To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Friday, September 02, 2005
Observations on Katrina
There are so many things running through my mind about the hurricane and the chaos that has followed... here are some of them...
NO is 90% non-functioning (according to the mayor). IF they can pick up the pieces, it will be a much different place.
- I just watched a parade of school buses and then SUVs towing boats cruise past the cameras on their way into NO. While I'm glad they are there, why were they "staged" to drive in together? Once a bus got to town, it should have been excorted in, filled up, and escorted out. Same with the boats- they shouldn't have been staged outside the city- they should have been assigned an area to patrol en route and then told to hit the water at first light. It looked cool ("Yea! The Calvary is coming!"), but it looked... well... staged for the camera. Unnecessary. (update- just saw an 8mile long convoy (trucks full of food and water and buses) go by... impressive, but still... )
- The Congressional Black Caucus just gave their little "Bush screwed up" speech- has everyone gotten around to blaming it all on Bush yet? First, Elijah Cummings blasted companies for not donating food, baby formula, and water to the relief effort. Obviously he hasn't been watching the news- companies have been donating TONS of food and water to the effort. Once he was finished, he quoted Scripture
'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' (Matt 25:35-40)
Then he said that God is not pleased with what has been done so far. People around the country are doing exactly what these verses say. But, God is not happy what is going on in NO, but I think for different reasons... - President Bush isn't happy with the efforts so far, either. "The results are unacceptable." Well, no duh... Personally, I think they needed to have an O/C mom in charge of all of this. (Yeah, it's snarky, I know... but... an O/C mom thinks of all the nit-picky details that could have saved time and lives. I'm not joking.)
- The Superdome probably just needs to be leveled. I don't think they can ever repair it, and, even if they did, there are far too many bad memories associated with it now.
- Harris Country screwed up when it told everyone the Astrodome could hold 25k. Technically, they could, but the fire marshall wasn't happy about it, and they are concerned about comfort (since this is a long term situation). They're working it out, but it caused some tension while they were figuring it out.
- Everyone is turning this into a race thing. I've heard things like "if it was a predominately white community, everyone would have been taken care of." Yes, there is still racism in this country (there's racism of one kind or another all over the world- unfortunately, that's one of the uglier sides of humanity). But I am offended that people presume that this country doesn't care about the people just because they are black.
- Two interesting quotes from this article is from one man who finally got to Baton Rouge. First is why he didn't get his family out when he could:
"I only got a five-passenger car," he said.... "And," Thomas continued, "I stood there, thinking. I said, 'Okay, it's 50-50 if the water will get through.' " Within hours the water rose, and it kept rising. "But then I said, 'If we do take the car, some of us would be sitting on one another's laps.' And the state troopers were talking about making arrests."
uh... Sir... I would have risked it... and, by that point, I don't think the police would have cared.. Second was his thoughts on why this happened.Thomas, the philosopher, waved his bandaged hand. He had a theory: "God's angry with New Orleans. It's an evil city. The worst school system anywhere. Rampant crime. Corrupt politicians. Here, baby, have a potato chip for daddy."
That's not the first time I've heard that theory.
The 2-year-old, Qadriyyah, took a chip from her daddy and gobbled it up. Her face was covered with mosquito bites. But she smiled just to be in daddy's arms.
Thomas continued: "A predominantly black city -- and they're killing each other. God had to get their attention with a calamity. New Orleans ain't seen an earthquake yet. You can get away from a hurricane but not an earthquake. Next time, nobody may get out." - NO's mayor is upset about how slow the response has been from the feds.
Mayor Ray Nagin lashed out at federal officials, telling a local radio station "they don't have a clue what's going on down here."
OK... he's got a point... I have one question- where were all of your school buses and Metro buses on Saturday and Sunday? (Like I said... an O/C mom would have been useful here... ) The point is that it wasn't just the feds who dropped the ball. So did the state and the local authorities. Y'all tried... but accept your part of the blame. (and NO ONE could have expected the level of violence that happened after the fact.) - There has been a lot of criticism of the Bush administration for cutting the budget for flood control in NO. Yes, they cut the budget, but so did Carter, Bush 41, and Clinton. And... two other points- #1- it wouldn't have helped much.
"These (projects) were not funded at the full ability of the Corps of Engineers to execute the project," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers. "But the important question is, 'Would that have made a difference?' And my assessment is, no, it would not."
And #2- the levee that broke HAD been recently upgraded.Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was "along a section that was just upgraded."
"It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland said. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick." - CNN is reporting that Fats Domino was rescued from his home, but it is not known where he is now.
- There are people who still don't want to leave NO. They're planning on staying, no matter what. I honestly don't think they know what they're getting into. I know they have little access to information, and I just think they don't realize the amount of time the officials are talking about.
NO is 90% non-functioning (according to the mayor). IF they can pick up the pieces, it will be a much different place.
