You know what is really sad about the images of looters?

Lowejackson said:
An observation from the UK news. Whilst there has been a fair amount of coverage of the looters and reports of rape etc, the bulk of the news seemed (in the first 5 days) to concentrate on how it took the richest and most powerful country in the world so long to react to this disaster. Of course this could simply be down to the sheer scale of this event.





We can all blame the Governor of Louisianna for that one. Alot of the things she needed to save the state were things she was supposed to call for. It wasn't a federal job.



Now that she ****ed up, our great Armed Forces need to step in an step it up.
 
zippymbr said:
The facts are that New Orleans was and is a high crime area with one of the highest murder rates in the country. The city was in bad shape before the hurricane and now is is truly a depressing place. I am still amazed at how peoples reaction is to loss. I did not see people burning Homestead when it was leveled by Andrew, or armed gangs raping and killing after dark. I am proud of our armed forces who came in a saved many and restored some order to a lawless place.



Here are NO crime numbers compared to the national average:

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=New+Orleans&state=LA

An article on MSNBC, dated 8/15/05, dicussing the murder rate in NO:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8999837



Here's my opinion:



"If you fail to plan, you might as well plan to fail." The problem as I see it isn't the federal government, it's the local government. All of this turmoil and lack of organization should land squarely on the shoulders of the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans. There was no plan in place to quickly react to a tragedy of this magnitude. So now the Democrats and African American Leaders want to point the finger at GWB and pull out the race card. I guess it's an easy way to distract from the real issue; there was a failure to plan on the part of the local government. Their own elected government is to blame for the chaos we are seeing on the TV and reading about in the newspapers.
 
I have read a combination of threads on different sites and I have gotten to a point where I am sick and tired of the finger pointing or saying who should do what. IMHO, EVERYONE from city government to the Feds is at fault for the atrocious handling of this situation.



Some people might agree with various comments made by individuals to certain rappers to politicians but my overall view is that this situation has brought to light another question. If we were this ill prepared for a natural disaster like this, what is that saying about our preparedness overall?
 
PrinzII said:
I have read a combination of threads on different sites and I have gotten to a point where I am sick and tired of the finger pointing or saying who should do what. IMHO, EVERYONE from city government to the Feds is at fault for the atrocious handling of this situation.



Some people might agree with various comments made by individuals to certain rappers to politicians but my overall view is that this situation has brought to light another question. If we were this ill prepared for a natural disaster like this, what is that saying about our preparedness overall?



Totally agree with that. The powers that be did not take this as seriously

as they should have, and now, everyone that has access to a tv and a

news channel can see that America is not on point as we want to believe it is.

Instead of being proactive, our government and it's officials are reactive. There

were warnings all over the place that the 911 attacks were a very real possibility,

and no one did anything. The result was approx. 3000 lost in NYC alone, a

dramatic decline in air travel, and a serious blow to the US economy. Now,

again, the gov knew Katrina was on the way for at least a good week and a half if not

more, and did nothing. They knew that a major storm would decimate a good

portion of the Gulf Coast, and did nothing. Now, were looking at untold billions

of dollars in water damage (some of which could have been avoided), untold

numbers of citizens left to die (which could have been avoided), and untold thousands

that are now dead or dying because help did not get there until almost

a week after the the storm hit.



In a country as great and powerful as the US, we allow these things to

happen. It definitely says a lot about our preparedness, and our ability

to respond promptly to a situation on our own soil. We can deploy

a hundred thousand US troops to almost anywhere in the world within

a 24 hour notice...We can dump millions in Tsunami aid to a country

on the other side of the world within a day. We have some of the most

sophisticated surveillance equipment in the world. And our construction/

engineering/ labor aparatus is matched only by our sophisticated

international neighbors. And yet, We allowed this to happen.
 
usdm said:
We can deploy

a hundred thousand US troops to almost anywhere in the world within

a 24 hour notice...We can dump millions in Tsunami aid to a country

on the other side of the world within a day. We have some of the most

sophisticated surveillance equipment in the world. And our construction/

engineering/ labor aparatus is matched only by our sophisticated

international neighbors. And yet, We allowed this to happen.



Kind of hard to move people and heavy equipment into an area that is 80% underwater and accessible via very few roads. Not like we can drop pallets of food and water when most likely, they will land in germ infested water or crash through someone's roof.



Yes, it took too long to get help into the area but mother nature had a lot to do with it as well.
 
This tragedy really needs to take a hard turn from all things racial. There are people dying, hungry, unbelievably stressed from this and now it has turned into a race thing. I'm black, and it pains and disgust's me to see black people down there looting, shooting, etc., and it also pains me to see my people - ALL AMERICANS - down there desperate for survival....that's more important.
 
:werd: AJ.



I just heard the saddest thing on the local news last night. We had a person who came here from New Orleans to escape the storm only to discover his son was shot and killed.



But besides the tragedy, there are some good stories like the reunions of various family members and the outreach from other areas of the country.
 
kompressornsc said:
Take a look at this article...



...and then realize it was written in October 2004...



New Orleans Article



The local, state, and federal government rolled the dice at the Louisiana craps table and it came up snake eyes. Will political bickering ever allow the problems outlined in the article to be fixed?
 
Scottwax said:
Kind of hard to move people and heavy equipment into an area that is 80% underwater and accessible via very few roads. Not like we can drop pallets of food and water when most likely, they will land in germ infested water or crash through someone's roof.



Yes, it took too long to get help into the area but mother nature had a lot to do with it as well.



That is not in dispute here. What I was pointing to was the military's ability

to respond to crisis in very short time frame. And even though NOLA maybe

covered in water, there was still a means to get men, supplies, and equipment

into the area. Intel gathering equipment such as low speed, low altitude

surveilance drones could be easily deployed to search out survivors; who

could be picked up via watercraft, or helo. "Gamma goats"

Humvees, and al sorts of other machinery could be used to ford the water to

get to survivors where using a helo might be dengerous (powerlines, etc).

Also, lest we forget, the Army Corp of engineers earn their pay by tackling

problems like this on a regular basis. They can get out pontoons, as well

as deployable bridges to cross into quite a few areas. Even if there

are some folks that cannot be quite gotten to as of yet, they could have

dropped in MREs', small med kits (primarily to protect against infection

from the contaminated water), as well as small bottles of clean water.

Combine just those few capabilities of the US military with that of the local

gov, and there would have been an effective logistics train that could have

gone in and started pulling folks off rooftops and out of attics a lot sooner,

or at the very least, provide some temporary aid to those they can't

pull out quite yet.



Granted, i know there would be a lot of land to cover. There is no

guarantee that everyone could be helped within 24 hours. And

yes, I do understand that mother nature had a big hand in the

slow process. But the point was there was capability to respond already in place.

There is a talent pool of intelligent folk that should've been solving the

problems rather than twiddling their collective thumbs. Instead the powers

that be dragged their feet. And now we may well be looking at not hundreds,

but thousands dead because the means to save them was not mobilized

until almost the end of the week.
 
usdm-the state is the one who have to call on the national guard, they have the authority, not the federal government. In addition, I heard a sound bite from the mayor of NO who said after Bush spoke to him and the governor, it was the governor who said she needed 24 hours to think about the plan before allowing the federal response. Not to say the federal government could have done more but it was the local and state government who really dropped the ball.
 
If anyone wants to or wishes to point fingers then it needs to be at the first fool who ever said....."Hey, lets build a city BELOW sea level and keep the waters back with tiny levees!!"



As for the blame game now, it lies with local goverment first and foremost. The NO officials though are gonna do all they can to shift the light because they now look back in hindsight and realize they screwed up. I say stop pointing fingers and instead use those fingers to repair, rebuild, comfort, feed and clothe people. When the dust settles then we can look into what went wrong.



It's as if liberals will now be blaming Bush for allowing Katrina to hit the US!



Anthony
 
Anthony Orosco said:
It's as if liberals will now be blaming Bush for allowing Katrina to hit the US!



Anthony



Anthony-don't you know Bush used his time machine to go back in time to speed up the Industrial Revolution so global warming would be worse so as to cause a catastrophic hurricane to strike the gulf coast?[/tin hat theory]



:LOLOL
 
Anthony Orosco said:
If anyone wants to or wishes to point fingers then it needs to be at the first fool who ever said....."Hey, lets build a city BELOW sea level and keep the waters back with tiny levees!!"



As for the blame game now, it lies with local goverment first and foremost. The NO officials though are gonna do all they can to shift the light because they now look back in hindsight and realize they screwed up. I say stop pointing fingers and instead use those fingers to repair, rebuild, comfort, feed and clothe people. When the dust settles then we can look into what went wrong.



It's as if liberals will now be blaming Bush for allowing Katrina to hit the US!



Anthony



:xyxthumbs: Right on.
 
It’s really sickening to say the least . . . especially considering it’s a media-fueled, feeding frenzy. While it’s difficult for me ignore the suffering and devastation, I can’t bear to watch another segment nor will I read another article laying blame squarely on the shoulders of our government and President. People (both private and public) have turned all their energy into making this about politics and shifted attention away from those who are penniless, homeless, and hungry. It’s absolutely shameful.



On a more personal note . . . to those individuals in the press and media who have likened the events surrounding 9-11 to the natural calamity of Katrina . . . you’re deplorable.
 
Way2SSlow said:
IN MY OPINION:I think the NAACP is really fueling the fire. I dont think race would be near as much of an issue if the NAACP wasnt pointing fingers. On CNN today I saw the head of the NAACP say that "white people are being rescued while african american people are left behind." I'm not there, so that may be the case, but I find that hard to believe. I'm not going to say that there is no racism there, but just like the gas scare from this week here in Atlanta.... people believe what the media tells them. I fear that the NAACP has had a hand now in creating an avalanche with a snowball. I REALLY hope I am wrong though. I really hope that everyone makes it out of there OK. May those who have lost their lives rest in peace.



I really feel sorry for the good people that are seemingly trapped there. They aren't the ones that are shooting at the people who are doing all they can to help. All who have volunteered to help get 110% of my respect. I also hope that each and every rescue worker involved is successful in saving as many people as possible and remain safe themselves. The whole process would be sped up if PEOPLE WOULD STOP SHOOTING AT THEM!



When don't they feed the fire?
 
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