circumstances are stuck in a natural disaster zone. Rather than being helpful in their rescue, many have thwarted the rescuers. You figure it out, I can't.

They chose to exploit the situation and further stress the strained first responders. I suppose this thing hasn't gone particularly well because the Feds and the locals didn't sufficiently factor in the staggering dysfuntion of the people who couldn't flee the storm.

Just getting back into the thread.

Right off the bat I'd say FEMA and subsequently President Bush will be tarred and...no...make that drawn and quartered over the "slow" response in trying to keep those people alive.

They should have been delivering water and food in some coordinated fashion by now.

If the facts are that it's because of gangs of mauraders have stolen heavy weaponry, then we have a domestic terrorist situation.

The longer the situation remains where no control exists, the bad publicity for the Administration.

OTOH, the longer it festers, it speaks..no screams volumns about the calamity of liberalism and the Louisiana welfare class.