Text 14929, 58 rader
Skriven 2005-09-04 23:46:45 av Ed Hulett (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 14895 av VERN HUMPHREY (1:123/140)
Ärende: More bad news for democra
=================================
VERN HUMPHREY -> ED HULETT wrote:
 VH>>> It was clearly a breakdown in local government.  The interface between
 VH>>> city, State and Federal simply wasn't there.

 EH>> The process of responding to a disaster starts with the local
authorities. T
 EH>> are already *IN* the effected area and can begin to assess the needs of
thos
 EH>> affected. Then comes the State officials who help get more supplies and
 EH>> resources to the people who need them. Then comes the federal agencies
who a
 EH>> as conduit for those resources that the local and state agencies cannot
cont
 EH>> directly. Through all this, the local and state have to have a reliable
 EH>> communications stream to help coordinate all these agencies and make sure
ea
 EH>> agency knows where best to apply their resources.

 VH> Absolutely right -- the locals failed, and the state did no better.

They declared a state of emergency, but failed to do much else. The mayor of
New Orleans was more interested in using profanity on a local radio talk show
than to actually do something. The looting started on his watch and he did next
to nothing about it. In fact, he encouraged looting by claiming it was
necessary for survival. This enboldened looters to steal things not needed for
mere survival.

 EH>> From the beginning, amateur radio operators from surrounding communities
who
 EH>> volunteered to go in and setup communications were turned away. FEMA has
 EH>> repeatedly done training sessions that included amateur radio ops as the
 EH>> primary communications. Somewhere, this process broke down.

 VH> That is a characteristic of an organization in a failure mode -- I once
 VH> did a study on that.  Rejecting offers of help isn't that uncommon
 VH> amongst dysfunctional organizations under stress.

And they try to place the blame for this dysfunction on Bush. He, being
president, doesn't micromanage the various functions of the federal government.
Bush's detractors, of course, foget this. They expect him to drop everything
and go into the area for a photo op. They don't say what they think what good
this would do, but they use it to whip him anyway.

 EH>> To blame it all on George Bush is pure unadulterated political
partisanship.
 EH>> isn't up to the president to ride in on a white horse and save the day.
That
 EH>> kind of stuff only works in old serial movies.

 VH> If the people of Louisiana knew the truth, both the governor and mayor
 VH> would be swinging from lamp posts.

You got it.

Ed

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