Here is a quote from an open letter published in The Times-Picayune (Louisiana's largest newspaper) to President Bush:
"We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry," the editorial said. "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."
"Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially," the letter said. "No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced."
Add my vote to that. Add also my disgust at President Bush and other officials for their inadequate and slow response to this disaster. Leadership at the highest levels? Mumbo-jumbo contradicted by tv footage. Spin and photo ops presented as leadership. If this is what we can expect (and I don't see any indication that anyone in the administration learned anything from what happened), then God help us when the next disaster happens. FEMA, Homeland Security, and the President can't/won't admit any mistakes - just spin, spin, spin. Look for them to shift the blame to the state level -- onto the very people who actually were there exhibiting leadership.
How many people have to die at home and abroad before the sheer imcompetence of the current administration sinks in. Hold our leaders accountable!
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3 comments:
Many of us have done much to help, and we STILL no where to place the blame. Why is it that the one private hospital is evacuated right away, while the public hospitals have to wait days. It's not a gift, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where to place the blame!
I am looking for my hedge clippers, however.
To textbookcase: I'm pretty sure that won't come back for a response, but here goes anyway.
I'm helping by sending money to evacuees who are living in motels until (if) they can go back into their homes. Knowing where to place the blame -- a gift? No, I just know bullshit when I smell it and see it. I'm a former member of the National Guard and I *know* what exactly the Guard could have done there if the leadership had been in place.
And you have done what?
Hold our officials accountable. A noble thought that doesn't seem to be playing out well on the media. The "refugees" still have nothing tangible, (besides a blanket or two), and feel that they are getting more attention now than when they were just starving folks in New Orleans. How sad is that!
Years ago, there was a book called The Other America. It spoke about the seldom seem Americans who live in poverty. We still have those people. They still are not seen. Not until a flood washes them out into the open. Of course, it still takes several days to see them. Indeed, let's hold our officials accountable.
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