Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated.
Or listen to Robert Siegel at NPR finally get Michael Chertoff to stop talking about (finally) getting help to the Superdome and admitting that he doesn't know what is going on at the Convention center. But even then, Chertoff is defensive and annoying--suggesting that NPR is repeating rumors. Siegel points out these reports are coming from seasoned reporters who have covered wars.
All of these politicians have failed us. All of them. Maybe this will get the media to be more aggressive. If that happens, then we might have some hope. Bush should not be able to say with a straight face "no one thought the levees would fail." That is just plain bullshit and either he is lying or ignorant. Or both.
SOF sent this from Wired Magazine: "They Knew What to Expect"
"In light of that, said disaster expert Bill Waugh of Georgia State University, 'It's inexplicable how unprepared for the flooding they were.' He said a slow decline over several years in funding for emergency management was partly to blame.
In comments on Thursday, President Bush said, 'I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.'
But LSU engineer Joseph Suhayda and others have warned for years that defenses could fail. In 2002, the New Orleans Times Picayune published a five-part series on 'The Big One,' examining what might happen if they did.
It predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week."
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One more negative thing and then I am going to "go positive." (for today or for right now). I heard Frankling Graham on MSNBC last night. The very first thing he did was tell people to stop pointing fingers (ok, fine, whatever). Then he called on all the churches to solve the problem (almost implying that federal agencies shouldn't even be asked) and then listed some denominations. All were conservative evangelical. He certainly didn't name synagogues or mosques.
It reminded me of the Simpsons where Homer burns down his house after he has lost some faith in God. Reverend Lovejoy reminds him of all the people of faith who helped rescue him, "be they Christian, Jew or Misc (referring to the Hindu, Apu)."
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