Imagine a disaster like Katrina in Germany… I think we all know what the American response would be. So what is the German response to a disaster in the USA, offers of aid or help? link

I think the cops and National Guards should stop and check each looter. If they have food and basic supplies in the sack, let them go with a smack upside the head for poor planning. If they have Rolexes and such, have them kneel and then shoot them in the back of the head on the spot. Looters piss me off.

Socialized medicine is killing people - literally! (Forget Terry Schiavo; there’s no question about these folks.)

Bill — I just wanted to let you know that you are on a roll today. These are a bunch of GREAT posts.

Actually Bill, I think you’re seeing the maturing of the blog “family”. Commenters are getting less snarky in their comments in my opinion but more direct in their challenges to the proprietor of a blog. Without being mean about their comments. It’s a good thing. A bad thing would be NO commenters!

Regarding the nowclosed discussion: I think SDB has it right — this much more an ideological war like the Cold War than a shooting war like WW II, and is likely to be won in a time frame closer to the former than the latter. To extend this the way SBD did the WW II analogy, I would say this is (roughly) mid-to-late 1940s. We’v removed two heinous regimes and are democratizing Japan and Germany (now Afghanistan and Iraq) which will turn out to be a key factor, but many already think we’ve lost the peace: “The troops returning home are worried. ‘We’ve lost the peace,’ men tell you. ‘We can’t make it stick.’ … Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American. … Never has American prestige in Europe been lower…. Instead of coming in with a bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and apologies…. A great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease. The taste of victory had gone sour in the mouth of every thoughtful American I met.” — Life Magazine, January 7, 1946 Fortunately, this time around there is no superpower opposing us, and public opinion is largely already on our side and continuing to move favorably. One thing that has gone mostly unnoticed is the rising popularity of the Arabic VOA: AlHurrah. They’ve been steadily gaining in credibility and popularity: Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa are now reaching a total unduplicated audience of 35 million adults (15 and over) per week according to the latest ACNielsen survey released today. This represents the fourth consecutive audience increase since the inception of the ACNielsen surveys of the stations. Obviously this is important in a war of competing ideologies. Will it take 40 years? Maybe. Could it take a lot less? Sure. Remember, the Cold War ended only because of weak Soviet leadership. Gorbachev could have sent in the tanks and crushed the E European pro-democracy rebellions in 1989. China did just that, and the Communists still rule that country. How much will do the Arab despots have? How badly do their people want freedom and democracy? How much help will they get from us? The answers to those questions will determine how long the effort takes. Something to consider: hundreds of thousands of Iranians make pilgrimages to Iraq. How long would the Cold War have lasted if that many E Germans had been crossing into W Germany every year and bringing home tales of democracy? Iran can’t build a wall…

It would seem that a lot of people in the disaster zone have a lot of potable water on site in the form of hot water tanks. Assuming no flood and no water pressure to inject untreated water, there should be good drinkable water in the millions of tanks there. Sure the first gallon or two will have some sludge, but at least you know what the off color is coming from. There is also an easy way to treat water using a couple of teaspoons of household bleach per gallon. You’d think somebody at FEMA would be broadcasting these simple tips to the afflicted.

Bill, Just finished Inner Circles. Damn good yarn. Thanks, Joe

Tell me I’m wrong. Please.

Use your own eyes, ears, and brain, about NOLA, and about Iraq. That’s what I’ve been doing, even if I don’t much like where it has taken me.

It was my understanding that they had several thousand FEMA personnel on-scene surrounding NOLA before Katrina made landfall. This is a story that could happen almost anywhere, though. Almost all major city governments are both liberal Democrat and corrupt to the core. I shudder to think what might happen here in San Francisco if a quake larger than the 1989 quake were to strike. I still keep plenty of water, canned food, and ammo around, because SF could make NOLA look like a kid’s playground. Hell, we still haven’t finished building the new section of the Bay Bridge that was supposed to replace the part damaged more than fifteen years ago - and that section is only coming in at four billion over its original 1.5 billion budget. I will admit that their Emergency Communications Department is better situated to ride out a major quake than it was back in 1989, though. Willie Brown took care of that much, at least.

I’ve been waiting for somebody else to mention it but I haven’t seen any mention so I’ll do it. How easy it would be to produce about a quarter million deaths in NOLA by blowing the levees at a normal time. Take about a half-dozen motor boats loaded with a few hundred pounds of explosive each. Beach them at selected points along the levees with 2/3 on the river side and 1/3 on the lake side. Set them off approximately simultaneously and sit back to watch half the population of NOLA drown or otherwise perish in the ensuing chaos. But isn’t NOLA a special case being below sea level* and all? Well no, not a difference of kind, just of degree. Every city in the nation has a water supply system that includes impounded water of massive volume. Such impoundments tend to be situated at high ground for obvious reasons of efficiency. Put another way, the cities are “below impoundment level”. Blow the impounding structure(s) [dams, levees, whatever] and away we go. Anybody remember the cause of the infamous Johnstown (PA) flood? *Actually, I’m pretty sure the water in the Mississippi River flows downhill during its over 100 mile journey from NOLA to the Gulf. And sure enough, it turns out that NOLA is 35 feet above sea level. What??? You mean to tell me the MSM got something wrong? Again? Indeed, NOLA is below river level (and lake level) not below sea level.

I have been holding back pretty much all commentary on the governmental response to Katrina, hoping that the days that have just passed would shed some light on what in the world is causing the “relief effort” to be such a complete failure. Then yesterday one sentence absolutely stopped me in my tracks: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” Bush said that yesterday. YESTERDAY. Days after Katrina hit, and in the middle of the complete and utter chaos. Think about that. As damn near everyone knows by now, damn near everyone knew perfectly well that the levees would be breached. FEMA said back in 2001 that this was one of the three most likely, most potentially devastating scenarios that they could imagine in the US, along w/ another terrorist atack in NYC and the “big one” in California. How the fuck can he go on national television and be so fucking ignorant?? Bill, you commented earlier that FEMA had people on the ground before the storm hit, which is 100% correct. They were there because, as FEMA Director Michael Brown said, “(FEMA had) planned for this kind of disaster for many years because we’ve always known about New Orleans’ situation.” Of course they did. Then how in the bloody hell did the resulting “relief effort” end up so horribly, horribly wrong? How? “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” Mindboggling.

The hurricane was a natural disaster. It was not caused by the Iraq war, failure to sign Kyoto, or any other reason the left postulates. The disaster relief plan is inadequate. Know of any plans, for disasters of this magnitude, made by anyone on this planet that isn’t? The left wing communist/socialists will never be of any help in these circumsatnces. YGB, you are an anti-American, unpatriotic, hateful asshole. Your only real thought is how you can tie this to a conservative. Screw you.

I hate that anti-American, unpatriotic, hateful asshole Tim Russert so much. I hope he dies choking on his own bile: It’s a question that our country is going to have to look inside its soul and answer. The fact is, those who were well off were able to evacuate the city and those who were poor stayed behind. And those who are suffering and those who are dying are those very same poor people. It’s just unbelievable. The world is watching the United States of America this week. And we’re watching ourselves. I think the response across the country has been universal and uniform. After Sept. 11, I think people realized we’d been attacked by an outside enemy and we were not in a position to be criticizing our own government. That’s not the case with this crisis. The Washington Times - a conservative paper - and the Manchester Union Leader up in New Hampshire both just absolutely denouncing the response of the federal government, state government, local government. They are basically saying the government has one function and that’s’ to protect the citizens and it hasn’t happened this week in New Orleans. I think liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, are just absolutely outraged and confused at the scenes we’re watching on TV. And the world is watching. Why are we apparently incapable of rescuing people and in the process of witnessing an American city being lost?… And it’s not as if we didn’t know this was coming. There were studies after studies. There were tests after tests. As recently as a year ago there was a tabletop disaster scenario played out as to what would happen to New Orleans in a major hurricane. And the results of those studies have now been proven to be true. So the questions that have to be asked are: Why weren’t the poor people evacuated? They don’t have SUVs. They travel by public bus. Could they have been evacuated? Secondly, in terms of pre-positioning, where were the troops, where were the National Guard? If people were to be sent to the Superdome, why weren’t there cots and water and food there? Second-guessing is easy, but it is also, I think, a requirement of those in a free society to challenge their government, when the primary function of the government is to protect its citizens and they haven’t been protected… By Sunday they say there’ll be 30,000 National Guard and troops on the street, which gives you an indication of just how perilous it is. But the fact is that, when there was now evacuation and no pre-positioning of supplies within the city, that led to the current situation. President George W. Bush said the other day that no one expected the levees to break. Well, with all respect, study after study, including FEMA’s own tabletop exercises last year, all included the breaking or the giving of the levees. Everyone who had studied the issue knew that with a Category 3, 4 or 5 storm, that was a very strong likelihood. So, again, it’s very difficult in the midst of a crisis for people to be critical, but I have not talked to anybody, underscore anybody, in official Washington who believes the government at any level has done a good job. (On MTP) We’ll talk to the United States Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and then state and local representatives from Mississippi and Louisiana. There are a lot of tough questions to be asked about who we are as a country and deep fault lines, as we look inside ourselves as to why some people were saved and why some were left to die. We’re not second-guessing; we’re trying to get some answers as to what has created the misery we are witnessing on our TV screens, Sunday, on Meet the Press. (end) And I wrote mine before reading Timmy’s. Hey Tim Russert: Screw Barry.

YGB, so you’re saying that it was FEMA’s job to have the City of New Orleans prepared for this natural disaster? That the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana are absolved of responsibility for disaster preparedness? (It’s all Bush’s fault, after all!) The Mayor issues a mandatory evac order and THAT’S IT? You’re on your own, folks! Did you see that picture of all those school busses submerged in the huge parking lot? Busses. Lots and lots of them. Belonging to the City of New Orleans. Just sitting there. The Mayor and his police could have been going through the parishes and loading people on those busses for days at gunpoint, if necessary. Don’t give me that crap about the Mayor rising to the occassion. All I hear from him is weeping and whining and pointing blame. In other words, yes, I’m saying the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana should HAVE been doing the job here in anticipation of said city being underwater. They are the folks on the spot and they knew this was coming. Those folks dying after the storm were condemned before it either by their own inaction or their local government’s. I’m saying that the City of New Orleans proved itself incapable of dealing with Katrina before it hit. In other words, there’s plenty of blame to go around, starting at NO City Hall and moving outwards. Am I making myself clear? If Bush had the slightest cojones, he would federalize NO, kick out the Mayor and police and turn it into a military district under martial law. But that won’t happen, alas. And yes, I do agree with Clinton on this. Your kind of 20-20 hindsight only gets in the way of the grownups doing the job. As for defining “awhile” where you are concerned: Don’t tempt me. But let’s try this on for size, ok? Let’s let the people do their jobs and get the recovery going. Then after “awhile” if you want to impeach Bush (and every president retroactively back to 1965. Just to be fair, y’know. That’s how long the underfunded levee improvement projects have been going on…), then knock yourself out.

So far I give it a “piss poor” grade. The reason I give it that grade is that the feds should have federalized the region from day 1, damned the criticism and delcared martial law. My point is that you seem quite content to heap all the blame on the feds when the blame starts in New Orleans and heads out from there. “Everyone, including the city of New Orleans, knew that the city was not in any way capable of dealing with Katrina without massive federal support.” Yeah. Righto on the strawman. And they’ve obviously known this since 1965, when they decided to improve the levee system and then underfund it. Oh, right. And design it to withstand a category 3 storm. Let’s see. That’s 5 Republican and 3 Democrat presidents. Looks to me like there’s plenty of blame to go around going way back on both sides. “Bush said that yesterday. YESTERDAY. Days after Katrina hit, and in the middle of the complete and utter chaos. Think about that. As damn near everyone knows by now, damn near everyone knew perfectly well that the levees would be breached. FEMA said back in 2001 that this was one of the three most likely, most potentially devastating scenarios that they could imagine in the US, along w/ another terrorist atack in NYC and the “big one” in California. How the fuck can he go on national television and be so fucking ignorant??” That’s what you wrote, and yet others of both parties are saying the same thing. So, tell me why it is that Bush is solely at fault and the sole fount of ignorance in regards to Katrina? And if he isn’t why is it that you feel you need to take cheap shots at him at this time? What do you accomplish? As for those you site, I think they’re wrong to be saying what they are saying now. If you haven’t got a positive contribution to make, STFU. Otherwise you’re just talking to hear yourself sound important. “What I care about is that for days the federal government utterly and completely failed to perfore the basic functions assigned to them.” Bullshit, YGB. What you care about is scoring points. There is going to be plenty of blame to go around. I suggest you stop pissing into the wind.

Mmm. Actually, the primary responsibility for this disaster lies with “nature,” or “god,” take your pick. Humans are only responsible for failing to properly anticipate the evil deeds of either one.

Bill, don’t tell me what I’m trying to do. I kept my yap shut for four days while I watched and waited and hoped that things were going to improve. I have the same motives as all of the people that I cite above. I’m doing my own very, very, very small part to try to get help to the people who need it. I’ve called my Senators, I’ve called the White House, I’ve donated what I could, and I have written letters to the editor. You wrote, “If you depend on the state for anything, especially your own safety and that of your friends, you are a fool doomed not only to disappointment, but very likely to extreme danger or even death in any real emergency.” It was the Bush Administration that put a political appointee with no experience in disaster relief at the head of FEMA. You my recall that things were run a wee bit differently just a few years back: Perhaps the most important reason for Witt’s success has been his prior work experience as director of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. In fact, Witt is the only FEMA director who has previously had experience in disaster relief. And observers say that that has greatly improved the agency’s relations with the states. “He knows the programs. He knows the needs of the states,” said Trina Hembree, executive director of the National Emergency Management Association. “His experience at the local and state level has made a difference,” noted Jim Greene, administrator of Montana’s Disaster and Emergency Services. “All disasters are local, and you need to remember that.” During a 1996 meeting with other emergency management officials, Witt recalled a conversation concerning FEMA that President Clinton had with Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. “One of the most important things he … said [was]: `In any future Administrations, I challenge you as members of Congress to never let a director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency be appointed and confirmed without having the background of emergency management and that experience.’” And while appreciate your gentle, loving admonishment of Barry, I just hope he can pull his lips off of Bush’s asshole for a minute or two and apologize. It appears that the troops have finally arrived today. Thank goodness, and about fucking time.

I think YGB needs a cooling-off period…as in his whiny ass banned for a week or two. I tried to respond to his last two rants but there are dozens of errors, lies, and assorted BS in each one (example: the National Guard that “just arrived today” has rescued over 4,000 people from NO just since Wednesday. Try getting your “information” from someplace other than CNN, YGB). It’s futile. He’ll just ignore the facts, move the goalposts, the whole liberal bag of tricks. Life is too short.

“Fuck you, YGB, you asshole. Don’t tell me what to write.” Go fuck yourself. You can write whatever the fuck you want, and when you decide to speak for me I’ll tell you to stop. If that is in some way unacceptably forward of me, then ban me. Until then, don’t tell me what I’m trying to do.