NationStates Jolt Archive

The Cavalry can't get past FEMA
Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish on Meet the Press:

Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out.

Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn't need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, FEMA comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.
[...]
The guy who runs this building I'm in. Emergency management. He's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody's coming to get you.. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

http://www.wonkette.com/images/WRC_09-04-2005_10.58.46.wmv

http://www.wonkette.com/images/she%20drowned%20friday%20night%20she%20drowned%20friday%20night.jpg

Yeah, this has really dragged America's reputation through the mud throughout the world. In a lot of countries, there was a naive belief that the US was a fantastically rich land of golden opprtunity, which served the US well. They have seen a glimpse of the concealled reality now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4216142.stm

Not being an American citizen I must ask, what does FEMA stand for?

And that is very sad I must say, the picture above says it all...

Lovely. Somebody decided that only the government can provide relief. What do you say that we abolish FEMA?

Not being an American citizen I must ask, what does FEMA stand for?

And that is very sad I must say, the picture above says it all...

Federal Emergency Management Agency. These beaurucrats are certainly acting like total incompetants, I agree.

Not being an American citizen I must ask, what does FEMA stand for?

And that is very sad I must say, the picture above says it all...

FEMA is Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Wow, I was about to say that on a total guess.

Yeah, this has really dragged America's reputation through the mud throughout the world. In a lot of countries, there was a naive belief that the US was a fantastically rich land of golden opprtunity, which served the US well. They have seen a glimpse of the concealled reality now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4216142.stm

No,no the reputation was gone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4216142.stmI agree with almost every single comment...

Yeah, this has really dragged America's reputation through the mud throughout the world. In a lot of countries, there was a naive belief that the US was a fantastically rich land of golden opprtunity, which served the US well. They have seen a glimpse of the concealled reality now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4216142.stm
None of what has been "revealed" by Katrina should come as a surprise to anyone, especially not to Americans. No society this massive is without problems.

Wow. I didn't know FEMA existed. So, these guys knew for a few days before it hit that a hurricane was coming, and knew for 24 hours or so (was it?) that it was going to be a biggie. And their one and only job, their entire raison d'etre, was to be ready for the impending disaster, which would mean being ready with food and water and so on, which they presumably spend all their time practising and preparing for.

And they appear not to have been ready at all. Remarkable.

http://www.wonkette.com/images/she%20drowned%20friday%20night%20she%20drowned%20friday%20night.jpg
Yeah, I caught that, they had to cut awya because they couldn't calm him down.

Yeah, I caught that, they had to cut awya because they couldn't calm him down.he was very strong...

I am appalled and outraged at the situation in the Delta. For years, New Orleans had gambled that a higher than category-3 storm would not hit. And they lost. To think that a proper evacuation was not undertaken, leaving thousands of poor and elderly and sick and others to die, is utterly shocking. The government could have done a whole lot fucking better.

And to hear that approximately 200 out of 1600 New Orleans police officers have abandoned their duties, really makes me question the abilities of my society.

I think this storm has shown the superficial qualities of this country. In times of disaster, you can be sure that no one will give a shit about the minorities. Regardless of their citizen status.

And then to hear about the incompetence of the FEMA, makes me very shocked.

My condolences are sent to the poor man who lost his mother. She could have been saved. So many lives could have been saved. For god's sakes people... how can you be so heartless.

And to hear that approximately 200 out of 1600 New Orleans police officers have abandoned their duties, really makes me question the abilities of my society.



my father is a police officer up here in canada.....the cops in new orleans are not getting paid,they have to take care of there own famillies and not to mention you got guys runin around with AK's and shit...if i were a cop in that situation i would probably leave for the good of my familly.



you know what the most shocking part is....america sent more stuff to the tsumani relief then they did to their own people.


God!!! message to all goverments FUCK OTHER NATION....when i go to montreal downtown i see homeless everywere...it makes me sick to see our Prime Minister send money else where...when their own people are starving on the streets.

I don't know if this has been said already in another thread or anything, but I'd like to know how Michael D. Brown got the position he has now. This guy was a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility in Colorado and Oklahoma before he was a failed Arabian Horse Association manger or whatever in 2002 when he was told to resign for incompetence. That was when Bush appointed him head of FEMA. This (http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Michael_D_Brown.php) might be of a little hint explaining Bush's decision.

This guy had no idea what was going on in New Orleans in the days following the hurricane strike and he hardly knows what's going on now. He didn't have a clue that tens of thousands of people were stranded in the New Orleans Convention Center sometime about three days after the fact until his officials heard it on the news.

Combine that with the water trucks, the cutting of the power, and the turning down of coast guard help, FEMA, and its brilliant disaster relief expert, is just making the entire disaster worse. But what's really astonishing to me, is that Bush is commending Brown on what a great job he's been doing. I guess it's hard work sitting in your office and whacking off while tens of thousands of people die because of your counter-constructive actions.

Bump

I don't know if this has been said already in another thread or anything, but I'd like to know how Michael D. Brown got the position he has now. .he was responsible for horses...he was fired for incompetence.

Bush was delighted to find someone more incompetent than himself...