My husband teaches at a Maritime Academy. Lots of military

[kiraboo]

and ex-military faculty and staff. These guys were sitting around shaking their heads and wondering why the hell they hadn't been called up to help. "I mean, we're trained to deal with this stuff," he was told by a marine. There is a consensus that something very frightening is going on and that it has nothing to do with an "inability" to handle this disaster. These are military folk who last year voted for Bush, and they have finally figured out that he is an incompetent criminal. To my mind this is a clear sign that he's lost every shred of credibility.

[iconoclastic cat]

1. "something very frightening is going on"

Could you clarify what exactly they think this something is?

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. They figured it out in another thread. Disaster relief has been

privatized. Blackwater is already sending folks in.

-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[RedEarth]

10. Disaster relief privatized?....

that is absolutely unbelievable...do you happen to have a link.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I can dig up that other thread..

Here ya go.. link is dailykos: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4570927

-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[RedEarth]

16. Thank you.....

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. You bet. We need to come down HARD on this and make sure

people know what is going on.


-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[jody]

20. One helicopter is not serious. That announcement is just hype. n/t

[Lost4words]

2. Its about fiicking time, stolen elections should have given them a clue!

I will never forget SCOTUS December 12, 2000 handing our future over to George W Bush, what a nightmare this all has been!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Tace]

3. I Wonder What That "Something Very Frightening" Is

Aside from the usual diabolical stuff that we've become used to, I wonder if Dick Cheney is seriously ill.

There's been some speculation on the board this morning that Cheney suffered a heart attack or stroke and that this threw Bushco into disarray for the past several days.

[Boomer]

8. or something far worse

As a friend of mine just speculated:

BushCo has been stockpiling all these resources for a "September surprise" that has been in the planning. Their focus on that event has made them slow to give up the resources.

[kiraboo]

9. Well, that's the question. They were talking about the possibilities.

The sense is that we are seeing the tangible results of a tremendous shift in... philosophy, I guess you would call it. The notion that it's every man for himself, the poor are expendable and that we have to get used to the idea that we are on our own. That government is no longer "government" but rather just a vehicle for increasing personal wealth. It sounds trite but the impact on Americans would be huge.

[MADem]

5. Yep, they get it, they have for a while, frankly

I am retired Navy, and I do not know a soul who thinks this goverment is competent. My friends at the Pentagon in uniform are nothing short of disgusted.

I did not come in via the Maritime Academy route, but my late father went to King's Point, and a cousin to Mass Maritime. Good solid education you get at those outfits--a kid coming out of there who goes USN is an asset to any skipper, they really know their stuff.

[kiraboo]

11. You got it. We're in Maine. Any grad coming from the school

can expect immediate hire in a good-paying position. And they are a super bunch of kids.

[Bob3]

6. is there someone they can contact and ask why

They haven't been called up? Maybe that could get things moving. Hell it's worth a shot even if it isn't standard procedure.

[MADem]

7. Rummy has to TELL them before they can go

and FEMA has to ask. And Chimpy has to give the thumbs up.

Otherwise, all they can do is sit and stew. It sucks.

[kiraboo]

14. I'll suggest it, if they haven't acted on the idea already. n/t

[Just Me]

13. I've been in several natural disasters. Assistance was deployed,...

,...IMMEDIATELY!!! What the hell is going on here? :mad:

[TahitiNut]

15. It's like we gave these people the reins of the Budweiser Beer Wagon.

With the finest 8-horse hitch in the world, all they could think of doing is guzzling the beer while the wagon runs into the ditches.

After 35 years in Korporate Amrika, I've never seen a more incompetent set of executives in my life! Every person in the regime is selected for their appetites, not their abilities. Lockstep reichbots with absolutely no demonstrated competence in the areas they've been given charge of.

[Lindsay]

18. Amen, TahitiNut.

Just horrible that what we've known in our hearts since the selection of 2000 has had to be demonstrated this way.

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Blackwater Security is being sent in. n/t

[Pallas180]

21. whose paying for private security?

.

[insane_cratic_gal]

22. My Husband is Navy

His whole command (50ish of so in pittsburgh) is steaming pissed off at BushCo for their lack of response and support.

I can tell ya when stuff like that happens.. most of the military is chewing at the bit to get out there and help out, day 5 and the truman is leaving. On 9/11 the ships in the Navy yard (Norfolk VA) were out in the middle of the atlantic an hour after the plane crashed, loaded with sailors.