SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

Anne Rice blames America, not local officials.
> >
> > "To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You
> > looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want
> > our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our
> > music.
> >
> > Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority
preying
> > on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs."
> >
> > Novelist and New Orleans resident, Anne Rice
> >
............................................................................
............................................................................
..........................................
> >
> > The answer...
> > Let me get this straight.
> > Ms. Rice, you live in (what was) a very attractive city which lies below
> > sea level. On one side you have a giant lake; on the other side you have
> > the Gulf of Mexico. Running through the middle is the Mississippi River.
> > All of which are above you.
> > Preventing those giant bodies of water from flooding and drowning you
are
> > levees. These levees are described as "century-old." People have been
> > warning about the devastating effects of a direct hit from a hurricane
for
> > decades.
> >
> > I've heard a great deal of complaint in recent days that the federal
> > government may not have allocated enough money to speed up the upgrades
to
> > those levees. This does, however, raise the question of why city and
state
> > residents were waiting around for the federal government to send enough
> > money to upgrade this, instead of paying for it themselves. I mean, it
was
> > only your homes, businesses, and lives at stake. Perhaps these upgrades
> > would have been expensive. If only this city had some sort of events to
> > attract tourists, from which to collect taxes.
> >
> > Anyway, your state and local officials decided to spend your tax dollars
> > on something else that they (and presumably you) found more important,
and
> > then they waited for the rest of the country to pay for these
> > life-preserving necessities.
> >
> > Your beloved city and region has a colorful political history, in which
> > there is, oh, a wee bit of corruption. I'm from New Jersey, so I can't
> > throw stones at that glass house. But you guys have managed to pick
> > leaders who give you the worst of both worlds - they're scandal ridden
and
> > incompetent in a crisis. Look, Rudy Giuliani might have run around with
> > Judith Nathan before his divorce, but he was a hell of a leader in our
> > darkest hours.
> >
> > You know the National Review crowd isn't a fan of Pataki, but the man
was
> > a rock after 9/11 compared to Governor Weepy I'll-Evacuate-Eventually
and
> > Mayor It's-Everybody's-Fault-Except-Mine. Nobody's throwing around the
> > adjective "Churchillian" about any of your officials these days. We
didn't
> > pick your local officials; you guys did.
> >
> > Rice asks, "how many times did Gov. Kathleen Blanco have to say that the
> > situation was desperate? How many times did Mayor Ray Nagin have to call

> > for aid?"
> >
> > Ahem... What about those buses left unused, less than a mile from the
> > Superdome? JunkYardBlog notes that it's written in the Southeast
Louisiana
> > Evacuation Plan that buses are supposed to be used for evacuation of
those
> > who don't have personal vehicles.
> >
> > As JYB observes, "there is something very peculiar about a city and a
> > state that have a plan on the books for years that outlines what to do
> > when a hurricane is about to strike, yet when a hurricane comes roaring
> > in, the responsible officials just chuck the plan and try winging it.
> > Delaying and then winging it in the face of a monstrous Cat 4/5
hurricane
> > is never, ever a good idea, especially for New Orleans."
> >
> > Ironically, Nagin told CNN, "I need buses, man," when he had plenty
> > sitting around unused before the storm hit. Now they're flooded and
> > useless.
> >
> > But it's not like state and local officials could have seen this coming
> > (tongue in cheek). They have never had a hurricane bearing down on them
> > before and... oh, wait, there was Hurricane Ivan just last year. And
after
> > that dodged bullet, Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged they needed a
> > better evacuation plan.
> >
> > I would note that we've seen some pretty intense disasters in other
parts
> > of the country, like planes crashing into skyscrapers and subsequently
> > collapsing, earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, and yet somehow, none of
> > these disasters had the total breakdown of law and order, civil society,
> > etc. Jonah Goldberg's early joke about a Mad-Max style post-apocalyptic
> > tribal anarchy may have been in poor taste, but it has turned out to be
> > nightmarishly prescient.
> >
> > We failed you? No, oh brilliant creator of Exit to Eden, you failed. You
> > might not think of it this way, but: Your leaders failed to upgrade the
> > levees. You elected a bunch of weepers and blame-shifters who lost their
> > head in a crisis.
> >
> > Over the past decades, your elected officials have let a criminal
element
> > incubate and grow until they ruled the streets, instead of the forces of
> > law and order. In pop culture, a New Orleans thief is always a charming
> > rogue with a devilish smile. In reality, they're a bunch of thugs.
> >
> > If the number of residents who are looting thugs were such a "tiny
> > minority," we wouldn't have seen this widespread, relentless anarchy.
> >
> > Madam, a noticeable number of your neighbors saw this disaster as an
> > opportunity to smash a window and run away with a television, an act
that
> > reveals much about the inadequacies of the local school system, since
that
> > thief won't be enjoying that television with any electricity anytime
soon.
> >
> > I would also note that this is one hell of a police force your local
> > officials hired and that you and your neighbors tolerated. 50 percent
> > turned in their badges during the crisis and quit. Your police
> > superintendent is conceding that some cops were looting.
> >
> > Just want to refresh your memory -
> > four years ago, New York and Washington, planes falling out of the sky,
> > thousands dead, no idea what the hell is coming next. and the cops,
among
> > others, showed up to work.
> >
> > To save you guys now, I - and a lot of other Americans - will pitch in.
> >
> > We are witnessing the biggest mobilization of civilian and military
rescue
> > and relief crews in history. But I have a sneaking suspicion you're
going
> > to want the rest of us to pay for the rebuilding of your city. (In the
> > near future, we're going to have to have a little chat about the wisdom
of
> > building below sea level, directly next to large bodies of water.)
> >
> > And if you're going to come to the rest of us hat in hand, demanding the
> > rest of us clean up after your poor judgment, I'd appreciate a little
less
> > "you failed us" and a little more "we've learned our lesson."
>

[GM Strong]

Ann, go pound sand .....
_________________
8th Army Korea 68-69

[homesteader]

powsmias,

Did you write the response? Well said!!

[Guest]

WASN'T ME
SENT IN EMAIL TO ME

[Snipe]

Heh. I just read that on my high school e-mail list. One shrieking
"IT'S BUSH'S FAULT" from a resident commielib. The rest of the
board is concerned about posting huge posts containing puppy pictures.
I guess that the puppies trumped the commiecrats.


_________________
Tin Can Sailor