Katrina - 1 Year Later

rainjack · September 2, 2006, 9:47pm

[quote]Professor X wrote:
No flames necessary. I agree with you. It was a massive fuck up and to blame Nagin as if he is more at fault than the entire process that involved FEMA all the way up to Bush himself (anyone remember not hearing from Bush on the issue for days while people suffered?) is a little too much bullshit for words. If what you say about Pitts is true, it brings into question much of what people post here directly from media sources who are in it just to make a story one way or another.[/quote]

That’s absolute bullshit. It’s Nagin’s fucking city. His responsibity and his utter fucking failure.

It’s just like a bunch of tit-sucking liberals to blame the Fed when many many deaths could have been avoided had Nagin acted in a semi-responsible manner.

You can rationalize and blame Bush all you want, but the Gov and the Mayor have blood on their hands.

doogie · September 2, 2006, 9:50pm

[quote]RHINO928 wrote:
A bunch of stuff that didn’t address the issues already brought up.

[/quote]

The flooded school buses that were used to take people to the polls to vote for Nagin, but not used to save them from the hurricane.
His ignorant, divisive, racist quotes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...6011600925.html
“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country,” Nagin said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

“It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans – the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans,” the mayor said. “This city will be a majority-African American city. It’s the way God wants it to be. You can’t have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn’t be New Orleans.”

His total butt-fucking of the recovery effort:

http://www.snopes.com/...cs/carcrush.asp

"In October 2005, K&L Auto Crushers of Tyler, Texas, approached Mayor Nagin with an offer to pay $100 apiece for each flooded, abandoned vehicle it removed from New Orleans and to have emptied the city of such junkers within 15 weeks.
(The company would have taken title to the vehicles, crushed them, and sold them for scrap). Given that there were then an estimated 50,000 such vehicles to be removed, had that plan been agreed to, by January or February of 2006 the city would have been both rid of its wrecked car problem and $5 million richer.

The mayor turned down that offer, instead opting to pay an engineering company $23 million to perform the same task. That arrangement collapsed, and New Orleans instead ended up joining a towing contract arranged by the state of Louisiana.

Louisiana’s first attempt at getting the state’s Katrina-damaged junkers hauled to the crusher had it inking a $62 million contract in March 2006 with TruSource Facility Services, a small Georgia janitorial firm, and L&L Steel Builders, a tiny contractor based in New Orleans. Concerns were repeatedly raised that neither of these companies had the manpower or experience to handle the job and would not be able to complete the work successfully. However, those concerns became moot once the companies proved unable to secure financing for their performance bond and therefore lost the contract.

The statewide contract has since been awarded to DRC, a construction and disaster services firm in Alabama that bid $33 million for the job. It began the work of removing cars in mid-June 2006 and expects to complete the task by 30 August 2006.

DRC is currently being sued by the U.S. government over its USAID work in Honduras. The 2004 lawsuit (still being contested in D.C. federal courts) alleges that DRC misrepresented its personal and equipment assets, improperly subcontracted most of the work, and submitted false invoices totaling more than $12.6 million, of which DRC pocketed $5.2 million after paying subcontractors. Federal prosecutors are seeking to recoup triple that amount in damages plus other costs.

As to who is footing the bill, in March 2006 FEMA set up a fund to cover 100% of the towing costs for wrecked and abandoned automobiles in southern Louisiana. However, under that fund’s reimbursement formula, the state would be required to pony up 10% of the costs for work performed after 30 June, a date that would have been a reasonable cutoff point if the job had been begun in March, but which is wildly unrealistic in light of the 18 June 2006 commencement date. It is not yet known if FEMA will still insist on collecting the 10% fee or will waive it."

My son’s best friend is an evacuee from N.O. The kid lost his father in the flood waters. They wouldn’t spend a second thinking about returning to N.O. It was as hellhole compared to being here. More crime, more poverty, shitty schools, corrupt politicians. Not one single family that enrolled their kids in the local school district last year have returned to N.O. Not one. Scan newspapers from all over the country and you can read article after article about evacuees that will never return because of the shithole that N.O. was. Every network news show had stories last week about how evacuees won’t return because things are so much better where they were settled.

When you take a hundred thousand people and just spread them to random places around the country and they all end up saying they are in a better place than they were, something sucked about N.O.

Zap_Branigan · September 2, 2006, 10:05pm

[quote]rainjack wrote:
Professor X wrote:
No flames necessary. I agree with you. It was a massive fuck up and to blame Nagin as if he is more at fault than the entire process that involved FEMA all the way up to Bush himself (anyone remember not hearing from Bush on the issue for days while people suffered?) is a little too much bullshit for words. If what you say about Pitts is true, it brings into question much of what people post here directly from media sources who are in it just to make a story one way or another.

That’s absolute bullshit. It’s Nagin’s fucking city. His responsibity and his utter fucking failure.

It’s just like a bunch of tit-sucking liberals to blame the Fed when many many deaths could have been avoided had Nagin acted in a semi-responsible manner.

You can rationalize and blame Bush all you want, but the Gov and the Mayor have blood on their hands.

[/quote]

I stubbed my toe. Must be Bush’s fault.

While there is no question Bush could have been more vocal and made more appearances in NO in the immediate aftermath it would not have changed the situation one bit. The federal government is not set up to do what it was asked to do.

The fuck ups came early and they were mostly on the local level.

The later FEMA fuck ups didn’t cost lives but they certainly wasted money.

Of course the media made more than its share of fuck ups too. They spread lies about rapes, murders and shootings that did not occur.

Professor_X · September 2, 2006, 10:19pm

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
I stubbed my toe. Must be Bush’s fault.

While there is no question Bush could have been more vocal and made more appearances in NO in the immediate aftermath it would not have changed the situation one bit. [/quote]

It would have shown that the US president was even paying attention. While not a direct influence on what occured that is much better than the way things played out. I am not sure why anyone would downplay the “inaction”.

[quote]

The later FEMA fuck ups didn’t cost lives but they certainly wasted money.[/quote]

No lives were lost due to the inaction of FEMA? How did you come to that conclusion? Are there any sources confirming that everyone who died was already dead before FEMA was called to action?

rainjack · September 2, 2006, 11:33pm

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
I stubbed my toe. Must be Bush’s fault.

While there is no question Bush could have been more vocal and made more appearances in NO in the immediate aftermath it would not have changed the situation one bit.

It would have shown that the US president was even paying attention. While not a direct influence on what occured that is much better than the way things played out. I am not sure why anyone would downplay the “inaction”.

The later FEMA fuck ups didn’t cost lives but they certainly wasted money.

No lives were lost due to the inaction of FEMA? How did you come to that conclusion? Are there any sources confirming that everyone who died was already dead before FEMA was called to action?[/quote]

Had Nagin even made an attempt to do his job as the Mayor lives would have been saved. TO dispute that and then pull the fucking Kanye West bullshit over Bush is just laughable.

Nagin is responsible for the deaths of innocent people far before it was the responsibility of FEMA.

Admit that simple fact, and you can save yourself a little face here.

yorik · September 2, 2006, 11:45pm

[quote]rainjack wrote:
That’s absolute bullshit. It’s Nagin’s fucking city. His responsibity and his utter fucking failure. [/quote]

Abso- mutha-fuckin’ -lutely.

We have a multi-tiered government. Local, county, state, federal. It’s a basic principle of the constitution that the fed stays out of state and local affairs, but every POS runs off to blame the fed when things go awry.

That’s a bit extreme, but probably true nonetheless. The first ones to screw up were the local, county and state authorities. And Nagin was right there in the middle of the screw up.

Professor_X · September 3, 2006, 12:45am

[quote]rainjack wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
I stubbed my toe. Must be Bush’s fault.

While there is no question Bush could have been more vocal and made more appearances in NO in the immediate aftermath it would not have changed the situation one bit.

It would have shown that the US president was even paying attention. While not a direct influence on what occured that is much better than the way things played out. I am not sure why anyone would downplay the “inaction”.

The later FEMA fuck ups didn’t cost lives but they certainly wasted money.

No lives were lost due to the inaction of FEMA? How did you come to that conclusion? Are there any sources confirming that everyone who died was already dead before FEMA was called to action?

Had Nagin even made an attempt to do his job as the Mayor lives would have been saved. TO dispute that and then pull the fucking Kanye West bullshit over Bush is just laughable.

Nagin is responsible for the deaths of innocent people far before it was the responsibility of FEMA.

Admit that simple fact, and you can save yourself a little face here. [/quote]

What does Kanye West have to do with this? No one has written that Nagin did a great job or that the local government didn’t screw up. What is being written is that many of you seem to write off the fault of the federal government in their slow reaction as if Nagin should take the most blame for all of this.

When there are lives on the line, the fingers stop pointing and it is time for action. If someone passes out in my clinic, I won’t have the opportunity to find some other people to point the blame at. The bottom line will be that I have to act in face of the circumstances. With that in mind, Nagin is no more responsible than the many people waiting to be rescued by a federal service that seemed completely inept. I don’t see how anyone can put more blame here or there in a situation like that unless your political stance is what dictates your common sense.

Zap_Branigan · September 3, 2006, 12:47am

[quote]Professor X wrote:

No lives were lost due to the inaction of FEMA? How did you come to that conclusion? Are there any sources confirming that everyone who died was already dead before FEMA was called to action?[/quote]

FEMA doesn’t save lives. The local fire department saves lives. The Coast Guard saves lives.

FEMA provides training, funding and management.

The lives were lost because te city was not evacuated in time. They were not lost because some FEMA bureaucrat did not go and rescue them off the roof of a building.

The lives were lost because the emergency was larger than the response capabilities of the emergency personnel.

The lives were lost because there was no coordination between the various emergency departments in the area. The could not talk to each other. The radios were often different frequencies, phones did not work, etc.

FEMA has had more than its share of mistakes. I will not defend their fuck ups but I do not like to see the blame shifted unfairy either.

RHINO928 · September 3, 2006, 12:59am

[quote]rainjack wrote:
How much do they pay you for your PR work? is it hourly, or salary?[/quote]

My services are that of a citizen so they are free, much like that media
lobotomy you have on this subject.

RHINO928 · September 3, 2006, 1:00am

[quote]Professor X wrote:

No flames necessary. I agree with you. It was a massive fuck up and to
blame Nagin as if he is more at fault than the entire process that involved
FEMA all the way up to Bush himself (anyone remember not hearing from Bush
on the issue for days while people suffered?) is a little too much bullshit
for words. If what you say about Pitts is true, it brings into question
much of what people post here directly from media sources who are in it just
to make a story one way or another.[/quote]

Watch the entire interview and you will see that Pitt’s asked him the same
question and every answer he got, he rebutted with the same question in a
more flippant tone. The next day the only headline from the entire interview
was “Nagin takes swipe at NYC”
So in reality, they came here only to provoke him into saying something
for them to stir the pot with. The media and average redneck from Texas
don’t give a rats ass about New Orleans and surely don’t know anything about
what really happened.

They simply deny the fact that Bush took a oil buddy (Michael Brown) and put
him in charge of FEMA and he completly failed on all accounts. Snopes that
doogie since your mind can’t see things without it.

RHINO928 · September 3, 2006, 1:01am

[quote]rainjack wrote:
That’s absolute bullshit. It’s Nagin’s fucking city. His responsibity and
his utter fucking failure.

It’s just like a bunch of tit-sucking liberals to blame the Fed when many
many deaths could have been avoided had Nagin acted in a semi-responsible
manner.

You can rationalize and blame Bush all you want, but the Gov and the Mayor
have blood on their hands.
[/quote]

What happened to people being responsible for themselves? You sound like
one of those tit sucking liberals you seam to loathe so much. You can’t
have it both ways, Cowboy. Are people responsible for themselves or is the
government? (Nagin in this case)

And about the Fed; Are you going to actually say they bare no fault even
though they fund the projects for the Army Corp of Eng? Do you know what
the MRGO is?

I’ll help.

The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was built in the 1960’s by the Army Corp
of Eng. It was built under massive protest by the citizens of New Orleans
and Saint Bernard Parish. Seams like all of the O’l Cajuns here knew more
about mother nature than some degreed stiff working for the Fed. It was
long thought that in the event of a Hurricane that approached the city East
of the mouth of the river, would cause a huge tidal surge that would enter
the MRGO and flood the city, which it did…for the second time.

It was
also known by the Coon Asses that having that constant flow of water through
the MRGO would eventually deplete the marsh land that acted as a natural
barrier for the city. As predicted, this is exactly what happened to St.
Bernard Parish and New Orleans East.

As for the levees, the Army Corp of Engineer in an unprecedented fashion,
admitted to the flaws in the design of the levees…

So like the broken clock that is correct once a day, you right, many deaths
could have been avoided…assuming the levees were built right in the first
place and the MRGO should have never existed.

As for President Bush, I am not saying it’s his fault. Only narrow minded
neocons see things that way. It was however his decision to put his old oil
buddy Brownie in place, and it was also his decision to combine FEMA with
the HLS.

It’s his fucking country, His responsibility and his utter fucking failure.
Right?

RHINO928 · September 3, 2006, 1:03am

[quote]yorik wrote:
rainjack wrote:
That’s absolute bullshit. It’s Nagin’s fucking city. His responsibity and his utter fucking failure.

Abso- mutha-fuckin’ -lutely.

It’s just like a bunch of tit-sucking liberals to blame the Fed when many many deaths could have been avoided had Nagin acted in a semi-responsible manner.

We have a multi-tiered government. Local, county, state, federal. It’s a basic principle of the constitution that the fed stays out of state and local affairs, but every POS runs off to blame the fed when things go awry.

You can rationalize and blame Bush all you want, but the Gov and the Mayor have blood on their hands.

That’s a bit extreme, but probably true nonetheless. The first ones to screw up were the local, county and state authorities. And Nagin was right there in the middle of the screw up.

[/quote]

You live in the most FEMA funded state in the country.

The Feds built the failed levees and the MRGO but yopu don’t know shit about that, so I forgive you.

RHINO928 · September 3, 2006, 1:05am

[quote]Professor X wrote:
rainjack wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
I stubbed my toe. Must be Bush’s fault.