A Sad Realization Regarding the Recent Colorado Blizzard

[Rage for Order]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_re_us/winter_storms

"Hundreds of National Guard members this week joined local and state officials spread across southeastern Colorado hunting for stranded ranchers and their multibillion-dollar herds of cattle.

Helicopters delivered hundreds of bales of hay across the Oklahoma Panhandle, Kansas and Colorado's rangeland, while ranchers in smaller copters landed near frozen streams and broke up the ice with sledgehammers so their livestock could drink.

Tens of thousands of cattle were caught in the blizzard that dumped up to 3 feet of snow a week ago in eastern Colorado and the Kansas and Nebraska plains.

The storm has left thousands of livestock dead in Colorado, but a more massive die-off appears to have been averted, officials said Thursday. The National Guard was ending its airlifts of hay Thursday, though it planned to continue work on the ground."


So the National Guard can manage to do air-drop food to stranded cattle in Colorado, but they couldn't manage to air-drop food an dwater to those people suffering at the Superdome and NO Convention Center in the days following Katrina. What a sad commentary that is on the current state of affairs in our nation.

[dsc]

1. i thought the same thing when I heard those reports

It is shameful.

[damntexdem]

2. But the explanation is right there in the article:

"stranded ranchers and their multibillion-dollar herds of cattle." After all, the Bushistas do have their priorities.

[earthside]

15. Huge Assumption Here

Just because a rancher has a herd valued in the millions of dollars does not necessarily mean that the owner is a millionaire.

I grew up in Wyoming and now live in Colorado and have known many ranchers who were Democrats and/or progressives -- some were wealthy, some were very middle class.

It is no more wrong for the government to help save a herd of cattle during a natural disaster (like our blizzard) than it is for government to put out fires at business buildings after an earthquake.

I think it is far more appropriate for the Colorado National Guard to be using helicopters here to save cattle than for them to be shipped off to Iraq to help kill people.

[Rage for Order]

17. It's not wrong to want to save the cattle

I just find it sad that the gov't is willing to expend resources to air-drop supplies to cattle but could not be bothered to do the same for fellow US citizens. I don't begrudge the ranchers' cattle being saved, but could we at least extend the same courtesy to people?

[joe_sixpack]

40. Those guardsmen

here in Colorado had a primary mission of rescuing stranded motorists on highways and rural roads. They worked hard long hours and, as a result, we suffered no fatalities from the storms. I know several friends who are members of the CNG, who were called up for that purpose. I also know a few who left Colorado for the Gulf states immediately after Katrina. That is why I felt the need to weigh in on the matter.

[tom_paine]

3. That is indeed one sad...and true...realization

After six+ years of unfettered Bushevism, I cannot rule out that the Busheviks intentionally gummed up the works and delayed assistance in an act of purpsoeful neglect.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I was certain that is what happened, but it cannot be ruled out.

[Auntie Bush]

16. "an act of purposeful neglect?" Sorry, I disagree!

It was an act of purposeful ethnic cleansing aka Murder, in the first degree...punishable by death!

[tom_paine]

26. That's OK. You might be right, also. I put nothing past these monsters.

n/t

[tavalon]

28. I think that's what the other poster was saying but more genteely

And I suppose it's high time we get past the niceties. Those people were murdered and it was perpetrated by the BFEE.

[MadMaddie]

4. This is a very good point...

The interesting thing is remember LA National Guard most if not all of their equipment is in Iraq....but CO seems to have most of their equipment...:tinfoilhat:

And who directed the National Guard to go on those missions to drop the bails of hay....because if * or skeletor made that decision after a state of Emergency was called and they dropped hay for cows...(don't get me wrong I want them rescued)

then that tells me that they intentionally and criminally neglected to send the resources to the Gulf Coast....

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. thousands of cattle died because there wasn't enough equipment

and the CO, Neb. and KS Govs would have been the ones activating them.

And yes, BushCo gummed up the works during Katrina causing all kinds of delays and PEOPLE died. :(

[GardeningGal]

27. Actually, that's not correct

They didn't go into it in the article but there was a definite logistical problem with getting helicopters that could handle the hay bales. I'm not sure how they solved it, but it was explained early on in the local coverage that it was a problem because much of the guard's equipment was in Iraq.

[tsuki]

36. Thank God they handled it in house and did not call Chertoff.

[joe_sixpack]

41. The governor of Colorado

the National Guard falls under his jurisdiction. He doesn't need any federal permission to call them out when he sees fit.

[TomInTib]

5. The vast majority of the choppers are in Iraq

I do not recall a request for Colorado National Guard during Katrina.

But then, there are all manner of thigs that I cannot recall.

[Rage for Order]

9. Even so...

I'm sure other states would've been happy to help out with their helicopters if the LA Nat'l Guard was short on troops or equipment due to Iraq. What governor would want to be known as the person who turned down a request for assisting in the aftermath of Katrina because they refused to send a few helicopters and a few hundred personnel to New Orleans?

[MadMaddie]

11. I have a feeling that FEMA was interfering with a lot of things...

Did you know that Amtrak was moving it's trains to safer ground further inland and offerred to train people out of the area....FEMA said no thank-you....all the talk about stupid buses and they had trains that could have saved hundreds if not thousands of lives....and further more why wasn't it in their Emergency plans to use immediete transportation to get people out....

I think the Gov of LA did many things wrong but I don't think she was alone in making mistakes...

I also believe that she did the most courageous act by telling * to go fuck himself by not allowing him to take control of the state.....could you imagine if that would have happened? He would never relinquish control back to the state....

[TomInTib]

23. I was talking about CO NG choppers

But I agree with your original premise.

[nini]

6. "multibillion-dollar herds of cattle"

this says it all - it's all about money and wealth.

This is absolutely disgraceful.

[SnoopDog]

8. Good observation Rage...

Proving once again another case of a 'stand down order' by this Administration regarding Katrina.

[Berry Cool]

10. It's like I said long ago.

Bush could interrupt his vacation to return to Washington to sign a piece of paper if he thought it would help keep Terri Schiavo alive...but he could not be bothered to interrupt it to do something about saving people as they drowned.

"Culture of life," my ass. It's all politics to these people.

[MadMaddie]

12. Remember it's the type of people he is concerned about...

if they are poor and don't contribute to his coffers...as far as he is concerned they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps or die.....no need to ask him for help....it's going to be a long two years...

[Warpy]

13. FEMA got in the way

Once FEMA was placed under the tender loving care of DHS, Chertoff rewrote their manuals to reflect that any disaster was most likely to be caused by a biological attack. No aid was allowed into NO, including bottled water, kids with boats to rescue stranded homeowners and diesel for hospital generators, because the policy manual was treating NO like everybody was CONTAGIOUS.

I am not making this up, folks. This is the true tragedy, that a witless, terror obsessed bureaucrat totally misunderstood what disaster relief meant and was so terrified of a remote possibility that has still failed to materialize that he failed to consider the very high probability of NATURAL disasters.

This is the true depth of how FEMA has been bungled by incompetence from the top down.

Blackhawks dropping MREs? They hadn't considered that, at all. In Chertoff's fantasy, people were going to die before they ever got hungry.

[NoodleBoy]

19. exactly what I was thinking

sounded like in NO the guard got taken by suprise, and the federal government dropped the ball and never bothered to pick it up. in Colorado, they've been through almost this exact thing before and their guard was ready for it.

[Warpy]

39. Yep, same in NM, where the Guard is dropping MREs

at isolated ranch houses and hay for cattle. That's not FEMA, though.

The Guard was under FEMA's control in NO, though, and they blockaded the city just as Chertoff's paranoid and unrealistic disaster manual told them to.

One of my neighbors was with our state's disaster relief team. They arrived just as the storm was pulling out. They were kept sitting on I-10 until that Friday, five whole days, by the Guard acting under FEMA's orders. That was just enough time for a lot of people to die from lack of food, water and care.

After that, her hubby was no longer a Repug.

[tanyev]

20. It's embarrassing when you plan for one disaster and get a different one.

But, hey, you throw one scapegoat out there and get on with your life. No biggie, apparently.

[havocmom]

14. A bigger cattle die-off would = much higher consumer prices.

People WILL hold the malAdministration responsible for THAT.

A few thousand people stranded in NOLA made many mad, but not mad enough to really act up. Meat prices through the roof will.

Not just the neocons, but the priorities of too many citizens is totally screwed up.

And we need to remind the masses of just how big a problem it is having the Guard and their equipment tied up in the vile alchemy of turning blood into gold for corporations profiteering from the war. We are NOT more secure with our Guard spent overseas on a criminally started war.

[LeftyMom]

18. Well, Republicans don't eat black people or they'd have worked harder to save them.

Never be surprised by people acting out of self-interest. :shrug:

[Atman]

21. Cattle have cash value

Those black democrats in New Orleans had absolutely NO value to BushCo.

.

[Sydnie]

22. I had these signs in my yard for months after Katrina and the mess

he left there.







I have these now (of course the number gets updated everyday and I don't have a current shot of it)





I know just what you mean ... they are in the wrong place.

[Hekate]

32. Excellent signage. Thanks for sharing.

:hi:

Hekate

[cynatnite]

24. There are a hell of a lot of families in the storm area that's not getting help...

My sister and her family are one of them. It wasn't the government that gave them a generator after going without electricity for a week. It wasn't the government that supplied them with MREs after all their food went bad.

My mom and I spoke to a couple of reporters who got a hold of someone at a business and arranged it.

She could still lose many of her animals. Thankfully, her and the kids are getting food now.

[jus_the_facts]

25. This is the best that was done for PEOPLE in New Orleans...

[malaise]

29. Great post

No morre proof needed that the NOLA victims were victims of criminal negligence. Someone needs to say this on Washington Journal.

[porphyrian]

30. Black population of Colorado as of 2004 - 4.1% - n/t

[donheld]

33. Black population of Colorado cattle owners much much less

it's maddening.

[leftchick]

31. sheesh I hadn't even thought of that

all I could think of was the cattle probably died more peacefully out on the range than they would have in a slaughterhouse.

That is indeed a very interesting and sad comparison to make with NO. :(

[lonestarnot]

34. Hemits delivering hay in New Mexico.

[we can do it]

35. I Thought the Same Thing n/t

[sweetheart]

37. Abuse of animals, those ranchers should lose their license

The public is being charged for the negligence and moral hazard of criminals who abuse animals
by not affording them appropriate shelter and watering for the season... its fucking winter for
peets sake, of course water freezes.... like a big duuh moment... why is the public paying,
and why are those criminals allowed to keep animals.

[MadHound]

38. And if this effort wasn't undertaken and all of these cattle died

Who would you be blaming when beef prices went through the roof? Oh, yeah, that's right, those "millionaire" farmers:eyes: Or the National Guard.

This sort of relief has gone on throughout my lifetime, for a very good reason, our food supply depends on it. We're probably going to be paying higher beef prices anyway from this disaster, but if we failed to feed these cattle, beef would go through the roof. Those tender juicy steaks you like to throw on the grill in the summer would be cost prohibitive, as would be hamburger and many other things.

Yes, it is a shame and criminal neglect that they didn't undertake such airdrops in New Orleans. But please, don't bash these folks when they're doing some good.

[Rosemary2205]

42. They have NOTHING to do with each other.

The colorado national guard was in their homes or in the area. They could fairly easily be called up to assist. Colorado also had their own local sources of assistance that didn't get blown away or drowned.

In Lousiana many of the guard troops were outside the state and could not easily be called up to assist. Lousiana had to go looking for help from outside the state and since Bush was a little busy eating cake with McCain he just didn't have time to be bothered. Lousiana also had to get sources from outside the hurricane zone and Fema was MIA.

Eventually governors from other states stepped up with assistance on their own without Fema but it took 2 or 3 days to work out the logistics. If fema had been where it should have been it should have taken hours, not days.

Bush may be a lot of things, but he's not a racist. Classist yes.

[AspenRose]

45. Bush isn't racist?

Why did he ignore the NAACP all those years?

Kanye West was right.

[huskerlaw]

43. 2 things...

The cattle are worth more (in this government's estimation) and the ranchers are, by and large, Republicans (and god knows those are in ever-decreasing supply these days).

Protect and help your own, fuck everyone else.

[earth mom]

44. Obviously, profits are more important than poor people in this country.

:grr: