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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (135483)	8/31/2005 1:32:37 AM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793916

This makes me furious. Can't helicopters drop a few guys with guns? Children's Hospital under seige Tuesday, 11:45 p.m. Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital. Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility. The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond. Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond. nola.com

To: KLP who wrote (135483)	8/31/2005 1:44:12 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793916

New Orleans officials called a mandatory evacuation. And they did use buses to ferry people to the Superdome. But many wouldn't go. It's just human nature to believe that the worst case won't really happen to you, especially if you've lived through four or five false alarms already. If anything's different now, it's the belief that government/charity ought to be on the scene immediately (as it largely will be, in the form of the Coast Guard, FEMA and the Red Cross). In the old days, people knew they were on their own.

To: KLP who wrote (135483)	8/31/2005 6:24:08 AM
From: haqihana	Respond to of 793916

KLP, You guessed right. It was FDR that promised the American people security from the cradle to the grave, knowing that such a promise was impossible to keep. From what I read many years ago, Eleanor coaxed him into setting up the Social Security system, and look where we are now, with a failing system that can leave the elderly without help, and a cost that is soaring every year. With such a promise, the people felt that they could stop worrying about anything, and that "Big Brother" would coddle them for their entire life. It took the gumption out of the American spirit.

To: KLP who wrote (135483)	8/31/2005 9:18:17 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793916

WHERE were the city leaders, the county/parish leaders, and the State leaders, when it came to Civil Defense plans??? One of my favorite books, "Rising Tide," about the 1927 flood of the Mississippi, has a few chapters about the leadership shown by the Percy family in Greenville Mississippi, heroism that saved many lives. One of the last scions of that family, Walker Percy, wrote what I consider to be the Great New Orleans novel -- The Moviegoer -- with this sentence that about sums it up: "Once I thought of going into law or medicine or even pure science. I even dreamed of doing something great. But there is much to be said for giving up such grand ambitions and living the most ordinary life imaginable, a life without the old longings; selling stocks and bonds and mutual funds; quitting work at five o'clock like everyone else; having a girl and perhaps one day settling down and raising a flock of Marcias and Sandras and Lindas of my own." The ones that could make a difference turned their backs and let the mediocrities take over.