Redstate

My family did not escape the disaster unscathed.  My parents' house is a mess - the first floor was basicly demolished by a 10ft stormsurge in my area.  My grandmother's house was lifted up off the foundation and settled down about 10 feet away from it, and it is very damaged.  I still don't know anything about the fate of my aunt and uncle's place in Biloxi, or about my cousins' homes in Gulfport and Biloxi, but we have a sinking feeling that the houses are just gone completely based on the video we have seen from the air, and from knowing the locations of the homes.

... if he had just moved his backside from Crawford to Ocean Bouy 21A out in the Gulf he could have used his evil super powers to halt Katrina in her tracks.

An excellent comment. Thank you.

I have long been saying that our political system is a representation of our society ... of us. Politicians may be the scourge of the people, but they are an accurate reflection of the absence of integrity, greed, selfishness and lazy apathy that is epidemic in this nation.

And the last thing we ever needed to do is throw out our faith in God, namely the godly and Biblical principles and influences we once publicly allowed and shared.

Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water. America, we are in trouble in more ways than just Katrino.

Excellent post.

Absolutely, people elect the government they deserve. This disaster is clearly the fault of Democrats, since they control the White House and Congress. Oh, wait, never mind.

So if it wasn't Bush and it wasn't the Dems, who was it that cut FEMA funding over the past four years? Who was it that drained our nation's national guard for an experiment in the Middle East? Who cut funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, making no secret that Iraq was draining available funds?

I don't know the answer, but hold on tight to your bibles. We're going to need them the way our country is going.

Welcome to The Pile™. Enjoy your permanent stay.

any more than I blame the republicans.  Blame is a funny game to play.. there is plenty to spread around if you are going to blame people.  In the end, its best to realize that people make decisions based upon many factors, both good and bad... If you want to start laying blame though, I'd start with the local officials in New Orleans, both those in power now, and those who have been in power over the past 30 years.  Then its time to start at the state level in Louisiana, and go back 30 years.  Then head on to the Senators and Rep's from Louisiana for the past 30 years, and then finally the Presidents for the past 30 years.  Oh and add in the Army Corps of Engineers, the school system in New Orleans, the welfare system, the New Orleans cops, and the industries who have been located in Louisiana and haven't given tons of cash to help people out of poverty.  Oh and finally blame the tourists who go there every year and ignore the poor people who could have been helped by just 5 dollars from each of them.  Oh and last but not least, blame the weathermen and women who, while they correctly estimated the damage from this one, overestimated the damage from past storms and helped create an atmosphere where the average ill-informed citizen didn't believe that the city would be in nearly the trouble it is in now after the storm.  Of all of the people to blame, the president is nowhere near the top of the list for blameworthy candidates...

I choose to keep the blame at a much more local level, with the individuals who didn't use the brains given to them, either by God, evolution, or both depending upon what you believe, to get to shelter in the city, and the officials who haven't let them know where to go for relief.  If they were not informed of any shelters to go to (which even I know about 2 states away) then the officials in town take alot of blame for not informing the public better about them.

Sure, some of the president's decisions in the past 4 years and feeding into the situation that exists now.. But not nearly to the extent that the left is making it seem.  If the president was as much to blame as the left is making it seem, then Mississippi and Alabama would be in much worse condition than they are..

Remember, the plans for disasters like this are formed at a local/state level, not a federal level.  The federal government just provides funds/manpower to fulfill them - and has done so admirably in 2 of the 3 states hit by Katrina... Odds are Louisiana has received/is receiving enough aid such that if the plan was better, and the people there hadn't made a bad situation worse, then the situation would not be nearly as dire.

There are certain things that individual citizens are responsible for.  Using their brains when a hurricane is bearing down on your city that is below sea level is one of them.  Using their brains to not make a bad situation worse by shooting at helicopters doing relief work, attacking cops, and looting stores is also something that individuals are responsible for.  To blame Bush for the actions of the victims which made their situation go from bad to horrendous is just plain dumb...

First of all, I find your comments heartless and brainless.  Many of the people who are stranded in New Orleans DID FIND SHELTERS THAT WERE PROVIDED!  They are DYING!  You say everyone should evacuate, but what about those who couldn't?  But what steams me the most about your very unchristian-like comments is this idea that the people in trouble actually deserve it.  I've got news for you buddy.  You are a BAD PERSON.

I do not blame them for being stuck in the city.  I do not blame the ones who actually sought shelter in the shelters set up for them.  I blame the ones who tried to weather it in their houses/apartments and are now roaming the streets blaming the city, the state, and the president for not immediately rescuing them from their own stupidity.

Here's a concept - you go to an official hurrican shelter - not stay in your home/apartment - and you don't need to be rescued off the roof of your home/apartment.  You are in an official shelter - you don't need to wander the flooded streets for days looting and trying to find out where to go to be evacuated from the city on busses because the busses are coming to you to take you away because the official shelters are the places for help to go to - or at least the officials in the official shelters know where the staging areas are and can direct you there.

Again, I place no blame on them for being poor and stuck in the city, nor do I place any blame on those who actually sought shelter at official storm shelters and stayed there.

I'm sorry if these thoughts seem heartless to you.  Did you see my post above that said my parents basicly had their house gutted, cars totaled, my grandmother basicly lost her house, as did my aunt and uncle, and a few of my cousins probably lost their houses too (they can't go back yet to even see)?  I feel sorry for these people, but to blame Bush for their plight is just stupid.  They are more to blame for the circumstances they find themselves in than Bush is - yes, even if they did the right things, their circumstances would be bad, but they would not be wandering without a destination in a flooded city with no shelter.  I don't blame them for being in a bad situtation - stuck in a city with a hurricane bearing down on them -  I blame many of them for making a bad situation worse than it has to be because of their own actions or lack of them.

no statements that say they deserve what happens/ed to them.  No one deserves what has happened to the people of New Orleans.  I pity them, and hope that they get rescued and cared for.  

The whole point of the original post and the subsequent posts is that Bush is not to blame, as the situations in Alabama and Mississippi are vastly different from the one in New Orleans because of the actions of the state and local governments and the actions of the residents of the areas.  One one side (Alabama and Mississippi) the governments are working efficiently with good plans, and the citizens are working hard together to help the recovery process.  On the other side (Louisiana) the plan doesn't seem to be working well at all, and the citizens are lashing out in frustration, etc and making a bad situation worse.

I feel sorry for them, but that doesn't excuse looting, shooting at rescue workers and cops, etc...All of which hinder actions taken to help them...

Experts on the Mississippi Delta pointed out that a plan to shore up the levees around New Orleans was abandoned last year for lack of government funding. They noted that flood-control spending for south-eastern Louisiana had been chopped every year that Mr Bush has been in office, that hurricane protection funds have also fallen, and that the local army corps of engineers has also had its budget cut.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article309696.ece

P.S. Take a look outside of your biased media sources once in a while.

I did say some of Bush's decisions did have an impact on the situation in New Orleans. Thanks for reading what I said rather than simply posting a talking point.

Having been born in Lake Charles, raised and schooled in Crowley and colleged at USL; my parents, our neighbors and most everyone around knew that New Orleans was a powder keg waiting for the right moments, because of (but not limited to) the following well-known reasons:

• New Orleans has always been known as corruption central. Why did the Superdome roof shred? Because most of the money to fix it went into pockets, not on the roof. Of course, this has also been known about south Louisiana from Lake Charles (anyone remember the Jupiter incident?) to New Orleans and all points in between.




• New Orleans has always been known as having some of the worst elements of organized crime and street crime. Talk about a spectrum. The Nawlins premium was always placed on music, entertainment, drugs (you think the Mississippi was only for oil tankers?) and MONEY. My parents and grandparents knew neighbors and clan members (those in everyone's clan that no one talks about) who could first-hand tell you that if you wanted to borrow money on the streets, never go towards New Orleans. Their phrase was, "those some bad boys there."

So why did the levee break, Nagin? My heart AND money is going to help there, but a part of methinks thou definitely doth protest too much.