Joe's the one who got the lesson straight. You cannot rely on the government, local, state or federal to do the right thing or to save you.
Obviously the poorer you are, the less resources you have, the more vulnerable you are. Stupidity also plays a part, when you know a Cat 5 hurricane is comming, you get out of town any way you can.
But let this be a lesson to you, if you are in Cali when an earthquake hits, or Miami when a hurricane comes along. The one you can rely on to save yourself is you.
There's more than enough blame to go around, from Bush down to the Mayor. I wonder how many of these incompetants will loose their jobs over this. Heads should role.
We rely on government to do the planning to deal with disasters like this. The newly formed and funded Homeland Security people should have been coordinating efforts before the hurricane landed. The army corp of engineers asked for funding to upgrade and repair the levies, congress appropriated the money, and Bush diverted it to the war in Iraq.
If you perfomed like this in your job, you'd be fired. I expect our government to work the same way. Incompetance should not be rewarded.
The story of the little boy who lost is mommy hit me hard. WoW, this week I had similar experience. I was driving my little family (wife and two boys: 2 1/2 and 2 months) home, and when we pulled into the carport of our crappy little three bedroom, $120K house, my two-year-old yelled, "Yay, we're home." I think it was mostly in response to what I've seen on TV this week, but I was suddenly so grateful that my little boys have a warm, dry place where they feel safe.
And that poor little boy's story takes my gratitude to another level. I'm so glad my boys have a Mommy who loves them and takes care of them. Beyond death or serious injury, my greatest fear for my boys is that they'll have to grow up without her or that they'll ever have to look around and wonder where she is and if she's ever coming back.
So much went wrong with Katrina. So many people made mistakes. It's hard for me to be an armchair disaster relief critic because I know so little about it. But here are two things I think I know:
1. The U.S. can move troops a lot faster than we did this time, even if the state gov is slow to request them.
2. I'm not impressed with the guys from FEMA and Homeland Security (At this point, I kind of wish we had the NY guy who hired an illegal, don't you guys? At least he had direct experience with this kind of disaster.) See the following quotes:
"Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." —FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005
"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's "All Things Considered," Sept. 1, 2005
"Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.' Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, "Meet the Press," Sept. 4, 2005
"Louisiana is a city that is largely under water." —Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, news conference, Sept. 3, 2005
"...those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city..." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, on New Orleans residents who did not evacuate, CNN interview, Sept. 1, 2005
"We just learned of the convention center – we being the federal government – today." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC's Ted Koppel, Sept. 1, 2005, to which Koppel responded " Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today."
"I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream or cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, CNN interview, Sept. 2, 2005
"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, arguing that the victims bear some responsibility, CNN interview, Sept. 1, 2005
Okay, and I had to throw in this mindblowing remark by Wolf Blitzer.
"You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals...many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold." —CNN's Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans' hurricane evacuees, Sept. 1, 2005
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/current...inaquotes_1.htmOne last thing for all of you guys:
Put together a 72-hour emergency preparedness kit! Don't count of the gov't to bail you out in a disaster. If you want a really good list of stuff to include, email me.
