Laugh at Liberals

67 Responses to “BLAME BUSH AND IGNORE THE TRUTH ABOUT KATRINA”

1. fisherwife Says: September 6th, 2005 at 10:03 pm

   I have been stunned by the propaganda on the television since Wednesday of last week. It is very obvious that the leaders of La. have failed miserably. It is not the only issue for why the conditions were so bad there, but it’s a good place to start. I went looking for some truth about the aftermath. My nephew is a National Guardsmen and I will be very interested in hearing his side of the story.

2. Jack Antilla Says: September 7th, 2005 at 2:03 am

   I don’t think the blame for the problems should be on the Louisiana government nor do I think it should be the President to take the fall. The fact is that it’s the fault of all of us collectively for dismissing the possibility of an event like this ever happening. After 9/11 the emergency response was devoted mainly to prepare for terrorism and only terrorism, only 2 scenarios planed for dealt with hurricanes and even those were situations about a terrorist attack during a hurricane.

   We were utterly unprepared for a cataclysm of this scale and it took us almost a week just to get organized for it while our own citizens died.

   We became so consumed by our fear of terror that we forgot to fear Nature, a lesson I thought we should have learned after the 3 hurricanes that tore Florida apart last year. I guess this is our rude awakening.

3. James Says: September 7th, 2005 at 2:33 am

   I agree, it’s embarrassing how the first thing that our media tends to do is point fingers and start playing the blame game in a Natural Disaster. We are shown on TV as people who are chaotic and weak who can’t fend for themselves in a time of tragedy, while the stories of the real hero’s and people who are overcoming this disaster often remain in the shadows of the bias media. We can’t blame something like this on anyone, everyone must do their part and pick each other up, learn a lesson, and rebuild.

4. Jack Antilla Says: September 7th, 2005 at 6:33 am

   Maybe you havn’t watched the Media James, It’s FULL of heroic survivor tales, and I mean FULL, all over CNN and FOX and even MSNBC.

   There are tales of people being re-united with their families, tales of people who have survived more than a week without government aid.

   I think one of the main problems with this hurricane was lack of serious warning. The media tends to overblow things alot and use fear mongering for little situation, and in a “cry Wolf” situation no one takes the Warnings of an absolute cataclysm seriously, and that is a major reason so many wern’t evacuated

5. Anna Says: September 7th, 2005 at 11:18 am

   The Jefferson Parish president, Aaron Broussard, told CBS news that government would have to be held accountable for what had happened.

   “Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before congress today,” he said.

   “Take whatever idiot they have at the top, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don’t give me the same idiot.”

6. Esteban Says: September 7th, 2005 at 3:42 pm

   It’s known by everybody, that Mr. GW Bush, is a racist man, and, if you look the pics of the flooded city, you will see 99% black people… I want to ask something: Are you sure that wall at the lake Pontchartrain where damaged by the hurricane?
   Bye.

7. Mike Says: September 7th, 2005 at 6:38 pm

   Twisting words is a sign of weakness in my book. Nobody’s blaming Bush for the hurricane. They’re blaming Bush for the five days it took to get governmental assistance in there. You can try to blame it on FEMA if you must, but Bush Junior had the final say. If he was as compassionate as he’s said he would have force fed the calvary down there. But he didn’t, he waited five days. The media is simply reporting the facts, like always! Yes, they did show the heroic participation of civilian heroes. They didn’t show the federal heroes because their weren’t any. For Five days. They were on vacation!

8. Anonymous Says: September 7th, 2005 at 9:06 pm

   I hate those liberal media suckers. How dare they challenge our Leader’s decision to stay on vacation while people drowned. Clearly, a picture of busses underwater is proof positive that Mayor Nagen did not do everything in his power to save people’s lives.

   Bush couldn’t have done a thing! He couldn’t take control of FEMA, or use his power to organize resources. That hospital Navy ship shouldn’t have to come in and save people from drowning if they were too stupid to leave themselves.

   And why are people mad about him cutting funding for flood emergencies? We didn’t know this would happen, no one did. I don’t see why we have fire departments either, we can’t predict when a fire will happen, right?

9. James Says: September 8th, 2005 at 7:54 am

   Bush did end his vacation early because of Katrina, ( but I don’t think he deserved a month long vacation in the first place with our forces working hard in Iraq) anyways, he also ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area the 2 days before the hurricane struck. Why the Mayor and Governor decided to make it a voluntary evacuation is any ones guess, but maybe they think that people have the right to stay if the feel like they can manage. We’ve been though many hurricanes in the past and many people didn’t evacuate those, but in Katrina, we simply were not prepared for the massive flooding afterwards. We as a nation all crossed our fingers and hoped that the levees would hold through the storm. We had resources to help with the evacuees, but for the so many people who decided not to leave the city, or simply did not know where to go, or who stayed in the Superdome were just as unprepared as the rest of the nation. In the aftermath of a tragedy like Katrina, we find an opportunity to point our fingers at everyone else, either we all are to blame or we all are innocent. We turn a natural disaster into a racist issue, when there is no reason for it. There might be more blacks dead in the final toll than whites (Esteban), but that might have to do with demographics than anything. I am sure all our prayers are with the victims of the disaster and since there is no going back and undoing what went wrong we can only focus on helping as many people as possible and making sure that this does not happen again.

10. Mike Says: September 8th, 2005 at 2:59 pm

    Your an anonymous idiot! Nobody is saying Nagen isn’t responsible. He instructed tens of thousands of people to go to the terrordome, and then he left them to rot.

    But Bush is the only man that can push FEMA. He can start a war unilaterally, but not insist on prompt governmental assistance?

    I was waiting for this to become a learning curve issue. Since they stayed they deserve to die? That’s the difference between liberals and conservatives, liberals assist without judgement, conservatives judge without assistance.

    The issue isn’t prediction. It’s reaction. If you’re not going to supply funds for readiness, then your reactive services better step it up at the time of need. They didn’t. For Five days.

    We’re not getting our money’s worth with Junior and his army of reactive reds.

11. David Stodden Says: September 8th, 2005 at 5:24 pm

    There is little doubt that we as a country are paying a terrible price for the divissive tactics of the Bush administration both at home and around the world. The folks that Bush has surrounded himself with have little interest and are pretty inept at dealing with people who look or think different than they do. I have to believe it is incompetence as I refuse to believe that the people we have elected can be so uncaring in the face of such suffering.
    David

12. James Says: September 8th, 2005 at 7:44 pm

    People that don’t know policy, facts, and methodology are the ones that blame GWB. Their irate tone of nature and constant verbal abuse is their way of feeling better about themselves because they realize that they are nothing but incompetent imps! When you are an incompetent imp you have a tendency of thinking that someone owes you something because the plate of idiocy someone handed to you when you were born. It is the liberal way to attract these types of people because it buys them a vote; hence the reason most poor people are liberal democrats. You will continue to shine as an idiot by saying that GWB is a racist and that the blame falls on him. I encourage number 6 to never change; you separate us Americans from you weak minded fools that America looks down upon as ignorant. I don’t want to be in your group, I will continue to believe in this country just as my President does. And thank God there are more people in this country like myself, willing to give, so that those who don’t listen, those that don’t warn others, will not perish in such hard times.

13. Anne Says: September 8th, 2005 at 11:41 pm

    Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Response Plan (NRP). Then you will understand why accountability is necessary.

    The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following:

    “ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE.”
    (NRP, 7)

    At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: “Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6)

    Further:
    Notification and full coordination with States will occur, but the coordination process must not delay or impede the rapid deployment and use of critical resources.”
    None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they’d still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn’t turned it.
    Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating “The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law.”
    And authorizes immediate action: ” Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage.”

    Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:”The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of
    National Significance.”(NRP, 15)

    This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government’s Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense?

14. Jack Antilla Says: September 9th, 2005 at 1:16 am

    As Far as I know only 1 person said that George Bush hates black people, so being an idiot and saying that all liberals believe bush is a racist is stupid. I really wish people would stop taking the stupid things one person of a particular group says and claim it to be the philosophy of the entire group.

    And James, I must ask, what does being poor had to do with intelligence or political philosophy? I know many rich idiots who, quite frankly I’m surprised they can tie their own shoes, while I also knew many kids in my high school who lived in absolute poverty, ate on reduced lunch because they couldn’t afford to pay the $2.15 for a sandwich, yet they were some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known, and oh guess what some of them were conservatives! So don’t categorize income with intelligence or political philosophy.

    And the president did cut his vacation short, 5 days after the storm hit when the government finally got organized enough to start evacuation.

    And what exactly do you propose Mayer Nagen did for the people in the Super dome? There was no where else for the people to go at the time, in case you didn’t know there’s over half a million people that needed temporary re-location, and the government was, and still is focused on getting people out of the city before they focused on permanent re-location.

15. John Says: September 9th, 2005 at 8:02 am

    I guess we should all blame Bush for everything right? I mean, he is the one in charge of the worlds oil supply right? WRONG!!! He is in charge of holding everyones hand and making sure they are ok right? WRONG!!! My city is taking care of a lot of the people that were displaced by hurricane Katrina. But they had a chance to get out, and they knew that a direct hit or a close hit by a catigory 3 or 4 hurricane would demolish that part of the country. It is a part of life for everyone that lives along the coast of The Gulf of Mexico and south eastern coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Just like living in “Tornado alley” and along the fault lines in California, we all know the risks of these areas. As far as the blame game. Thats all that liberals and democrates are good at doing so take your pick.

16. LiZard Says: September 9th, 2005 at 3:26 pm

    KYOTO

17. Pam Says: September 9th, 2005 at 9:16 pm

    In response to James comment that “The folks that Bush has surrounded himself with have little interest and are pretty inept at dealing with people who look or think different than they do”..Is this writer SERIOUS. Take a look at who Bush surrounds himself with, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Alberto Gonzales, Alphonso Jackson. I can tell you one thing…Clinton’s cabinet didn’t look like that….

18. Anna Says: September 10th, 2005 at 1:33 am

    This comment is intended to go the the post on “The Real Catastrophe”. The author implies that the majority of the poor in New Orleans and especially those stranded were welfare recipients. His premise is false. Over 77,000 of New Orleans’ working poor work more than 40 hours per week and earn $6.15 per hour or less. Over 17,000 of NO’s working poor earn less than $5 per hour (i.e, less than minimum wage). Perhaps the real tragedy is that adults can work 40 or more hours per week and still not escape abject poverty.
    At this time, I urge you ruthless conservatives (I know that you call yourselves compassionate even though you think the working poor deserve to die) to restrain yourselves from the nasty habit of blaming the victims. Every conservative “news” outlet and radio idiot now seems to think the poor had it coming. I join the ER physician who had been attending to patients in NO who yesterday responded to Cheney’s stupidity by telling Cheney, to his face no less, to go “fuck yourself” echoing Cheney’s own words to a senator on the floor of the senate last year. You shit heads need to go grow a heart and a soul.

19. Anna Says: September 10th, 2005 at 12:25 pm

    We have witnessed the kind of government we get when we elect officials who hate government.

20. Paco Says: September 10th, 2005 at 9:59 pm

    You are so not funny.

    You should spend your energies trying to put your corrupt and useless government behind bars for the murder of at least 1800 of its own citizens (marines dead in Irak).

    Again, your jokes are not funny at all.

    die soon please

21. Jack Antilla Says: September 10th, 2005 at 10:09 pm

    Lizard, I must say, “the blame game”? Seriously? Is all you do parrot bush and his cabinet? If you think liberals are the only ones blaming people for this disaster you are sadly mistaken, many conservatives such as the bush administration it self is blaming the state government of Louisiana, and even going as far to blame the Victims of Katrina. Hey guess what many people in New Orleans didn’t have enough money to pay for gas to evacuate the city! Are you saying that because they’re poor they disserved to stay and die?

22. Bill Says: September 11th, 2005 at 4:55 am

    Everybody has thier own ideas of what really went wrong? We need to quit pointing fingers, and handle the problem at hand! Yes, I to am very upset with certain Gov. agencies, but that is the past, this is now…I personally have an inside look into what the News agencies are “Sugar Coating” for the World to see…It’s like “Desert Storm here, only just as bad; it’s our own people…Americans”!
    Have any of you heard what these refugees are doing to the shelters? We received over 2000 people in my own City, 65% of these people are keeping the local police departments busy!
    No color nor creed should matter, everyone is doing what they can to help all the afflicted by Katrina. So quit pointing fingers and focus on whats at hand! If you can help,do so. If not, then pray for those who are helping, and those who need help…Prayer works!

23. Bill Says: September 11th, 2005 at 5:03 am

    to Jack Antilla, Grow Up!!!

24. Jerry Says: September 11th, 2005 at 5:47 am

    It seems to me that a lot of people in New Orleans made the bad decision to stay in town. Maybe this inaction was because they had limited means to leave, or maybe it was because they weren’t aware of the free bus service that was available, or maybe it was because many bus drivers did not show up because they were evacuating with their families, or maybe they were hoping to be able to loot in the aftermath. However, that does NOT mean that they should be left to rot for days.

    I watched in horror as hours turned into days where noone could figure out that dropping a few pallets of bottled water near the Superdome or Convention Center might be a good idea. Or driving a semi or two into those areas with water and food might make sense.

    Now, does this incredible lack of basic common sense an intelligence rest with local, state, or Federal officials? Hmmm.

    On the ground, the situation in N.O. was pretty much chaos. The local officials had no means to communicate and no resources. The State government did not distinguish itself and was facing problems outside of just N.O.

    But, WAIT! FEMA was established for just this kind of situation. To provide Command and Control. To draw on the vast resources of this great country, quickly, to saves lives. But, FEMA is a bureaucracy. And we all know that bureaucracies tend not to work well in times of major crisis, UNLESS leaders emerge who provide strong direction.

    Now, the FEMA head turns out to be a man that had no experience to speak of to qualify him for the job. Some will go so far as to say that he had a history of lackluster performance. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that he did not step up and take command.

    In fact, even though the role of FEMA is to take command, I really can’t blame M. Brown much for showing a lack of leadership. After all, his ultimate boss, GW Bush, nominated him for the position of Deputy of FEMA knowing he was not qualified. Knowing that he was not exactly a “take-charge” kind of guy.

    More to the point, Mr. Brown’s boss, the President of these United States did not project a sense of urgency about this great disaster. President Bush STAYED ON VACATION for days after the storm hit. Stayed on vacation long after the levee breach that flooded the city. And, the President did not get on the phone and say, “Guys, send water and food to the Superdome and Convention Center, NOW. I can see on TV that people are suffering and dying.” You see the bureacrats need to know that the “boss” wants it done NOW, or else they don’t move. CEO’s know this. Executives of any stripe know this. The President should know this.

    So, I am sorry, but there is no “blame game” to be played. It is not a game. GWB did not do his job. And we should all be very concerned that in the next crisis he will not do his job again. We should all be concerned that he as appointed others that are as unqualified as Mr. Brown to positions of authority.

    Please, think before you attempt to make excuses for Mr. Bush. He didn’t do the job and until people admit that simple fact, our nation will suffer.

25. Jack Antilla Says: September 11th, 2005 at 6:43 am

    Grow up?

    Judging by your comment you and I are preaching the same thing, to stop pointing fingers and do your jobs.

    I think perhaps you misread the website and got my comment confused with Paco, which I agree is uncalled for.

26. Anna Says: September 11th, 2005 at 1:19 pm

    Jerry is exactly right! If you recall, during his first campaign in 2000, Bush said that FEMA was unnecessary and its work should be handled by “faith-based organizations.” He appointed a head (Brown) with absolutely no background or training in disaster and emergency management because he wanted to eliminate FEMA. They say that the government is your enemy until you need a friend. The people of LA, Miss, and AB needed a friend desparately and they were stood up for 5 long days because the friend didn’t have its shit together enough to get in there and help out. Shit, the Canadian government had emergency relief workers in NO 2 days before anyone from FEMA arrived.

27. Anna Says: September 11th, 2005 at 2:23 pm

    The Washington Post explains today, Brown isn’t the only hack at his agency; FEMA is now home to an entire troop of Brownies. Brown’s chief of staff was an advance man for the 2000 campaign. The deputy chief of staff was an advance man for the White House. His predecessor at FEMA had been a Bush campaign consultant in 2000. It’s as if they all responded to the same classified, “Must Lack Relevant Experience.”

28. Vangaurd Says: September 12th, 2005 at 2:50 am

    you people are all crazy. the administration and the local and state gov, all knew about the dangers surrounding this type of disastor in new orleans. four years ago reports came out outlining the exact catastrophe that took place, and what did the administration do? cut federal funding for extensive work on the gulf cost to prevent such a disaster. now im not saying bush is the only one to blame but how can you excuse him?!?!?! and claiming that most people in new orleans, quite possible the poorest city in america, had the ability to leave on their own will, is a lack of knowledge, arrogance and dangerous disatachment from the reality that over 35 million poor people in america deal with everyday. i know this will be read and ridiculed cause that is what you do, but honestly your arguments and opinions are not only baseless, but negative towards lower class people, who you may think dont exist, but they do, and it is absolutely ignorant to blaim the victim. thats like saying why didnt the women who was raped leave when she saw the man furiously coming towards her to rape her. how do you avoid a hurricane without the means to that end?

29. Anonymous Says: September 12th, 2005 at 2:57 am

    Actually if you do your research, you will find that it is not President Bush’s fault. They did everything they could to help the citizens of the Gulf Coast. Why would govt. officials want to go and help those people when they are being shot at for passing out water bottles and trying to evacuate the citizens. Have you not seen the picture of 200 empty school buses that were just sitting in the lot? Why didn’t the mayor drive the bus himself to evacuate people?

30. mm Says: September 12th, 2005 at 3:00 am

    Leave it to the liberals to blame it on Bush. The truth will come out and you will find that it is not Bush’s fault.

31. Celumnaz Says: September 12th, 2005 at 10:45 pm

    Our nation will suffer as long as there are socialists and whiners that would rather use money for other purposes, like the Louisiana officials have, instead of doing anything real.

    It will continue because of the Hatred coming from the left.

    If they actually solved problems, they’d lose their constituents.

32. James Says: September 14th, 2005 at 2:54 pm

    Why is it liberals only read what they want to hear? I am not saying that GWB couldn’t have handled things better, what I am saying is that so many people are eager to blame him and only him. People are actually blaming him for the hurricane itself, saying that this is a result of depleation of the ozone. WOW! If GWB could actually cause a disaster of this magnitude, imagine what else he could do. Please look at the facts all ye democrats against Bush, you will have your chance to run again in 08′. These are hard times for a lot of people, try not to do the blame game. I can sit here and say that Bush declared a National emergency two days before It made landfall. I can say that the Feds possitioned the Red Cross in the stadium a day before It hit, and the local authorities told them to leave, I can see a picture of over a hundred busses under water that could have been used. I can say alot of things to defend my party. But what is the important issue here? Hind sight is, well you know!

33. Mike Says: September 14th, 2005 at 7:43 pm

    Bush: “I am responsible” for the mess in New Orleans today!

    Bush finally blames himself for something! One out of 3,000 ain’t bad! But why’s he playing the blame game? I mean, why figure out why something went catastrophically bad at all? Like James says. Let’s just repeat hisory over and over again. Yes, the people in NO need our attention, but without our “whining” it could have taken BushCo 10 days to get his shit moving. So “blaming/whining” is productive if it brings relief to NO/America and better results in any future catastrophe. So what do we get? Bush put himself in charge of investigating himself, I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of this now! Joke!

    The bus drivers left. Isn’t “Save your own skin” the conservative motto? You should be proud! Using your same argument what if the bus drivers had stayed and then died? Would they deserve it for staying? Or would they be heroes? I guess it would depend on if they were Democrats or Republcans, right? Which gets back to Kanye’s point.

    American heroes are becoming out-numbered everyday. Especially when the, “they deserve it”, “struggle is good”, or “god chooses who lives or dies”, conservatives are in power.

    If the woman down the street is dying in her home, and the milkman witnesses her struggle, but then waits five days before calling for help, what penalty would you give to the milkman? Sure he didn’t cause the lung cancer she died of, but he did guarantee her death. I think Bush, the every-man man should be held by the same every-man laws we all abide by.

    Impeach Bushco today! No Joke!

34. Rep Girl Says: September 14th, 2005 at 9:29 pm

    It’s a natural disaster! Nothing can be done by arguing over it. What we need to do is analyze what went wrong and what we can do to better prepare to fix it. It was a simple case of disoraganization and being unprepared for this type of distaster. I mean no disrespect to the victims, but many of them are there by their own choice. Which doesn’t mean they don’t deserve assistance, but before they start pointing fingers, remember, they chose to stay. No one forced to make them stay or leave. Their evacuation or residence was their right to choose. They exercised that right. The hurricanes in Florida, though still disastrous, was not nearly as horrendous as Katrina. What we need to do is stop arguing about whose fault it was and focus on what we can do to help the victims. Because they are victims. They had no defense against nature’s fury. So stop arguing and start praying for relief.

35. Jack Antilla Says: September 15th, 2005 at 1:52 am

    Celumnaz, funny thing is, the republicans wanted to privatize FEMA, and some even went as far to say that FEMA was useless and should be cut so money can go to “Better things” That is one of the reasons FEMA was so slow in acting and the United States Army had to step in and organize everything.

    Furthermore, Blame can be put on the entire bureaucracy as well as the local and state officials of Louisiana, all the way up to the president himself. But I think blame should be left to the historians just as the question of whether or not the Iraq war was justified, it doesn’t really matter right now, lets focus on getting the people of New Orleans re-located, and the city re-built, that’s all that really matters.

36. Mike Says: September 15th, 2005 at 8:40 pm

    Your kidding? Blame should be left to the historians? Pray for relief? Clinton gets his peter piper pickled and it’s off with his head. But Bush makes numberous decisions that result in the death of innocent Americans and it’s “let’s give him the benefit of the doubt”, “Don’t dis-respect the office”.

    I’m sure the people in New Orleans were praying everyday for help from their leader. How’d that work out for them? Apparently God and “W” aren’t on speaking terms.

    Actions are stronger than words. I agree. Lucky for Bush, he can’t speak, so we have to rely on his actions. When he finally acts. Apparently you have to be white and in a vegetative state to get him out of Crawford at vacation time.

    It’s called mutitasking. Yes, rebuild the city. Yes, relief money needs to continue to flow. Yes, Pray. Yes we need to review the piss-poor response of our governement. Yes, we need to hold them accountable for their actions before and after the storm.

    What scares me if you truly believe that New Orleans deserves the situation they are in, than how much are you really going to “pray”, or god forbid donate money or time. I mean they were poor to start with, right?

    You guys just play right into the hypocrite sterotype, everytime you speak.
    Stop talking… there’s no excuse.

37. Liberals R Wussies Says: September 17th, 2005 at 1:56 am

    HI, Billy Hays here with new OxyClean for Liberals! Now you can get those tear stains out of your Al Franken pillow cases. Just a few drops in you triple ripple liberal lattes will cure you of your Garofolitis. What’s that? You can’t find your ass with both hands? Don’t worry, we’ll hand it to you at election time, every time.

38. Mike Says: September 17th, 2005 at 6:24 am

    HAHA, Good one! And there it is. The standard response from a cornered billy goat. No answers? Let character assasination take control. Like, say… a swift boat scandal, or a CIA leak? Hey Billy (middle name Bob per chance?), I’ll take tear stains over shit for brains, anyday!

    We have cute names for your media minutemen too. I just didn’t think it pertained to our New Orleans discussion, apparently I was wrong.

    By the way, I think I found the ass! And just think… I found it single handedly! Amazing!

    America will wake up in 2008, to the stench of your eight year old skid marks and your four year old brain.

    Focus on New Orleans… not yourself. I know it’s out of character!

39. Jack Antilla Says: September 17th, 2005 at 8:48 pm

    Ah, Mike. I agree that the Clinton scandal received far too much attention, and the Bush administrations many lies deserve far more attention, but Blame should be put off until the disaster is over otherwise it’ll slow things down, and extend peoples suffering. Let the historians put all the blame on Bush or The Mayer of N.O or any Tom, Dick, and Harry they choose, just not right now while people are dying.

    And Liberals R Wussies, people like you, both Liberal and conservative, are part of the reason things take so long to get done in this country. Every one seems more interested in bashing the other side than solving the problem at hand.

    Schade.

40. Jerry Says: September 18th, 2005 at 5:14 am

    I am amazed. Some of you have written that “now is not the time to assign blame”, or “let the historians decide”, or similar comments.

    I agree that our first efforts should be primarily to save people and alleviate as much suffering as possible. Next we focus on rebuilding.

    However, most people CAN “walk and chew gum” at the same time. I think that some effort should be put into finding out who screwed up.

    Why? Well, I understand that we have already awarded BILLIONS of dollars (in no bid contracts) to a few companies (yes, Halliburton is one). Were these contracts awarded by unqualified FEMA officials? Were they awarded by other government representatives that do not know what they are doing?

    And who is going to investigate what went wrong? Are any of the oficials that screwed up going to be part of the team?

    Now, as I indicated in my other post, I am very concerned that our President is not the best man to have running things in an emergency. There should be no question that he had the authority and ultimate control of the resources to save lives. He failed to act. He remained ON VACATION for days! I’m sorry, when the Mayor of a city of 1/2 Million people calls for an evacuation, you better pay attention.

    The Mayor made a very courageous decision. Stop and think about it. What if the storm missed the city (as had happened before)? There would have been looting and Lord knows the mess that would have been created as the masses returned!

    The President, on the other hand, had it easy. The damage was done. The city was flooded. People were crammed into the Superdome and the Convention Center without food and water. He could see this on TV. Surely his advisors knew at least as much as the reporters from CNN and FOX. And all he had to do was go back to Washington and yell at a few flunkies.

    Well, maybe not. Maybe he had filled positions of authority with political hacks. People that did not know what to do or who to call. If that is so, Mr. Bush is, again, responsible. What exactly is the penalty for not acting to save a life? What is the penalty for hiring totally unqualified people to perform jobs where peoples lives are in the balance?

41. mike Says: September 18th, 2005 at 4:04 pm

    Jack, I see your point. I can see how you might think it would slow things down in New Orleans to expedite an investigation. But this city’s fate is more than a couple months of reinvigoration. It’s going to take years. We could face another catastrophe next week.

    We have billions of people in this country that can work on all sides of this horrific scene. As I speak, somebody is bringing water and food to those in need down in New Orleans. So yes, us dicussing blame during those first five days, when nobody was helping, would be counter-productive. But now is the time to invoke change. Now is the time to find those “responsible” and hold them accountable.

    My last point is, if the people who acted so slowly to begin with are still in charge of the recovery, How much faster could we be proceeding? Is beauracracy still holding us back? Did corporations get an unbalanced proportion of the recovery attention? Should that be the case, or did helping the people directly provide a quicker and more effective recovery effort? Are our polictical and corporate leaders neglecting the people in need more often than not? Should they get away with irresponsible, selfish, actions day after day?

    These are the bigger questions for today, not after the fact.

42. Jack Antilla Says: September 19th, 2005 at 1:53 am

    I see your point Mike. And have come to the conclusion that you are right; blame can start to be put on this matter.

    And I am beginning to wonder a few things myself.

    1. Why did the republicans want to Privatize FEMA back in 2001?

    2. Why the slow response to Katrina, yet Mr. Bush left his vacation at 2:00 in the morning to sign a bill in congress to help a brain-dead white woman in Florida?

    3. Would Mayor Ray Nagin been seen as a brave hero like Rudi Giuliani was after 9/11 had he been republican?

    4. Why was FEMA so utterly unprepared that the United States Army had to step in and organize relief efforts?

43. Mike Says: September 19th, 2005 at 8:09 pm

    I’m sure these aren’t the answers, but these are my thoughts.

    1) They either wanted to dismantle it or line the pockets of their corporate base. Social programs like FEMA and SS are the devil for Conservatives. They prefer ideaology over national preparedness. I also know Haliburton would be at the front of the line of private companies benefiting by the privatization of FEMA. Coincidence?

    2) If it doesn’t effect his base it doesn’t effect Bush. He’s not racist, he’s a party puritan. The tail, or the part just below the tail, is wagging the dog. And nobody told the dog to run to New Orleans. “Survival of the fittest” is a party line motto for Republicans, and Bush is just cold enough to inflict this motto on the helpless New Orleans people.

    3) I don’t think Nagin is completely heroic. I think he had just as much influence over the outcome as Bush did. He could have acted with more leadership. Guiliani was thrown into 9/11. Nagin could have been more prepared. I think.

    4) Personally, I think the army should have been there sooner. Not to organize efforts, but they could have policed the looters and had the machinery to assist a mass exodous of a city that large. The fact is the appointed head of the FEMA agency was not at all qualified for this position. Who’s responsible?

44. Spiffarino Says: September 20th, 2005 at 4:31 am

    My only comment is, does anybody really think this site is funny?

    Attention Bush-worshippers: You are embarrassing yourselves.

45. jimmy Says: September 20th, 2005 at 7:27 pm

    The federal gov,t does not have the constitutional right to barge into a state and take over EXCEPT for in cases of national security.

    This was a bottom up response those in charge were first and foremost the MAYOR and then the GOVERNOR with assistance from the fed’s.

    The Mayor is a rube who makes Bush look like an intellectual. The easiest response for him after he totally f*** was to blame Bush, thats easy. Always easy for the black democratic man to blame the white republican man.

    And all the whiney liberal panty wastes cry- “oh the injustice”. If that was an exclusive, majority white, beachfront community, many would say “dumbasses got what they deserved, never should have built there”.

    200 billion dollars that will be sent down DOES NOT come from somebody who doesn’t care.

    I’m tired of all the bull. S*** happens, hurricanes, terrorist acts etc…. just fix it if possible and move on.

46. Open-minded Says: September 20th, 2005 at 8:40 pm

    We’re not Bush-worshipers. Get out of this country if you don’t like him. Makes sense right? You won’t have to deal with him or the “Bush-worshipers” anymore. And I think this site is funny, because of reading ridiculous comments that blame Bush.

47. Jack Antilla Says: September 21st, 2005 at 2:02 am

    The national guard should have been there sooner, but they’re over fighting a war on foreign soil, which is in itself a problem because the National guard is just that, A NATIONAL GUARD, not a foreign war service, leave that to the more qualified people like the regular Army, or even the Army reserves. Too bad Bush is too stubborn to draft because it’ll give fuel to the opposition party. That’s Politics for you people, jeopardize national security so that the other side isn’t right.

    Any way back on topic, The fact that well over half the National Guard is In Iraq, it took along time get the necessary command structure BACK in the united states where is should be, and mobilize forces, and eventually declare Martial Law in New Orleans.

    The same thing happened with the three Hurricanes in Florida last year, relief effort took nearly twice as long due to the low numbers of National Guard soldiers there to help clean up, and why Wild Fires have the potential to be much more dangerous now that much of the equipment the National guard used to help contain them, is now over seas.

    Schade.

48. tina Says: September 21st, 2005 at 9:24 pm

    THANK YOU JIMMY. The federal government DOES NOT have the constitutional right to barge into a state and take over EXCEPT for in cases of national security. Finally someone states the truth.

49. Lefty Says: September 22nd, 2005 at 11:35 am

    Jimmy and Tina. Actually you are wrong. In fact, if a governor of a state requests the president of the US to declare a state of emergency, then legally the federal government takes over emergency management responsibilities. The governors of LA, Miss, and AB all made that request prior to Katrina’s strike and Bush took a few moments away from his vacation to declare emergencies in those states. So the federal government not only had the right to “barge in”, it had a legal responsibility to take over the management of all emergency procedures in those states.

50. Lefty Says: September 22nd, 2005 at 11:45 am

    Oh, and Jimmy - FEMA will pay for the reconstruction of the multimillion dollar beachfront houses of the rich white folks. Individuals affected in the declared emergency areas will be compensated for the full value of their property losses. The rich beach front property owners always make out just fine in these situations. That’s the major advantage of having your region declared a “disaster area.”. Do you ever hear anyone complaining about the fact that the Feds insure beachfront properties and pay to rebuild the homes of very wealthy people who take this known risk? In truth, the Feds insure the priciest beachfront property in our coastal communities even though private insurers will not write policies in such risky areas.

51. Mike Says: September 22nd, 2005 at 3:16 pm

    Haha, now there’s a wagon to hitch on to!

    But the history and purpose of FEMA is this, (from their website),

    “FEMA can trace its beginnings to the Congressional Act of 1803. This act, generally considered the first piece of disaster legislation, provided assistance to a town following an extensive fire.”

    “As it has for more than 20 years, FEMA’s mission remains: to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of “A Nation Prepared.” At no time in its history has this vision been more important to the country than in the aftermath of Sept. 11th.”

    Any State suffering from a Natural Disaster that refuses Federal assistance deserves to drown, and they’re free to make that choice. The government doesn’t have the right to force anything on anybody. Unless it’s Iraq or Mr. Schiavo.

    However, A Federal government that, after many state requests, delays assisting a state in need, for whatever reason, resulting in the death of numberous Americans, deserves to drown in blame.

    They wouldn’t have been barging in, they would have been responding to the crys of a dying New Orleans and it’s leaders.

    Slight difference.

52. Alfred E. Bushman Says: September 23rd, 2005 at 11:41 pm

    Whats the difference betewwn a bowl of coco puffs and New Orleans?

    a. Milk

53. J Says: September 29th, 2005 at 2:08 am

    Why are people screaming racism when a natural disaster has hit? Was the storm racist? Is the black mayor who failed to do his job racist? Finger pointing at Bush is just another example of our society not being able to take responsibility for things. I feel for everyone involved in Katrina but everyone should step up to the plate, fix the things that were wrong and pull together to clean up the mess a natural disaster created, and give up on the race card, its old

54. Jack Antilla Says: September 29th, 2005 at 4:13 am

    Actually J, racism was a factor for Evacuees after Katrina, but not from Bush or the federal government, but from a neighboring parish (county)

    Many people evacuating New Orleans went across a bridge into a neighboring parish, and after a while the police of that parish went up and closed off the bridge, and turned evacuees back to the super dome. When asked why the cops did this one of them responded

    “We don’t want the scum of the earth polluting our town”

    By scum of the earth he means the poor black that could not afford to evacuate before Katrina hit.

    Sad, but racism is still very alive in this country.

55. Lefty Says: September 29th, 2005 at 11:21 am

    J. It was not racism at any one moment in time that was the cause of the problems of poverty and oppression that we have just been witness to in the New Orleans disaster. Rather, it is racism that has lasted over 250 years in this country that created the conditions that made the disaster in New Orleans possible. It is a culture of racism, bigotry, and hate that is the problem.

56. Jerry Says: September 30th, 2005 at 10:27 pm

    Folks, get back to the point. Any reasonable person recognizes that the storm was not racist. We all know that in a crisis, coordination is very hard. But try to focus on the knowable FACTS.

    1. The Mayor did call for a mandatory evacuation, allowing enough time for people to get out of town. Yes, not all of the bus drivers showed up for work, butwe know that more than 80% of the population did evacute and that it looks like most of the ones that stayed, stayed because they wanted to. Yes, there were some that stayed because they could not leave (eg. nursing home residents).
    [I will suggest to you that the Mayor did a very politically brave thing. If the storm was 30-40 miles east, the impaact on N.O. would have been much less and he would have been lynched.]
    Once the storm hit, he and all of his people were useless. They had no communications, no transportations, little food and water. You can’t place any blame on him for failures that occurred during or for days after landfall.

    2. The governor did ask Bush to send help and declare the state a disaster area on SATURDAY. Bush DID declare a state of emergency, which means that from that point on, the federal government was charged with MANAGING the response.
    Did the Governor freeze? Most likely. But, what does it matter? FEMA and the President were in charge. As an executive, I have had to deal with employees that were incapable of performing tasks in a crisis. You deal with it.

    3. After declaring the stste of emergency, the President went back to finish his VACATION! When the world found out that Katrina really did follow prediction and really did hit N.O. hard, he STAYED ON VACATION. When the levee(s) broke, he still STAYED ON VACATION. When we learned that thousands of people were stuck in the Superdome and the Covention Center without food, water, or working toilets, he STAYED ON VACATION.
    If Bush knew that the head of FEMA was really good at his job, maybe Bushes best moved would have been to stay out of everybody’s way. But the fact is the head of FEMA did not know squat about managing this kind of crisis. In fact, it looks like several of the top executives at FEMA were appointed without reasonable experience. Mr. Bush appointed them.
    If the federal government were a corporation and Bush was the CEO, Brown and Bush would be in jail and would be facing charges of negligent homicide.
    If you had the powers of the President and watched the news on Monday or Tuesday, would you have taken time from your vacation to call someone and say “Hey, send a couple of chopters in with bottles of water and some food to the Superdome”?
    Or would you have run off to a photo op with a Senator?

57. bonniem Says: October 3rd, 2005 at 1:53 am

    The news has come under fire for exaggerating the situation in N. O. in the days after Katrina. I volunteered in the local amory housing some of the displaced residents. They told me that they heard after they got here that there had been shootings in Superdome. One man told me he didn’t know how that could have happened, because they were checked at 2 different points for weapons. A woman there told me they had plenty of water while at the Superdome and plenty of MREs. She did say that her husband would not let her even go to the restroom, without him accompanying her. All that I talked to, told me the bad stuff that happened - happened on the field area. The family who were in the bleachers said no one bothered them. She said they did have lights and were not in the dark. One man, who agreed that the bad stuff was on the field area, said he and friends found a ramp where they all gathered and took care of each other in case any of the rowdys came up that way. We did see a lot on the streets on the news that was bad. Particularly the woman who had the baby who was dehydrated. I was also told that Mayor Nagin took the first few buses to bus friends of his from some hotel there before the people at the convention center, superdome or the streets. But that was not told to me by any of the people who were at the armory. That came over the news. One man told me, his friend wanted to hurry and get on the first bus and he said that he talked her into waiting. People were literally fighting to get to the first buses. A teenager told me that he just doesn’t understand all that happened. Later he said he thought it had matured him. He didn’t talk much but when he did it was just a stark statement like he had really been thinking about this, and this was his conclusion. I know of no reason that they had to lie. Bonniem

58. sedurie Says: January 7th, 2006 at 11:47 am

    Bush just screwed up as usual

59. Tony22 Says: January 8th, 2006 at 5:01 am

    Whats with everyone freaking out with bush being on vacation? If he showed up would he have just magically been able to fix all of the toilets or the water? No! Would he have been able to fix the levi? let me guess….no he wouldn’t. So why don’t all of you liberals just stop spewing your stupid trash and accept some responsibility and lay off bush.

60. Celumnaz Says: January 13th, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    because hate is all they know how to do. they’ve got a niche to fill, the rest of the world works, liberals lie and whine and titter with each other.

61. Chris Says: February 23rd, 2006 at 6:30 am

    Hey guys, here’s a lesson in Civics 101: The governor of a state (i.e. Ray nagan) is responsible for deploying the national guard and emergency response for a state. It is a legal roadblock for the president. So know your facts. It was the president’s call, and he made it. it was idiot Nagan who didn’t lift a finger. God bless the president.

62. dumbexperts.com Says: March 23rd, 2006 at 8:40 pm

    This could be Nagen’s song
    I…I…I…I…
    Chocolate City
    Chocolate City

    All of my Chocolate life
    I’ve been looking some to blame
    That would wanna be in my life

    If we cannot Flood New Orleans, maybe we can say some time
    Thoughts of pretty and me, Chocolate City come alive
    We can Flood it When its dawn, breaking levvees’ til there gone
    Chocolate City can’t u see, thoughts of pretty u and me

63. Dixieland Delight Says: May 14th, 2006 at 3:53 am

    Hi everybody, I happened to live in Florida where I get hurricanes hitting all around me almost the year. I’ve lived here all my life and happen to know more than a thing or two about hurricanes and the government’s role in them.

    First off, as for putting the blame on somebody for a natural disaster, you’re right. You can not blame someone for a natural disaster. However, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that the African-Americans were blaming Bush and his administration for not doing anything when the hurricane was coming. (things such as evacuation and such)

    Here’s where my knowledge comes into play:

    As for Bush not doing anything about the hurricane, THAT’S RIGHT! Just like the article said, it IS NOT his job. It is not his job to get buses prepared for the low-income families for evacuation, or to set up shelters. In fact, the NATIONAL government is not in charge of anything of the sort. Which brings me to another point: When a hurricane is coming(and by the way, in case you don’t know because you might not live down here: Hurricanes are not like tornadoes in Oklahoma. Hurricanes don’t just appear and strike a town all in the same day like tornadoes do. Down here, we know when a hurricane is coming. We have SEVERAL days notice. Sometimes more than a week and we know the relative location of where it’s going to make landfall.) Having said that: When a hurricane is coming, it is the job of the LOCAL and STATE government(not the national) to do whatever they need to do to get ready such as evacuate, set up shelters, and/or call in the National Guard if they need to.

    Taking these FACTS into consideration, I will tell you that the blame for NOT GETTING READY for this hurricane definetely falls upon Mayor Nagen and Gov. Kathleen Blanco. They did NOTHING to prepare for this disaster. Which reminds me I forgot to tell you all that this was a Category 5 (the highest strength there can be)hurricane AND I remember watching Katrina on T.V. and we knew that it was going to hit the “boot” of Louisiana for a WHOLE WEEK!) So, basically, they knew how powerful Katrina was and, for a week, that it was going to hit New Orleans or very close to it and they did NOTHING about it, and it is THEIR blame for not preparing the civilians for it because that is THEIR JOB, NOT President Bush’s.

64. nutslikebush Says: May 14th, 2006 at 12:16 pm

    Bush just hand-picked the top-level administrators who were responsible for the organizations that failed to respond to the disaster effectively. Bush’s failing here was that he selected leaders based on cronism (political appointments of his campaign supporters to positions on the government payroll for which they were not qualified). His failure was also driven by his theory of government - i.e., government is in place primarily to promote the military industry and promote the needs of big business. Everyone else is on their own. If you really examine the situation, to our leaders only 10% of the people really matter. The rest are just here to play supporting roles for the elite 10%. The neo-con theory is hard for me to swallow - I am not religious or gullible enough. I gag on it.

65. Dixieland Delight Says: May 15th, 2006 at 3:49 am

    Bush shouldn’t have appointed any top-level administrators at all. Because it was Nagen and Blanco’s responsibility to prepare and deal with the aftermath of Katrina, they should have done their job. Because they didn’t, Bush should not have to go behind them and pick up their shit that they slacked off on. Even though Bush may have done a sloppy job after Katrina, he was really just making up for what Nagen and Blanco did not do.

66. kolran Says: May 28th, 2006 at 9:45 pm

    True…

67. Dale Says: January 20th, 2007 at 10:06 pm

    Its funny how my president, gets accused of being racist, I never heard him say a particular area or state should be a white or vanilla state or area, I would say nagen is the racist, with his all chocolate new orleans, I donated money for the Katrina relief and if I would have been able to go down there and help rebuild I would but I am a poverty level White American who is barely making it himself, ( and I blame no one ) , Nagen has no bussiness holding a position like he does, he is just another punk.
    The people down there and other places too need to start learning how to take care of themselves, obviously most were on welfare, thats a clue right there they are helpless and count on the government to take care of them.
    I do feel bad for the disabled and the elderly and the children who are and were totaly dependant on parents or other family to help them.
    Remember God helps those who helps themselves.
    Goodluck and Godbless
    A poor white American

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