Hurricane Katrina

[knucklehead]

To the many American members of this board I hope that you and your loved ones have been lucky enough have been untouched by this tragedy.

The scale of this disaster is hard to comprehend. It is made all the worse when there are so many people still suffering and with little hope of reprive for some time yet.

Our thoughts are with you.

[martrix]

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
[email protected]
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

[gatiep]

My thoughts and wishess too.

[johnc]

My heart goes out to all those caught up in the devistation wrought by Katrina. It seems America is a great country unless you are poor, in need or in some way dependant on compentance from the government. Third world countries seem to be able to show more speed and compassion at the start of emergencies than a country that seems unable to give more than lip service to the same ideals.



JohnC

[HiString]

The following was posted on an instrument forum I spend a lot of time on. The poster is a guy who ACTUALLY lives in Louisiana and is/was a lot more aware of what are truths and what aren't, unlike so many people who are passing comment................


"Ok it may have been said ad nausium but it needs to be resaid, there was NO ONE who could not get out, the city was given days worth of forwarning and there were many means available to get out, buses were sent around the city to pick people up and take them out of the city, messages were relayed and tv and radio that if you needed help to contact the city and they would come and get you, help you whatever needed to get out of the city. The city told these people exactly what was going to happen, the city would be flooded the pumps would fail and the levee's would break and anyone that stayed would be left there for weeks or more without any water power or food beyond what they had there with them. It was all laid out in no uncertain terms. People just flat out refused to go, their reasons may have varied but before the storm not one person who was asked or interviewed on tv listed not being able to leave as a reason why they were staying, no one. Their reasons were that they had to protect their stuff, or they had ridden out storms before, or that it was to much of an inconveniece and that if it was "their time" to go then that was that. What has happened was a real tradjedy but I cannot come to grips with these people who chose to spit in the face of danger and are now complaining that someon else is not bailing them out in a suffecient time frame. Now with that said, yes the government has been woefully inept with their handling of this situation, but I don't think you can put the blame soley on the federal government and fema. It is not the feds responsibility to act as savior for the people in this situation, that role belongs to the city and state governments, the feds are supposed to be there in a support role to offer help. I heard N.O. mayor nagin just go off on tv today about how the feds aren't doing enough to help but the situation would have never gotten this bad if the city would have had an adaquate plan for the situation. The N.O. police had NO ACTION PLAN for this event, they were told "show up for your shift, stay out until the storm gets to bad and then shelter in place" that's it there was no coordination with the state, or federal agencies, no contingency plan, no plan for anything. Same goes for the state, the only thing you got from the state was you were sure that worthless peice of crap gov blanco was gonna get on the tv and have her nightly crying episode.
Rumor has it that up to half of the NOPD have turned in their badges and walked away because they can't see where it is worth it to risk their lives when they have lost their homes, their families are gone and the city has absolutely left them out to dry. The city did not give them any suplies, shelter, anything. The cops have to loot the shops to get ammo to fight the bad guys, they have scrounge for food just like everyone elsr, I know I would put my life on the line against idiot looters in that situation either. Any real blame needs to go squarely on the shoulders of Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blaco."

[ernknot]

Comon guys, we are all stunned by the events and feel for people, but cut the crap on laying blame and naming names.

[fxst]

Like Ernknot I reckon they have enough to worry about and dont need people from another country with limited knowledge of theirmethods to apportion blame.
Matrix uless you are a US citizen and voted in their elections you should keep out of their politics as events unfolding now make it clear it was not a federal f*****p or the presidents as the following points out
Posted at: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...4/124905.shtml

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005 12:47 p.m. EDT

Gov. Kathleen Blanco: No State of Emergency

Though her state has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and
thousands are believed dead in New Orleans, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Blanco has yet to declare a state of emergency and refuses to cede
authority over rescue efforts to the federal government.

"Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a
proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of
the evacuation of New Orleans," the Washington Post reported in Sunday
editions.
Gov. Blanco's office rejected the request, the paper said - concerned
that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of
martial law.

The Louisiana Democrat has also failed to declare a state of
emergency - in marked contrast to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who both issued emergency declarations
before Hurricane Katrina struck.

State and federal officials also told the Post that Gov. Blanco did
not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until
Wednesday - more than 24 hours after breaches in New Orleans levee
system had flooded the city and killed thousands.

Like Australia the states try and stay soverien unless its too big for em then they call in help
enough from me
Pete

[johnc]

The Americans will learn a lot from this disaster and trying to blame the vicitims will not be one of the lessons learned. The U.S. rely on the state based national guard and other agencies at a local level but this disaster overwhelmed them. In any case even if they used the national guard these people need to be housed and fed futher reducing the scarce resources available for those they are helping. Look at our own efforts in Aceh, we provided a ship with its own accomodation, food, hospital and transport so as to help those on the ground. This is the of type help needed but with the three states wiped out the whole system failed and the federal authorites failed to come in early enough and part of this will be to work out how to prevent a failure like this again. Don't blame those who would not move, if you do not have the cash resources how do you accomodate and feed yourself even if free transport is available, and don't blame the stupid who will not move because we have government to protect the stupid from themselves (to a certain extent). These losses of human life are awful and people will be found to blame and scape goats discovered, the federal head of their displan is a political appointee perhaps it's time to look at career appointments who are competent at their jobs to head these agencies.

Only a fool looks for individuals to blame, it is those with compassion that will find the cause, and the way to try to prevent what is a monumental failure to adequately respond in the early days. Out of this cause and cure can be identified and only then do the Americans have any hope of building a plan for disaster response that will adequately serve their nation.

Quite frankly Histring the comments you posted highlight nothing but blaming the victim and do not advance any cause other than those offered by the callous and insincere, this is a disaster on many levels, and that covers economic and political. We have our own failures but the situation with a more scattered population is different, however I would hope in the coming weeks the Aussies can offer the Yanks a few clues on how we quickly escalate from local to state to federal through a defined chain.

JohnC

[rick_rine]

I feel very sorry for all the people involved in this tragedy , many more tragedies seem to occur daily but why is it we don't hear of the daily deaths of 20,000 people from starvation . Surley this is also newsworthy . Maybe we are just dulled as it happens every day .

[HiString]

John,

I was initially going to respond suggesting you re-read that post, but without you having the opportunity to see the nature of the comments that prompted a Louisiana resident to type what he did, I guess it is just best left alone.

[johnc]

I understand your point HiString and in part I can see where the original writer was coming from and they do highlight a lack of planning from the authorities. The scary part of this is that the intensity of these events is sparked by water temperatures in the Gulf. I had a relative caught in Florida when the last hurricane passed through but water temperatures were lower and the storm weakened after it had caused a lot of damage to Cuba. It would seem that water temperatures have been steadily rising over the last 50 years and with the gulf sitting on 30C and not yet starting to cool it is possible that more hurricanes could lash that coast this year. If global warming is picking up speed as evidenced by the retreat of the polar ice caps and recorded sea temperatures then that region could face many events such as this in future years. The impact or even existance of global warming remains a vexed question and there are still scientists and government yet to be convinced it is here with us.

The point to be made is that as these events may be increasing in intensity that region needs to look at the failures from Katrina so they can be better prepared next time.

JohnC