Hellooo....your compatriots just asked that I be BANNED from this board...

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

Shockingly unprepared

The countless questions about the unfolding catastrophe in the Gulf states are all variations on a simple theme: This disaster was all but scripted; why wasn't the response?

News reports from the region have shown the situation getting worse, not better.

This inability to regain control, or at least to rally against the disaster, has shocked the country's sense of itself. Predictably, recriminations mounted Thursday, even as federal officials delivered more aid. State and local officials in Louisiana were particularly critical of the response from Washington, complaining that the feds were slow to provide the help needed to feed and evacuate survivors and halt criminals.

Defenders of the Bush administration said it was doing everything it could. They're facing problems that nobody could foresee: breaking of the levees and the whole dome thing over in New Orleans coming apart, former President George H.W. Bush said Thursday on CNN. People couldn't foresee that.

In fact, emergency planners have been thinking about a catastrophic levee breach for years. Many saw it as an inevitable consequence of a high-powered hurricane such as Katrina hitting the city. And in early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that one of the three most likely disasters to strike the U.S. was a catastrophic flood triggered by a hurricane hitting New Orleans. (The other two: a terrorist attack on New York and a major earthquake in San Francisco.)

It's certainly true that by the time forecasters knew that Katrina was a threat, it was too late to shore up the levees. And by the time they knew Katrina was going to come ashore near New Orleans, there was not enough time to evacuate the city completely.

Still, much of what happened this week in New Orleans had been foreseen by federal and state emergency planners, as the city's newspaper, the Times-Picayune, laid out extensively three years ago. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days, one story predicted with eerie accuracy.

That's why the complaints from Louisiana about the official response are so troubling. Why did it take so long to evacuate the poor, the elderly and the tourists unlucky enough to be caught with no way out of town? Where was the food and water? Why were the police left to choose between rescuing people from the floods and saving them from predators?

Critics of the administration, including former FEMA officials, say Washington's focus since late 2001 on potential terrorist targets has come at the expense of its ability to respond to natural disasters in other parts of the country. FEMA no longer helps prepare communities for disasters � it just responds to them. Other critics have pointed out that the administration diverted money from a levee project in New Orleans to fund priorities within the Department of Homeland Security.

One lesson of Hurricane Katrina, though, is that preparedness and response go hand in hand, whether the disaster is natural or man-made. Washington's response to Katrina is likely to gear up notably in the days to come, but the question of why it took so long will linger longer than the floodwaters

GOOD FOR THEM!!!! LOL. We need to do the same thing. I can think of 2 right off the top of my head. How about Hannity and O'Really?

You publicly post on the other board that you *try not to visit the bog of eternal stench.*

Well, doesn't look like you are trying all that hard. Or is that another example of Conservative honesty, like your buddy on the other board lies 3 times before suddenly deciding to be *up front* (in her own words) about the whole bogus line of crap she was spouting.

You and your 2 friends don't respect anyone unless they're a member of your little club, think exactly as you think, belong to the same political party as you belong, and believe in the very same little narrow SUBsection of one particular religion.

That's what I interpret from YOUR WRITTEN WORDS. Your posts don't show respect. They only show twisted *facts*, ignorance, anger and hatred.

You can't be *respectful* on your own board but suddenly, when you come here - HERE - the place YOU call *the bog of eternal stench* you suddenly discover some respectability during your mouse click from there to here?

You're becoming quite a bore. You and your friends stated you don't want us on your board, but you're not happy unless you're picking a fight. You and your *gang* told us to leave and not to post on *your* board. Maybe that should work both ways.

Out of ALL the problems with radical Conservatives, maybe the most annoying thing is that you don't believe in equality at all. You believe in SUPERIORITY. Somewhere along the line, someone made you think you were special and above everyone else. Sheesh! You're not happy unless you're dictating to everyone else in the country what they're allowed to do in their own personal lives regarding life, death, science, etc. You even think YOUR GOD IS BETTER than everyone else's.

You want to make the rules, censor people and tell them which boards they can and cannot post on, but YOU want to invade them all and spew your ignorance and hatred.

In my heart, I believe there are sincere, honest, intelligent Conservatives out there who are capable of a sensible debate. I've seen them. (I hope you don't chase them away, too.) But and your crew don't fall in that category, and this will be the last of your inane posts I will subject myself to.

Can we get the political board back to the true purpose of this board � to share opinions of why we like our candidate. Not bash and cut down others because they don�t agree with you.

I stayed away from this board for the past couple days because anyone who had anything positive to say about Sarah Palin got slammed, bashed, kicked down, etc. After awhile I found it all too draining, and was not seeing any reason to come. Yes, I did see some of it towards people who favored Barack Obama, but if you read the posts again it is mostly towards anyone who favored Sarah Palin/John McCain.

I thought the political board was for posting information regarding politics and candidates. What I have seen for the past few days is that it has been an attack board. Especially if you have anything positive you want to share about Sarah Palin. You say something good about her and you get attacked, you answer back, and you get attacked more, and then when you get mad and pretty much say stop attacking me, they come back with this �Geez, I�m allowed to have an opinion�.

Another thing I am tired of seeing is the slanderous, hate filled, really off the wall comments about Sarah Palin. The latest was something about her daughter actually had her baby. Talk about just bizarre comments. I thought what�s next, she�s an alien from another planet? The more I kept reading the more the comments were getting just really weird and bizarre. Of course nobody ever having any proof of any of these allegations. I then came to realize that the posters were just trying to get a fight going.

I also saw posts that had nothing to do with politics but attacking a poster named Sam. Again, probably trying to get another fight going for no good reason and on things that have nothing to do whatsoever with politics. I�ve read �Sam is like an annoying nat that you sway away�, �Sam, please let me know where you work� or �she must have her quota� or �sam is to the politics board as oracle is to the� This childish rhetoric is getting old. I�m not defending sam she is a big girl and I can see by her posts she can take care of herself, but my point is that this has nothing to do with politics. If you want a fight maybe you could request that the administrator create a separate �fight and degrade� section.

I�ve read the administrators post a couple different times called Beware of Flaming. She/he said as long as we realize that not everyone is going to agree we shouldn�t wear our feelings on our sleeves and a little more oversight on here would be good. Let people express his or her opinion and move on. If you don�t like someone just ignore that person. �It�s not rocket science, you know� (I liked that statement)

I consider posting on this board a privilege and not a right. If you don�t agree with something and you post that you don�t agree and state the facts why (and are civilized about it) that�s one thing, but when you bash and degrade others without showing proof and just want to start fights and belittle others it just seems a bit juvenile to me.

I come to the politics board to hear ideas and stuff (facts) about the candidates. That is how I�m learning about each one, but I don�t want to read people attack other posters for no good reason. I'd like to hear about Obama/Biden & McCain/Palin, but I want to hear facts.

If you like to fight so much why don�t you pick on people that you can fight to face to face.

I do not remember specificially but you asked me where were my legs and my mouth. What did I do besides coming to the C board and whining and I answered you.

The peace **movement** as you call it is different from a peaceful nonviolent approach to life. The movement is but one small fraction of trying to live a life of nonviolence. The **movement** shows its face big time when a tragedy the size of Iraq erupts but most of the time we work behind the scenes.

Again, this is our board, I'll preach to the choir as much as I want. If you don't like it, don't read it, how simple is that.

You seem to see promotion of a peaceful existence as one thing and that is resistance to war, or conflict or whatever they are calling it these days. It's all about the **them**, the politburo, the Viet Cong, the communists, the socialists, the terrorists. I don't see things that way. I see a bigger picture, bigger than this country or Iraq or Iran or China or this planet or this galaxy. I have been instructed in no uncertain terms how to behave towards my fellow man. There are no riders attached. That is the part that seems to be so hard for you to deal with. Christ instructed us to love our brothers as ourselves, to do for the least of our brethern as if we were doing for Him. He does not say, except for the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the bums, the slackers, the liars and thieves...there are no riders. That is for Him to sort out, not me.

The terrorists you refer to are everywhere. It is a mind set, not a place. They are here in our country, they are certainly in Europe, in the Philippines, in Africa, in the islands of the South Pacific, Indonesia. It makes no sense to go somewhere else and protest. We have to look at ourselves first, always. Your approach seems to be to wage war on everyone. I think that is an exercise in futility. I will stick with my approach. I will continue to pray, continue to do the things I have always done. I empathize with your position, knowing where you come from but I will never see killing as a way to accomplish anything positive. I also sincerely truly and honestly believe the terrorists hate each other more than they hate us and that we would not be in any more danger if we left Iraq than if we stay; in fact, I think just the opposite, the longer we stay, the worse things will become. It is a horrible position our troops have been put into. They were sent into an immoral, unethical, illegal snake pit by people who have never seen a day of combat in their lives, who got out because they had **other priorities.** And now they're stuck and we're stuck and whatever way we extricate ourselves it will not have a good outcome. My own personal opinion is that it is better to get out now and save what lives we can. I know you disagree, so be it.

By the way, I have one question for those of you who have served in the military or have husbands who have done so or are still doing so, doesn't the fact that people like Cheney with 5 deferments bother you/them. That no one who has sent people into war have actually been there themselves. Doesn't that bother you??

These are just from the past week. There's plenty, plenty more, a veritable ton to choose from......

Yeah....liberal compassion. I see a LOT of that on this board....
-
Ahh....the writ handed down from she who decides who and who does not deserve compassion. lol.

You care nothing about the truth. I don't even know if you recognize it anymore. Pathetic.

Cannot let go of prejudice long enough to see the truth when it is in plain black and white.

Typical pile on attack liberal tactics. Just admit it. You know they are lying, you just don't care.

Denial, denial, denial. It is so patently obvious...you cannot get past the Bush hatred...cannot see the forest for the trees. Amazing....utterly, completely, amazing

You have so much class, reveille...really, so much class. You could not debate an issue if your life depended upon it. Let us hope that it never does.

LOL. You do love to wallow in it.... (to Piglet)

he is FOR the secret ballots because he said that companies start intimidating workers when the subject of unions come up, telling them, we will have to cut your pay, prices will go up, we will have to lay off most of our workers and finally, "we'll have to close our doors." So it cuts both ways. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to expound on his RABID pro-union stance if you're sure you're ready for that. LOL

Yes, I know Todd Palin is a card-carrying union member and good for him but that still doesn't mean I want to see his wife in the White House!!!!

Of course I make fun of republicans, just like you guys make fun of dems. So what else is new? I'll tell you what. I'll name one republican who I think is reasonable, and you name one democrat who you think is reasonable. I'll go first.

How about John McCain's daughter....Meghan McCain. She is 24 years old, just out of college, and smart as a whip. She has a column on The Daily Beast. I think she leans a little more towards the center, but is definitely a fiscal conservative. Give her about 8 years and if she goes into politics she will be a force to be reckoned with. Check out these interviews.

The rag was himself while on "This Week" with George Stephanapoulos. Obama was talking about his religion and said, " My Muslim faith" and then said when questioned that he "made a mistake".

Blindness will get you nowhere when he has sold your country down the river to the terrorists.