Theos-Talk Archives (September 2005 Message tt00098)

Cass

I sent an email to Daniel a few back (about ten) that tells what I know about the water issue.

FEMA the disaster relief arm of the federal government is not set up to send the main body of disaster relief ground men to the area, but to use the state and local crews and coordinating with them. At least as far as I can understand it. The trouble with this is that the hurricane and flood pretty much destroyed the infrastructure at the state and local levels. The Wall Street Journal editorial board on its PBS show exhibited the report of what to do in case of precisely in this kind of disaster that was never read. Plus FEMA was recently reorganized from its independent status to the Department of Homeland Security. It was an organizational disaster. This has been slowly emerging in the last few days. 

In the United States the two main parties have taken stances that represent a view and policy that are clearly defined ( the Right and the Left ). Are you familiar with officials and individuals who "parrot" the party line? There is a great deal of that on the theos-talk list. You can fairly accurately label them. Hence Daniel comments about the Fox network (which I seldom watch). He talks about a hypothetical situation which did not exist in New Orleans. Most of the deaths occurred because the locals didn't strain and boil the water. Disease claimed most of those that were water related. There were no reported deaths from starvation to come across my computer screen. They were of course thirsty and hungry when help arrived. 

David B.
-------------- Original message -------------- 

> Totally agree Daniel. A few truths have to be faced if they are going to learn 
> from this mistake. I can't help thinking of the Titanic and hoping that another 
> iceberg is not on the way. 
> Cass 
> 
> "Daniel H. Caldwell" wrote: 
> David, 
> 
> You wrote: 
> 
> "It is indeed possible to be seriously dehydrated in 3 to 5 days, 
> but that is not what I or the list member wrote. This called the a 
> straw man argument. And your insinuations misrepresent me. A 
> libertarian conservative shares many of the social positions of the 
> left, but does not support the welfare state." 
> 
> and 
> 
> Bart, 
> 
> You wrote: 
> 
> "And here is a more balanced version, from a REAL newspaper (with 
> editors and fact checking and non-anonymous authors and all that 
> other stuff which the left hates so much): " 
> 
> David and Bart, 
> 
> I'm not exactly sure why both of you are bringing up "the left". 
> 
> My concern and I believe probably the concern of alot of people 
> (whether on the left, right, the middle or whereever) was 
> for the victims of the flood (especially babies, children, the 
> elderly and the sick) going 3 to 5 days WITHOUT WATER in the humid 
> heat of New Orleans. I won't even mention the food issue.... 
> 
> 3 to 5 days WITHOUT WATER in the humid heat obviously 
> leads to a great deal of suffering, dehydration, heat exhaustion, 
> heat strokes and even death. 
> 
> AT THE VERY MINIMUM authorities should have known that there were 
> concentrations of thousands of people in THREE specific locations: 
> 
> 1. the Superdome 
> 2. the Convention Center 
> 3. on the freeway (as reported by Fox News) 
> 
> and that those 3 groups desparately needed at least water if not 
> food and medical attention. 
> 
> The horrible situation for these groups even lead two reporters on 
> Fox News being visibly shaken and upset with the terrible plight of 
> these people. 
> 
> THE QUESTION people across America are asking and expecting answers 
> to is why couldn't either state and local officials, the National 
> Guard, FEMA, the Red Cross or _____________ (fill in the blank) 
> provide at least water if not some food to these three known groups 
> of flood victims without waiting 3 to 5 days to do so?????? 
> 
> I don't see this as an issue only for "the left" but for all caring, 
> decent human beings. 
> 
> Daniel 
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> Yahoo! Groups Links 
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> --------------------------------- 
> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. 
> 
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> Yahoo! Groups Links 
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