World stunned as US struggles with Katrina

breitbart ^ | 9/2/05 | Andrew Gray

[Pessimist]

I didn't know that. Of course, as the wealthiest nation in the world, and the reigning super power, I'd like to think both this behavior and performance is beneath us.

[hadaclueonce]

"I stopped worring about what others thought about me in high school." Bet that's done wonders for you career too, huh? Yep.

[hadaclueonce]

I cannot complain about my career. If I did I would be a RAT.

[Conservative Canuck]

Give it time. Mark my words, they'll come back better than ever.

[George W. Bush]

When they criticize the response, they have no clue that in essence they are criticizing their Socialist brethren here in the US.

A perfect counterpoint here.

I guess I'd call it 'their socialist brethren in cahoots with organized crime and vice organizations in an area known as a center of criminal operations since the French abandoned it' would be more accurate.

[George W. Bush]

WE have no idea of the obstacles faced there and should not be criticizing those who are actually doing the work.

I've been reading this on different threads.

Not one person has criticized our charity groups or emergency workers or troops.

The criticism is being aimed at FEMA and the local officials and Congress. This is not a materials shortage or a lack of willing manpower. It's sheer mismanagement, starting at the local and state level.

[George W. Bush]

As a non-American who admires America ... For at least 48 hours, governmental authorities have revealed themselves to be incompetent and utterly without leadership capacity.

Thanks for your observation. It's not lack of money or materials or willing manpower.

This kind of corruption and ineptitude on display means it will be decades before Americans can make snide remarks about corruptly mismanaged Third World regimes. We knew it was broke. We knew we had to fix it and had even passed a proper plan. Then we didn't fix it while spending wild amounts of money on everything else (including Iraq) and gutting the money for a truly necessary public works project absolutely vital to the American economy (and the world economy).

So now the Big One hits NOLA and five days later we're watching people dying on TV from lack of water and food and insulin and lack of simple medical care.

You know, it's embarassing. But it's the political elites of this country and their tepid and belated response who are the real embarassment in this mess.

[George W. Bush]

I don't fault Pres. Bush in this part, but those levees should have been beefed up, also.

A former Republican congresman who Bush appointed to run the Army Corps was driven from office because he was critical about the spending priorities when the OMB gutted the budgets for the SELA legislation that was to finish the levees to bring them up to Cat 3 levels.

You're going to hear a lot more about this. It is not the fault of the Corps. They are one of a handful of federal agencies, like GAO, who are worth every penny we spend on them. In this case, we just wouldn't give them the money that the Gingrich congress committed to 6 years ago.

The estimated cost for upgrading the entire system to Cat 5 levees would have been only $15 billion. Now, we're going to spend that in the next week. Plus the high gas prices and shortages. Plus midwestern grain farmers having no port for their grain. The list is huge.

This could be a far bigger economic hit than 9/11 ever was. And it will affect far more states. Basically, about 1/4 of the country in a swath along the Mississippi from NOLA to Chicago.

[glaseatr]

We need to take a breath and remind the world that NO is the exception.

Oh God I wish that was true but you still have Los Angelenos who burn their part of the city to the ground from time to time.

Your right that Mississippi and Alabama seem to be getting along ok for the most part.

[George W. Bush]

Meanwhile a Hurricane wipes out practically two states and displaces millions of people. Foreign countries would fair far worse than we are with this mess.

Some of the snide remarks are a bit much. Luxembourg isn't as big as small suburb and is a parasite state. Most of these countries expressing these remarks aren't as big as MS and LA. They're just have no concept of what a big country this is.

[spanalot]

"Since you have the solutions you should get down there and help those people. WE have no idea of the obstacles faced there and should not be criticizing those who are actually doing the work"

I saw 9/11 and I know how emergencies get resolved.
There are hundreds of school busses parked in NO andthey have been parked there for a whole F'in week. One 20 year old kid had the wits to steal one and pass the hat amongst 40 victims for gas money and he was one of the first to the SuperDome. Stop believing in the infallability of govt.

[brwnsuga]

The tsunami area was very much a dangerous area for people to be in.


And don't forget the children being lured away, kidnapped and molested there too.

[independentmind]

"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

I remember the pictures of the incredibly poor villagers who politely greeted US Naval personnel as they landed on islands to deliver water and supplies. Those simple folk of the third world appear to know much more about civilized behavior than portions of the US population.

[Nov3]

I don't know that I believe not a single tourist was mugged,

Highlander,

I don't know where you live but if you don't have your head in you @$$ and have lived in a major southern city you would believe that tourists have been raped and beaten. Without personal protection, the police, and a sense of law and order certain people are prey. It is tough for Yankees (anyone who does not live in the South)to understand but they learn it real quick here in Memphis.

[DBeers]

World stunned as US struggles with Katrina liberal scumbags take center stage upon the bodies of the dead again to spew thier self loathing spin and hatred of all that is good ALL couched in objectively obvious transparently hollow indignation...

[anonsquared]

Someone should inform Mr. Sajeewa Chinthaka that Sri Lanka has not had to bear the burden of 40+ years of liberal Democrat social engineering and if they had, chaos would have reigned supreme during their crisis also.

[FBD]

>"You're going to hear a lot more about this. It is not the fault of the Corps. They are one of a handful of federal agencies, like GAO, who are worth every penny we spend on them. In this case, we just wouldn't give them the money that the Gingrich congress committed to 6 years ago."<

-I was not aware of this! Do you have a link to this story?

>"The estimated cost for upgrading the entire system to Cat 5 levees would have been only $15 billion."<

Wow. I'd like to read up on this, please ping me, as you find info, on this subject.
I heard a Corps of Engineers guy discuss the possibilty of putting in a triple-wall levee system like the Dutch have in place. Given the importance of the New Orleans Port, why was our Govt. so lax in not beefing up these levees, when they KNEW they wouldn't withstand a CAT 4 hurricane?


>"Now, we're going to spend that in the next week. Plus the high gas prices and shortages. Plus midwestern grain farmers having no port for their grain. The list is huge."<

-Yup, the Port of N.O handles over 50,000 barges per year, and over 5000 ships- tankers and freighters...and right now, it's not handling anything. This is going to have a terrible effect on our economy.

[George W. Bush]

-I was not aware of this! Do you have a link to this story?

Actually, the Gingrich congress started on this stuff back in '95. Here's a link to EditorAndPublisher which reprints a brief article from the Philly Inquirer on the topic.

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

The Corps' webpage on SELA: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/...

Given the importance of the New Orleans Port, why was our Govt. so lax in not beefing up these levees, when they KNEW they wouldn't withstand a CAT 4 hurricane?

Man, is that a good question! We'll get answers within the month. Both the House and Senate have already announced hearings.

That $10 billion they authorized yesterday to cover the costs of the first few weeks fo relief seems like a lot. But the Corps estimated the cost of building the levees to protect against a Katrina-type Cat 5 storm was only $15 billion.

Damn. Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish. But at least they fully funded and increased PBS and National Endowment for the Arts. Not to mention a Pill Bill that mostly benefits pharm companies...

-Yup, the Port of N.O handles over 50,000 barges per year, and over 5000 ships- tankers and freighters...and right now, it's not handling anything. This is going to have a terrible effect on our economy.

I have thousands of bushels of wheat to sell. What do you think it will do to the prices if there's no freaking port of New Orleans to load and ship it?!?!?!? Not to mention the increases in fuel prices, already outrageous, now that we've lost the production in the Gulf and the refineries in LA?

Ya know, even if you don't like The Big Easy, that port is vital to the entire Mississippi, all the way to Chicago. This is just sheer negligence.

[highlander_UW]

I don't know where you live but if you don't have your head in you @$$ and have lived in a major southern city you would believe that tourists have been raped and beaten. Without personal protection, the police, and a sense of law and order certain people are prey. It is tough for Yankees (anyone who does not live in the South)to understand but they learn it real quick here in Memphis.

You completely missed my point. I was saying that I doubted that not a single tourist was mugged in all of south east Asia in the aftermath of the tsunami. The person commenting said that not a single tourist was mugged, and I doubt that is true. I fully believe the reports that people have been mugged and raped in the LA hurricane area.

[Nov3]

You completely missed my point. I was saying that I doubted that not a single tourist was mugged in all of south east Asia in the aftermath of the tsunami. The person commenting said that not a single tourist was mugged, and I doubt that is true. I fully believe the reports that people have been mugged and raped in the LA hurricane area.

I misunderstood and was wrong - sorry.