Katrina Victims
 

How do you feel about the situation in Louisiana/Mississippi?

whats coming up as stars? i've been wondering what was going on with all the stars!

anyway, i don't think they're doing well at all. i know its rough, but they weren't prepared, they just have to be ready for this kind of thing and they weren't. i feel so badly for all the families that lost their homes/ belongings, or anyone who knows someone who's lost or down there. my prayers are with them all.

I guess it was temporary cuz it went away ???

oh, ok thats weird. :confused:

Bad.
 

I think Kanye West hit the nail on the head on the telethon concert when he said "George Bush doesn't care about black people". Bush has absolutely NO leadership qualities. He sat in a class room for 7 minutes and did absolutely nothing while our country was under attack on 9/11, a five day later response to this catastrophe was right in par for his poor response time.

Bless New Orleans
 

You know...It is kind of bad that so much finger pointing is going on when folks don't know the entire story~

I agree...the response could of been sooner...but you also have to understand...LA has to ask for help in order to get the help....at least from a Military standpoint.
Our military goes where its told...no questions ever asked. Their very own National Guard said they had it under control.

Not to fault anyone...but this does still reside a LA issue. They truly wanted to be able to take care of their own...and tried...but the degree of devastation was far to huge for them.

I live here at an Army Base..that had 82nd airborne soldiers loaded and ready to go...and word came down to not send them...we were told the national guard in LA had it covered ...plenty on the ground..and no room for soldiers from another state to be without being in the way....

Its not from lack of not wanting to respond...or help...its communication lack...and the state of LA trying to take care of its own...but that didn't happen fast enough...

So..yes...yesterday...those same soldiers re-loaded and flew out of here...right now a 30 day stay is what we were told..but also told it could be a bit longer...
My son also goes to college at The Citadel...and they are stopping classes for a few weeks and sending the Cadre for the clean up for two weeks...

American's pull together...they truly do...

The initial word on the amout of help needed wasn't placed out to the degree that was needed.....For what ever reasons...I think its lack of truly knowing because most of us have never been though this degree of devastation...

We are a good country...We have a good president...We have wonderful people who live here...and care...

I think its time for the media to not concentrate so much on the bad...but focus on some of the good that has happend....Amazing ...amazing stories of outreach and hope...

Even if those helicopters were there that next day in force...we would of had loss of life... No one anticipated that levee breaking...but it did...and we all cry for that....Help is there...help will continue...
I'm very proud of the outreach going on.

Just wanted to share my thoughts since I'm around some of the military side of things.

I have nothing but ABSOLUTE respect and forever gratitude for every military person, past , present and future. Without them I would not have the very freedoms I am thankful for every single day. Those men and women that stand ready for whatever is asked of them, they are real heroes. My grandfather died serving his country, my uncle is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life after serving his country, and thankfully one of my best friends just returned safely home recently from serving his country. I completely understand that they can only do what they are told. I am sure that everyone there is thankful that they are there now. I keep both the tragedy victims as well as the military in my thoughts and many thanks everyday.

I agree.I believe that it is so easy to point fingers. I believe that responding to this could have been faster. However I am not jumping on the George Bush bashing bandwagon either. Maybe being and staying neutral at times can make me look like a fence sitter, but oh well. However I know (for myself) when i jump to conclusions quickly i am only getting part of the story. I also remember that the media reports what they want you to see and we do not see the people that were rescued in a timely fashion. However we sure see lots of people that were not. :aimeeyork



Verena :D :D

I don't think it is time to be finger pointing at all. There are still so many people to be rescued. There will be an investigation just like the 9-11 commission. The Republicans will protect their people, the Democrats will protect their people instead of fixing the problems.

I think everything that could go wrong, went wrong. But our country is rallying in working together to help. Unfortunately everything in this country is sooo politicized.

I understand LA was missing half of their police force & didn't even know it. Some left, some couldn't come to work because of the hurricane damage to their homes & taking care of families, some turned in their badges, etc. I am sure with no electricity or phones, communication was a very big problem. It took a day or two to figure that out as well.

Not every city is fortunate enough to have a Rudy Gulliani either. Could you see Rudy during the 9-11 crisis on TV cussing & yelling people aren't helping enough? He was too busy organizing. I feel everyone is trying the very best they possibly can and are under a lot of stress.

Every city has practiced emergency scenerios. Evidently New Orleans didn't forsee all the problems. George Bush is commander in chief so eventually whatever anyone does, the responsibility will fall on his shoulders. I love my country & whoever is president, will be praying for them to make the right decisions.

When I have visitors from other countries here, I take them to a Walmart or a Target & they marvel. We're far from perfect but I would not want to live in any other country.

My sister was sent late night on Monday with the Air Force to the area of the hurricane. They brought supplies from the plane and were going to stay and help out. They were told their help was not needed because LA had things under control. She called me and said she did not know why they were leaving, but they were not welcomed there. They flew to Oklahoma and then back with other supplies and their plane was shot at. I personally do not want my sister killed trying to help people in our own country. They flew back to California. Now today she is going back with more supplies. It is not that the military is not ready to go or that the gov. even are not ready. The leadership where the problem is needed and needs to be stronger. I can clearly say that I felt a great respect for Rudy G. on Sept 11 and after when he handled what no one ever expected. He asked for the help and praised the people who did come. It is very unfortunate what has happened and that state and others are in a world of hurt right now. But facts are not being told. We just see everything on the news and hear stars making comments. It is not all that it appears. People do care and people did and do want to help. They just were turned away at first.

Thank you Anadoodle & Essentialfun for the information. It's always great to hear from the armed services. What I love about the Internet is that it is the information highway.

The media is biased on both sides sometimes & I am on the Internet & get information from sources I can rely on & try to figure out what the real truth is. What breaks my heart is when the race card is played in the politics. It causes deep hurts within the country that can never be fixed & really causes a divide.

Please say thank you to your loves ones in the service & let them know I appreciate all they do! I am so PROUD of them & grateful too. :thumbup:

THANK GOD AFTER THESE FOUR YEARS FINISH THATS IT FOR BUSH :p :thumbup: . HES BEEN A HORRIBLE PRESIDENT.

Hurricane Katrina has dealt a devastating blow to LA indeed, as well as to our country at large. However, this is not the time to be pointing fingers at President Bush. He is not responsible for this disaster, but unfortunately the spin on this disaster will be politicized in an effort to expalin the unexplainable trauma we have just witnessed. The race card is now being played out in the media, when race has not had anything to do with this disaster.


I feel very sad for those who didn't evacuate as they were warned many hours before the hurricane . I especially feel bad for the elderly, children and those confined in hospitals when this tragedy took place. Those are the real victims that were stuck without the ability to evacuate. Others had the choice to leave, but for whatever their reasons, they opted to stay. Most stayed because they had had false alarms in the past and thought that the hurricane would change course and they would escape this tragedy. This is what we call denial, not wanting to accept what is staring at us and what is inevitable. I lived in Kendall when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida many years ago and this certainly brought a lot of memories back. But I certainly don't think the government is responsible for the choices we make as adults. Many of these people made poor judgements and this is why they remained there. I think the American people are tremendously generous and will help their fellow man. And we are seeing the valiant efforts of all our forces in aiding and rescuing and putting their own lifes in danger. We are a great nation of those willing to serve our fellow man when asked.

I think that we don't have all the facts, and thanks to Annadoodle and Essentialfun, we know better what is not being reported. I also agree with what cacbeary said about how fortunate NY was to have Rudy Gulliani after the tragedy of 9/11. He definitely exemplifies leadership which seems to have been missing from the officials in LA. Our country will come together as it usually does as we have seen the generosity of States such as Texas and others absorb the numbers of people that are in need of all types of services. Let's pray for the nation to heal from what could be a divisive issue. And let us learn of the lessons of Mother Nature and to heed the suggestions for evacuation when we are advised to do so.

The people who didn't evacuate were poor and didn't have means of transportation out of the city. If you call for a HUGE evacuation, you need to have hundreds of buses to get people out BEFORE IT HITS and then a lot of this problem would have been avoided. Any idiot could tell you that.

The Mayor of Chicago (an idiot), I know for a fact, would have had every single person out of the city who needed help getting out. Its a thing called foresight and Mr. Prez has none. He's too busy looking overseas and spreading Christianity.

He couldn't allot that extra $20 mil to restore the levys in New Orleans BEFORE tragedy struck. He had to wait until afterward and spend TRILLIONS of dollars.

After Katrina struck, everyone saw how horrible it was. THREE DAYS LATER the president starting paying attention saying that he was finally briefed on the incident. "Hey idiot, could you not see the people DYING on your television or your fly-over in Air Force One?????" I find that v. hard to believe. He had to wait to get briefed on it???

another thing that I find worth thinkinng about is the way that other countries are thinking of this tragedy:
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m15399&l=i&size=1&hd=0

Bella0722,

I agree with a lot of what you say. Some of the people that stayed behind didn't heed the warnings & there are some they are still trying to get to leave. But the majority were the poor, disabled, & elderly. Many don't have cars or the money to rent a hotel room. The poor always get hurt the worst in a tragedy such as this. I don't know if there was enough time to help them get evacuated or where could they evacuate them to. I know there were major traffic jams leaving & it would have taken many buses.

Since you live in a hurricane area, I do have a question for you. Do they advise people to have a radio with batteries when a hurricane is coming to listen to? Or do they teach the children what to do in a hurricane? I understand everyone thought they made it through the hurricane but noone knew the levee had broke & when they started getting water just how bad it was going to get.

I can't imagine how hot the people must be that are trapped in their attics & couldn't get a hole to climb out on their roofs. I'm afraid they are going to find many dead that were stuck in their attics.

I heard the mayor on the news today saying that when he talked to Bush & told him their needs Bush acted immediately so somewhere during the first 3 days their must have been a very bad lack of communication somewhere.

Oprah.
 

Oprah has quite a great show on location about the hurricane victims today(Tuesday Sept. 6, 2005) as well as the next couple of days. She is talking about alot of interesting things and getting stories that haven't been heard before from the Mayor and such. And has a few other reporters insight like Lisa Ling a reporter from the NGC who brought to light some very interesting points. Very good show.

I truly believe our government does the best it can and that people expect the government to be able to perform miracles. Only God can perform miracles so maybe we should rely on him a little more :angel:

I think I am where you are right now. I hate to be wishey washey but until we know
the entire story which should not be our priority now, I will wait to pass judgement.
God Bless all those wonderful men and women who are saving people every day.
Fidel Castro of Cuba send $100,000 and nurses and medicine, Afganastan (sp?) sent $100.000 and North
Korea has helped so much, Germany and that is just a few that I can remember. This
whole thing is a HUGH job and let's concentrate on that and point fingers later. I'm
not afraid to point fingers at a President I voted for twice if he was at fault but
lets cool that part of it for now.

Yes, I saw it and found my self angry too. I really didn't sleep for 3 nights with
the picture of those poor poor people in my mind when I went to bed. I finally
got some sleep; thanks to YT and the fun we have been having on one of the
threads - it was such relief. These people get no such relief and we must
remember this and them for a long time.

The reason is they do not have the food or shelter for well meaning people (other
than military) to stay. They are trying to get people out - as of today there are
still about 10,000 there. Your sister must have a heart of gold but you can see
they know the number of military that are there and have no way to keep track
of others and it just complicates matters even worse. Send your donations through
your local red cross and it will get through.

I can't bash the president (alone) for what has happened. There are people delegated especially for situations like this. And weren't the government warned that something like this will happen because the levee is just not strong enough to hold off the river from flooding the city. I'm praying that the recovery would happen sooner so the victims can all move on and start a new life. I hope the young victims would be able to find family members and I'm also praying for the poor pets that were left behind. May the people delegated to take care of collecting them, do their jobs before it's too late.

I think once this is studied, they will find a lot of people & organizations at fault. It was advised to order evacuation & they waited another 24 hours before ordering an evacuation. Every city went through disaster scenarios & unfortunately they weren't followed through with either.

But one thing was never considered with the disaster scenarios; and that was that some of the first response responders had lost their homes & families too. The first respose responders were OK when practicing.

I think if Bush would have interfered he would have been blamed for interfering with state's rights. New Orleans & their levees have been talked about for 60 years & have always been a problem If you are a Democrat everything will be Bushie's fault period. They hate that man.

When all is said & done the federal government will probably get the power to overrule a state in a disaster situation to avoid what happened with New Orleans. Then we'll have a stink about state's rights. Don't you just love politics?

Do you agree on the government ordering to leave your home & you want to stay anyway? Is the government responsible if you die from all the toxic chemicals if they did allow to stay in their homes? Is the government responsible to give you food while refusing to evacuate?

ChrystalsMom ~ I think she was trying to explain her sister WAS in the military & was turned away.

Well, I don't live in the US, but I think that more could have been done alot sooner. I don't know who's fault it is, but it took 5 days for military to get in there... 'cmon???

No argument there. It was heartbreaking to hear of the conditions inside the "Dome" & the people on the bypasses wanting food & water. Every news reporter was beside themselves reporting & pleading for help.

On the 6:00 news today Red Cross stated they had water, food, blankets, camping equipment waiting to go in & authorities would not let them. It was FEMA alright but it was the Louisiana state agency. The reason they stopped the Red Cross they said was because they didn't want that area to become a magnet but wanted the people to leave. Which don't make sense because they had armed guards not allowing anyone to leave.

Why weren't the evacuation centers ready for everyone in Louisiana? Who knows. How did the Astrodome in Texas able to set up for thousands of of folks from New Orleans? Because the Astrodome is always set up to take thousands of people from Galveston if they ever have a disaster. Louisiana was supposed to be set up the same way. It wasn't. That fault lies with the state of Louisiana.

The state of Louisiana knew the federal govt. could move in but it would take 96 hours & it was supposed to be up to the local & state govt. to manage until then. That is the way it has always been set up & that has not changed. FEMA is supposed to coordinate Red Cross, etc. going in for disaster relief. The people of Louisiana were told to take 3 days worth of food & water with them. I believe the govenor wanted everyone on their own until the fed govt arrived & had no intention of helping anyone. She forgot to communicate that to everyone I think.

Even with all that you heard from 2 people who have loved ones in the military from different parts of the USA that were ready to go & told their help wasn't needed by Louisiana.

Bush, in my opinion, was at fault for not sending other state National Guard folks in & deliver water & food when he seen Louisiana derelict in helping their own people. I seen footages of the mayor crying out where is the help when the govenor of his state & their agencies wouldn't let help in.??????

Today the mayor wants to evacuate everyone regardless if they want to or not because the water is so hazardous. He makes the announcement & the govenor said she was in charge & not so fast. Again you can see the miscommunication within the state & local officials.

Bush wants to federalize the Louisiana National troops & asked the govenor & of course she said no. I think it would be easier if everything was coordinated but again we're dealing with the Louisiana govenor.

Tomorrow NBC evening news 6:30 pm EST Since so many had contacted them about the
pets in this storm, they are going to spend that time tomorrow evening on just
that subject. Th. 9-8-05

Alot of people could be at fault here, Many here think the mayor of New
Orleans should be impeached. 200 school buses never used that could have been
used to get people out. etc. etc. nothing in place with all the warning of the
storm heading right for them. Brown, sure didn't look like he came through and his
qualifications, for the job he is in, is less than none. Really who knows who was
taking orders from whom. I fault Bush for not getting in contact with them before
the storm hit to make sure this was all in place. This man has had alot to deal with
in his two terms and what makes it even harder is I don't think he was gifted with
the most brains in the world but he too can only do so much. What you offered was very well said and I agree with
most of it. When you said the Red Cross didn't get in when they had before; I'm
sure it has to do with the fact they have to remove people by force now and it
could get very dangerous again. Also there is another hurricane heading right
for them. Many say Katrina will change society as we have known it for
a very long time.

thanks for pointing that out
 

[QUOTE=cacbeary

ChrystalsMom ~ I think she was trying to explain her sister WAS in the military & was turned away.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, somehow I read things that aren't there I guess. She was
talking about Monday night and on Monday night they thought they
were home free so that is possibly the reason they were turned away.
The problems with the levee(s) didn't happen til Tuesday. She was
to go back and I agree with her sister; I wouldn't want a relative
of mine being shot at while they are trying to help.

God Bless Houston!
 

I posted earlier to this Thread...because of being based here at an Army Post...

What I will say now is:
GOD BLESS HOUSTON TEXAS~ :)

What they have done has been amazing...uplifting..American's at their best...

Each person stepping off that Bus on Texas soil was welcomed by a committe. :) They were clapped for and told "Welcome to Texas"... They gave them their pride back..and dignity....

I was at a Conference here today on FT Bragg...Our attention was focused to that..and what has come from despair to hope...

I'm real proud of the outreach :) ...We See True American Spririt... ;)

Yes, you're so right. Texas has really reached out above & beyond, so generous, and very hospitable. If all the country pulls together, we could actually improve their lives in getting them better homes, better jobs, & better educate the children.

We have a monumentous task ahead of us. But one thing about the US, the people are very generous. There have been so many stories of acts of kindness & people giving free housing for a year, etc.

I live in PA & I think Pittsburgh has 500 coming & are getting ready for them by giving them cars, furniture, clothing, will help find them jobs, & a check for $2,000 to get them started. Our winters aren't that bad but it will be quite a change for them after living in the Gulf.