Complaint Central

Maybe New Orleans Mayor Nagin would like to explain this picture
before he and the rest of his fellow travelers continue to blast the
feds.

They had plenty of means to get people out. Their claims of "we had no
transportation" are, to be nice, suspect.


*** Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005: An aerial view of hundreds of flooded school
buses in a lot in New Orleans, LA. The flood is a result of Hurricane
Katrina that passed through the area last Monday.(AP Photo/Phil Coale) ***

As regards the National Guard troops and security, the Governor of the state
of Louisiana always had the power to deploy the LA guard in the fashion that
other state troops are being deployed today. It is her failure to do so that
has prompted the President to get the help from other states.

The Mayor of New Orleans, who ordered all those people into the Superdome
(yep, that was his big plan), had the power to bus them out of the city at
the same time. The City of New Orleans moves many more children each day on
school buses than were in the dome. Those buses were available and slated to
be used for school the next day. He could easily have evacuated those people
..but did not.

When ordering a mandatory evacuation you use what resources you have to move
the people...he did not. If it was important and dangerous enough to order
all citizens to leave, it was dangerous enough to help those people to leave
Yet, they did not. After they failed to do so...the busses ended up under
water and useless.

Their evacuation plan was non-existent.

Their evacuation plan was get out on your own.

They know where every school in the state is. Most of them have gyms.

They could have bussed out 100-200 people to each of those gyms 100 miles
inland and left the city empty.

The Mayor failed. The Governor does not appear to have put the National
Guard on alert prior to the storm.

Both of them sat on their butts and waited for the feds to do it all.

In the end, it was FEMA, after the local and state government's failure,
that had to get the job done...but now under much, much worse and dangerous
circumstances.

No, it is not Bush's fault or the fed's fault. We must place blame squarely
where it lies at the feet of the local and state executives who had neither
the desire nor the will to make those calls, irrespective of their political
stripe.

Last update I mentioned that I feel we are heading towards another civil war. I have been talking about this for years but never really wrote anything about it. Over the Labor Day weekend I spent much of my time contemplating the last news stories of the week regarding the disaster Katrina has left behind. Since I spent Friday night through Monday afternoon without any source of electronic media I had alot of time to ponder civil war and the current unrest in this country. Not being a historian nor a war buff my knowledge of the civil war is limited to what I remember from highschool (most of which I've forgotten). I flip on the radio this morning and I hear a guy say "I fear for my children and my children's children because we are heading for another civil war". Geez. Wish someone would put me on the radio. I've felt this way since before Katrina, but now I know it for sure - not because some other bozo like me wants to tell his story, but because of the actions of the people caught in the path of Katrina and because of what members of the Black community are saying. Mark this down - we WILL have another civil war.

to quote - "this is a travesty. it's a travesty of a mockery. it's a travesty of a mockery of a sham" and so on. My lovely bride pointed out to me yesterday that she's been worried that a terrorist group may take advantage of our current crisis try to "kick us while we're down". Very good point but I don't think the terrorists can mobilize that fast - but it can happen. What is happening though is our own destruction. I've seen video of looting and now there's rioting. People are shooting at the heli's bringing in aid and trying to transport out the ill and injured. Why are we attacking ourselves? 2 reasons. 1. When faced with death an animal will react by doing whatever it can to maintain it's survival. 2. We are animals, we are not a civilized people, and these people are faced with death and are doing what they think they should do to survive. This is a perfect example of how a mass of people will react under attack. To a degree, the parts of this county that have been hit by the hurricane resemble areas of other countries that have have been scared by war. I wish my responsibilities were such that I could go there and help, but I cannot. I can however observe the disaster and record my opinion of what I see happening. this is a blog and I am not a reporter. It's not that I have no sympathy for the people caught in this disaster, it's just that I can't understand why would you attack each other? In Hollywood, when there's a disaster everyone pulls together and helps each other out - unless of course it's a horror flick - so why isnt this going like that? See rule # 2. I pray for these people all day and have since the hurricane started. Four days now - no water, no food no power, no toothpaste. Nothing to return too. I cannot remember a nightmare in my life that was as bad as the reality is in this disaster. I cannot remember a disaster as bad as this. But I never remembered anyone attacking the medics trying to help the wounded. I have said this for years and want to note it again - it will be a civil war that destoys this wonderfull land and not WWIII.