BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture These people in New Orleans

John the Just. The article hit the nail on the head. The Welfare State, from cradle to grave. Nothing is to be expected.

That's horrifying! No wonder its a warzone down there. And the "shoot-to kill" orders make a lot more sense, too.

I love America, and I still think that there is much more good than bad here, but we are almost as bad with our "propaganda" as any communist state ever was- even with free media. Heck, they make it worse - they only report what's "SENSATIONAL"!

You should read some of the articles about people who volunteer in Houston to aid these people at the Astrodome or other places.

John,

interesting report but did not say everything. It was terrible that FEMA and its boss - Brown - did not do anything. I saw some interviews with this guy - he did not make any sense at all. He was saying as like he did not knwo what was going on a week after disaster happened.

Why nobody was giving this people food and water (when Brown was asked he said "good question")

Why for two days after the hurricane but when New Orleans was not yet flooded - they did not do anything with the people in the superdome??!!??

This guy - Brown and also many others are completely incomeptent, he was before some horce race management.

Now, FEMA is getting some 50 bln dollars - where these money would go?

In this article there is a mention of FoxNews. FoxNews only agenda was to show that these people in New Orleans are dangerous, uncivilized etc. But - maybe you would be more civilized if you'd get some water to drink, food to eat and bed to sleep.

This is really a distaste to watch how poor America is treated - not any better than Haiti.

It seems more and more that the USA is run in the same way as communistic Poland. People who support the current government or a current political agenda become leaders and directors - without any expertise whatsoever! <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

here is more about how incompetent people get their jobs:

Mr. Brown is incompetent but loyal, devoted to protecting the image of George W. Bush. Last week, Mr. Brown lied that FEMA had not known that levees around New Orleans could give way if a major hurricane struck.

Before he began working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown spent a decade enforcing rules for the International Arabian Horse Association. And people wonder why FEMA did so poorly last year in Florida and last week on the Gulf Coast. Along with the rebuilding of that region must come the rebuilding of FEMA, and that must begin with the firing of Michael Brown.

How incompetent is Mr. Brown? Last Thursday, he said FEMA hadn't known that people were stranded at the New Orleans convention center, even though CNN had had the story on the air Wednesday. We know Mr. Bush doesn't read newspapers, but can't someone watch TV every now and then? This, though, is what happens when you put an unqualified political appointee into an important job and keep him there.

Mr. Brown got to FEMA not because he knew anything about disaster relief. He was a friend of Joe Allbaugh, who with Karl Rove and Karen Hughes formed the troika that ran President Bush's 2000 campaign. Mr. Bush put Mr. Allbaugh, who also had no relevant experience, in charge of FEMA, and Mr. Allbaugh hired Mr. Brown as general counsel. In March 2003, Mr. Allbaugh formed a consulting company to help clients "evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq." President Bush then let Mr. Brown start running FEMA.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/09/07/a14a_brown_edit_0907.html

Just John,

Thanks for posting the article. It makes for interesting reading and it is nice to see another perspective. It is, however, full of holes of logic and makes some mighty leaps of faith to come to the conclusions it so ardently seeks.

Forgetting party politics in trying to assign blame for a moment, it is quite normal for the governor of a state to call out the State National Guard in times of emergency. It seems he did not do that for a rather long time. Now the president of the US can nationalize it and take control, but that is usually secondary or an action of the president must call in reinforcements of National Guard from surrounding states to get the right mix of machines and manpower to accomplish what must be done. Now we do have something of a problem with many of the Guard on duty in Iraq, but that can be worked out. Having military vehicles on scene is nothing new, they are built tough and are at hand and are great for rescue and transport under the worst of circumstances. I wish the Marines had some of their amphibious vehicles in New Orleans rather than in the desert dust. They might have given us quicker response capability in flooded areas.

The federal role is primarily through FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They are the trained and practiced agency that is to take charge and spend federal money to handle the emergency and coordinate the many agencies that become part of the rescue and recovery team. Now having a political lawyer as appointee of the head of FEMA is about the dumbest thing I can think of. You not only need a good manager with extraordinary nerves, but you need one who knows well how coordinate all of the resources at his command, and one who will listen to his commander in the field. If he will not give the Incident Commander in the field full rein, then he must take over the position and step up to the hot seat himself � but then with professionals that should rarely be necessary. Bush should fire the lawyer and make his next appointee a fully qualified individual. The nation needs nothing less.

Looting and shooting is nothing unusual in America. It has been around as long as people have been around, predating this nation by a few thousand years. Shooting looters is a great American tradition, and one that I hope continues strongly. We should give Darwin�s law every assist in sorting out this scum from our gene pool.

As for the rape and the pillage that the author so enthusiastically plays up, it is a normal part of our society. Perhaps foreigners are less surprised than he is that such things happen in America. In the foreign press they read continuously about crime and shooting in America, so it is easy to accept this lawlessness and shooting activity. There are times when I wish we had a larger part of the American population with juvenile delinquency records so they would not present sanctimonious lectures about only the undeserving being somewhat criminal. It seems to permeate our society at all levels, as demonstrated by some impeachable presidents and some money grubbing CEO�s.

The fellow seems to get lost between turning scum loose from prison and them picking on the scum of the earth and some or all of the two groups being part of the society of welfare recipients. If he will sleep any better, he can imagine most of the thousands of lost souls being former scum of the earth and the hurricane being God�s revenge upon America for sinning. I guess when reporters report they should differentiate between working poor and welfare poor. It would help if we branded a �W� into the foreheads of welfare recipients who are on the dole more than 4 years (to choose an arbitrary number. It is negotiable!)

Now to think of it, if I were working poor I would want to stay and protect my few but valuable worldly goods. If I were a welfare recipient, it would pay me to jump on the bus and skedaddle, leaving all that trash behind so I can collect new and fancy stuff.

Somehow I can�t buy into the author�s story, but it does provoke some thought!

Kai the Taxpayer

Ya, know (and I say this as someone who grew up on Welfare) I said this to my husband during the first few days.

Instead of making their situation better, people kept waiting for someone else to do it for them.

Blame, blame, blame flying all over the place. The Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor should have known such a disaster might occur and took no steps to prevent it. Clinton, his administration and the Democrats did nothing to insure that such a storm would have a minimum effect. CNN and the Palm Beach Post should have reported on this storm and flood four (4) weeks ago. Someone fail to wave "The Magic Wand" so all the bad things happened at once.

Bob,

blame Clinton on storm? I guess, Clinton is not in the office for 6 years. Besides, he did not have a congress on his side. Is CLinton so omnipotent that he is still guilty of what going on under Bush?

I guess, blaming Clinton on everything is going out of fashion.

Yes, local government is also guilty but what about this FEMA guy who had NO CLUE?

Honey, it's called "sarcasm." Bob S. made those comments about Clinton in a larger stream of nonsense. It's no more ridiculous to say it's Clinton's fault than Bush's.

Well......I could make a better case against Clinton. He was the president when the survey was done that the levies weren't strong enough.

But......I could also point to the city of NO. They spent federal money sent for the levies to refurbish a Mardi Gras fountain!!!!!!!

So......They were given money, but blew it one something stupid!