Originally Posted By vbdad55 <They call out the National Guard here in Minnesota after tornados and such to assist with relief efforts. It doesn't mean that the people were criminals or thieves. That is actually what the Guard is SUPPOSED to be used for... not fighting in Iraq< Trippy, if your governor would have ordered them to shoot to kill all those nice Minnesotians, there would have been a hellstorm to pay -- of course you used the national guard for help -- but I also bet no one was shooting at them either.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Since I was about 10 years old I have steadfastly sent thank you notes. I married someone who finds it equally important. In fact, we had all of our thank you notes out before we went on our honeymoon. It isn't difficult if you actually care. Oh, and I also regularly write letters of appreciation to businesses who proved me with exceptional customer service. Admittedly, those letters are less frequent as good customer service is hard to come by anymore.
Originally Posted By YourPalEd <<<<good customer service is hard to come by anymore>>>> If an honest democrat were leading us, people would be happy to work again. It makes you feel like a traitor, if you even have a job anymore, in bush's america.
Originally Posted By ecdc I watched Spike Lee's documentary, When the Levees Broke. I thought it was excellent. Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco took plenty of heat, but they also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary and so offer their side of the story. Blanco doesn't look to great, even with that, IMO. Nagin fares better. He comes across as someone who did drop the ball, but also didn't have the resources to get the job done. Much has been made about a photograph of school buses under water. What a joke to make a deal out of this. There were nearly 200,000 or more who stayed behind. Most powerful were the individual stories. As much as apparently some are convinced these are all criminals and lowlifes and lazy people, most are people who didn't have transportation, are elderly, or handicapped, etc. I came away from the documentary with just a profound sense of sadness and failure. I didn't feel the need to point a finger at any one person, but I was deeply ashamed that this happened in my country, the richest country in the world. These people were failed by all of us.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<<By August 26, the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm was already being considered. Many of the computer models had shifted the potential path of Katrina 150 miles westward from the Florida Panhandle, putting the city of New Orleans right in the center of their track probabilities; the chances of a direct hit were forecast at 17%, with strike probability rising to 29% by August 28.[13] This scenario was considered a potential catastrophe because 80% of the city of New Orleans and 20% of the New Orleans metropolitan area is below sea level along Lake Pontchartrain. Since the storm surge produced by the hurricane's right-front quadrant (containing the strongest winds) was forecast to be 28 feet (8.5 m), emergency management officials in New Orleans feared that the storm surge could go over the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding.[14] This risk of devastation was well known; previous studies by FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers had warned that a direct hurricane strike on New Orleans could lead to massive flooding, which would lead to thousands of drowning deaths, as well as many more suffering from disease and dehydration as the flood waters slowly receded from the city.[15] At a news conference at 10:00 a.m. on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category 5 storm, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first ever mandatory evacuation of the city, calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared".[16] The government also established several "refuges of last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which sheltered approximately 26,000 people and provided them with food and water for several days as the storm came ashore.[17]>>>
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<<Subsequently, criticism from politicians, activists, pundits and journalists of all stripes has been directed at the local, state and federal governments headed by Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. Nagin and Blanco were criticized for failing to implement New Orleans' evacuation plan and for ordering residents to a shelter of last resort without any provisions for food, water, security, or sanitary conditions. Perhaps the most important criticism of Nagin is that he delayed his emergency evacuation order until 19 hours before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths of people who (by that time) could not find any way out of the city.[8]>>>
Originally Posted By ecdc Nagin dropped the ball early on, no question. Then you have Bush. He said no one could have anticipated a breach of the levees. Too bad he was at a video conference call (that Spike Lee obtained and used in his documentary) where he was told the levees could in fact fail. Then he thought it'd be cool to hang out on vacation, then go to San Diego to give a speech on Iraq, then fly over New Orleans. Wow. Remarkable leadership there. Let's not forget "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" praising Mike "Arabian Horse" Brown. He finally got down on the ground weeks later to tour the damage. Bravo, Mr. President, bravo.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 They ALL failed miserably. To go over it again and again and turn it into a political battle is in my mind a waste of time. It was then for those people and it is now. We are too rich and too resourceful of a country for this to have happen to our people period. To continue to demean and lump every citizen out to be theives, looters and low lifes is mean spirited and bigoted in my book. We need to be focusing on how not to let it happen again. Not has been put downs, sucker punches and childish one upmanships.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy <<Then you have Bush. He said no one could have anticipated a breach of the levees. Too bad he was at a video conference call (that Spike Lee obtained and used in his documentary) where he was told the levees could in fact fail.>> You and Spike might want to go back and look at that video conference and figure out what Bush really said about the levees. We covered this last year when the libs tried to twist what he was saying. You guys are so desperate to pin everything on Bush, the guy who beat you twice, that you will lie about anything. Go back and watch the video and show me where he said the levees were going to break. good luck.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper It was a failure of American Society. But, the point that was being made is that for the first several weeks Nagin and Blanco got a pass while Bush et al were taking all of the heat. Frankly, every last one of them should have lost their jobs.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 <<<every last one of them should have lost their jobs.>>> Will not disagree with that from top to bottom.
Originally Posted By YourPalEd Nagin was asking for help at the beginning, along with blanco, and both were immediately cut off by the republican traitors, who have an agenda to give their pals construction jobs. Republicans love to share the blame after they murder people. Notice how these same known traitors, george bush, karl rove, dick cheney, love to share the blame, but refuse to share the power, or any of the money.
Originally Posted By ecdc "They ALL failed miserably. To go over it again and again and turn it into a political battle is in my mind a waste of time. It was then for those people and it is now." I couldn't agree more, Lisann. I'm at an utter loss as to why Kennesaw Tom seems to have such a vendetta against the victims of Katrina instead of the government's failed response. Instead of acknowledging that all levels failed, it was the victims fault. We're treated to topics painting all victims as looters and criminals that are just lazy and that got there "one bad decision at a time". (I guess serving in Vietnam and losing limbs is definitely a bad decision.) For me, the most remarkable irony was one of Tom's rants about how horrible the victims of Katrina are, then in the next paragraph, called himself a Christian who was opposed to gambling and drinking. Sadly, his comments aren't isolated and represent what many so-called "Christian conservatives" are saying. Try dusting off that New Testament sometime and reading what Jesus said about the poor and the needy.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom How typical of the Liberals to make personal attacks. I never, not once have made a personal attack against anyone in this thread. Too bad so many of you can't say the same. For the record. I understand that there are poor and needy. What I don't understand is the excuses you Liberals constantly make for the multigenerational poor. Maybe you should all stop making excuses for the poor poor pitiful people of New Orleans. The people of this country and our international friends have donated Billions of dollars to Katrina vicitims. We have taken displaced former New Orleans inhabitants into our communities. In some cases to our peril.
Originally Posted By jonvn "How typical of the Liberals to make personal attacks." How typical of the conservatives to label people and insult them. "I never, not once have made a personal attack against anyone in this thread." You did just now. In any case, in 1906, San Francisco lost about 28,000 buildings. Within two years, over 22,000 had already been rebuilt. That was when we had a government willing to do something for the people, and a people who were willing to do things for each other, instead of labeling others and pointing fingers of blame.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom In responce to post # 55: <<That was when we had a government willing to do something for the people, and a people who were willing to do things for each other, instead of labeling others and pointing fingers of blame.>> You mean like what the current Democratic Party is doing?
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I don't see ANY member of any "other" party other than Democrats who are finger pointing and laying blame everyone else ( especially the Republicans and Democratic Party cast-outs like Rep John Lieberman ) when it comes to the hurricane Katrina aftermath. In fact, to his credit President George W Bush is the only government Official to take responcibility when it comes to the hurricane Katrina aftermath.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom In responce to post # 55: <<<"I never, not once have made a personal attack against anyone in this thread." You did just now.>>> I have never once made a personal attack agains anyone posting to this thread. I admit to making appropriate negative comments about; the useless Democratic authorities in both Lousianna and New Orleans government. As well as "poor poor pitiful previous inhabitants of New Orleans". As well as pointing the "mad" ( as in insane ) antics and comments of the Democratic Party Leaders.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I don't see ANY member of any "other" party other than Democrats who are finger pointing and laying blame everyone else ( especially the Republicans and Democratic Party cast-outs like Rep John Lieberman ) when it comes to the hurricane Katrina aftermath.>> I do. In typical conservative style you blaming the victims.
