09-04-2005, 08:44 AM
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#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,326
| Bush laughing off New Orleans
The link, a transcription from a White House press conference: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0050902-2.html
But just in case they decide to edit the fifth graf, here's what he has to say. Gotta love his easygoing attitude about the catastrophe, eh? "We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter.) | 
|  | | And now for this message... |
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09-04-2005, 11:41 AM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 367
| (shrug).
I don't like the man at all, but I don't believe there was anything horribly inappropriate in that comment. I was listening to it on NPR, and wasn't horrified there, either. | |
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09-04-2005, 12:26 PM
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#3 | | Din Älskling
Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Somewhere inside your head. Or am I?
Posts: 4,196
| Rome is burning.
I've looked for it, but I can't find the poem that was written a while back and posted. I think either DFP or Mr Biggs wrote it called 'Nero 2.0'.
Here's a chain of events from one of many perspectives (section quoted here due to length): Quote: http://www.ledgeofliberty.com/2005/0...a_timelin.html
2001, The Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] ranks a hurricane strike on New Orleans as “among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country,” right after a terrorist attack on New York City. [read]
February 2001, Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, his campaign manager, to head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no prior disaster management experience and is mostly known for his role in Bush's funeralgate scandal back in the late 1990's. [read]
June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison produces rainfall amounts of 30-40 inches in regions of coastal Texas and Louisiana cause severe flooding, $5 billion dollars in damage and kill 53. [read]
2002, Bush begins a series of drastic budget cuts to the New Orleans U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
December 2002, Joe Allbaugh resigns from FEMA. Michael Brown takes his place, and like his predicessor, has no prior disaster management experience.
2003, FEMA awards $89,471,651 million in PDM [Pre-Disaster Mitigation] Grants; including $4,199,259.75 dollars to build Homeland Security Safe Rooms in nine Fort Smith, Arkansas public schools. Thirty-six states and nine Native American tribes benefited from the Presidential initiative mostly awarded for flood hazard mitigation or Homeland Security projects. Though Louisiana applied, they didn’t get a dime. [read]
Walter Maestri, Director of Emergency Management for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana:
"It is therefore difficult for me to understand how this parish, as well as any other parish in the State of Louisiana, was not approved for any PDM funding for (fiscal year) 03," he wrote, adding that FEMA's stated reasons for declining funds to Louisiana were vague.
"I can only simply state that FEMA has missed a golden opportunity to assist in furthering the process for resolving one of the most costly problems facing the National Flood Insurance Program, “Repetitive Loss,” Maestri concluded, "and would hope that you forward the contents of this letter to FEMA Region VI with a request that they be conveyed to FEMA Headquarters." He copied the letter to both of Louisiana's senators and three congressmen. A state DHS official wrote back, saying FEMA's headquarters would review Maestri's complaints. [read]
http://www.fema.gov/fima/pdmclist.shtm
March 2003, FEMA loses it's cabinet level status and is taken over by the Department of Homeland Security and refocused on terrorism.
From the Long Island Press:
In 2003, Congress approved a White House proposal to cut FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) inhalf. Previously, the federal government was committed to invest 15 percent of the recovery costs of a given disaster in mitigating future problems. Under the Bush formula, the feds now cough up only 7.5 percent.
...
And indeed, some in-need areas have been inexplicably left out of the program. "In a sense, Louisiana is the floodplain of the nation," noted a 2002 FEMA report. "Louisiana waterways drain two thirds of the continental United States. Precipitation in New York, the Dakotas, even Idaho and the Province of Alberta, finds its way to Louisiana's coastline." As a result, flooding is a constant threat, and the state has an estimated 18,000 buildings that have been repeatedly been damaged by flood waters—the highest number of any state. And yet, this summer FEMA denied Louisiana communities' pre-disaster mitigation funding requests.
In Jefferson Parish, part of the New Orleans metropolitan area, flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue is baffled by the development.
"You would think we would get maximum consideration" for the funds, he says. "We were more than qualified for it." [read]
2004, The war approaches $204.6 billion dollars. To cut corners, Bush proposes spending less than 20% of what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers need to repair the levees on Lake Pontchartrain. The Hurricane Protection project is left incomplete.
Feb. 16, 2004, New Orleans CityBusiness:
The $750 million Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project is another major Corps project, which remains about 20% incomplete due to lack of funds, said Al Naomi, project manager. That project consists of building up levees and protection for pumping stations on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Jefferson parishes.
The Lake Pontchartrain project is slated to receive $3.9 million in the president's 2005 budget. Naomi said about $20 million is needed.
"The longer we wait without funding, the more we sink," he said. "I've got at least six levee construction contracts that need to be done to raise the levee protection back to where it should be (because of settling). Right now I owe my contractors about $5 million. And we're going to have to pay them interest."
June 2004, Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager, Al Naomi, goes before the East Jefferson Levee Authority and enters an urgent plea for aide in the amount of $2 million dollars to continue work on the sinking floodwalls.
From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:
"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don’t get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can’t stay ahead of the settlement," he [Al Naomi] said. "The problem that we have isn’t that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can’t raise them.”
Walter Maestri, Director of Emergency Management for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana:
"It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle Homeland Security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
2005, FEMA awards $27,445,817 million in PDM [Pre-Disaster Mitigation] Grants, but again Louisiana gets nothing. The federal funds aren’t there either. Having just experienced the worst hurricane season in decades, Washington cut the New Orleans hurricane and flood-control funding by two-thirds, from $36.5 million to $10.4 million dollars.
January 2005, A U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control ‘Project Fact Sheet’, dated January 26, 2005, explains the urgency of New Orleans flood-control and the lack of federal funding:
PROJECT FUNDING FY04: Available funds of $24 million were not sufficient to support all on-going contracts; MVN, in conjunction with the local sponsors, established priorities for which contracts would be funded. Exhaustion of funds occurred in February 2004 on seven on-going projects. All contractors continued to work, although progress slowed significantly on some contracts. MVN finished FY04 owing SELA contractors approximately $5 million.
PROJECT FUNDING FY05: The FY05 net work allowance is $32.2 million. It is anticipated that this amount will be just sufficient to maintain current contracts. Additional funds would be required to permit awarding new contracts; there are fourteen contracts now awaiting award. Moving forward with this urgently needed flood control work is of great importance to the local sponsors.
June 2005, The New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers FY 2006 budget is cut by $71.2 million dollars; the largest reduction to date.
I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. [read]
August 1, 2005, In preparation for hurricane season, the Louisiana National Guard requests emergency equipment to be sent back from Iraq.
When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem. [read]
August 2, 2005, President Bush leaves Washington, taking a 5-week vacation in Crawford, Texas.
From the Washington Post:
The president departed Tuesday for his longest stretch yet away from the White House, arriving at his Crawford ranch in the evening for a stretch of clearing brush, visiting with family and friends, and tending to some outside-the-Beltway politics. By historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years.
The August getaway is Bush's 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and the 319th day that Bush has spent, entirely or partially, in Crawford -- nearly 20 percent of his presidency to date, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter known for keeping better records of the president's travel than the White House itself. Weekends and holidays at Camp David or at his parents' compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, bump up the proportion of Bush's time away from Washington even further. [read]
August 29,2005, Category 5 hurricane, Katrina, is expected to hit New Orleans. The city is evacuated and those with money and means to leave, do. The poor, elderly and infirmed are left to stay put and hope for the best or seek shelter at the New Orleans super-dome. It’s predicted that the entire city could be washed away. [read]
The last-minute scramble to evacuate the New Orleans area Sunday ahead of powerful Hurricane Katrina put strains on the state's contraflow traffic system, especially for those heading west toward Baton Rouge. [read]
August 30, 2005, Massive Hole in Levee is Major Challenge for Engineers
From the Palm Beach Post:
Army engineers worked feverishly late Tuesday to haul in rocks, sandbags and heavy equipment.
They need more.
"We're attempting to contract for materials, such as rock, super sandbags, cranes, etc., and also for modes of transportation — like barges and helicopters — to close the gaps," said Walter Baumy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager overseeing the work. [read]
August 30, 2005, Corps scrabling to plug levee breaches as New Orleans floods [read]
August 30, 2005, The President travels to the San Diego, North Island Naval Air Station to celebrate the 60th anniversary of V-J day. He begins his a 40-minute WWII/Iraq speech, with a one minute address to the devastation that has occurred in New Orleans. Then he goes golfing.
August 31, 2005, The unrepaired levees give way in New Orleans; city under water
From the Associated Press:
Two levees broke and sent water coursing into the streets of the Big Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped. [read]
August 31, 2005, Levee Pump Fails; a second flood in New Orleans.
From the Associated Press:
New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin says a new wall of water is expected to flow into the east bank of the city beginning around 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m., causing floods of nine feet or more in some areas.
...
Nagin had hoped to have Army Blackhawk helicopters drop 3,000-pound sandbags on the levee at Pumping Station No. 6 before it became too waterlogged to continue operating. That, he says, "didn't happen" because there were too many chiefs calling the shots in responding to the disaster, he told WWL-TV.
"My heart is heavy," said Nagin, as he ticked off New Orleans' current problems: no electricity, for at least four to six more weeks; contaminated drinking water; gas leaks sending flames shooting up from beneath the water; bodies floating in the water; a leaking oil tanker which ran aground; two bridges gone; both airports flooded; and no clear path in or out of the city. [read]
September 1, 2005, Bodies float through the streets of New Orleans, thousands are predicted dead, one million people are expected homeless, and we find this disaster was completely avoidable.
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"Since when does being a patriot in America mean shutting your mouth?"
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09-04-2005, 12:30 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 367
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09-04-2005, 01:29 PM
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#5 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 22,767
| I think what is perhaps more telling than other people laughing at the President's remark was the fact that with all of the people who have lost everything and are still suffering in situ, Bush found the time to be especially concerned about the home of Trent Lott...
I had to wince when I heard him say that. Fellow pols and especially fellow Republican pols above all else, apparently. Yikes. | |
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09-04-2005, 03:04 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 186
| Anderson Cooper went off on Mary Landrieu for the whole political back-patting that was going on in Washington and how inappropriate it was for politicians to be congratulating one another for all their messages of support while people were literally dying in the streets. I have to admit I am extremely upset by the rather light-hearted attitude the government seems to have taken to this, and I WAS insulted by Bush's speech as I listened to it on NPR - he made several jokes and acted like they were "winning". This isn't Iraq - you can't "make progress" towards saving lives, you either do it or you don't. It's not something that can be won, but it already was something that was lost. People died when it could have been prevented. | |
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09-04-2005, 03:21 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: MA
Posts: 7,347
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by esskreemr I've looked for it, but I can't find the poem that was written a while back and posted. I think either DFP or Mr Biggs wrote it called 'Nero 2.0'. |
Do you mean this? http://www.fencing.net/forums/water-cooler/t19373.html | |
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09-04-2005, 05:01 PM
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#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey
Posts: 4,963
| Nero? Isn't that software for burning CDs under Windows?
On a more serious note, Bob Schieffer on Face The Nation: SCHIEFFER: Finally, a personal thought. We have come through what may have been one of the worst weeks in America's history, a week in which government at every level failed the people it was created to serve. There is no purpose for government except to improve the lives of its citizens. Yet as scenes of horror that seemed to be coming from some Third World country flashed before us, official Washington was like a dog watching television.
It saw the lights and images, but did not seem to comprehend their meaning or see any link to reality. As the floodwaters rose, local officials in New Orleans ordered the city evacuated. They might as well have told their citizens to fly to the moon. How do you evacuate when you don't have a car? No hint of intelligent design in any of this.
This was just survival of the richest. By midweek a parade of Washington officials rushed before the cameras to urge patience. What good is patience to a mother who can't find food and water for a dehydrated child? Washington was coming out of an August vacation stupor and seemed unable to refocus on business or even think straight. Why else would Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert question aloud whether New Orleans should even be rebuilt?
And when he was unable to get to Washington in time to vote on emergency aid funds, Hastert had an excuse only Washington could understand: He had to attend a fund-raiser back home.
Since 9/11, Washington has spent years and untold billions reorganizing the government to deal with crises brought on by possible terrorist attacks. If this is the result, we had better start over.
For those who wish to make donations to the relief effort, you can call the American Red Cross at 1 (800) HELP NOW, which is 1 (800) 435-7669. CBS News will have continuing coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And that's our broadcast. Thanks for watching FACE THE NATION.
Also, http://business.bostonherald.com/bus...ticleid=100857 describes the "qualifications" of the rocket scientist who is the head of FEMA
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"In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different."
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09-04-2005, 05:37 PM
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#9 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 22,767
| The purpose of government is to protect people's ability to improve their OWN lives, not to do it for them.
And I still have trouble believing that none of those people of "limited circumstances" had a car, or a neighbor with a car, or a relative/friend/acquaintance with car. A good number of them made a bad decision: they thought they were stronger than a hurricane and could just "ride it out". Government rescue should be reserved for those who are overcome unawares by disaster, not for the merely willful. | |
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09-04-2005, 06:15 PM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey
Posts: 4,963
| I don't think I agree with that argument, Inq, and figure that the people who were left in NO included large numbers of people who simply had no recourse. Poor people without a car who outnumbered the carrying capacity of friend and relatives who had one. At least, that's what a New Orleans ex-official (ex-mayor? I wasn't looking) said on CNN this morning based on previous disaster drills: about 25% of people who didn't go chose to not go, the others could not go.
It would be a somewhat different story if government authorities were taking the position that it wasn't their job "to do it for them". It would be an interesting to see the reaction from an already-outraged public if they said such a thing, but the posture that every official I've seen on TV, from Bush and Chertoff on down, is that it was their job to protect people from a disaster. Or what is emergency preparedness to mean?
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"In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different."
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09-04-2005, 06:29 PM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: DC & Vancouver
Posts: 2,040
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by mrbiggs | I thought that poem was crap, honestly. | |
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09-04-2005, 07:32 PM
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#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: MA
Posts: 7,347
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by cornflower I thought that poem was crap, honestly. | So it's a good thing I didn't write it, I suppose.
I don't think that Bush really did a bad thing here, but I think that it was stupid politically. Whether or not he made a joke about Trent Lott's house has no impact on what he's doing or not doing in New Orleans. On the other hand, he's just opening himself up for criticism.
So it was a stupid move, but I personally don't respect him any less for it. | |
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09-04-2005, 07:54 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,326
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Originally Posted by Inquartata The purpose of government is to protect people's ability to improve their OWN lives, not to do it for them.
And I still have trouble believing that none of those people of "limited circumstances" had a car, or a neighbor with a car, or a relative/friend/acquaintance with car. A good number of them made a bad decision: they thought they were stronger than a hurricane and could just "ride it out". Government rescue should be reserved for those who are overcome unawares by disaster, not for the merely willful. | Why is it so hard to believe? | |
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09-04-2005, 11:28 PM
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#14 | | Din Älskling
Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Somewhere inside your head. Or am I?
Posts: 4,196
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Inquartata And I still have trouble believing that none of those people of "limited circumstances" had a car, or a neighbor with a car, or a relative/friend/acquaintance with car. A good number of them made a bad decision: they thought they were stronger than a hurricane and could just "ride it out". Government rescue should be reserved for those who are overcome unawares by disaster, not for the merely willful. | Inq, I'm sure you've been to large cities with public transportation. Many inhabitants don't own cars because it's simply cheaper and more convenient not to own one.
In addition to the huge amount of residents, there were numerous tourists stranded when they shut down the airport. Quote: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ricane_katrina
As many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave, and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport. The city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome.
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"Since when does being a patriot in America mean shutting your mouth?"
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zz,zz,zz,zz,zz,zz! | |
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09-04-2005, 11:29 PM
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#15 | | Din Älskling
Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Somewhere inside your head. Or am I?
Posts: 4,196
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by mrbiggs | Nope, not even close.
__________________
"Since when does being a patriot in America mean shutting your mouth?"
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09-05-2005, 12:29 AM
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#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Los Angeles/San Francisco
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09-05-2005, 08:30 AM
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#17 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,326
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by esskreemr Inq, I'm sure you've been to large cities with public transportation. Many inhabitants don't own cars because it's simply cheaper and more convenient not to own one.
| And, please, let's not forget those who simply can't afford to own a working car. I know it's hard to imagine, but when you're that poor, you usually end up living around other poor people who likewise can't afford the same things. So it makes it pretty damned difficult to hitch a ride out of town with a neighbor.
Here's another angle to consider: Even if you can find a ride out of town -- in a timely manner, mind you, before everyone with an auto has already left you behind without asking if you'd need a ride -- where ya gonna go? Living on a fixed low income doesn't give you any extra savings to dip into for a hotel room in another city.
And although I'm loathe to mention this, it is often an aspect of being poor: a lot of people simply couldn't imagine working out a solution other than trying to hold on to the crappy few resources they have at home. A good education tends to open a lot of cognitive possibilities we take for granted.
Then again, we've seen how even those with a schooled background can have a closed mind, eh, Inq? | |
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09-05-2005, 11:14 AM
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#18 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 200
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Originally Posted by Inquartata And I still have trouble believing that none of those people of "limited circumstances" had a car, or a neighbor with a car, or a relative/friend/acquaintance with car. A good number of them made a bad decision: they thought they were stronger than a hurricane and could just "ride it out". Government rescue should be reserved for those who are overcome unawares by disaster, not for the merely willful. | Trust me Inq, IN OUR LIFETIMES we will ALL know what it's like to find car ownership too expensive. You think $3 dollars at the pump is high? Just wait.
Try this, imagine for a moment you work at an $8.00/hr job 40 hours a week. (Well above the Wal-Mart rate I might add.) You have 2 kids and thier father hasn't been around for years. You make 320 dollars a week or 16K a year. Taxes take 20% in some form.
So your Monthly income is, just over $1000.00. Rent is $390.00 Food for you and your two children for the month is $300.00. Utilities - $100.00 Miscellaneous things like Clothes and shoes $50.00 You are now left with $160.00 a month paying ONLY the bare essentials (No Car in there).
Your two kids get the flu. You take them to the doctor and they get medicine but you have a bill for $900.00 dollars you have to pay. So you start paying $100.00 a month. Leaving you with $60.00 a month wiggle room.
A catagory 5 hurricane comes along. You have $60.00 in the bank. Bus tickets for you and your childen are $21.00 per person. You're 3 dollars short.
So you do the only thing you know to do, go back to your apartment and hope it doesn't hit.
The category 5 hurricane kills you a | |
