Both Hands

Yes, because we all know the federal government has the ability to suspend the passage of time, break the laws of physics, and magically conjure unlimited sources of materials and manpower.

No one’s twiddling their thumbs - it just takes time. You can't possibly expect all the required supplies and manpower to make their way to a disaster area within two days, especially when the transportation system in the area has been so utterly destroyed and the needy are so widely dispersed.

With a few notable exceptions, the authorities are working as fast and as efficiently as can be reasonably expected. Frankly, I’m disgusted that anyone would attempt to make political hay out of this.

Oh please, Richard. You've made hay out of numerous things, regardless of situation involved. As I stated, I commend the actions of those assisting the survivors with what extremely limited resources they have.

I have every right to criticize my government--and I doubt that you would be so self-righteous about it if it was a democratic administration or if it was your home and life that were destroyed. It's not just Bush and his administration that have failed New Orleans, it's all the prior administrations who failed to plan for this sort of catastrophe. Each of them had the ability to fund work on the levees and bolster the city of New Orlean against this sort of damage, and they didn't.

And now that the crisis is here it's taken almost a week to get the necessary resources to the areas that need it ON OUR OWN SOIL. We have the same sort of response time to crisis on the other side of the globe! I just don't buy it. Even Bill Frist is discussing holding hearings about the response of the federal govenrment to this crisis.

Be it a lack of preparedness, a lack of understanding, or a lack of resources, the people of the Gulf Coast have not received the sort of assistance I would expect when a natural disaster occurs in the US.

So tell me, what would you do differently? How do you propose to deliver supplies to 300,000 people stranded in area the size of Great Britain? How would you deliver goods and evacuate survivors on roads that no longer exist, and over bridges that have collapsed? What equipment would you use after everything in the area had been rendered useless? How do you communicate with the victims and relief workers on the ground without power or phone service of any kind?

Your criticisms aren't reasonable. What you’re asking for is a miracle – that’s God’s realm, and not the government’s.

It's been three days (not a week as you suggest) and authorities already have tens of thousands of feet on the ground and have rescued countless survivors. It's an amazing accomplishment on their part. They should be thanked, not kicked.

Last time I checked, Monday and Friday are about a week apart. OK--it's been a work week then.

Again--are you skipping over the parts of my post and comments that praise the authorities who are there?! They are doing an incredible job. With very little resources, communication, and supplies. Why? Because the federal government is JUST NOW getting what they need there!

Lets cut to the President calling this "a temporary inconvenience" and be honest that he had no clue how badly the city is damaged and how much it's people need help.

My real anger is that we have a whole new department of the government which exists soley to protect and assist people in this situation. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the government bring in 24 hour respondents to assist people. The New Orleans hurricane scenario has been studied and restudied, and has repeatedly been brought to the attention of the federal government. As soon as they knew where that hurricane was going to hit, they should have been lining up ready assistance to go in (hospital ships, military resources, etc.), not several days afterward.

I'll bite.

How do you propose to deliver supplies to 300,000 people stranded in area the size of Great Britain?

We could use the National Guard. That is part of their duty, after all.

How would you deliver goods and evacuate survivors on roads that no longer exist, and over bridges that have collapsed?

Using boats and helicopters.

What equipment would you use after everything in the area had been rendered useless?

We'd have to bring new equipment in.

How do you communicate with the victims and relief workers on the ground without power or phone service of any kind?

I'd use long range radio communications, like high powered walkie talkies.

See? This isn't so hard -- off the cuff, I can come up with the broad outlines of a plan. Given years to plan and the budget of FEMA, I could do a lot better. Are you honestly going to argue that this is the best you could've done?

I am right there with you. .free software download

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