First off, let me say that I am a Bush supporter, not a Republican, but a Bush supporter.

I hate politics, and I especially hate politics when an "act of God" is used to gather political points.


There are far too many factors involved with this situation to be able to point fingers, some say "all the money for New Orleans is going to Iraq", funny but until this happened I didn't hear that, also "if our guardsmen were in the state this situation could have been avoided", really.....

In my honest opinion, this is just a very strong weather related setback to the region, sure people lost their lives, and homes, and businesses etc, but it will come back, it will be rebuilt, and it will be stronger because of the storm.

Another thing which disturbs me is those who say the military should have been in New Orleans immediately after the hurricane hit, (you can't be serious), the same peole who warn us that the military police state is coming now expects the military to be on the scene immediately! In that case why not have the military take over as soon as the weather channel says a hurricane is going to hit, ( or at least take control of any town that Jim Cantore is reporting from).

Those people who say that funding was pulled by the government to fund Iraq need to check into the money that was spent to by a Lear Jet and fund a new casino by the fine representatives of New Orleans, it is the politicians who divert monies to their own pet projects, hell in my little neck of the woods the reps pleaded and got more than a million to build a couple of new high schools........, then one high school......, then "we need to reappropriate the school funds to help balance the budget"...... then this year "we need money to build a school".

Sound familiar? I bet this happens in your own backyard and this is where the problems start, before you blame the federal government, look hard and long at the local, then state, and if your find that they reacted responsibly then you can look higher.

Myself, I have not placed blame on anyone yet, sure from my easy chair observing, I can see that this could have been handled a little better, but those folks going through this probably haven't had the time to sit and reflect on the effects of this storm, or the future, right now they should be focused on saving lives and once that massive job is complete and the water drained & pumped, and the debris cleaned up, families reunited, bodies collected and identified, and the lawless apprehended, then we can all sit back and try to analyze what happened and what could possibly be done to prevent this from happening again......

If politics is involved in the solution........

this problem will never be solved............

Well said. I don't agree with everything you say, but well said.

I think part of what is going on is that people are frustrated to near insanity. For what is claimed to be the most powerful, richest nation on earth to respond to this in the way it has has people spinning around.

I just hope that when the dust, or mud in this case, settles, an honest look at what went wrong is taken. Not the kind of review we so often see in politics these days.

I am not now, never have been and never will be a member of any political party. None of them are worthy of my allegiance. I am not a Bush supporter; I think he is the worst President that I can remember.

But well said.

There is a big difference between police state and relief effort.

A police state is overall rule by the military. Every person is watched, recorded, and dealt with for every little desention about the government. Started with Patriot Act I and II.

A relief effort is the rescue, placement, and security of people during the time of disaster. They would be there to guide people through the rebuilding process and security for an unstable area during an uncertain time.

Acting For The Good Of The People

Originally posted by GTWill
They would be there to guide people through the rebuilding process and security for an unstable area during an uncertain time.

For the record, every police state in history without a single exception was formed in response to an "emergency".

One man's disaster is another man's opportunity.

And indeed, we are seeing all the opportunists crawl out of the woodwork and position themselves for pious speeches atop the bodies of the dead.

I take some comfort in knowing that sooner or later, there will be a reckoning.

Originally posted by Open_Minded Skeptic
I think part of what is going on is that people are frustrated to near insanity. For what is claimed to be the most powerful, richest nation on earth to respond to this in the way it has has people spinning around.

Very good point, I do think frustration has alot to do with the blame game, but we as everyday citizens be it democrat or republican or undecided, in situations like this it is easier to gravitate to the words of those who are elected, kinda taking the pressure off of trying to understand the what, why, how, etc. of major events, which is wrong IMHO, we all have a brain and our own individual views on everything.... just because you voted for a certain someone does not relieve you of your ability to formulate your own personal views....



[edit on 9/5/05 by JacKatMtn]

To have the military in New Orleans to coordinate the relief effort is not a worry. It is very important that as soon as they are not needed that the mission is over. My worry is when the government says we need it for security on a nationwide scale.

I take some comfort in knowing that sooner or later, there will be a reckoning.

For once I hope you're right...

Originally posted by GTWill
There is a big difference between police state and relief effort.

A police state is overall rule by the military. Every person is watched, recorded, and dealt with for every little desention about the government. Started with Patriot Act I and II.

A relief effort is the rescue, placement, and security of people during the time of disaster. They would be there to guide people through the rebuilding process and security for an unstable area during an uncertain time.

I understand what you are saying, but my point is immediate military deployment, whether "police state" or "humanitarian", will be seen as a "police state", there will be no time to see what intentions are meant by a deployment, as soon as the camo shows the headlines would be "US military takes (insert any city) by Force", it wouldn't matter what intentions, even if the report was "the US military pours in to save (insert any city)", it wouldn't matter, those who think a US military police state is coming will leap up and scream it is happening.

The reason for this way of thinking is politics, anyway you slice it, we don't trust anything the government does but sure as heck reelect the majority of our reps and senators as if they aren't part of the problem......

Economy Of Scale

Originally posted by GTWill
To have the military in New Orleans to coordinate the relief effort is not a worry. It is very important that as soon as they are not needed that the mission is over. My worry is when the government says we need it for security on a nationwide scale.

I'm not concerned at all in this case. The disaster area clearly needs military forces to provide security as civilian authority has effectively broken down, especially in New Orleans.

I'm also with you on the matter of scale. Should a "nationwide state of emergency" be declared, stand by.