A lot for one post huh?? I'd like to talk more about what's going on in the south especially today focus on New Orleans and how Bush is in part responsible for the disaster there. (Sorry Robert but this is fact)
Here is the history lesson. In 1995 there is flooding in New Orleans the Army Corps of Engineers started work on an engineering project the purpose was to strenghten the region's levee's and to improve the pumping system that is designed to regulate water levels.
As the work advanced, in 2003 federal funding for the projects started to run out, leaving projects, including a planned effort to strenghthen the banks of Lake Pontchartrain, on the back burner.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported as early as 2004 the reason for the funding cut was due to the Iraq War.
Since there are record deficits the Bush Administration cut costs, and corners, by including in its 2005 budget about 1/6 of the flood prevention funds requested by the Louisiana congressional delegation.
Also the war in Iraq has made it more difficult for recovery. There are fewer National Guard units who are normally availible for disaster due to being deployed in Iraq.
After 9/11, Bush promised our nation would never again be so unprepared in the face of disaster in fact, the Department of Homeland Security was created in part to make sure every city in America had adequate emergency plans in place for large scale crisis.
I guess that was an empty promise like so many others he made.
So if Bush never started this illegal war in Iraq while that would not have prevented Katrina from happening the damage MIGHT not be as severe because the funding would have been availible to help the levee's. Remember that my conservative friends.
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In the face of such an overwhelming tragedy, I hope it's pardonable...
In the face of such an overwhelming tragedy, I hope it's pardonable if I pass along some good news.
If your interested, check out my sony tv forum site.
Dude who are you??
Obviously, anonymous is a blog spammer.
Erik, ready for this? I, on the whole, agree with you here. Homeland security begins in the home, per se, that means the United States.
The only point of contention I really have is that much of the brunt fo responsibility goes on the Louisiana state government as well as the New Orleans city government. Just as us Californians have to deal with earthquakes and fires and be prepared when those events occur, those in hurricane-prone areas must do the same. It is painfully obvious, that Louisiana (and to a lesser extent, Mississippi) took no preparations for such a bad scenario as this. They routed people into the Superdome but had no cots, water, food, medical staff, and worse, no law enforcement set up there. Those people were just left on their own. In any disaster such as this, it is the city that has to respond first, the federal government after.
You might be more interested in this bit of history, being from California (I once was, too, in a prior time): "What do NY, NO and SF have in common? Well, in early 2001 (before 9/11), the US Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report saying those 3 cities were the three likeliest, most castastrophic locations for disasters facing the country. It said NY was most likely in danger of a terrorist attack, NO in danger of a devastating hurricane and SF in danger of a major earthquake. See this article from the December 1, 2001 Houston Chronicle: http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm The article says, "The New Orleans hurricane scenario may be the deadliest of all."
http://guambatstew.blogspot.com/2005/09/2-down-1-to-go.html
PS: you can cut down, maybe eliminate, the spam with the verification utility blogspot now offers -- see the dashboard.
Question is Robert at least in Los Angeles are we really prepared if say an 8.0 earthquake happens on the Elysian Park fault. I think we are less prepared then we think. After this disaster in New Orleans I'm beginning to wonder. And again not blaming anyone if we are not cause there are going to be things that are not thought of.
We may not be as prepared as we should be (what city is?). But I bet we're in a hell of a lot better shape than New Orleans. We did pretty well in the Northridge earthquake.
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