"We have been abandoned by our own country"

This link will take you access to a video in many formats.

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001798.htm

For those of you unable to download or video, you can find the full transcript of "meet the press" here.. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/



Here, Aaron Broussard tries to calmly explain that too much bureaucracy (please forgive this humble man's pronunciation of the word) actually stopped people on the way to aid those who needed help.

After a speech by those in Homeland Security he notes...

"We have been abandoned by our own country"

"the aftermath of Katrina will go down [in history] as one of the worst abandonment of Americans on American soil"

"it's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths ... bureaucracy has committed murder"

"FEMA needs to be empowered [to] act immediately ... and save lives"

"We need strong leadership at the top of America right now"

When asked if the governor or mayor could have been much more effective in evacuating the area... Aaron noted

"Sir, they where told, like me... the calvilrly is coming"

"we had Wal-Mart deliver 3 trailer-trucks of water.. FEMA turned them back saying they didn't need them... if the government had responded as well as Wal-Mart we would not be in this crisis."

Finally.. after detailing many problems... Aaron broke down and through a crying voice said..

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management... his mother was trapped in St. Bernard Nursing home and every day she called him and said

'are you comin son? Is someone comin? '

and he said

'yea momma, somebody's coming to get you, somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday, somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday, somebody's coming to get you on Thursday, somebody's coming to get you on Friday..'

AND SHE DROWNED ON FRIDAY NIGHT!.. SHE DROWNED ON FRIDAY NIGHT! NOBODY IS COMING TO GET US! NOBODY IS COMING TO GET US.. THE SECRETARY'S PROMISED, EVERYBODY'S PROMISED, THEY'VE HAD PRESS CONFERENCES, I'M SICK OF THE PRESS CONFERENCES!

FOR GOD'S SAKES... SHUT UP AND SEND US SOMEBODY!!!"


Folks this is what happens in the country if you don't have money. No buck? Out of luck. This is how the United States treats those who are not of monetary interest. Corporations have more if not as much power as the government. I am ashamed and saddened. Please help those in need anyway you can as we can not count on our government unless their interests are also served.

The new death toll estimates are now around 10,000 dead

This did not need to happen this way.

Now I know what you are thinking....

We can send a few billion in equipment, personel, and weapons overseas but can't help here. Actually we can't do that either unless there is money in it for us.

That is why we are no longer in Afghanistan trying to find Osama Bin Laden. There was no money in it. We have Saddam Hussein... oh that bad guy with the gas (whom we supported when he was "gassing his own people".

This has got to stop. I don't know how.. but I'd like to see the rest of the world and every American put an end to practices that maximize profits at the expense of human life.

People have come together and helped any way they can. With or without our government... but mostly it got in the way via false promises and failure to act.

It not time to sit around and say "So what can be done" it's time to do something about it.

Start by opening your eyes.

This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach... and fearful of what might happen to me or my loved ones if we found ourselves in a similar situation. I read yesterday in a news report that three infants died in the Superdome of heat exhaustion while the crowds waited for the "cavalry" to arrive and save them. I grew up around cattle ranching, and frankly, those poor people were not even given as much care or regard as livestock.Amen to this.

Op-ed from Keith Olbermann on MSNBC; you don't usually see this sort of rhetoric from that kind of source. Some excerpts:

...Politician after politician — Republican and Democrat alike — has paraded before us, unwilling or unable to shut off the "I-Me" switch in their heads, condescendingly telling us about how moved they were or how devastated they were — congenitally incapable of telling the difference between the destruction of a city and the opening of a supermarket....

...this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water....

....For many of this country's citizens, the mantra has been — as we were taught in Social Studies it should always be — whether or not I voted for this President — he is still my President. I suspect anybody who had to give him that benefit of the doubt stopped doing so last week. I suspect a lot of his supporters, looking ahead to '08, are wondering how they can distance themselves from the two words which will define his government — our government — "New Orleans"....

It took an epic natural disaster to show what an epic disaster this government is.

This miffs me off.
Hearing about press confrince this and "we talked about" that.

I can't possibley understand anyone hearing that their mothers, fathers, aunt's uncle's brother's sisters, grandparrents or anyone else so close to them has been torn from the fabric of life.

it sickens me to no end to hear they're going to "come back later with a plan"
but what most is horrid is when I heard there will be schools open to kids who can't get to theirs, who's really going to have the will to learn anything after you hear your family member's are lost or dead?

I know there is pressure on but thats like saying "Okay jobs done lets go home."
personaly I have cousins of mine down there and i'm worried sick,
I just stopped listening to the news all together, tired of hearing the words "Soon, later, maybe, possibley,"
i've done mostly all i can from where I am,

I may not make any sense and I may not know a whole deal about politics but I don't have to know politics to know it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to pick up that red phone and get more people working on the bigger problem,

People before pennies. at least thats what I think, but then again what people think doesn't matter in the world of today if you don't have a image.

Just my few cents here and there. -.0

You mean.. "Mission Accomplished" ??

Since when has the government cared about you?

Take a tip from the Mormons. Keep a long term food supply and water treatment supplies. Make a survival kit including a gun and learn how to use it. Make a plan in case somthing like this happens in your community. Everything you need to know is on the internet.

Don't put your lives in the hands of the government.

The mayor and FEMA both up dropped the ball and people died. The FEMA director needs to be jailed for gross neglegence. The Mayor of NOLA needs to be Jailed for gross neglegence. Bush needs to be impeached.

If I screwed up at my job so bad that people died I would be on trial. The government works for us, they need to be held truly accountable.

In this article on CNN.com, Bush Sr says of his son's performance:



Well, I dunno...The military base in Temple/Killeen, Texas is about 6 hours away from New Orleans. I thought, what with being Commander-in-Chief and all, maybe he could've picked up the phone and fired up a few trucks and helicopters...?

That CNN page is running a little one-click poll as to whether the Feds failed the people of Louisiana. Currently running around 120,000-yes, 30,000-no.

-- jj

Hmm... Let's see, increased fuel prices, no way for Haliburton to make money off of sending personnel, the people of Louisiana had the poor taste to not live in Texas or Florida, makes perfect sense to me.

Are you crazy? there is ALWAYS a way to make money off devistation.

Do you agree with former President Clinton that government "failed" the people in the aftermath of Katrina?

Yes 78% 166826 votes

No 22% 48056 votes

Total: 214882 votes


I would say more, but what's the point. I'm just sick at heart and can hardly even watch the news anymore.

.

Correction: Haliburton (subsidiary of Kellogg, Brown and Root) and Baker Hughes in Houston are hiring--they are the major corporations charged with maintaining the logistics of the drilling and the transport of oil, and they both had a major presence in Louisiana.

They both will, very soon, be back at work off-shore.

Dick Cheney's honorarium will be stained with the blood of innocents.

that's it, I'm moving to Greece

Very true.
Big Brother may or may not be watching you, but he's certianly not watching out for you.

I just wanna know if the career path to being the head of FEMA means I have to be in charge of a horse association? Or some other similarly unrelated job.

Three words.

IMPEACH
INDICT
IMPRISON

Take this "fictional story" as an example...

September 1st, 2005

Three Marine Corps disaster relief assessment teams are on the ground or about to arrive in New Orleans and Mississippi, and at least two P-3 aircraft are conducting initial reconnaissance of damaged areas as a wide range of other Defense Department assets works its way to hurricane-stricken regions of the Gulf Coast.

U.S. Pacific Command has marshaled assets ranging from carrier strike groups to water purification ships to aircraft to provide emergency support for victims following the hurricane and subsequent floods, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Staff, told reporters today at a special State Department briefing.

Navy Adm. Tom Fargo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, stood up Joint Task Force 536 to coordinate U.S. relief efforts, Conway said. A forward command element has moved into a military base at Shreveport Louisiana, and the headquarters is in the process of deploying. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Rusty Blackman, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force based in Fort Hood, will command the joint task force.

Meanwhile, the first of three Marine disaster relief assessment teams being sent to the region arrived in Louisiana earlier today and a second team was due to arrive in New Orleans this afternoon. A third team will arrive in Mississippi, Conway said.

In addition, U.S. Pacific Command has committed six C-130 aircraft and nine P-3 aircraft to the relief effort. Conway said all the C-130s and four of the P-3s will operate out of Alabama. Five other P-3 aircraft will operate out of The Gulf of Mexico.

Conway said at least two of the P-3s already are conducting observation and reconnaissance of damaged sites.

In addition, the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which was in Hong Kong when the hurricane and flood hit, has been diverted to the Gulf of Mexico to support recovery operations, Conway said.

Conway said the Lincoln carrier strike group has 12 helicopters embarked that he said could be "extremely valuable" in recovery missions.

An additional 25 helicopters are aboard USS Bonhomme Richard, headed to the Mississippi Delta area. Conway said the expeditionary strike group was in Guam and is forgoing port visits in Guam and Singapore and expects to arrive in the Gulf by Wednesday.

Conway said the strike group, with its seven ships, 2,100 Marines and 1,400 sailors aboard, also has four Cobra helicopters that will be instrumented in reconnaissance efforts.

Because fresh water is one of the greatest needs in the region, Fargo has ordered seven ships — each capable of producing 90,000 gallons of fresh water a day — to the region. Conway said five of these ships are pre-positioned in the Port of Houston and two will come from Florida.

A field hospital ship pre-positioned in Louisiana would also be ordered to the region, depending on findings of the disaster relief assessment teams and need, Conway said.

The U.S. State Department is leading U.S. support for the relief effort. Marc Grossman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, is leading the U.S. task force formed today to respond to the crisis.

Grossman said the task force will work with the regional core group, made up of Australia, Japan and India, to provide coordination and assistance. It also will help coordinate the interagency response in Washington, D.C., and encourage additional international support for the relief effort, he said.

"This is going to be a giant international requirement. Although we make a substantial contribution — more than anyone else in these emergencies — this is certainly not for us to do alone," Grossman said. "It is going to take a worldwide effort. We would expect and hope and believe the world will respond."

But Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, stressed that "the principal responders in humanitarian emergencies are the people themselves who live there." This, he said, includes local officials who are in charge of responding and the national disaster response teams "who speak the language, have the maps, know the transportation system."

Natsios acknowledged that these groups can sometimes get overwhelmed by the scope of a crisis and need help.

"We need to not think that these people are all paralyzed and can't help themselves, and we go in there and save them all," Natsios said. "We know that most of the best work is done by the people themselves. Our job is to support the people in the cities and in the suburbs who will begin the reconstruction process. So we are not there to tell them what to do, but to ask them how we can help."

----- end fictional story. ------


I say "fictional" because I've changed parts of it.

I changed Thailand to Louisiana
I changed Guam to Florida
I changed the date from Dec. 29, 2004 to modern day
I changed the words Earthquake and Tsunami to Hurricane and flood.

Read the original story here.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2004/n12292004_2004122905.html

An Open Letter To President Bush

-Ghoti

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/clinton.katrina/

"Our government failed those people in the beginning, and I take it now there is no dispute about it," Clinton told CNN. "One hundred percent of the people recognize that -- that it was a failure."

Why do I have this ugly feeling that if Clinton (or OMG, his wife) was in the White House, this thread would look very different? And no, I'm not saying that because I think "this would not have happened".

Oh well, if it makes anyone else feel better, I'll call GWB bad names too... George W Bush is a racist, lying, murderer, who only cares about making his personal bank account swell!!!

Well... it didn't sound like the truth, but I tried!

I do however feel that bureaucracy within a swelling government, that has only been growing larger for decades, probably is at least partially to blame here.

Who knows what would've happened? Would Clinton have hired a Horse laywer to run FEMA? Probably not. I cannot understand why someone with such little experience would be allowed to run an entire government agency. I guess it helps that he was college roommates with the former head of FEMA.

Another case of "failing upward," apparently. - Kevin Drum

Are you ready for some football!
Oh, sorry, wrong thread. The Monday Morning Quarterbacking reminded me its that time of the year.

How funny everyone has solutions to every problem... after the fact. "I would have", "He should have"...

How come nobody is pointing fingers at the mayor of New Orleans (D) or the governor of Louisiana (D)? They must have done an excellent job. Hmmm.... Using such a disaster for nasty political fingerpointing smells as bad as the the overflowing sewers.

I sure as hell don't remember Rudi Guliani running around playing the blame game. I think he was out there making sure the citizens of our great city were taken care of.

The feds screwed up, the state screwed up, the city screwed up and many of the citizens screwed up.

And remember New Orleans Iraq or Kerry or Gore. Learn to logically separate your fights.

That's true, Rudy reacted in a very different way to 9/11.

If Clinton and other presidents never selected people that they knew for positions in government, then maybe we could place some significant blame on the president, but I strongly doubt that such a practice is really being pioneered by Bush.

Also, keep in mind that
a) Bush was opposed to the Dept. of Homeland Security, and especially to adding FEMＡ to it. That was the 9/11 commission and the Dems. Now Hillary Clinton and other prominent Dems are backpeddling and calling for FEMA to become independent again.
b) STATES HAVE RIGHTS!!!! Bush can't just trample state rights and send in federal aid on h-the states have to ask for it. Again, let's look back to the Governor of LA and the Mayor of NO.

A lot of people were trapped in the city because they simply had no way out. No car, no money, etc. There should have been buses running out of there for the evactuation prior to the storm. They should have done a better job of getting the work out. Some people didn't get the word until late Saturday night. Also, they say "get out" but they don't say where. Not everyone has a place to go. Evacuation destinations should have been layed out in advance.

And lastly, but more importantly, the money should have been spent to strengthen those levees a long time ago.

None of this is the President's fault.

-Kiamat Dusk

The Army Corps did not receive the money which was necessary for such an effort. According to this article, it was Bush who was responsible for cutting the funding.