Democrats & Liberals: Archives

Bush resign?
That ain’t gonna ever happen.
Besides, wouldn’t that make Cheney president ?

Let’s look at the news reports from August 29th,

Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and made a slight turn to the right before coming ashore at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the Louisiana bayou town of Buras. The storm passed just to the east of New Orleans as it moved inland, sparing this vulnerable below-sea-level city its full fury and the apocalyptic damage that forecasters had feared.

But there was plenty of destruction in New Orleans, and a clearer picture of the damage emerged after the storm had passed: Mangled street signs, crumbled brick walls in the French Quarter, fallen trees on streetcar tracks, highrises with almost all of their windows blown out. White curtains that were sucked out of the shattered windows of a hotel became tangled in treetops.

An estimated 40,000 homes flooded in St. Bernard Parish just east of New Orleans.

Katrina recorded a storm surge of more than 20 feet in Mississippi, where windows of a major hospital were blown out and billboards were ripped to shreds. In some areas, authorities pulled stranded homeowners from roofs or rescued them from attics. In Alabama, exploding transformers lit up the early morning sky and muddy, 6-foot waves engulfed stately, million-dollar homes along Mobile Bay’s normally tranquil waterfront.

“Let me tell you something folks: I’ve been out there. It’s complete devastation,” said Gulfport, Miss., Fire Chief Pat Sullivan.

Emergency officials had not been able to reach some of the hardest-hit areas to determine the number of injuries or deaths. Officials across the region sent water rescue teams out and stood ready to dispense ice, water and meals to hurricane-stricken residents.

If you read the Washingon Post today there is an article that clearly states it has been known for quite some time, before 1998 that the MRGO was a major problem and a concern as far as causing the flooding.

Bush isn’t going to resign, no more than any officials in Louisiana who knew this was a concern who didn’t listen. To quote one part of the Washington Post article?

Larry Ingargiola, the head of emergency management in St. Bernard, said he knows exactly why only 52 of its 28,000 structures made it through Katrina unscathed.

“That’s where the damn water came — right up MRGO,” he said. “We’ve been screaming about it for years. I don’t know how many politicians I’ve taken on tours. But there it is.”

I’m not going to add much to this right now. My main issue with Bush - aside from completely disagreeing with his postions - is that he has failed to even acknowledge, much less own up to his part in the various problems we have seen.

He did that - at least to a small degree, and it was refreshing to see, for once.

John:

You put all the blame on Bush, showing your partisanship. Its been shown over and over that FEMA (for which Bush is ultimately responsible), state, and local officials were unprepared. And even in the face of Katrina, they did not implement the plans that had been laid out. All are to blame.

Bush’s comment about the not knowing the levees was stupid (as stupid as John Kerry’s comment about voting for before voting against). Both were out of context. Bush’s comment was about the breaching, as opposed to overtopping the levees, as well as the timing of the breach, since the breach came after many thought Katrina was a near miss.

Your comments will gain strength if you look to solve the problems and put the responsibility where it truly belongs. If you choose to focus only on Bush to the exclusion of the others, then it weakens your argument, as partisanship always does.

This is the most un-caring administration that I can remember. They show that they care nothing for the people who elected them. I think they forget that government is by the people and for the people. Too bad we don’t have confirmation hearings on those who seek become president.

We do have confirmation hearings, it’s called an election. However if enough people don’t make wise selections or even bother to vote?

You end up getting Presidents you don’t like. It’s a feeling those of us who are third party/independents feel often so I can “feel” some of your pain though I might not agree with your solution.

It is an unfortunate reality that we now find ourselves with the government we deserve. A majority of the American people went to the polls and voted for a person who over simplifies the complex issues of today. He sounds great for 29 seconds. He injects humor where it doesn’t belong. He offers tax relief and suggests that what ever that money would have been spent on is not our reasonability. And we love him for it.

Now, when we find ourselves faced with a crisis of unbelievable proportions the fact that he continues with his witty remarks and simple-minded approach should not surprise us. After all, that’s why we elected him in the first place. The American public needs to wake up to the fact that today we have the president we deserve and that if we continue to elect government based single issues without concern for the bigger picture. We will most likely find ourselves in this position again. The president must represent all the people; He or she needs to take into consideration the needs of all Americans even the ones who didn’t vote for them. That has become a very rare point of view in Washington at late.

The question that we all should be asking ourselves between now and Nov. 2008 is: Have we gained any wisdom about what is truly important in life, or are we going to be hoodwinked again.

Bush declared an emergency for parts of Lousiana on Saturday. He did not declare the areas in and around New Orleans disasters until Monday. That is something that seems to be overlooked an awfull lot.

Saturdays Release:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

Mondays Release:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050829-2.html

Jamie
http://intoxinaion.blogspot.com

joebagodonuts:
i agree that partisanship is blinding force; as is anger. As an American (born and raised), i am angry with the response or lack thereof, for the Americans in New Orleans. While Mr. Bush chose to wait to act, people, Americans died. If the security of America is his highest priority, then actions speak louder than sound-bites.

Even in today’s news is an item about the delayed response from DHS. It’s truly pathetic.

When you compare Bush’s reactions to his brother’s state last year (2004) with Hurricane Ivan and others, he acted immediately and decisively.

So yes, partisanship does affect decision making; it appears that Bush’s partisan approach towards a LA (Democratic Governor) is pretty clear.

Joe,
I do not reside in Louisiana, do not pay taxes there, do not vote there. However, I do pay taxes to the federal government & vote.

Unless one lives in LA, blame on a national level must be directed towards the national agency responsible; in this case, the federal government. While people from NO & LA may hold their politicians responsible, most of us must, can, and will hold national politicians accountable.

This means Brown, & Chertoff, and Bush.

In defense of NO, I will say that when I evacuated, policemen walked the street door to door, knocking & making sure residents knew to leave.

Only one person from a group of 16 I was involved with did not get out. She & her daughters were supposed to catch a ride with her Uncle, but something went wrong, & apparently, at the last minute, she had to go to the Superdome.

It was awful. She & her daughters are out of there now. Why did it take so long?

You know it and so do I. It took so long because NO & LA resources were overwhelmed. And for reasons still being revealed, federal action did not go into full swing until the following Saturday. Compare this response with federal activities in Florida the previous year.

It’s a disgrace, a NATIONAL disgrace.

Joe-
I wish you would read what we write in greater detail. You’d find little you could disagree with on the facts.

Fact of the matter is, Bush has persistently denied making mistakes since he got into office, creating an impression of unaccountability for many Democrats. Had Bush been less persistent in denying past wrongdoing, he would be under less critical focus this time.

The Presidency is one of the most important offices out there, and has clearly defined duties attached to it. Management of national disaster response is one of those. This was a debacle of historic proportion.

Because people believe this president to be so irresponsible, there is an added compelling in interest in holding him accountable. Therefore, the focus on him.

John Trevisani wrote: If the security of America is his highest priority, then actions speak louder than sound-bites.

He doesn’t really care that much.
It’s hard to pretend to care, when our borders are practically wide-open.
And guess what? Al Qaeda is crossing that border.
Just this week, someone was arrested for trying to start up an Al Qaeda cell in the U.S., and he came here via the Mexican border. Bush cares more about cheap labor, which is why he won’t prosecute those employing illegal aliens, promotes amnesty for illegal aliens, and calls the “Minute Men” vigilantes.

As for the Katrina disaster, that little 5 day chronology above makes Bush look pretty bad, and yes the federal government showed its usual incompetence, but not nearly as bad as the local state, parish, & city governments of Lousianna, and the numerous people that could have evacuated, and did not (which needlessly endangered rescuers, those that really could not evacuate, and themselves).

Maybe the next time, those that can evacuate will do so. It should be impressed upon people that choosing not to evacuate when possible, is criminally negligent, because it not only endangers their own foolish lives, but selfishly endangers others too.

Especially when there’s a category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane approaching ! For pete sakes !

And then there’s the Nursing home owners that did evacuate, and abandoned the elderly, resulting in 34 drownings ( www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=3847466&nav=KACdeV6B ).
They’re already out on bond.

Certainly something bass ackwards about all of this.
Those that should evacuate, don’t.
Those that couldn’t evacuate (i.e. St. Ritas Nursing Home) are left forgotten to drown or suffer.
Those that shouldn’t evacuate, do (i.e. abandoning those that couldn’t evacuate).

Stephen Daugherty wrote: Because people believe this president to be so irresponsible, there is an added compelling in interest in holding him accountable. Therefore, the focus on him.

Stephen:

I read what you write. I simply disagree with much of the opinion you take. I find that, as with the media, you reach your conclusion first, and then backfill with facts. That’s backwards.

You know as well as I do that the minute Bush says he does something wrong, he will be assailed by his critics. “IMPEACH HIM”, they will cry. “He even admits he’s wrong!!”. Despite that, were I him, I’d admit much more. But don’t play the little game you like to play——acting as if you would cuddle up to Bush if only he’d…..

AP

I categorically disagree with your assertion that unless one lives in Louisiana, they should focus on the national level. The fact is that the mayor blew it, the governor blew it and FEMA blew it. Had the mayor evacuated sooner, the resulting problems would have lessened. Had the governor acted sooner, the resulting problems would have lessened. Had FEMA acted quickly, the problems would have been resolved faster and more efficiently.

All are responsible for their actions, and to simply focus on one level is to misunderstand the situation, or to simply try to misinform the public about the situation.

Joe,
“Had the mayor evacuated sooner, the resulting problems would have lessened.”

No. That’s wrong. The mayor as well as the govenor made mistakes, but they made the call in a timely fashion. I know. I was there.

Saturday night, when I went to bed, Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane, somewhat loosely organized, with a path which could have brought it ashore somewhere between the LA border & Pensacola, with the most likely point being NO. The local & state gov recommended evacuation.

Many, many people heeded that recommendation, and drove out of town.

A mandatory evacuation was announced Sunday morning. Fortunately, I left about 30 minutes before the announcement, because I heard on tv that it had increased in strength to a category 5, and was highly likely to hit NO.

The mistakes of the local & state gov involved lack of efficient use of their resources before losing them to the hurricane.

However, they did get adequate notice to get people out of town who had cars, and shelter to those who could not get out.

The errors made by the the municipalities and state are of a very different nature than the federal government.

The federal government failured at the upper levels of management, resulting in an uncoordinated, embarrassing, disgraceful, nationally televised debacle.

I should point out that Nagin and Blanco are only incharge of New Orleans and the State respectively. If you order the Buses to drive people out, where will they go? The ENTIRE State of Louisiana was threatened!!! Its not as if they can go to Texas on Friday before Katrina. Also, where would you shelter or feed them? The Astrodome in Texas?

Staying put was the only real option since they did not know the levees would break. When the levees DID break, it was already too late.

They did not know the levees would break ?

As slow as traffic was moving, I could have walked or riden a bicycle out of New Orleans faster than vehicles were moving.

It doesn’t matter where people, as long as they get out of the path of a category 4 or 5 hurricane.

The further inland, the weaker the hurricane becomes. Also, adjactent regions would be safer too. And, almost anywhere above sea level would be prudent. People could go to churches, government buildings, large structures, etc., and worry later about food, water, and a place to sleep, which are all secondary to drowning or being struck dead by flying debri.

And the buses should simply go anywhere out of the path of a category 4 or 5 hurricane.

Staying was not the only real option for those that could evacuate, but instead, unnecessarily endangered rescuers and those that really had no option (i.e. in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.).

This should be a lesson to people to evacuate, play it safe, go to churches, government buildings, civil shelters, etc. Go anywhere, but don’t stay in the path of a hurricane. It’s almost as foolish as standing on a railroad track with a train approaching.

Once people have evacuated outside the most dangerous areas (such as New Orleans, obviously, since it’s below sea level), people can figure out how to survive. That’s easier to deal with if people dispurse to northern or adjacent regions that are not in the path of the hurricane.

The people need to take responsibility too, for greatly exacerbating an already difficult problem.
The people need to know they negligently endanger rescuers and those truly needy that can’t evacuate.

Many people have commented on how Bush’s CEO style of leadership contributed to the Federal failures in responding to Katrina, I am surprised to see so little discussion on how a CEO DOES affect overall performance of an organization.

As a management consultant who specializes in organizational process performance issues, I have spent over twenty years researching why some companies excel and why some stagnate or even fail. There is a VAST body of both scholarly and popular literature on this subject. One thing that the best of these have in common is a focus on the ability of the CEO to foster and sustain a culture of responsibility to employees, customers, shareholders, and society.

Cited over and over are instances in which CEOs are paid huge salaries and hefty bonuses to cut costs at any cost. CEOs of this stripe are put in place to satisfy the short term demands of stock speculators and stock analysts, against the interests of customers, long-term investors, employees, and employee-investors.

In contrast, the authors of “Good to Great” studied hundreds of companies that had suddenly turned from laggards into superstars. They found that the common denominator was a new, competent CEO who had risen from within and had the vision and commitment to create the kind of internal culture that fosters greatness.

This concept of “tone from the top” is so important that it is one of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award evaluation criteria. In the wake of Enron, et al, it is also one of the audit points in Sarbanes-Oxley, the law that requires CEOs and CFOs to personally attest to the accuracy and integrity of their financial statements.

It has been plain from the beginning that Bush is not of the sort that would have made it into “Good to Great.” Great CEOs hire and promote people based on competency, a shared vision, and personal integrity, rather than personal loyalty. They seek out those who not only know how to do the work they are expected to oversee, but are also committed to telling the truth to the Boss.

In 2003, Fortune Magazine published a list of those it considered the greatest cEOs of all time. The list included:

1. Charles Coffin, GE
2. Bill Allen, Boeing
3. Sam Walton, Wal-Mart
4. George Merck, Merck & Co.
5. Darwin Smith, Kimberly-Clark
6. James Burke, J&J
7. David Maxwell, Fannie Mae
8. William McKnight, 3M
9. Katharine Graham, Washington Post Co.
10. David Packard, Hewlett-Packard

Cab anyone say that George Bush compares to any of these people?

Yes, maybe at number 999,999,999,999.

To those who said the majority elected Bush, I beg to differ. The majority elected Gore and the Republican majority in Florida and the Supreme Court stole the election. I did not vote for Bush so I feel no responsibility for his ineptness. He was chosen by the Republican Party for his name. Bush does not run this country. Elite Republicans, including Rove and Cheney, do. Bush is just a figurehead and cannot be expected to know what is going on and to respond intelligently. They should keep him on a tighter leash. This is an example of his intelligence: “Brownie, you are doing a great job!”

AP

I categorically disagree…

No doubt, JBOD. But that was phx8, not me. Save your catagorical disagreement for my next article. :)

Let’s look at the “catastrophe”.

1. The Dome disaster. Did Nagin REALLY expect people to bring their own food and water? OIne gallon per day for five days means a mother of four would have to haul in 140 pounds, of water alone. Who saved the day? FEMA, who put 90,000 liters of water and 43,000 MRE’s in there BEFORE the storm.

2. The Convention Center disaster. Who decided to send people there? Local officials. Was this in the Official Disaster Plan? No. Does FEMA have a crystal ball? No. Who saved the day? The National Guard, under FEDERAL control.

3. The St. Bernard flood. Where did the water come from? MRGO. Who wanted to close MRGO? St. Bernard. Who fought against it and prevent ed it from closing? The Port of New Orleans. Who saved the day? Nobody. St. Bernards is gone.

4. The looting disaster. Who took the police cars and drove to Houston? One third of the New Orleans Police Department. Who rewarded tem for direlection of duty, with free trips to Vegas, at taxpayer expense? The New Orleans Chief of Police. Who put the backup generator for the NOPD communications sytem on the ground floor, where it flooded and died? The New Orleans Police Department. Who turned away the generator repair technicians? The Louisiana State Police, on the orders of Louisiana Governort Kathleen Blanco. Who saved the day? National Guard, under Federal control.

5. Thirst and starvation. Who prevented the Red Cross and Salvation Army from distributing the massive stockpiles of food and water they already had in place? Governor Kathleen Blanco. Who saved the day? The National Guard under FEMA control.

6. Where was New Orleans Mayor for three days following the storm, whewn he should have been organizing the front line relief effort, organizing the unflooded buses to evacuate the Convention Center and Superdome? Camped out at the Hyatt without a telephone. Does the entire city of New Orleans NOT have ONE SINGLE BOAT OR HELICOPTER that could get Nagiun to TELEPHONE or even better yet, a PROPERLY EQUIPPED COMMAND POST? With literally SCORES of Nagin press conferences during those three days, did he simply FORGET to call for help?

You all can pat you own backs and blame whoever you want for whatever you want and while your arm is back there, get out your wallets. Louisiana will not see ONE DIME of my money until Blanco, Nagin, and both Landrieus are IN JAIL, WHERE those accused of murder BELONG. Until then Mississippi gets EVERY CENT because Louisiana DOES NOT DESERVE HELP. Fix your mess or fund your mess, choose one and choose wisely, you will not see any money from me.

Let the Gulf have it back.

6.

Liberals,

Have you ever heard of the “City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan?” At the looks of it, im guessing no. The plan holds all of the details involved in evacuation by utilizing all available resources. The plan also calls for the use of city owned buses to evacuate New Orleans; they were never deployed.
I’m also guessing that not too many of you know how our countries government really works. Everyone is complaining how Bush acted to slowly in sending in the National Guard. Has anyone bothered to notice that in order for the National Guard to be under the control of the president they need to first become “federalized.” BUSH DIDNT HAVE CONTROL OVER THE NATIONAL GUARD PEOPLE. The wonderful Governor Blanco of New Orleans refused to sign the guard over to the federal government. Not to mention that our beloved president had already signed his half before the storm hit.

O and then the question comes up. “Hes the president he should be able to do whatever and gain control of the guard immediatly”

You people forget that little oath. The one to uphold the constitution that the president has to take before he is sworn in.

yeah, possi-cometatus, 1873 i believe…. look it up

So, yet again something happens and you democrats get hard over the fact that you can cry some more to make The President of The United Stated of America look bad…

well guess what hipsters……..3 more