Katrina devastated the south, gas 6 $ a gallon

[mantis108]

I don't think anyone is blaming the military or law enforcement officiers. They are limbs that follows the commands of the brain (political machine).

The problem really is the ignorance of the present Administration IMHO. In the Clinton era, there are no less potential disasters both human and natural. Remember the millenium bug? It was treated with so much attention that it went without a hitch. If I am not mistaken, the effect of that actually helped when the 911 attack hits one of the most important financial centers of the world. So financial infrustructure was shaken but not stirred. The western world didn't quite suffer the impact tha the AQ terrorist and its supporters anticipated. The economy went on to do business as usual. But look at the impact of this incident on the economy, this is going to have a ripple effects if not the immediate impact already taking its toll. Hurricane in the gulf area is not a new thing. Yet, oli refinaries are concentrated there? No one (in previous and present Administrations) has the foresight to tell that could seriously handicap energy policy and subsequently and most importantly the economy? What kind of leader leads from behind or in a private ranch remote controlling things (if that even was happening?) This is like putting all eggs in one basket and hope or in Mr Bush motto "pray" that nothing bad and only good will happen.

Once again, I think TCB is right again about the people who are stuck in a place where they were left alone and let down by the government. The message all along was clear to them that they should do whatever they can to fend for themselves. They were not give consideration at all even now. Honestly, they would not be the vulernables element of the society if they have the ability to fend for themselves. This is why you have the government to lead and to aid the needy (or at least one in a civilizated world should be) not to whup azz (sorry pun). It is sad that elitism and slave owner mentality (the suppressed and enslaved weaker kind fought back in desperate cry for help) is still pretty much alive in a democratic super power or at least it is preceived. It is not only a shame in Amerian history but also a major black eye on humanity anthropologically.

The human and economic lost during the Bush Administration (a reflection of Republican reigem and mindset - not that it's wrong) seems more and more likely to root away the stable foundation of a great nation.

Mantis108

PS TaiChiBob, I think we are pretty much on the same page, my friend.

[Fallout]

Also people are finding a way to blame whites for this. The hurricane did this, not whites. Whites are risking their lives to save blacks right now.

[Liokault]

Also people are finding a way to blame whites for this. The hurricane did this, not whites. Whites are risking their lives to save blacks right now.

Odd that you look at it that way.

Why is it that the whites are in a position to do the saving, while blacks are in a position that they need saving from?

money?

apathy?

Why has America turned down UN aid?

[Chief Fox]

Also people are finding a way to blame whites for this. The hurricane did this, not whites. Whites are risking their lives to save blacks right now.

I don't think anyone is blaming whites. But it certainly does look like the poor black population of a major US city has been abandoned by their government and left for dead.

[ZIM]

Taking political snipes in the midst of a national emergency strikes me as repulsive in the extreme. Yeah, encouraging division will sure help everyone out, won't it?

[themeecer]

I have seen it all. You are blaming the hurricane on Bush?!?! Do you think your god, mother nature, waited till a Republican was in office in order to hit an area that has a history of hurricanes? What a pathetic group of people. You have to politicize everything. But guess what .. you’re not the only ones stooping to this level. Read this excerpt I found on AOL’s reporting of this story:

With a cigar-chomping general in the convoy's lead vehicle, the trucks rolled through muddy water up to their axles to reach the convention center, where 15,000 to 20,000 hungry and desperate refugees had taken shelter - many of them seething with anger so intense that it seemed ready to erupt in violence at any moment.
National Guardsmen carrying rifles and wearing camouflage gear also arrived at the Louisiana Superdome, walking in a long line past a vast crowd of bedraggled people fanning themselves miserably in the heat, waited to rescued from the heat, the filth and the gagging stench inside the stadium.
Flatbed trucks carried huge crates, pallets and bags of relief supplies. Soldiers sat in the backs of open-top trucks, their rifles pointing skyward.

Please tell me you can see the bias in this. Please don’t tell me you are that blind.

The officials begged people to leave. Thousands did leave. The federal government went in there from the first minute, in fact in advance. The looters and shooters are hindering their efforts. But you choose to criticize the ones trying to help instead of the criminals preventing the help?

Did I actually see someone call what the looters were doing were simply taking abandoned TVs?!?! So tell me … if you leave your home for a week’s vacation and someone breaks into your home and steal your TV, weren’t they simply taking an abandoned TV? That is pathetic.

[themeecer]

Odd that you look at it that way.

Why is it that the whites are in a position to do the saving, while blacks are in a position that they need saving from?

money?

apathy?

Why has America turned down UN aid?

What a slap in the face of the workers. I see all colors of workers in the pictures of relief efforts. Take your racism elsewhere.

[Ou Ji]

WTF?????

I don't recall reading where anyone blamed the hurricane on Bush. Methinks themeecer is reading something into the posts that aren't there.
(although some might think retribution is coming for our wicked ways)

All who worship Gaia raise your hands. Hmmm, thought so.

Ok, I admit it. I'm blind, point out the bias. WFT are you talking about?

[themeecer]

WTF?????

I don't recall reading where anyone blamed the hurricane on Bush. Methinks themeecer is reading something into the posts that aren't there.
(although some might think retribution is coming for our wicked ways)

All who worship Gaia raise your hands. Hmmm, thought so.

Ok, I admit it. I'm blind, point out the bias. WFT are you talking about?

Read the posts a little closer, or let me help you out some:

What we have is clear evidence that the Government is NOT prepared to weather a serious threat, natural or otherwise.. Accountability is demanded!
__________________________________________________ ________
Do not rebuild that disaster.. make it a memorial to the unfortunate, and a reminder that preparedness is not a "city in Iraq"..
__________________________________________________ _______
I'm beginning to loose faith in our government.
__________________________________________________ _______
we have military forces here, in bases around the country that could have been instantly converted to perform rescue and survival operations INSTANTLY!!
__________________________________________________ _______
YET, Americans will risk their lives for people in Iraq, but not their own citizens.. there is a great disparity, here
__________________________________________________ _______
the Gov't can wage a pointless war built on deception in Iraq.. a war for "helping Iraq's people".. and the same Gov't can't figure out how to help its own citizens?
__________________________________________________ _______
Is our Gov't more afraid to help its own people in a tense situation than it is to wage war for foreign peoples? How sad is that!!!
__________________________________________________ _______
Why would the Americans have no problem "helping" Iraqis by occupying their country to rebuild it in the American model; meanwhile, Americans will enforce martial law on other Americans (the less unfortunate ones). ……This catastrophe is in my mind a major sign that the USA is maxing out on resources both human and material wise. What's worst is the Bush Administration is like an animal that's only interested in saving its own fur and it's own kind. This is really sad to see such an incompetant government in office running a "super power".
__________________________________________________ _______
The US has failed to establish control on foreign soil and on its home soil.. cooperation is better than "control".. Aid will win their hearts, bullets and force will find its way back to us..

[PangQuan]

In those quotes I fail to see the actual mentioning of bush as an individual anywhere. The word government and bush administration is used, but last time i checked george bush is not the government....

just being literal

in addition, no one actually blamed the natural act of a hurricane on bush. thats just silly. the government is being held acountable for their failure to act in this time of crisis, yes. There is a very distinguished line between the two...

[themeecer]

In those quotes I fail to see the actual mentioning of bush as an individual anywhere. The word government and bush administration is used, but last time i checked george bush is not the government....

just being literal

in addition, no one actually blamed the natural act of a hurricane on bush. thats just silly. the government is being held acountable for their failure to act in this time of crisis, yes. There is a very distinguished line between the two...

Please, you don't think an attack on the 'bush administration' or the 'government' has anything to do with President Bush?

And the comment of him being blamed for the hurricane was humor. Let me say it in other terms, you are politicizing the relief efforts and blaming the current administration, who Bush is the head of, for not acting in ways you feel is appropriate. In your arguments you also pull in the Iraqi war and our soldiers. I am just waiting for the liberal mantra of "Haliburton" or "No blood for oil" to circulate this thread.

Seems that Cindy Sheehan is saying this is all President Bush's fault as well, insisting that the president is "[now] heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused."

[PangQuan]

Please, you don't think an attack on the 'bush administration' or the 'government' has anything to do with President Bush?

And the comment of him being blamed for the hurricane was humor. Let me say it in other terms, you are politicizing the relief efforts and blaming the current administration, who Bush is the head of, for not acting in ways you feel is appropriate. In your arguments you also pull in the Iraqi war and our soldiers. I am just waiting for the liberal mantra of "Haliburton" or "No blood for oil" to circulate this thread.

Seems that Cindy Sheehan is saying this is all President Bush's fault as well, insisting that the president is "[now] heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused."

lol, find in this thread a post other than the one that is directly above this where i am political in any way.

[SimonM]

I have seen it all. You are blaming the hurricane on Bush?!?! Do you think your god, mother nature, waited till a Republican was in office in order to hit an area that has a history of hurricanes? What a pathetic group of people. You have to politicize everything.

No themeecer. Nobody is saying Bush caused the hurricane. What they are saying is that this unskilled leader was unprepared to respond to a national emergency on home soil.

Furthermore they have suggested that the president's expansionist foreign policy has stripped valuable resources away from the country which could have otherwise been used to help.

They are also questioning why their infrastructure is so much more efficient at controling foreign countries than it is in maintaining order within it's borders.

Some people have even <gasp> looked at the class dynamics about who were able to evacuate compared to who were not. In the southern USA class dynamics inevitably become colour dynamics. It's just a fact: the black population is much less wealthy than the white population.

None of these things is "blaming the hurricane on Bush". Everyone understands that the hurricane would have happened regardless of who is in power. The question is: what did Bush do to deal with the hurricane?

The answer: sat at his ranch cutting up stumps with chainsaws. Other presidents would have been more pro-active. Clinton for instance.

And Zim: the whole "we have an emergency so you can't say anything bad about the status quo" line got old a long time ago.

[Ou Ji]

Well I, for one, don't play the Republican - Democrat game. I could care less what they call themselves I don't like 'em and I don't trust 'em.

I suspect you're either a republican or governemnt employee. Or maybe a stand up and salute 'my country right or wrong' yes sir you can have my rights sir let me bend over for you sir I can't think for myself so anything the big boss says is fine with me type that typically doesn't see fault in these situations when almost everyone else does.

Yep, that was me be political.

Note: You might want to throw a smiley in there cause I don't think anyone noticed you were joking.

BTW, I just saw on TV where Bush admitted the reponse was slow and insufficient and now he promises to set things right. So there you go. Even the President saw what you didn't. Actually I'm sure it had to be explained to him since he doesn't have the brain cells to understand what happened.

[HanRen]

the truth is that, rich dudes or middle class dudes they have resources to get out and live some where else, but those poor dudes have no place to go. previous posts mentioned that New Orlean currently is an anarchy state, street gangs are running the show. If Bush dont do nothing, this thing will spread to other areas. It is really hard to imagine such lawless behaviors and chaotic sitution occures in the USA.