Social Disasters II

Yes, and Kieran’s been at home, masturbating in front of his computer screen. What the fuck does Condi Rice have to do with a hurricane in Lousiana? About what Kieran does. But god forbid someone call Kieran on his b.s.

As it happens, we’re stuck living in a world of over-educated idiots, convinced that other bright and capable people, working hard at their appointed tasks, aren’t quite up to the level they’d be performing at, if only someone granted them the opportunity. That’s really the point of Kieran’s post–and all the rest of the similar posts: I’m smart, I work hard, so I’m sure if I’d been in charge, this wouldn’t have happened. The arrogance and absurdity is, or should be, an opportunity for an intersting sociological examination, if one were interested.

Thomas, Scott Mclellan was on the tv hours ago pointing out the role that State has in coordinating relief aid from other countries, say, like Canada, which has been having trouble sending aid. Do you know what position Rice holds in this administration?

She can’t go flog ’em damned Canadians barefoot, though; woman needs a pair of shoes, ain’t she?

Holy crap. The pilot of a ferry boat evacuating people was just called in shot.

It’s the job of the government to coordinate. I heard on the radio this morning that the Red Cross wants to do relief operations well outside New Orleans, because they think it’s too difficult and unhealthy for everyone to try and deliver relief in a cesspool. But the military relief operations are focused on dropping aid to people in the city — which will look good in a clip on Fox News.

And here’s another question for the CT ethicists — is there moral hazard in giving charitable contributions for this, when Bush will use the freed up government resources for more tax cuts?

“What the fuck does Condi Rice have to do with a hurricane in Lousiana?”

That’s like asking why “let them eat cake” the wrong thing to say during French Revolution.

It really is heartbreaking, but what i cna do beyond sending money?

Other nations are offering assistance, the State Department coordinates and makes the connections necessary to get that assistance to site. Condi Rice is Secretary of State.

I don’t see where Condi’s shoebuying fits in myself. More disturbing is the way in which the big three channels and Fox are broadcasting as though everything were normal. I don’t get CNN or cable — in fact, I just got a tv after about twenty years of not having one just to look at videos. But I did see, at various friends houses, the coverage of 9/11. This is, frankly, a much bigger disaster, and it is being fit in between judge judy and comedy shows. I can’t, frankly, believe it. I lived in New Orleans for five years, and have a certain sense of what the city was like — and I don’t think it is coming back. If we were living in Rome, I guess abc, nbc and fox would report on Pompeii in fifteen minute segments, and then go back to GLADIATORS, episode 50. I’m pretty sure if the pictures were mostly of white, middle class people, this would merit 9/11 coverage.

Condi’s shoe buying fits in because her boss obstensibly called for a full mobilization of the national government to deal with the disaster. OK, she’s S of S. So, she could be working to coordinate internatinal relief assistance with the governments of, say, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, etc..

At the very least, its a very ugly contrast. Literally thousands of people are dying, in good measure because of a shambolic, inept government relief effort, and Condi – one of the highest ranking officials in the gov’t – is out going to broadway shows and buying expensive shoes.

Ben P

Curious…
Noone is disturbed by the fact that the actors on broadway performed their shows (rather than what…stand around and look solemn?). Noone is disturbed by the fact that everyone but Condi who went to the shows were there (rather than what…look solemn?). But it is disturbing that Condi attend the show (rather than standing around and looking solemn), along with thousands of other theatre-goers, performers, producers, directors, and so on….
A complete non-issue. We all know it-even Kieran.

Steve

Steve: not nearly as curious as the number of people who have jumped on the Condi thread but somehow stayed mum on the substance of Kierans post….

Roger @ 18:
People made the same sort of comments about the coverage of the tsunami and I am just as dumbfounded now as then. I’ve been working from home this week and have the left the TV on pretty much non-stop to monitor events. This has the story, even on Fox. Most of the residual time yesterday was taken up by the stampede in Baghdad. Are people actually checking US media before they offer these criticisms? In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami people wrote in to CT decrying Fox’s lack of coverage, for instance, despite the fact that it was patently obvious to anyone actually watching from the early afternoon of the tsunami onward that this was this main, dominant story for Fox and all of the other big cable news channels. So to this time, apparently.

Hey, Steve –

If those other broadway actors were high ranking officials in the Bush adminstration, than I would expect them to be involved in the relief effort too.

Indeed, Condi isn’t just “high ranking”: she’s one of the 4 or 5 important government officials in the country and a close confidant of Bush. So, thus, yes, Condi on vacation while the US Gulf Coast is destroyed and a relief effort struggles to meet these needs adequately, I think her absence is very relevant.

Ben P

“what, precisely, I wonder, should be done differently now, this minute, and by whom.”

Rehnquist should administer the Oath of Office to Dennis Hastert.

“Rehnquist should administer the Oath of Office to Dennis Hastert.” There we go. As good a measure of the extent of genuine concern for human suffering as you could want. Practical, sensible, useful. Give the man a medal.

Someone give Charlie a paper bag.

Which are all great, constructive, helpful ideas. I just wondered if there was anything at all behind the righteous indignation and indictments. So far it would appear not.

Perhaps a one-way ticket to Louisiana would suit Charlie better.

By the way, as if anybody who’s been paying attention doubted it, news stories are now appearing that cite documents which demonstrate the fact that Bush administration budget cuts delayed planned and much-needed work on the NO levee ssytem.

Charlie B — this disaster has been long predicted, and the poor quality of the response is a direct reflecton of political decisions. As is usually the case (the Ethopian famine was not a natural disaster). This is precisely the time to point that out otherwise it just happens over and over again. (Outside LA this is going to be a non-story within weeks). Ok, it probably happens again and again anyway. If it is any consolation, I don’t believe anything much would be different if Kerry were President, and I am confident that my colleagues would be excoriating him and his with just as much fervour as the current shower. We only look like we are down on Republicans, Bush, et. al. because they are the ones in power….

thomas: you, of course, haven’t tried to score any political points? Where’s dsquared when we need him?

Roger,
All I can say is what I have seen. I don’t understand what else the networks are to do. I asked family in upstate NY about this and they have had the same basic reaction.

There is a lot of emotion in this thread, and that is understandable. A real and enormous tragedy has happened here. People are really upset and the recriminations are spreading. But that is useless at this point. The only real question we can ask is: what are we going to do now (both in the short and long run)? None of us have any real power, but a civilized discussion of this would represent the only really useful contribution we can make (outside of heeding the widespread and important calls for donations). Let us not let this degenerate into the shameful situation that prevailed in comments on CT in the aftermath of the tsunami (when the worst sort of pontificating emanated from both sides of the political spectrum).

As an aside, I saw something on CBS news tonight that serves as the perfect symbol for all of this. As people boarded the buses for Houston, a little dog was left behind. The owner had to leave his or her undoubtedly beloved companion of 9 years behind. That dog, an innocent in all of this without any comprehension of what is happening, is, in all of its hopeless bewilderment and vulnerable domestication, probably about to see its last night on earth. Thousands of people are dead, and this in the end an animal that we are talking about, but I think that nonetheless its fate is the perfect symbol for this awful savagery.

Dan — I do read your comments, though I rarely follow up links (from anyone, I’m lazy, sorry). So I’ve gone back and read the comment again (and followed the links)…. but you are being too obscure (this time, not usually, or at least too obscure for me)!!

Jesus, Kip, did you look at Kobe in ’95 and think, That’s all the better Japan can do? Certainly not a first rate response.

Don’t answer that–you’re the kind of guy who probably did. Which, as I said above, is the sort of thing that someone might find interesting, sociologically.

(I mean to say, to avoid any doubt, that you’re an asshole.)

And that has nothing to do with partisan politics.

Check out Josh Trevino’s post eviscrerating Bush’s performance over at Redstate.org. There is a consensus forming.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0901-01.htm

“What you’re seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels,” said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA’s disaster response chief. “All three levels have been weakened. They’ve been weakened by diversion into terrorism.”

In interviews on Wednesday, several men and women who’ve led relief efforts for dozens of killer hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes over the years chastised current disaster leaders for forgetting the simple Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

I really suspect that they thought they were only going to get a CAT 4 emergency …

Guess I should try to score some points off someone. I’m just too sad right now.

“expectations of governmental competence and responsiveness have been raised considerably since”

It is quite simple. There are premature babies in Charity and Memorial Hospitals, in the dark or weakening generators, running low on water and food, cared for by exhausted nurses….and I am told there is nothing the United States of America can do to help them given five days.

I don’t believe it.

I for one hope that Alan Greenspan is hard at work, and no, not at manual labor. The potential economic fallout from this disaster to one of this country’s most important ports and oil refining hubs is enormous. Nadezhda has been compiling articles about global financial market anxiety.

Now, tell us, would the planned and much-needed work you’re talking about have made any difference in this tragedy?

Mike Parker, Bush’s former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, thinks so. Mind you, he was fired for trying to get additional funding for protesting budget cuts, so maybe he’s biased. (I mean that, actually.) Maybe (as Jet suggested elsewhere) we should have a commission to study what went wrong.

(Fats Domino has been rescued by the Coast Guard, BTW.)

Dan, funny how differently we read the pieces. I took Chris’s post to be a conjecture that the French heatwave would turn out much as Chicago’s, and for similar reasons. Hence the invocation of Klinenberg.

Perhaps I missed the part where Chris included among those reasons massive, inexcusable government incompetence in dealing with the emergency. Certainly Maria seemed indignant at the way pro-war conservatives were using the French government’s failure to address the crisis in time as a stick with which to pummel them.

One of the unusual things about New Orleans is that this is a scenario which has long been conjectured—so much so that high school students get taught about it in their social studies classes.

….Whereas deadly heatwaves in large urban areas were utterly unheard-of? As Chris pointed out, a book had even been written about the problem. For that matter, Hurricane Andrew was hardly an unthinkable scenario, either. Nor were the LA riots that same year.

Historically, the government’s power to deal with even foreseeable natural (or man-made) disasters has been understood to be somewhat limited. One could argue, plausibly, that that has been a self-fulfilling prophesy, and that raised expectations will ultimately be met, to everyone’s benefit. I was just arguing for a little historical perspective on the new, higher standard.

Why you think any of us is well-disposed to a right-wing French President and his government, btw, I’ve no idea.

Just speculation, of course, but it might have something to do with the critics being, as I said, mostly pro-war conservatives. Enemy’s enemy, and all that.

Kobe?

Considering that the response by the Murayama administration was orders of magnitude more alacritous (six hours, I think, it took them to figure out something awful had happened?), and that it nonetheless was considered scandalously slow and disorganized, and spawned wide-ranging attempts at reform in everything from disaster response to fiscal policy, well, shit, yeah. I’d have to say the Japanese thought they could have done one fuck of a lot better, and who am I to disagree?

But we’re being hauled off track, and I’m as angry as I’ve ever been at what passes for a government hereabouts, and being called an asshole personally is about the best news I’ve read on the web today, so whatever. Live with the soft bigotry of your own damn lowered expectations if you like; at least you can live.

I should say, Dan, I think the relevant comparison is 9/11. Hence my last point.

Fair enough, Dan. It is unfortunate that, for so many people, the need to score political points outweighs compassion and empathy. The disgraceful comments by the environmental minister of Germany come to mind.

On the other hand, I do think there is legitimate ground for discussion of the Bush Administration’s policies, especially on disaster mitigation. There is no question that the changes President Bush has made to FEMA need to be scrutinized:

As far as I can tell the position at the moment is that we must have a decent period of mourning before anyone can criticise the government, but that stigmatising the actual dead people as stupid, brutal and amoral looters can start right now. Apparently, it’s called moral clarity.

I’m pleased the Condi nonsense has stopped. I heard on TV news that there were originally 100,000 stranded in New Orleans. Is that figure generally accepted?

I have heard some figures recently for the number estimated to be stranded there now, but do not know whether they are at all reliable. On what figure are people relying (if any)?

A simple calculation suggests that complete
evacuation of New Orelans taking place at the rate of 2,000 people per hour would take 50 hours nonstop. That is 40 full buses per hour, every hour, day and night, in an orderly manner, with no problems, half-full buses, or delays. What level would it be reasonable to expect from any programme of disaster management? If it is different, change the figures.

Ben, I think you underestimate the scale of the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew on South Florida: 25 billion dollars’ worth of property damage; a quarter of a million people left homeless; over a million left without power–more than a quarter-million for over a week, while looters ran rampant and the army and national guard struggled to maintain order and care for the victims. Yet I don’t remember nearly the same level of national outrage at the unsurprisingly spotty success of the disaster response infrastructure back then.

I agree with you that 9/11 is (now) the standard against which other emergency responses are measured. Yet 9/11 was also a unique event. It occurred in wealthy lower Manhattan, amidst high-rent office buildings, in a city which had already pioneered the restoration of order and safety in urban America. It was a foreign attack–that is, a powerful unifier of the citizenry–rather than an impersonal act of nature. And the terrible toll it exacted on emergency response personnel–at least some of which, we should remember, might well have been avoidable–no doubt heavily dampened criticisms of the emergency response effort in its aftermath.

Nevertheless, 9/11 did demonstrate that a disaster can lead to unity and (relative) order rather than chaos. And if a little outrage helps propagate that lesson, then perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. I was merely pointing out that the current catastrophe is more the norm, in historical terms, than the exception.

What an interesting comment at #73. If it is in any way representative of the mentalities of those who have criticised crisis management in New orelans, I think they should all desist and make not one more posting here. I am very pleased for the people of New Orleans that the person who responsible for #73 has no part in the management of the evacution of New Orleans (at least I hope not), whose plans would being with a standard derived from a rail-bus interchange or national coach terminal operating in normal conditions at peak capacity according to schedules, supported at all points by managed logistics, including advanced booking, for passengers making journeys to known destinations. (Even then, I would dispute his figures.) Does anyone have anything sensible to say?

Why in the world is this debate even happening? The richest, most powerful nation in the world, faced with a disaster which was predictable decades in advance and was predicted a week in advance, turns out to have had no plan for coping with that disaster, and did not develop a plan after the disaster occurred, nor was the piecemeal response which actually emerged in any way effective to cope with the consequences of the disaster. Meanwhile the U.S. government has been trumpetting its intention of preparing for gigantic terrorist attacks ever since 2001. But now it turns out that there is no such preparation.

I am sure that there are many levels of government which are to blame for things like collapsing dykes, bad zoning policies and so on. That can be debated later. Nor should any political discussions distract attention from helping the people who have suffered and will suffer (vastly more people will suffer in future than are suffering how, because of the long-term damage to the city).

However, this is a gigantic failure of the federal government, the last bastion of civil society in the United States. Gigantic, and unforgiveable. If something like this happened to Cape Town and the Pretoria government responded in the way that the Washington government has responded to New Orleans, nobody would have any mercy or sympathy for Pretoria. I can’t understand how anybody, no matter what their political sympathies, can defend the crowd of — words fail me, incompetent, heartless buffoons doesn’t do it — people running the Federal government now.

The FT today includes reports that provide evidence for criticism of Bush administration budgetary proposals reducing flood/hurricane protection in LA, currently passed by the House, but unreconciled with Senate measures increasing those funds. None of this is relevant to the management of the current disaster and the enormous logistical challenge it represents.

The FT reports that there are 40,000 people still standed in New Orleans – if that and the 100,000 figure immediately after Katrina are correct, then 60,000 people have left. The FT also reports that current mobilisation of National Guard units places 30,000 troops in the city.

I have been seeing reports of airlifts from hospitals in New Orleans from the first hours after the storm – I don’t know what information others in this thread have about that.

I simply think that TV journalists have, as ususal, exaggerated circumstances for sensational effect, and people have accepted their hysterical and wholly impressionistic “analyses” and (as I am sure the journalists anticipated) turned the situation into a political football.

Sorry, I missed the second point above, which was obviously that at the time that the order was given to evacuate the city of New Orleans, the town was not flooded and Hurricane Katrina had not struck.

Last night, 8:00 p.m., CNN. Paula Zahn talks to the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Emphasis mine.

*****
ZAHN: Sir, you aren’t telling me…

BROWN: … and that we take care of those bodies that are there.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: Sir, you aren’t just telling me you just learned that the folks at the Convention Center didn’t have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the Convention Center people until today.
*****

Dan Simon, Charlie B, help me out here. As of last night, upwards of 20,000 people–including the frail, the elderly, and infants–had been left to fend for themselves for four full days without food, water or shelter. And the federal government was unaware of their existence until yesterday.

Now some of us are finding this beyond comprehension, but given the heightened emotions of the moment, we may have expressed our total incredulity and horror in ways that offended your delicate sensibilities. And for that we all deeply apologize.

Nope, fuck it, I can’t do effective sarcasm today. Charlie B, the people who were at the Convention Center yesterday are still there–this morning’s New York Times reports that the crowds have swelled to 25,000 and they’re still not getting any help. Do you realize how utterly depraved you sound nattering on about the people-moving capacities of Victoria Coach Station? Do you have any sense of the magnitude of this failure? You have repeatedly said that you don’t have the “facts,” yet you seem quite confident that media like CNN are “exaggerating.” What information do you have that they don’t?

Clearly, I need to stay away from CT today. I’m one of those shrill ones.

Charlie, you’re claiming that it was literally impossible, in the richest and most powerful country in the world, to trick up 200 buses to make 10 trips each.

For what it’s worth, Ozzfest travels with 40 buses.

Why can’t the Convention Center be evacuated via the River? It’s right on the waterfront.

Anyone remember Dunkirk?

dd–that’s a great idea–we’ll use buses! Why, if only we could get you in touch with the people at FEMA! And if there’s water in the way, we’ll tie intertubes to the buses, and float them across! That’s it!

Is your department hiring?

One small point: Dunkirk took 4-7 days to organize, and about 1/10 of the men there were captured.

I do think, though, that daniel is generally right, if a bit overoptimistic. There is a fascinating article in the Natural Hazards Observer written after Ivan that speculated quite accurately as to what would happen to NOLA following a more direct hurricane strike. One point the author makes is that there were discussions after Georges of using public-transit buses to move carless people out of town, but this idea was never acted upon.

By way of example (since it’s the only hard number I could find), Washington, DC has 1500 municipal buses. If we assume that New Orleans has 1/3 as many, that’s 500. Even given breakdown and absenteeism issues, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that the city could have put 300 buses into evacuation duty. More buses could have been commandeered from Greyhound or various tour services, too, although one can’t easily commandeer drivers.

10 trips is too optimistic, though, I think. That NHO article points out that, during the Ivan evacuation, it took about 12 hours to drive 90 miles. At best, one could probably only have gotten 3-4 trips from these buses. Still enough to have made a significant step forward in the evacuation, it seems.

“You’re claiming that it was literally impossible, in the richest and most powerful country in the world, to trick up 200 buses to make 10 trips each.”

I hate this back and forth stuff. But 200 big (50 person) buses, immediately, where you want them, with drivers, fuelled throughout their use, is a tall order.

10 trips each, return to Houston, round the clock, would take 3 days to shift 100,000 people, assuming 100% full buses on every trip, and no breakdowns. To do those 10 trips around the clock would require 600 qualified, available drivers. All assuming a maximum load of 50 passengers per bus per trip.

I have no doubt at all that the US could provide such resources. At very short notice, in a hurricane-devastated region the size of the UK, I don’t think so. It could provide fewer immediately, and gradually more over a few days. Organisation of 2,000 bus movements would also be relatively strightforward normally, but not in this case. If anyone thinks a bus operation of this kind is a piece of cake, fine. Your knowledge and judgement of logistics is different to mine.

I have no doubt that mistakes and failures characterise the disaster relief effort. Some of them are no doubt serious and worthy of censure. But I do not believe they have anything to do with the President. I do believe the self-righteousness cant of those who cannot offer a single concrete suggestion for addressing the problems is evidence of their low intellectual and moral worth.

In regards to President Bush’s seeming complete lack of connection to this tragedy and his failure to convey even an iota of empathy, note the rhetoric he’s been using in his statements. He repeatedly begins sentences with “The Federal government has a responsibility . . .”

While neutral enough, it belies this adminstration’s belief that the Federal govt. is somehow seperate from and above the American people. They aren’t a part of the American people; they are distant feudal lords with an inability to put themselves in the shoes of the victims (rather, they put themselves in the shoes in NYC showrooms!)

Chalk another point up for the Strict Father model.

I have no doubt that mistakes and failures characterise the disaster relief effort. Some of them are no doubt serious and worthy of censure. But I do not believe they have anything to do with the President.

But of course: the buck stops over there someplace. The Republican creed of personal responsibility. Nothing new about that, of course. Ever since GWB took office we’ve had to create a whole new category of fuckup: the kind that’s nobody’s fault.

Charlie, I hope you’re prepared to see the people who are “worthy of censure” getting medals and promotions from the President instead. There’s ample precedent for that already.

If people are looking for historical analogies, Atrios pointed out an interesting one today:

June 24, 1948: the Soviet Union blocks access to the arteries of the three Western-held sectors of Berlin

June 25, 1948: General Lucius D. Clay gives the order to launch a massive airlift to fly supplies into the Western-held sectors of Berlin

June 26, 1948: the first airplane carrying food and supplies touches down in the Western sector of Berlin

daniel, you’re quite right; one would think that there would have been plans for an evacuation of the carless, particularly after Georges and Ivan, but it seems like the Superdome was the extent of the planning.

The Berlin analogy is interesting, but a bit limited. For one thing, the blockade of traffic from western Germany actually began on June 18; June 24 was apparently the date Berlin was cut off from all outside traffic. Also, flights with relief supplies began flying in to NOLA’s airport on August 30, but obviously there’s been a massive failure of distribution from there.

The National Guard should have been on alert, ready to be sent to the city with medical supplies, food, and water, by day one after the disaster.

Fully a third of the Louisiana National Guard is in Iraq at the moment.

As it happens, I think I did not mention Victoria Coach station first, and it is certainly not as irrelevant to the questions of capacity and allocation raised here as the footwear purchases of the Secretary of State.

It is interesting to see how my deliberate attempt to reflect what would appear to be some legitimate criticisms of disaster relief provision, and to weigh arguments, was seized on.

Nearly all of the comments above rely on hindsight. Did anyone, a few days ago, post a comment, anywhere, along the lines of “why the hell isn’t everyone being got out of New Orleans” or “the government needs to make damn sure that people without cars, the disabled and the perverse are brought out from New Orleans, and quick”? From the passion with which they are arguing now, one might have expected that they would have done. Or were they intellectually unprepared or uninterested? Focussed on Iraq perhaps?

The President is responsible for the federal government, and appropriate federal actions were taken at the appropriate times (see the FT today). It was only when the state and local governments were overwhelmed that direct federal intervention became necessary, and that was not evident – could not be evident – before the flooding occurred, or until a while after. Even then, the federal government has, in the first instance, to work through local command and with locally available material.

National resources can and are being brought to bear on the situation, but inevitably it takes a while. Has anyone got a bad word to say for the city or state governments? They are not under the authority of the President, and have a large measure of responsibility for immediate disiater relief management.

None of the examples of extreme government sponsored population movements, supply or disaster aid occurred on the time scale that people are demanding here. I simply think they are being unrealistic – something the TV journalists (like the ones I have just watched on BBC1) encourage them in. Nothing pleases those journo pariahs more than the prospect of human disaster, and they predict it with all the rhetorical power at their disposal – as they have done again and again in the last few years, often only to be disappointed — is Biloxi really “returned to the stone age” as I was told tonight? is the situation in New Orleans really the result of racial mistrust of blacks by “white people” as I was told by the BBCC reporter in the city?

None of the examples of extreme government sponsored population movements, supply or disaster aid occurred on the time scale that people are demanding here.

An email received by blogger Laura Rozen:

Dear Andras, Laura,

Watching events unfold in the New Orleans area I had flashbacks of the 1995 river Rhine and Meuse floods in Holland. Then, in just under two days aurthorities staged a forced evacuation of almost half a million people (total Dutch pop. is 16 million) and 2 million heads of cattle, pigs etc. It was the most orderly mass-operation I have ever seen.

I live near Holland’s main disaster hospital AMC, which can effectively triple its capacity from 1,200 to 4,000 patients in 3 hours by opening up its six-story undergound disaster unit, and witnessed how hundreds of ambulances, army trucks and dozens of medicopters (including German and Belgian air-borne operating theatres) brought in hospital patients, people from care homes and the disabled from the disaster areas. Roads were closed to all other traffic, in hospitals across the country an overwhelming – and fortunatly unnecessary – number of staff and volunteers were on stand-by.

The material damage was incredible, but there were no casualties, there were three meals every day for every temporarily displaced man, woman and child, all cows were fed and milked, there was no looting. National public TV within days set up a disaster charity show which raised over 60M guilders (EUR 30M) to pay for damages not covered by insurance.

What I’m seeing on TV now is a third-world country with a government unwilling or incompetent to fulfill its tasks. I feel very, very sorry for the residents of the area.

Frank

What’s interesting to me is that, with their sickening urge to attack Bush–more power to you with that–they are actually attacking the public servants at FEMA. The engineers, the planners, the mid-level bureaucrats who planned for this kind of event, and who worked and are working to get things accomplished. Needless to say, many, maybe most of these people are good, hard-working, accomplished people, even if they aren’t fancy university types, and I’d guess that most of them even vote for Democrats. Those are the people on the front lines, and they’re the ones that are being attacked for their incompetence, by people who haven’t a clue what they’re talking about. Much as we–well, those on the left posting here–fantasize about a Great Leader taking charge in times of tragedy, the truth is more mundane, with the actual work being done by more ordinary sorts. As it happens, most everyone here thinks that’s a problem, but as far as I can tell, that’s because most here fantasize that they’d be the Great Leader.

Did anyone, a few days ago, post a comment, anywhere, along the lines of “why the hell isn’t everyone being got out of New Orleans” or “the government needs to make damn sure that people without cars, the disabled and the perverse are brought out from New Orleans, and quick”?

No. But several people I conversed with in the days before the hurricane hit said exactly this — not in a critical way, but in a “My god, they are going to have to get everyone out of there, that is going to be a huge task, but since New Orleans has been expecting this for decades I’m sure they have plans for it” kind of a way. Nothing special about the people I talked to — I imagine that the public dismay at the response to the Hurricane is triggered partly by the fact that from the moment it looked as if NO might be hit the conversations I was having were being had by millions of people. My news sources are pretty much public radio, public TV and the BBC: but anyone who was half-attending to those news sources was well aware that such things as mass evacuations were on the cards, well before the hurricane actually hit.

perhaps thomas’s apprehensions can be appeased by disclosing that most of us do not blame President Bush personally for any particular failure in the rescue operations. i certainly don’t. but i do believe that there have been some serious, serious mistakes, and that this is exactly the moment to look back at the lessons from 9-11, and ask tough questions about what the performance of the federal government has been like in the aftermath of Katrina. even if i were the staunchest supporter of President Bush, i would still care far too much about the security of my nation to be thoroughly preoccupied about the likelihood that Bush will bear some of the political cost of this reflective examination.

Thomas, what would it take for you to admit that the feds fucked up?

Like, say, if they accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on the city instead of load of sandwiches and bottled water – would this qualify as a proof of failure — or those on the left who haven’t a clue what they’re talking about shouldn’t ever second-guess actions of FEMA/WH hard-working managers and experts?

Thanks.

Russell, Thomas is a partisan hack, and his entire purpose here is to defend George Bush. The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name. The fury that you’re seeing here from the left is a direct consequence of the actions of the Bush administration since the disaster happened. There is a stunning disconnect between what the officials in charge are saying and what is actually happening. We’re not blaming the disaster relief folks on the ground, of course – we’re witnessing utter incompetence and denial at the highest level. We’re seeing the head of FEMA blandly annoucing that he’s unaware of desperate crowds at the convention center – at a time when there have been live TV feeds of those crowds all day long prior to his interview. We’re seeing the president saying that no one forsaw this problem (while his FEMA head flunky blames the victims for having stayed; excuses only apply to the leadership, I guess). Anyone watching the TV for days beforehand had a very different impression, of course. Even Fox News and the Washington Times are critical of Dear Leader Bush. We’re seeing many thousands of people die before our eyes, our government isn’t doing anything….

and the problem, according to the Bushistas here, is the irrational hatred of Bush on the left.
What a world.

Y’know, Thomas, earlier I was quivering in a white-hot rage: here, here was a symptom of the grotesque pass-the-buck I-got-mine illness that threatens the very fabric of our country, and all I had to do was come up with a one-two fuck-you and I’d—

Well, what, exactly? Beyond using what little impotent power I have to get a rise out of someone where I can actually see it happen?

So I’m giving money to ACORN instead. And I was going to leave it at that and walk away, but the last word’s all too tempting. I mean, I gotta take my hat off to you, you sad-sack we-couldn’t-ever-have-done-any-better-so-why-the-fuck-bother sonofabitch: you’ve pushed me to the point where I’m on the same goddamn side as Newt fucking Gingrich:

Even Republicans were criticizing Bush and his administration for the sluggish relief effort. “I think it puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we can’t respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we’re prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

So kudos, but remember this: we’re not laughing with you. We’re laughing at you.

It’s that or break down crying.

well done, kip. except maybe fields medalist mr. thomas thinks newt gingrich is from the left.

““our government isn’t doing anything” is the most fanciful statement I’ve ever seen.”

thomas, thomas, stop exaggerating: it makes you look slightly dumb.

I’m amazed that with 100,000 people left behind they’ve only got 40,000 or so left to deal with now.

Of course New Orleans isn’t the only place striken. The entire delta area has really taken it hard.

It is really too bad that they got a CAT 5 swell and that they got more than the 20,000 or so people they expected to get left behind.

1) Dear God. You people don’t understand. This wasn’t one city hit by a big storm. This was significant chunks of THREE STATES quite literally ravaged, with something like 80% (according to NPR’s coverage) of the city flooded, including a levee breaking the day after. We are not talking about half a million people, we are talking about many, many more than that, many of them in small towns unreachable or hard to reach right now, yet the rescue efforts are required to work there as well. The closest and largest bastion of aid is by far Houston, and the reports are already that we are maxing out on our capabilities — the Astrodome is full, the shelters are full, pretty quickly Med Center will be stressed if not already. We got an email today about being cautious because many of our faculty, staff, and students live close by; one of my friends used to be able to walk out the front of his apartment complex and see Reliant/Astrodome/Astroworld. The Astrodome was largely filled BEFORE they got significant numbers of people leaving the Superdome. You absolutely have to keep your volunteers, law enforcement, etc in good health, because otherwise they are not able to any good to anyone.

I suspect that the atomic bomb analogy a bit above is much, much better description; many of the pictures will be more reminiscent of Hiroshima than of Andrew.

2) What is wrong with you people? There will be a time or reckoning, but this is not it. This time is to figure out what can be done and how. Bitching about the government’s large-scale response right now is analogous to saying “Why didn’t they get all those people away from the coastal areas?” the first few days after the tsunami hit. First you save and restore as many as you can; after that you put heads on the chopping block if you feel a need.

I have just completed reading all these 124 postings and am amazed at the lack of compassion. The last few are spot on. This is a disaster beyond anyone’s comprehension. Misjudging the magnitude? Yes.
Why would anyone think these public officials are to blame? They did not create the disaster. They are trying to get a massive relief effort together. One which most of us could never imagine.
My heart goes out to the victims and pray they will get relief as quickly as possible. Have any of you sent in a contribution? or sent clothes to Houston? or donated blood at the Red Cross? or donate food to local charities to get it to the victims?
The world is watching us complain, point fingers and degrading our politicians. That’s a great image. Whether you like or do not like the mayor, govenors, FEMA, legislators or the executive branch, button up. Roll up your sleeves and help.

Funnily, Unkie, I didn’t read that as the approportioning of blame, but in the apocalyptic sense – i.e. AGM was referring to the Day of Judgement. The Rapture when the Elect rise body and soul to heaven, and the rest of us breath a sigh of relief.

Two basic questions come to mind right now: (1) There’s already been unacceptable loss of life in New Orleans and environs– what can we do to fix it *right now* so it doesn’t get any worse? And (2) what do we do to make sure this never happens again? In my opinion, anything else can wait till the bleeding’s been stanched.