I am so ashamed of my country

[hedgehog]

Did anyone else see the film tonight of Chinese rescue teams flying into the area hit by the earthquake? Does anyone else remember that days after Katrina hit New Orleans, doctors and nurses were desperate because they had patients in flooded hospitals and no idea of when or if help would arrive? This was in hospitals that were three miles from dry ground!

[niyad]

1. I will never forget what the powers-that-be allowed to happen in NOLA

may they all receive exactly what they deserve

[galaxy21]

2. Remember Castro offering aid after Katrina and being visibly appalled Bush was doing nothing?

[ileus]

3. and remember GW steered Katrina into NO.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Don't forget Chimpenfuhrer's "heck of a job".

ileus, I hope you're trying to be funny.

Mind you, you failed at being funny, but I hope you were at least trying.

[lonestarnot]

21. Har Har Har

Howl! That was that McWar pal, Hagee.

[The Doctor.]

25. Was that a joke?

[Regret My New Name]

28. Was he wearing his flight suit?

Seriously though, do you not agree that the federal goverment fucked up during Katrina? I think you'd have to be pretty blind not to see that what happened there was a damn shame.

[Meiko]

35. BWAHHHH!

Good one....:crazy:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

4. AMERICA HAS BEEN PRIVATIZED

WAKE UP YOU FOOLS

[matt007]

13. I second that

Pretty soon Police, Fire, and all EMS will be privatized.

[alittlelark]

26. I'll 3rd that.

[RedCappedBandit]

29. Pretty much already happened, imo. nt

[Fireweed247]

5. And the hypocrisy never ends

Bush is accusing them of being too slow...
Pattern Emerges in Katrina Lack of Response Stories
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066

Beyond Incompetence
Reading the news after the Katrina Hurricane
and the lack-of-response disaster,
a pattern began to emerge.


Airboaters stalled by FEMA
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#airboaters
500 Florida airboat pilots have volunteered to rescue Hurricane Katrina victims, transport relief workers and ferry supplies. But they aren’t being allowed in. And they’re growing frustrated.

A "floatilla of aid" TURNED BACK from New Orleans
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#flotilla
A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette this morning (Weds.) and headed to New Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department. The "flotillia" of trucks pulling boats stretched over five miles. This citizen rescue group was organized by La. State Senator, Gautreaux from Vermilion Parish. The group was comprised of experienced boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana.

Fearing riots, Guard rejects food airdrops
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#airdrops
Authorities are avoiding airdropping provisions into New Orleans - the traditional way of supplying disaster victims - out of fear of sparking riots, a state official said.

Homeland Security won’t let Red Cross deliver food
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#red_cross
"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

US won’t let Canada help Katrina victims
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#canada
Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a system called "DART" which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by. Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina.

On BBC: Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#bbc
We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it’s search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

Confirmation of BBC report: Navy Ship still unused 6 Days after Katrina!
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#navy
But today the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven’t been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship.

Daley ’shocked’ as feds reject aid
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#daley
A visibly angry Mayor Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.

Virgina Team turned away- others efforts wasted
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#virginia
Twenty-two Loudoun County sheriff’s deputies and six medical personnel who left Thursday for the New Orleans area returned home early yesterday because of poor communication between officials in Louisiana and Virginia that left the team without required approvals.

FEMA prevents water, fuel delivery- cuts communication lines!
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#fema
On Meet the Press, the president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, said that FEMA turned away aid and cut their communication lines!

Paperwork from DC late to arrive- prevents National Guard from helping
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#guard
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.

Guardsmen ’played cards’ amid New Orleans chaos: police official
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#cards
A top New Orleans police officer said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA Chief Brown caught in a LIE.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#brown
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Who’s Responsible?
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#who
Bush reorganized the government specifically to give the Feds more power in an emergency.

Bush’s Criminal Ignorance: "I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees."
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8066#bush

[hedgehog]

7. I have no link, but I remember that Florida had previously arranged to

send all of its Fish and Wildlife Dept air boats into devastated areas to aid rescue efforts and the system was never activated.

[jtrockville]

24. Here's a LINK

I posted it last week, but it's worth posting again. The Florida airboats are listed, along with many many many other offers of aid that were refused. Read it and weep: http://benfrank.net/blog/katrina_lack_of_response_archive/

[uppityperson]

9. k&r for a really good collection of articles. Thank you.

[countryjake]

36. I second that K&R for your excellent research & post!

Thank you for gathering this all into your response!

[ColbertWatcher]

6. And it's made worse because we have so much potential.

I, too, am ashamed, and very disappointed.

But, I still have hope we can get out of this GOP mess.

(ON EDIT: fix the mess in the subject)

[hedgehog]

11. Imagine this if you would: An agency that you could volunteer for

after high school or college that would train you to aid before, during and after disasters. After training, you would be sent anywhere you were needed. After a year's service, you'd receive the equivalent of 4 year's tuition at a state university to use for school OR to start your own business.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. That sounds like AmeriCorps! n/t

[Ioo]

8. For the record, All media is owned by the Gov there, you see what they want you to see

I know they are doing what they can to help, but please keep that in mind.

[leftchick]

14. almost

just like here. Almost

:eyes:

[tom_paine]

19. Duplicate. Self-delete.

[tom_paine]

20. And that's different from Amerikan Cable TV Infoganda HOW?

I mean, other than the fact that the Mynamarian Bushies probably have to threaten people's families to get the same kind of uniform marshalling of lies and catapulting of propaganda while ours do it under no such duress beyond losing their cushy jobs?

Puh-leeze! In many ways, to my mind, that makes Mynamarian journalism MUCH more noble and honroable than our own Toady Media. At least the Mynamarian Journalists don't voluntarily submit to delivering wall-to-wall lies and Bushie Propaganda.

Although, as I sit here thinking of that, I realize I no very little about the actual structure of Mynamarian jounralism nor the exact methods by which the Mynamarian Bushies maintain their control of it.

It may be the Mynamarian Journalism is as toadying and disgraceful as Imperial Amerikan Media, but that is an insult I am not willing to levy at them until I know more about their situation.

[RedCappedBandit]

30. Gosh, I can't imagine living in a country where the Gov owns the MSM

[matt007]

12. katrina is unacceptable

If Katrina and the response would have happened in ANY other developed country. The government would have been forced from power and a snap parliament election would have been held. This country makes me sick to my stomach sometimes.

I saw the first relief group after Katrina roll in my area in a Hum vee almost five days after the storm.

The only soldiers I saw were GERMAN soldiers seven days later leaving out of New Orleans Airport.

[Jim Sagle]

15. And don't forget this:

[lonestarnot]

23. Don't for one second lose any sleep over that one!

I will NEVER forget!

[Juche]

16. China is run by engineers

Many of the people in leadership in China, human rights abusers they may be, are also scientists and engineers.

In the US the country has been run by religious fanatics with a christlike faith in free markets and privatization. So the shit has hit the fan as 6000 years of recorded history has shown that blind faith in dogma does not bode well for leadership or governance. I won't be suprised if in 20-30 years China overtakes us as the world's biggest and best source of scientific research.

I think getting handed our ass year after year may wake us up. So there is some good to it.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/14239

"It used to be that just the so-called "Red States" (come to think of it, the Red-Blue thing was pretty stupid) were allergic to facts. But now it's all of us. We just sit here and take it all in, complain about gas prices when oil companies run the White House, wonder why the airlines are collapsing and there is no transportation alternative: It's the stupidity, stupid! While we were sidetracked by John Edwards' haircuts, the oil companies got Congress to destroy Amtrak for them — Bangladesh now has a more efficient passenger rail system than we do. While we sat transfixed by the magnificence of Angelina Jolie's lips and Britney Spears' shaven crotch, Croatia, Latvia and Albania moved ahead of the United States on the global Environmental Sustainability Index. While we munched freedom fries and stockpiled duct tape, our national treasury was looted. And so on."



I second that it hurts to see a nation with as much potential as ours end up the feared laughingstock we have become.

[Warpy]

17. I remember that my neighbor, an RN, was with the NM disaster team

sitting on the tarmac within sight of the NO skyline and prevented from entering the city for FIVE DAYS by the National Guard, who were operating out of Chertoff's disaster manual that treated a hurricane and flood as though they were CONTAGIOUS.

That's the shame of this country, that military automatons went by the book instead of THINKING and that the agency heads didn't give enough of a shit to tell them to stand down and let help into the city.

Stupid, of course, was off eating birthday cake with McStupid.

[Contrary1]

22. My brother is a firefighter/paramedic in Indianapolis.

When his chief asked for volunteers to go and help Katrina victims, just about everyone there raised their hand. In the three days that it took them to get ready, it was discovered that their "mission" would not be to rescue people, but to hand out flyers on how the government was already there helping.

Needless to say, they decided not to go since it was not to assist in the rescue efforts.

Sometimes, I have to wonder about fate. As it turned out, a few days later, my brother felt very ill and drove himself to the hospital. The following week, he was scheduled for heart surgery...a quintuple bypass. If he had been in New Orleans, there is a good chance he would not have made it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. "George Bush doesn't care about black people," Kanye West n/t

[matt007]

33. Its a true statement

His new album is great by the way....i jog to it

[maui9002]

31. I'm not ashamed of my country

although I was ashamed of my government in the response to Katrina. I recommend reading Douglas Brinkley's "The Great Deluge", a wonderful accounting of Katrina and the circumstances that led to the disaster. The federal government response was woeful, but many if not most of the state and local state and local government agencies, with some notable exceptions, were unprepared and responded shamefully (case in point, the New Orleans Police Department, which had an inordinate number of officers that either didn't show up or participated in lawlessness in the anarchy that followed the flooding. The book also documents heroic efforts by some individuals and agencies. Worth a read.

Ultimately, I regard Katrina as an example of Republican policy; for the most part, government agencies have been filled with ideologically compatible Republicans rather than effective administrators (You're doing a heck of job, Brownie--to someone who had never had no significant disaster management experience)and the chickens came home to roost with Katrina.

[Captain Angry]

32. This should be the biggest campaign issue.

When we get a Democratic nominee, they should be able to sit back, push play, and remind everybody where Bush and McCain were.

[4_TN_TITANS]

34. Mrs. Obama - is that you?

;)

[countryjake]

37. Disgrace

Watching the footage of both the Myanmar devastation and now the Chinese earthquake, I can't get the disgraceful in-action of my own country out of my mind, with Katrina memories flooding back when some comparable scene overseas flashes by on my tv.

Our nation was a disgrace to humanity after that hurricane hit.

A man-made disaster.

Made in the USA