NEWS: Bush Under Fire for Slow Action

President George Bush has been criticized about his slow reaction to the hurricane situation on the Gulf coast. In addition to government officials and relief experts, Mr. Bush has been accused by the media of behaving in a 'slow, careless and casual' manner, not sending in enough troops or food and water to the affected areas. In addition, the president has been criticized for not spending enough money on reconstruction, namely strengthening the levees around New Orleans; targeting those funds instead on the war on Iraq.



Another clear instance of the US spending too much money on useless wars and not enough on interior problems such as natural disaster prevention, immigration problems, healthcare and poverty. The aftermath of this tragedy is going to hit the US full in the face. What will the survivers of this tragedy be left with after the debris is cleared away? How will they view themselves in context to how the problem was handled and why they were left to wait interminably while supplies and troops took their time bringing aid?

Related News Links:
www.guardian.co.uk

[edit on 2-9-2005 by nikelbee]

Reports today that President Bush is playing golf. I guess this article isn't too far fetched then.

Another report on how many days the president has taken off thus far... almost a year in a five year span!

With more than three years to go in his second term, Bush has already passed Reagan's seemingly unreachable benchmark of 335 days off, most of them spent on horseback at his Santa Barbara ranch

www.nationalreview.com...


thinkprogress.org...
www.gregpalast.com...

Get a load of this.

Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown told CNN that federal officials were unaware of the crowds at the convention center until Thursday, despite the fact that city officials had been telling people for days to gather there.

"We just learned about that today, and so I have directed that we have all available resources to get to that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water, the medical care that they need," he said.

www.cnn.com...

Glad to hear this guy's back from whatever planet he's been on!

Unbelievable! Yet in another thread FEMA is saying they are spending half a billion dollars a day providing who knows what.

I cant believe this idiot is playing Guitarman while thousands die.

This man has a total lack of leadership abilities at best, and just dont care at worst.

The mayor is going out of his mind on CNN and has just spewed a string of curses and swear words on television. He is a righteous fountain of anger. He is furious. He is saying how mismanaged this has been from the start.

His disbelief equals our own. He is asking for a moratorium on press conferences.

These are his people. THese are supposed to be our own people.

The mayor of New Orleans was crying(literally) during an interview on CNN(just now) about how people in his city are dying and the govenor of the state and the Pres. are nowhere in sight.










[edit on 9/2/2005 by bodebliss]

seems the goverment cant fix, so america should fix it herself.

grab every walmart/kmart truck you can find send them south, send every bus, greyhoud, ups, fedx van load them with water and food, take any helicopters and drop the supplies directly, get boats going from one side to the other with supplies, use the empty boats get people out.

once you start everyone will follow.


im only sadden by the fact the usaf and army has 100s and 1000s of transport planes and helicopters weres the mass air drops of MREs and water? why dont they drop the 101st and 82nd in there?

This is your Dunkirk

[edit on 2-9-2005 by owell]

nikelbee,

Mayor Nagin couldn't have been described more appropriately

He is a righteous fountain of anger.

The long slow and painful death of his city started several nights ago when he left a meeting in which all present agreed the number one priority was to get the breech in the levee fixed and then he woke to some one overriding that. Since that moment he has had to watch his city and his people die.

That interview with Mayor Nagin was probably one of the most incredible I have ever seen. A milquetoast, quiet spoken man has turned into this incredible hulk of rage after seeing the rescue effort.

I truly want to see Bush meet the Mayor.

But let's not hold our breath.

Is that the Presidential guitar?

Hey, maybe Mayor Nagin can join Cindy Sheehan's queue down at the ranch for an audience.

Once he's done being a cowboy, yeehaa!

So now defending your people is being a cowboy? Wow, you are really off the mark. Then again, I can't blame your ignorance about political matters - Look who you have to look up to - The so called leaders who golf, go on holiday and ignore tragedies because it doesn't affect them directly - THAT is the proper way to deal with people, not being angry or caring.


No wonder US is in a mess.

I just don't see why the rest of america has to "bleed" because NewOrleans and its residents are dumb enough to live in a massive "bowl" below sea level.It will cost more to drain and rebuild the town than if we just rebuilt the town elsewhere.Maybe they could have had the forethought to have bought little rubber rafts,seeing as how they live in an area asking for trouble.They don't deserve any more help than what they are already getting.The goverment shouldn't need some NewOrleans backup plan in case of flooding.They should have been prepared, not the rest of the US or the goverment.Let this be a present day atlantis.....let it go and move on.Rebuild the town up stream or something.

WIth that asinine logic, pehaps we should relocate all of California (I live near the San Andreas Fault) or perhaps the entire gulf coast, how about tornado alley, lets move out all of Texas and Oklahoma.

You rebuild New Orleans for the same resons you rebuild Dresden, Nagasaki, San Francisco or Chicago. Its your home!

Originally by LordBaskettIV

I just don't see why the rest of america has to "bleed" because NewOrleans and its residents are dumb enough to live in a massive "bowl"

. . .

Let this be a present day atlantis.....let it go and move on.Rebuild the town up stream or something.

Good grief, either you're being a lot more sarcastic than me or that is one of the most uncompassionate paragraphs I've had the misfortune to read.

The key word here is humanitarian.
Those people need help, not shooting.
They need their president and they need serious help from America if not the entire world.

It is a human catastrophe and those people needed help, THREE DAYS AGO.

Instead of shipping 50,000 troops into New Orleans, how about shipping 50,000 people out of New Orleans?

[edit on 2-9-2005 by shanti23]

Absolutely. This is a time to stick together as a nation, not to start poking holes or blaming people for choosing the wrong place to live or choosing even to stay behind. Two of our own ATS members chose to stay behind. Should we say they deserve to die as well? What kind of logic is this? I know people are upset. We are all upset but let's save the anger and the misguided finger pointing where it belongs.

As the richest country in the world with the strongest military might etc, etc... the coordinated efforts have been chaotic at best.

The leader of the nation is behaving in his usual manner, yet people would rather defend this oaf rather than face up to the reality that good leadership is seriously lacking. The voice of calm at this moment is what people need. Not just those in affected areas but the rest of the US.

It was leaked to the press Bush might be going to Biloxi, Miss.

It was said, 'Bush wasn't sure getting any closer would help.'

I disagree it would help in the following ways:


1. People need a leader. Seeing one will do wonders for morale.
2. Will help his ratings - let's face it after this he will be in trouble
3. Will help the rest of the country feel united - I know, I know, but it will - wrong or right
4. Will help other countries see we aren't 'losing it'.

Bahgdad or the Big Easy????



I was just talking to a nurse who is awaiting news on his father (Five other members have been accounted for) and relayed this story.

His sister who is a nurse as well had no relief for days, no power, no water, went as a group to take the bottled water and medical supplies from the Rite Aid across the street. When relief finally arrived, she left and on her way out she came upon a nursing home who's caregivers had abandoned the residents to thier fate at some point during the storm. They got lucky as a relief group arrives as she was just starting to try to figure out what to do for the 60+ residents of the home.



[edit on 9/2/05 by FredT]

I just saw an interview with Louisiana's govenor on CNN and she looked like an air-head who couldn't even come up w/ when she ordered aid or how much she asked for . She mentioned maybe it was Tuesday.

She didn't even know what today was. She thought today was wednesday