For me, one small sliver of a silver lining to this overwhelmingly dark cloud of disaster is that, somehow, this finally forced W to hold himself accountable for not doing what was right...a red-letter day in the history of this country in the new century, to be sure...
The subject of natural disasters, how the govt. responds, & how the incompetence of the appointed hacks affects that response reminds me of the story of Chicago some years back...about 1967, Chitown was hit with a major blizzard that paralysed the whole city...the legendary & infamous Mayor Daly, understanding that his political machine couldn't possibly cope with this thing, exhorted residents to pitch in & help themselves out of the mess, which interestingly enough kept him from shoudering the blame for being unable to respond to an emergency...a lesson that was lost on a succeeding administration, after his death, that got hit with another snowstorm, & had no response of any kind to deal with it...that mayor was booted out on her ass in the next election...

To say hurricanes and other major natural and manmade disasters don't effect elections is preposterous to me, especially considering the impact 911 had on current presidency. How a leader reacts during times of crisis is certainly an area under consideration when people vote.

Lilith,

Has anyone said that?

'Splain it to me then JSeal.

Lilith,

How many times have you seen an hurricane in an election booth? :rolleyes2

LOL well let's see, Camille, Kate, Andrew, Charlie, Katrina :D Oh you mean voting not ransacking ;)

Lilith,

Yes mam, that is what I mean when I say, and said, vote. :)

Respectfully rabbit...I just don't think Bill Clinton would have had a similar "end result". In all honesty I think Bill Clinton, or just about any other president other than GWB (and I include his father in this determination) would have jumped to the ready and started up efforts of evacuation and repair to the levees well before GWB did. He is commander in chief for shit sake...and could have done so many things so much faster and with more authority! He's just recently proclaimed that he does take the fault for the lack of response...and again in all honesty, this is the first thing he has ever taken responsibility for where it was necessary for the people of this country to hear him say it out loud! If he would just do this a bit more often whenever he fucks up...I might get off his case a bit!

But I have to say (before you get your cute li'l undies inna bunch) that my entire statement wasn't directed just at him...though I may have eluded to it being about him alone. I was also referring to the more local elected officials and to those in the Bush administration who were appointed to their positions without the education and experience for what they were appointed. Sorry...I shoulda been more concise.

About your statement of "a lot of people would still be dead"...I reiterate... I feel in my heart (and from general knowledge of the capability of past leaders) that nearly any other administration would have been more levelheaded just beforehand...calling for a different/better course of action to get those people out before the big hit...and then more authoritative and faster at response of rescue and repair just after the incident. And I don't think as many would have perished with such disinterest and lack of understanding and compassion for a more common folk (no means of escape or place to go when out of harms way) that doesn't fit into the understanding/comprehension of a leader/leaders that seemingly don't care till they are called out for their faults!

AND...I've never known a more disconnected president than GWB! And might I add, his Mom and wife were pretty unrealistic too, with some of their disfunctional statements of the situation. Eeeeek!

Sorry to piss anyone off...but those are my feelings and I can't let it go by that I should feel better about him because some think it is not patriotic of me when I speak out against his actions. He's given "ME" no reason to respect his so called authority. I'm not trying to sway anyones loyalty to him...I'm just stating my thoughts! I'm not a sheep (no WI...this isn't directed to you...lol!) and I'll never be herded by anyone, let alone a leader I don't respect!

I don't need any Amen's to this response...and I swear I ain't looking for anyone to "get my back". I'm NOT trying to cause a ruckus. I'm just stating my thoughts to a response to my reply.

I love ya rabbit...you know that! So, take this as banter back and forth and nothing more...k?

I have a right to my opinion...as does everyone here at Pixies...and so it is said!

LixyChick,

Yes mam, everyone at Pixies has a right to their opinion! Good heavens, what a dull place it would be were we all stampde from the same mold

I find your assessment pretty much dead on Lixy...the details being that the Homeland Security Act absorbed FEMA & took away much of its funding to do its job, the Iraqi War has hollowed out the National Guard to the point wher they couldn't do their directed mission of keeping the peace in domestic situations, & W's "buddy system" made sure there was nothing but hacks in charge...I recall that Slick Willie had a very trying time getting his appointments thru, since he seemed to be trying to screen people for a certain minimum of qualifications, & not just offering govt. jobs to his golfing pals...

LOL @ the eloquent wording of Scotz's last sentence (well, his whole post but the last line was the clincher)

Maybe this is already common knowledge but I read last night that La's welfare money (not sure what America's exact terminology is) was to be distributed on Sept. 2, days after the storm.

I understand that it would have been impossible to give $$$ early to residents on assistance, however you'd think authorities would have been aware of this budget dilemma.

It really struck home to me because I live in such a po' 'hood. Government cheques are issued towards the end of the month here (I'm not sure if it's always the 27th but I'm pretty sure it is).

You can see how desperate people are before their cheques arrive and, if a calamity of Katrina's nature were to hit this area a few days before cheques are cut, people would be fucked.

It's only the middle of the month right now and people are already getting an early start on earning extra money (read participating in more criminal activity, prostitution, drug dealing, arguments, general loudness, etc. than occurs for the two weeks or so after cheques are issued). :rolleyes2

I'm sure the timing of the storm/gov't assistance was part of the reason people acted the way they did. Of course, I'm not defending the looting of TVs and alcohol but if I was a young parent on assistance and had no money until my next cheque, there is no doubt in my mind I would have smashed a shop window to get diapers and formula for my child.

And, to also comment on people who think events would have been the same if WJC was in power, I also respectfully disagree. He's been called the first black president by some & let's not forget, he grew up po', too. I think America was lucky to have such an intelligent man in power. Not only that, he remembered where he came from & endeavoured to improve the lot of all.

I think Clinton

a) wouldn't have been on vacation for five weeks to being with
&
b) would have moved White House operations as close to the action as he could for maximum impact

I really can't picture him being shamed into addressing/recognizing the seriousness of the situation.

I am an unabashed fan of him, can you tell? :better:

Gentlefolk,

Here’s an interesting development in the FEMA allocations process: both James Witt, Bill Clinton's FEMA director (and now an adviser to Louisiana's governor), and Joe Allbaugh, Mr Bush's first FEMA director, run consulting companies that help firms navigate the government red tape (James Lee Witt Associates & Allbaugh Co.). We’re talking serious cash here; Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion to cover the costs of the disaster.

We're cool, hun. I am not really looking to stand up and defend the Administration...which I could type paragraphs doing...I just want to encourage people to dig deeper. A lot went wrong during Andrew and a lot of what went wrong was not FEMA's fault.

rabbit

BigBear57 offered the most reasonable thought that is not a totally piss poor excuse for that 1% of every population that always ruthlessly seizes every opportunity to add to the chaos of every situation. I know I don’t want to attend any parties with Bibi for any of her “Pure unadulterated happiness”. :rolleyes2 I truly doubt they were sending Morse code signals to the rescuers or to the New Orleans police department when they finally entered the Superdome. What it did show me was not that NOPD was overwhelmed by the scope of the entire horrific event, but that they were not able to deal with the most basic first function of their responsibility in subduing a handful of thugs that were endangering them and everyone else including any other assistance that was struggling to help.

I am most serious about this tragedy being something that has laid bare EVERY aspect of the inability of our total bureaucratic structure being the true remains of Katrina.

You bring up the completely separate issue of self-responsibility that is going to be used and abused during the rock throwing and buck passing marathoner now started. That part of our individual duty, to reappraise our OWN preparedness for calamity, is as vital as demanding an authority with capability and accountability.

We have some MOST INTERESTING TIMES ahead of us. :rofl: