Hurricane Katrina ... WHO'S TO BLAME???

[POPmetal]

[turns on American looney liberal impersonation]

1. First and foremost, as with everything else, George W. Bush. He caused global warming, which is for a fact caused by human activity and not a natural cycle. And as we all know, there were no such big hurricanes throughout all of history until global warming, so global warming clearly played a part in Katrina.

2. The Corporations. They conspired to start Katrina because they stand to gain billions and billions of dollars from rebuilding efforts.? ...? H?A?L?I?B?U?R?T?O?N?

3. Religious right. Don't know how they factor in yet, but I'm sure they're involved.

4. Israel. Their illegal occupation of Palestine pissed off Allah. The hurricane is Allah's punishment of American infidels' illegitimate support for Israel.

[turns off American looney liberal impersonation]


Man, I can't wait for the Michal Moore "documentary" to come out.

[Genesis]

4. Israel. Their illegal occupation of Palestine pissed off Allah. The hurricane is Allah's punishment of American infidels' illegitimate support for Israel.

Are u frickin' nuts? Who do u blame for a natural phenomenon anyway? 

[SLCPUNK]

I'm guessing you are attempting to be funny. Or are you really serious?

Look, I think now, is the worst time to:

1. Make jokes about this shit

2. Start with the blame game.

We already had a thread where an American poster started the hate game with the rest of the world, wanting to know where "all the help was". I also had the displeasure of reading this on other boards as well.

Looking at the facts, and without finger pointing, this is what I see.

New Orleans had federal money cut by Bush (around 2002 and probably for the war chest) for this exact problem. New Orleans also knew that they were in a sinking city, that was not prepared in anyway shape or form for a category 4 or 5 hurricane.

Bush also had a proposed cut of around 72 million to go into effect in 2006 for the city.

Global warming may be something that makes people swell with laughter, but to deny its role in our weather is only lying to ourselves. There have been floods in Europe where none ever were, parts of Siberia are melting away, and I personal experienced 4 back to back Hurricanes last summer. The frequency and strength of this storms have been increasing over the years. That I had never seen in my 20 odd years in Florida. It's pretty obvious the weather is changing to do our increased world demand (USA uses 25%, please sell more SUVs, we really need them ) and that in turn, is producing hydrocarbons that ruin our ozone. SUVs I blame for the speed up in this process since they use twice (if not three times) as much oil/gas and pollute 2-3 times as much as well. Just blowing hydrocarbons into the air.

It was Clinton who roled over for the big car companies and lifted the MPG regulation on SUVS. He avoided this by putting them in a truck category.

What I see in New Orleans are poor inner city people who had no option out, poor planning, cuts funds, and a poor intitial reaction. We totally were not ready.

What else do I see here? I see fucking a type of irony only a brilliant author could dream up. As a nation of excess (feeling we deserve the best of everything, simply because we breath air), we rush out to but SUVs, driving our oil demand even higher (for every barrel we drill up, we consume four), thus polluting the earth that much more. Oil Peak theory is wild in the air (and based on sound fact) and our attention is drawn to the middle east, land of untapped oil. Many cuts are made for the "war on terror", and some of these cuts included hurricane preparation funds.

So what happened? Did we create this mess on our own? Did our craving for bling bling SUVs in this country actually contribute to a spike in oil consumption? Thus eroding the ozone at an accelerated rate? Slamming a hurricane into New Orleans and ripping it to shreds. While no money was left to prepare for this thing, because it was in the middle east "securing Iraq"?

Is that not irony beyond belief?

I do not think Bush reacted slowly because these people were inner city, black and poor. Not at all. I do think he is clueless and really did not know how to take a hold of the situation and demand action. No maliciousness on his part. I also believe his poor public persona, and speaking skills killed him on this. As he came off as uncaring, and too laid back. If or if that was not the truth. As much as I detest the man, I find it impossible to believe that he could not care about the people in New Orleans. Rather, simply, he didn't know what to do first.

Right wing, nut job Christians are already blaming the storm on the gays, claiming that God's punishment for the city was in order. That the city also embraced the gay lifestyle and God had to take action. Typical assholes, and I can only shake my head and ignore them.

I don't have time to ask "who is to blame". Although I will say what I see and think happened.

Right now, I think you should retitle this thread: Hurricane Katrina, what are you going to do to help?

I will be out next week on my days off helping. What about you?

[POPmetal]

I'm guessing you are attempting to be funny. Or are you really serious?

Look, I think now, is the worst time to:

1. Make jokes about this shit

2. Start with the blame game.

I wish it were only a joke

"George Bush doesn't care about black people"
...
"I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."
...
"They've given them [the Army] permission to go down and shoot us."

things Kanye West said on some celebrity telethon:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050902.wtelethon0902/BNStory/Entertainment/

I am not the one laying the blame.

[SLCPUNK]

So what are you doing to help?

(Besides getting poopy about what people are saying on tv, that does not count)

[POPmetal]

So what are you doing to help?

This is off topic. Start a new thread if you want to hear people, like yourself, brag about how generous they are. I do good things because I want to, not to show off how altruistic I am.

[SLCPUNK]

I had been focusing my attention on the destruction of a great city, the displacement of countless numbers of innocent people, people dying the the street like dogs because they lack the basic necessities of life, and other trivial details, but this thread helped me see the light.

Popmetal has shown that death and suffering aren't what really matters today. What really matters is that some of the people who are starving to death have inappropriately injected the issue of race into the discussion and a guy with a left wing agenda is blaming Bush for what appears to be a sloppy recovery effort.  We just can't have people talking like that. That's the real tragedy.

In the meantime I am going to go help other human beings: black, white, hispanic, man, woman, left, right, gay, straight, poor....

[SLCPUNK]

[turns on American looney liberal impersonation]

1. First and foremost, as with everything else, George W. Bush. He caused global warming, which is for a fact caused by human activity and not a natural cycle. And as we all know, there were no such big hurricanes throughout all of history until global warming, so global warming clearly played a part in Katrina.

2. The Corporations. They conspired to start Katrina because they stand to gain billions and billions of dollars from rebuilding efforts.  ...  H?A?L?I?B?U?R?T?O?N 

3. Religious right. Don't know how they factor in yet, but I'm sure they're involved.

4. Israel. Their illegal occupation of Palestine pissed off Allah. The hurricane is Allah's punishment of American infidels' illegitimate support for Israel.

[turns off American looney liberal impersonation]


Man, I can't wait for the Michal Moore "documentary" to come out.

This is maybe the lowest of the low. This thread.

You take a human tragedy..and pick a fight with it.

You must be proud of yourself.

[POPmetal]

Popmetal has shown that death and suffering aren't what really matters today. What really matters is that some of the people who are starving to death have inappropriately injected the issue of race into the discussion and a guy with a left wing agenda is blaming Bush for what appears to be a sloppy recovery effort.

I didn't show that, the people pointing fingers are doing that. Funny how lefties like to twist things around.

Kanye West and Jesse Jackson are hardly starving to death.

[SLCPUNK]

Back Pedal boy...fast!

What is great about this thread, is that everybody here will see what a true uncaring jerk you really are towards your fellow man.

Thanks.

[SLCPUNK]

Popmetal has shown that death and suffering aren't what really matters today. What really matters is that some of the people who are starving to death have inappropriately injected the issue of race into the discussion and a guy with a left wing agenda is blaming Bush for what appears to be a sloppy recovery effort.

I didn't show that, the people pointing fingers are doing that. Funny how lefties like to twist things around.

Kanye West and Jesse Jackson are hardly starving to death.

Looks like you need a reading lesson........

[POPmetal]

[turns on American looney liberal impersonation]

1. First and foremost, as with everything else, George W. Bush. He caused global warming, which is for a fact caused by human activity and not a natural cycle. And as we all know, there were no such big hurricanes throughout all of history until global warming, so global warming clearly played a part in Katrina.

2. The Corporations. They conspired to start Katrina because they stand to gain billions and billions of dollars from rebuilding efforts.? ...? H?A?L?I?B?U?R?T?O?N?

3. Religious right. Don't know how they factor in yet, but I'm sure they're involved.

4. Israel. Their illegal occupation of Palestine pissed off Allah. The hurricane is Allah's punishment of American infidels' illegitimate support for Israel.

[turns off American looney liberal impersonation]


Man, I can't wait for the Michal Moore "documentary" to come out.

This is maybe the lowest of the low. This thread.

You take a human tragedy..and pick a fight with it.

You must be proud of yourself.

Boy, seems like I really struck a nerve with you.

And don't you think it's going too far to refer to people like Kanye West and Jesse Jackson as "human tragedy"? I mean, they are sort of awful, but you're exaggerating a little.

[POPmetal]

The Reverand Jesse Jackson blames Bush.

This is so obviously politically motivated. If Bill Clinton was president and the response was exactly the same, we wouldn't be hearing this vitriol from Mr. Jackson. Now is not the time to be political and racial.

Jackson Blasts Bush Over Katrina Aid
Sep 02 3:48 PM US/Eastern
 
By DOUG SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer

BATON ROUGE, La.

Racism is partly to blame for the deadly aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, calling President Bush's response to the disaster "incompetent."

"Today, as the President comes to Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi for his ceremonial trip to look at the victims of the devastation, he would do well to have a plan more significant than a ceremonial tour," Jackson said Friday.

"His whole response is unacceptable."

Bush has acknowledged that the federal response has not been acceptable, but promised that the government would get supplies to survivors and crack down on violence in New Orleans.

Jackson questioned why Bush has not named blacks to top positions in the federal response to the disaster, particularly when the majority of victims remaining stranded in New Orleans are black: "How can blacks be locked out of the leadership, and trapped in the suffering?"

"It is that lack of sensitivity and compassion that represents a kind of incompetence."

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, head of the military task force overseeing operations in the three states, is black. His task force is providing search and rescue, medical help and sending supplies to the three states in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Jackson was in Baton Rouge to take part in a local project using a caravan of buses to pick up people stranded in New Orleans and transport them out. He spoke at a news conference at the state emergency center.

The civil rights leader said the flooding that caused thousands to be trapped inside the city was caused by a lack of federal funding for its levee system and hurricane planning. The resulting tragedy, he said, has largely hit New Orleans' black residents, because they were too poor to evacuate before the storm hit.

"There's a historical indifference to the pain of poor people and black people" in this country, he said.

Jackson also said the news media has "criminalized the people of New Orleans" by focusing on violence in the city.

[SLCPUNK]

I am deeply saddened by the events in New Orleans yes.

I could never imagine being so petty in a time like this.

[Skeba]

There's already a thread about Katrina. Keep it there! And why the fuck does a natural disaster have to be turned into a political fight?