A MATTER OF TIME INDEED

LivindonSouth

Yes, it was just a matter of time before some airhead blamed the hurricane on George Bush.

Yes, it was just a matter of time before some dufus imbecile interjected global warming and republican budget cuts into the explanation for the flooding of a great American city.

It was just a matter of time before tragedy and national disaster was reduced to the positioning of pawns on an imaginary chessboard.

It was just a matter of time before all the ills and evils of society and today's tragedies were rolled into a political hairball by myopic, muddleheaded morons.

owenlady

Well said!

Dasher

Don's Back!

Well, you were right in the eye of this storm, so I am not going to second guess you and/or negate your opinion.

However, I was not happy with seeing the response to the people impacted by the winds and the waters. I have always felt that my country was up to the challenge of addressing such misery head on. And to see the pitiful response was disheartening. Americans give and give on a personal and on a national level --and the very agencies we pay for and trust to assist us were not up to this challenge (to say the least).

Okay, if you don't want to "blame" President Bush, or FEMA, or Homeland Security (huh!) and the governor or mayor, etc.

Like my mom always said -- if you don't want to take the blame then don't try and take the credit.

Parabeagle

I am so sick and tired of the Monday morning quarterbacking from all corners on this matter. Plenty of time for fingerpointing later, let's get the situation stabilized first.

And I am getting sooooooooo sick and tired of seeing Jesse Jackson, Sean Penn, et. al. being trotted out of the woodwork everytime a crisis hits. They contribute nothing to the solution and serve only as self-promoting media fodder.

Whatever

Then there's the other side of the coin--people making sure the press knows all the "good" they have
done (i.e. Dr. Bill Frist giving all those "exclusive" interviews pointing out that he was in New Orleans for one day not as a politician but as a doctor and therefore had no time to speak to the press) (i.e. the sports figures and movie stars who didn't know there was a hurricane because they're not interested in news. But now that they know, they'll help).

Gillian3

AFTER the immediate needs are taken care of, there should be a full investigation of why it should take so long to have provided relief to the victims, and without republican or democrat attached to it, but politicians will do what politicians always do, point the finger and avoid the blame.

As far as Bush goes, he's the commander in chief so he and his administration gets to take credit for successes and blame for mistakes.

LivindonSouth

Somebody made a good point yesterday on one of the stations: If we can throw up an entire tent-city with rations, showers and running water in two days in a foreign country, how come we are still arguing over jurisdiction and authority in our own country over a week later?

I heard this morning that there are 20,000 mobile homes in Atlanta ready for transport to this state but FEMA has tied it all up in red tape because there is not a precise grid of where each one will be situated.

I say fire the whole lot of them. Put somebody like Schwartzkkopf (sp) in charge. Or Swartzenegger or Swartz anybody, hell, just get rid of the people in charge and start over.

Bush press-conference yesterday just south of here with his blue shirt sleeves rolled up. He proclaimed, to an ovation, "Mississippi's on my mind." What's that, a Charlie Pride tune? We don't want to be 'on his mind'.

From what I see and hear, the churches are doing the yoeman's duty and have actually done a much better and quicker job of getting it planned and getting it done. That's shameful in a way and gargantuan in another way.

Whatever

Friday night on Nightline, the head of FEMA was interviewed by Ted Koeppel. At one point, Koeppel asked the man why FEMA was first sending help to the people at the convention center. The man replied that until earlier that day, he had not been aware or had confirmation that there was a problem. Shocked, Koeppel then asked him if he or any member of FEMA had looked or read any news, on any station in the last couple of days. I really wanted to throw something at the head of FEMA (who previously had been head of the Arabian Horsebreeders Association). Fortunately, for the people of Gulf Coast, many organizations and individuals are ignoring the bureaucrats and doing what must be done. Also, apparantly, the officer in charge of the military assistance, has been brilliant.

HRLASS

Don -
After reading your first post I was just going to say "Don's back - and your adjectives are showing." Reading this post means you must really be down to your drawers, but I agree with everything you've said here and have heard the same in considerable detail from a career military man here. I'm glad you have your wits back. Hang in there.
Carolyn

Gillian3

A business man in north San Diego County got so tired of seeing the non-response to the crisis that he chartered a plane, took it to New Orleans full of supplies, went around various collecting points soliciting people who wanted to come to San Diego and landed on Friday with about 90 of the victims and he is still going. The local Red Cross has put them up and is finding housing. It came out of his own pocket, the last we know is about $250,000. He has been very verbal about why he is doing what he is doing, but he hasn't said whether he is a democrat, republican or something else.

Parabeagle

Considering the fact he gives so freely of his money and asks for nothing in return, I would classify him as neither democrat nor republican - he's a saint. x:-)

LisaMN2

Where are the drug companies and why haven't they made arrangements to ship the most commonly needed prescription drugs to the shelters?

What's the hold up on getting the 225,000 refugees out of Texas. Do we really think a state can single handedly absorb the population of a large city?

What's the plan for handling the dead? Or is that prospect just so ghastly it can't be faced?

How in the world can policemen charged with protecting and serving the population hole themselves up in a hotel and barricade the entrance?

What a fabulous thing the casino in MS did in getting a payroll out!

I don't know if I'm hopeful or hopeless....

LivindonSouth

I have a national guard nephew activated and sent down to the MS coast. He's just a kid, a child. He told his mother that he was with a group who had found several buildings full of corpses and they could not tell if they were male or female, black or white.

Christ United Methodist Church in Jackson, 10 miles south of me, is credited as having the most organized collection and distribution network in the state in place. Just a bunch of men and women who got together and decided to try their hand at coordination.

The Miss. Economic Council, the state's chamber of commerce I suppose, decided on it's own to solicit and coordinate the movement of 18 wheelers using only owner-operators and companies who will donate their time and service. None of these guys is an expert; but, it seems to be working.

Meanwhile MEMA and FEMA are arguing over jurisdiction and required paperwork.

Can I get a chorus of 'And the beat goes on'?

Whatever

Hate to be cynical but...the list of what other countries are offering to do is impressive (this is not the cynical part) with the exception of our good buddy(this is the cynical part) Saudi Arabia which is generously offering to increase the production of oil to make up for any shortfall caused by Katrina.

LivindonSouth

I haven't seen any 'list'. Where might one view such a list. Fill me in on France and Canada if you will.

Whatever

Search the web, the newspapers etc.
Canada-4 ships with supplies and disaster specialists
-pumping more oil to the U.S.
-military planes for transportation (i.e. they are flying Red Cross personnel into Mississippi)

France - tents, cots, generators, 3 water purification units, pumps.