Katrina fall-out

The Gov. of LA says 40,000 guardsmen will go into New Orleans to restore
order. Now they go in.....those 40,000 would have made a huge difference.
With the Motor T Division of water buffalos and the presence of those
troops, just about all of the foolishness of getting 10 pairs of Nikes could
have been avoided.
And did you hear the Congressional Black Caucus today???? Of course they
make everything seem like it's just white people letting black people die.
They should be ashamed of themselves. What the Black Caucus leadership needs
to be doing is the same thing that Jesse and Al and the NAACP need to be
doing...calling for their brothers and sisters to act like human beings and
help each other instead of acting like wild animals. When you act like trash
you will be treated like trash no matter what your skin color.

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:qA0Se.10485$7f5.5209@okepread01...

"Darrel Toepfer" wrote in message
...
Bob Noel wrote:

The National Guard is and they have yet to arrive in any quantity.

Talk to the state or governer. I was under the impression that Martin
was whining about the feds.

A good portion of the LA-NG is in Iraq...

Yes they are I think the number is about 35%. What's your point? The 65%
that is available is under the command of the Gov. of Louisiana.

Mike Rapoport wrote in message ...
In the case of NO, the city is a vital deepwater port at the mouth of a
huge
river that accesses a huge portion of the country. It pretty much has to
be
where it is.

Some sort of port, certainly, but maybe not the whole city as it has
existed.

- Rick

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

A good portion of the LA-NG is in Iraq...

Yes they are I think the number is about 35%. What's your point? The 65%
that is available is under the command of the Gov. of Louisiana.

They took the equipment with them, not just themselves...

"Darrel Toepfer" wrote in message
...
Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

A good portion of the LA-NG is in Iraq...

Yes they are I think the number is about 35%. What's your point? The 65%
that is available is under the command of the Gov. of Louisiana.

They took the equipment with them, not just themselves...

Actually quite a bit of the equipment they are using was there when they got
their and had been forward deployed and is not LA-NG equipment. But yes some
of the equipment is there maybe even a lot of LA-NG equipment is there.

What do you think that equipment was built for? While the NG is a great
disaster relief organization that is not its primary reason for being and
neither is giving kids a way to make extra money for college.

When it comes to spending money, the Federal government always has a
plan for everything. Some plans are more real than others. The President
proposes and the Congress disposes so apparently the Louisiana
Congressional delegation couldn't or wouldn't make the case. It would be
interesting to where else in Louisiana the Corps has been spending money
recently.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
There was a plan to improve the whole system including raising the
levees to withstand a Cat 5


Mike
MU-2

"sfb" wrote in message
news:PaRRe.8100$__1.4958@trnddc07...
The Corps of Engineers budget is a long running smoke and mirrors
political game where the administration goes low so the
Congresscritters can get the credit for adding stuff the local folks
want. The Corps doesn't think the improvements would have made a
difference as Katrina drove water over the top of the levees
undermining the dry side.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
news:uwQRe.3684

If all the money for the Corps of Engineers wasn't sent to Iraq, the
infrastructure around New Orleans could have been improved to the
point where most people could go home now. Smaller hurricanes
wouldn't require any evacuation. Supposedly the cost was under $1B.

Mike
MU-2

Ash Wyllie wrote:

while (Federal Flood Insurance)
{
Step One: Build house on beach
Step Two: Watch house swallowed by sea.
Step Three: Rebuild?
}

Are you aware that the payouts of that program are paid for by the premiums
(just as with my private insurance policy)?

Are you aware that the Feds force homeowners to build to flood-resistant
standards in order to qualify?

Are you aware that the Federal Flood Insurance program has significantly
*reduced* the cost of disaster relief (which *is* paid for via taxes)?

http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/consum...dinsurance.htm

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Dylan Smith wrote:

If the Federal Government is supposed to have so little involvement,
what's the point of Louisiana being a state of the United States?

It keeps the government of the United States from sending the army in to kill
people and burn cities.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

And the last time some states decided not be in the United States the
President started federal income tax to pay for the war. Also had a
wonderful little draft going where the rich fellows could pay 300 bucks and
send a poor guy in his place. But it's a long story....

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:2M1Se.128$tx.15@trndny02...
Dylan Smith wrote:

If the Federal Government is supposed to have so little involvement,
what's the point of Louisiana being a state of the United States?

It keeps the government of the United States from sending the army in to
kill people and burn cities.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

What do you think that equipment was built for? While the NG is a great
disaster relief organization that is not its primary reason for being and
neither is giving kids a way to make extra money for college.

There isn't alot of LA-NG equipment to start with. There is nothing here
but a building at present/prior to Katrina. Probably alot of equipment
got sent back to Ft. Polk or is on loan for forward deployment long ago.
We used to have a personal carrier and a duece, thats about it and I
haven't seen those for several years...

During Lili Opelousas municipal took all the available NG generators,
just because they called for them first, there was no rationing or
rational behind it. The local water company burned up 2 of their 3 or
so, probably due to poor maintenance and nobody monitoring them. We
squeeked by without having to boil water, other surrounding areas
weren't so lucky. Not having A/C for a week, at least being able to
shower 2 or 3 times a day made is somewhat more bearable...

Deployment of the NG here was primarily cleanup and security. They
cleaned up the debris from the streets, cleared limbs from homes of
those that couldn't afford a professional and brought it to the burn
basin. My family cooked an entire meal (fried turkey) for the group
(75+) that was sent here and the city workers assisting them, several
others/organizations did as well over a week or so period. They were
quite appreciative of a missed MRE...

Bringing back a sense of normality does alot for the moral of a
community that has been devastated. I kneaux it allowed ours to bounce
back pretty quickly...

sfb wrote:

It would be interesting to where else in Louisiana the Corps has been
spending money recently.

Dredging, lots of dredging always going on, gotta keep the commerce
flowing... Lots of concern over the Old River structure in years past.
If it failed it could have been nearly or more catastrofic than Katrina.
The foundations of it have been the main cause, if a sink hole would
occur and wash under it...