Thanks, but modesty forces me to admit that the idea of doctors going to help sick people is actually pretty obvious and didn’t really require any more than average intelligence to see.
People of average intelligence know better than to lecture and pass judgment on issues they very clearly know nothing about. It’s always amusing to see people do such things on boards that are about sports or cooking, or some other random topic. It’s even more hysterical to see them done on a board that purports to fight ignorance, if for no other reason than they happen less frequently.
Who would pay them?
Technically, if you had the money, anyone could hire some mercenaries. You wouldn’t have to be President, or hold any office, for that matter.
Unfortunately, the combined might of the United States Army is still quite a bit larger than Blackwater. As large as Blackwater and such firms are, their armed strength is a miniscule fraction of that of the U.S. armed services, or pretty much any industrialized nation, for that matter. So in the end, hiring Blackwater will do you about as much good as hiring Aerosmith or a band of circus midgets; all that would matter is whether or not the **armed services ** would obey you, and the likelihood of them obeying a lunatic is slim to none.
I guess we’re going to spend the next thirty days watching how people of less-than-average intelligence don’t recognize their limitations.
It’s also pretty obvious that if they had all headed off down to the local shelter Ms Klein would have been pretty pissed off when she woke up in the reception area of an empty hospital. Then we would have no doubt have been treated to a diatribe about the wastefulness of having a fully equipped hospital left unattended while the staff are dicking about in a swamp applying elastoplast.
Recreational Outrage - the gift that keeps on giving. In this particular case, it seems to keep giving Ms Klein a very comfortable living - I note that even her own website seems to be empty of any mention of her donating the income she earns by whining on about the plight of the disposessed.
Ah, the “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I” defense.
Very well played, sir. Very well played.
With an attitude like that, I’d hate to see you go. 
Here’s a thought. Seeing as the medical people were obviously not too busy in the ER, how about a few of them stay there in case any patients arrived and the rest go out and help the injured people where they were at?
I know, it’s unfair of me to point out a reasonable and obvious thing that would have worked when your entire argument depends on only the most extreme possibility being considered as an alternative.
I figured I’m not going to waste my best material on a guy whose idea of a rebuttal is “You’re a fucking genius.” If I use subtler wit on you there’s the danger you wouldn’t figure out I was making fun of you until after your trial period here ended.
What makes more sense, a small group of highly qualified hospital workers attempting to find casualties in a city-sized area with all of their equipment behind or a large group of lesser trained people bringing the sick to a central location where they can actually be treated. Remember this was well after the hurricane. The greatest need was for shelter, food and water. Not triage or first aid. Trained doctors should be in a hospital where they can do some good. First responders should be out at the scene. I know from multiple experiences, doctors are about useless when taken out of their element. You are better off taking random people off the street to help at the scene and leaving the doctors in the hospital surrounded with their equipment and nursing support.
Well, 8+ years and 16 thousand posts hasn’t improved your debate skills above “making fun of the new guy”, so I suppose 30 days for me to catch up is fair.
Okay, now we’re discussing reasonable possibilities. I’ll certainly agree that doctors are more effective in a hospital than out in the streets. But it’s not an absolute. To deal with a medical emergency you need doctors, you need equipment, and you need patients. The people in that ER should have looked around and asked themselves if their plans were working - were they addressing the medical emergency that was going on? The answer would have been no, we may be ready for the patients but they’re not getting here for us to treat. Obviously there’s a breakdown somewhere in the system. What can we be doing that will either help get patients here or improve the situation in some other way?
The problem I have was the apparent complacency the staff was exhibiting. They apparently felt it was enough for them to follow the minimal routine even when it was clear that that wasn’t working. They should have realized that these were not normal circumstances and they needed to be doing something more.
You’ll get the respect you deserve. If you want me to discuss an issue with you like you’re a reasonable person that you’ll write a post that shows that. You instead walked into the middle of a discussion and flippantly spouted off. And now you’re whining because somebody’s handing it back to you.
Yeah, I’m a bit fat whiner, I am.
Wait… could you point that part out again?
Shame on them for betraying their sworn oath to give of their all to ease the suffering of their fellow humans, and to spend no more than 4 hours a day sleeping and eating while there is unalleviated want in the world! Woe unto those who falsely put on the white coats (that are like unto the wings of angels) and the scrubs (that are like unto the shrouds of saints) merely to earn a paycheck!
All those who sayeth “Man, that’s one mess I’m glad I’m not mixed up in” and goeth about their regular lives without a care for the martyrs of New Orleans shall be flayed alive and rolled in salt! It’s an Outrage! AN OUTRAGE!!!
Bah.
I for one am quite disappointed at how this thread has gone. Here we had a chance to have a relatively intelligent discussion about the craphole the world is becoming, and it turns into not even two pages of nitpicking and name-calling. Gee, wonder why the world has become such a craphole. We don’t even care enough to discuss the problems, much less work on them.
I’m pleased to see that other posters have recognized the holes in Ms. Klein’s story and not leaped to conclusions based on a false premise.
You of course are free to start a debate over tax policies, corporate policies or greedy MDs as manifestations of undue influence of Wealth, assuming you have sufficient facts to present.
I agree. Some people are name-calling, true. But I don’t consider it “intelligent” to start from the premise that the world is becoming a craphole, and use any random hysterical hand-wringing and fingerpointing as evidence of such. As far as nitpicking goes, is it nitpicking to point out that this so-called evidence does not actually support the claims?
I’m sure you are disappointed that your agenda isn’t being advanced. If we’re not all agreeing with you, this thread is obviously a waste of time.
What a load of hooey. You’re tsk-tsking a doctor who lived in the suburbs for not venturing outside during one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history?
What the fuck was he supposed to do, steal a boat and start performing surgery in the middle of flooded streets?
Instead, he did the sensible thing and found shelter (had shelter already, whatever) and then went to a hospital to help sick people. Ya know, like those that collapse after having a massive head injury.
Those doctors were probably playing cards because they probably hadn’t gone home in a long time. Doctors aren’t machines, they need to rest too.
Well, cannibalism is a life-choice.
You can huff and puff all you want but the house ain’t falling down. Like others you’re pretending that we’re talking about something we’re not.
The point that you’re avoiding is that this was in the middle of a national disaster. Nobody’s saying that people need to dedicate their lives to helping the poor (okay, Jesus said that but he’s not posting in this thread) but it is reasonable to say that people should recognize that they’re not in ordinary circumstances and act accordingly.
If your house is on fire you don’t say, “Well, today’s Tuesday and I mow my lawn on Tuesdays. So I guess I better mow my lawn instead of putting the fire out. BECAUSE IF I DON’T MOW MY LAWN AND NEVER MOWED IT AGAIN FOR TEN YEARS IT WOULD TURN INTO A JUNGLE AND I’D GET EATEN BY A TIGER!!!”
As you can see, it doesn’t help that your response to what you consider overwrought outrage is to try and act more outraged.