W just did not do his job

[afups]

If George W Bush, governor of Texas, had been keeping his eyes on what his neighbors were doing (or not doing), the evacuation would have been smooth as silk. Shame on him.

He should have known that Louisiana would not comply with the wishes of Congress and FEMA.

 

[scratch_king]

Bill Clinton was the President in 1997, not Bush.
FEMA misused this money.by letting the state and local goverments use this money for something else. It is the responsibilty of the local leaders in Loiusana to be ready in an emergency, not the Governor in the next state over. By the way, the people in Texas did a Fantastic job!

 

[sendagain]

Nobody can expect the President to manage every detail in this entire country. The local officials dropped the ball by not following their own emergency plans. As for ending poverty, Jesus said, "The poor you have always with you."

 

[toonertoo]

We were at the Ohio River sternwheel festival today, and they, and we were flooded badly last year. In our county we lost over 14 bridges. We lost a wall on one side of our house, as we live on a hill. Water is very powerful, and standing on the boardwalk today that was flooded last year, under 20 ft of water, we saw the place where we were standing last year and didnt even know that boardwalk was there,,,and I thought out loud, these people could have been dead too, had they not moved North when warned.
"get away from the water" comes to mind.
The president is not responsible for people who made bad choices, it is a free country.
We didnt have power for 3 days, it wasn't Georges fault, and we didnt wait for someone to come rescue us, or for Fema. We went and got a new window and new block and lumber, and I am thankful I had the money to do that. But even if I didnt, it wouldnt be anyones fault but my own. We were told to contact Fema, but there were people who needed it and we didnt, I just looked at it like some bad luck, and didnt expect anyone to reimburse me for that. I guess some people do, but I think the only person you can depend on is yourself, and I think we would have had less problems there if everyone thought like that.

 

[moreluck]

Tooner....I totally agree!!

 

[wily_old_vet]

Tooner-You hit the nail on the head. We have gotten so far away from the personal responsibilty that made this country what it is. Now too many expect too much from government. I can't remember the exact quote or who said it but the gist of it was that once people started accepting handouts from government that we would be on a slippery downhill slope. Unfortunately that is the way I see us headed.

 

[wily_old_vet]

Afups-How in the world can you hold Bush responsible for something that happened 8 years ago? The money was given to a LOCAL commission who did not use the money for the intended purpose (big surprise there). The only way you can hold Bush responsible is pure, blind hatred and partisanship. Were mistakes made by the Federal gov't? Yes but many were made by the state and local gov'ts as well. If this blame game continues I don't see much hope for the cooperation needed to bring these areas back to any thing resembling normalacy. And then it is shame on us all.

 

[afups]

Hey...Hey...Hey I am an ardent Bush supporter. If you read the link and then my post I think you would see a bit of satire here. It was meant to show how ridiculous the "blame game" is.
I believe Tooner said it all for many of us.

Hope you will all have a good day.

Bill

 

[toonertoo]

OOPS, I slipped, I didnt read the link.
Im just sick of the blame game, plenty of blame to go around to many agencies, politicians, and many years. But it all comes back to survival, and nature can be cruel.

 

[over9five]

Nobody reads links anymore. Its hard when one idiot posts 20 a day...

 

[rushfan]

I could see... A neighboring state's governor comes to my state to tell us what to do. That would be ridiculous! I expect my local, county, and state officials to take care of my own state's needs....Not some neighboring state's officials.

If my local, county, or state government isn't doing their job, I speak up. Most important of all, we should be self-sufficient and expect NOT to get help from our local,county, or state government for at least 48 hours. This means we should have some sort of rations, water, etc.

Just my 2 cents worth.

p.s. Bush directed the last hurricane not to hit No. Carolina hard since it's a "red" state.


(Message edited by rushfan on September 18, 2005)

 

[rushfan]

Oh and Halliburton is directing all their resources in conjunction with the defense department to guide the next tropical storm to hit the gulf coast.

 

[proups]

I like this:

The American Spectator | 09-03-05 | By Ben Stein



Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator.

Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

6.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

7.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

8.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

9.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

10.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

11.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

12.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

13.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

................. Ben Stein

 

[traveler]

Just a comment on number 4 from the list...

"If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil."

I have recently been to China twice and I can attest that the pollution is unbelievable there. From the Yangtze River ALL cities reside in a very heavy smog. I couldn't get a clear picture of any one from the river boat we sailed on due to that smog. I am sure that virtually every city there with a population of over 1,000,000 is similar and by the way, there are more than 200 cities with a one million plus population in China! As a matter of interest, coal is the predominant fuel for heating homes and industries. A change is slowly being made to gasoline heaters for home use.

I have not been to Brazil in many years but will be there in January and report back on that nation. I do know that the sand on the beach of both Ipanema and Copacabana is so poluted that it is unsafe to walk bearfoot there.

I have not yet visited India but will be there in February. I will let you know first hand about their situation.

I was neutral on the Kyoto Treaty until my visits to China. After that I really believe that the USA would be put at a great disadvantage in the world of commerce and trade should we sign this protocal.

 

[over9five]

Excellent post, Proups. Exactly how I, and most sensible Americans think.

 

[ok2bclever]

"I love bush", we got it, we got it.

 

[upsdawg]

Proups---thanks---it is not a Bush problem, it is a local problem----and it is continuing. The Mayor of NO wants to re-open the town now and doesn't want anybody stepping on his toes because --he is the mayor!! I am sure that he is getting a lot of resistance from local business owners-----got to have a Mardi Gras in March!!He informed people that it was o.k. to return and than was forced to recind his offer when other--"Non-Mayor" people shared with him that he was crazy!!

The levys are still weak and the weather still is "iffy"-----and communities are still flooded with contaminated water---and possibly with sharks??

Watching how Florida is preparing for the upcoming storm--and evacuating people and having the "state" national guard on call is very smart---no need for federal, Wash DC involvement, unless they make some poor plans--or don't plan!!

Maybe the mayor can learn from his neighbors and not try to be a one man show--to err once is human, twice a fool!

 

[over9five]

""I love bush", we got it, we got it."

LOL, Ok2, You got me there!!!!!