>My apologies to our Republican friends reading this forum, but I cannot >resist posting two quotes here.
And my apologies to our Democrat friends reading this forum, but... The Democrat Mayor of New Orleans left the buses parked rather than using them, as was the plan, to evacuate those who needed it. The Democrat governor of LA refused to put through the proper authorizations for the Feds to act. Today, the Mayor and the Gov cannot decide whther or not they are or are not going to force people to leave N.O. And so on... That having been said, the blame game is useless--I wouldn't bother with it except that the afore-mentioned governor and mayor were the first to scream that the Feds should have acted more swiftly, when it was their own incompetence that resulted in the vast bulk of needless death. Also, I really don't think the Democrat/Republican aspect is relevant--the Gov. and the Mayor screwed up big time--they could have done that as Republicans, too. It is not at all clear that the Feds made any major mistakes--they were, however, hopelessly under-equipped for this sort of disaster--FEMA does not have it's own fire department, nor its own police department--it is supposed to help MANAGE and coordinate available assets when asked by locals. It cannot send in the national guard, nor can it call on the military to go in. Granted, there are additional episodes of incompetence spread throughout FEMA--one does not discover who isn't going to be up to the job of managing a disaster until one has a disaster to manage. Almost all of the early criticism as been misplaced against the Federal government, but if criticism is to be leveled, it should start at the local level with the performance of those closest to the scene with the most immediate responsibility. In short, if Kerry were president, this scenario would have played out pretty much exactly as it already has, except the carping and bitching would be coming out of othe! r mouths. And that having been said, I will temper it with this--it is hard to govern a bunch of intractable, stubborn Americans who steadfastly resist doing what they're told to do, even when it is for their own good. If the mayor had sent the buses, would people have boarded them to leave, or would they have decided to ride it out anyeway? I don't know. For all I know, the mayor's inaction may not have resulted in a single additional death. Now is the time for partisans to shut up and start helping with the bailing, on both sides. Heads will eventually roll, and they should roll--but today is not the day to swing the axe. >FEMA director Mike Brown was employed from 1991 to 2000 as the chief rules >enforcer for the Arabian Horse Association. On Thursday he expressed >surprise and consternation when told by a reporter that 15,000 people were >stranded at the New Orleans convention center. Kate Hale, the former >Miami-Dade emergency management director, said of Mr. Brown: "He's done a >hell of a job, because I'm not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in >this storm." As it turns out, the local officials didn't want aid to be sent in, even though the Red Cross was right there waiting to go, because they didn't want the convention center nor the Superdome to become a magnet for more people to head to--they wanted them to leave the city instead. It is very hard to blame Mike Brown for the sin of a local governnment that told everyone to go to a place where they were not going to have adequate food or sanitation if the power went out. >Yesterday the Daily Show yesterday played a comment made by the Presdent's >mother, Barbara Bush, during a radio broadcast. She described the people in >the Texas Astrodome: ". . . and so many of the people in the arenas here, >you know, are underprivileged anyway. This is working out well for them." Now that WAS funny. Jeffery D. Kooistra
