Government Paranoia?

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by lasersailor184

The law at the time REQUIRED that Louisiana and New Orleans specifically ask for help from FEMA and the Federal Government. Bush, and the Federal Government, couldn't so much have handed out a single bottle of water until Ray Nagin and that other handsomehunk (who's name I forget currently) ASKED for it.

 

That is a sorry state for a chain of command. Hopefully that got fixed.

TIGERESS

[Tango]

Originally posted by Tigeress
If the office of president can not preside over command and control in a civil disaster then what happens when the Islamists detonate a nuke?

Martial Law would be declared and lame governors and mayors wouldn't have much say. THEN the president wouldn't have his hands tied waiting for the governor and local politians to ask for help OR do thier job.

I forsee some big lawsuits over the confiscation of law abidding citizens guns. Afterall, its situations like that which is when they are needed to protect yourself and your family.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Tigeress
That is a sorry state for a chain of command. Hopefully that got fixed.

TIGERESS

It's a Damned-if-you-do and Damned-if-you-don't situation.  Had the federal government stepped in immediately (which they were fully capable of doing), instead of hearing about the incompetency of it when it wasn't their fault, we'd be hearing about the horrible fascistic government we have in power.

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by Tango
Martial Law would be declared and lame governors and mayors wouldn't have much say. THEN the president wouldn't have his hands tied waiting for the governor and local politians to ask for help OR do thier job.

I forsee some big lawsuits over the confiscation of law abidding citizens guns. Afterall, its situations like that which is when they are needed to protect yourself and your family.

So... this begs a question.

IF... martial law is declared, will they come for your guns?

TIGERESS

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
It's a Damned-if-you-do and Damned-if-you-don't situation.  Had the federal government stepped in immediately (which they were fully capable of doing), instead of hearing about the incompetency of it when it wasn't their fault, we'd be hearing about the horrible fascistic government we have in power.

Erring on the side of disaster victims and actually being a real-time reaction asset seems defensible to me.

TIGERESS

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Originally posted by Tigeress
Erring on the side of disaster victims and actually being a real-time reaction asset seems defensible to me.

TIGERESS

Not today it isn't. And, had the Feds moved early, and Katrina not been as bad, the Feds would have been crucified.

[Tigeress]

Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts
Not today it isn't. And, had the Feds moved early, and Katrina not been as bad, the Feds would have been crucified.

I hear you, Captain.

It is often said you can learn as much from mistakes as anything else... sometimes better than anything else.

Katrina was a test. We failed as a nation.  Think it will be any better next time?

TIGERESS

[Mojava]

I was under the impression that the guns where taken from abandoned houses .  If you legally owned a gun, you could go and pick yours back up at the police station.  That seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Shuckins]

Another factor in the "failure" of FEMA was the sheer scope of the disaster.  Nothing like it had been seen in the nation's history, ever.  In sheer damage even the hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas early in the 20th century pales in comparison.

The delay in asking for federal assistance, and the monumental difficulty in clearing the roads of trees and other debris, only compounded the problems.  That delay is solely the responsibility of the nincompoop in the governor's office.  Ray Nagin....well....what can one say about him that hasn't already been said?

What can one expect from a state government that was known nationwide, for decades, as the most corrupt and inefficient in the nation.  FEMA purchased thousands of trailers to be sent to the New Orleans area to provide temporary shelter for the homeless...only to be told by Louisiana authorities that they could not be brought to the area because they didn't meet local housing and safety codes.  Those trailers languish in Arkansas and other states, and can purportedly be bought for a song.

The fingerpointing leveled at the federal government was largely undeserved.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Originally posted by Tigeress
I hear you, Captain.

It is often said you can learn as much from mistakes as anything else... sometimes better than anything else.

Katrina was a test. We failed as a nation.  Think it will be any better next time?

TIGERESS

No, it will likely NOT be better next time, at least not in places like New Orleans, because little, if anything, has changed. We did NOT fail as a nation, New Orleans failed as a city. And so long as people are stupid enough to elect those same fools as governor and mayor, the results will be the same. And people will continue to be that stupid because there are fools that will force the rest of us to pay those stupid people to be stupid. And Nagin was re-elected despite the obvious facts that showed he was a complete and utter failure, proving that time and again, stupid people will continue to elect fools who promise to pay them for being stupid.

The next question is "why was Nagin able to succeed in being re-elected?" The answer: Because Nagin, with the help of the media, the liberal left, the NAACP, and the likes of Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton, was able to lay the blame for his complete and utter failure completely at the feet of others.

[AKIron]

People who put their complete trust in any government will get what they deserve. I have no sympathy for their whining when they do.

[Charon]

People seem to think we live in some Star Trek The Next Generation universe where bad things exist only as abstractions for science or superior morality to put in their respective places in short order with perhaps some mussed hair.

There could be a hundred different Katrinas tomorrow. Pandemic, terrorist nuke, Calif. "Big one" earth quake. Another Great Depression. Asteroid/comet strikes. Tsunamis. The next Hitler or Stalin -- even here if combined with one of the above motivators. Is there a reason to live in the perpetual bunker? No. But is it something that should be removed from conscious thought? No.

Charon

[Charon]

BTW. What was the tone of the CNN piece?

Charon

[Tango]

Originally posted by Tigeress
So... this begs a question.

IF... martial law is declared, will they come for your guns?

TIGERESS

Probably not. Remember, the Iraqi citizens are allowed to own AK-47s for self defense and they aren't worried about them owning them. I doubt the military would be worried about hunting rifles and handguns.

[Mickey1992]

Originally posted by Mojava
I was under the impression that the guns where taken from abandoned houses .  If you legally owned a gun, you could go and pick yours back up at the police station.  That seems pretty reasonable to me.

An estimated 1000 firearms were confiscated.  At least 350 of which were taken from the owner under threat of arrest, without warrant or probably cause.

Even though FEMA failed in many respects, it did what it was designed to do, which was assist state and local officials implement their disaster plans.  The fact that Louisiana and New Orleans failed to implement their disaster plans (and in many cases just threw up their hands and screamed 'Help') should not be considered a failure of FEMA.

"FEMA has long held that state and local governments should be prepared to survive 72 hours before federal intervention."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/14/fema.ig/index.html