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Don't know why, but ABC News is on in the background, lamenting the failure of the Federal Government not immediately sending resources or supplies to New Orleans. Uh, has the entire world turned into a bunch of fucking morons? Okay, I normally don't say stuff like this, but I've completely lost patience with the major media, with the constant assumption that somehow Washington D.C. is supposed to take the place of city hall or local county or parish governments. I almost want to force everyone who works for the press to take a God Damned civics class. Okay, I'm frustrated at the news reports. Fundamentally what appears to have happened is this: New Orleans had no first responder strategy in the event of a hurricane. In the event of an emergency it takes the Federal Government 72 hours to mobilize. It took the Federal Government 72 hours to mobilize during the L.A. riots and during the Northridge Earthquake. So it should be no surprise it took the Federal Government 72 hours to mobilize for New Orleans. It is the job of the first responders to respond first, and to be prepared to carry out operations for 72 hours, until the Federal Government can mobilize. So where was New Orleans' first responders? Well, as far as we can figure, the city of New Orleans never thought that the levees would break, so they left their equipment in the equipment houses--some twenty feet under water. They apparently never counted on failure of the freeway system, even though many routes in and out of New Orleans is on elevated highways. They apparently never predicted riots or looting, because the police were clearly unprepared to keep order, especially under 20 feet of water. Bottom line: the failure in the first seventy-two hours was a failure of local government to have a first response plan. Blaiming Bush may make great political points, but it's a sure fire way to guarantee first responders will be unprepared in the future--and that sort of political gamemanship will guarantee thousands of more lives will be lost in the future. posted by William Woody at 6:38 PM  
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About:
A moderate conservative living in the left coast, surrounded by the sureal, wonders if there is a sane life living amongst those who have lost touch with reality. • View ProfileRecent Items: • katrina and the lowering of the collective punditr... • u.s. out of new orleans! • ow! sides hurt from laughter • those who live in glass houses should not throw st... • the major media verses the bloggers • something funny happened on the way to the voting ... • hollywood (finally) guts the angry left • fun with statistics • another odd fact • odd facts 
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