Pole Dancing In The Dark

Let's play blame

First things first – Does anyone know where I would go to donate clothes? I’m afraid that if I drop them off at the local Salvation Army, they will just be tagged and sold in the store. People need these clothes more than SA needs to sell them… or am I being foolish? These clothes are in fabulous condition (mostly because I grew too much girth wise after quitting smoking that I’ve probably only worn some of them once.)

Now on to the blame game… which every thing seems to de-evolve to eventually (all though I was hoping perhaps instead of throwing blame around there would be more constructive uses of one’s time at least until every one was evacuated… I’m such an idealist sometimes) let me start out with the very first person to land in the blame chain.

1.The whiny weasels accountability deficient asshats – your favorite mayor and mine - Mayor Nagin. Two days ago he was decrying the Federal Governments response in the wake of the flooding on New Orleans and the vile conditions of the Superdome. Ok, asshats, pop quiz: Who was responsible for telling the people that couldn’t get out of the city to go to the Superdome? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Well, according to your very own Emergency Preparedness guide, it is your job to:

a. Inform citizens of the hazards they face.
b. Provide guidance in preparing their own individual emergency plan..
c. Advise them of the proper procedure needed to be followed in the event of an emergency.

So, there is a very good chance that you told the people of the city that you are the Mayor of to go to the Superdome, if they couldn’t find transportation out of the city on their own, or they couldn’t be moved for whatever reason. (Actually, I know this is true, I just cannot find the link to the article which describes what actual emergency planning you had done. Oh… wait, here it is - if no other alternative is available, to immediately move to one of the facilities within the City that will be designated as refuges of last resort.) Here’s the thing – it’s your city – it’s your responsibility to care for the people of the city that are in “one of the facilities within the City that will be designated as refuges of last resort.” I am assuming that you chose specific facilities for a reason, therefore it was your responsibility to make sure that those facilities had the adequate resources to care for these people for a short period of time, say 3-5 days. But the very sad and unfortunate fact of the matter was that you WERE NOT PREPARED. Suck it up buddy and take responsibility for your complete and utter lack of useful preparation.

Also, while you are doing your useless wailing, gnashing of teeth against the federal government – let’s just take another look at another section of Emergency planning, shall we?

“Under the direction of the Mayor, the Office of Emergency Preparedness will coordinate activities in accordance with the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan to assure the coordination of training programs for all planning, support, and response agencies. Departments, authorities, agencies, municipalities, and all private response organizations bear the responsibility of ensuring their personnel are sufficiently trained.”

That includes you, asshat. How many people are dead because of your piss poor planning? Why didn't you find some means for evacuating the poorer sections of New Orleans? Why wasn’t there sufficient food and water at the city designated facilities? Why were there no alternative means of disposing of human waste in case of flooding? I mean, the city is surrounded by water, and under sea level, so one would think that it would be taken into account? Right?

Now, perhaps I am being unfair to the poor harried Mayor. So, moving up the blame chain, let's go after the
2. Governor, just to be fair. Now, I have checked out some of "The Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness" website, and I really can't complain too much on her planning efforts, and I haven't heard her whine that the feds didn't move fast enough. My biggest contention with her is that when she saw the Mayor not handling the situation - she should have stepped in. Also, according to "Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering Plan " found here, it mentions:
a. Put EOC on 24-hour operations.
b. Mobilize parish/local transportation to assist persons who
lack transportation or who have mobility problems.
c. Announce the location of staging areas for people who need
transportation. Public transportation will concentrate on
moving people from the staging areas to safety in host
parishes with priority given to people with special needs.

I didn't see a heck of a lot of "Mobilization of parish/local transportation" to those risk parishes. I also didn't see any state police involvement when the situation spiraled down into chaos in New Orleans, which became worse when
the local police walked away from their jobs. They not longer felt New Orleans was worth dying for - and I really can't blame them, much. All the odds were stacked against them and survival was looking slim. But I was lead to understand that was what a cop's life was. But since I wasn't there, I will reserve judgement on them.

3. The looters. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is, if you were stealing TVs, Jewels, CDs, or any other non-life maintenance item, you are a thief. Lucky for you we no longer live in the days of our forefathers. After a hurricane ravaged Galveston, Texas in 1990; “Looters found despoiling the dead were stood against the nearest wall or pile of debris and shot without hindrance of a trial.” -Dallas News, September 14, 1900
Hat tip: readers over at LGF.

By the way, jackoffs, shooting at rescue vechicals trying to evacuate your neighbors – that make you attempted murderers. I hope that the snipers, rapists, thieves, pyros all catch some horrible disease while they are wading around in sewer waters. May it be painful, slow and horrible. You are the worst that humanity has to offer.

To those “looting” for food, water, diapers and other hygiene supplies, no one blames you. I cannot even imagine the horror you must have lived through.

4. The next round of heaping blame goes to those idiots that could have left town and decided to chance it. Now, I am not talking about the poor folk that couldn't get away... I am talking about those idiots that stayed because they wanted to, they couldn't be inconvenienced. Instead, now you have to inconvenience everyone else to shuttle your ass out of there, making the job of shuttle the survivors out more difficult.

5. Finally, the federal government. I am not just talking about the Commander in Chief here. I am talking about all those legislature that chose to remain on vacation until Thursday. Why didn't anyone of them see the need to cut their vacations short until that point? Did this catastrophe have to spiral so out of control before you got off your asses and did something? This wasn’t just New Orleans that was flooding, but entire towns that were destroyed. Where were you, duly elected representatives?

I’m running out of steam here, but there is blame to be laid at the feet of FEMA and the president as well, just not the bullshit that the Morons are shoveling. I do agree, they needed to move faster, with more resources. And I am afraid that this nation will continue to pay for these mistakes, in lives and dollars. Let’s not just rehash the mistakes, but learn from them.

Just keep one thing in mind, a fact that a lot of elected officials seem to neglect - while many of you are playing the blame game, there are a lot of American (and world) citizens that are actually helping. We have, as a country, never faced this kind of devastation before. I had some hope at some point we can stop playing politics, and actually come together to rebuild – because that is the country that I love. But I don’t really have much hope left.

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
(The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot, Part V.)

Update: Committees of Correspondence makes my point for me, as well as points out some of the more obvious means of transportation for those without means...

Now how do I get that trackback thingy to work again?

Posted by Ethne at September 3, 2005 01:18 PM | TrackBack