If our tax dollars are paying for this clean up, why

[babylonsister]

aren't they supplying the U.S. Coast Guard? There was a plea on the nightly news that the CG is in dire need of specific supplies (I remember sleeping bags) and they were soliciting donations from the public. :wtf:

[tjdee]

1. Why are they soliciting regular people with boats? Why did Bush tell us to

donate to the Red Cross, etc.??

THEY ARE LYING. Plain and simple. They are lying to us.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. The need is overwhelming!!! And unprecedented in this country.

The Coast Guard doesn't have a half million or so sleeping bags stored in a convenient warehouse -- and that is certainly a low-ball number.

[NYC]

3. Supplying the Coast Guard is like supporting the troops.

It's the government's responsibility to supply the Coast Guard with what they need. (It's the government's responsibility to supply the troops in Iraq with armor.)

I guess the government is all talk, and trying to shift the financial burden to the individual people.

[babylonsister]

5. That's my point; why wasn't the gov't at all

prepared for this kind of situation?

[NYC]

7. The government was eating cake, strumming the guitar,

vacationing, having a good time.

The government, in a sense, was prepared for the disaster, just didn't act. The government knows what actions to take in case of a hurricane and flooding. They chose not to act or react in a timely fashion. The hurricane didn't catch them by surprise.

New Orleans, as a city, is not meant to handle such a disaster alone. Otherwise, it would have its own municipal New Orleans National Guard. The city of New Orleans has a right to depend on help from the federal government.

Blanco asked for help. Nagin asked for help. What explains the delayed response?

[TahitiNut]

4. Coast Guard search and resuce have retrieved over 1,500 people ...

... from rooftops in the most deeply flooded areas. I'm guessing the "supplies" they're requesting are humanitarian supplies (to be handed out) rather than for the Guard itself. Nonetheless, the "joke" in the Coast Guard is that they're the "hand-me-down Navy." For years and years, they made do with vessels that the Navy didn't want any more -- and were retrofitted for the Coast Guard's mission.


Coast Guard: "That hard nucleus about which the Navy forms in time of war."

[enid602]

6. Expense

If our tax dollars are going to pay for the clean up, why the hell didn't we spend that required to repair the ancient levee in the first place. Well, we all know why, but I just want to remind us all (once again) how the 'MBA President' choses to manage precious resources and dollars.