Bush laughing off New Orleans

[ThatReallyHurt]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Nah, that tantrum is directed at me. I hurt his sensitive, childlike feelings, what with presuming to hold everyone to one standard of sense and all.

I but shrug and lift my palms.

Oh. I thought it was directed at the President, with the manager being the VP...

That's how I read it, anyway...

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by ThatReallyHurt

Oh. I thought it was directed at the President, with the manager being the VP...

That's how I read it, anyway...

Possibly, possibly...

Maybe I'm just being egotistical.

[Philistine]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Possibly, possibly...

Maybe I'm just being egotistical.

Nice try, but you can't fool us. You've given it away. YOU.... are really George Bush, posting under a screen name.

--Philistine

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Nah, that tantrum is directed at me. I hurt his sensitive, childlike feelings, what with presuming to hold everyone to one standard of sense and all.

I but shrug and lift my palms.

Oh, good. I have to say, it actually would make more sense directed at me. But, OK.

[Maeve_Mari]

Originally Posted by Philistine

Nice try, but you can't fool us. You've given it away. YOU.... are really George Bush, posting under a screen name.

--Philistine

Even I- I -I can't justify a connection of Inq's true identity to the Dastardly W. Think about it, Inq has 11,079 individual posts here on FNet.

W could never have managed to connect that many words, without assistance!!

[ThatReallyHurt]

Originally Posted by Maeve_Mari

Even I- I -I can't justify a connection of Inq's true identity to the Dastardly W. Think about it, Inq has 11,079 individual posts here on FNet.

W could never have managed to connect that many words, without assistance!!

Hmm... I could see that the President took the real Inquartata, threw him into prison, then took over his screen name so he could (virtually) hang out with a few people and not have any arguments.

Of course, he's just realized he's having more arguments than he anticipated so he's just sent Secret Service agents to get ReverseLunge...

[ThatReallyHurt]

Heh, sorry - point of clarification.

Not the President.

Your president.

(sorry, MM)

[esskreemr]

Originally Posted by Have At You

I don't think we're in much disagreement, Ess. You don't see me apologizing for anyone on this. But it is clear that, in addition to the significant federal failings, the Gov & Mayor are guilty of terrible negligence, and they need to be held accountable for their failures. They acted improperly, not just during the emergency itself, but in the years leading up to it so that there was no responsible authority to handle the problems, and a significant crime base that was free to erupt in the aftermath.

(With respect to the "slow at realizing" bit, that refers to the feds' failure to realize that the local officials were as unable to deal with the situation as they were. Not a failure to realize the enormity of the events themselves.)

Hey! If everybody agrees with everybody, what would we discuss? The weather? Oh, wait...

All jokes and combativeness aside. I'm sure the the Gov of Lousiana and the mayor of NO have a level of culpability. This will no doubt be played out in triplicate as more facts surface over the weeks/months/years. We'll probably be begging for the news channels to run 24/7 coverage of another runaway bride by the time the story dies down.

Then we can go back to arguing about how much better foil is than epee and sabre.

[Have At You]

Originally Posted by esskreemr

Then we can go back to arguing about how much better foil is than epee and sabre.

Whoa whoa whoa. You just crossed the line, buddy.

Epee ROCKS! Yah!!

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Nah, that tantrum is directed at me. I hurt his sensitive, childlike feelings, what with presuming to hold everyone to one standard of sense and all.

I but shrug and lift my palms.

Aww the humanless fool thinks he hurt my feelings. I'm surprised you know what feelings are! You clearly have shown that you have none. Try to explain how your opinions about how the people of New Orleans should have "Just figured out some way to leave" for these dead!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/08/kat...act/index.html

For someone that claims to be so intelligent it really is remarkably surprising how much you miss when it comes to interpersonal skills.

I know I really shouldn't be angry with you, I should pity you for letting the real monsters of this tragedy pull the wool over your eyes. But the fact of the matter is there are people ON THIS BOARD (Gee ya think I might be one? You inconsiderate boob?) who have had to deal with not knowing if people they love and care about are DEAD or not!! AND I CAN PROMISE YOU, THEY COULDN'T HAVE "JUST LEFT" IF THEY WANTED TO!!!

Really, be honest how many huricanes have you been through? None? THEN SHUT UP AND LET THOSE OF US WHO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE TO EVACUATE A CITY DETERMINE WHOSE AT FAULT!!!

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by Drifter

Aww the humanless fool thinks he hurt my feelings. I'm surprised you know what feelings are! You clearly have shown that you have none.

Tsk! The bleeding-heart handwringer thinks that his version of "the truth" somehow elevates him to a sort of moral superiority, from which he can call lesser beings, who are not inclined to fuzzy vision, inhuman. Alas, moral superiority coupled with mental inferiority produces only Drift-wood.

Try to explain how your opinions about how the people of New Orleans should have "Just figured out some way to leave" for these dead!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/08/kat...act/index.html

And I parry your story with

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12575604.htm

Officials confounded by hurricane victims who don't want to move

By Chris Adams, Gary Estwick and Martin Merzer

Knight Ridder Newspapers



NEW ORLEANS - Authorities struggling to manage the largest relocation of Americans in modern history collided Wednesday with an unexpected obstacle: resistance from many of the evacuees.


In Houston, a plan to move evacuees from the Astrodome to two cruise ships in Galveston, Texas, was canceled for lack of interest, officials said, forcing the government to search for evacuees from other areas to move into the ocean liners' cabins.


In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin authorized force to remove an estimated 10,000 people still living amid floodwaters, which were receding but also becoming increasingly polluted with oil, sewage, bacteria and life-threatening toxins.


Four people may have died from rare bacterial infections caused by contaminated water that entered open wounds, federal health experts reported. Initial tests of New Orleans' water detected levels of diarrhea-causing bacteria far exceeding safe levels.


Nevertheless, the rescue squads that patrolled deeper into New Orleans - as well as relief workers in Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia - found themselves confounded by the reluctance of many Hurricane Katrina victims to leave their homes or move to distant shelters.


Five planes from West Virginia sent to ferry evacuees from Texas returned home without passengers. Flights expected to carry 1,000 evacuees to Ohio were canceled. Cots stood empty at the D.C. Armory in the nation's capital.


Throughout the Gulf Coast region, people decided that they preferred the familiar and the close to home - regardless of how awful it had become - to the unknown and the far away. In some cases, bureaucratic foul-ups and lack of coordination also played a role.


"Once you put yourself in the hands of the government, you could end up in Utah," said Michael O'Donoghue, 64, a holdout in New Orleans' Lower Garden District.


Ed Conley, a liaison for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the agency has no additional plans to transport people to shelters in other states.


"There were several states that offered opportunities for people to go via plane and bus," he said. "There just weren't any takers. We can't force people to leave."


The relocation difficulties flared as officials turned their attention to other problems and, in some cases, to solutions:


-Federal officials prepared to distribute debit cards worth $2,000 each to displaced storm victims to offset the cost of food, clothing, gasoline and other commodities.


Michael Brown, FEMA's embattled director, said the plan would "empower hurricane survivors to really start rebuilding their lives."


-Katrina could cost as many as 400,000 U.S. jobs and slash economic growth by as much as 1 percentage point, the Congressional Budget Office reported.


-Repair crews inspected bridges and roads wrecked by Katrina, including 90 bridges in southern Louisiana alone. Contractors were hired to clear debris-blocked roads.


-Inch by inch, flood levels continued to drop in New Orleans as more pumps came back to life, but engineers still faced a Herculean task. Only 23 of the city's 148 pumps were working. One major pumping station, however, was draining 2,000 cubic feet of water out of the city every second.




With Louisiana, Texas and other nearby states overwhelmed by the nearly 1 million people displaced by Katrina, officials in those states sought to place the overflow elsewhere - often in states far away and sometimes without the evacuees knowing where they were going.


In Washington, D.C., about 300 people ended up at the D.C. Armory, which was ready for at least 400.


Most were happy to be there, though several were surprised, having misunderstood an announcement: They thought their plane was headed to Dallas rather than Washington's Dulles airport.


"Is there any way to get back?" Melvin Taylor, 53, tears welling in his eyes, asked a reporter. "I've got two aunties, Rosemary Parker and Bernice Taylor, and some cousins I can't find. I don't like it here."


In many cases, relocation managers said, evacuees simply did not want to venture far from home, fearing that distance would further complicate their return to the lives they knew.


Sociological factors also played a role, experts said. Most evacuees were relatively poor, and many may never before have left their cities or even their neighborhoods. Thus, the prospect of starting life anew in a distant city was daunting - especially for families that are separated.


Mercelita Plessy of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward lost contact with her four children when they retreated to the Superdome shortly after the storm passed. Now, she's afraid to leave town.


"People say they're sending them to New Mexico, they're sending them to Texas, they're sending them to Georgia, Mississippi," she said. "Lord! How am I going to find my children?"




Officials in Philadelphia said last week that they were prepared to receive as many as 5,000 people, and 600 were expected earlier this week, but only 35 had arrived by midday Wednesday. Officials cited "logistical problems" and said some potential arrivals balked at leaving the Houston area.




Bureaucratic breakdowns also were evident, including some that - in another context - might have been viewed as comical.


A plane full of evacuees twice failed to materialize at the Charleston International Airport in South Carolina on Tuesday. Even after local officials were told that the evacuees were there, they learned that the flight had landed in Charleston, W.Va.


"They say, `It's coming to Charleston, it's coming to Charleston,'" said Ron Osborne, South Carolina's director of emergency management. "Then they say, `We think it's Charleston, West Virginia.' We're having some problems."

But yes, ALL of the people who stayed behind in NO did so ONLY because they were poor and had no cars! To hint that it might have been a matter of CHOICE for some is clearly the depths of cruel iniquity!

For someone that claims to be so intelligent it really is remarkably surprising how much you miss when it comes to interpersonal skills.

Ah, if you can't refute an opponent's claim, invent one that's easier to derogate. The immemorial tactic of the incompetent.

Where exactly did I "claim to be so intelligent"? Surely someone with your kindness of soul and inclination toward taking the best view of people ( or is it only of poor people? ) would NEVER just make something up to use as a verbal weapon, no, perish the thought...

I know I really shouldn't be angry with you, I should pity you for letting the real monsters of this tragedy pull the wool over your eyes.

Ah, there's that moral superiority coming out again. Thank you, Saint Drifter, for showing us all the way toward the Light; for only such as you see through the propaganda to "the truth"...

But the fact of the matter is there are people ON THIS BOARD (Gee ya think I might be one? You inconsiderate boob?) who have had to deal with not knowing if people they love and care about are DEAD or not!!

Aaaaand, that is relevant to my claim that not everyone in NO stayed behind because they were forced to do so----how, exactly? It is relevant to my dubiety about the blanket statements that those who stayed did so because they lacked access to cars, how?

I'm not even going to bother with expressions of sympathy for INDIVIDUAL losses such as yours, because (a) the argument I advanced has nothing to do with deaths, grief, or individual cases, and (b) because it would only give you the opportunity for another shrill rant about insincerity, crocidile tears and my obvious inhumanity. Instead I'll stick to the point, even if you can't: I doubted before that incapacity accounted for all of the people who failed to leave NO before the storm, I doubt it still and the story above lends credence to that doubt. That is all. If you insist on interpreting that doubt as making me the most horribly callous individual since Pol Pot, well, I suppose that I can manage to live with your disesteem.

AND I CAN PROMISE YOU, THEY COULDN'T HAVE "JUST LEFT" IF THEY WANTED TO!!!

And can you speak, or rather scream, for all of the other 50,000 who stayed as well?

Really, be honest how many huricanes have you been through? None? THEN SHUT UP AND LET THOSE OF US WHO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE TO EVACUATE A CITY DETERMINE WHOSE AT FAULT!!!

Ah. "Shut up". What a cogent argument. And so gentle and compassionate, too...

Alas, I am not really inclined to obey imperious commands at the best of times, and I'm really not inclined to do it now. Sorry about that.

[AllisonT]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

It seems Barbara Bush (George II's mom) thinks that the people crammed into the Houston Astrodome are "well off considering what they had before". Basically, poor people are lucky they have a 3x5 cot crammed into a stadium that's lit 24hours/day. Translation: let them eat cake.

This family has to look up compassion in a dictionary!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20...enation/120080

[Mr Epee]

Inq,

By posting that article to support your position, you just bought yourself a ticket.

Yep an all expenses paid vacation to ---

Achilleus' School for Grumpy Old Men Who Can't Read Good

You really ought to cool it until people have a chance to bury their dead.

The loss of life in this catastrophy will possibly surpass the tolls from 9/11, Afganistan, and Iraq combined.

These are people's families, homes, and dreams.

[Inquartata]

I still fail to see how anything of what I have said about a GENERAL situation ought to speak to anyone's SPECIFIC condition...

Plus, I already tried that, after my last post on Tuesday. But someone just couldn't resist poking the bear, about halfway down page three.

[Sciurus-Rex]

Self-edited. Nothing of great value to contribute.

[Gav]

Alas, moral superiority coupled with mental inferiority produces only Drift-wood.

I, for one, found this comment to be ... unfortunate. I've received a complaint about your tone. Now I've not read this whole thread, but I want to ask everyone to cool it - including Drifter. I'll check in tomorrow. If I see more of the same - this thread will be closed.

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by Sciurus-Rex

Self-edited. Nothing of great value to contribute.

Well, I'm glad I had the chance to read it before you deleted it. I'm not sure you'd appreciate my appreciating it, but I found it very droll nevertheless.

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by Gav

I, for one, found this comment to be ... unfortunate. I've received a complaint about your tone. Now I've not read this whole thread, but I want to ask everyone to cool it - including Drifter. I'll check in tomorrow. If I see more of the same - this thread will be closed.

Response in kind, but---very well. I'll try to behave.