Bush and Hurricane Katrina

[matthewmurcia]

Ok, so what does everybody think of teh Bush administration's response to Hurrican Katrina? In the international press I've looked at it looks very much like he's taking a beating, with people describing it as another huge political cock-up for him, quite apart from the organisational mess that seems to be perpetuating itself every day. I've even read an article on a US website describing the US as a 'failed state' already, given the mess in Iraq (which is following up the defeat in Vietnam in terms of popular psychology, and now the response over Katrina. I've also seen the US described in more than one publication as a third world country in terms of its ability to respond to natural disasters and sort it's own citizens out.

[Stone]

Noone is to blame, and all the liberals and dem's are bashing Bush as usual :roll: a finger must be pointed at someone :roll:

There was no phone service, no way to acess New Orleans and I know that the Goverment did what they could with the situaton at hand. The people we're told to evacuate witch I know can be very difficult as far as gas, money, and road blockage is consirned. but where is the personal responsibility in this situation??

I live dirrectly on the Gulf Coast and it is a known fact that if you live in a state witch can be effected by a hurricane it is crucial to have a Hurricane Kit, simple things like 3 days supply of water per person, flashlights, can food ect. Incase this happens, how can the goverment find every person while the streets are flooded, no electric, no phone ect? They are a goverment not a superpower

I am satisfied in the way the goverment here resopnded, it is the biggest natural disaster in our history, we've rescued thousands and thousands of people and will basically find goverment housing for an entire city.

[darkangelism]

Bush did everything he is supposed to do. It is not the job of the federal government to jump right in and provide relief, the states are supposed to use their resources first. Where is the louisiana national guard(the national guard is under control of the governor before the president so they should have mobilized themselves)? Why didnt NO police stop the looters? Where are the govenor and mayor? I have watched some 15 hours of coverage and not once have i seen them doing anything, Not give a single news conference. When florida gets hit with a hurricane, Jeb Bush is out there reassuring the people.

So it is the mayor and governor of louisiana that are to blame, not Bush.

[Star]

did they send out buses or ways of transporting people out of there when people were told they should leave? this might of helped all the people who had no way of evacuating. what a disaster.

[Merika]

The one fact that the media in other countires may not be explaining is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was created only in 1979. It was formed to coordinate and focus federal response to major disasters – to "assist" local and state governments.

After the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center, no one suggested that the Bush administration should have been responsible for New York's disaster response or that federal agents should have been involved in the rescue of those trapped in the buildings. The Mayor of NYC stepped up the the plate and did his job.

Last year, four major hurricanes hit Florida. Governor Jeb Bush led the disaster response and did a remarkable job, with nothing happening like what we have seen in New Orleans.

The primary response in disasters has always come from local communities and state governments. First responders and the manpower to deal with emergencies come from local communities: police, fire and medical. Under our federal system, these local departments answer to local authorities, not those in Washington. These first responders are not even under federal control, nor do they have to follow federal orders.

New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet local officials apparently did little to prepare. Obviously, Gov. Blanco did not effectively deploy her state's National Guard.

I agree with you Star......but New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their OWN EVACUATION PLAN, these officials did little to supply food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.

It was never Bush's responsibility. When he saw that the whole situation was falling apart....he took over. So...the media can fool themselves and the rest of the world.....but the ones of us who know how our government work...know that it's crap and politics.

It wasn't because these people were poor or black...it's because they voted in lousy leadership.

BTW DA....I didn't read where you already explained all that! Great job!

[Stone]

Merika I read that to Greg and now he is in love with you, he told me to tell you that you should have your own colum and that your awasome

[darkangelism]

yeah that was good, more informative then what i put.

[Star]

I agree with you Star......but New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their OWN EVACUATION PLAN, these officials did little to supply food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.

wouldn't the city leaders have been pressured by the president to get off their arses and do something? your governemnt doesn't seem to work as a team. that's not a good thing. at times like this, shouldn't they?

i'm not american so i know very little about how things work in the states. I know that if something like that happnened here, the country would've worked as a team to get things done and keep people safe. maybe i'm not understanding it like i should. doesn't help that i totally hate politics.

[Stone]

The city leaders and the state are uncompeitent (sp?) it was a well known fact that new Orleans couldn't handle more than a cat 3 hurricane for several years and nothing was done. the Levy should have been fixed years ago but it would have cost 20 billion to fix nobody wanted to spend the money on it so to little to late.

This was a natural disaster, Bush shouldn't be held accountable we have homeland security and FEMA. People can't count on Goverment to be responsible for them no matter where you live. Disasters happen and that's where Survivial skills kick in untill the goverment can assist.

Being a victim of a hurricane myself, my faimly and every single person in my life lived without water or electricity for 2 weeks. When you get to this point you have to come up with a plan to survive. Pull resources togeather, protect yourself, your faimly, your children and SURVIVE untill goverment help comes, ( and it always does) but it takes time as all resources ( water, electricity, phones, communication) is exhausted. Someone who loot's to survive is a survivor, peirod no shame in that someone who loot's for a TV is a moron. Where are they going to plug it in? :roll:

[Duke]

I heard that Bush was doing WMD testing in the middle of the ocean and it made the water ripple.

[matthewmurcia]

strange that 9/11, the disaster that is now iraq and the shocking coordination and reponse to Hurricane Katrina should all happen while he's in the whitehouse though. (or shooting varmint at his ranch in Texas. Maybe he could rent it out to some needy refugees from the state next door, I hear it has all mod cons and even electricity and running water, which would surely find a buyer right now in those parts.

Bill Clinton's geopolitics tutor at Georgetown once told him that nothing in politics just happens by accident, and one of your earlier presidents had siad the same thing, as had machiavelli all those centuries ago. Although Bush does a great job of appearing to be a bit of a dumb monkey, he and his family have cornered a lot of the power and money in the US for a long time now. It hasn't happened by chance and nor has what we're witnessing in the gulf coast right now.

[Stone]

When clinton was in office nothing happened... he spent more of his time with the lewinski scandal it took over have of his presidency

[matthewmurcia]

you see, that's very wrong! you americans have funny attitudes about sex and politicians. Here in Europe, politicans can be found hanging in a wardrobe having committed suicide after cross dressing and screwing 8 transexuals and it hardly even gets a half column in the local paper. Everybody just smiles and says something like 'oh well, never mind, at least he enjoyed his last few minutes' and keeps sipping their coffee.

In the States, the Bushes can invade Iraq (twice), steal contracting dollars from whatever it is they're 'reconstructing' after they destroyed it in the first place, do untold damage and create misery for hundreds of thousadns as they line their pockets (and Blair in the UK is no different) but Bill accepts a blowjob and a cigar from the latest whitehouse wannabe and gets impeached. And then you wonder why people think your country is wierd.

[Stone]

I am a strong believer in the war, If we didn't bring the fight to them then the war would just be over here.

Clinton let Osama binladen get away. then a few years later we had 9-11. It is immoral to commit adultury and as some americans see it our president should be of higest morals. I believe of church and state.

[darkangelism]

I too believe in the war, it should have happened under clinton when saddam used WMD against the kurds.