John McCain came to New Orleans, actually, KennerLouisiana, a suburb of New Orleans and minced little words about the Katrina tragedy.
While he has travelled thousands of miles during the campaign, it’s forgivable that he said he was in New Orleans while he was actually approximately tens miles away from the City that has engraved its psyche in the hearts and minds of million and which has epitomized government and people chaos.
McCain blamed everyone in government while blaming no one in particular for the Katrina government meltdown, thus not specifically aggravating anybody.
During his speech at the KennerPontchartrainCenter, McCain said that “when Americans confront a catastrophe they have a right to expect basic competence from their government.Firemen and policemen should be able to communicate with each other in an emergency”.
McCain also said “our disgraceful failure to do so here in New Orleans exposed the incompetence of government at all levels to meet even its most basic responsibilities.
However, only a few paragraphs later, McCain said in referring to Barack Obama, “Like others before him, he seems to think government is the answer to every problem; that government should take our resources and make our decisions for us.
Which raises two interesting questions for McCain (and for Barack Obama) as they campaign for President:
What specific blame would they assign to which segments of government during and after the Katrina tragedy?
What role does government have in securing the coastline, the levees, providing housing and other sustenance and necessities to those who have lost so much as a result of a natural and man-made phenomena?Where would each candidate draw the line when it comes to government versus personal obligations in ensuring safety and protection against pre and post-disaster loss?
These issues were not addressed by John McCain but certainly will arise on the campaign trails whether the venue for the next disaster is New Orleans, Kenner, or Miami.
McCain and Barack Obama will have to make tough decisions about the respective roles of government versus the individual as they attempt to refine their positions on important domestic issues that have the potential of defining the upcoming Presidential campaign--Katrina.
When stopped on the steps leaving the convention, Franklin was asked, "What have you given us." He replied, "A republic, ma'm, if you can keep it." Y'all need to study up on some basic Poli Sci. Democracy is not the opposite of tyranny; republics are. That's why some things in America were designed to beyond the reach of both voters and voting, as in federal judges sit for life without elections. "Congress shall pass no law . . . " is another. ICBMs in a lifeboat. Hadn't thought much about the utility of nukes inside a lifeboat. SRAMs (AGM-69) had a min safe radius. Missile wouldn't launch if you were inside the radius of the weapon. Sounds like a knife might be more useful in a lifeboat . . . but then RAH thought about knives in a time of nukes. Check out Starship Troopers. Not the movie (a distortion of the novel so gross as to be a waste of film), but the book. Written by Kelly Haggar
on 6/7/2008
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Because everyone knows that the United States has the least amount of people that consume the most amount of fuel, energy, etc., etc., etc...... So democratically speaking, we have to be eliminated........ Because it is the 'will' of the majority that is important......... Written by ...Harvey Wallbanger................
on 6/7/2008
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Crazy thing, a little organization supposidly founded to look out for the welfare of starving children around the globe (No, hungry kids in the Appalachians aren't on the list, and neither are poor Eskimo children up in Alaska) have bought stock in GSX a U.S. railroad company that provides transport services for our military bases here on the homefront..... Almost 5% worth!!!! So in other words, when you send these jackasses a buck to fill a little hungry childs rice bowl, or buy it a book, or some shoes or what ever, instead, they are taking that money and making stock purchases.... That way the administrative section of this group makes a great paycheck and they can afford their Prius's, and Corolla's, and beach front property..... Yeah, affirmative socialism at work........ Gotta luv it. You see, true diplomacy buys them shoes, food, books, contraceptives.......... Not Lawyers, Guns, 'N Bullets.......... Written by
on 6/7/2008
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Oh, and I don't mind the fact that I am being monitored, in fact, I expect I am already on a list of the 'first' to go when martial law is invoked...... And to think there were alternatives readily available..... Golly Gee........ I must have surpassed the IQ gradient requirements by a point or two, so that makes me a threat.... For some stupid reason........ Written by ...Oh well, who expected to live forever?
on 6/7/2008
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Sad but true, that is the double edge sword effect that will result due to the 'White' man's invention and putting down on paper of the universally accepted 'theory' of democracy.... It is supposed to be based on the 'will' of the people.... So who do you think comes up short when there is a vote cast on whom is to be sterilized or disposed of so that who will eat????? No, not a morbid thought there, just raw logic, that is the nature of man, and the most dangerous animal on the face of the earth IS a hungry man, so what do you think it is reduced to when stark facts hit home???????? Written by It is a shame when one thinks like this, but.....
on 6/7/2008
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Kelly, you had me at 'LOTS of'................ Everything before and after that is merely smoke and mirrors...... Supposing you tell me how three people in a lifeboat with four potatos and one can of Diet Coke in the middle of the ocean somewhere are going to diplomatically negotiate the order that each one is going to end up being eaten in....... And then how are they going to enforce their democratic vote...... ICBM'S are one hell of an enforcing medium.... Written by ...Look, it ain't the 30's no more,...........
on 6/7/2008
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Dear Poignant But True - think about the "diplomacy" angle a little more. An ICBM gives you maybe 30 min, tops, of flight time. Once you launch it there's no turning back. You can't make a "show of force" with one. It has ZERO conventional capability. No dispersal; no higher alert states; no mobility; no re-targeting; no ability to hunt a mobile target. If you've decided to kill (face it, LOTS of people), and you want a really high probability to penetrate, then ICBMs are a good bet. Otherwise, your diplomatic options, for any/every crisis, are 1. sit, 2. threaten to shoot, 3. shoot. That's it. Further, if you doubt you can ride out a strike (think back to SS-18s) then you have to shoot before the first NUDET ("use me or lose me"). Not a good place to be. ICBMs have their uses, just as SLBMs do. The Triad really does complicate the problems of the offense. Speed counts; so does probability of strike. ICBMs have a good potential for defense supression. So, with Russia or China, a Triad still makes sense. Islamofacists - different ball game. Loitering for hours over Iraq or Afghanistan on call and then pickling one JDAM at a time when the grunts need a pop - that's both a good deal for the home team and something an ICBM will never be able to. Gates gave a "don't fight the last war" speech at Maxwell last month and then questioned the ability of systems such as the F-22 in the GWOT. Even if the GWOT were the beall and endall of U.S. conflicts from here on out, I'm not sure F-22s can't help. It's a long way from Diego Garcia to Kabul. Both fuel and ramp space are tight in-country. Costs a BUNCH to maintain standing patrols overhead; consumes airframe life at a ferocious rate. God only knows what 10 years of "no fly zones" cost in logsitics (and retention). A few F-22s and F-35s on strip alert are worth something to grunts. My experience is that civilians don't think about these things anywhere near enough, or often enough. We, and I mean the whole nation, need to have a robust debate about size, scope, roles, and missions over the next 5 months. All reasonable and prudent folks understand that a certain amount of diplomacy is essential . . . but then all reasonable and prudent folks also understand that, in this world, "he needed killin' " is sometimes true as well. Written by Kelly Haggar
on 6/6/2008
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OUCH!!!!!!! Now THAT was funny Kelly....... Written by .Poignant but true.. I'll take ICBM's over B-52's
on 6/6/2008
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Webbleg (or whatever the correct Geek/wirehead term is): Somebody track down the % of GDP, GNP, and fed budget of the DoD since, say, 1950, run thru 2008, and then compare that to what RDS believes is the correct number. In 1974 was what then HEW passed the DoD as the largest share of the feds' budget and DoD has not been close any time since, including today, including Iraq. BTW, unless it's inflation adjusted, don't bother. Further, it's tricky, but you need to index it for capability. For example, a P-51 cost about $50K in 1945. It could carry a pair of 500 lb bombs about 300 miles and was totally useless at night or in the weather. A B-17 cost about $250K in 1945; a B-29 about $600K. The 1955 cost of B-52B was about $8 mil in then-year dollars. Skip ahead to 1983; a flight of four F-16s could obtain the same damage expectancy as 600 B-17s in 1943, and those four Falcons could do that job at night or in the weather when the B-17 and the Lancanster had trouble hitting the correct county. (There were days in 1942 when the day shift of German intell looking at the bomb plots from the night before were unable to tell Goering what region of the country had been attacked by the RAF.) Finally, some sincere but uninformed person might stumble across Spiney's "simple vs complex" point paper on Tac Air or Boyd's "loop." There's a reason why they both lost that fight. Finally, finally, it's quite correct that the whole point of civilian supremacy over the military is that the voters decide what level of protection they can afford to buy and what level of risk they are willing to accept. Only after those decisions are made do the engineers get turned on the make the gadgets the GIs will use. There's a sequence here; values > goals > strategy > hardware > tactics. Or, as Napoleon said, "You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them." Written by Kelly Haggar
on 6/6/2008
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I would think that Mr. Sullivan is among the folks that want to have their cake and eat it too. It's all in the numbers and the percentages.... Something like a Strongconcrete position when it comes to practicality and fairness.... Oh, but that would require diplomacy... Something that he wouldn't have time for.. Written by ............STRONGCONCRETE........................
on 6/6/2008
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Speaking of nukes,,, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael W. Wynne were forced to resign Thursday during hastily arranged meetings with their Pentagon bosses..... Louisiana was only one step away from being a nuclear power!!!!!!!! Dag-nab-it!!!!!!!!!! Nayuck-nuck-nuck-nuck...... Boy would Mary Landreau have had a barganing chip in her purse!!!!!!!!!!! Written by ....Ahhhhh shoot!!!!.....Foiled again!!!!.....
on 6/6/2008
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Oh hell, RDS, come to think of it when I put some real focused thought on the subject..... The reason why you were in terror of the Nuclear threat in the 60's is because we didn't take Patton and MacArthur’s advice and clear those commie pinko's off their thrones of Power... And don't tell me MacArthur was a war - monger.... Japan is a prime example of his diplomatic prowess.... And our current 'stalemate' in Iraq... Yes that is a mistake of George Bush.... He knuckled down to the cries of the world when the TURKEY SHOOT occurred.. Had we allowed Norman Schwarzkopf to do his job, the job would now be done... And we would be focusing on these crazy ass Al Quiada weirdo’s.... Been having problems with those kinds of nuts since the Shores of Tripoli..... So don't try to give lecture on Smedley Butler... I am well aware of his history…… And things have changed considerably since the 30’s, and we cannot assume a Neville Chamberlin role whenever threat to our national security arises…. And yes Smedley Butler is revered by many other former Marines……. Myself included……. I suppose it all depends on what your intestinal fortitude is when it comes to standing up for your right to live well in life if that is what you desire, while working hard to accomplish that goal… and then there are what the oppositions opinion on the subject is……. Damned if U do, damned if U don’t…. Written by ....Send Lawyers, Guns, and Bulletts.......
on 6/6/2008
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Well RDS, I extend my condolences to you for having suffered such an unfortunate childhood..... I for one certainly do remember the phrase "One nation, under God, indivisible, (not invisible which was a common kindergarten misnomer) with LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!!!! (Our voices always got a little more louder and a little more determined on those last lines for some reason, even as an elementary school child we sort of understood what those meant, for some reason the simple meaning of those two words were clear to all…..) Your FDR history is interesting, and you may interpret it anyway you want… It is interesting to know that Huey P. Long and FDR were as good as sworn enemies……. Even though Huey P. Long thought everyone liked him, or at least that is what he alluded to while on his death bed and stated “Why would anybody want to shoot me?”. As for myself, I am a huge believer in negotiation with superior firepower firmly holstered at my side… I have a clear cut understanding of the grounds and conditions for the application of deadly force….. My understanding of this has never failed me, and it is perhaps one of the reasons I am still alive today… But those are experiences unto themselves….. Social intervention through the aid of a superior economy……. If you do not have, you can ill afford to give…… And that is what we are experiencing on a global scale right now. Folks want what we have, and they think it is easier to take it, than to earn it. Much like the politicians of today…… You like History so much…. Perhaps a parallel we are currently experiencing is something along the lines of the Romans throwing their sacks of gold over the walls to placate the Vandal Hordes….. I strongly disagree with you, and even in your younger days I am sure you displayed the same wishy – washy characteristics you now profess…… And those my dear friend will surely get a man killed when it comes on down to do or die……. It is do or die time right now, and we have a contender running for the Presidency that has no more culturally steeped background in One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all than you apparently did as a lad….. Pity that……. Written by ...Clint Eastwood for V.P.........................
on 6/6/2008
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It is sad to me that so many Americans live in fear of military attack. I fail to see how any president will protect me, if anyone really wants to attack. It isn’t the policies of George Bush and Company that have prevented a catastrophe since September 11, 2001. If anyone had wanted to attack since then, it would have happened. . . . If we want to disarm those hostile to us, we will do so more effectively by diplomacy, than by military action. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. Jesus said that, I believe. Since the end of World War II, the US has engaged in pre-emptive strikes on small countries so many times I have to look them up in Wikipedia now. . . . Our military budget is now over fifty-percent of the national budget, squeezing out such things as education, health care, social security, flood protection, and reconstruction of devastated communities. If we reduced our military budget to the same percentage it was in the late Forties, we could be building good will through foreign aid and cultural exchanges, rather than hostility through foreign bases and military occupation. . . . With George Bush and his duplicate, John McCain, in the presidential office, there will be little opportunity for diplomacy and cultural exchange to occur. Such people believe in the absolute supremacy of the US, in the virtues of military strength, and in the superiority of the wealthy. The rest of us just have to swim on our own or drown. . . . I’m well into my Sixties also, and I don’t remember a world as well-ordered as Omo Oblahblah remembers so nostalgically. It was a scary world sixty years ago, full of nuclear threats and the ridiculous lie that hiding under a school desk would protect us from an atomic blast. It was through that lie that I learned authorities could lie! As a boy, I was propositioned regularly by well-dressed businessmen, and heavy drinking on the sly was the rule for some people. We said the Pledge of Allegiance, but it didn’t have the phrase ‘’one nation under God’’ in it, and I stopped saying it when the House of Representatives put that in. I didn’t like the God they wanted me to be under because he seemed rather mean and vindictive. It wasn’t until I heard ‘’un pays sous le regard de Dieu’’ in a translation by an old Cajun friend of mine that I was willing to say the Pledge again. For him, ‘’Dieu’’ was a loving father, so I felt much more comfortable with his Pledge. Anyway, I never thought that Pledges, National Anthems, or flag pins meant much about a person’s loyalty to the country. . . . As for belittling the president, well, I think it would be useful to look up General Smedley Butler on that one. He was the general who stopped the Morgans, the Duponts, and other Wall Street bankers, including, I would wager, the Bushes, from staging a military coup d’état on FDR in 1934. Those bankers didn`t just criticize the president; they were going to assassinate him the way they did John Kennedy . . . The parallels between Butler's life and times and our own are obvious: Recession, entanglement in foreign affairs, and business interests who have realized that it is cheaper to buy Washington than to storm it. For example, Halliburton, Dick Cheney's former company, has won billions in uncontested contracts in Iraq. The slaves in the war factories owned by those who cozied up to the Nazi elite at least knew they were slaves and there was no hope for them. We, on the other hand, are kept enmeshed in the system by a series of false promises, encouraged to dream as big as an opiate-user to mask our true condition. . . . As a result, I even wonder whether the current occupant of the White House may have had something to do with the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, and it may well be that we have had no other catastrophe because the neo-conservatives see no need for another one. After all, the first one has done a very good job of keeping most Americans in a state of paralyzed fear. Written by Robert Desmarais Sullivan
on 6/5/2008
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The IPET's "Chronology" has been up on the New Orleans District's front web page for a long time. It's a 40 year history of . . . shall we say . . . missed opportunities . . . and choices that don't look good today. When Chatry discovered the sinking benchmarks in 1985, what would have been different if the public had been told of the significance? Would a bond issue have passed in 1987 or '88 to support the increased costs and the resultant larger local match? Don't fall into the "stupid grandparents" trap. Well informed people have made some pretty poor decisions so far in rebuilding the levees (IMHO; but then not everyone agrees my hotline to reality is correctly calibrated). It's pretty easy to slam Helluva Job Brownie for being a "Fashion God" on his Blackberry. However, by that point, the city was already under water. Once the levees crumbled, the amount of bottled water in the Dome was irrelevant. Overtopping was assumed; collapse was not. If levee failure had been anticipated by anyone in authority, mandatory evacuation would have been, well, mandatory. Wondering why things did not go better on Sep 1st is like fighting for deck chairs on the Titanic. Once the wings come off, the pax on a jet are toast. "A good pilot is one who uses his superior judgment to stay out of situations where he must use his superior skill." Written by Kelly Haggar
on 6/4/2008
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Thank you Omo Oblahblah..... for your remarks comparing Americans today and Americans 60 years ago. You are right. The disrespect and lack of support given to President Bush over these last seven years have been astounding to me. Half the media cannot even bring themselves to call him President Bush but refer to him as Mr. Bush while they say President Clinton & President Carter still. All POTUS makes mistakes. They are after all human but I believe you are right about President Bush believing that the American people would honor the sacrifice we are making to bring freedom to others. Saddam had to go. Clinton made it the policy of the US in a speech in 1998. America has always given of their blood and treasure for this identical purpose. Turns out those people who flew those planes into the twin towers were right. The American people are weak and lose interest in anything that is not quick and easy. It will some day cause us larger loses. A defeat in Iraq will bring something that none of us want. Obama has lots of words and they all sound good but our enemies like his speeches better than any American. We can all sit back and see what went wrong and how "we" might have done things differently. Since we won't have to that seems a bit ridiculous to me. Same goes for Katrina. There are those who say that it was all Bush's fault when that is just not true. There is no excuse for the fact that local and state leaders could not get water and food to those people on that bridge and at the convention center. Surely there was enough bottled water in Baton Rouge and enough National Guard to deliver it. Mistakes were made by everyone. No one mentions the numerous lawsuits that held up repair and expansions of levees before Katrina or that money that was allocated for those projects were deferred at different times to other projects. Neither John McCain, Obama, or Clinton can say that they would have done better and hopefully they never have to. Surely Billions was requested and allocated by President Bush and the Republican Controlled Congress in record time. The fact that it took so long to be distributed is another matter. We can all hope that if ever Louisiana is threatened again, citizens, local, state & federal response will be better but to say that it will is only a guess. Written by Sharon
on 6/4/2008
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What a difference 60 years makes!,,,
I know everyone has a different opinion on the war and our current President. But, this article makes a lot of sense, and I hope you will take the time to read it and give it some thought. I have never seen the "situation" expressed any better in words! Recently I was talking to a friend about the upcoming election and candidates. As we ended our discussion he said "the only decision you have to make is who you want sitting in that seat in the White House when - not if - when we get hit again and millions of Americn lives are put at risk!",,,,
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not....
Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the peoples' duty to back those leaders....
Therefore, when the war broke out, the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not....
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war....
Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old, pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help....
Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition, trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining....
You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the president. Interestingly enough, in those days there were no fat-cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted. ....
And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with the Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!.. ... ...
Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies... ..
A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning. . . .
There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets. . .. ...
No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. ..
It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices. ...
We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause... Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. So... We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing. .....
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the MALL.... Written by Omo Oblahblah.....
on 6/4/2008
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I'll second that ralphie but will also add “what could individuals have done differently BEFORE the hurricane.” I'm sure many will do things differently next time around. As just one example people evacuated and them went back to their flooded homes to "gather priceless photographs" - I'm sure next time they will bring all of their "priceless" photos with them. The entire "liberal" vs. "conservative" clash is but a means of finding a middle ground between the two extreme viewpoints. This is a great article because it speaks of the need for our politicians to address the balance of responsibilities between individuals and government regardless of who captures the presidency. I would love to see our two parties have this type of adult, realistic and useful discussion instead of the crap that typically is passed off as political discussion. Written by kpf
on 6/4/2008
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Steve, Your first question left out one important word. What blame was due BEFORE, during and after Katrina. Written by ralphie
on 6/4/2008
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Great questions Steve - bravo! Written by more! more!
on 6/4/2008
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John McCain came to 
