Boston has got a whole fleet of amphibious ducks.

[Old and In the Way]

The City of Boston has these huge land/water vehicles that must hold 50 people or so. Probably 20 in their fleet. Why the hell hasn't our government bothered to request these for NO evacuation? They could have been there yesterday.

If I can think of this....why can't the collective braintrust in this administration?

[wli]

1. incompetence does not suffice to explain this

It must be malice.

[madeline_con]

2. It boggles the mind, doesn't it?

how that many supposed pundits can be so stupid.

[fooj]

3. Honestly?

IMO, the rat bastards don't give a shit if anyone else is rescued or not.

Peace.

[displacedtexan]

4. Baltimore and DC have them, too.

They're used for tours.

And they work just fine.

[LosinIt]

5. Hell, our village fire department has one also

it could have been there in a day and an half on a flat bed if it was requested. We live on Lake Ontario/Sodus Bay and they use it for water rescues. It big, old, noisy, and smelly but it runs great and gets the job done.

[OneBlueSky]

6. I posted the very same thing a couple of days ago . . .

that the "authorities" haven't managed to get any of these obviously useful vehicles to NO boggles the mind . . . as does the thorough inadequacy of the entire rescue effort . . .

could it be because most of those needing rescue are people of color? . . .

I keep thinking of Bush asking the president of Brazil "Do you have blacks, too?" . . . he obviously considers non-whites like some kind of non-human creatures that nations "have" . . . disgusting . . .

[BlueStateGirl]

7. We have them here in Philly as well.

[ET Awful]

8. Those aren't owned by the City, that's a private tour company.

They probably would work fairly well for this type of operation though. They're WWII erea amphibious vehicles and, while slow on water, can maneuver fairly well.

Getting them to NO would be a major undertaking though, they aren't capable of very high speeds on land, so driving them there wouldn't really get them there in a timely manner. They could conceivably be airlifted in a cargo plane if there's a close enough operable airport.

[Tesha]

9. And they can't be commandeered? (NT)

[ET Awful]

10. That's not what I said, and, in fact, nowhere did I say they couldn't

be used. I did say getting them there would be a challenge.

[Tesha]

11. They'd fit on a typical "wide loads" transporter. (NT)

[mainegreen]

14. They're from WWII?

As in the Vehicle is from wwii or the design is from wwii.

I always wondered where the\ose things are from. We have one here in portland maine also.

[ET Awful]

15. My understanding is that they date back to WWII. They were bought

as surplus, refurbished, painted, etc.

[losdiablosgato]

12. They would be perfect, but getting them there to time consuming

In Texas there is a marine reserve unit with amphibious armored vehicles that would be better and closer.

[Old and In the Way]

13. So why aren't they on the scene?

I'm sure there must be these type of assets wherever land meets water....why hasn't there been an airlift already?