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Pastimes : Where the GIT's are going -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: country bob who wrote (106722)	9/5/2005 10:56:54 PM
From: CVJ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225578

How much screaming and yelling would there have been about wasting time and money if the storm had gone straight into Mexico like the prior storm? Katrina actually made a right turn at the last minute and went ashore further east of N.O. than expected. Hurricane prediction may not be the exact science some think it is. Maybe if the idiots whenever who let the city grow below sea level and protected by 150 year old levees of sand, none of the horror of Katrina would have occurred, terrible storm effects yes, but not the greatest natural disaster in American history. 20/20 hindsight wins again.

To: country bob who wrote (106722)	9/6/2005 9:24:21 AM
From: PatiBob	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 225578

Absolutely! You're right on the money CB. Not to mention the fact that the corp of engineers has been telling them for as long as I can remember that those levees won't hold. It was only there for the protection of the city during flooding rains, not hurricanes. After the 1900 storm leveled Galveston and washed away towns that never rebuild, Galveston built a seawall and raised the town up almost 20 feet on the wreckage of the old town and the dredging of the bay. The few buildings that were left standing and structerly sound were jacked up and placed on properly placed foundations (for that time). I love my home state and hometown, I truly do. Not enough was done to protect it by local, state and federal government. It all starts at the bottom and works it's way up the governmental chain. Louisiana isn't immune from governmental corruption. Hell some might argue they wrote the chapter and verse when it comes to that. When Hurricane Betsy hit in 1965, they knew then that the levees wouldn't hold back the water and that was a Cat 3 hurricane. When the French first settled NO back in the early 1700's, they built levees. Did they hold? No, but the practice has been kept up and bigger levees have been built which don't hold back the flood waters during big hurricanes. What's the answer? I have no idea. What I do know is what they've been using hasn't worked in the past. How can they be so shocked that it didn't work now?

To: country bob who wrote (106722)	9/9/2005 3:44:52 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 225578

The Seattle Times had a Timeline for the Hurricane ad aftermath in todays tree edition. I just tried to find it online, and it wasn't one of the articles on line. It shows again, that the Mayor ordered evacuation notice 24 hours before the storm arrived on Monday morning. In other words, HE should have ordered the school buses AND the city buses to get as many people out of the city. The buses totalled 556 buses....206 school buses that were drowned in the levee break on Tuesday, and 350 city buses. The buses held between 40 and 70 people each. Even if people wouldn't go, enough of them would have gone if they had transportation out, and hundreds or thousands of people would have been living today if the buses had come. The City and State Government agencies, including the police and firemen, ARE the First Responders. The 2 programs I had for a group I belong to, were given by the local Fire Department, and told us that was true Nationwide, and it was true RIGHT after 9-11....Both ladies said that WE were responsible for ourselves for at least 72-96 hours after whatever event, and we needed to have medical supplies, food and water for each person in our family in our homes, and some in our cars ....at all times. Most of us have gotten lazy, and haven't replenished those early supplies. Some of us didn't want to hear and never did listen in the first place. It's always easier to blame someone else, other than try to be responsible for yourself and your families.

To: country bob who wrote (106722)	9/9/2005 11:19:55 AM
From: sandintoes	Respond to of 225578

You're right on the money, Bob This from a friend from New Orleans. On Friday night before the storm hit, Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed. President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act). Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in. Saturday before the storm hit, President Bush again called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation. After a personal plea from the President, Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the Governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the Insurgency Act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster. Throw in the fact that over half the federal aid of the past decade to NO for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were. The suffering people of NO need to be asking some hard questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered 500 Greyhound buses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his disposal to use between the local school buses and the city transportation buses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them. This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the mistakes to avoid them in the future.