The legitimate complaints against Bush regarding the response to Hurricane Katrina

Discussion in 'Politics' started by hapaboy, Sep 2, 2005.

  1. The blame game never fed a hungry child, but this event illustrates how poverty is a problem ignored by this administration.

    One fifth of our society lives at or below a poverty level while we spend billions overseas fighting a ghost?

    Tax cuts for the rich, tax breaks for oil companies, tax breaks for other corporations, exporting jobs that result in lower paying jobs in the US, offshore accounts to shield US corporations from taxation.....and poverty increasing.

    Why is this situation acceptable?



     
    #101     Sep 6, 2005
  2. BSAM

    BSAM


    Say whaaaaaat??? AAA, I always figured you for one who doesn't drink heavily. Or maybe your child got on your computer without your knowledge.(?)
     
    #102     Sep 6, 2005
  3. Actually when bush got blamed for being stingy over the tsunami, he got off his ass.
    When he got blamed for americans dieing by the thousands in the "homeland", he got off his ass.

    Blame is very effective for getting a drink of water and a bite to eat.
    It's just sad that that the man refuses to "step up" until he discover's a little encouragement.
     
    #103     Sep 6, 2005
  4. Babak

    Babak

    Just so we're clear here. I don't subscribe to an ideology and I'm neither pro this or con that. I just examine things on a case by case basis and see what makes sense.

    As you said, you don't know the facts. Neither did I, until I read them.

    FACT: The head of FEMA has no competence in this field.

    FACT: The previous job he held was running a horse breeding association.

    FACT: He ran it into the ground.

    FACT: He was fired for running it into the ground.

    These are all facts. Not sourgrapes, grudges, backstabbing, etc. Facts.

    So with those facts arrayed on the table...one has to wonder at the sanity of the Commander in Chief that would place someone like that at such a vital department where literally lives are at stake.
     
    #104     Sep 6, 2005
  5. assuming for argument's sake that the superdome was the proper place, it doesn't address the error: you can't put 20k people in a stadium, bar them from leaving, then leave them there for a week in august without food, water, communication, or laws. this is obvious. there is simply no excuse for that level of mistreatment.
     
    #105     Sep 6, 2005
  6. Then why wasn't the SuperDome stocked with food, water, communication, and security?

    Knowing they were going to be hit, and realizing their own emergency plans weren't going to be followed, why didn't local authorities prepare for the influx of non-evacuees?

    Or should Bush have done that, too?
     
    #106     Sep 6, 2005
  7. Officials Say Red Tape Hindered Relief
    Sep 06 12:06 PM US/Eastern


    By MARTHA MENDOZA


    From all corners of this country, hundreds of would-be rescuers are wending their way to the beleaguered Gulf Coast in buses, vans and trailers. But government red tape has hampered many who ache to help Katrina's victims.

    Louisiana's Jefferson Parish is desperate for relief, but parish President Aaron Broussard says officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned back three trailer trucks of water, ordered the Coast Guard not to provide emergency diesel fuel and cut emergency power lines.

    An outraged Broussard said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the agency needs to bring in all its "force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives."

    The government says it is doing the best it can in the face of a massive and complicated disaster.

    "Even as progress is being made, we know that victims are still out there and we are working tirelessly to bring them the help they need," said Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

    Some of the delays can be explained by the need to control a volatile situation. FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule said Monday she had not had a chance to research what happened at Jefferson Parish, but unsolicited donations and services have been hard to manage.

    "You can imagine some of the actual problem of everyone just driving toward the disaster zone," she said.

    Long lines of volunteers are being stopped on freeways on their way into New Orleans.

    "Anyone who self-responded was not being put to work. The military was worried about having more people in the city. They want to limit it to the professionals," said Kevin Southerland, a captain with Orange Fire Department in Orange County, Calif., a member of one of eight 14- member water rescue teams sent to New Orleans at FEMA's request.

    Even skilled volunteers with the best intentions can be more trouble than help if they arrive needing food, shelter or fuel, some say.

    "Our biggest problem has been trying not to put more stress on the community, particularly with regards to gasoline. We want to make sure we've got enough gas for chain saws and transportation," said Larry Guengerich of the Mennonite Disaster Service, a Pennsylvania-based relief organization that has three small crews currently working along the Gulf Coast, cutting and clearing downed limbs and covering damaged roofs.

    There are, at this point, several federal emergency command centers, as well as state and local command centers where coordinators are working to match nonstop requests with the appropriate nonstop offers of help.

    From the first hours of the disaster, FEMA has been using the National Incident Management System, a command structure to get millions of dollars worth of government resources and thousands of workers ranging from firefighters to public health teams to places in need. FEMA also has teams designed to support smaller communities.

    FEMA is urging individuals and corporations to contact nonprofit organizations if they want to volunteer or donate.

    It was FEMA's management system that brought in members of the Nebraska Air National Guard to deliver 66,000 MRE meals and extra fuel to hard-hit areas, and rescuers from Hamilton County, Ohio to search the rubble of Gulfport, Miss. for survivors.

    And it was that system that dispatched a nine-member Disaster Medical Assistance Team from Hawaii to the New Orleans Airport where they triaged people evacuated from hospitals, nursing homes, the Convention Center and the Superdome.

    The federal government actually wrote a "How To" book for national catastrophes after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The 426-page document, called the National Response Plan, was released in December, 2004.

    Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, said Hurricane Katrina is the first real test of the plan, and has exposed its strengths and weaknesses.

    "Quite honestly, at the federal level, the coordination was quite robust," he said. "It's just the interface between federal, state and local where clearly we need to look to ways to improve the process."

    But others were more critical. Beth Sharer, CEO of Washington County Memorial Hospital in Salem, Ind., said she was frustrated by a federal plan to create 40 new emergency medical centers with 250 beds each.

    "It's not any one person's fault, but the system failed," she said.

    Hospitals around the country were standing by with empty beds, staff, triage centers and air transportation to fetch patients, she said. But they couldn't launch the rescue flights without requests for help, and those requests never came.

    "These victims could have been here a week ago, and now they're spending a lot of time and money making triage centers? In situations like this every minute counts, not every day counts. Why not get them to these open beds?" she said.

    Frank Russo of the Chicago Ambulance Alliance said his organization was ready to send help immediately. But the request didn't come until Thursday, three days after the hurricane struck.

    "We didn't want to just up and go like everyone did after 9-11. We learned from that. After 9-11 everybody just went to New York and then they just sat there, they had no where to go."

    Early Saturday, ten Chicago ambulances and their medical staff finally headed south with orders to report to a command center set up outside of New Orleans. By Sunday the Chicago ambulances were delivering patients from the New Orleans airport to regional hospitals.

    "It makes sense to go through the government and have things set up," said Russo.

    Others were still waiting for the official request. In New Jersey, for example, Gov. Richard Codey said he had a task force of 105 police officers and 55 vehicles and a medical task force of 55 physicians and 43 nurses standing by.

    But other rescuers simply couldn't, or wouldn't, wait.

    Early Sunday morning, for example, a convoy of more than 35 fire, police, transportation and public works vehicles left Baltimore for an 1,100-mile drive to Gretna, La.

    Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley decided to send the help, including 40 firefighters and 28 police officers, without consulting FEMA "as a direct response to a direct request from the mayor of Gretna," said O'Malley's spokesman.

    On Friday, Gary Maclaughlin of Santa Cruz, Calif., flew to Nashville, Tenn., where he bought a diesel-powered 1990 yellow school bus for $2,000. He charged $1,500 worth of water, diapers, granola bars and peanut butter crackers on his credit card and headed straight for the shelters.

    By Sunday evening he was driving loads of evacuees from the New Orleans Airport to a rescue shelter in Covington, La.
     
    #107     Sep 6, 2005
  8. I think it's fair to say that all three levels of government federal, state and local authorities failed to plan and execute very during this disaster, despite the fact that only 13 months ago, they were all involved in an evacuation drill in New Orleans, intended to test their preparedness.

    Part of that plan was to use city and school buses to evacuate those who couldn't evacuate themselves. But, when the real disaster came, the busing contingency plan was forgotten.

    So, I'm not gonna blame Bush alone. I think that the entire chain of public officials should share the responsibility together.

    Madame guillotine awaits!
     
    #108     Sep 6, 2005
  9. Sam123

    Sam123 Guest

    It mostly depends on state level bureaucracies.

     
    #109     Sep 6, 2005
  10. Not according to US law.

    "In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility..."

    credit to Babak: from: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=55019
     
    #110     Sep 6, 2005