(no subject)

[nolawitch58]

I just finished reading the entries of this website and for the life of me can't figure out where the frothing fundie jerks get off saying that Hurricane Katrina was God's retribution for New Orleans' sinful ways. The vast majority of the entries were about elderly, sick or poor people. Most of the entries contained the phrase "God Bless You" for the help they presumed to receive in retrieving their loved ones. Does that seem to anyone like the godless heathens were being punished for their sins? From what I read, the grandmothers and grandfathers who were too frail to mosey on down to the melee in the Superdome stayed in their homes out of hope, fear and lack of resources to evacuate. Do the heartless wretches think that an 87-year-old man on dialysis is going to hop in a car he hasn't owned for decades and sit in traffic on the I-10 for twelve to fourteen hours to go where? The papers printed the evacuation routes, but failed to list shelter locations.

Over and over, the impression came to me that nobody was in charge and nobody was communicating to the people on the ground (or in the water or on rooves as the case may be). One poor soul had a helicopter pass over four times without rescue after four or five days stranded. Along with devising effective communications systems for first responders, the government needs to ensure that they adequately communicate with people in catastrophe areas. A lot of the anger and looting might have been ameliorated by adequate communications. Go low tech and use walkie-talkies and bullhorns. Cell phone technology was not up to the task. Cell towers were down and nobody could get through. Anyone who has a cell phone could tell you that they are still problemmatical despite the claims of "Can you hear me now" reception being ubiquitous.

When is this country going to wake up and put people in charge who care about everyone, not just their wealthy buddies, again? In aestrearaven's journal, she posted an article about how Gulf Coast companies and workers are being ignored in favor of out-of-state companies with connections to politicians. Those companies are hiring foreign workers instead of locals. The situation is sickening.

Comments

[thewrongcrowd.livejournal.com]

There really isn't any logical explanation... other than seriously bad aim on the part of the All-powerful Dude^TM. I mean, if he was after New Orleans, why screw over Mississippi too? ;)

Frothing fundies, reptilian righties (they of the "they all deserved Katrina 'cause they won't prepared for the apocalypse and/or they're all criminals, oh wait they're not, it's all the fault of the liberal media that we look like asses" idiocy) and moron presidents who want to "help" by making it easier for corporations to ripoff NOians all deserve to have their heads held under swamp water for a decidedly longish period of time.

[nin-wife.livejournal.com]

You heard that from your own brother no less. Somehow the part about those hurricanes eventually passing over northeast Alabama and spinning off tornadoes didn't really count.

sigh

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

These are the same people who will ban/burn a book without ever actually reading it. I guess that Mayan town that got buried under a mud slide a few days ago was a modern-day Sodom, too. And all those Evil Pakistani schoolchildren deserved to be crushed under their schools. (sarcasm, in case my tone didn't carry into the text)

I would really hope that Our Leaders learn from their mistakes and put changes in place that are effective and would actually work, rather than just wheel-spinning shows for the media.

And I wonder if the better governmental response to Rita was due to everyone learning from Katrina or if it was just because it was Texas that was threatened instead of Lousiana and Mississippi.

Yes, if God didn't want bigger hurricanes, He wouldn't have invented global warming.

It's really too bad this isn't a big election year. I think we'd have a major shake up if we picked a new president in a month, instead of a couple of years from now. I'm already designing "Remember Katrina" t-shirts to wear standing outside polling places.

Re: sigh

[icewyche.livejournal.com]

I would really hope that Our Leaders learn from their mistakes and put changes in place that are effective and would actually work, rather than just wheel-spinning shows for the media.

...*snerk * *giggle* BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry. But the odds of Shrub, his friends in Cronyville, and any other elected officials actually learning anything are about those of my suddenly joining the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer - and I'm 37 and (slightly) overweight with bad knees and only two years of ballet. Ain't gonna happen.

Re: sigh

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

yeah, but I *can* hope. And I mean Our Leaders in the generic sense, and am more trying to influence the Universe into picking better when it's time to replace the fuckups. And the odds of you suddenly joining the Bolshoi are still higher than one particular person winning the Mega Millions.

What happened to

[slamlander.livejournal.com]

all the CB radios that the South used to be infested with?

Re: What happened to

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

The CB radios are no doubt still around. Unfortunately, the base units require electricity and the mobile units need to have a vehicle attached to them. Urban areas have fewer CB radio enthusiasts than the rural areas do. Since there was no real master plan for food and water, I doubt there was a master plan for communications either.

You have read "small gods", right...?

[saminz.livejournal.com]

If not, do so soon. Might answer that question nicely :-).

It doesn't make it less sickening, though. Which it clearly is.

And what do you think the ones in Israel said?

[real-skeptic.livejournal.com]

Yes, about the Katrina damage. They declared that it was a punishment for George Bush for supporting prime minister Sharon's disengagement from Gaza.

Which goes to show that every fundie likes to interpret the random fluctuations of fortune and misfortune in the world to suit his own agenda. Why punish George Bush and not Mr. Sharon himself? And if god decided that Sharon is merely Bush's pawn (which would show that god is not too strong on contemporary politics, as Bush would rather have him follow the Road Map), then why not go directly for Bush? Burn the White House? Or maybe hit Texas, his home? No, he goes for NOLA. It's just a misfire. After all he did hurl Rita at Texas, a bit...

Those people are so used to bring the "word of god" to people they stopped noticing long ago that god is not speaking to them, and that no angel gave them certification for understanding god's word. All they understand is the voices in their own head.

[solitary4now.livejournal.com]

Why do the fundies even PRETEND to interpet what their GOD means? How ignorant and egotistical they all are. Nature has always been, and always will be guided by the earths atmosphere...not some hairy guy on a cloud making judgements on its people. btw...my husband and I are both Ham radio operators (please dont compare us with the "cb" clan, as I had to study and pass three electronic tests, which I may say were difficult as hell)and with a little bit of "juice" provided by our cars battery we were able to contact the outside world whenever we wanted to during the melee post hurricane...and thats how we got messages to our families to find out the status of everyone.

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know the difference between Ham radio and CB radio. Ham operators have to know Morse code (as far as I can remember) and CB radio operators don't even have to know how to speak clearly.

The point was that the first responders had no reliable means of communications. They had become entirely too dependent upon cellular technology, which is like Swiss cheese on a good day. After September 11th, part of the recommendations by the 9/11 Committee included dealing with the communications problems. It's been four years and we are no better off today than we were then as evidenced by the problems Katrina wrought.

Sitting over here on this side of the lake, the radio stations that were broadcasting were not giving accurate or useful information. One guy who ended up staying with my neighbor down the street was told by the radio that the Sam's Club on Airline was an evacuation point. He checked out of his motel and walked down there. When he got there, he was told that the Sam's Club was a makeshift morgue and that he'd have to walk all the way to the Superdome for evacuation. Instead, he walked over to my neighbor's house and stayed there. No, the problem is that there was no one in charge AT ALL.

There was little that could be done about the flood waters and the wind. There was plenty that could have been done about evacuating the throngs of people at the dome and Convention Center. There was plenty that could have been done to get them food and water in the interim before evacuation.

[kelli217.livejournal.com]

Hams used to have to know CW (Morse) -- but now there are some limited licenses that don't require it. You still have to know a bit of electronics, and radio propagation theory.

[thewrongcrowd.livejournal.com]

Why do the fundies even PRETEND to interpet what their GOD means? How ignorant and egotistical they all are.

Excuse me? Sorry, couldn't let this slide past. As wrong (wrong, wrong, wrong) as the fundies are, the act of interpreting what their god means isn't one of them. Anyone and everyone who believes in diety/dieties interprets signs, texts, and events in light of their beliefs, whether it be the big bad judeo-christian dude or Osiris/Hecate/etc.etc.

The fundie error is the insistence of imposition of their belief on others, not the belief itself.

People in charge who care? Again?

[jpaganel.livejournal.com]

When was the last time that happened?

I'm not so sure that's possible. One doesn't make it in politics by being caring. The way to the top is by being a bastard willing to walk all over anyone and everyone.

All in all, the best thing to do is to take care of yourself. You can't count on others to do it.

Taking care of oneself

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

That's swell and good for people like me and my friends. What about elderly people who live alone? What about the sick and infirm? What about the poor? I pay taxes so that the government has my proxy to deal with those issues.

If, as you say, we've never had people in charge who care, maybe it's high time we started electing some.

Re: Taking care of oneself

[jpaganel.livejournal.com]

Elderly people shouldn't live alone. Shoving them off to retire thousands of miles away from the nearest relative is not a good thing.

Being poor is not an excuse. Poverty is not a handicap in this instance. I have been poor. I am not rich now. (you've seen my van) If anything, poor people should be better at taking care of themselves due to their experience with living on a shoestring. I do know that's not necessarily the case, but that's largely due to the poor around here having a skewed idea of what basic necessities are.

As an example, I see people on public assistance shopping. They are easy to see here, they pay with blue cards. They buy pop when there is perfectly good water coming out of the faucet. They buy name-brand stuff when generic will do just fine. I see people using foodsamps who wear shoes that cost more than my entire outfit. I'm not saying these folks are scamming the system, I'm saying they have no concept of "basic".

Being poor is no picnic, but neither is it the end of the world.

Sick and infirm I could see needing help. However, there aren't that many.

I don't know that we've never had caring people in charge, I just can't think of any. Well, maybe colonel Hackworth. He genuinely cared for sodiers in his command. Perhaps that's why he didn't make general.

don't worry

[ozanbaba.livejournal.com]

people said some tihng about aguost earthquake, too. i just ignore them :P

Hrm... It makes one wonder, really...

[geminidomino.livejournal.com]

Being a devotee of a certain storm-bringing deity (hint: Bad temper and BIG frelling hammer), I really can't help but ponder at the recent sharp upsurge in nature-wielded pwnage being thrown down on a much deserving humanity.

Strange, really. I'm generally more cement-headed...