SOme of you guys are as bad as our Federal Gov.

[Paul Maurer 2]

Doughboy- I worked at Charity Hospital in New Orleans for three years- the city is 70% black and 70% of them are below the poverty line- most walked to their appointments or took the bus... to evacuate takes a car, access to one, or money. Many of the people now stranded in N.O. had no means to get out, and not even 50 bucks in the bank. Its a sad situation created over many years of dependency, but they need help now.

 

[Richard L]

The problem with New Orleans and the levys sinking has been a problem since the 1920. We can always blame the Federal Government for nearly the last 100 years for letting the problem go this long. But the Officals in New Orleans were well aware of this, which should have motivated them to have better contingency plans for these known vulnerabilities.



If the mayor thinks that every school bus and Greyhound bus in the nation should be used to evacuate the city of New Orleans, he should have done that himself before the storm hit. He should have had food, water, and medical supplies pre-positioned at strategic locations like the Convention Center and Superdome. Again, the New Orleans officials were in the position to know first hand of their vulnerabilities but all they did was point the finger of blame at the Federal Government rather than take action to minimize the impact on the citizens of New Orleans.



...Rich

 

[Chuck Lake]

Yes I agree that they need help now. And I'm not implying that somehow they deserve it for not being prepared. I'm just stating that they had a personal responsibility to ensure they could evacuate such a storm. If they did not have the means to evacuate themselves, show up at city council meetings and demand that the city have a plan to organize a safe evacuation. I am a firm believer that we are all created equal. Just because someone is poor or a minority does not mean that they do not have the ability to plan for such a disaster. How about using some of your food stamps to stock a disaster kit with peanut butter and canned food. Put some food stamps in the emergency kit to use at your evacuation site. Yes there are those of every race and culture that do not have the means to think this through. That is where community leaders need to step up and assist these folks ahead of time.



I know this is a great deal of Monday morning quarterbacking. I just think a city like New Orleans has known for quite some time that it was only a matter of time until this happened. The citizens and the elected officials had a responsibility to prepare. This reminds me of the Aesop Fable about the Ant and the Grasshopper.

 

[John Mastrocco]

What caused the levees to break? Wasn't the hurricane indirectly-directly responsible and wasn't it the storm surge and massive amounts of rainfall that caused the lake to top off the way it did?



New Orleans should have never been built where it is. Big mistake. Bigger one to rebuild it where it is now. Abandon the part that is under water, build new levees to keep that new part of the lake out of the rest of the city and every time another portion of the city succumbs to the lake/river, leave it and go to higher ground.



Put everything back the way it was and we will pay for it again - someday.

 

[Chinh P]

lasik1--



you have to understand, you can not bring big supplies into a city that is not under control (riots/looting/rapes).

people inside the stadium are shooting at cops, and cops can not do anything about it. Even that truck with medical supplies got hi-jacked.



Kinda like in any shooting situations, medical help can not enter a building until it is cleared by police.

 

[Teddy GreeneII]

Greg, this isnt a reply to you personally, just triggered what Ive been thinking the last couple of days. It amazes me that we as Americans tend to now think that some mammoth rescue, not even that, complete devistation recovery effort can be manned instantly. I will say that perhaps we could have been slightly more prepared, but by how much? And something else that's driving me crazy is everytime they show people that are stepping up and helping (on either of the major news networks, so Im not sure its a lib/cons bias thing) the people spend more time talking about how they stepped up then they do about the poor victims down there.

"this is what we do" "we've stepped up and are showing what we're all about" I realize its really easy for me to judge too, Im not there and the only way I can help is through Prayer and writing a couple of checks, so maybe Im out of line with that stuff, but it does seem to be that way. My sincere hope is that soon, once somebody actually, TRULY knows what is going on, and HOW to help, that we will find out that most everything that can be done is being done, and that again as a county, when faced with these awful things, we reach down to pick up our brothers and sisters. It's also sad that it takes these things to get us to act like we should but I guess thats another topic. Anyway, maybe the news isnt correct ( I know that's a stretch ) but maybe between the people that are leaping into action, and the Government doing everything that they can, those people can rebuild theyre lives. I saw last night someone had a good idea, they said the government should take all of the able body men in the domes and shelters, tell them, we know you no longer have jobs so, we're gonna pay ya $30 an hour, then get people out there to figure out where to start. I think the big thing now is trying to figure out how to get medical attention to a place where a huge percentage of people need it, and the number of hospitals are at a minimum. Right now, send money if you can and pray, more importantly volunteer if you can. regardless of opinions or politics or finding the right people to blame, this is truly an American tragedy. we'll all have time for our pound of flesh later.

 

[Mark Grumpy]

It IS the Gov'ts fault. They should have doubled welfare years ago. Then everyone would have had 20s on their caddy with extra rounds, smokes and Boones in the trunk and could have gone ahead and driven out. Sure.



One little story I heard first hand from a woman that works with my spouse; Her daughter did NOT leave because of the price of gas. She lost her house, which she owned, she lost her car, which she owned but refused to buy a tank of gas. Yes, she was employed full time. Poor decisions on the part of those individuals does not make it the Fed's fault. Although, I think maybe Bush Sr was around when they designed the levys and the city. Maybe it is their fault.



grump

 

[Jose Santana]

Come on folks.., wern't the people trying to evacuate told to go to the DOME? So now they get there and what..DIE! Hell they should have stayed home for all the good it's done. Oh yea..and ever try walking out of a city with your wife and kids because you have no car and bring along a few 10 gallon jugs of water peanut butter and canned goods? Oh me neither.

As far a shooting at cops it was isolated and just like looting - it happens in ALL countries, all races and just about with any people who are desperate..... So don't try and act like it is a BLACK thing...

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Josey says:

Oh yea..and ever try walking out of a city with your wife and kids because you have no car and bring along a few 10 gallon jugs of water peanut butter and canned goods? Oh me neither.

Nope, me neither but after the third day of no cavalry, all while watching continued unrest, lawlessness, raping and murder of ever increasing numbers of people, I would grab my family, and a blunt object and GET THE F OUT!



TJR

 

[TomT]

As far a shooting at cops it was isolated and just like looting - it happens in ALL countries, all races and just about with any people who are desperate..... So don't try and act like it is a BLACK thing...

Our country is supposed to be civilized though. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Maybe it isn't just a black thing but that's all we've seen on the news. Is the news media biased or is it only blacks looting? I don't know the answer but I do think all looters should be shot regardless of their race.

 

[John Mastrocco]

Did someone say "Lord of the Flies?"

 

[Sed Thompson]

It'seasy to say bad people for not leaving the area before the storm, but if you can barely pay your house note how are you going to pay for a hotel somewhere else. You see how good the refugee camps look, with all the trash and clogged toilets. I've been an evacuee before and everyone in the world can second guess, but when told you have to decide right now what your going to do it's tough. And you have to have resources to evacuate(i.e. money) New Orleans is a poor city, alot of those people there have no place or noone to evacuate to. They need our help, not our criticism. Save that for the Iraqi rebuilding, Tsunami victims, etc. These are our own and I'm disgusted at how we are bashing them.

 

[Bill V]

Regarding the looting and violence, there's an interesting quote from the linked article about the world's reaction to this situation:

The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.



But some view the response to those disasters more favorably than the lawless aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.



"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.



"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

I'm not sure how much of what he said about violence after the tsunami is true or not, or if it's just a perception--but regardless of the facts, this is how we're being perceived...

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I remember one tsunami story of a man saving a woman from drowning then raping her.



Yeah, right, they are so much more civilized.



TJR

 

[Mark Picarro]

What do you expect?...Greg is from New Jersey..Liberal..wants to blame Bush for the Hurricane itself.

 

[Dale Carlson]

Agree with everything you said Doughboy. I've been reading all sorts of stories on the web about people who stayed - people who could have left, and now only contribute to the problem. Self-sufficiency and personal responsibility used to be American hallmarks. What's happened to that?



Some other news:



NO has had disaster preparedness exercises where the Superdome was used as the evacuation center. This really wasn't a spur of the moment decision. My guess is that hizzoner, the Mayor, and Chief Ebbert, the chief of emergency operations, didn't turn off the electricity and didn't live there with 23,000 other people during the exercise - probably didn't even consider those issues.



I think everybody forgets that the President declared those states emergency disaster areas BEFORE the hurricane hit just so that disaster response teams could pre-position themselves outside of the (then) potential disaster areas - which they did. When the storm surge wiped out the roads, they had a hard time finding a way in. (Please don't be an idiot and suggest that they should have been pre-positioned inside the (potential) disaster area.)



I agree completely that the medics and rescuers should not have had to subject themselves to bodily harm from the freaking AK-47 toting idiots. Anybody who thinks that rampant lawlessness didn't or shouldn't have become a priority is also an idiot.



Finally, IMHO, the mayor has exhibited the type of "me first" attitude that some of constituents have been demonstrating. The mayor had an obligation to his city's welfare to reach out and find the feds, not the other way around. In this kind of situation, the feds don't really have a need to find him - they don't need him to do their job. It's time for the mayor and his chief of (poorly-done) emergency operations to stop blaming, bitching, moaning, and complaining, and step up and be leaders.

 

[Gypsy me]

Here's a thought....It's NOBODY's Fault......Lets just fix it and help where we can.



would have, could have, should have..... Doesn't relly matter right now We should all be saying



We Will We Can We Are





THANK You Houston for Stepping up to the plate first! Texas thinking fast, Rocks!