Hurricane Katrina
Oddysey:
Yup. Going to stick solar panels on my roof. Take that! Hah!
The main problem with the response has been the bureaucracy. Basically, FEMA has to get massive amounts of authorization to do anything, or they won't be sure that they're going to have the money. The administration has been trying to take FEMA apart, and has been doing a fairly good job of doing so, and before Katrina it was looking like FEMA was going to be taken off of natural disasters entirely and its resources were going to be devoted to terrorism. Guess someone forgot that homeland defense includes natural disasters.
The Coast Guard is an armed force, so it runs along military lines. You give them a job to do, and they do it, and they'll worry about the money later. Most of the Federal Government isn't set up that way.
The drilling platforms aren't that big of a deal at this point. They locked down any leaks pretty quickly, so they're not producing any oil, which isn't the greatest thing because I think the Gulf platforms (not just the ones that got unmoored by the hurricane) account for around 50% of the countries oil, but they aren't leaking or anything.
This is why watching the television news depresses me. I watch the news, and I think about all the tens of thousands of people who were still in New Orleans because they didn't have any way to leave, either no car or no money for a hotel, and I think, "This is wrong." Gut feeling of wrongness. This whole mess was definitely made worse by things that we do, how we handle things. New Orleans wasn't underwater when it was started. Stopping the replacement of silt, provided by flooding, is to blame for that. The loss of the mangrove swamps took out a natural buffer to flooding. Global warming increases the nastiness of the system that creates hurricanes. Our use of toxic chemicals to do everything makes natural disasters that much worse when they release those chemicals.
SimsHost:
If economic arguments about the value of the port of New Orleans, offshore oil, and agriculture products hold, then the area has enough money to build its own infrastructure. Case in point: the Houston ship channel. Also don't overlook the economic value of tourism in New Orleans; tourism is the second largest export industry in the world today.
Of course, if those industries didn't return sufficient revenues to pay for the infrastructure required to make them economically viable, then no, those things would not be "worth protecting" from an economic standpoint. But that's really not the case; those industries in Louisiana clearly do have sufficient revenues for the local region to build what it needs to build. Or at least they could if the politicians (and the people who elect them) would only realize that it's a local problem.
I agree that disaster relief is a national problem. Everybody is subject to some kind of natural disasters. Even folks in Billings and Boise have to worry about having volcanic ash dumped on them. But when it comes to the long term projects of building infrastructure, it's time for folks in Louisiana to move up from feudalism and join the modern world. Be builders, not beggars.
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2005 September 03, 08:05:28
Greggo happens to be from Texas, not up here. I, for one, have boycotted gas for over a year now. I encourage everyone else to do the same! Say "No!" to outrageous fuel prices. BUY A HORSE!
Speaking of which, there's a horse ranch just half a block from my house in Wylie, Texas that would be happy to talk to you! ;D
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: Bane~Child on 2005 September 03, 10:59:26
JM, You are such a Gun-Ho, why don't you go have a field day and organize with the KKK or some of your fellow Wyoming militants?
I have nothing to do with the KKK. I'm not racist. I hate everyone.
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For the love of whatever God you don't worship - It's OK to show and receive compassion without inflicting PAIN - Really it's OK
THat has to be the biggest load of crapola I've ever heard. Didn't anyone ever tell you that love hurts?
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I just thought of something and I am truly not trying to be funny, as most of you know I am incapable of that anyway, however - Do you realize those poor people are actually living out the Email Challenge? A Cell with no walls and no toilet!
Hey, maybe they'll get perfect scores, too.
ZephyrZodiac:
All I have to say is, whatever certain people think, there are times when "a still tongue makes a wise head" , and those people would do well to remember that, and to consider the feelings of those whose lives have been torn apart. As I said before, ordinary people, some of whom are poor by world standards, not just those of the West, cannot be expected to pay for these defences, and whether it's the state government or the national government that finds the money is really immaterial - if they get the money from the large businesses operating in the area it makes no difference who does it, so long as the money is found and the job done!
We have natural disasters in Europe too, but despite the fact that we have umpteen different languages which makes communications more difficult, aid reaches areas hit by disaster far more quickly. Maybe it's down to how much people actually care!
rohina:
Quote from: CAPS GIRL on 2005 September 02, 00:23:45
They've been pushing for 'wildfire' because it 'properly conveys the out of control behaviour of fire', rather than the 'romantic images' one conjures up with bushfire. ::)
ROMANTIC IMAGES?????? I used to live in Melbourne, and some of my friends had their houses destroyed the year I was in grade 12, and we lost our beach house (yeah, yeah, boo hoo) in a bushfire. I don't attach any romance to the word. Who are they thinking of? This is the stupidest explanation I have ever heard.
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