You guys are crazy. Most people could not leave because they didn't have money for gas or hotels and no family in the area. Our government, both the local and federal government, failed us. We are a laughing stock to the rest of the world now and people are calling for Bush's impeachment. Have you guys been keeping up with the news and opinions sections?
I'm not sure "laughing stock" is the right choice of words. No one seem t be laughing over here..maybe its different in other parts of the world. We have politicians over here too and have seen them respond too slowly in a situation that should have no hesitation. Im not saying the government officials are off the hook nor should their be some personal responsibilty but to say the US is a "laughing stock" does not properly sum up those of us outside the US (I don't think) What I have seen is the American people donating in record numbers, offering whatever help they can. Most people can recognize the difference between politicians and the people that REALLY make up what a country stands for.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed this editorial in its Sunday edition: An open letter to the President Dear Mr. President: We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we're going to make it right." Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism. Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It's accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718. How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks. Despite the city's multiple points of entry, our nation's bureaucrats spent days after last week's hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city's stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies. Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city. Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning. Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach. We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame. Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don't know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city's death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher. It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren't they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn't suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials? State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn't have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially. In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn't known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President. Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You're doing a heck of a job." That's unbelievable. There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too. We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued. No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached. Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again. When you do, we will be the first to applaud. Editorial blasts federal response
I saw that. How despicable! People value their jobs more than the lives of other human beings. What a bunch of greedy, selfish slugs!
I don't trust the Red Cross either. After 9/11, 10% of the collected funds ended up with families who lost relatives. Where's the rest? After the Tsunami, loads of money was donated and only parts made it to the region. Bush, Halliburton, Red Cross... They're all the same.
Who is Mike Brown, the head of FEMA? After dismally failing to adequately respond to Hurricane Katrina, FEMA Director Mike Brown must now prepare to weather the full fury of the MSM. The Boston Herald struck first, corroborating my post that reported Brown was forced to resign from his job at the International Arabian Horse Association. And now Knight-Ridder further exposes the stunningly unqualified Brown with a scathing bio that is sure to hit sunday papers across the US. From failed Republican congressional candidate to ousted “czar†of an Arabian horse association, there was little in Michael D. Brown’s background to prepare him for the fury of Hurricane Katrina. “He’s done a hell of a job, because I’m not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm,†said Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade emergency management chief. “The world that this man operated in and the focus of this work does not in any way translate to this. He does not have the experience.†As Josh Marshall explains in his coverage on Talking Points Memo, Brown’s main qualification for the post – perhaps his only – is the fact that he was a college roommate of former FEMA head and Bush political fixer Joe Allbaugh. And as Knight-Ridder points out, Brown’s prior experience with disaster was a disastrous run for Congress. Brown ran for Congress in 1988 and won 27 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Glenn English. He spent the 1990s as judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. His job was to ensure that horse-show judges followed the rules and to investigate allegations against those suspected of cheating. “I wouldn’t have regarded his position in the horse industry as a platform to where he is now,†said Tom Connelly, a former association president. … “He just wouldn’t follow instruction,†said Bill Pennington, another former association president. “Mike was bullheaded and he was gonna do it his way. Period.†It was Pennington who confirmed to the Herald that Brown was indeed asked to resign, and even Connelly, who speaks positively about him, calls Brown “abrasive.†This is consistent with emails I’ve received from a number of horse breeders – even those who respect him – who call Brown a “tough bastard†with a quick temper. No doubt Brown had many enemies at the IAHA, and while there are conflicting stories as to the direct circumstances surrounding his resignation, he clearly fell victim to inside politics. Some say Brown was forced out by breeders angry at strict rules and enforcement, others say it was the burden of costly litigation. But the most convincing explanation I received was this inside report: To help pay our mounting legal bills, there were people raising money for the IAHA Legal Defense Fund. Mike was suppose to be helping to raise some of the money. Mike it seems was trying to raise money for his own legal defense fund as well as IAHA’s and some people were willing to donate to him. There were two major problems with this. First, ALL of Mike’s legal bills including any personal ones were to be paid by IAHA. So he had NO legal bills so there was no reason for him to need this money to pay legal bills. Second, Mike was in a position that he needed to be seen as never playing favorites or having any loyalty to any individual. Many felt that taking this money would look very bad. I was not personally at the IAHA Board of Directors Meeting when this occurred however I have been told about it by several people that were there and they all give the exact same story. There are many other things that people did not like about Mike’s job performance at IAHA but this is why he resigned. Essentially, Brown was raising money from the very breeders he was charged with regulating, and that was the straw that broke the horse’s back. But I don’t think the reason behind his resignation really matters. The point is, nothing in his IAHA tenure prepared him for running FEMA. Indeed, the fact that he fell victim to the inside politics of a horse breeders association, calls into question his ability to function amidst the high stakes political gamesmanship of the nation’s capitol. The other issue that has become abundantly clear is that the misleading reference to the Olympics that was in the White House press release announcing Brown’s nomination was no accident. The transcript of Brown’s confirmation hearing shows virtually the identical wording used in the opening statement from Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Prior to his current job, from 1991 to 2000, Mr. Brown was the Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the National Governing Organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Yet a number of IAHA/AHA members have made it abundantly clear that the organization is not in any way associated with the Olympics. Indeed, Arabians are not part of any Olympic competition. This was clearly an attempt by the White House to gussy up the resume of a man lacking the experience necessary to lead a major disaster relief effort… a lack of experience Brown has shown in his mishandling of the response to Hurricane Katrina. Mike Brown I suppose this situation is the fault of people in New Orleans, if they had more Arabian horses instead of black people, he would have surely known how to rescue the horses.
I just meant by laughing stock that I saw in some foreign papers that it looks like the U.S. can't take care of its own ... we look pathetic. If Venezuela is offering to send aid, you know it's bad. The Red Cross is so corrupt. Did you hear they're barcoding the detainees, I mean the refugees, to keep track of them?
I've been involved in some disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross before (89 California earthquake)...it's just not as easy as it sounds. There were certainly precedures I did NOT agree with at the time I was volunteering, but pretty much any organization is going to have internal corporate bloating. I will say that in retrospect, after having done special event and catering management, I understand much more why things were done a certain way. The bottom line is that there HAS to be a way for them to identitfy who they're dealing with to 1. track statistics for purchasing and logistics (and future planning), as well as 2. to notify someone who might be lost, or 3. be able to help them over the long term. For various reason you will always have a large portion of those needing help who either don't want to be tracked or do not have identification. But consider this...if you're being tracked by barcode at least those people who do not want to officially be on record can still give out a fake name. It doesn't matter "who" they are, only that that the organization knows there's a family of five that need a home, or John Doe needs high blood pressure medicine, or that Jane Smith took her alloted toiletry pack, etc. The silver lining on the cloud of corruption is that volunteers will often go way out of their way to make sure people are helped (ie...telling them it's okay to use a fake name). It does balance out the evil forces a bit. Besides, better that there is at least SOMEONE out there who is going to help on a large scale, than get no help at all. Period.
So why does the Red Cross charge emergency workers for cups of coffee while the CEO of Red Cross makes over $500,000 per year?
That bothers everyone. But it's a touch question. The CEO could make much more than $500k elsewhere. we need a volunteer CEO.
Bureaucracy is bureaucracy, is bureaucracy...even volunteer managed groups experience it. Thankfully nothing will keep New Orleans down for long! http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090505.24A.katrina_french.89fd85d.html
The CEO of the Salvation Army makes something like $13,000 per year. Red Cross is a business masking itself as a charity.
I build houses for the the underprivileged. I running joke is among the volunteers who 'fk-up' something is, "What, are they going to dock me?" Be-careful, you sometimes get what you pay for. tom