Topic says it all. we are able to get troops over to Iraq faster than we can get Water / Rations to the stranded in N.O. Go figure..... We are the friendly USA and give money to everyone. I would not doubt if we are in a downward spiral... All those lost jobs and everything. Who knows.... Surprised Bush is not flying back to his ranch for a lil ride or golf.
I generally try to avoid these discussions, especially since my views differ from most of the people I know. But this forum has some good people that I feel should be able to discuss this without tempers flaring and things getting out of hand. First off, I am a Republican who voted for Bush. I too have great concerns about a number of things that he has done. I'll come out and say I DO support the war in Iraq even though most people don't. But I don't think anyone is going to change there opinion on that matter, either your really for it, or really against it. I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that a lot of people I come in contact with(co-workers, friends) seem to want to just blame all of their problems on Bush, just using him as a coverall for the current economic situation, jobs, gas prices.... These people(at least it seems to me), are having a serious case of tunnel vision, not looking at the world as a whole and how much it has changed in the past 6 years. I hear a whole lot of people talking loud but not saying anything. A commercial that has been running recently illustrates my point, it has a bunch of people on the sidewalk looking at a tissue that someone threw on the ground that was sitting next to a garbage can. Everyones saying "This is an outrage, someone should do something about this" ,then a dude walks up and throws the tissue out and keeps walking. I guess my point is this... I think everyone needs to stop bitching and start actually talking about how to make the US better, I think one person can make a difference...
im not a fan of political conversations because they inevitably lead to arguments... however, like chris said, we have good people here so for now im gonna let this stay... however, if things start taking a turn for the worse, this thread will be locked and deleted immediately
As stated in the news the gangs have caused all rescue missions to stop. Thier are currently 20k nation gaurd troops in route to stop all the gangs and all the other shit going on. As soon as that happens they will be able to do more. I agree that more should be happening but Im a republican that believes in what Bush is doing for our country. With that said I will not thrash some on for thinking other wise, every one is intiteled to thier own opinion.
people, exactly what does bush have to do with a hurricane hitting the country? and if you're wailing on bush for being around the area in a helicopter, why aren't you also wailing on congress for taking 4 days to call an emergency session for the disaster? My job is a catastrophe deployment agent in a call center. I GOT the calls from companies who needed our help. Not for insurance or damage claims, no. They want us to operate their hotline so employees can be accounted for. And the employees who called me, 9 out of 10 wanted to know when they could get back to work. Mostly Natural Gas and Oil companies. There will be PLENTY of work in the next few years in fixing the damage. Housing, not so much. but jobs? yes.
i am also a Bush fan..but i am very upset that it has taken so long for support in the homeland..I do think more military should be deployed immediately!! I dont blame the president though..im sure he wasnt at the 14th hole thinking to himself "yea..i think ill let em suffer a little longer" ..there have been several attempts made for rescue but there are quite a few "individuals" that i would classify as "scum" that indanger the lives of rescuers..like shooting at helicopters, shooting at law enforcement and so on..
The reason for my feelings are just that now going on 5 days and no food for any of those poor folks. Its like they didnt prepare for the worse since the hurricane vered a little east of the big easy. Anyways another person to blame would be New Orleans Mayor. Thats great he told folks to evacuate, but when 30% of the population is living below the poverty level, how does he expect them to evacuate. Sounds like the planning and there disaster recovery plan was not well thought out. T he funny thing I heard this evening is some engineers had proposed a plan to build up New Orleans levies, etc for flood control back in Bush Sr's term and that bill got denied. From what the scientist are saying it may have prevented a lot of this b/c of flood gates which would have denied the surge to go up in Lake Pontchartrain. It may not have helped thou to so who knows. One can only speculate. I was NOT trying to start flame wars at all. Just had to get that off my chest.
If I've learned anything from the Internet, it's that certain things should never be discussed: politics, religion, and abortion. You can usually never convince anybody to change their stance on the above, and it only ends up in misery...
yea religion, and politics are very bad things to discuss........i am a libertarian that voted bush, but i do not agree with a lot of things he has done. The national defecit being the main one. The only reason i voted bush was to keep kerry out. I did agree with the war at first but its just getting old fast and i feel like we are getting nowhere. One thing that should NOT be put on bush is the gas prices. You can thank your fellow Georgians for that. Idiots pilling into gas stations to pile up. Its just like when playstation 2 came out of those little furby things. places started marking up because it became a demand. Impeech is a little harsh because he really hasnt done anything THAT bad but i willl say i have my worries.
regardless of your feeling of bush, there are 3 main reasons for service delays. 1: continuing water. Remember the hurricane dumped water into the mississippi river upstream and that has caused the flooding to last even longer 2:road access. In addition to flooded roads are the destroyed bridges. no matter how much aid you have, if you can't get it there you've got problems. 3: the central city police force in New Orleans was about 200 cops. They have no active communication network, headquarters was under 12 feet and support vehicles as well. Many cops deserted, about 30~40. 4:criminals. New Orleans was down there with New York and San diego in crime rates. The smart people who evacuated left a vaccuum because more criminals stayed in town. The actions of the criminals are causing the people providing aid to be distrustful which is ruining things for EVERYONE.
like it or not, the truth of the matter is that politicians are a product. their platforms are put together in a way that only the most extravagant and high dollar marketing campaigns are (except far more advanced in their depth orientation). what they say and how they say it is focus-group tested, psychologically tweaked for proper emotional impact, and then packaged in a tasty palettable bite for you to consume (or reject if you've already been sold on the package hawked by the "other" side) think gibson vs fender, ford vs chevy, etc. as with all marketing campaigns, we are made to feel like intelligent, informed and moral beings by consuming said product. another truth is that the republican party has a better marketing firm working for them (and considerably more expensive at that), and typically has since BBDO started working on them since the early 60's(though i believe it's a different firm now, it's hard to find this info during, than after the fact, the firms are under very strict guidlines that would lead to some very serious court costs if they divulged). the democrats have had some impressive teams as well, just not as consistently. if the name BBDO means anything to you, then you're already painfully aware of what i'm talking about. i'm guessing it doesn't though. the biggest favour you could do yourself and the country as a whole is to take what action is proposed (iraq, anwr, taxes, or whatever) and do as much research on who's involved, who stands to profit from things working one way and then the other, and then cross reference where you got the information from and how/if that source stands to benefit from presenting such information. be very keen as to how many value-laden words are used in the body of such information. if you say you watch the news, reread paragraph one and replace politician with corp entity, and platform with spin/agenda. why is our country in it's current predicament? the oversimplified answer is that doing the above is considerably more work than the vast majority of people in this country are willing to perform(and politicians/marketers are very awared of this), with results that often lead to knowledge that is usually enlightening, mostly frustrating, and sometimes quite disconcerting. it also leaves the seeker with no predefined banner to stand under which given the other-directedness of our society, is in itself is a feeling that people are generally convinced that they should not feel.
This is the space where I was going to post something about how biased our education system is and how liberal the news media is. I was going to post about how most post like this are mearly a product of these two things and the fact that people cant think for themselves. Then I thought no I dont really want to go into all that, Its almost the weekend. You guys have a good afternoon. Matt
If you were in education (teacher etc) its pathetic. Wont go there. My wife is a teacher and it is very sad to hear some of the stuff her administrators tell her.
I'm with ya dawg...at one point wanted to work at the atlanta office..probably the biggest ad agency in the world.... :naughty:
Let's just pray for all the victims and their families. Prayer is very strong. I have good friends that live in Ocean Springs,MS and I am hoping that they are safe and secure. Let's stop pointing fingers and what about this and that and just keep level-headed. I agree that it has taken a long time for things to happen, but I agree with Sonic Boom totally.....The best thing we can do is either donate to the ARC or give blood or just pray...You can't blame this all on Bush.. He is doing the very best he can... Peace, Mark
I have friends down in Ocean springs also mark. Also have a bunch in Gulfport and all through out the coast. I have heard back from some of them and so far 3 of my buddies homes are completely gone. I havent seen any pictures yet, but I will share once they send some.
There is a toll-free number that is available where you can check to see if they are Ok. It was on the news last night. I also have some friends that are in LA, and hopefully they will be alright. I am very worried and concerned for them, but I have to keep the faith that they are safe and secure. I donated to the ARC, and maybe that would be a great idea that we could all do as a club...Just my 2 cents... Mark
My friend in Ocean Springs was a good buddy of mine at Keesler and he has a wife and a child. Help is on it's way and plus there are many Air and Army Guard units down there. I just can't believe the amount of damage in MS also and AL... I hope that your friends will be OK too, Keith and I am very sorry that their house was destroyed. I will say a prayer for them... Mark
you guys also need to understand we're going to be feeling this for the next 5 years. no less than 100,000 people are now unemployed
it doesnt have to be, it represents the economies of the equivalent of at least 3 million dollars a year assuming they all had a 30,000 job. PLUS the businesses gone they aren't just unemployed, the jobs are also gone.
One thing the media fails to mention is that natural disasters are handled on the state level. Its the responsibility of the State to request federal assistance if they determine that they need it. Bush offered federal assistance but the Governor of LA actually said she needed 24 hours to decide if they needed federal assistance. Here's the article I got this info from 9/11 was handled on the State level...
the effects will be felt for much longer true, but i don't think so much for the job loss as the industrial disruption... this area was THE cost effective route/port for corn, grain, soy, fuel, as well as many other chemicals that make up the products we use everyday. this is something that we'll be feeling for a while, internationally. the result of price-point increase on some exports alone is not happy thought to ponder.
"One thing the media fails to mention is that natural disasters are handled on the state level. Its the responsibility of the State to request federal assistance if they determine that they need it. Bush offered federal assistance but the Governor of LA actually said she needed 24 hours to decide if they needed federal assistance. Here's the article I got this info from 9/11 was handled on the State level..." I was reading this whole thread waiting for someone to state this, it is indeed the states responsibility to ask for help. It is very unfortunate what happened in the gulf but in my opinion ( and not trying to upset, or take anything away from anyone here) but sitting and pointing fingers is not helping anyone affected by Katrina at all. I think the Federal Govn't has done what it can, maybe not as fast as most people would have liked. But the important fact is that help is there now. The thing that bothers me the most is how people are taking advantage of the situation. Starting with the gas stations for taking advantage of the scare, then with the "victims" who take the debit cards and use them to buy expensive purses and clothing. The list goes on with from bogus websites to even homeless people claiming to be victims to get some extra cash. People lost their lives, families and homes, and so much more and the fact that people take advantage of that is the tragedy in my eyes.