From an article in today’s New York Times, written by Robert D. McFadden:
"The administration's problems in the crisis seemed to crystallize in a dramatic appearance on the NBC program "Meet the Press" by Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish near New Orleans. Sobbing, he told of an emergency management official receiving phone calls from his mother, who, trapped in a nursing home, pleaded day after day for rescue. Assured by federal officials, the man promised her repeatedly that help was on the way.
"Every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' " Mr. Broussard said. "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. She drowned Friday night.’"
Hurricane Katrina was indeed what the insurance companies refer to as "an act of God." But it was one that came with at least a couple days’ warning. A couple of days…obviously not nearly enough time to evacuate or organize relief efforts for a city of 500,000 souls. The storm herself killed…how many? We don’t know. And the slow response by federal relief agencies killed…how many more? Again, we don’t know. Those lives, those people who too quickly become numbing, nameless statistics on our television screens and on the front pages of our newspapers—each one, somebody’s mama, or baby, or sister, or neighbor… How many would have been saved by even an adequate response by relief teams? If it was the body of your loved one cooking on a median strip or floating in the shell of a wrecked nursing home, would you not want someone held accountable?
The Bush administration did not cause hurricane Katrina. And it IS a travesty to politicize the horrendous suffering of the victims of this monstrous storm. Then again, Mr. Bush rose to dizzying heights at the pinnacle of his administration by politicizing the hell out of 9/11. You’d best believe HE would be making political hay out of Katrina if the government’s response had been anything approaching adequate. So allI have to add to that particular firestorm is, "What goes around, comes around."
Sometimes we can't wait for 'others' to help. Sometimes we have to move heaven and earth ourselves... or try. This was a disaster on many levels, both of nature and humanity. If it had been one of my kids in that position (my parents are dead) I would have died trying to get to them and not waited on 'somebody'.
ReplyDeleteWell said! Hugs, Lisa
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI can't help but politicize this. No, Bush certainly didn't cause the storm, but his incompetence has resulted in hundreds and probably thousands of needless deaths. The man had the nerve to claim that "nobody knew the levies would break" when in fact FEMA and other experts have been saying just that for years. The particular levies that did break had been scheduled to be repaired and shored up two years ago until funding got cut. The man has been a failure for this country and we're seeing this play out now.
There was more than ample time to protect these people. When hurricaine Ivan--a category 5--hit Cuba last year and destroyed over 20,000 homes, Cuba didn't lose a single soul. They even evacuated the pets! If one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere can do that, what does it say when the richest nation on earth can't even manage decent help?
It's so unbelievably sad because none of this had to happen. I hope everyone is doing what they can to help. I'll be leaving in a couple hours to a disaster relief class by the Red Cross. It's to help volunteers learn what they can do to help.
dave
Try to access the New Orleans Times Picayne on the net. The Oregonian is owned by the same company. They published an open letter calling for the firing of everybody at FEMA fromthe director on down. They asked something that hadn't really occurred to me. Just wan't thinking that way, I guess. The paper asked how come reporter could get in and interview people while the rescue people couldn't get in. Good question.
ReplyDeleteJackie
It seems, with the warning they had and the prediction of extreme destruction, that the least they could have done proactively is get people out of hospitals and nursing homes. The able bodied have a fighting chance, but the aged and the ill are at extreme risk without food, shelter, medicines, water, etc. The entire thing is staggering, and the lack of immediate relief is a shock. It's not enough to tell people they have to get out. There are some who must depend on others for their survival. Those people were shamelessly neglected. This is NOT rocket science.
ReplyDeleteI think we need less talking and more action.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hope that it goes from your mouth to God's ear!! Pennie
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree about politicizing this, because the budget for levee improvements, national waterways improvements and Army Corps of Engineer river maintenance project has been repeatedly cut in the Bush years. The hurricane is not their fault, but the failure to prepare and adequately respond is a political issue. In most evacuations, the National Guard is sent down as soon as an evacuation order is given. Not this time. This is a karma thing for Bush, and his emotional leadership image from 9/11 (which I have always seen as his strength) has been greatly tarnished.
ReplyDeleteYou can't politicize the weather. What is unmistakably political, however, is the criminal incompetence of the governmental response to this national disaster.
ReplyDeleteMy heart breaks for that poor old soul, who had every right to expect help and GET IT, and for everyone else who died for Bush's 'instant karma'.
I am listening to alot. This has been a tragedy waiting to happen for many administrations. Yes, all this is true. What a lesson for history to record. mark
ReplyDeleteKarma is worthless when it heeds no recognized guilt. Bush is losing no sleep. Besides Karma is not Christian, therefore irrelevant to a man like Bush. The governor of Louisiana is a woman and Democrat and the mayor of New Orleans is Black. If anyone is unwilling to see how women and minorities are still considered inferior by people like Bush then I say our country deserves to rot and succumb to China. Of course, one can argue because it has not happened, but response time would have been increased ten fold if this was in a strong Red State.
ReplyDeletePeople not physically affected by this will wake up in the morning, eat their cereal, filled their SUV and big trucks with $100 in gas, deride the evacuee for being lazy and incompetent and life will remain the same. The American people allowed voter fraud, even with massive proof that both firms in control of the machines was on Bush’s payroll, people have allowed Rove to commit treason, people have allowed almost 2000 Americans and countless Iraqis to be murdered, people have allowed incompetence to become the norm. Until the people, the very people who are still to this day singing Bush’s praise and burying their head in the sand do anything, we will continually decline. Dark times, very dark times.
I completely agree. Well said. ~ Lori
ReplyDeleteRed tape...I'm so tired of governmental red tape. There is always an excuse for something...when someone is blamed they pass the buck...and no one takes any responsibility. This is the country that is "by the people, for the people?" BS!
ReplyDeleteLisa, as we watched the story unfold, we here in the UK found the whole thing unbelievable. I keep asking 'What if it happened here?' The area that was affected is as big as the UK. Unfathomable. I'm truly lost for words, not only at the extent of the devastation and the lives lost, but at the absolute ineptitude of the government.
ReplyDeleteAnnie
PS, glad to see you back, I was wondering where you were and was going to email you when you wrote another entry :-)
I think the governments at all levels need to be held accountable for this one.
ReplyDelete:-) ---Robbie
Lisa, you are such an extraordinary thinker. I managed to to refrain from politicising the disaster...until today.
ReplyDeleteSo very true! At first as the days went by I had a perverse pleasure in thinking, this is gonna be Dubya's Waterloo. It's obvious now that Rove and his spin machine have once again managed to perform surgery on the minds of many Americans...
ReplyDeleteMaryanne