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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan B. who wrote (66259)	9/2/2005 1:50:35 PM
From: Orcastraiter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

I'm realistic...this was unprecedented...government is virtually always inadequate Unless the government is the Cuban government: Loss of life is avoidable – Cuba a U.N. model The massive loss of life in Louisiana and Mississippi was avoidable, if those making decisions were interested in funding emergency measures rather than spending money on war and occupation. Cuba lies directly in the path of many hurricanes, and yet the loss of life is usually minimal, because the government has systems in place to aid orderly evacuations, provide emergency shelter, and look after the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor. In 2001, when Hurricane Michelle, a level-4 storm, hit with sustained 125-mile-per-hour winds and widespread floods, more than 700,000 people were evacuated. Only five Cubans lost their lives in the storm. In September 2004, Cuba endured Ivan, the fifth-largest hurricane ever to hit the Caribbean, with sustained winds of 124 miles per hour. Cuba evacuated almost 2 million people--more than 15 percent of the total population. One hundred thousand people were evacuated within the first three hours. An incredible 78 percent of those evacuated were welcomed into other people's homes. Children at boarding schools were moved. Animals and birds were moved. No one was killed. The UN declared this to be a model of disaster preparation. Cuba, a country blockaded and isolated by the U.S. for 45 years has been able to evacuate millions of people in an orderly fashion without loss of life. Natural disasters do not have to be catastrophes. Orca

To: Dan B. who wrote (66259)	9/2/2005 8:10:11 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 81568

WHAT? Even YOU are putting distance between yourself and the incompetent chimp? It was known 36 hours before the hurricane hit that it would probably hit New Orleans. A competent government with a competent FEMA would have started moving stuff in THEN. Bill Clinton's FEMA would have been ON THE CASE. Bill would have been wading around helping people out THE NEXT DAY. Some people in NO have gone without food and water for FOUR DAYS. The Gulf Between Rhetoric and Reality By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com Friday, September 2, 2005; 1:51 PM washingtonpost.com "...Josh White and Peter Whoriskey write in The Washington Post: "Tens of thousands of people remain stranded on the streets of New Orleans in desperate conditions because officials failed to plan for a serious levee breach and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was slow, according to disaster experts and Louisiana government officials. . . . "Rep. Charles W. Boustany Jr., (R-La.), said he spent the past 48 hours urging the Bush administration to send help. 'I started making calls and trying to impress upon the White House and others that something needed to be done,' he said. 'The state resources were being overwhelmed, and we needed direct federal assistance, command and control, and security -- all three of which are lacking.' . . . "Michael D. Brown, FEMA's director, offered an emphatic defense of the federal response, saying that his agency prepared for the storm but that the widespread, unexpected flooding kept rescuers out of the city. He urged the nation to 'take a collective deep breath' and recognize that federal officials are doing all they can to save people." In the New York Times, Joseph B. Treaster and Deborah Sontag note some pungent criticism from Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans's emergency operations. "Asserting that the whole recovery operation had been 'carried on the backs of the little guys for four goddamn days,' he said 'the rest of the goddamn nation can't get us any resources for security.'..."