Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The Blame Game

"Louisiana Officials Could Lose The Katrina Blame Game..."

"CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration is being widely criticized for the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the allegedly inadequate protection for "the big one" that residents had long feared would hit New Orleans. But research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding."

WHAT?? They didn't even use the funding that they HAD? And they did not secure local matching funds that would have GENERATED EVEN MORE FEDERAL FUNDING?

I thought that the President cut out all of the Levee fixing money from the Federal Budget, thereby ensuring the failure of the Levees!

I thought that he was single-handedly responsible for the suffering and misery in New Orleans!

Could it be that the local officials were incompetent long before Hurricane Katrina roared ashore to destroy New Orleans and expose their incompetence?

Could it be that the President is not to blame for all of this?

(Please go to the links and read the whole articles before you post your comments.)

According to The Drudge Report, only 13% of the American people believe that the President is to blame. 25% blame local and state officials, and 38% said that "No one is to blame."

But someone was responsible, at least for some of the failings, And the President has vowed to get to the bottom of it.

But it won't matter. Not to some people. The mindset of some people in America is "We aren't saying it was the President's fault, We said we were going to BLAME it on him..."

Good luck to you, if you fall into that camp.

The truth will come out.

10 comments:

Mark said...

Hillary has proposed that a Katrina commission be convned to look into who us responsible for bring a hurricane to New Orleans.

This is a good idea. After all, look what we learned from the 9/11 commission!

Pecheur said...

Oh no I can't believe it!!!! Are you saying that local government was not up to snuff!!! That is outrageous! I thought everything was Bush's fault. I mean didn't he make the storm and direct it to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I bet his daddy did the same thing with Andrew, didn't he?

Nuff sarcasim, great site and thanks for stopping by over at the southern place. Juwant a glass of tea or sumptin'? We'll fix you up and treat you so many ways you'll have to like one of 'um.

tugboatcapn said...

Pecheur, I'd love a tall glass of sweet tea! Much obliged!

I wanted to tell you, I have always been fascinated by accents and colloquialisms, so i LOVE your blog!
I try to speak as properly as I know how on my blog, but if you were to speak to me over the phone, you would picture me walkin' around barefoot, wearin' overalls, smokin' a Corncob Pipe and pickin' a Banjo. (All of which I actually do, occaisionally...)
My accent is as southern as Cornbread and Collard greens.
It is really cool to finally correspond with someone who not only apreciates that, but embraces it.
Thank you!
You too ER! I never would have found Pecheur's place, without I followed the link from your place...

tugboatcapn said...

AJ, do not let the yapping of the Jackals in the Mainstream Press, nor the whining, crying, and lies of his political opponents fool you...
When I am dead, and you are an old, old man listening to ancient Pantera CD's at ear splitting volume in your room in the rest home, George W. Bush will be considered to be one of the Greatest Presidents of all time.
Believe it!

Toad734 said...

From Department of Homeland Security:
In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.

tugboatcapn said...

That is all well and good, Toad, but I would like for there to be hearings into why there were so many people living in poverty for so many years before this disaster in an area that had so much economic activity going on,(The ports, the railways, the river, the Oil industry, the tourism...) and in one of the most Liberal states in the Country, controled for years (decades) by Democrats.
Why didn't the Democrat Governor or the rest of the Democrats in the Louisiana state government lift those people out of their poverty?

Erudite Redneck said...

Re, "if you were to speak to me over the phone, you would picture me walkin' around barefoot, wearin' overalls, smokin' a Corncob Pipe and pickin' a Banjo. (All of which I actually do, occaisionally...)
My accent is as southern as Cornbread and Collard greens."

Same here. Ozarkian, mine. (No banjo, but a git-tar, which I can play some, and a mandolin, which I can't.)

Also, this is a good question: "Why didn't the Democrat Governor or the rest of the Democrats in the Louisiana state government lift those people out of their poverty?"

Although I'm sure they would fare even worse under a Repub guv and Repub statehouse. But that's just me. ... Peace! Peace! ... :-)

tugboatcapn said...

I agree with you, ER, but only because Republicans would not actually DO what they were put there to do. (Just like the Democrats didn't.)

I have learned through personal experience that you never get anywhere if you rely on someone else to take you there. the only way to succeed is to get up, go out , and succeed. It takes an awful lot of hard work, and sacrifice, but when it begins to pay off,(at last...) You can actually be proud of your own accomplishments.
I have been poor all of my life, until recently, but it was because my Dad chose to serve the Lord, when I was young, and because of decisions that I myself made when I got older.
I have only accepted Government help once in my life, and that was two weeks worth of unemployment checks that I got when the textile mill where I worked signed me up because of a temporary layoff.
The rest of the time,when times have gotten tough, I have figured out a way to make things work, whether it be changing careers, learning new skills, or relocating to a more economically advantageous area.
Always with an awful lot of prayer and faith along the way.
This is why I believe that the best way to help the poor is to encourage them to help themselves.
It's the bird-feeder theory.
When you feed birds in the same place every day for a few generations, and then you stop, the birds will stand around the base of the empty bird feeder and starve to death.
Not to say that people are no smarter than birds, but common sense dictates that (most) people will usually choose the easiest path.
The easier you make things (on some people,)the more helpless and dependant they become.
I will never believe that THAT many people absolutely could not find gainful employment in New Orleans. There was plenty going on down there. (Before the storm...)
(Not fighting, just talking...)

;-)

tugboatcapn said...

By the way, I would just like to point out that Toad just advocated George W. Bush and his Reichwing Gestapo rolling in and overtaking your town or city at the drop of a hat and putting it under martial law, for whatever reason they deem apropriate.
Ain't it cool how all of this works?

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