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dlhavard |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:37 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1352
Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
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Quote: I sent $$$ (well, $$) to the Humane Society, because they're making an effort to rescue pets (also, the evacuees haven't been allowed to bring their pets) and I haven't heard of any other organization concentrating on that (PETA ought to be making efforts here - and maybe they are and I just don't know).
I saw noahswish.org on CNN a day or two after Katrina. I checked them out on their website and they look like a pretty interesting organization. Sort of a Red Cross for animals.
We already have refugees arriving in Michigan. One of our senators offered to foster a lady's dog until she got back on her feet.
The pictures are still heart rending though. |
_________________ "We have a slight apocalypse." |
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Marilyn |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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The shrub has officially started calling them "evacuees" and yelled about people for calling them refugees. Remember that, DL, how insensitve you are. The president said so! |
_________________ http://ferdyonfilms.com |
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marantzo |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:03 am |
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The head of FEMA was a clueless idiot. He decided that nothing had to be done for two days, for some bullshit reason. It had nothing to do with the lack of funding. Though cutting back on the funds was a typical bonehead move by the moron from Crawford. |
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Marilyn |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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lady wakasa |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:45 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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Marilyn wrote: I think that your boss is being a little self-serving. He probably approved of all of Bush's slashing of social programs (e.g., FEMA) in the name of conservativism. We have to get the message out that BUSH is not the scapegoat. He has been supported by a vast array of people who helped make sure that his policies were effected. They ALL helped destroy the Gulf coast.
Well, he's an ex-boss, of about 7 years.
More importantly, I totally agree that unless the federal gov't was leaning on the Gulf states, there is plenty of blame to go around. I haven't heard much from the state people, but I have heard the mayor of New Orleans say in an interview that everyone is responsible. I haven't heard much from the Administration (and Bush's "this isn't going well" Friday morning actually changed by Friday night). This is the Administration that refuses to accept blame - and their whole philosophy of governance (extreme laissez-faire / there's nothing that the private sector can't handle) plays a significant role in what happened with this hurricane. |
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dlhavard |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:20 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1352
Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
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Quote: The shrub has officially started calling them "evacuees" and yelled about people for calling them refugees. Remember that, DL, how insensitve you are. The president said so!
My bad.......  |
_________________ "We have a slight apocalypse." |
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Joe Vitus |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Well now, wait a minute. What do you expect the President to say in a time of catastrophe? "Oh my God, this is horrilble! Will we ever recover?!!!" Of course he, and other leaders, are trying to put a bright face on it. I guess if you lived during the Great Depression, you'd castigate the people who sang "We're in the Money." And of course, all those Americans cheering on the war effort in WWII at the time the Nazis were actually winning, were just fools, or puppets of a government in denial.
I'm not saying that there aren't real problems here, and I'm not denying the tragedy of this situation, and I'm not denying that we need reform. But the way so many of our forumites seem to expect leaders to wallow in a catastrophe and berate themselves rather than rising above it to deal with the situation and offer hope, really surprises me. Or actually, sadly enough, it doesn't. |
_________________ You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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Marilyn |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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If Bush were a real leader, we'd go along with his optimism. His reluctance in the early going makes his every word suspect now. |
_________________ http://ferdyonfilms.com |
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Marilyn |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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lady wakasa |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:43 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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I don't expect him to berate himself. And I don't think you thought I meant that. But there is a full-court press going on with not only the adminstration members but the entire Bush family to do damage control. His father, for example, is making political statements beyond, "well, things are getting better" (and I hope you're not giving Barbara Bush a pass on what she said yesterday).
I would be a lot happier if the Adminstration laid out a clear plan of action or even an outline (and the early groundwork for a 9/11-style commission, or even to say that there would be an independent review in the future) - rather than talk about how well things are going. There are hundreds of thousands of people displaced in extremely temporary locations, and no indication of what happens to them in a few weeks, what's going on with the oil refineries, or what anyone else can really do beyond donating money (and "if you don't have to drive, don't" - it's not an option for a lot of people). Why doesn't he have a regularly scheduled 10-minute press conference, say? He doesn't need to be in DC to do that. |
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lady wakasa |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:47 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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You might want to read what Ghulam just posted in The Lobby about Michael Brown. That's the lack of responsibility that I'm talking about. Bush should've said, "We'll do a review of the whole situation in the near future. If there are changes to be made, we'll make them." But he'll never do that.
BTW, I do realize this should be in Lobby. And the cafeteria's closing in 12 mintues, so off I go. |
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gromit |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:56 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Rumor has it that Bush comforted himself during the initial flyover of the disaster site by re-reading his copy of My Pet Goat.
And this from a blog:
"This is a result of the Homeland Security Act that Democrats proposed and then ended up opposing after the GOP added provisions that stripped government civil service protections away from its employees. This returned thousands of jobs to partisan appointments which had ended over a hundred years ago. Now Homeland Security even more than other departments is the place to dump political buddies who need a job. And everytime the White House changes hands one set of hacks will be removed and another brought in."
and:
"The president argued he need to be able to fire union employees to ensure incompetent people didn’t work for the department of homeland security - but it seems the opposite is true. He just wanted to ensure that only HIS incompetent people worked there - and he intended to replace competent ‘adversaries’ with them. And all of america pays once again…"
As Krugman pointed out, when the Administration doesn't believe that gov't provides solutions and useful services, then it easily follows that they put their friends and loyal campaign workers in gov't positions, since they believe their work doesn't matter anyway. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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Joe Vitus |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:38 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Lady,
I don't give Barbara Bush a pass on anything. To my mind, she's the worst of the family. A friend tends bar at the River Oaks country club, and has seen her on a number of occaisions. I ask if the horns are visible up close.
Bush is bad at communicating with the public, but that's nothing new. I think Marilyn has a point about people's already low level of trust making his words sound even more hollow, though I don't think I'd call him a pathological liar by any means. I think you're right that this is a time for words that convey decisive action and that his speeches do not indicate this (and thus make it seem like he's not addressing or even much concerned about the issue...that doesn't mean this is the case). Much as you may hate Reagan, he'd be telling us exactly what services he was putting at Louisiana's disposal and how they were going to handle the situation in the next couple of weeks. But Reagan knew how to convey a message. Bush doesn't. I'm not sure that translates into the administration doing nothing, or indicates that the burden of this problem lies with them.
The impression I've received from the press reports (and this includes reading Salon.com daily) is that everyone, from the government of that city to the state to the federal governement were aware of these problems long before Katrina arrived. No one seemed to worry about it until the storm hit. Lot's of blame to go around, as Marilyn said. |
_________________ You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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judithannie |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:22 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Albuquerque NM
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Marc wrote
Have I mentioned that I am half cajun and half American?
While I do actually have a recipe for armadillo sauce piquant, I don't have one for red beans and cats.
In fact I think I'll name my next cat Red Beans, with your permission of course.
P.S. My heartfelt good wishes on your attempt to adopt. |
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marantzo |
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:31 pm |
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Judy, so you've got Canadian blood in your veins. Great! |
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