# Hey Dubya - New Orleans Has Oil, So Do Something!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 31, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394 "2005-08-31T06:03:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/1 "2005-08-31T06:03:06Z")
They were just broadcasting an hour ago on CNN that there is STILL not a fucking word of leadership coming from anyone in the State or Federal Government!
The people are asking what to do, where to go? And while they are cramming people into a football stadium with stopped up toilets and no air-conditioning, there is still no fucking plan!
1. Take every bus within 1000 miles and start busing people to safe locations in neighboring states. Even small towns have a high school gymnasium that can handle a few hundred people - multiply that by a few hundred towns and add a few larger cities and we have a starting point.
2. According to Bush’s comments since the last election, we supposedly have ample National Guard to handle any emergency - so where the hell are they and why aren’t there thousands swarming the area and helping people and stopping the looting?
3. Get the word out - now! Stop dicking around. Tell the people what to do! This hurricane has been predicted for quite some time now, and it isn’t the first hurricane in the last decade - surely someone must have put together a domestic contingency plan while they were doing such a good job of planning the Iraqi war.
4. If Fox News can get a blonde bimbo in the middle of New Orleans for a live report, why in the hell can’t the Bush government get in there to do something - anything - to help those who have no roads to get out? Or are we really stretched so thin that there is nobody and no equipment left on American soil to get the job done?
5. Nobody is asking for a miracle, but 24 hours later there are still people stuck on rooftops waiting to be saved.
If the Democrats were in the White House while this shit was happening, there would be a Republican uproar and cries for impeachment.
---
### Author:  [@Kyle\_Rayner1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyle_Rayner1)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/2 "2005-08-31T06:34:24Z")
Yeah, true, how Bush is handling this crisis is disgusting. He should have been on the ball as soon as the hurricane happened. I mean hell he had plenty of time beforehand to know what was coming, with all those news reports on how big this hurricane was going to be. We all know how he handled the 9-11 tragedy so I’m not surprised he’s screwing this up too.
My sympathies to the victims of this hurricane because with Bush in charge it will probably get worse before it gets better.
---
### Author:  [@Kyle\_Rayner1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyle_Rayner1)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/3 "2005-08-31T06:36:11Z")
Oh, yeah I reread the post and it could be taken as sarcastic but it’s not. I’m 100% serious. Bush really did have plenty of time to set up a plan I’m sure the White House knew from the news coverage alone what was going to happen.
Am I right in thinking tht?
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/4 "2005-08-31T06:49:46Z")
Bush has declared a federal state of emergency, FEMA has been activated and is currently engaged in its largest operation ever, and the Pentagon is giving blanket orders for mobilizing national guard troops across state borders. What more do you want him to do, fart in the hurricane’s general direction?
---
### Author:  [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/5 "2005-08-31T07:18:27Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> What more do you want him to do, fart in the hurricane’s general direction?
Maybe it’s because he hasn’t started airlifting people out personally with Air Force 1?
[From this article](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/)
> [@](#):
>
> President Bush announced **Sunday** that he had issued disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of southern Florida.
[And from this one](http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/29/katrina.washington.ap/)
> [@](#):
>
> The president made sure the federal response would not be delayed by declaring emergencies in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama just hours after a similar declaration for Louisiana. Such declarations make federal aid available to assist with disaster relief, but they are rarely made before a storm even hits.
According to these articles (from CNN), FEMA was mobilized in advance and stood poised to move in when the storm passed.
Gosh, yes, that bastard – such slow response time, a day or two before the hurricane. I mean, shit, he should have mobilized the federal aid 3 weeks ago…
---
### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/6 "2005-08-31T08:09:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Gosh, yes, that bastard – such slow response time, a day or two before the hurricane. I mean, shit, he should have mobilized the federal aid 3 weeks ago…
That’s the crux.
I mean, if we can’t blame it on the president, what can we blame on him?
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/7 "2005-08-31T08:44:54Z")
He had plenty of notification that the hurricane existed. How much advance notice did you have as to exactly where the thing was going to hit land?
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/8 "2005-08-31T08:50:51Z")
I mean, so he knew the thing was coming somewhere. What he didn’t know any sooner than you did was exactly where it was going to hit. Once he knew it hit, then he started the FEMA stuff. Or do you suggest that he should’ve run there in the middle of the thing and be another victim?
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/9 "2005-08-31T10:56:29Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> I mean, so he knew the thing was coming somewhere. What he didn’t know any sooner than you did was exactly where it was going to hit. Once he knew it hit, then he started the FEMA stuff. Or do you suggest that he should’ve run there in the middle of the thing and be another victim?
No, no. You see, BUSH IS THE SUX!!!11!
That trumps your points completely.
---
### Author:  [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/10 "2005-08-31T11:03:18Z")
I’m a moderate libertarian that’s 50/50 on Bush, and I’m from the city, but he hasn’t really done anything wrong in dealing with it. Give him a break, he can’t be responsible for every fuck up this country has.
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/11 "2005-08-31T11:48:58Z")
He could have and should have sent troops in immediately. Get the marines in there with amphibious transport craft to get the people out of there. Moblilize the National Guard from each neighboring state. Send in planeloads of food and water to the nearest open airport and truck supplies in from there. Merely cutting two days off of your record-breaking vacation isn’t saying much- he did as much to interfere with the Shiavo case.
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/12 "2005-08-31T12:12:25Z")
> [@BabaBooey](#):
>
> Give him a break, he can’t be responsible for every fuck up this country has.
Well there is the slight matter of responsibility for the funding cuts imposed on levee work these past few years:
> [@](#):
>
> Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
>
> Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security – coming at the same time as federal tax cuts – was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
[Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?](http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313)
I don’t know whether the failure to prepare falls into the catagory of “rose colored glasses”, or “penny wise, pound foolish”, but surely _someone_ bears responsibility for the conseqences of the policy?
---
### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/13 "2005-08-31T12:42:02Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> I don’t know whether the failure to prepare falls into the catagory of “rose colored glasses”, or “penny wise, pound foolish”, but surely _someone_ bears responsibility for the conseqences of the policy?
Just watch, it will turn out to be Clinton’s fault.
---
### Author:  [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/14 "2005-08-31T12:47:55Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#):
>
> Just watch, it will turn out to be Clinton’s fault.
Oh, the talk show hosts are way ahead of you - yesterday I heard some yammering schmuck (I’m thinking Glenn Beck) saying something about the funding for the levees…and how funding started to dry up in 2000. “And whoooooo was still president then? Hmmm?” You can almost hear the face turning inward like Dana Carvey’s “Church Lady.”
---
### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/15 "2005-08-31T12:48:07Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#):
>
> Just watch, it will turn out to be Clinton’s fault.
Or maybe, just maybe, the fucking president had nothing to do with it.
I’d look toward the Mayor and Governor first…
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/16 "2005-08-31T13:18:39Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> He could have and should have sent troops in immediately. Get the marines in there with amphibious transport craft to get the people out of there. Moblilize the National Guard from each neighboring state. Send in planeloads of food and water to the nearest open airport and truck supplies in from there. Merely cutting two days off of your record-breaking vacation isn’t saying much- he did as much to interfere with the Shiavo case.
Your posting is quite evident that you’re just pulling stuff out of your tush.
For one thing, the National Guard is under the governor’s purview. Has the governor of Louisiana ordered them to be activated? Has the governor asked the president to nationalize them?
For another, where are all these planeloads of food and water just sitting around waiting to be sent somewhere? Certain things take time to organize. Thus both the FEMA and its state equivalents’ existance.
Give the “president on vacation” routine a rest. It’s a jerkish comment and has no bearing on reality: flood or no flood. If the president’s ranch is so isolated, how did he find out about this disaster immediately? Oh, that’s right! He’s in constant contact with his home base.
And exactly what did he do with the Schiavo case other than politicking?
You really need to get a grip on reality, friend.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/17 "2005-08-31T13:22:01Z")
BTW, are you also whining about all the other political office holders (Senators & Representatives, to be specific) who are on vacation? Or, as it seems most likely, do you just want to lambast one particular person?
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/18 "2005-08-31T13:25:41Z")
Do you think for one minute if Bush asked the governors of other states to send in the Guard, that they would refuse? Maybe the planeloads of food are not just waiting to be sent, but that’s all part of the effort that should have begun before the storm even hit. There is a lot of things that only the federal government can make happen, and many of these require massive assistance of the military. There are many things that Bush could have done but hasn’t.
---
### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/19 "2005-08-31T13:27:29Z")
I’m still trying to figure out what the oil comment in the title of this thread has to do with anything.
---
### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394/20 "2005-08-31T13:29:12Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#):
>
> I’m still trying to figure out what the oil comment in the title of this thread has to do with anything.
Bush only cares about places that produce oil, get it? God, didn’t you get the talking points from **BobLibDem** and **DMark**?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-dubya-new-orleans-has-oil-so-do-something/319394.md?page=2)