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My lack of respect for the current administration knows no bounds, yet the lack grows deeper every day.
I want to apologize to every European I have ever told to STFU when they insulted us for being Americans. I never thought we were as bad as all that, but the Katrina disaster has shown what a hollow people we can be. When there is a crisis overseas and we send help, we look like the good guys, even more so because we control what kind of info comes out of that area. Our country makes damn sure we look like good guys.
On our own soil, not so much. Now, I know Bush is not responsible for a hurricane. (Ben Stein, you only prove what a clueless fucking asshole you are when you say things like that. Good God man, get your head out of your ample ass.) What Bush is, much to my dismay, is the leader of this country. As such, it is his responsibility to take care of this country from the top. From things I have seen and heard, there was a huge dropping of the ball that occurred, and ultimately, the man in charge is responsible. That's what comes when you hold your hand up and make that pledge. It doesn't mean you get all the power and the goodies, but when something goes wrong, you don't get the heat. You can say that the military leaders were making the decisions, but you are in charge of them. That means when they fuck up, you get the heat.
Now, I know an awful lot of folks are very willing to put the blame on the victims. Why didn't they leave when they were told to get out? Two reasons: first, a whole hell of a lot of them had no funds with which to leave. In that respect, yes...the blame can be put on the shoulders of the city officials of LA. They should have organized buses days ahead of time and evacuated those who wished to leave. The second reason is that Nawlins has weathered hurricanes before, some much worse, and been okay. In fact, I remember watching the news the day after the hurricane and people were celebrating because the hurricane had swerved and not done as much damage as it could have.
All this was as expected, until the levees broke. Suddenly people were caught unprepared and had to be rescued. Many died, which would have been a tragedy enough, but it would have been accidental. No one, save for the engineers who have been screaming about the levees for years, would have thought to place blame on anyone for them breaking and the rapid flooding of the city.
What happened after that...that is the tragedy beyond measure and what makes me sick to death of those in charge of our country. The National Guard and the Marines are so geared toward riot and terrorist control, they have forgotten how to be anything else. They "secured" the city, herding thousands into shelters like the Dome. Told to guard the streets from looters, they had the right to shoot people who were breaking into stores for the food and water. Word from these guards is that the looting was along the lines of basic necessities. Frankly, all the images I have seen on the news shows people running out of stores with water. Not one of them was carrying a damned TV!
I heard conditions were horrendous inside the Dome, and all I could think of was "I would have just left." Well, apparently that was not an option. Once inside, armed guards would drag you bodily back inside if you tried to leave. Without giving those people food or water, they held them prisoner for days. My God...we don't treat known terrorists that badly. Reporters were free to come in and leave, but they were not allowed to bring children water, food or medicine. The Red Cross arrived with trucks of supplies, doctors and ambulances, but were turned away by the same people who would not let anyone leave.
Excuse me, what was the objective of the Dome? What were your orders? Secure the city? Okay, done. When is it a good time to let the relief effort start? See this...is why I could never, ever be in the military in any capacity. I can actually think for myself. There is no fucking way I could have turned away relief effort for thousands of trapped people because my SO had not given me the magic word yet. What kind of training do we have our people undergo that they function like this? I can almost understand the orders not to let folks leave. Things sounded pretty terrible out in the streets and for their own safety staying might be a good idea. But to not let in relief effort? Water? For days on end? What the hell is that?
As a Northerner, I was under the impression we had gone down to provide help. My government, on the other hand, went down like the area was occupied by hostile forces. Granted, there were some people who were being hostile, shooting at relief helicopters. Those people should be shot. However, what good was a relief helicopter if none of its supplies were ever going to be given out? Why were convoys of trucks carrying supplies barred from areas that were "secure" and told to go back? Why was Geraldo Rivera screaming across the nations airwaves that children were dying from lack of water, and my government, headed by Bush, decided it was best to wait?
My respect for Ted Kopple went up a notch. Ted Kopple was interviewing some official spokesman and asked why it took so long for the relief to reach those who needed it. Spokesman made excuses, saying at first no one knew how bad it was. Ted countered that the press knew it, that they had been showing it for days. Why wasn't the government watching the news? Spokesman sputtered and let everyone see just how unbelievably lame the current administration is. You go, Ted.
You could argue that once the city was secure, it took a while for the chain of command to get to the point of actually letting the relief begin. That is a bunch of horse shit, plain and simple. The relief was at the fucking door, and we posses the technology to communicate instantly. As soon as Bush and the rest of them in charge knew about the needs of those people, they should have given the order to open the fucking doors and let in the food and water.
But they didn't. And as an American, I'm asking why.
I want to apologize to every European I have ever told to STFU when they insulted us for being Americans. I never thought we were as bad as all that, but the Katrina disaster has shown what a hollow people we can be. When there is a crisis overseas and we send help, we look like the good guys, even more so because we control what kind of info comes out of that area. Our country makes damn sure we look like good guys.
On our own soil, not so much. Now, I know Bush is not responsible for a hurricane. (Ben Stein, you only prove what a clueless fucking asshole you are when you say things like that. Good God man, get your head out of your ample ass.) What Bush is, much to my dismay, is the leader of this country. As such, it is his responsibility to take care of this country from the top. From things I have seen and heard, there was a huge dropping of the ball that occurred, and ultimately, the man in charge is responsible. That's what comes when you hold your hand up and make that pledge. It doesn't mean you get all the power and the goodies, but when something goes wrong, you don't get the heat. You can say that the military leaders were making the decisions, but you are in charge of them. That means when they fuck up, you get the heat.
Now, I know an awful lot of folks are very willing to put the blame on the victims. Why didn't they leave when they were told to get out? Two reasons: first, a whole hell of a lot of them had no funds with which to leave. In that respect, yes...the blame can be put on the shoulders of the city officials of LA. They should have organized buses days ahead of time and evacuated those who wished to leave. The second reason is that Nawlins has weathered hurricanes before, some much worse, and been okay. In fact, I remember watching the news the day after the hurricane and people were celebrating because the hurricane had swerved and not done as much damage as it could have.
All this was as expected, until the levees broke. Suddenly people were caught unprepared and had to be rescued. Many died, which would have been a tragedy enough, but it would have been accidental. No one, save for the engineers who have been screaming about the levees for years, would have thought to place blame on anyone for them breaking and the rapid flooding of the city.
What happened after that...that is the tragedy beyond measure and what makes me sick to death of those in charge of our country. The National Guard and the Marines are so geared toward riot and terrorist control, they have forgotten how to be anything else. They "secured" the city, herding thousands into shelters like the Dome. Told to guard the streets from looters, they had the right to shoot people who were breaking into stores for the food and water. Word from these guards is that the looting was along the lines of basic necessities. Frankly, all the images I have seen on the news shows people running out of stores with water. Not one of them was carrying a damned TV!
I heard conditions were horrendous inside the Dome, and all I could think of was "I would have just left." Well, apparently that was not an option. Once inside, armed guards would drag you bodily back inside if you tried to leave. Without giving those people food or water, they held them prisoner for days. My God...we don't treat known terrorists that badly. Reporters were free to come in and leave, but they were not allowed to bring children water, food or medicine. The Red Cross arrived with trucks of supplies, doctors and ambulances, but were turned away by the same people who would not let anyone leave.
Excuse me, what was the objective of the Dome? What were your orders? Secure the city? Okay, done. When is it a good time to let the relief effort start? See this...is why I could never, ever be in the military in any capacity. I can actually think for myself. There is no fucking way I could have turned away relief effort for thousands of trapped people because my SO had not given me the magic word yet. What kind of training do we have our people undergo that they function like this? I can almost understand the orders not to let folks leave. Things sounded pretty terrible out in the streets and for their own safety staying might be a good idea. But to not let in relief effort? Water? For days on end? What the hell is that?
As a Northerner, I was under the impression we had gone down to provide help. My government, on the other hand, went down like the area was occupied by hostile forces. Granted, there were some people who were being hostile, shooting at relief helicopters. Those people should be shot. However, what good was a relief helicopter if none of its supplies were ever going to be given out? Why were convoys of trucks carrying supplies barred from areas that were "secure" and told to go back? Why was Geraldo Rivera screaming across the nations airwaves that children were dying from lack of water, and my government, headed by Bush, decided it was best to wait?
My respect for Ted Kopple went up a notch. Ted Kopple was interviewing some official spokesman and asked why it took so long for the relief to reach those who needed it. Spokesman made excuses, saying at first no one knew how bad it was. Ted countered that the press knew it, that they had been showing it for days. Why wasn't the government watching the news? Spokesman sputtered and let everyone see just how unbelievably lame the current administration is. You go, Ted.
You could argue that once the city was secure, it took a while for the chain of command to get to the point of actually letting the relief begin. That is a bunch of horse shit, plain and simple. The relief was at the fucking door, and we posses the technology to communicate instantly. As soon as Bush and the rest of them in charge knew about the needs of those people, they should have given the order to open the fucking doors and let in the food and water.
But they didn't. And as an American, I'm asking why.