Yet another politically tinged hurricane post (890 hits)
Category: PoliticsRating: 0.3 on 64 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Judoka (View user info) at 2005-09-02 16:35:06 EDT
This is an excerpt from a letter send to www.andrewsullivan.com and it sums up my feelings perfectly. I thought I would share it and enjoy the hysterical posturing from the Bush apologists.
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"I've considered myself a socially libertarian, fiscally conservative Republican for a very long time. I got along with the idea that I wasn't going to get a whole lot of help. College wouldn't be free. Job training would cost money and time. And I'm probably a decent example of up-from-not-much.
But after watching what's happening in New Orleans-an American city that I've loved, visited and have always wanted to return to - I can't ever vote for these people again.
Being a Republican means that you expect the government to do just a couple things for you and nothing else. Build a road. Defend us from enemies, foreign and domestic. Stuff that would be a lot less organized if we all had to do it ourselves. Everything else is just gravy.
And as we poured money into Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I thought, "Right on," because some of that money's bound to fall on my head.
Well, something else would fall on my head first.
I work for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. And that means that if something really catastrophic happens in MY city, and they ask me to stick around, that's the job. We have A and B teams and I'm a disaster recovery specialist on Team A. I've drawn up plans with names like Drawbridge and Smoldering Crater.
Here's what these people would do for me.
They would leave me there to die.
Look at the facts. There's no coordination on the ground right now. The city has no fresh water, no electricity, no services. The floodwater has so much oil and toxins in it that it's flammable.
In psychology they have what is called a fight-or-flight response. When faced with danger, do you subdue it or do you flee? Some of it has to do with risk assessment, but in this case, there is no flight. There is nowhere to run. So flight means die. If my choice was to pull a pistol on a truck driver or Nat, Jarren, Jayson, or any of you dies, that's no choice at all.
I'm not talking about the looters grabbing big-screen televisions and basketball hoops. I'm talking about the ones that are chest-deep in water carrying bottled water and diapers. You can't tell me for three days to be patient, the bus is coming, and they're piling up bodies in the street median.
We have known that this sort of disaster could occur for a century. Hell, the tour bus driver told me about it on the plantation tour. This means that we have been able to envision the stark reality of this occurring for a week-the newspapers all said the storm would hit New Orleans last Thursday.
A week to get buses? A week to get fishing boats? Trucks? This is the United States! I read someone who said, "All the people who weren't bedridden, or had money, or had cars left. The people that are left had none of those things."
There are people tonight who are going to sleep on overpasses for the fourth straight night. There are prisoners who will do the same. There are people dying at a convention center because no one will tell them that no one is coming for them, and the National Guard is protecting the kitchens. There are police officers who are turning in their badges because they've lost everything, have no guidance, and don't want to be shot by a looter.
There are people tonight inside a concrete domed stadium with holes in the roof and no air conditioning who were told the buses are coming today, and they might, or they might not. There is no food. There is no water. There are bodies floating through the neighborhoods.
In the UNITED STATES.
Some people say that you can't hold the President responsible for this. Oh, yes you can. Because when he looked over at John Ashcroft after the jets hit the towers and said, "I want you to make sure this never happens again," it was not meant to be specific to "no more planes hitting large buildings on the East Coast, right, boss." It was meant that no American should have to run for his life through an American city. While Americans may perish in a senseless, unforeseen disaster, we'd save the ones we could.
And the Cabinet appointees were mushwits and he could barely speak a complete sentence and we're sending people overseas for God knows how long to help people who are indifferent at worst and hostile at best, but they were going to protect us. In 2004, that's all a lot of us needed. Well right now, it's obvious that they can't.
Ask yourself this: What if Al-Qaeda blew up the levees instead of the hurricane? Would the response have been any different?
No. It wouldn't. That city flooded in a day. And if it were Las Vegas, I would have been in some operations center watching people try to decide who gets to starve to death and who gets to get on a bus to Los Angeles or Phoenix. And there would be no certainty that I'd be on that bus in time to protect my wife and kids.
But one thing sure would have been different.
They wouldn't have had a whole week to sort it out and know what's coming. They were supposed to KNOW this already. It will have been FOUR YEARS next weekend since someone probably said, "Hey, what if..."
And for that, the whole stack of them should be fired.
I've had it. I'm done. And if the other bunch of assholes can't figure out that what's important is that babies don't starve to death here (and I'm not talking some metaphorical goo-goo thing with school lunches and welfare, but real, actual starving) and we get people out of harm's way, we'll get rid of them too. And so on.
Because this is about leadership, not about bitching on CNN how no one's in charge, or listening to Peggy Noonan furrow her brow at the Governor's performance, or bragging that we've sent in one National Guardsman for every 200 people, or actually having the audacity to say that "we had no idea the levees would break."
Today, I saw my country favorably compared to Indonesia and Thailand, (always our traditional benchmarks of infrastructural success) while the elderly die of thirst in the street. We sneered at France when this happened during a heat wave.
No more."
User Reviews
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-11 13:31:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thank you, in advance for not answering. My knuckles are still scarred from the simultaneous
swinging of my arms during all those years I patrolled my city, and I don't want to injure them
by having to address you, yet again.
==========================
I'm pretty sure that the asshole haters out there would say that your knuckles are scarred from the constant dragging on the ground, you big bad caveman you.
Submitted by cleanfornow (user info) at 2005-09-06 10:02:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I find it sickening that Liberals take this opportunity to gleefully spout their hate for anything that opposes their radical views.
Openly happy that this disaster occured because, to the liberals, it proves they were right to hate Bush.
Please, go back in your hole Judonka
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-04 03:36:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Now that I think about it Rad, I did admit my lack of certain tools on one of my posts.
Good advice. I should have scrolled before commenting.
O well, sometimes you don't catch anything while fishing.
To the name caller: In the California Juvenile System, quite a few of the 'educators' have
prior arrest records that disqualify them to teach in the public or private sector elsewhere
in the state. I know at least a dozen or more.
However they do get jobs in our(CA) prison/jail industry as 'mentors'? yeah, that's it.
The difference in pay, between the two, is the penalty they pay for a prior criminal or civil conviction or arrest.
If these restrictions are absent, there is usually some other Major Defect(Bingo!) present, that
prohibits the instructor or administrator from getting a better job with increased pay outside
the corrections system.
I guess my state puts a higher premium on teaching kids who are not warehoused yet.
And yes, that might be a bad thing.
In closing, your consistant, "swing and miss" takeaway, and multiple use of abbreviations, tell
me all I need to know about you, your pay grade, and future.
And that might not be a bad thing either.
For over a quarter of a century, I did my best to keep more than enough oil in the machine to
keep it running quite smooth.
If anything, you owe people like me for your fucking job.
Otherwise, it wouldn't even exist, and then what would you do?
Thank you, in advance for not answering. My knuckles are still scarred from the simultaneous
swinging of my arms during all those years I patrolled my city, and I don't want to injure them
by having to address you, yet again.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-03 23:30:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
did anyone forget that this is a federal system?
The individual states carry more of the blame than the feds.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-03 23:29:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
OH NOES he got you there Joe, all your years of service down the tubes because you called some self-righteous idiot's abbreviation an acronym.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 22:48:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
NO......really?
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-09-03 22:06:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't particularly care for Andrew Sullivan but this letter was excellent.
We should have been better prepared.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 21:51:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
joedaddy this the last time I respond to one of your idiot comments. I just feel bad about picking on the 'mentally challenged.'
I used one abbreviation, a common one. I did not use an acronym. For it to be an acronym the letters have to form a word. But anyway I used said abbreviation one time. A swing...another miss.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-03 21:46:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Hey Joe, I'm not saying anything to this guy. I apparently is not too intellignt enuf.
You did know that M Ed's are Masters of Education though, right? These guys are soooo proficient at pedagogy they forgot how to shut up and learn something from someone else.
Best bit of advice I learned in my academy? "Better to keep your mouth shut and let everybody think you are an idiot, than to open your mouth and prove them right."
Too bad some people have never learned that.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 20:51:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Of course,. I should have realized that you're quite high on the food chain
just by your overuse of acronyms.
How silly of me.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 16:22:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
joedaddy, you do know that M Ed's are Masters of Education. In the staate of Virginia you need to have to undergo a background check to work with children and fingerprinting to work at a secure facility. A swing...and a miss.
I don't know who is the bigger idiot you or rad giggling at something that is obviously false. At least domenad is intellignt.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-03 14:57:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 14:38:52 (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 00:05:30 (#)
Ranking: 0
I teach in a juvenile detention center. I hold two M Ed.
*******
So, you must have picked up a Felony early in your life that stopped you from securing
employment in the private sector at an accredited schoool?
Another indication of your intelligence is that you've just been talking to two
individuals on your 'informed' list without even realizing it.
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hehehehe
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 14:38:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 00:05:30 (#)
Ranking: 0
I teach in a juvenile detention center. I hold two M Ed.
*******
So, you must have picked up a Felony early in your life that stopped you from securing
employment in the private sector at an accredited schoool?
Another indication of your intelligence is that you've just been talking to two
individuals on your 'informed' list without even realizing it.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-03 11:29:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Pah. I can never bring myself to really hate Judoka. I don't know why. HOw about we just keep it off politics and stay friends?
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 10:22:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah the juvenile justice system is in crisis because of my liberal views. It has nothing to do with the poverty and the other social factors which lead kids to join gangs like MS13 and the like. Anybody who thinks that that because I teach kids that most of society fears is the reason GWB is doing a shitty job... Well I can't argue with that. Mainly because it makes no sense.
I tell you what makes sense. Listening to the probation and parole officers, the correction officials, cops, and my own two eyes. Listening to jerkoffs who have never been near the nitty gritty of the juvenile justice system opine. So you keep on believing you have something to contribute to this discussion.
To hold my 'liberal' views, when in fact I just want competence out of our elected officials, as the 'problem' with this country reveals to everyone just how myopic you are. So go ahead and engage in some more ad homineum attacks, it seems to be all you are capable of.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-03 01:28:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 01:13:20 (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 00:05:30 (#)
Ranking: 0
I teach in a juvenile detention center.
****
Thank You
You've just explained why the recidivism rate is so high.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
No kidding.
Judoka is the epitome of why every juvenile corrections program in the country is in crisis.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-09-03 01:16:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
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Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 20:54:08 (#)
Ranking: -2
Oh, and the people of NO are raping 14 year old girls, shooting at rescue helicopters, holding up medical convoys, and running out of stores with stolen goods. They deserve my support? I think not. They deserve a bullet.
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That says it all right there.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-03 01:13:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 00:05:30 (#)
Ranking: 0
I teach in a juvenile detention center.
****
Thank You
You've just explained why the recidivism rate is so high.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-03 00:05:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I teach in a juvenile detention center. I hold two M Ed.
You sound like quite the math student.
Submitted by Brianthetruthspeaker (user info) at 2005-09-02 23:41:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This needs to be broadcast far and wide:
1. It was BUSH who initiated the evacuation orders and fed. disaster declaration, not the other way around--Bianco herself admitted this!
2. The city didn't even attempt to offer transportation for their poor during their initial evac process.
3. The FEMA response has been drastically slowed because of the violence which was due to the fact that over 50% of the NO police walked away from their duties!!
4. All the stupid uproar about money for the levee and the Army Corp. of Engineers is moot, as the levee failed at a POINT that WAS ALREADY UPGRADED!!
Start getting some facts out there, since the media, as usual, is only marginally interested in presenting them.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 23:13:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Judoka, where on earth do you get the idea that you even approach my intellectual caliber? I'm an electrical engineer and a designer of hydraulics. What do you do? Wipe the asses of newborn puppies? My intellectual superiority to you is obvious, even if I have the good manners not to point it out every five seconds.
Submitted by Death_Metal_Dude (user info) at 2005-09-02 22:26:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
COPY/PASTE
"There is a disaster going on right now and it is manmade. The disaster is three strangers in Mississippi, together because they're all that's left and alone in a town without buildings, drinking floodwater polluted by corpses, shit and gasoline. The disaster is a woman wading through waist deep streets holding her daughter and wondering why the trucks won't stop to get her out of the city. The disaster is ICU patients dying one after another because diesel didn't flow and order couldn't be kept. It's an uninterrupted chain of personal disasters. It's inept triage on a national scale.
It's unbelievable that this is America. It's hard to comprehend that these repeating images of herds of people without food or water or medical treatment after nearly a week are happening on our soil. They're our fellow citizens and while the politicians, directors, planners and generals congratulate each other at press conferences they are suffering and dying.
I have seen some efforts in the media to pressure officials to accept responsibility. None have, because in public office the buck stops nowhere. The only person I have really seen come close to capturing the raw fury of the people trapped in New Orleans or forgotten in Mississippi and Alabama is CNN's Anderson Cooper. He confronted Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu on live TV, chiding her with a voice cracking with emotion that he couldn't believe the politicians were patting each other on the back over a job well done when he just saw rats eating a woman's body in the street of Biloxi.
On the Internet I've seen people blatantly placing blame on Bush, FEMA, Congress, the National Guard, and even Homeland Security. Who is responsible? Who should be blamed? All of them. This is a colossal failure of our government to care for and protect its citizenry on every conceivable level.
The heroes are the men and women on the scene doing their utmost to help those in need. Coast Guard rescue workers plucking people to safety and Red Cross workers feeding people from emergency kitchens are heroes. The man who commandeered a bus and got people out of New Orleans when the government was woefully impotent is a hero. The woman who smashed the glass on a convenience store to loot bottled water for fifteen kids who should have been absolutely inundated with supplies by then is a hero. The doctors and nurses hand-bagging ventilator patients 24 hours a day in dark hospitals are heroes.
In the ineloquent but true words of the Mayor of New Orleans: "Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country." CNN was better prepared to deal with this disaster than FEMA was.
I am ashamed of my country's government in a universal way right now. Republicans, democrats, opportunists, it doesn't matter; they're all guilty in this situation. In a magical world where justice is actually served most of these people would not have jobs in a month or two. Instead the people without jobs will be the millions who have lost everything and found their government with its back turned. Remember that people are still dying because of this incompetence. Remember that when each and every one of these fools appears on TV for a photo op or complains about "placing blame later," because placing blame now is the only hope America has to change the situation."
Submitted by Jesus_Loves_TwEE (user info) at 2005-09-02 21:34:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 21:29:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
wonderful.
Nothing better than when you self destruct in your own post.
Judoka's credibility = zero.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-02 21:28:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
domenad and rad, are you two a couple? If you are thats cool, and I do support your right to be as miserable as the rest of the married couples in this country. Yet I fail to see how your gay baiting has anything to do with the matter at hand.
One of the reasons I think you two are...close, is that you both cannot comprehend the written word. I dont blame Bush, in fact I explicitly said '...leaving Bush v. NotBush aside...' the reason I did not mention Michael Chertoff and Kathleen Babineaux Blanco by name is that I thought the Department of Homeland Security was a cabinet level post. Oh wait, it is. Hence the whole 'federal government' thing I believe I mentioned.
domenad I believe where did I say I supported looters and rapists, obviously you misinterpreted my 'aim for center mass' comment on rad's post.
By the way, at this point I am not trying to sway you to my point view concerning Bush. I dont waste my time trying to befriend people of your intellectual caliber. rad you accuse me of elitism, youre absolutely correct. But being smarter than you hardly makes me 'elite.'
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 20:54:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Oh, and the people of NO are raping 14 year old girls, shooting at rescue helicopters, holding up medical convoys, and running out of stores with stolen goods. They deserve my support? I think not. They deserve a bullet.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 20:52:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
The Bush administration has the unenviable habit of freezing in a time of crisis(My Pet Goat..)
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I totally agree. Bush should have leaped up in front of the children and run screaming from the room, "THE FUCKING TOWELHEADS ARE INVADING!". Very true. Hey, maybe when you're president you could do that.
Oh, and Andrew Sullivan is an embittered fag who is angry because most of the nation doesn't think that him marrying his boyfriend "Rock" is the same as a man and a woman.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 20:51:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
fuck you and your pompous condescending elitist attitude.
I have always thought outside the box. When given a choice in 2000, and 2004, I chose to vote for who I thought would fuck things up the least, and it remains to be seen if I was wrong or right. Your assumption that me or anyone else was a blind sheep is
1. horseshit
2. inflammatory
If you actually were trying to get people to come to your point of view, don't you think that calling those you opposed you in the first place fools kind of perpetuates the turmoil?
Another thing, as long as you are going on the offensive, why aren't you calling out Michael Chertoff and Kathleen Babineaux Blanco among others? Aren't they the ones ultimately responsible for how shitty things turned out?
This seems like a pure act of propaganda at this point to paint an administration you disagree with in the worst light posssible.
What a day for the anti-Bush camp, pushing the agenda foward on the backs of tens of thousands dead or dying.
I'll reserve my judgement for later, when it is said and done with.
<devil'sadvocate>
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-02 20:32:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
rad I will help the people of NO. My time and money is theirs if they need it. This federal adminstration can go fuck themselves. We have over one million citizens in harms way. And they had their collective thumbs up their ass for too long.
Use your critical faclulties for a second. Leaving aside the whole Bush v. NotBush debate for a moment. Stop being a sheep! His My Pet Goat brain vapor lock lasted days this time not minutes. He does not deserve your support, the people of NO do. The difference is I never 'supported' him and fools like you did. You followed him blindly.
I grew up with dickheads like him. Rich, overpriviledged snots with an atrophied sense of responsiblity. He is a rich kid riding on the coattails of his family name. He has failed at everything in his life and he is a failure as an excutive. The United States of America is not a fucking baseball team. The responsiblity is obviously too much for him. He should resign, but I doubt he has the stones.
I know you tried to make peace and I appreciate it. Until you formally apologize to the American people you deserve nothing but scorn.
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2005-09-02 19:27:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 19:10:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I'll tell you what.
I haven't made a decision on how I feel about this yet, besides that I am saddened and shocked.
I cried a little when I listened to that interview with the NO mayor.
So, at this point, I reserve judgement about the prostration of government when the immediate crisis is averted. Until then, I am going to do what I can, up to and including supporting whomever is in charge no matter how bad things are going.
Perhaps in a couple of weeks I'll come to agree with what you are trying to say, but in a situation like this you don't get extra points for calling bullshit first. You may even be hurting what actions that are being taken at the time.
Solidarity now, and you may crucify whomever later.
"You must do your damnedest and win."
-General George S. Patton
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 19:02:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
what bothers me here is your apparent salivation to dig one in on Bush.
You only had to use the deaths of possibly 10,000 people to do it. (a little worse than 9-11 I suppose)
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 19:00:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The Bush administration has the unenviable habit of freezing in a time of crisis (Anybody remember My Pet Goat?)
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Yes. Those seven minutes where he could have transmogrified his ass into those planes and stopped them!
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:58:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I suppose Bush should have flown his pontoon plane into the bayou and recued everyone himself.
You are obviously right. One man could have saved thousands here, and he was obviously too interested in oil and cutting wood to do it.
fucking asshole.
FIGHT THE POWER.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:56:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
jesus christ.
turn the politics off until the situation is over.
Then you can start pointing fingers.
How can you possibly have such a solid judgement at this point when things are still up in the air?
You are showing your inability to keep an open mind and look at all the facts.
Let this play out, then beat up on whoever you want when all the facts and circumstances of what went down comes out.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:55:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:27:06 (#)
Ranking: 0
Sorry.
Instead of action I guess everybody can have a nice college bull session about it.
No Bush didnt even talk about it. He just sat there until the piss dried, Then he cut short his vacation by a day. A day! While American citizens starved and one of our cities suffered. Where was your swift decisive action? Bush is Nixon minus the brains and diplomatic skills.
Submitted by Rawrg (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:54:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:53:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
I'm going to bypass the accuracy of your "sources" for the moment.
You seem to imply that a Las Vegas police officer is willing to work in an environment only
if extra funds are available and only if the conditions are not life threatening.
Now I do understand: "What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas"
I also realize a large percentage of people, and things, are bankrupt in that town.
However I refuse to believe this applies to the vetting process, or members, of the Las
Vegas Police Department.
Certain members, of various law enforcement agencies in the New Orleans area have been
reported to have quit because of various reasons.
I just sense an underlying theme in this post, of which I don't like at all.
As others have said, let's wait for the facts to become clear, before jumping to any conclusions
concerning any malfeasance or misfeasance committed by anyone with the color of authority.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:49:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
domenad the poster child for reading comprehension. If Bush whole 'thing' is national security he should provide some of it. Obviously you cannot blame Bush the person for the hurricane, but you can blame the government that he is nominally in charge of. Think about it. If a man made diaster happened wouldn't we look to government to help us out in the dangers and difficult times ahead? I do, theyre the folks with the heavy equipment and a shitload of cash. We have the capability to drop a light brigade in downtown Damascus within 24-48 hours, and we can't get food aid to the citizens of this country. Bullshit. I would think that you would be the first to call for his head on a pike. Leaving aside the strategic importance of NO's port and the many refineries, the humanitarian cost of this will be immense. Imagine if you will Kerry responding this way while one of Americas major citys decended into anarchy. You would call for his impeachment, and I would be right next to you.
The Bush administration has the unenviable habit of freezing in a time of crisis (Anybody remember My Pet Goat?)Admit your guy screwed the pooch on this one and I can salvage some respect for you and your Republican confederates.
Submitted by tech-junkie (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:34:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I agree with rad, I think the whole process would have gone a lot faster if they hadn't have shot at rescue helicopters, shot at police, caused a lawless scene with all the looting. This small minority is making it 5 times more difficult on everyone else.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:27:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Razor (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:07:47 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
---------------
I wonder if the people who died today, after they could have been saved with a swift and decisive government response, would agree.
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Sorry.
Instead of action I guess everybody can have a nice college bull session about it.
Submitted by DonovanMD (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:24:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:16:02 (#)
Ranking: -2
A cat 5 hurricane does major damage to an extremely low-lying city. I'm supposed to blame Bush?
--
No, the government as a whole for not being prepared for the inevitable. Bush has been in power the last 5.5 years, so he's the obvious person you look to first.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:16:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
A cat 5 hurricane does major damage to an extremely low-lying city. I'm supposed to blame Bush?
Submitted by Razor (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:07:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
---------------
I wonder if the people who died today, after they could have been saved with a swift and decisive government response, would agree.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-09-02 18:05:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
so tired...
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:41:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
im going to shut up now.
kthxby
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:40:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes.
I would shoot at my rescuers like these assholes.
fuckhead.
Submitted by DonovanMD (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:38:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You'd be an animal to in the same situation.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:35:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Guardsmen Greeted With Applause, Anger
Sep 02 2:54 PM US/Eastern
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS
Four days after Hurricane Katrina struck, the National Guard arrived in force Friday with food, water and weapons, churning through the floodwaters in a vast truck convoy with orders to retake the streets and bring relief to the suffering.
"The cavalry is and will continue to arrive," said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard.
At the New Orleans Convention Center, some of the thousands of storm victims awaiting their deliverance applauded, threw their hands heavenward and screamed, "Thank you, Jesus!" as the camouflage-green trucks and hundreds of soldiers arrived in this increasingly desperate and lawless city.
"Lord, I thank you for getting us out of here," said Leschia Radford.
But there was also anger and profane catcalls.
"Hell no, I'm not glad to see them. They should have been here days ago. I ain't glad to see 'em. I'll be glad when 100 buses show up," said 46-year-old Michael Levy, whose words were echoed by those around him yelling, "Hell, yeah! Hell yeah!"
"We've been sleeping on the ... ground like rats," Levy said. "I say burn this whole ... city down."
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how the fuck are they supposed to work with animals like this?
Submitted by mastershake (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:30:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Slighty_Obnoxious (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:29:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Please Daddy make it stop!
Submitted by Death_Metal_Dude (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:26:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.somethingawful.com
^everyone read this^
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:25:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
but hey, I'm not the one putting my credibility on the line by vamping off a bunch of panic and misinformation.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:24:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Furthermore, I'm not defending him or anybody here.
I'm saying that it is still too early to tell, and everyone with an agenda has already decided what they want to see and hear.
open your minds and think outside your boxes.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:22:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you're doing it right now by just your saying that, you insensitive asshole.
Submitted by Slovin (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:16:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
_______________________
Tell that to Bush. 9/11 is not a fucking political trump card, and should not be used as such in every goddamn speech.
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:13:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
"I knew this and that were going to happen!
You should've seen it coming!
I told you, after it happened, that it would happen! AND IT DID!"
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:03:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by Mike00295 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:59:43 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
-----------------
Very well put.
Submitted by Stin (user info) at 2005-09-02 17:00:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Radio interview with the Mayor of N'Orleans:
http://a901.g.akamai.net/7/901/13186/v002/airamerica.download.akamai.com/13186/aarplace/media/Nagin.mp3
Submitted by Mike00295 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:59:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
-----------------
Very well put.
Thank you.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
we are four days into this, please save political posturing until the job is over.
beating your political drums on the backs of the dead is dishonorable.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:58:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That's some good rant.
Not sure I agree with 100% of it, but that's because I am a nerd and always paranoid about the slippery slopes.
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:46:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:41:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
Most British reporters on scene seem to hve averaged a time of 18 hours to get from England to the centre of New Orleans, but it seems to be taking the rescuers a lot longer.
----
much as I like to bash America, I guess it is easier to move film crews than massive aid convoys.
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2005-09-02 16:41:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Most British reporters on scene seem to hve averaged a time of 18 hours to get from England to the centre of New Orleans, but it seems to be taking the rescuers a lot longer.