<p>Sorry, broke my promise, but couldn’t resist!!!</p>
<p>CITYGIRLSMOM FOR SENATOR</p>
<p>You broke your promise!:)</p>
<p>Me bad…</p>
<p>peace out</p>
<p>Thanks for that folks :). Of course, stinging comments are fine especially clever ones–as long as the comments don’t get personal. Agree to disagree, that sort of thing. </p>
<p>Is that a double standard?</p>
<p>The hindsight question might be, can we rely on government to get everyone out with or without warning? Or might that be a more personal responsiblity? Evqacuess with means making sure that a family without means does get out?</p>
<p>The institutional response does seem inadequate–Superdome to Astrodome? Where are Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn? Does the US really have American refugees? In 2005?</p>
<p>Those are all good questions</p>
<p>Good press conference on C-Span with FEMA- some tough questions and some direct and not so direct answers</p>
<p>The National Guard, and others</p>
<p>Gotta Love CSPAN!!!</p>
<p>Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, etc…have all taken big hits also - filled to the rafters by other refugees for hundreds of miles out of the zone of devestation - if functional at all - ones who may have gotten out before the storm waters arrived.</p>
<p>Moving Superdome to Astrodome - may be from one nasty place to another clean/dry/food/water place - out of harms way at least - with at least some hope for many - and a return to some kind of living situation - these refugees will be dispersed in time to other places - can you imagine being one of these people - with nothing and with no place to go.</p>
<p>Several months after the storms that ravaged Florida - along the east coast especially - hotel rooms were not to be had - they were full of displaced people - workers - fema - insurance people, etc… The dislocation of these people may be permentant for many. Rebuilding for many will be impossible - I cannot imagine being in that position - but it could happen to any one of us.</p>
<p>Now, imagine if this had been a terrorist attack…we are not prepared and we should be more prepared, it our handling of the aftermath shows to the world our vulnerabilty</p>
<p>ANd why are fema people in hotels, shouldn’t they have campers brought in, seriously, buy some mobile homes and let them set up things like they do on a job site-keep the mobile homes on army bases in each state, and bring em on in</p>
<p>As well, what about army bases, the marine centers, why were they not available</p>
<p>I know colleges took in students, which is great</p>
<p>What I am gathering from the news is that agencies weren’t “on alert” as much as they needed to be</p>
<p>And why are the communications so bad- with our satelite systems, walkie talkies, and all the other toys around, I am amazed the communications system is so fouled up…</p>
<p>You go, citygirlsmom.</p>
<p>Here’s one that will drive the "let’s starve government and give tax breaks to the well- off "crowd crazy.</p>
<hr>
<p>Why New Orleans is in deep water</p>
<p>Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story?ctrack=1&cset=true[/url]”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story?ctrack=1&cset=true</a></p>
<p>CGM can you consider the fact that all the places you are suggesting also sustained major damage - and some things have to be done before they are usable also - bases, air strips - marine centers have also sustained major damage - and the types of things that you suggest are all well and good - but do take time - how do you get mobile homes to a place where there are no passable roads, etc… think about it!!! Many of the places are without power and until this is rectified in some way they are not useable - moving anything at all in place is taking massive effort my many agencies/military - and they do seem to be getting in place - albiet slowly for the likes of most. Too bad ya can’t just twitch ones nose to make things happen yesterday.</p>
<p>The use of the river has just today been ok’d - but only for shallow draft vessels - they don’t really know what is under the water in the river - but that again is being worked on - ships are on their way - a hospital ship and an air craft carrier has been dispatched to the area.</p>
<p>Commumications - are dependant on cell towers that no longer exist for the common man. There are only soooo many satelite phones - not an item that the common person has in their back pocket. Many of the communications depend on power to function - which does not exist for hundreds of miles.</p>
<p>Because of just the incredible numbers of people still in NO - and what is happening there has certainly hampered efforts as well. I can’t imagine the frustrations of rescuers as well as the people still in NO.</p>
<p>“As well, what about army bases”
I completely agree with that one, which was raised this morning on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. At a time when we’re talking about closing bases, why not use their infrastructure to house the refugees. And yes, we do have refugees now. I don’t think the magnitude of this has quite sunk in to the national consciousness yet. This is like a “dirty” bomb going off in a major population center. The city as we knew it is gone for our lifetimes. This isn’t a situation of running some pumps for a week and then turning on the dehumidifiers. We’re going to have to relocate an entire population. As for Molly Ivins…pfftt. A once clever gadfly who, as is the case with Maureen Dowd, has been driven over the edge by Bush hatred.</p>
<p>here here here DRIVER!!!</p>
<p>OOO and militarty bases/airports are being turned into temporary hospitals - staging areas, etc…</p>
<p>Planes have started landing in the NO area - as of last nite - major airlines included - transporting supplies, etc… as well as the military.</p>
<p>Please read this article from National Geographic published in 2004! It’s eerie. </p>
<p><a href=“http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/[/url]”>http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/</a></p>
<p>Here’s an excerpt:</p>
<p>"Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. </p>
<p>When did this calamity happen? It hasn’tyet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great."</p>
<p>I think the Minneapolis Police had it right - they named their mascot for Molly Ivins. The mascot was a pig.</p>
<p>Let’s let Molly coordinate something other than her mouth. Even if those funds had been granted–in addition to the BILLIONS already spent–there is no way the project would even be off the ground in this short time. Ever hear of an EIS–that’s a year or two without the lawsuits on both sides. It takes at least a couple of years to draw, bid and award such a project and afew more to build it. Get real.</p>
<p>Was major damage done two hundred miles away, three hundred…even 500 hundred miles</p>
<p>And there is something called a battery for cell phones and for the emergency people to have</p>
<p>After 9-11, I would have thought that communication devices that work in a time of disaster would have been a priority- If a company can unlook my car from 2000 miles away by satellite, we can have a communication system that doesn’t need a tower. Not for the “comman” man, but the police, the guards, the firedepartment. Not an excuse I buy. After all that money for homeland security, to have a communication system that fails is unacceptable in a time of crisis. Imagine if it was a terrorist attack…</p>
<p>All I heard yesterday and today was about communications issues- over and over again</p>
<p>As for all those people in NO, they should not have been there…many should have been moved out before, along with the rest that had cars</p>
<p>WHy are there so many in NOs…sure some wanted to stay, but others had no choice, and with all that warning</p>
<p>And considering that this hurricane was forecast for days and days, where the people ready to move- </p>
<p>Where navy ships at sea moving down the coast</p>
<p>WHen were the ships dispatached, when were the orders given to be ready, last week? I would hope so</p>
<p>I want to know that, when were the orders to dispatch ships and mobilize the rescue efforts put into place and when did those people start moving</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090101482.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090101482.html</a></p>
<p>Hastert Questions Rebuilding New Orleans</p>
<p>This is a huge disaster. We see from this that no matter how much we plan for disasters, nothing can be perfectly planned for. As has been pointed out - imagine if this were a bio-terrorism or nuclear terrorism attack. Would we be any better prepared to deal with the aftermath? I seriously doubt it - regardless of which political party controls the federal or local government or how long we plan and do mock drills. </p>
<p>This is precisely why we need to do everything possible to make sure that a terrorist attack of this magnitude will never happen. Fortunately, a terrorist organization, by itself, does not have the capability to launch such an attack. However, a terrorist organization working with a state supporter would. This is precisely why the Iraq war was necessary. Despite denials, the connections between Iraq and terrorists were considerable. Despite denials, all post-war reports indicate a clear indication that Saddam had every intention of renewing his WMD production - including nuclear. Despite denials, his resumption of the production of WMDs would have already begun had he not been removed.</p>
<p>Okay, so we put our assests into Iraq, and don’t concern ourselves with our own vulnerbable coasts and assests here in America-
This disastor will have long term effects- oil, tourism, lives, banking, etc and we saw this coming</p>
<p>ANd our handling both before and after does not create confidence in the world, we didn’t plan well before and it shows</p>
<p>The people actually doing the work are heroic, the leadership is sorely lacking</p>
<p>Fundingfather, nice try</p>
<p>If this had been a bio terrorist attack, after four years of homeland security planning, and all that money we have spent here- oh yeah, we spent it all there</p>
<p>Let us see- we have bad communication systems
The government agencies on the various levels haven’t figured out how to work together
And we learned that if someone blew up the levees during a hurricane anywhere, we are screwed</p>
<p>And that we are very vulnerable because so much of our resources are in Iraq and that we haven’t done much planning for terrorists attacks, much less natural disastors here, and that even with days of warning, we still can’t do it right</p>
<p>Cool</p>
<p>yup, you got it. We could spend a fortune on a 21st century Maginot Line and pre-position relief at every conceivable terrorist target and then cross our fingers… or we could be proactive and keep the terrorists away from the state supported WMD. I’ll go with the latter.</p>