# I pit the substandard governmental response to the situation in New Orleans. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 2, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747 "2005-09-02T16:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/41 "2005-09-02T20:41:11Z")
People, people! Obviously the problem isn’t that everyone at FEMA and the DHS are Bush’s buddies with no disaster experience whatsoever, it’s that we don’t have any Republican presidential candidates in charge of teh operation: > **[Breaking News, World News, US and Local News - NY Daily News - New York Daily...](https://www.nydailynews.com/)** > > Find breaking US news, local New York news coverage, sports, entertainment news, celebrity gossip, autos, videos and photos at nydailynews.com. > [@](#): > > Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., urged President Bush to appoint former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani or two former military officials to run the ground response in the Gulf Coast, saying local authorities are not up to the task. > > Sweeney defended the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of the effort, blaming instead Louisiana and New Orleans officials. “I think the federal response has been frustrated by the lack of experience on the ground from the local people to really coordinate this,” said Sweeney. I’ve read way too much of this shit today, and I can’t take much more. :mad: Thank God it’s almost time to go him to my 6 month old daughter, whose laugh can make me forget everything else. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/42 "2005-09-02T20:41:54Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’m stunned you guys haven’t yet found a way to blame Karl Rove for this. 😃 There’s no need to invoke Rove, Bush himself summed the situation up beautifully today: > [@](#): > > THE PRESIDENT: The levees broke on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday, we – and Thursday we started … [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050902-6.html](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050902-6.html) ---
**Author:** ![Matteo\_Ricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Matteo\_Ricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matteo_Ricci)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/43 "2005-09-02T20:42:51Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Then he’s been running it just like he ran his own companies. > > Too bad a mysterious investor or two won’t show up to buy the country from him. Funny you should mention that–President Hu Jintao of China will be [visiting the White House next week . . .](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090200244.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/44 "2005-09-02T20:52:01Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > There’s no need to invoke Rove, Bush himself summed the situation up beautifully today: > > > [@GWB](#): > > > > The levees broke on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday, we – and Thursday we started … Am I the only person reminded of those “troubleshoeter” sequences on the local news where the company screwing over the old lady suddenly starts playing nice when the cameras show up? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/45 "2005-09-02T21:01:06Z")
Let’s remember that Bush declared Louisiana to be in a state of emergency on Saturday…two days before Katrina hit. That was the signal for Governor Blanco to mobilize the National Guard and do something. What, exactly, did she do? And where, exactly, has she been lately? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/46 "2005-09-02T21:04:02Z")
An interesting tidbit on how people are responding… [Cops join in looting a walmart.](http://www.zippyvideos.com/8911023771013466/countdown-looting-in-walmart/) Is it any wonder that things have become chaotic? ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/47 "2005-09-02T21:06:19Z")
> [@Innuendo Hunter](#): > > > [@Rick](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Rick > > Why wern’t there trucks preloaded with food / supplies and sitting on the TX / LA border waiting to be dispatched? > > > > Why wasn’t there more food waiting at the evac centers? > > > > Why wasn’t the National Guard ready to deploy on Monday? (Not the ones in Iraq, the other units that are there now) > > > > Why didn’t the city corner the supply of porta potties, and service trucks? It was a sure bet that there would be some flooding, and the that the sewage system would stop working. > > This is the heart of the matter. > > Everyone knew NO was a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone knew hurricanes roll through that region fairly frequently. > > Why weren’t these things planned for? Why didn’t we prepare to respond earlier? > > **Why the hell weren’t things pre-loaded and ready to go on Monday???** If we’re spreading blame around, I’d like to heap some at the feet of the Louisiana Governor. Kathleen Blanco’s office, IMO, had the highest level of immediate responsibility for planning this disaster’s aftermath. That is who should have leapt into action once it became clear NO was in the path. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/48 "2005-09-02T21:14:48Z")
I apologize for my vagueness, but I’m not a TV watcher. Last night I turned on the TV for the first time in probably six months, looking for Katrina video. At 9 p.m. my time that turned out to be mostly Fox and that Greta thing who looks like half her face is paralyzed. I did come across a blonde news personality who I’m guessing is famous for her style of not keeping her feelings and opinions out of her reporting. She was interviewing some federal government honcho who said, “We didn’t hear from the governor until today that there were shortages at the Super Dome.” I actually gasped when I heard this. I don’t admire the blonde’s reporting style, but I did enjoy her comeback, which was something like, “Perhaps you didn’t receive the _engraved invitation_ until today. . .” ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/49 "2005-09-02T21:17:09Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > I apologize for my vagueness, but I’m not a TV watcher. Last night I turned on the TV for the first time in probably six months, looking for Katrina video. At 9 p.m. my time that turned out to be mostly Fox and that Greta thing who looks like half her face is paralyzed. I did come across a blonde news personality who I’m guessing is famous for her style of not keeping her feelings and opinions out of her reporting. She was interviewing some federal government honcho who said, “We didn’t hear from the governor until today that there were shortages at the Super Dome.” I actually gasped when I heard this. I don’t admire the blonde’s reporting style, but I did enjoy her comeback, which was something like, “Perhaps you didn’t receive the _engraved invitation_ until today. . .” That’s funny and all…but state’s _do_ have governors for just this reason. They sort of, uh, govern what’s going on in their state. That means they are the liason with the federal officials. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/50 "2005-09-02T21:21:12Z")
The political failures have been astounding, starting with the Mayor who declared mandatory evacuation but had no consideration for those who id not have the means to do so, to the Governor who seems to be a deer caught ion the headlights, to Bush’s inability to lead and failing to jump in when there were local failures. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/51 "2005-09-02T21:28:24Z")
Seems like a good place to share this quatrain from Nostradamus: Catharina, the storm of Columbus’ New World, Shall hit the newborn child of Orleans, And bring down the reign of a Georgian shrub; That scrotum-faced, pinheaded pile of doggie crap. [It’s not really from Nostradamus.] ---
**Author:** ![AFAIKnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@AFAIKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AFAIKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/52 "2005-09-02T21:36:10Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > The political failures have been astounding, starting with the Mayor who declared mandatory evacuation but had no consideration for those who id not have the means to do so, to the Governor who seems to be a deer caught ion the headlights, to Bush’s inability to lead and failing to jump in when there were local failures. I couldnt agree more. And what infurates me the most is everyones propensity to place blame instead of rolling up their sleves and do what neds to be done. I think they are currently doing that but to me it sems a few days too late. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/53 "2005-09-02T21:40:50Z")
> [@Matteo Ricci](#): > > Funny you should mention that–President Hu Jintao of China will be [visiting the White House next week . . .](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090200244.html) And Canada is [sending the Navy](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/09/02/canadian_response20050902.html)… ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/54 "2005-09-02T21:52:05Z")
Wolf Blitzer just spoke with a woman who was evacuated along with about 300 other guests from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel last night. Maybe all those poor black people should have gone there instead of the convention center or the SuperDome. But at least they got the important people out. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/55 "2005-09-02T21:56:05Z")
> [@Kepi](#): > > Wolf Blitzer just spoke with a woman who was evacuated along with about 300 other guests from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel last night. > > Maybe all those poor black people should have gone there instead of the convention center or the SuperDome. > > But at least they got the important people out. :rolleyes: Your point here is lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/56 "2005-09-02T22:02:24Z")
It would be assumed that guests of the Ritz-Carlton would be white and/or wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/57 "2005-09-02T22:05:05Z")
> [@Kepi](#): > > But at least they got the important people out. :rolleyes: After the Ritz-Carlton, the Hyatt: > [@](#): > > 3:34 P.M. - (AP) > The evacuation of Superdome refugees was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt hotel. They were move to the head of the line to be evacuated – much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome for days. [http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html](http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/58 "2005-09-02T22:20:05Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Your point here is lost on me. Yeah, well I probably chose the wrong Katrina thread to post that too. There are so many to choose from and I just picked this one. But with that said, I feel that this example is indicative of the way this whole clusterfuck has been handled. FEMA Director Brown actually said to Paula Zahn yesterday that they just learned about the situation at the convention center on Thursday. Hell, I knew about it on Wednesday since it had been all over the news since then. (Kudos to Zahn for calling him on his bullshit, by the way.) So FEMA doesn’t know about the convention center where people are dying of dehydration, living in squalid conditions, and being subjected to assaults, rapes and threats from the roving gangs of armed thugs. Even after it has been reported by all the news outlets, they still make no effort to get food and water to these people until today. But they were able to put together a rescue effort to save those holed up in the Ritz-Carlton last night? Motherfuck! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/59 "2005-09-02T22:24:58Z")
I wonder if those buses weren’t hired privately - I saw footage last night of a guy whose boss had hired a bus to take him, his employees, and some of the people stranded in the neighborhood around his business out, and supposedly they were commandeered by the authorities to use in the Superdome-Astrodome transport. I say “supposedly” because you never know what’s rumor and what’s fact. Even if you have an “eyewitness” you still have nothing to guage their credibility, you have no way to know if they knew ALL the facts or just THOUGHT they knew all the facts, and you never know if what they are saying was indeed FACT or if it was their PRECEPTION of the facts. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747/60 "2005-09-02T22:26:52Z")
> [@lorinada](#): > > PRECEPTION Sorry, “perception”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-substandard-governmental-response-to-the-situation-in-new-orleans/319747.md?page=4)