VT, > Mayor had no one to drive the buses, maybe if their had > been some National Guard to help evacuate the Poor, elderly > and sick, you know the ones without the ability to leave without > assistance?
In case you weren’t aware, there ARE local, city and state government agencies whose responsibility is to take care of their people prior to and during a disaster. FEMA is a first responder. They are to respond after the disaster, not before. FEMA can not be proud of how they responded AFTER the disaster, but this bullshit attitude that somehow it’s not the responsibility of local, city or state governments to get their people safe beforehand is really disturbing. You’d think, since they reviewed their evacuation plan just one year before Katrina as a result of Ivan, that Nagin and Blanco would have understood the need for drivers. That they didn’t have them available is a disgrace. That you now want to lay blame for that on National Guardsmen not being there to drive them is not only bullshit, but it’s fundamentally wrong. That is NOT their role. Mike, > bush cut the funding for the SELA project to use the money in Iraq . > which resulted in the failure of the levees killing thousands of > Americans ! the storm did not cause very much damage to New Orleans > the flooding from the river caused the damage . Bush cut funding, that is true. But the projects affected by the cuts were only designed to sure up some weak spots, not fundamentally change the design of the levees. The Army Corp of Engineers has made it very clear that the levee system was not designed to withstand anything worse than fast moving cat 3 storms. Katrina started out a cat 5 and dropped to a cat 4 as it made landfall. The ACoE has acknowledged that even without the cuts the levees would not have saved the city. Is it possible some of the breaches might not have occurred? It’s possible, but no one has gone so far as to make that assessment. There was a full redesign project for the levee system that was scheduled to be completed in 2015. In 2002, New Orleans officials held a simulation of what would happen in a category 5 storm. Walter Maestri, the emergency coordinator of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans , recounted the outcome to PBS’ NOW With Bill Moyers: Maestri, September 2002: “Well, when the exercise was completed it was evidence that we were going to lose a lot of people. We changed the name of the [simulated] storm from Delaney to K-Y-A-G-B... kiss your ass goodbye... because anybody who was here as that category five storm came across... was gone.” Now, if you’re really interested in the root cause for the disaster you might want to check out; http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/25/nation/na-levee25 There is a 20 year history of infighting and mismanagement of funds PRIOR to Katrina. But I suspect you’re far more interested in blaming Bush than you are in understanding the true causes of the disaster, so I won’t hold my breath. It is not my intention to defend Bush or FEMA. They did some things right but for the most part I still consider the response a failure and at times embarrassing. But I will always argue the human toll could have been, to a large extent, avoided had local, city and state authorities done what they should have done and I think it’s tragic that they’ve been given all but a free pass by those whose primary goal is to blame Bush for everything. On Jan 20, 3:29 am, "liberal mike532 !" <[email protected]> wrote: > bush cut the funding for the SELA project to use the money in Iraq . > which resulted in the failure of the levees killing thousands of > Americans ! the storm did not cause very much damage to New Orleans > the flooding from the river caused the damage . as for the slow > response to help people in the city bush ordered Fema to stop all aid > and assistance unless the Governor turned over control of the state to > the federal government . > > On Jan 19, 2:46 pm, VT Sean Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > George Bush's Legacy is the Failure that was Katrina > > This was the anatomy to all of Bush's failures. > > > Sean Lewis > > January 19, 2009 > > > Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane that slowly > > moved across the Gulf of Mexico growing in > > size and threat. > > > Bush was briefed on the threat and warned about > > the possible scenarios. > > > People were giving warnings about the threat. > > > Authorities were requesting help from Washington > > specifically from the White House for help to deal > > with the threat. > > > The world was also aware of the threat. > > > Bush was made aware of the threat, made some > > public statements and then did no follow through > > to actually prepare for the threat. > > > The threat became a reality and all that was predicted > > and warned about occurred. > > > Bush did nothing. Bush did not end his vacation to > > do his job, he was AWOL again. > > > Americans suffered and died. > > > Bush still did nothing. > > > The press. the country and the world cried out for > > something to be done. Rice went to NYC to buy > > shoes. Bush went to a party, and the rest of the > > Administration stayed on vacation. > > > When Bush was finally shown a tape of what the > > world had been watching 24/7 for 3 days, THEN and > > only then did he react. > > > He started by saying who could have predicted such > > a threat and he had no warning. He took no > > responsibility and put the blame on everyone > > else from the victims to nature but he never saw > > himself as being accountable for his failure to > > anticipate and be proactive in dealing with this threat. > > > This is the anatomy of every Bush failure from > > 9/11 to the current economic meltdown. > > > Bush denied there was a housing meltdown or a recession for > > a year. Imagine if Bush had been proactive a year ago > > in dealing with the housing meltdown and the economy? > > Instead Bush denied there was a problem because his motives > > and loyalty was to his political party and not the American > > citizens he had sworn to serve and protect. > > > Bush seemed to have risen beyond his pay-scale and was > > more interested in mountain biking and playing at being > > President than actually having the intellectual acumen to > > BE president. > > > When Bush was first elected I said the man could not handle > > the job of being the President, but I consoled myself by > > saying 'how much harm can he do?' > > > 8 years later and for years to come in the future the failure > > that was Bush, is the Legacy this country will have to contend > > with along with the residue of the cascading collaspsing failures > > left festering on the American landscape.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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