If hate was banned, this would be

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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?

Reading these posts I am trying to understand why Gov. Palin is hated so much. I'd like to know facts (not rumors or lies). Can you provide me with answers as to why. I just don't understand it.

The conversative republicans on this board are not coming out with hate towards Obama/Biden, and I really don't see much hate towards McCain, but the actual hate is seeping out and infiltrating all of your thoughts with Gov. Palin and I cannot understand why. I've seen her interviewed. She doesn't seem too bad. She's knowledgeable about the issues and answers questions with confidence. I've also seen Obama, Biden and McCain interviewed too and I just don't understand what it is towards Gov. Palin but not the others.

Please provide facts too. Everything I am reading on this board are rumors and lies, so if you could just tell me. Even if you say you don't like her because she's pretty, or she decided to have a baby instead of aborting him, etc I don't mind answers like that because they will be truthful, but please don't tell me you hate her because of something manufacted, or for something she is not personally involved in.

I think there are a few bone fide nut jobs on this post that got a whole lot of people sucked into their delusions. Fooled me twice. Later!

going to happen (talking about issues). There are too many new ones on here now and all they want to do is name calling, pick fights, and won't try to find the truth and, sadly, it's also the way of the country nowadays. I have been appalled at the reaction lately and even ones who have been on here a long time and always posted decently are turning into the negative posters, too.

Unless the posters start following the rules of this board, I doubt it will ever change.

but these hicks that you talk about using food stamps to buy food are the same people who will benefit from Obama's presidency. It won't be hard working individuals like ourselves. This type of irresponsible behavior will be rewarded by government assistant programs at the expense of the working Americans who pay for them and who is pushing for more government programs.....why I do believe it is Barrack Obama....is it not?

As for Sarah Palin, she has done very well running Alaska and has worked her way up from the bottom to the top in her state. She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. If Sarah Palin was as ugly as Hillary Clinton is and was pro-choice, you all would be drooling over her. But because she is an attractive woman who is conservative, you ladies would rather say she has no brains because she is pretty.

How smart are we? Our country elects a man who has no experience whatsoever and when it comes to writing bills, he hands the everything over to Pelosi.

Please continue to tell me how stupid Palin is when Obama runs our country into the ground because I'm sure that will make sense to everything ignorant Obama is doing right now.

but taking control away from the taliban and giving it back to the country the taliban is trying to take over is about our freedom. The more control the taliban gets, the more power they get and the more ability they have to attack us on our own soil.

As for why we are still there....I do believe it was Obama who extended the timeline for the troops in Iraq while sending troops into Afghan. So it appears that Obama's pulling out of the troops and running back home plan didn't work out so well when he actually got into the White House and saw what was really going on.

As for the "torture" accusations, I hate to break it to ya but terrorists and pirates do not fall under protection of the Geneva Convention. We broke no law as they are terrorists and I would rather "torture" a terrorist to try and save American lives. We will never know the full story on this until all the information is released.

As for Pelosi, she is so high and mighty. If you are going to stand there and point the blame on everyone else but yourself when others claimed that you knew and did nothing.....well.....of course Pelosi is now under fire and she should be. If she truly knew about it....she is just as guilty for allowing it and not saying a word and then lying about it to make her look all pure and innocent.

However, I still say this whole thing shouldn't have happened. Those original memos should not have been released to begin with and that was something the liberal loons wanted so they could start their witch hunts on the Bush administration. If Obama really wanted to move forward he would have just said what is in the past is in the past. We can't change what happened but we move forward and will not do so again. Instead we are belittling our CIA and our troops and putting ourselves in danger while giving terrorists more power to recruit more psychotic people to their cause.