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My fixation with Nola, while still with the disaster porn has changed back into my straightforward hatred of the government. I mean, most of the pics I've seen lately have been about the people, not the water, and I'm not looking for people porn, cause I can get that at Toys in Babeland.
So I hate the government (still) and I know that's a total shock to everyone.
But here's the BEST thing EVER that I have JUST thought of. The next Republican president isn't going to be able to run on the strength of Nola the way Bush 04 did on 9/11. Whether, you know, Condoleeza Rice could be doing something or not, her shoe-shopping and catching of Spamalot was inappropriate at best. Bush's photo-op with McCain was equally inappropriate, as was his refusal to cut his vacation (at near-record levels) short until two days after the hurricane, a day after the flooding started. I have no idea what the chain of command for dispatching the National Guard is - I've never had to know. But whether someone doing something else (like shopping or playing guitar) could be doing it doesn't matter.
What matters is that they appear to be concerned. Let's face it, that's all they have to do. They have to respond in the way that America wants them to, and that's quickly, with concern. If Bush and Co weren't perceived as being in the mode of screwing around about this for the last few days, they could say that it's not possible to get X to Nola because of Y and that would be acceptable to most people, as long as Y is like, the road isn't there, or the looters are making this difficult until the city is secure.
Our leaders are not leading, and that is what they must appear to do, even if they don't do it. When 9/11 happened, there were two advantages - one was that it was one area, controlled ultimately by one mayor, Giuliani, and he rose to the challenge. Another was that it was, all in all, a small area. Not a whole lot of peripheral destruction. The streets remained essentially clear, and most of the city was functional. Bush? Not really a whole lot to do with it, formally speaking.
But he appeared to have a lot to do with it. And that made a difference in his personal standing in the polls.
Bear in mind, I'm not slamming the governors and mayors on the scene in Nola. I'm simply saying that the area of destruction in 9/11 was, comparatively, a LOT smaller than this is. And there was one, overriding image we all had - the towers. The other two flights didn't matter at all. The towers, under the jurisdiction of two people, the governor of NY and the mayor of NYC, were the image that we had.
This is proving how badly prepared we are to react to an emergency situation. This is proving that we are not, as a nation, any more set up to handle a national disaster than Bangladesh, and in fact, less so. We expect that there is a standard of living to be maintained - it is not. Survival is at the basic level right now.
9/11 was easy, compared to this. And part of that was because we had an enemy to point to. This, there is no enemy. This is simply a natural disaster. Bin Laden didn't do it, Qaddafi didn't do it, no one did it.
Except God, if you believe in Him. But even if he did it, it wasn't because this country doesn't gas gays or minorities or left-handed Alaskan pipefitters.
At any rate. This proves, as I say, that we are badly prepared to handle a true emergency in this country. Almost everyone who died in 9/11 was dead within, what, eight hours of the crashes, but the death toll is still rising for Nola - that's what I consider a true disaster. The death toll doesn't stabilise quickly, but goes up.
And, as so many people have already pointed out, Nero is fiddling while Rome burns.
At least the next president isn't going to get in by supporting this cabinet. This is Elias Madero all over again, in terms of distancing oneself from the actions of one's predecessor, only worse. The next president isn't going to be elected on these bodies, not if they agree with what this administration has done.
I hope that we don't let them forget this one. They don't deserve to be let off the hook for this.
You know, I feel guilty that I didn't have this response to last year's tsunami. I feel guilty that I didn't expect my government to respond well and when they didn't it didn't surprise me.
Sometimes, I need to take off the privileged-American glasses too, I guess.
So I hate the government (still) and I know that's a total shock to everyone.
But here's the BEST thing EVER that I have JUST thought of. The next Republican president isn't going to be able to run on the strength of Nola the way Bush 04 did on 9/11. Whether, you know, Condoleeza Rice could be doing something or not, her shoe-shopping and catching of Spamalot was inappropriate at best. Bush's photo-op with McCain was equally inappropriate, as was his refusal to cut his vacation (at near-record levels) short until two days after the hurricane, a day after the flooding started. I have no idea what the chain of command for dispatching the National Guard is - I've never had to know. But whether someone doing something else (like shopping or playing guitar) could be doing it doesn't matter.
What matters is that they appear to be concerned. Let's face it, that's all they have to do. They have to respond in the way that America wants them to, and that's quickly, with concern. If Bush and Co weren't perceived as being in the mode of screwing around about this for the last few days, they could say that it's not possible to get X to Nola because of Y and that would be acceptable to most people, as long as Y is like, the road isn't there, or the looters are making this difficult until the city is secure.
Our leaders are not leading, and that is what they must appear to do, even if they don't do it. When 9/11 happened, there were two advantages - one was that it was one area, controlled ultimately by one mayor, Giuliani, and he rose to the challenge. Another was that it was, all in all, a small area. Not a whole lot of peripheral destruction. The streets remained essentially clear, and most of the city was functional. Bush? Not really a whole lot to do with it, formally speaking.
But he appeared to have a lot to do with it. And that made a difference in his personal standing in the polls.
Bear in mind, I'm not slamming the governors and mayors on the scene in Nola. I'm simply saying that the area of destruction in 9/11 was, comparatively, a LOT smaller than this is. And there was one, overriding image we all had - the towers. The other two flights didn't matter at all. The towers, under the jurisdiction of two people, the governor of NY and the mayor of NYC, were the image that we had.
This is proving how badly prepared we are to react to an emergency situation. This is proving that we are not, as a nation, any more set up to handle a national disaster than Bangladesh, and in fact, less so. We expect that there is a standard of living to be maintained - it is not. Survival is at the basic level right now.
9/11 was easy, compared to this. And part of that was because we had an enemy to point to. This, there is no enemy. This is simply a natural disaster. Bin Laden didn't do it, Qaddafi didn't do it, no one did it.
Except God, if you believe in Him. But even if he did it, it wasn't because this country doesn't gas gays or minorities or left-handed Alaskan pipefitters.
At any rate. This proves, as I say, that we are badly prepared to handle a true emergency in this country. Almost everyone who died in 9/11 was dead within, what, eight hours of the crashes, but the death toll is still rising for Nola - that's what I consider a true disaster. The death toll doesn't stabilise quickly, but goes up.
And, as so many people have already pointed out, Nero is fiddling while Rome burns.
At least the next president isn't going to get in by supporting this cabinet. This is Elias Madero all over again, in terms of distancing oneself from the actions of one's predecessor, only worse. The next president isn't going to be elected on these bodies, not if they agree with what this administration has done.
I hope that we don't let them forget this one. They don't deserve to be let off the hook for this.
You know, I feel guilty that I didn't have this response to last year's tsunami. I feel guilty that I didn't expect my government to respond well and when they didn't it didn't surprise me.
Sometimes, I need to take off the privileged-American glasses too, I guess.
