God Spare New Orleans

[tw]

Originally Posted by marichiko

I NEVER watch the news, but I still knew all about the hurricane in advance way up here in Colorado. What? Was that casino worker deaf and blind? You mean to tell me that not a single patron of the establishment he worked in happened to mention ever so casually as he lugged his winnings or empty bank account (more likely) out the door, "gotta go now, there's a hurricane coming?" Not a single co-worker ever mentioned in passing that they were going to go home and pack up their car just in case? The dude never so much as passed a newspaper stand on his way to or from work with the glaring headline, "GET OUT NOW!" Give me a break!

I had the same response which is why I did not post this example days previously. However, the point is not that the casino worker was that myopic. The point is that his employer was so negligent - had improper attitude and knowledge - as to keep running the casino / convention that weekend. The point is that 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. That management is responsible for the correct attitude and knowledge. A responsible management would have been boarding up the casino that weekend. Instead, the employees were working as if nothing bad was expected.

I am also struck by an interview with a Scottish couple who flew in Saturday. They kept asking if this 'ocean storm' was a problem. They were told (by people not defined) that the storm was no problem. Now appreciate a Scottish couple that has little comprehension of what Category 5 means. But when they asked residents, such as their airline, such as the limo driver; the locals were not concerned. That is damning.

Meanwhile, as that Scottish couple was arriving, Delta airline on Saturday were already pulling out the last of the airplanes and staff. There would be no more Delta flights in or out on and after Sunday because Delta management conveyed attitude and knowledge to their people.

I am also struck by what the Louisiana Governor kept getting from Michael Brown when she kept warning about the impending disaster in New Orleans. His response was, well, I saw his response to Ted Koppel's repeated questions on Nightline even 3 days after the hurricane. According to the Governor, Michael Brown's response was, loosely interpreted as, "Don't worry. Be happy."

Now maybe his actual response was or was not. But I have a difficult time believing Michael Brown since Ted Koppel on Nightline demonstrated a Federal official, three days after the hurricane, and still in denial. He did not even know that people were not being fed in the Superdome and Convention Center? He desperately tried to avoid admitting that he knew maybe 100,000 people could not get out of New Orleans. 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. Even a former FEMA Director said on TV that given planning that already existed, then one could only assume the problems were only in top management.

The quote from that casino worker only demonstrates how much in denial top management really was both before and after the disaster. And yet some 50% of Americans still say George Jr was doing a good job. Where does this denial really start?

[wolf]

It's going to be hard to fix stuff, if the local cops keep shooting the repair guys.

[tw]

Originally Posted by OynxCougar

1) If troops (cops, rescuers, whatever) with guns can get in to "control the crowd", why can't the crowd get out to food/shelter/water/supplies?

With only rare exceptions, there was no National Guard in New Orleans until Friday. Friday is when the National Guard and food first arrived at the Convention Center. 125 Special Forces sat north of New Orleans simply waiting for a mission. At a minimum, each soldier could have been deputized and assigned to New Orleans policemen. But that calls for intelligence in FEMA and the George Jr White House.

Previously quoted was a statement from the State Police spokesman of New Orleans cops literally resigning. This can only happen when they have zero support - as demonstrated in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". There was no National Guard, et al. Ted Koppel interview makes it woefully obvious why. Did you hear the WWL-AM radio interview of New Orleans Mayor Nagin? Why not? Why do you think at the end of that interview he started crying? Do you really understand how pathetic this president and his FEMA people really were?

Now 'the powers that be' are spinning it - blaming others - because just like on 11 September, the administration did nothing - nada - zero. Let me remind you that is a fact. On 11 September, the administration did not one useful action. Some even lied to the September 11 Commission about doing things they did not do.

Originally Posted by OynxCougar

2) Why aren't people simply leaving the Superdome? Seems to me MORE people are being rescued offsite, by the coast guard or whoever, than are being rescued from the superdome and convention center. I'd be a walking/swimming/crawling fool before I stand/sit/whine that no one is coming to rescue me.

Where do you think the Coast Guard, et al were delivering the 'rescued' to? The Superdome and Convention Center. Rescuers were doing what FEMA instructed. Why would the rescued have to rescue themselves? Why would people who have had no food or water for three days leave the only location rumored to be safe and where the food and water was suppose to be coming ... anytime now? Even the president said that food and water was coming. Or course, he lied. But how did those people know?

Look, top management of FEMA and the president of the US were lying. Where were those 400 trucks of food and water from Monday? One with an engineer's attitude immediately suspects a lie. The president provides no useful information so that news services could confirm that 400 truck claim. At what point do the majority of Americans acknowledge that this president is clearly a mental midget?

The people in the Superdome and Convention Center were doing what they were told because it was their only hope of living. Thank god for people like the press who reported this problem for days. Finally even FEMA learned of the problem three days later because they feared what you might think.

Originally Posted by OynxCougar

3) If people are being prevented from leaving, WHY are they being prevented from simply walking to somewhere safe, with supplies?

First off, there was no place with supplies to go to. There were no supplies being delivered for days. Second there were few known safe places. I am particularly struck by an Ohio girl who wandered for days with a group of fellow casino employees constantly running into life threatening situations. Once the reporter loaned her a cell phone, she called her dad in OH, begging him to come and get her out - and of course crying. They, like most all people, could not get out, found the city full of danger, AND for days no National Guard and no supplies were available.

I am particularly struck that almost 50% of this nation (in polls) says that George Jr did a good job in New Orleans. Michael Brown is his man. Responsible managers (ie Gen George Patten) would have been on the phone repeatedly every day getting reports and, most important, demanding to know directly from Michael Brown what FEMA needed this hour. Clearly the President did not do what any good manager does. But then this president was an MBA who never ran a successful organization; never even brought in one oil well. George Jr did exactly what MBAs do.

In hindsight, you would think that people would have started walking to the airport some ten miles away in the 90+ degree sun. Well, I ride a bicycle only ten miles and people actually think that is a major accomplishment - when fed and watered. Eight miles on a bike is about equal to one mile of walking which is actually considered a challenge to many people. But now you want them to walk ten miles to an airport down roads they don't know are open let alone safe? You want them to walk to someplace that has just as much no food and water? At least they had sun shade where they were. You want them to walk after not having water for three days? People die after three days of no water. Now you expect them to walk ten plus miles to something that may not even exist?

Most people did what they were told. They assumed top management was working for them. They did not understand that George Jr was spinning this crisis as he did 11 September and the Tsunami response. In fact, a challenger to every Cellar dweller who did not agree with my analysis of the Tsunami. Fess up now. Tell me George Jr was responsible back then? So many even in the Cellar are in denial of what is required from the boss.

In 11 September, the George Jr administration did not one action to avert or responsibly respond during the 11 September attacks. That made woefully obvious from the September 11 Commission report. Most people just assumed aid was coming to New Orleans as they had been told. Many believed a president who said that 400 trucks with food and water were enroute. So, of course, those people did not walk out.

Now you want to believe they will walk ten miles in 90 degree heat to someplace they don't even know is safe - after not eating or drinking for three days?

The devil is in those details - such as no water for three days. One detail that is woefully obvious is outright criminal neglect of New Orleans by Pres George Jr and by his personal agent on the scene - Michael Brown, Director of FEMA. Brown was a George Jr appointee without any experience in anything closely resembling emergency management. He is classic of what MBAs promote - people without any dirt under their fingernails - but a political supporter.

If you did not see the Nightline interview, then you don't appreciate how much outright lying and denial was Michael Brown. He respresents what other George Jr appointees did during 11 September. Did you see how Koppel literally seethed as Michael Brown avoided every damning question.

[tw]

We have a classic example of the George Jr administration. Those lines of C5A, 747, C17, C130, and C141 transport planes in Louis Armstrong International unloading food and water, then removing victims to hospitals and shelter elsewhere. Where are those pictures? Right there next to all the promises from George Jr about 400 trucks and the rebuilding of Trent Lott's porch. Most telling are pictures that don't exist such as tens of thousands of National Guardsmen delivering food and water to the Superdome and Convention Center. The most informative pictures are the ones that could never exist - thank you Mr President.

[bargalunan]

Originally Posted by tw

almost 50% of this nation (in polls) says that George Jr did a good job in New Orleans.

I feel better when I remember we can doubt polls validity...

[warch]

From the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune Sunday 9/4

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

[warch]

Sorry for posting lots of quoted text, but he says it so well.
From Sunday's Face the Nation:

SCHIEFFER: Finally, a personal thought. We have come through what may have been one of the worst weeks in America's history, a week in which government at every level failed the people it was created to serve. There is no purpose for government except to improve the lives of its citizens. Yet as scenes of horror that seemed to be coming from some Third World country flashed before us, official Washington was like a dog watching television. It saw the lights and images, but did not seem to comprehend their meaning or see any link to reality.

As the floodwaters rose, local officials in New Orleans ordered the city evacuated. They might as well have told their citizens to fly to the moon. How do you evacuate when you don't have a car? No hint of intelligent design in any of this. This was just survival of the richest.

By midweek a parade of Washington officials rushed before the cameras to urge patience. What good is patience to a mother who can't find food and water for a dehydrated child? Washington was coming out of an August vacation stupor and seemed unable to refocus on business or even think straight. Why else would Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert question aloud whether New Orleans should even be rebuilt? And when he was unable to get to Washington in time to vote on emergency aid funds, Hastert had an excuse only Washington could understand: He had to attend a fund-raiser back home.

Since 9/11, Washington has spent years and untold billions reorganizing the government to deal with crises brought on by possible terrorist attacks. If this is the result, we had better start over.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by wolf

It's going to be hard to fix stuff, if the local cops keep shooting the repair guys.

Doesn't that article say that the cops shot and killed the guys who were shooting at the contractors? I don't read anywhere in that where cops were shooting at the contractors, anyway.

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Doesn't that article say that the cops shot and killed the guys who were shooting at the contractors? I don't read anywhere in that where cops were shooting at the contractors, anyway.

I didn't see cops shooting contractors either...

[God]

Originally Posted by richlevy

The question now is who takes the credit for their last minute reprieve, the Christians or the Voodoo priestesses?

Me of course. You're welcome.


...or maybe....forgive me.

[NICOTINEGUN]

God, You're a racist!!!!

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Iggy

I didn't see cops shooting contractors either...

I just found the answer to this one...it seems that the report was issued in error originally, and it did say that cops had shot Corps employees. This was later corrected.

I knew Wolf wouldn't have botched something like that. She's a sharp cookie.

[Buddha]

Originally Posted by God

Me of course. You're welcome.


...or maybe....forgive me.

Yeah, we noticed that you seem to have put your kid in charge again while you were off on that junket to Alpha Centauri.

NG, the word amongst us celestial beings is that God is not racist, he's just out there. Waaaaay out there!

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Doesn't that article say that the cops shot and killed the guys who were shooting at the contractors? I don't read anywhere in that where cops were shooting at the contractors, anyway.

That's what the article said originally ... I knew I should have cut and pasted the content as well as linked ...

[Griff]

I saw that on an Aussie paper site but I think everybodies backing away from that story now.