Help Lizard Breath Save Bush from Hurricane Katrina

So did 911. That is not true. But let's say just for argument's sake that it is. He is a FIGURE head. Figurehead or not, but especially if he is a figurehead, I expect the president to choose his priorities correctly. The scope of 911 clearly escalated with the message he received... anything could have happened next. I would expect my FIGUREHEAD to SET A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT TO DO IN AN EMERGENCY. I put those in caps so you can clearly see how they go together.A leader would immediately excuse himself from the photo op, no he doesn't have to say why, and leave to a place where he can be seen taking charge of the situation. Creating a solid command and control area, so he knows what is going on and can respond at the proper level.I really hate the stock dilemma of sitting like a deer in the headlights, patently cutting himself off from communications, or announcing to the class something that would panic them.In any case, what he was clearly doing was freezing up. Maybe you've never been in an emergency or been around an emergency, but that was the face of a man freezing up under pressure. If he was a figurehead then he just set a really poor example.But of course this is all besides the point anyway. If he really was just a figurehead, why did they bother telling him at all? Your analogy and analysis are only partly true. You are correct that Bush was not needed to pilot planes in, or even give the orders to get them going. Immediate first responders would move without him.The problem was that this was not simply a small isolated incident. The ramifications of this went well beyond what first responders can handle all on their own, or at least far beyond what they should be handling. He needed to be getting info in a timely basis, and getting people notified so that they could prepare for new events which could arise.As I said, as soon as I found out what was happening I began contacting those I knew so that we could all be up to speed. His role as CIC is to do the same damn thing with the military, intel, law enforcement, and emergency communities. They are not all tied together, and in sync with what to do next (or expect could happen).While planes are scrambling what should those others do? How do you get them up to speed so that you know they are up to speed and making the proper preps?It isn't even so much that he had to be giving orders, as much as he should have been interested in creating a communications structure and getting up to date info (rather than waiting for aides to interrupt his photo op). That is a different subject altogether. And he did show his intelligence as well as backbone. He did not have the nerve or the common sense to act as a leader during an emerging national crisis. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a Nationwide "structure" which responds and stays coordinated at that level to a surprise attack from an enemy. Supposedly DHS was designed to start creating such a structure. At that time, and clearly even today, we have no such structure.Some agencies cannot even activate without presidential orders.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Tal, what about this, which you failed to address: link

How about this latest entry? Bush signs exec order so that people hired to clean up and rebuild in those areas can be paid less than the prevailing wage. One wonders if there will be a cap on the amount of profit allowed to any of these contracting orgnizations?

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Wow - I'm just stunned by that. Care to have a wager on the answer?

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I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Chertoff booted Brownie from his post in NOLA.He's been replaced by a general, I think.

i agree, this would have been better. no, agreed. what would an appropriate response time be? at that time, supposedly, fema was that structures. of course, we're seeing now how vastly inept they are at actually coordinating state, local, and federal actions in times of crisis -- and how slow THEIR response is.

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אָרַח

dear god, wtf.

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אָרַח

Guess Bush squeezed out a Brownie?

omg. i couldn't believe that. so i checked.it's accurate. that is downright scary.added by edit:

quote:

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On Monday, Aug 29, Bush issued another declaration, which again declares "a major disaster in the State of Louisiana," and this time does include all the coastal and NO-area parishes. But the specifics of this declaration deals only with making federal relief funds available to individuals and state and local governments, not coordinating relief efforts.

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Chris Floyd - Empire Burlesque - High Crimes and Low Comedy in the American Imperium

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This message has been edited by arachnophilia, 09-09-2005 06:58 PM

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אָרַח

quote:

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On Friday, Brown, who became director of FEMA in 2003, was relieved of his duties handling the Katrina response and was replaced in that role by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen.

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Page not found | TIMEof course, he probably deserves a little worse than that, but what can you do.(also, the clip of a protester telling cheney "go f--- yourself" on national live televsion was kinda cool)

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אָרַח

It's good to know that Fox News has reported that things aren't that bad. Fatalities in New Orleans may not be the 10,000 possible.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

one can only hope that's true.it's not exactly a fair tradeoff by any means, but i'm glad people are looking into bush's cronyism and fraudulent appointment practices regarding vastly underqualified officials (coughcoughrobertscough)

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אָרַח

you know, for some reason "relieved of duties" sounded like "fired" to me. but apparently they're just sending him back to washington.this dude needs to lose his job, at the very least.

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אָרַח

"A second plane has hit the world trade center"...(clocks starts)...1-5 seconds... 1000s potentially dead, could that be an accident? hell no. Terrorism or war.6-30 seconds... If this is terrorism or war then more things might be coming including international strikes (assets overseas as well as other nations).31-50 seconds... This could even include NBC type attacks, and perhaps already has.51-60 seconds... I need to know wtf is actually going on and wake a lot of people up in case they haven't heard.1 min 1 sec- 1min 20 sec... Stand up and look for opening within three seconds, if none break in. Say to the class "I'm sorry everyone, I was glad to meet you today, but some urgent matters have come up that I have to attend to personally", then leave.Max time 1min 20 sec. Take out a stopwatch and time that. You will see how long that actually is. Next put your hand on a very hot object and time 1 min 20 secs. You will see how long, how much can go through your mind, during a period of stress.You mentioned reflexes. The reaction to a realization of an attack on the US, ought to be about as reflexive as setting your hand on a hot piece of metal. Maybe not for everyone, but for a leader, especially the president, it should be. When an alarm bell rings on a ship or a fire station or etc, the proper response is to immediately move to where you are needed, and for leadership that is to a position of central command.One might also add that what he did in the following moments (after the seven minutes) did nothing but perhaps inspire panic and lack of control, as crash pointed out.There simply is no excuse for what happened by anyone willing to call a spade a spade. No matter what wonderful qualities this man may have, leadership in a crisis is not one of them.(AbE: I should note that the time ranges above were max times. If I had been the president, as soon as I heard the first plane had hit the WTC (if I knew it was a passenger plane) I would have cancelled. If I had continued, as soon as I was told a second plane hit the WTC, regardless of passenger or not, I would have immediately stood and said what I stated above... before the rest of the thoughts played out. For me any emergency of such a graphic nature would demand my immediate attention, rather than a photo op. The fact that they had to interrupt the photo op to tell me this news, means I should be following them back out of the room. But I realize that could just be me, since I am a natural news junkie.)This message has been edited by holmes, 09-10-2005 04:23 AM

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

here is a link to the Hurricane Pam exercise conducted by FEMA. Please note the date on the press release.We could have and should have been ready.AbE:More news. Date:Sunday, July 25, 2004source:Fema.govSo Michael Brown was aware of the problem AND of what would have been needed as well as specifics of the resources available. In addition, this was one of his specific areas of responsibility.This message has been edited by jar, 09-10-2005 01:14 PM

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion