Katrina

First on today's docket: Hurricane Katrina

Yup, it's the most talked about story of the day, with inumerable angles to take in analyzing it. Being the hack that I am, however, and since I've already written about the nature of the disaster from a human standpoint, I'll discuss the fact that this simply did not have to be as much of a humanitarian disaster as came to pass. From the fact that our president was on an unprecedented 5-week vacation away from DC, to the fact that FEMA didn't even begin to mobilize people to the afflicted area til 2 days after the disaster, to the fact that our president took three days to get back to DC after the disaster, the fronts on which to batter the government for ineptitude is endless.

I am choosing to not link to outside sources for this entry because, while much of these issues have been touched on, I want it to be clear that this is entirely a posting of my own opinions, not something that I feel I need authority to. That said, however, the media has done a pretty good job of attempting to get through the bullshit and find out who's been responsible for the multitude of errors in preparaton, rescue, and cleanup. Russert in particular did a good job grilling Chertoff on MTP Sunday, asking whether he would resign and not accepting Chertoff's bullshit responses.

Back from that tangent.
Breakdowns/Mismanagements:
1) LA state/NO local governments should have been more forceful in enforcing the evacuation once they realized how bad it was going to be.
2) People that had the ability to leave NO should have. By staying they not only harmed themselves, but they also took up time that first responders had to spend on their rescue. First responders could have been saving the poor, the indigent, that unfortunately had no other way out of town which brings me to my next point,
3) The federal government. What the fuck. How about sending in some...cruise ships, airplanes, buses, trains, fucking hot air balloons to help with the evacuation of the city. If we knew that there was going to be a major storm, why not make sure that these people got out. It's ok to invade these people's bedrooms through gay marriage bans but not to save their lives?.. And granted, we didn't know that this was going to be as bad as it was. Or even if we did, after the storm, it seemed like the brunt of the city was spared, BUT once it was quite evident that the levee was breaking, it still took too much mother-fucking time to get FEMA in there. What is the use of FEMA, and for that matter, DHS, if they are not going to be able to protect us from a natural disaster? With so much of the National Guard, troops who would foreseeably be helpful in a disaster like this, sent over to rebuild another country, what do we do about our own?

This is such a mess of biblical proportions, it makes one wonder what the use of the government is if not to protect its own people in times of a natural disaster. And with a President who is both oblivious ("I don't think anyone had an idea that the levee was going to break") and late to work, a FEMA leader who is utterly useless, and a head of the DHS who claims to be interested in saving lives but seems more worried about damage control, and a White House AGAIN looking to pass the buck (oh it was LA's fault), this is another headless horseman. Another instance where our government, FOR THE PEOPLE, is not being led by anyone with the proper capabilities. We are a country without anyone holding the reins, in a time where we need a leader more than ever. "There are problems that we will fix because we are problem solvers." That's useful rhetoric, Mr. President, but what the fuck do you plan on doing to fix the problem? Instead of utilizing first responders for purposes they are needed for, Mr. President, you are using them for PR purposes. You are having firemen come into Louisiana to 1) hand out flyers with FEMA's phone number on it, and 2) pose with you for a MOTHERFUCKING photo. Is this what Karl Rove had you do, sir? Instead of fixing the problem, you have to make sure it looks like youre in the middle of the action? Fuck you, Mr. President. It's a shame you weren't stuck in New Orleans on vacation. Then we would have seen how quickly you would have gotten your work together.

Here's the article about the first responders being sent into 'action.' It's quite interesting.