A Failure of Government in These United States

Well, I don't expect those of you who criticed me for criticising the way the situation in NO is being handled will ever apologize. But Bill O'Reilly and President Bush agree with me. Today, President Bush said the FEMA response has been unacceptable. Told you. So, there.

 

By the way, is there anyone here on this board who thinks the terrorists aren't watching the government response and what is happening in New Orleans and taking notes? New Orleans is on fire now. Armed thugs are still riding around in beds of pickup trucks killing, raping, plundering, threatening, starting arson fires, robbing homes and stores.

Like one person said who is holed up in the French Quarter, talking to reporters via telephone said, "this is what will happen when American cities come under multiple attacks by terrorists."

And he is exactly right. The government has a lot of rhetoric and points blame at each other, but is sadly inadequate in spite of the hype in these situations.

Fellow Americans, we are getting a glimpse now of what is coming in the future. So get prepared. If you are wise enough to stock up on food, water, and batteries and escape a terrorist attack, there will be civil unrest and by the time government/military arrives on the scene, you and your family may be robbed, murdered, raped, without security or police/fire protection, and without medical assistance. Your government is a failure and your tax dollars have been wasted.

 

Good point, LE.

They are also watching carefully to see if the citizens of this supposedly civilized society turn into animals in a crisis and start devouring each other.

 

David Brooks wrote an interesting OP Ed in the Times today about the way results and reactions of natural disasters bring political change -- the way the Johnstown flood did, or the flood in NO in 1927, where anger about the deliberate abandonment of the poor and blacks in the city fired a political populist movement that brought Huey Long to power. It will be very interesting to see what happens as a result of this one. David Brooks points to the impoverished black faces of the victims, and I'd add the woeful environmental situation and the failure to have any way of preventing the severe unrest that's making the situation much worse will resound lastingly in the public mind after this. Also, prices for gas and a number of other commodities are growing, and it's unclear how quickly the ports will reopen -- foreign folks may not be aware of how critical the Gulf is to import and export goods. All of this will ripple, ebb and flow through US society.

 

Weren't our forefathers wise when they gave us the Right to Bear Arms?

They knew that the Federal Government would never be able to protect all its citizens all of the time. That's why they did what they did.

 

I don't see how anyone can fail to see and admit that now. </font>[/QUOTE]Are you suggesting we are somehow entitled to Government Care from the Womb to the Tomb?

 

I am suggesting that the Government do what it is MANDATED to do in the US Constitution, Hardsheller, don't even go into the womb to tomb argument. Hope you have plenty of ammo. Better surround your property with land mines so you won't be outnumbered.

Folks, we are getting a glimpse of what is to come.

Just imagine if this was going on in San Francisco, NYC, Washington DC, Houston, Chicago, Indianapolis, LA, Miami, all simultaneously -after well-coordinated terrorist attacks/bombs, etc. and what the government/military response would be. I've no doubt the terrorists have already thought of that. And now they are seeing a trial run of our inadequate government via satellite and national TV.

 

LE,

Suppose you show me chapter and verse in the U.S. Constitution where the Federal Government is supposed to respond to every Act of God with the U.S. Treasury wide open!

I'd really like to see it.

What you are seeing today is a culmination and breakdown of the Welfare Society Mentality that we have created in opposition to the dreams of the Founding Fathers.

 

I never said that. Quit twisting my words.

The US Treasury is broke, or don't you keep up with the National Debt?

 

I never said that. Quit twisting my words.

The US Treasury is broke, or don't you keep up with the National Debt? </font>[/QUOTE]There you go again LE, defending the undefensible with opinion only.

What is the US Government Mandated to do by the US Constitution in this Situation?

And no the US Treasury will never be broke until the printing presses are destroyed.

 

Mr. Compass said the federal government had taken too long to send in the thousands of troops - as well as the supplies, fuel, vehicles, water and food - needed to stabilize his now "very, very tenuous" city.

Col. Terry Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans, concurred and he was particularly pungent in his criticism. Asserting that the whole recovery operation had been "carried on the backs of the little guys for four g*****m days," he said "the rest of the g*****m nation can't get us any resources for security."

"We are like little birds with our mouths open and you don't have to be very smart to know where to drop the worm," Colonel Ebbert said. "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane." FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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While I was watching the video from NO I was struck by the fact that most of the evacuation was being done by private citizens. What do we pay taxes for if not to protect us in an emergency?

 

I will never believe man could even begin to control the North's biggest river. Pure arrogance.

BTW, the Hoover Dam someday will fail. Get yer lawsiuts ready.

 

That's right, Ken.

 

Mr. Compass said the federal government had taken too long to send in the thousands of troops - as well as the supplies, fuel, vehicles, water and food - needed to stabilize his now "very, very tenuous" city.

Col. Terry Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans, concurred and he was particularly pungent in his criticism. Asserting that the whole recovery operation had been "carried on the backs of the little guys for four g*****m days," he said "the rest of the g*****m nation can't get us any resources for security."

"We are like little birds with our mouths open and you don't have to be very smart to know where to drop the worm," Colonel Ebbert said. "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane." FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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While I was watching the video from NO I was struck by the fact that most of the evacuation was being done by private citizens. What do we pay taxes for if not to protect us in an emergency? </font>[/QUOTE]Profane Col. Tebbett first of all needs his mouth washed out with soap, then he needs to have his rear end washed because he's been sitting on his hands in this sordid decadent mess called New Orleans for months without making plans for an emergency like this.

 

Weather dept....

"Cat 5 hurricane headed for New Orleans"

Main Stream Madia.....

"This is gonna be huge"

For a week we watched that storm, traveling at 13 MPH, go towards NOLA. Everyone knew it was going to be real bad. Folks, as C4K pointed out, were offered trips out. They stayed. We go to rescue them, and we get shot at. Now everyone wants to blame the government.

Perhaps some of you guys should run for office, you seem to know how to prevent these things. I expect to see a KenH and a LadyEagle on the next ballot.

And I respect the both of you greatly, I support your grief, but not your words.

 

Well, all I can say to you, Brother Curtis, is I agree. If the government orders an evacuation and then does not provide transportation to poor people who have no cars, no money, no gas, and people who are wheelchair bound and unable to get out of their home without assistance and doesn't evacuate the hospitals, then they are all at fault for being leeches on society and should be left to their own fates. Perhaps since most of them are black, the old, infirm, and babies and are not able to fend for themselves in the time of an evacuation, the government has no responsibility to do more. Only white middle class and rich folks are allowed the luxury of hoarding provisions into their SUVs and getting out of Dodge. [/sarcasm]

 

That is a fault of city planners, and engineers. It is not the Federal Govenment's job to know the evniromental weaknesses of every city in America. The people in NOLA can blame the people they elected.

They could have declared Marshall Law, and forced everyone out at gunpoint, a full week beforehand, and then they'd be getting ACLU suits because, as you mentioned, the majority of those that would have been forced out are black. This was a no-win situation for all.

 

I understand ther is no such thing as Marshall Law in Louisiane. Perhaps someone can check to see if that is correct. At any rate, where would the manpower come from to force everyone out of NO beforehand at gunpoint?

Will you concede that since as of last night, FEMA had not set up a command and control center, and not evacuated hospitals and law and order had not been established that it possibly could be the Federal Government's fault?

And what if this was a terrorist attack taking place in several major US cities simultaneously? Is the Federal Government prepared today to handle that scenario? Are they required to handle that scenario? Or is it every citizen for himself?