Stupid Katrina Quotes (off topic)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by garyaiki

Tom Tomorrow exposes the radical leftists behind the Katrina incompetence.
http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=19635

Cute [:)]

Some right extremest are probably thinking the same thing...

[Anonymous]

Tom Tomorrow exposes the radical leftists behind the Katrina incompetence.
http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=19635

[vsmith]

Well I must say it will be interesting to see what happens the next election time in the Big Easy!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

Mike,
As insensitive as this might sound, I think the the fact that Rita might head this way has caused some of the Dome folks to rethink where they have landed, and quite a few have found realitives a lot futher inland...

But there is a little panic going on here, a buddy of mine works at Home Depot, he called this afternoon, wanting to know if I needed him to hide some plywood for me...it didnt click...till he told me people were lined up out the front door to by the stuff.
Batterys, water coolers, rope, tarps and tape are going fast too!

Unless Rita stalls out over this part of Texas, I think it will do just like most of them, flood parts of Freeport, make Galveston's West end a mess, flood the low parts of IH10, and all the underpases in Houston...unless it rains long and hard up hill from you guys, I dont think you have a lot to worry about.

At least, I cant remember the Colorado river getting out of its banks around there, although that little horse farm down under the bridge on the north west side of IH10 looks like it might flood easy...

So unless Rita does like Tropical Storm Allison, and sits on top of us, dropping 2 to 4 inches of rain an hour, for 24 hours, I think we can ride her out...

On the other hand, if the Houston Emergency Management says its turned this way, and is above a cat 3, and they reccomend leaving, then keep your eyes peeled for a black Dodge Magnum Station wagon...I will honk as we go through, heading to my sister's house in the hills outside of San Antonio!

As my middle daughter like to say, "Dad, your old, but not stupid"...

Ed

It seems like Houston is doing a lot better job of preparing than NO. Have a nice trip to SA. I might see you on the way to Kerrville.

m

[AntonioFP45]

Amtrak offered its services; F R E E ! Air conditioned trains: Turned down by the mayor.

Suggestion was submitted that the school buses be used: Turned down by the mayor! Not good enough! Mayor wanted Greyhound buses and wanted them now!

RED ALERT! Scott to Captain Kirk; there's a Brainless Clump off the port bow!

There's enough blame to go all the way around, but IMHO, this mayor has absolutely no business being in charge of a city! A leader that steps up to the plate and says: "Yes, no doubt I made some bad judgement calls, but here's what we're going to do to help fix this situation.." earns a lot of respect, even from his critics. This gentleman is incredibly inept and spineless.

In all honesty had this sitation happened here in my hometown with the mayor taking the same actions, I probably would have been arrested since I would have been yelling in council meetings to have this clown removed from office asap.

It does anger me that the biased media seems to be ignoring the mayor's "in-action". Here sure does have a big mouth [soapbox]and amazingly manages to say nothing of value! He did a good job of burning oxygen with it. [banghead]

I don't agree with many of President Bush's policies, but if blame is going to be on that level, then we need to reel in Clinton, Bush senior, and Carter. The levee problem has existed all of these years and officials have known that New Orleans was going to get "slammed" by a punch-packing storm sooner or later.[B)]

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by blhanel

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

get those engineers from Holland over here to show us how to build levee systems that work.

Uh, I've yet to see a Cat 4 hurricane make it to Holland...

The North Sea ahs quite a few storms of Hurricane strength. The Point being that they have an effective and reliable system that is also compartmentalized like a ship, so a failure of one will not cause the system to breakdown.

I'm with Vic. Raze the the city now. Let the folks in grab what's left, then start bulldozing. Use the remains as part of the fill to build up and out into strenghtened levies. Anything that was underwater is a loss. Suck it up and press on.

One of the things that bothers me is the attitude...Gulfport, Pass Christian....we're going to clean up and rebuild..here's what WE'RE going to do. NOLA...what's the government going to do for us...the entitlement mentality continues.

By the way...IMHO...some of the stupidest Katrina quotes have been made on this forum.

Dan

[Junctionfan]

I think they have had nasty hurricanes in the past. Anybody know what kind of strength the typhoons have that have hit Japan?

[blhanel]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

get those engineers from Holland over here to show us how to build levee systems that work.

Uh, I've yet to see a Cat 4 hurricane make it to Holland...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

Another stupid mistake by the mayor of NO was telling the people it was OK to come back,when the infrastructure of the city was still in shambles.As soon as the people got back,they had to be told to leave again,partly because of hurricane Rita.

Add to that, President Bush also said that it was too soon to go back. DO YOU THINK, the mayor and the govenor have a plan for this next huriccane or are they thinking it is still up to the feds and FEMA to take care of them. If he is putting poeple in harms way and not prepared, well I think that borders on criminal negligence. But hey, that's just my pre-Monday quaterbacking...

[espeefoamer]

Another stupid mistake by the mayor of NO was telling the people it was OK to come back,when the infrastructure of the city was still in shambles.As soon as the people got back,they had to be told to leave again,partly because of hurricane Rita.

[vsmith]

I still say RAISE the city, do it now while its vacant, move out the salvagable frame buildings and truck in the dirt to raise the city above sea level, either that, or get those engineers from Holland over here to show us how to build levee systems that work. Will either happen? I doubt it....all I saw last week was a concern by NO officials to get everything back to the status quo as if nothing happened, which can't possibly happen with half the city still flooded and filth everywhere.

[oltmannd]

Wouldn't a lot of that $400,000 go for shared infrastructure like levees, water, sewer, electric, public buildings, etc.?

Although, the gov't probably would be better just making a payment and getting out of the way. Way back in the 1980s, the city of Phila accidently burned down a city block (anyone remember MOVE?). The city then paid to rebuild all the housing. The letting out of city money for contracts was (is?) a well honed political skill in Phila. When all was said and done, they spent over $200,000 for homes worth $100,000 - and got shoddy workmanship to boot.

If they're gonna rebuild and repair houses in NOLA, then I'd like to see them channel the money through outfits like Habitat for Humanity. A little "sweat equity" is never a bad thing - the money will go farther if coupled with volunteer labor - the accontabillity will be greater and more simply done than if the gov't has to let out contracts.

And, coupling the donees closely to the donors builds a sense of community and removes the stigma of entitlement.

[garr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dthurman

Simple, hurricane, a bad one took out man's attempts at controlling mother nature. We lost.

dthurman is 100% correct.

Regardless of the best laid plans, mother nature always has other ideas.

After the storm, the monday morning quarterbacks have had the advantage of 20/20 vision. I am sure that everyone would have behaved differently if they knew beforehand the after effects of Katrina. But we are only human and no one that I know of has an accurate crystal ball (well maybe Sister Ann but thats another story).

The government studies giving the worst case scenario were fairly accurate. However, people's free will is what caused the majority of the problems that we saw in the days after the storm. Any storm for that matter. There is always that faction that choose to ride out the storm thinking that the worst will not happen to them. In this storm, the worst did happen to a large number of them.

In hindsight, I imagine, the mayor of NO would have stocked and prepared the Super Dome ,Convention Center, and other shelters quite differently. New Orleans' emergency vehicles, heavy equipment, and busses would have been positioned out of harms way so that they could be driven into the damaged area sooner since, after all, it is the local municapality's responsibility to be first responder.

In hindsight, I imagine, the governor of Louisiana would have not delayed in her request for the National Guard to be activated and for US troops to be brought in by the federal government.

In hindsight, I imagine, the President would have kept FEMA seperate from HSA.

But once politics gets involved, all logic goes away. Finger pointing starts. One- up-man-ship continues. Positioning for the next election overshadows the human effects.

Over reaction by politicians, trying to correct their perceived failures, is going to hurt all of us. The $200 billion rebuilding is equivalent to a one time payment of $400,000 dollars to each evacuee from New Orleans.

If given the option of moving back to New Orleans to an 8/29/05 life or getting a check for $400,00 and relocating, which would you choose and which do you think most evacuees would choose?

Jay

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by richardy

Now we have a radical group claiming the levees were bombed by the government (aka Bush).

That would be Farakann (sp) of course he says there is a large mothership orbiting the earth. I am expecting the lunatic fringe to start saying the Illuminati and all this NWO stuff is getting their downsizing of the planet in action.

Of course that blowing up of the levee was aimed at the poor and minority groups, all the rich and "white" folks were to be left alone. Pretty insane.

Simple, hurricane, a bad one took out man's attempts at controlling mother nature. We lost.

[richardy]

Now we have a radical group claiming the levees were bombed by the government (aka Bush).

[edblysard]

Mike,
As insensitive as this might sound, I think the the fact that Rita might head this way has caused some of the Dome folks to rethink where they have landed, and quite a few have found realitives a lot futher inland...

But there is a little panic going on here, a buddy of mine works at Home Depot, he called this afternoon, wanting to know if I needed him to hide some plywood for me...it didnt click...till he told me people were lined up out the front door to by the stuff.
Batterys, water coolers, rope, tarps and tape are going fast too!

Unless Rita stalls out over this part of Texas, I think it will do just like most of them, flood parts of Freeport, make Galveston's West end a mess, flood the low parts of IH10, and all the underpases in Houston...unless it rains long and hard up hill from you guys, I dont think you have a lot to worry about.

At least, I cant remember the Colorado river getting out of its banks around there, although that little horse farm down under the bridge on the north west side of IH10 looks like it might flood easy...

So unless Rita does like Tropical Storm Allison, and sits on top of us, dropping 2 to 4 inches of rain an hour, for 24 hours, I think we can ride her out...

On the other hand, if the Houston Emergency Management says its turned this way, and is above a cat 3, and they reccomend leaving, then keep your eyes peeled for a black Dodge Magnum Station wagon...I will honk as we go through, heading to my sister's house in the hills outside of San Antonio!

As my middle daughter like to say, "Dad, your old, but not stupid"...

Ed

[garr]

I will start off by saying that I am not a big fan of George Bush. I think that he is too liberal fiscally and has wasted way too much effort trying to befriend the "major" media and the ultra liberals in congress during his time in office.

That being said, blaming Bush for the levy failures is absurd. I am not a civil engineer or bureaucrat, but I dare say the levies in NO would have been exactly the way they were on 8/30/05 even if funding for the reinforcement and strenghtening of the levies had been approved on the first day of his first term as president.

If in doubt, look at any other massive project the government attempts. First, the enviromental impact reports have to be done. Then the suits and/or battles with the enviromentalists and NIMBY's have to progress. Bids have to be compiled. Etc. My guess is that a decade would pass before the first spade of dirt was turned.

Stupid Quote from the mayor of New Orleans--"No thanks"-in response to Amtrak's offer for 900 people to leave on the last train evacuating equipment before the storm.

Jay

[Junctionfan]

Hurricane Phillipe is lurking about somewhere too but right now isn't a problem.......but......you never know.

What kind of path was Ophelia on? If you looked at its path, it looks like someone was intoxicated while driving it. (loopty-loops)

[Anonymous]

Hey Vic,
I moved back down to South Central Texas in '81, and nothing's happened up to now, so it ain't MY fault.


m

[vsmith]

Man, What did you guys down south there do to **** off the Big Man upstairs so much?

[Anonymous]

What if....
I don't know how they can do it, but they're already predicting Houston is in the "crosshairs" of Hurricane Rita. Now, we've got all these Louisisana folks scattered all over this part of Texas. I'm a high school teacher in Columbus, about 75 miles west of Houston, and we have several students from Louisiana of all ages. So, what happens if it's a category 3 or 4 hurricane? What do we do with the folks we already have from Louisiana and Mississippi? What if the Astrodome blows down? Not likely, but what if? If there already problems like Ed described in Houston, and there ARE, then
what do we do?

Help me out Ed, as far as I"m concerned, on here you're our resident Gulf Coast Guru...What's gonna happen?

Or am I being paranoid?


mike

[vsmith]

Any way you look at it, its a screwed up mess,

I think almost everyone involved from the Mayor right up to the President all have a stink on their hands that they dont know how there going to wash off. It will be interesting to see in the coming months who keeps their heads and who get the King Louis the18th treatment.

[DSchmitt]

[quote
Actually, people DID anticipate the breach of the levees. Serious faults in the ability of the levees to protect against a storm surge of a category 3 or higher had been grievances addressed by congress as far back as two years ago, but due to funding cuts (which BUSH was behind), the money wasn't there and the grievances weren't addressed, as a result, the levees stood up like toothpicks against a firehose. Bush's statement just shows how completely incompetent and clueless he was in this scenario. ANd the fault in an untimely response IS WITH HIM, not Nagin. Nagin is a flake, too, but he has a sliver of a fraction of the power that the president has. WHen a natural disaster occurs, it's the president's job to get his butt down there and address it - funding, national guard, etc.

[edblysard]

Iagree in part...rolling FEMA into the Homeland security, which sound so much like the Fatherland that it gives me chills, was a big mistake.

I truly think, once the levees broke, that the Mayor of New Orleans was a null factor, his city and power base, the very thing he was mayor of, was gone.

But the Governor of Louisiana should have, the instant she was informed of the breaches, picked up the phone, called the President, and told him to declare a state of emergency and get the Guard there pronto...she didn’t, she stalled, trying to see if it could be handled in house, which of course it couldn’t, and by the time they figured that out...it was all over but for the finger pointing, name calling..and who ever has the best spin doctor will win.


Ed

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dthurman

vsmith

I see, so the Mayor and the Govenor didn't really need to look at the worst case senerio, since it was going to be FEMA's job? Also I think you really need to look a little deeper on how the mess was started, if they really felt the Dome was the safety net, then why wasn't someone there to control things, dispense food and water, control the mob mentality? Again another pass the buck opinion that is based on I am sure some other agenda. Why wasn't Clinton in Chicago years ago during the heat wave that killed 500 people, I mean that was a natural disaster, I don't think we once saw a tear come from him, but is he not all over a this current problem. Read today's New York Times and get a little more scoop on the facts and the blame. That's probably asking too much though since it would focus blame away from the Bush family, and we/you can't have that.

Dave (tired of the rhetoric)

If you read all of my post I do point out that the Mayor and the Govenor DID make mistakes, serious ones, but they were making judgements based on what their experience with past hurricanes led them to believe were the correct, but eventually wrong, decisions (like the lack of supplies and control at the Superdome). BUT the funding cuts for levee reinforcing, the lousy FEMA response and the lack of overall coordination are a direct reflection on the way FEMA had been reorganized under the current administration, its as simple as that, and as a result, the President, as the leader of the current administration IS ultimately responsible for the policies and directives that resulted in a poorly run FEMA responce. He even took resposiblity for those mistakes that were made. Are you going to say the President was wrong in admitting to the poor Federal responce?

If you want to ask about Clinton's responce to the Chicago's heat wave (Did the mayor ever declare a state of emergency and request federal aid?) I'll ask where was W when his buddies at Enron were raping and pillaging California's energy market back in 2000? He stood by while our tax payed budget was decimated by his personal friend Ken Lay and his private corporate piracy acting with impunity without the intervention of the Federal administration. I really wonder if this would have occured if a republican was govenor. Still waiting for that Emergency Declaration....Besides BOTH have NOTHING to do with this topic.

Bergie? are on countdown yet? 99,98.97,96....

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fuzzybroken

I'll try not to turn this into some big ridiculous political rant...

QUOTE: Originally posted by CSXrules4eva

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina (Source)

OF COURSE no one anticipated the breach of the levees! The French that decided to build N.O. almost 300 years ago where it was didn't anticipate the breach of the levees! "Hmmm, let's build a city with a lake on one side, a mighty river on another side, and the ocean on another side! And it will be below sea level!" Hello!!! Anybody see anything wrong with this picture??? Anybody???

But everybody points the finger at the president. It's ALWAYS his fault. He should have been out there on the levee, with his flowing roba and staff, keeping the storm waters away from the city, right? Wouldn't the ACLU have had fun with that one...???

QUOTE: 2) "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)

So? Many of the refugees (oh wait, we can't call them that, 'cuz it's somehow "racist" -- knobs) here in Wisconsin want to stay! Can you blame them!?? High and dry vs. living in the shadow of the sea... sounds like a no-brainer to me! And it sounds like the former first lady is smart enough to realize a tremendous opportunity for a lot of people as a result of the disaster.

I really don't care for the way that the president is getting the blame for a NATURAL DISASTER. This of course was followed by a lot of BUREAUCRATIC INCOMPETENCE, which was also not the president's fault! [banghead] I'm sure if he had his way, there wouldn't be any of said incompetence, but he's not the king, he's the president!!! There's a lot of other knobs in the middle -- most of them also elected by the people -- that need to be moved aside LONG BEFORE this "horrible president that we have". [V][:(!][V][:(!][V][:(!]

I thought this topic was about stupid quotes, not truths from some of the best-educated leaders in this country. Get better sources next time.

Actually, people DID anticipate the breach of the levees. Serious faults in the ability of the levees to protect against a storm surge of a category 3 or higher had been grievances addressed by congress as far back as two years ago, but due to funding cuts (which BUSH was behind), the money wasn't there and the grievances weren't addressed, as a result, the levees stood up like toothpicks against a firehose. Bush's statement just shows how completely incompetent and clueless he was in this scenario. ANd the fault in an untimely response IS WITH HIM, not Nagin. Nagin is a flake, too, but he has a sliver of a fraction of the power that the president has. WHen a natural disaster occurs, it's the president's job to get his butt down there and address it - funding, national guard, etc.

As for Barbara Bush, Marie Antoinette couldn't have said it better.

Look, political discussions can get really nasty really fast and I'd otherwise want to refrain from voicing my opinion. Many of you who are Bush-supporters, we would be friends if we met in real life and didn't discuss politics. But it's hard for me to hear things I know are false being stated as fact. So please, can we just let this die and talk about trains again?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dthurman

vsmith
Read today's New York Times and get a little more scoop on the facts and the blame.

Well today’s NYT has an article about stories of rape and murder in New Orleans that have been latched onto by those who can’t imagine this President should ever be held accountable for anything.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/business/media/19carr.html

Surprise, surprise! So far these stories can’t be verified. Seems someone made them up to change the subject. No one could have anticipated that.[X-)]

[Anonymous]

vsmith

I see, so the Mayor and the Govenor didn't really need to look at the worst case senerio, since it was going to be FEMA's job? Also I think you really need to look a little deeper on how the mess was started, if they really felt the Dome was the safety net, then why wasn't someone there to control things, dispense food and water, control the mob mentality? Again another pass the buck opinion that is based on I am sure some other agenda. Why wasn't Clinton in Chicago years ago during the heat wave that killed 500 people, I mean that was a natural disaster, I don't think we once saw a tear come from him, but is he not all over a this current problem. Read today's New York Times and get a little more scoop on the facts and the blame. That's probably asking too much though since it would focus blame away from the Bush family, and we/you can't have that.

Dave (tired of the rhetoric)

[vsmith]

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina (Source)
They've known for years the levees were weak, the Army Corp of Engineers all but begged to get funding to reinforce them, but the current admin had turned them down time and time again while funding pork barrel project for their own party members. Anyone seen the costs on the bridge to nowhere?

2) "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)

Unfortunatly this just shows a simple disconnect from the reality of the situation, not to surprising and I'm sure she regrets it now in hindsight, It was a VERY stupid thing to say

By not funding levee repairs the Bush Admin, like other admin's, was gambling on the unthinkable not happening under thier watch, it did, Strike 1. FEMA was rolled into the Homeland Security Dept and gutted of all its Clinton era disaster relieve abilities and personel and funding in a blind attempt to cover "terrorist" threats even though a natural disaster like a Hurricane was far more likely to occur, Strike 2. and Finally Once the President has declared a State of Emergency IT BECOMES FEMAS RESPOSIBILITY, plain and simple, to coordinate relieve to the striken area, which given FEMAs unqualified politically appointed leader promptly squandered all ability to coordinate and establish control, again plain and simple, They BLEW IT, BIG TIME!

Doesnt matter what if the Mayor didnt evacuate everyone, DOnt forget the warning to get out and get out now! warnings WERE issued before the storm hit, the SUperdome was always used as a refuge, they were basing their decisions to house those who couldnt leave on that premise that it has been a safe refuge before, and IT DID shelter all those refugees...BUT once the storm was over, can you blame the mayor for it taking over a week for the Nat Guard to arrive? even after Andrew it only took 3 dayr for the Guard to arrive? Thats FEMA job to coordinate, which they Blew...Strike 3 hit the showers Mr Brown

No matter many people try to Morning Quarterback it and no matter how many people try to blame the Mayor or the Govenor (which both did make mistakes in HINDSIGHT that they may never have thought of WHILE THE EVENT was occurring) FEMA dropped the ball big time in the post disaster timeframe, they are still having trouble, not much if any relief has reached parts of Misssissippi. Bush appointed the former head of FEMA, his admin rolled it into the Homeland Security Dept, he appointed the people that gutted the program, and in doing so was resposible for the departure of all the disaster experienced personel from the department and their replacement with political flunkies. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. They screwed the pooch! They set all the elements into place for this botch up to occur. Politicians should NEVER place Dogmatic Loyaty before real experience, yet this admin seams to excel at it, thats why I have NO sympathy for George, Barb, Mike, or any of these Bozos.

If you voted for them, you're getting what you pay for.


PS Bergie's gonna have a fit when he reads this topic[:0]