BLAME GAME

[vbhoutex]

Lots and Lots of posts going around blaming this person, blaming that agency, blaming this group, blaming that group for the problems in NO.

WHAT GOOD ARE THEY DOING? At the most they are helping people vent their own frustrations from behind their keyboard. The officials that you want to see these are not looking at S2K and if they are I am embarassed by some of what they are seeing. JMHO

How about INSTEAD OF POINTING FINGERS AND BLAMING PEOPLE-YOU TAKE SOME ACTION, SOME POSITIVE ACTION. CALL UP WHICHEVER AGENCY YOU CARE TO AND DONATE MONEY, DONATE TIME, DONATE WHAT THEY TELL YOU THEY NEED THE MOST. There are many oppurtunities to help posted on the home page of S2K and at the top of this forum in several different threads. USE THEM-DO SOMETHING POSITIVE!!!

No amount of blame placing at this site is going to change anything at this point, but getting involved in a positve way can save lives and make someones day just a little brighter after they have gone through hell.

If you must place blame then call up your congress person, email your congress person, call or email your local homeland security office. But in all honesty, and this is MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION,all of the blame placing and second guessing about things you have no idea about(logistics, etc.)is getting quite boring and old.

[ohiostorm]

Yeah I totally agree. None of the bickering and pointing fingers is saving lives or getting money or help where it needs to be. If I could be down there, I would be well on my way. It sucks to be clear in Ohio feeling helpless.

[wolfmmiii]

While you certainly are entitled to your opinion, others are as well. People respond to situations differently. I personally don't see anything wrong with the blame game - it lets people vent. As we watch things unfold and get worse and worse and worse, it's hard not to start pointing fingers.

I do agree with the volunteer/donation idea though.

[Canelaw99]

I agree with wolf....we all have opinions about what has happened, and what is currently happening. It's human nature to blame for something that went wrong. In this instance, I think there IS some blame that needs to be placed on certain people, however, I'm keeping most of those comments to the conversations with my mom and other family. However, I HAVE already donated to the Red Cross, and I have 5 cases of water sitting in my house ready to donate when they're in a position to receive it. Please understand that we are in a position to see/hear much, much more than many of those in the situation, and it's difficult for all of us sitting here to see this occurring in our own country without some accountability. In hindsight, there will be people that need to shoulder the blame, it's that simple.

[SkeetoBite]

Let's blame people later.

Consider this: Exactly how big is 90,000 square miles?

[vbhoutex]

Let's blame people later.

Consider this: Exactly how big is 90,000 square miles?

MY POINT EXACTLY!!!!! Most definitely there is blame to be placed, but placing it now does nothing. Taking action, positive action in whatever way you can does help, no matter how insignificant you think it may be.

[sponger]

I blame and donate! No one is satisifed with the progress and this has become a case is mismanaged emergency response. Anyone who isnt frustrated has low standards or expectations. 2 cents

[Liberty30]

Here is why people are upset:

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.o ... print.html

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf ... one_1.html

http://hurricane.lsu.edu/_newsbriefs/hefmtg.html

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:2i ... rina&hl=en

This was supposedly our "A-1" priority for natural disaster planning. FEMA did a mock of it last year and planned for it the year before!! This isn't 9-11 where it came as a complete surprise... we've had YEARS to plan... and the men and women at the top (from the Mayor on up) bungled it.


As for helping out. I strongly suggest it too. I'm doing that myself. But that doesn't get the government off the hook. They messed up.

[Canelaw99]

MY POINT EXACTLY!!!!! Most definitely there is blame to be placed, but placing it now does nothing. Taking action, positive action in whatever way you can does help, no matter how insignificant you think it may be.

Some of us have taken positive actions though, so please don't speak as though none of us have. I understand your point of view, and I accept that you're entitled to your opinion - that's the beauty of us being in America. We in this country are ALLOWED to voice our displeasure with our government, it's a right that we have. Do I think some people are going to far on the board, yes, but as far as I know you all are dealing with those posts on an individual basis. Do I think people are angry and need a place to vent? YES! Many of us sitting here wish we could do more than just donate money or time to our local charity offices. I, for one, would love to drive my water to the places that need it, but I can't. I can, however, sit here and look at the situation with a clear head and hope that those in authority will be able to do the same in the future. There are many lessons to be learned by the government from this situation, and I, for one, would love to let them know what we've all seen and been saying.

Sorry for my $0.02, but I just hate to see Americans having their voices shushed because they're showing unhappiness and voicing some rational opinions about what we're ALL seeing take place on our televisions.

[kevin]

To echo the above poster, I donate and blame.

[fwbbreeze]

you know what this might be America and we might all be entitled to our opinions no matter how skewed they are...but this is a privately owned board. If the comments get too out of hand I would fully expect the mods and admins to shut this forum down...as they have every right.

fwbbreeze

[gratefulnole]

There is nothing that the people here can do to provide immediate help to those on the ground in New Orleans. The military, Coast Guard, etc. needs to use every plane, helicopter and ship they can to immediately fly-in, boat-in and air-drop water and food in New Orleans right now. Food and water should be the priority over evacuation. The FEMA director said they have all these semis of supplies they can't get there because of down roads and bridges.

[jasons2k]

Here is why people are upset:

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.o ... print.html

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf ... one_1.html

http://hurricane.lsu.edu/_newsbriefs/hefmtg.html

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:2i ... rina&hl=en

This was supposedly our "A-1" priority for natural disaster planning. They did a mock of it last year and planned for it the year before!! This isn't 9-11 where it came as a complete surprise... we've had YEARS to plan... and the men and women at the top (from the Mayor on up) bungled it.


As for helping out. I strongly suggest it too. I'm doing that myself. But that doesn't get the government off the hook. They messed up.

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo. My sentiments exactly. Especially when combined with this in hand:

[Canelaw99]

you know what this might be America and we might all be entitled to our opinions no matter how skewed they are...but this is a privately owned board. If the comments get too out of hand I would fully expect the mods and admins to shut this forum down...as they have every right.

fwbbreeze

Very, very true, and I agree that some comments have gotten out of hand. At this point though, there is a lot of blame to go around. It's just disheartening to watch it all taking place.

[wolfmmiii]

Placing it now does nothing - I agree. But, neither does discussing the whole incident on an internet message board. We still do that. It's kind of the same as the whole "-removed-" arguments. No matter what is said here, regardless of points of view, it changes nothing and influences noone.

[MBismyPlayground]

Well I have done all mentioned.
Donated. Called and am on the list of volunteers who want to go help.
Also have offered to adopt a family in need trying to restart.
Just got off the phone with both my congressmen for the state of SC and the Senators.
Now trying to find out what the rules are about "air space" in the area.
Have a few friends with helicopters, and plenty of equipment here to do my own form of a heavy drop.

And I will still complain. This may not be the right forum to do it, but I think at this point, we are all in a form of shock. Venting seems to help us all just a little bit. As we all, here, are so fully aware of the situation.
We're fully aware of what COULD happen prior to the event and even vaguley discussed it. We KNEW/KNOW what was needed to be done, for a worse case senario. And alot of us don't see these things being done as expediciously as possible.

[JenBayles]

I donated - to relief efforts and to S2K!

[Canelaw99]

We're fully aware of what COULD happen prior to the event and even vaguley discussed it. We KNEW/KNOW what was needed to be done, for a worse case senario. And alot of us don't see these things being done as expediciously as possible.

CNN was just talking about this very thing. They mentioned that once Katrina was done with S. FL, that Max Mayfield and Ed Rappaport talked about how she was going to pick up speed and strength, and they began pointing towards N.O. as a target. Additionally, there have been a lot of scientific articles written about the levees, the city of N.O. and its ability to handle a large storm, etc. In their opinion (Cafferty and the other guy that's on right now) there is no reason why this should've taken the authorities by surprise, as the LA governor claims it did.

AGAIN - those weren't MY words, it was on CNN, but seemed to make a valid point, IMO.

[TSmith274]

Not only did we have years to plan, but we've had decades to make New Orleans' hurricane protection system adequate. Problem was that people just didn't believe the experts.

I myself got into an arguing match with someone on this forum from Minnesota weeks ago who had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't believe this could happen. We knew this could happen, and we did nothing to prevent it. It's as simple as that.

[JenBayles]

You all want someone to blame? How about the FRENCH for landing there in the first place. Sheesh......