Foo wrote:
I don't state that, and it's not relevant to the point, either.
But you do state that and it is relevant. You said how can the US let this happen? It's not the whole US here that is in trouble, it's just one city. You should be asking how New Orleans and the state of louisiana could let this happen.
The way you stated your first post you make it sound like it's the US as a whole that screwed the pooch here.
Foo wrote:
I don't state that, and it's not relevant to the point, either.
But you do state that and it is relevant. You said how can the US let this happen? It's not the whole US here that is in trouble, it's just one city. You should be asking how New Orleans and the state of louisiana could let this happen.
The way you stated your first post you make it sound like it's the US as a whole that screwed the pooch here.
...they did. I'm suggesting that the responsibility lies with federal agencies being too slow to react, the government as a whole relying on the level of public outcry to determine their response, and the necessary federal funding/planning/backing not being sufficient.
You are right though, my earlier statements are somewhat contradictors.
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
The reasons why things are the way they are is due to a complete and total failure of leadership. I just saw the FEMA director saying that he just found out TODAY that there were thousands of people in the convention center in New Orleans.
As has been stated, this disaster was known to be HIGHLY likely. The fact that the levees weren't improved is DIRECTLY DUE to GeeDubya's bullshit war in Iraq, and every single emergency management agency involved with the affected states has failed fucking miserably in the contingency planning area.
Nightshade wrote:The reasons why things are the way they are is due to a complete and total failure of leadership. I just saw the FEMA director saying that he just found out TODAY that there were thousands of people in the convention center in New Orleans.
As has been stated, this disaster was known to be HIGHLY likely. The fact that the levees weren't improved is DIRECTLY DUE to GeeDubya's bullshit war in Iraq, and every single emergency management agency involved with the affected states has failed fucking miserably in the contingency planning area.
Dunno if its been said here before by some of the other UKers but there was a US guy on all the news channels here who wrote a report 3 months ago saying that New Orleans could be swamped if a cat 5 hit it and it needed action.
Another interesting tidbit he mentioned was that Holland, another below sea level region, has a 1 in 10000 chance of such a similar event happening to it and yet they have already protected the country just in case to a tune of $40billion. New Orleans has a 1 in 200 chance that it could occur and wasnt (obviously).
And the spinning has already begun.
ABC News has said that even if they started 5 years ago they wouldnt have been to do much to stop the same thing happening today. Why mention 5 years? Oh is it becasue thats when fathead started?
Give it a week and itll be Clintons fault.
Nightshade wrote:The reasons why things are the way they are is due to a complete and total failure of leadership. I just saw the FEMA director saying that he just found out TODAY that there were thousands of people in the convention center in New Orleans.
As has been stated, this disaster was known to be HIGHLY likely. The fact that the levees weren't improved is DIRECTLY DUE to GeeDubya's bullshit war in Iraq, and every single emergency management agency involved with the affected states has failed fucking miserably in the contingency planning area.
It's easier to throw money at a problem and look like you're doing something then to actually fix a problem. That's been the American way for years. Unfortunately, Bush has spent all the money so we can't even BS our way through the motions.
Foo wrote:You're right, it hasn't. It was widely reported earlier today that that was the case because it was spread via the radio channels, but it's not.
As far as I know, martial law has been declared once during American history during the Civil War to keep Maryland in the Union (unless it was used as justification to collect citizens of Japanese descent during WWII)
...I've been working with OEP since Monday morning coordinating evacuations, shelters, medical personnel and supplies, food, water, clothing and security...
...all red cross and independant shelters are full in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida... We are now sending them to Texas and Arkansas...
...whats left of New Orleans government is now housed in our headquarters...it will be 3 months before they can return to New Orleans...this is going to make Hurricane Andrew and Camile combined with the San Francisco earthquake and 911 look like a picnic before it's over with...
...FEMA is a bunch of fucking idiots that would rather see medical supplies sit on a floor than send it out without the proper signatures on the proper paperwork...
...the people that didn't get out of the city before the storm were the poor (who were provided a means to leave), the addicts and the gangs (that figured they would loot and prey on anyone that would be left)...the addicts are fucking going nuts...there has been no water, food, electricity for four days...we have teams attempting to rescue people and getting shot at for their effort...the gangs actually got into a full blown war in the superdome being used as a shelter...
To put things in perspective, 9/11 claimed almost 3000 lives. This hurricane will claim ???? lives. Possibly even ?????.
For me, the issue then will be how many of those lives were lost not due to the tornado but to flooding and after-effects. Because that total will be the real 'cost' of the misgovernance.
If it comes out higher than the lives lost in 9/11, doesn't that say something significant?
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
SplishSplash wrote:It's because the US isn't as civilized as you believe. Sure, they seem normal at first, but then again their nation is only like 400 years old at best (I'm including the colony years). Deep inside, they're all savages.
Foo wrote:...nearly 5 days since the hurricane struck...
The levee broke very late Monday, so that would put us at the end of day three for response to the event that has led up to the riots and anarchy in New Orleans.
well, on the TV the victims look mostly like poor black people, and it's the South.....so.......they aren't straining themselves too much on their behalf. I imagine they're thinking a bit like Scrooge, decrease the surplus population, especially the part of the population they don't like much.
Elsewhere, San Antonio and Dallas each braced for the arrival of 25,000 more, and Baton Rouge overnight replaced New Orleans as the most populous city in Louisiana and was bursting at the seams.
blood.angel wrote:
Dunno if its been said here before by some of the other UKers but there was a US guy on all the news channels here who wrote a report 3 months ago saying that New Orleans could be swamped if a cat 5 hit it and it needed action.
Another interesting tidbit he mentioned was that Holland, another below sea level region, has a 1 in 10000 chance of such a similar event happening to it and yet they have already protected the country just in case to a tune of $40billion. New Orleans has a 1 in 200 chance that it could occur and wasnt (obviously).
Dude. A Cat 5 Hurricane has 250km/hour winds. If one hit Holland (my country, btw), it would breach the dunes trivially and swamp large parts of the country. I doubt that any city is ready for a head-on Cat 5 hurricane.
A Cat 5 hurricane would probably hurl houses and trucks around like toys.
On the other hand, most hurricanes drop in severity when they hit land.
They were reporting before it landed that the hurricane was getting a lot worse (and would last longer) because of the drasitic temperature change between the Atlantic and the Gulf area. It's pretty bad.. the flooding and the hurricane were two seperate events. The hurricane did all of the damage that we're seeing. The flooding came after the fact.
