Bush adminstration cuts hurt New Orleans levees

[opebo]

Don't you find it interesting that, in a city where the local Democrat machine could coordinate parish-wide bus and van service to thousands of people from the slums to get to polling places miles off, then hand the sheeple "walking around money", for voting for the right crook, could suddenly lose all that organizational skill when it came time for them to actually govern their city?

And that city has been run continuously by the Democratic Party since the 1870s.

But, let's use jfern's example and not score cheap political points off dying people.

It is absurd to expect a city government, burdened with mostly poor citizens and very little tax base, to deal with such a disaster.  The money for such massive responses must come from where all the money is - the owning classes. 

[John Dibble]

It is perfectly reasonable to make a partisan attack in this case

No, partisan attacks are by definition NEVER reasonable.

Of course they are.  They serve the purpose of undermining one's enemy.  But in this case jfern is also making a valid criticism, partisanship aside.

I never said partisan attacks didn't have a purpose, I said they were always unreasonable. Even IF jfern has a valid criticism(which is different from an attack), being partisan is unreasonable because it makes the assumption that the other side is always wrong without considering the facts.

[J. J.]

It is absurd to expect a city government, burdened with mostly poor citizens and very little tax base, to deal with such a disaster.  The money for such massive responses must come from where all the money is - the owning classes. 

It isn't exactly a "poor" city overall.  They did have a relatively strong tax base.  There was huge development downtown, massive public projects.  There was also a fairly strong middle class and a lot of incoming money from tourism.

This one isn't a political issue, more of an engineering one.  The 17th Street Canal Levee, that broke, was "upgraded" 5 years ago.  There were both federal (the bulk) and local contributions to its building.

[ATFFL]

Of course, the problem is that the levee that broke was actually the one "upgraded" and fully funded five years ago.  Something tells me that funding wasn't a problem (my guess it, it wasn't a political problem).

I think the problem was some idiot thought that building a bridge nearby would be a good idea..

[Storebought]

Don't you find it interesting that, in a city where the local Democrat machine could coordinate parish-wide bus and van service to thousands of people from the slums to get to polling places miles off, then hand the sheeple "walking around money", for voting for the right crook, could suddenly lose all that organizational skill when it came time for them to actually govern their city?

And that city has been run continuously by the Democratic Party since the 1870s.

But, let's use jfern's example and not score cheap political points off dying people.

It is absurd to expect a city government, burdened with mostly poor citizens and very little tax base, to deal with such a disaster.  The money for such massive responses must come from where all the money is - the owning classes. 

Not that you deserve a response, but:

It doesn't take much money for city managers to direct law enforcement to the (non-submerged) parts of the city to maintain order, or for bureaucrats to apportion food/diapers/hygiene products from otherwise ruined shops.

People like you are the reason why New Orleans can degrade to such a state in just four days.

[J. J.]

Of course, the problem is that the levee that broke was actually the one "upgraded" and fully funded five years ago.  Something tells me that funding wasn't a problem (my guess it, it wasn't a political problem).

I think the problem was some idiot thought that building a bridge nearby would be a good idea..

I'll bite, who was the idiot?

[Jake]

George "Dubya" Bush

[bgwah]

At first I probably would've want them shot or arrested.

But now. Who cares. New Orleans is lost. Once everyone that wants to leave is out, destroy the last connections to the city and turn it into a giant prison.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Most unbelivable thing yet. Appearantly FEMA didn't know that there were 15,000 refuges in the NOLA convention center until today (Thursday), even though it had been reported yesterday (Wednesday) on CNN. 15,000 people who were not given any supplies. How can they overlook 15,000 people in one place? That's pathetic. Even those at the elite mainstream media are not happy.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/01/pzn.01.html

Clearly there has not been enough manpower in NOLA from the NOLA police, National guard, regular army, Canadians who wanted to help but were turned away at the border, or whoever else should be there.

[J. J.]

Most unbelivable thing yet. Appearantly FEMA didn't know that there were 15,000 refuges in the NOLA convention center until today (Thursday), even though it had been reported yesterday (Wednesday) on CNN. 15,000 people who were not given any supplies. How can they overlook 15,000 people in one place? That's pathetic.

The reason is that the New Orleans officials didn't tell them they were sending people there. 

Now I can understand that the communications system is gone, but they can send "runners" to these locations. 

One problem is the mayor is sixty miles away in Baton Rouge.  He can't monitor the situation directly.

[MODU]

The Coast Guard spokes person and the FEMA director have stated that emergency communication setup across the whole region was completed Wednesday night.  However, it takes people to communicate numbers back and forth.  With everyone being involved with the helping the refugees, I can easily see how the number counts could be off. 

Fortunately, an 8-mile convoy showed up early this morning to bring in supplies and buses into the New Orleans area, as well as a fleet of boats (from as far as California) to rescue the remaining people trapped in the city.  Hopefully that means everyone (that wants to be evacuated) will be rescued from the city and taken outside of the disaster zone.