Bad Management is Killing People:

[mdguss]

This has been a monumental failure. The government had four years to prepare for this very scenario. There was a really close call last year. And yet nothing was done. Academic study after academic study predicted this total disaster. A government report put a Hurricane hitting New Orleans up there with a terrorist attack on a list of threats to national security. And yet nothing was done.

Apparently, whomever came up with the evacuation plan assumed everybody had cars and the means (cash) to get out of town. It's terribly sad. People who die from this point on aren't dying because of the storm, they're dying because of an ineffective response by our nation's leaders.

Where were the troops? Why didn't the president cancel his political fundraisers? Why weren't buses used to get people out BEFORE the storm? Why did it take four days to start busing people out of New Orleans? Why weren't the cruise ships nationalized (and it's a complete crime that they didn't immediately send the ships into the area; they could be there helping people by now)?

The reason: we have a "leader" in the White House who doesn't ask Americans to sacrafice for our common good. So a Cruise has to be cancelled and Carnival loses a little money. Big fricking deal. Bush allegedly has a degree in management. Unfortunately, he's failed to lead the country and people are dying because of the government's amatuer response to this crisis.

And to think that billions of dollars have been spent over the past four years creating evacuation plans for all major cities (because of the fear of a terrorist attack). I guess that was wasted money. Hopefully things will improve, but it's going to take leadership to make that happen. On 9-11 Guilani did what Bush couldn't do; if Bush can't lead, then maybe Gov. Blanco, Sen. Vitter, or Sen. Landrieu can. People need help; people need a politician that is willing to risk their life, walk down to the convention center, and explain the plan. In New York, Guilani was that politician. So far, New Orleans hasn't been as fortunate.

[Tace]

1. You're Spot On

chrs

[LittleClarkie]

2. I guess they were expected to pick themselves up by their own bootstraps

And those who couldn't do that are assumed to be charity cases, with their hands out, sapping the hard earned wealth of those who had the sense to get out.

How much can you expect the federal government to do after all. This is a state issue.

:sarcasm:

[caligirl]

3. they sent them to the SD and abandoned them. Criminal

[texpatriot2004]

4. Yes, it's killing American people. That makes Bush the evil

dictator...hey,Bush is causing his people to suffer do you think any other country will come and "liberate" us from his poor judgment?

[mdguss]

5. Bush is Just Incompetent, not evil:

I don't think Bush is a dictator (and frankly that rhetoric makes it hard for the Democratic alternative to be heard). He is incompetent though. And incompetence is most certainly an abuse of office.

[texpatriot2004]

7. I disagree. Bush is evil along with those evil people who work

in his administration (ie Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, and Rice). People who can make the kinds of choices that these people have made with such blatant disregard for those being affected by their decisions is evil. Bush is extremely selfish, and self-centered, he is hypocritical, he's self-righteous, he's greedy, he's lazy, he's a liar, he's a thief...all of these things make him evil in my book. His policies against the environment and against the poor, the working poor, and the middle class illustrate these character defects. Plus, his tax cuts for the rich, giving no-bid oil contracts to Halliburton so his friends get the money, lying to America and the world about his real reasons for going to war in Iraq, sending people to die or be wounded with such public indifference to their suffering, contriving the evidence to go to war, misleading Congress (an impeachable offense BTW)...pardon me, what exactly do you think evil is? Bush is EVIL and incompetent!

[formernaderite]

10. Uh....you can either be an evil genius or an honest fool....

there's just no such thing as an evil idiot. I think Bush is evil, not not based on his handling or non handling of this. Incompetency requires stupidity. Nah....I won't give him the benefit of goodness.

[FormerDittoHead]

6. ...and it could easily have been MUCH WORSE in spite of the "spin"

I got into a knife fight with someone regurgitating the talk radio talking points on Craigslist.

He asked, "what could YOU have done better to prevent what's going on"?

The answer: I WOULD HAVE HAD A PLAN

He retorted: How can you plan something like this when they don't even know what the damage is YET? No one can plan a force 5 hurricane! (aside: "force 5 hurricane" suggesting it was something unforeseen is what gave him away)

The POINT is that IT COULD have been MUCH WORSE!

The weather people reported that NOLA "dodged the bullet" from the direct force of the hurricane, but they didn't anticipate the surge...

[tanyev]

8. And we're getting a deeper understanding of why the war

in Iraq has been such a FUBAR too.

[formernaderite]

9. Why weren't the people told to bring their own supplies like in other

states before coming to a shelter? I don't get the management of this from the local level on up. I lived in NC and went through hurricane evacuations. They tell you to bring three days of food and water. If you're planning to ride out the storm...same thing three days of food and water. I know this isn't their first storm, and it has nothing to do with being poor....I have very poor relatives in NC. I spoke to my brother in law who's parents live in Metaire, school buses were bringing people out before the storm who had no transport. Still people stayed. Sorry, this is not just a fed problem...NO certainly didn't have a Giuliani to comandeer this, but frankly I didn't expect the feds to play that role either. Maybe if the mayor had stayed in town himself, he'd know the bad management going on.