You can't blame one person, Bush did this Bush did that. Their are 10s of thousands of people working on this. Federal troops can only be called in when and only when the Gov. of that state asks for them. The Gov. of Lousiana only asked for troops WEDNESDAY. FEMA had to ask for air drops. You cant just say well they should have happened. I have yet to see a single person post how the event actually unfolded. As of Monday it looked like New Orleans would be ok and parts of Mississippi took harder hits. Then the levees broke. At this point every agency that was waiting away from the path of the storm was moving in most of which were heading to the hardest hit areas. By the time people learned the levees broke the city was flooded. Now instantanously we should have troops their? How does this happen? Most of the relieve forces we had their were not made to go through 4-5 feet of water. The area effected is the size of the UK, everyone from the UK "O its Bushes Fault!" just immagine that, 90k sq miles. Now we have to send troops in. These troops have never been here, their are few street signs, most streets are blocked for miles. You cant compare this to any other disaster, Tsunami, it took a week for the ships to get their, it wasnt next day, aleast for the US. 9/11, a few blocks were affected, not thousands of miles that all need help, you cant just blast through that area to get to New Orleans everyone needs help. Everything in the US seems to turn into Racism. THe majority of the city is Black theirfor the majority of people affected are Black (amazing how that works). If it would have hit a primarily white city you would have the same problem but noone would pull the race card. The fact that they are poor black and mostly democratic has nothing to do with the problem, most of the people that are asked dont think it is, its only the american news trying to make a story where there isnt one. Most of these people could have gotten out. 90% of every person interviewed on the news say either they though they could ride it out, or their flight was canclled. both of which could have been prevented if they heeded the advice of officials sooner. Bush took money out of the budget for the levees? Every single city wants more federal money its not in the budget. Everything looks different in Hiensight, maybe marshlands should not have been built on. 80% of the city is flooded, which part isn't? the French Quater, the only piece of the city above sea level and the only part of the city its origional occupiers build on (the French). I live in the coal regions of PA, for 35 years (before i was born) we have been asking for money to remove the coal dirt deposits that if we get a big enough rain storm will turn into a slid and wash my house and several thousand others away, should my grandfather not have built here? Possibly, but if i get a 3 day warning that it will happen when it does i wouldn't expect the military the come bail me out next day.... Bottom line, you can't wave a wand and things happen. When i pay taxes i pay Bourough, City, County, State, and Federal taxes, All of those athoritys have to work together. Federal troops can only go in when Local government asks for them. Welcome to a democracy. You cant blame the federal Govt when it was a local blunder.
The overall affected area is the size of the UK yes, but the major problems covers the size of Edinburgh. There are times when the Federal government needs to step in and take control and this was one of them, yes people were stupid and didn't leave when told to, but even still the Federal government should have taken control of the situation much earlier and gotten help to those stranded.
The major problems may be smaller but you still have to go through the hundreds of miles that have minor problems, you cant go down streets with trees and electric wires across them... Its very easy to say the federal Gov't should have done this this and this. That is not how things are done. Local and federal Gov't dont work well together especially when the Feds run in and take control when they wern't asked. Agencys were in place to deal with the problem, only when they say they can't handle it and ask for help is when help comes...the Feds can't read minds.
That's actually not 100% accurate. The impacted area is larger the size of the UK (approx 90,000 sq/mi), but the entire effected area encompases Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, southern parts of Arkansas, western Georga, Southern and the Panhandle of Florida - nearly the entire southeast. To a smaller effect, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania & New York were also effected by localized flooding & tornados as Katrina passed through. As far as cities seriously damaged, destroyed or simply whiped off the face of the earth, a short list contains (not including all the hundreds of villages and rural communities): Louisiana: New Orleans Jefferson St. Tammany St. Bernard Plaquemines Orleans Mississippi: Biloxi Gulfport St. Charles Columbus Alabama: Mobile Have you actually seen how large that storm was?
If I want to know what that raving liberal a$$hole has to say I can just read the news on what President Bush is doing and assume Michel Moor's OPINION would be the opposite.
Storm casualties in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina as released by official sources. A total 144 confirmed deaths Saturday: --Harrison County: 65 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner. --Hancock County: 30 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner. --Pearl River: 17 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner. --Jackson County: 10 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner. --Forrest County: Seven dead, reported by Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree. --Jones County: Six dead, reported by Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. --Adams County: Two dead, reported by the MEMA. --Stone County: One dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner. --Hinds County: One dead, reported by MEMA. --Lauderdale County: One dead, reported by MEMA. --Leake County: One dead, reported by MEMA. --Simpson County: One dead, reported by MEMA. --Warren County: One dead, reported by MEMA. --Interstate 59: One dead, National Guard soldier killed in traffic accident, reported by the Mississippi National Guard.
Theres probably around 150 miles of coast line that was directly effected by the hurricane as far as complete damage... You can come all the way inland too Jackson, MS (a good 200 miles from the coast) and we still got 90mph winds that took out power to over 1 million homes...Hell half of jackson didnt have water till a few days ago. Some cities here dont even have full power yet. Only reason I have any power is the fact that a gas station is right across the street from my house ...
Michael Moore is an ass. By just reading his "open letter", it proves to me that he hasn't really done the research on what's going on (and most likely didn't for his other "documentaries") and why it's taking so long. Not once does he mention that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat, didn't request troops untill well after Katrina struck.
New Orleans is almost empty of refugees, finally. This is great news. And yes, Moore's letter is badly researched.
Don't forget about the dislocated people that left before the hurricane. My relatives evacuated (along with almost 1,000,000 people) to areas which were suppose to be able to withstand the effects and after effects of the whole disaster. My cousin drove all the way to Houston where they found it impossible to find a place to stay within 90 miles of the place. They had to turn around and drive to northern Alabama to stay with in-laws. My Uncle and Aunt (late 70's) found a motel in Meridian, Missisippi. They have no gasoline. There isn't any to be found near them. They finally made it to a Walmart where they found all water and canned food were gone. It seems without power there is no way to cook, so eating out of a can is the only recourse. They all have lost their homes, but were fortunate to be able to evacuate in time. They don't know when they will ever be able to return there. My cousin bought a home there just three weeks ago. If people spent more time trying to help out those with greater need then we'd all be better off. I'm not about to start pointing the blame finger at people who are dealing with a situation that came about as events turned. I saw things that made me weep. As for me and my family, we will support efforts to assist those in need. I'm not just talking about family alone. Excuse me while I watch CNN and their three hour special on "How to Help" which starts in 5 minutes. That's 8 pm Eastern.
Very good point. Yes, active military personel would have been restricted and not allowed to make arrests or generally enforce the law.. However, I believe that would have been lifted in the event of martial law and, if my memory is correct, I believe that the Military Police can act as general police IF the state or county requests it. Honestly, I fully believe that he didn't go after the governor because she is a democrat. I'm thinking that he either didn't do any research other than watch tv, or he actually did the research and figured that the Governor isn't mentioned at all in mainstream media and are very few articles online about it.
just got word that my 4 best friends back home and one of my cousins have all been activated (they are in the same PA national guard unit) for deployment to the disaster area. they wernt activated until friday. they told me that they had been ready for 2 days. bags packed. they wanted to go, but they needed the go ahead from above. strange how some young privates seem to have more sense than many of the leaders in this country. and i still dont know who to be angry at either. seems like im angry at almost everyone except the mayor of New Orleans. He gets props from me for flippin the f out on a nationally broadcast interview. who will the scapegoat be this time? im so sick of the fingerpointing at this point. get the job done. save who and what u can, while u can. we have the rest of time to decide who is to blame, and we may not know much of the important details for some time.
Nice artice, but it doesn't paint an accurate picture of the city. Yes, it's all well and good and what she says is all warm and homey, but Ms Rice neglects to talk about the crime rate being 10 times higher than the national average (2002 statistics). I'm not for bashing the city, I believe that New Orleans was a very, very unique city and I'm sorry that I never got a chance to visit it, but if someone wants to paint a rosey picture of it, they have to remember that it was a city with one of the highest overall crime rates in the entire nation plus it's known to have rampant corruption within the local government.
I'm from New Orleans, evacuated the day before the storm. I dont care what anybody says about crime rate or anything like that, New Orleans is a great city and the few "Hoodlums" as our Governer put it are ruining the image of the city throughout this fiasco. I love New Orleans and I cant wait to be home.
