| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
04 Sep 2005 11:56:27 PM |
| Object: |
OT: A Colossal Failure of Leadership |
A Colossal Failure of Leadership
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174806/site/newsweek/
Saving people and maintaining order are the first order of government
in any disaster. In New Orleans, neither has been achieved.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 12:29 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005
Sept. 2, 2005 - I didn't see the movie "The Day After," which
depicts the desolation and desperation in the aftermath of a nuclear
attack. Staring at the images from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is
like watching that disaster movie in real time. People trying to
survive, scavenging like wild animals, dead bodies stuffed in corners
of the Superdome, the governor of Louisiana fighting to hold back
tears.
Eleanor Clift
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/2c2a2d13f36ef163
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: A Colossal Failure of Leadership |
09 Sep 2005 02:43:46 AM |
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On 4 Sep 2005 16:56:27 -0700, "maff" <maff91@yahoo.com> wrote:
A Colossal Failure of Leadership
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174806/site/newsweek/
Saving people and maintaining order are the first order of government
in any disaster. In New Orleans, neither has been achieved.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 12:29 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005
Sept. 2, 2005 - I didn't see the movie "The Day After," which
depicts the desolation and desperation in the aftermath of a nuclear
attack. Staring at the images from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is
like watching that disaster movie in real time. People trying to
survive, scavenging like wild animals, dead bodies stuffed in corners
of the Superdome, the governor of Louisiana fighting to hold back
tears.
Where is Rudy Giuliani when we need him? We’ve had four years since
9/11 to prepare for a crisis with mass casualties, yet we seem totally
unprepared. To be sure, there are countless unsung heroes performing
tasks of kindness and going out of their way to help their fellow man.
But this was a moment for national leadership, and nobody rose to take
charge the way Giuliani did in New York.
This has been a colossal failure of government. President Bush spent
Tuesday, the day after Katrina struck, at a Medicare event in Arizona
and then he made his way to a San Diego naval base for yet another
anniversary tribute to the Greatest Generation. His concession to
reality was adding a few words of compassion to his prepared remarks.
Meanwhile, the greatest natural disaster in a century was unfolding at
sickening speed with television cameras capturing footage of looting
reminiscent of the days after the invasion of Iraq. Things were so bad
“you almost wonder if Donald Rumsfeld is in charge,” said Marshall
Wittmann, an analyst with the Democratic Leadership Council.
Saving people and maintaining order are the first order of government
in any disaster, and neither was achieved. The much-touted Department
of Homeland Security appeared too caught up in its internal
bureaucracy to perform, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) called off its rescue missions Thursday because residents
trying to board boats were getting violent. The disorder and
lawlessness was breathtaking to watch. At one point, the evacuation of
patients from a hospital was halted because of gunfire. Bush talks
about “zero tolerance” for looters, but there aren’t enough police to
stop them and the jails are under water. One third of the National
Guard from the affected states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
are in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they’re the ones trained to perform
the police functions that restore civil order.
Instead of declaring a national emergency and deploying the military
from all those nearby Texas bases, Bush deployed his father and
President Clinton for a photo op at the White House as a prelude to a
fund-raising tour. Callers to cable shows called the unfolding
disaster “our tsunami” and wondered whether other countries would come
to our aid the way the American government did when the tsunami hit
Asia. We are the richest nation on earth with the resources, as Bush
rightly said, “to take care of our business.” Even so, gestures of
support are welcome; NEWSWEEK has learned that the former ambassador
from Sri Lanka is rallying medical doctors from his country’s
expatriate community to go to New Orleans to help. “I figured this is
the least we could do to reciprocate for all the help we got,”
Ambassador Devinda Subasinghe says.
We’re getting a taste of what poorer parts of the world have
experienced along with a glimpse into a frightening future. Scientists
say we have entered a cycle of frequent and dangerous storms.
September is the peak season for hurricanes, and we’re already through
the letter K with Katrina.
Bush’s comment that nobody thought the levees in New Orleans would
break is false, and he will regret those words just as Condoleezza
Rice did her comment that nobody could imagine a plane flying into a
building like a missile. Local authorities and the Corps of Engineers
had war-gamed hurricane scenarios and issued repeated warnings about
the vulnerability of the levees. Their pleas were turned down and
funding cut instead. Now the money will flow. Congressional leaders
rushed back to Washington early to pass legislation to free up $10
billion for hurricane relief, a mere down payment on what it will cost
to rebuild the stricken areas.
Congress had been planning to eliminate the estate tax, draining
billions from a federal budget already reeling under the costs of a
war. Marshall Wittmann, who used to advise John McCain, predicts that
Bush’s tax-cutting days are over. “We’ve been living in la-la land,”
he says. “This is a moment of sobriety when business as usual can’t
continue.”
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: OT: A Colossal Failure of Leadership |
09 Sep 2005 12:45:13 PM |
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In <0jt1i1larhgjavv4n1o9e4so5oqmpfv4id@4ax.com>, stoney <stoney@the.net>
wrote:
On 4 Sep 2005 16:56:27 -0700, "maff" <maff91@yahoo.com> wrote:
A Colossal Failure of Leadership
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174806/site/newsweek/
Saving people and maintaining order are the first order of government in
any disaster. In New Orleans, neither has been achieved.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 12:29 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005
Sept. 2, 2005 - I didn't see the movie "The Day After," which depicts the
desolation and desperation in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Staring
at the images from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is like watching that
disaster movie in real time. People trying to survive, scavenging like
wild animals, dead bodies stuffed in corners of the Superdome, the
governor of Louisiana fighting to hold back tears.
Where is Rudy Giuliani when we need him?
How much of his image was managed press for a Republican?
I'm *serious. They're trying to manage things here to trash the Democratic
governor. Do we really know things went as well in New York as we're told?
We know for one thing that they all lied about the air quality after 9/11...
--
Mark K. Bilbo
--------------------------------------------------
"We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long
after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have
been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing.
Many who could have been were not. That's to the
government's shame."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2D511CBB
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: A Colossal Failure of Leadership |
11 Sep 2005 04:46:39 PM |
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On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:45:13 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:
In <0jt1i1larhgjavv4n1o9e4so5oqmpfv4id@4ax.com>, stoney <stoney@the.net>
wrote:
On 4 Sep 2005 16:56:27 -0700, "maff" <maff91@yahoo.com> wrote:
A Colossal Failure of Leadership
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174806/site/newsweek/
Saving people and maintaining order are the first order of government in
any disaster. In New Orleans, neither has been achieved.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 12:29 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2005
Sept. 2, 2005 - I didn't see the movie "The Day After," which depicts the
desolation and desperation in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Staring
at the images from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is like watching that
disaster movie in real time. People trying to survive, scavenging like
wild animals, dead bodies stuffed in corners of the Superdome, the
governor of Louisiana fighting to hold back tears.
Where is Rudy Giuliani when we need him?
How much of his image was managed press for a Republican?
Most, if not all.
I'm *serious. They're trying to manage things here to trash the Democratic
governor. Do we really know things went as well in New York as we're told?
We know for one thing that they all lied about the air quality after 9/11...
Lies are the massive foundation of the Rethugnicans.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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