now that is an old school name! i remember the stories of the hammer going faster and faster.

 

oh wow, Raughammer posted


anyways cantdrv65


and Clint > him LOL

 

wow he does exist

 

Wow, I think we could have a whole thread about where Raughammer has been... Good to see you back. Same with DJ its nice to see him drop in every once and awhile too...

As for blaming Bush...

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219

Blame Amid the Tragedy
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.





A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.
The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.





The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.
In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected--and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash.

 

Thank You Jerrod!!!!!! Now everyone one playin' the "Blame Game"... Capishe'?

 

Wow DJ and John in the same post.

 

It really is good to see you guys still hanging around here and helping the newer guys out.

Hurricanes? Tommorrow we get hit by Rita, i hope we all have a house to live in come Sunday. The Govt. has done a GREAT job here in Texas so far getting everyone out and ready for Rita. I have no complaints at all. But then again, most everyone here heeded the warnings to get out and our state and local govt at least had a plan to deal with the hurricane.

I just wanted to post up and say how much i have missed you guys and that i wish you all the best.

P.S., y'all sure are running some humongous cams now days. The cams we ran 10.6's on back in the day seem like baby cams to some of the big guns y'all use now. Heck even my big honkin X1 cam i got now looks like a half grown wanna be cam. If i only knew then what i i know now...

 

WHY must there ALWAYS be a precedent???? It's beyond me how ppl can CHOOSE on their own to ignore FACTS and warning and information given to them just because "it's never happened before". We've had a conglomeration of never happened before in the past 5 years the biggest of which was PLAINS FLYING INTO TO BIG A$$ BUILDINGS killing thousands if INNOCENT "Americans" black and white that had NO WARNING of what was coming. I recall watching hour upon hour of media coverage and funny thing is the MAYOR was on the podium more than the president making things happen directing things and asking for help where needed. The president, provided aid, secured our borders, and promptly began devising a plan to "try" and put an end to the culprit regime that fostered the actions of that day.

I've also watched hours of Katrina after-math footage and all I've seen from any LA leadership is "Where's Bush, Where's FEMA, Mr. President help us" and a lot of RANTING and raving on the verge of belligerence. I think a great majority of you here are on the same page. I just hope America as a whole takes off the blinders and looks at the whole picture.
to the original poster ... HAHA ... real funny It's indiscriminate ppl like you that insight stupidity in crowds of emotionally unstable grief stricken ppl ever the comedian thinking some bullstink ranting from someone with an agenda that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the suffering and carnage that is going and has gone on in any disaster area is any where near FUNNY. Way to go pal 2 thumbs up! oh wait that wasn't a thumb

 

We did have helicopters from TX there immediatly after the storm passed.
We did start rescue operations as soon as all our contact points were established.

 

"They" don't want to focus on what we DID have and that's the problem.

They don't want to focus in on the men and women that were called away from their families at a moments notice to go rescue a bunch of ppl that didn't want to leave because there was no "precedent" or local govt. didn't use the means available to them to get the ones unable (financially or physically) to get out, out. And GLADLY doing so because that's what they've dedicated their lives to.


LOVE IT, LEAVE IT, or STFU!

 

I'm on stand by for Rita right now.
Waiting for supplies to show up at the pickup point so I can retrieve them.

 

The funny thing to me is not the letter... its that people actually believe this crap!!! Hahah I guess it shows that ignorance is the easy way to anything...

I always like to blame the people that are prevented by the Constitution to do what it is so unrealistic that I ask. I mean what is the Constitution anyways? Some old document that is the founding basis for our entire country and way of life??? Bah... Didn’t some guy named Karl Marx have a better idea? Federal Government should run everything... there is no need for local elected governments. In fact.... Why do states have rights?? Doesn’t make any sense to me!!!



I bet there aren’t any of these highly educated people that write these letters who know anything about our Constitution, our national government infrastructure, or even Karl Marx for that matter.

You go boy!!!

 

Oh and J-Rod.... thank you, but you put way too much thought and fact into that... which proves it CANNOT be true!!!

 

As well thought out the post was through email. turns out some of the information was misconstrued. Almighty snopes to the rescue again:
Claim: Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco refused President Bush's pleas to declare an emergency before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/katrina/politics/blanco.asp

Although I whole heartedly believe the majority of the blame lies in the boot shaped state!!!!

 

Wow, real classy, I guess thats the way to react. When I said fun of it, meaning I posted it to see what everyone's thoughts were about it. You seem to be quick to type on the comp, but in real life, probably don't do anything other than think that you know how everything is.

Yes stupid people like me that add to the problem. Wait, thats wrong, here is what I have done, in the past few weeks: https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...donation+today

Not trying to toot my own horn, just tired of idiots that type before knowing who they are talking to.

 

forgot that the server is down, doesn't matter. the link takes you to a certificate of donation to the red cross in the amount of $620.

 

I'll appologize in advance if this was a repost, but the original letter was written by Michael Moore. That alone should tell ya something.

 

Hahahahaha!!! That says tons!

 

Well said by many people.

Some people need to wake up and smell the coffee. However I did see on CNN that Bush's super secrect weather machine is been found orbiting the Earth. He sent the hurricane in order to flush out the African American people(at least that's what Farakhan(sp) believes with his "the levys were sabotaged to flush out the black people" theory).

http://www.americandaughter.com/inde.../timeline.html

Just a little food for thought here.

 

Hey, I think you are all missing the big picture here- blame it on the ****** French- they're the idiots who built the city..
PS- Bush sucks