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The blame game

The blame game

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SN
Pimp of the elves

San Diego, CA

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I've lived in California most my life and have been through many earthquakes. I've had property damaged in several. After having a tree fall on my car, I never blamed the President, the govenor, or anyone else. I made a choice to live in California and knew earthquakes happened frequently.

The people of New Orleans knew their city was below the waterline and was between the ocean, a lake, and a river. They knew the only thing keeping the city from turning into a lake was the levees. They knew that hurricanes hit the area on a fairly regular basis. They were issued a mandatory evacution order well in advance of Katrina.
Now we're watching people on TV fighting for thier lives after they chose to live in a city that was on the verge of turning into a lake already and chose to ignore a mandatory evacuation because the city was about to be turned into a lake.

How is this Bush's, the governor's, or anyone else's fault other than mother nature and these people that made these choices.



"It's a free country, you're free to make as bad of a chioce as you want. Just don't blame me for the results of your chioces" -Saint Nick

T
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Originally posted by Saint Nick
I've lived in California most my life and have been through many earthquakes. I've had property damaged in several. After having a tree fall on my car, I never blamed the President, the govenor, or anyone else. I made a choice to live in California and knew earthquakes happened frequently.

The people of New Orleans knew their city was below the water ...[text shortened]... bad of a chioce as you want. Just don't blame me for the results of your chioces" -Saint Nick
Bush gave New Orleans less than 1/6 of the money needed to
install good storm defences (just over $6m). Why?
Because the rest was being spent on a war.
He was given advanced warning post-9/11 that the three biggest
threats to the US were :

1) Earthquake in California
2) Attack on New York
3) Hurricane in New Orleans

I am sorry to hear you live in California, by Bush's record so
far, I hope to God you don't have an earthquake.

I will say it again, he doesn't know how to protect the people
of America and his illegal war has put them further at risk.

i

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Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Bush gave New Orleans less than 1/6 of the money needed to
install good storm defences (just over $6m). Why?
Because the rest was being spent on a war.
He was given advanced warning post-9/11 that the three biggest
threats to the US were :

1) Earthquake in California
2) Attack on New York
3) Hurricane in New Orleans

I am sorry to hear you live ...[text shortened]... 't know how to protect the people
of America and his illegal war has put them further at risk.
This was the third recorded category 5 hurricane in history. New Orleans didn't even get hit head on, and they were ok until the billions of gallons of water that flooded into the lake finally was heavy enough to break the levees and drown the city.

Also, remember that New Orleans wasn't the only one hit. Some smaller cities were COMPLETELY destroyed. What the hell do you expect Bush to do, build a 50 ft wall completely around the United States to keep storm surges, tsunamis, and mexicans from hitting the US?

Someone already tried an idea like this, remember, it is was one of the greatest failures in history. Ask a chinese man what he thinks about the great wall, and he will tell you it is an embarrassment to his country. a wall that was built on the bones of his forefathers, that achieved nothing.

C

Calgary

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Originally posted by Saint Nick
I've lived in California most my life and have been through many earthquakes. I've had property damaged in several. After having a tree fall on my car, I never blamed the President, the govenor, or anyone else. I made a choice to live in California and knew earthquakes happened frequently.

The people of New Orleans knew their city was below the water ...[text shortened]... bad of a chioce as you want. Just don't blame me for the results of your chioces" -Saint Nick
The news report I saw stated that levee upgrades have been put off for decades. Meaning this goes beyond Bush. How come Reagan didn't push for funding? or Clinton?

i

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Originally posted by Canadaguy
The news report I saw stated that levee upgrades have been put off for decades. Meaning this goes beyond Bush. How come Reagan didn't push for funding? or Clinton?
because of the american policy "run it till it breaks".

zeeblebot

silicon valley

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_Hurricane_Katrina_on_New_Orleans

"Despite the dire warnings, no large-scale corrective measures had been implemented by the time Katrina made landfall. Moreover, in June, government funds for the US Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans district were cut by an unprecedented USD $71.2 million; according to a Dolan Media newsreport of that time, "[t]he cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now" (at the same time, Katrina hit before the study would have been completed or implemented, but Katrina was only Category 4). Overall, since 2003, approved federal flood protection spending in New Orleans has been roughly 20% of the amount estimated as needed by the USACE [5].

"The design of the original levees, which dates to the 1960s, was based on rudimentary storm modeling that, it is now realized, might underestimate the threat of a potential hurricane. Even if the modeling was adequate, however, the levees were designed to withstand only forces associated with a fast-moving hurricane that, according to the National Weather Service’s Saffir-Simpson scale, would be placed in category 3. If a lingering category 3 storm—or a stronger storm, say, category 4 or 5—were to hit the city, much of New Orleans could find itself under more than 20 ft (6 m) of water." - The Creeping Storm, June 2003 Issue of Civil Engineering Magazine."

zeeblebot

silicon valley

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note that the original levees were underdesigned in the 60's, and the study mentioned in the wiki would not even have been off the ground by now, let alone progressed to actual implementation.

FEMA is shared by the whole country, i.e., is not responsible for N.O. alone. the emergency prep officials who are complaining in N.O. are responsible for N.O. alone, however.

resources are having to be pulled in from around the country ... a hospital ship from Baltimore, etc. ... the country shares those resources ...

T
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Originally posted by iamroot
This was the third recorded category 5 hurricane in history. New Orleans didn't even get hit head on, and they were ok until the billions of gallons of water that flooded into the lake finally was heavy enough to break the levees and drown the city.

Also, remember that New Orleans wasn't the only one hit. Some smaller cities were COMPLETELY destroye ...[text shortened]... t to his country. a wall that was built on the bones of his forefathers, that achieved nothing.
No, I expect Bush to step down and let somebody that knows
what he's doing take the presidency.
I expect that the new president will listen to his scientific advisors
that the world is getting hotter because countries like the US refuse
to cut their emissions and to prepare for more violent weather
like Katrina bought on by these effects.

Amaurote
No Name Maddox

County Doledrum

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How dare working-class people be too poor and resourceless to flee from the Flood?

Yes, I think that callous, insouciant kind of response to human suffering is exactly what I feared would be the domestic response to this catastrophe.

S

Austraya

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Bush is useless. He is to motivate by greed, money and power to care about his own citizens. Maybe if his eyes weren't on a un-just war, there would of been many more resources around to deal with this.

x
Incroyant

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The blame game
The hurricane was actually caused by the Halliburton Orbital Death Laser that Cheney uses to control the weather.

S

Austraya

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Originally posted by xs
The hurricane was actually caused by the Halliburton Orbital Death Laser that Cheney uses to control the weather.
Not a very funny joke, and as i said, and if you think we are blaming your government of the actual hurricane, well thats just plain stupid. It's the fact that there are no resources to help because of the un-just Iraq war, and the incredibly slow response to the disaster, the fact that there were plenty of warning signs, and the fact that this possible scenario was brought up in 2001 but ignored by the government, is what we are blaming Bush. Do you see him on TV!!?? He hasnt got a effen clue about what is going on.

rwingett
Ming the Merciless

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Originally posted by Shonkytonk
Not a very funny joke, and as i said, and if you think we are blaming your government of the actual hurricane, well thats just plain stupid. It's the fact that there are no resources to help because of the un-just Iraq war, and the incredibly slow response to the disaster, the fact that there were plenty of warning signs, and the fact that this possible ...[text shortened]... we are blaming Bush. Do you see him on TV!!?? He hasnt got a effen clue about what is going on.
It was absolutely painful to watch Bush on TV. He's like a stuffed doll that repeats the same insipid platitudes whenever you pull its cord. The man is unfit to run a lemonade stand, let alone the entire United States. His response to the disaster constitutes a gross deriliction of duty unparalleled in the history of this nation.

i

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Originally posted by Shonkytonk
Not a very funny joke, and as i said, and if you think we are blaming your government of the actual hurricane, well thats just plain stupid. It's the fact that there are no resources to help because of the un-just Iraq war, and the incredibly slow response to the disaster, the fact that there were plenty of warning signs, and the fact that this possible ...[text shortened]... we are blaming Bush. Do you see him on TV!!?? He hasnt got a effen clue about what is going on.
There are plenty of resources to help in New Orleans. Its just a matter of extracting the lead out of Bush's ass. People are down their dieing, and he is taking a tour. If i was president i would of ordered air force one loaded with supplies, and I would be down their passing them out myself, along with the REST of the white house staff.

SN
Pimp of the elves

San Diego, CA

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Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Bush gave New Orleans less than 1/6 of the money needed to
install good storm defences (just over $6m). Why?
Because the rest was being spent on a war.
He was given advanced warning post-9/11 that the three biggest
threats to the US were :

1) Earthquake in California
2) Attack on New York
3) Hurricane in New Orleans

I am sorry to hear you live ...[text shortened]... 't know how to protect the people
of America and his illegal war has put them further at risk.
Why should have Bush given New Orleans money?
It's the responsibility of the local goverment and citizens to maintain the city.

In California, we prepare heavily for earthquakes. We pay extra taxes to our local goverment and they install earthquake reinforcements. That's what the people that live here demand. We know earthquakes are going to happen and we make our politicians prepare for them and we pay for it out of our own pockets.
All they needed was $6M? and the city couldn't pay for that?

Once again, I completely fail to see how any of this is Bush's fault.

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