[Rhodes22-list] Rummies observation

[brad haslett]

Bill,

I do need some sleep.  Enjoy your sail.  Believe it or
not, China has DSL and I read the same newspapers
everyone else did.  Hillary today called for a Katrina
commission to investigate the Federal response.  That
is a wonderful idea.  Perhaps we should finish
collecting corpses and feeding the homeless before we
start, but a great idea all the same.  I'm willing to
bet you right now, this week, well before the Hillary
report is published, that my numbers are correct to
within +/- ten percent and yours are not.  Let's make
it $1000 just so it's interesting.  Here's my
position.

As of 8/31/05 The Louisiana Army National Guard and
Reserve had 3,748 members on active duty (about 3,500
from the 256th Infantry Brigade in Iraq).  That leaves
about 8,000 available for disaster relief including
the 225th Engineer Group.  Now the 256th does have
some nice toys: M1 Abrams tanks, M2  Bradleys, and
M109 Paladin howitzers.  What they would use that
equipment for in a hurricane I'm not sure but it
wasn't available, all in Iraq. 

Go back and read the quote you posted from the mayor
of NO. He said he needed busses.  They're right where
you left them Mr. Mayor, underwater now, all the city
municipal busess, school busses, all of them.

Bill, this was a Cat 4/5 hurricane that hit a city
that lies below sea level that is only protected to a
Cat 3 level.  Every sane and able person left town. 
The mayor and the governor had the same 72 hours to
get everyone out of town as everyone else did. They
had a plan on the shelf but didn't use it. I was in
China for chrissakes and knew about it. If you and
your Micheal Moore buddies continue to milk this for
political gain it will blow up in your face.  

Here is something we all can do, write a check to a
relief organization.  We're in this together folks. 
If the Feds are all at fault, don't vote for their
leader next time.  In the meantime, we've got a lot of
work to do!

Brad


--- Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> 
> Get some sleep.
> 
> Neither my numbers nor my facts are off.  I don't
> know who's making up 
> the "facts" you're quoting, but they don't comport
> with what really 
> happened while you were away.
> 
> Ed said other Governors were prepared to send troops
> but the Governor of 
> Louisiana didn't request them.  T'aint so. 
> Requested.  Washington lost 
> the paper work--they couldn't be moved without
> Federal approval.
> 
> I believe you were still in China when, according to
> the Mayor of NO 
> Bush didn't help.  Here are his contemporaneous
> words:
> 
> "They don't have a clue what's going on down
> there...They flew down here 
> one time two days after the doggone event was over
> with TV cameras, AP 
> reporters, all kind of goddamn - excuse my French
> everybody in America, 
> but I am pissed."
> 
> "I need reinforcements. I need troops, man. I need
> 500 buses, man--Now 
> get off your asses and fix this. Let's do something
> and let's fix the 
> biggest goddam crisis in the history of this
> country."
> 
> "We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickety
> split. After 9/11 we 
> gave the president unauthorized powers, lickety
> split to help New York 
> and other places. You mean to tell me that a place
> where most of your 
> oil is coming through ... that we can't figure out a
> way to authorize 
> the resources that we need."
> 
> New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Radio Interview --
> Sept. 1, 2005
> 
> 
> According to the Mayor this is what he told Bush:
> 
> "Man, this is a mess, and I am not getting the
> resources I need. I need 
> help, and if I don't get the help I need this city
> is going to blow up 
> and this is going to be a national disgrace."
> 
> Federal aid started only after this conversation.
> 
> According to Louisiana Senator Landrieu:
> 
> "I have been with Michael Brown since the minute he
> landed in this 
> center," Ms. Landrieu said Friday in Baton Rouge,
> referring to the 
> director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
> "and I have been 
> telling him from the moment he arrived about the
> urgency of the situation."
> 
> But, she said, "I just have to tell you that he had
> a difficult time 
> understanding the enormity of the task before us."
> 
> This is Friday!!!!
> 
> First we heard from the people who flew from all
> over the country on a 
> moment's notice to "save the life" of Terri Schiavo
> telling us not to 
> politicize tragedy.  Now we've got the Swift Boat
> Fact Rewrite Team 
> rushing in to save the day.
> 
> I'm going sailing.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> 
> 
> brad haslett wrote:
> 
> >Bill,
> >
> >Where to begin?  Your numbers are off, way off. The
> >governor of Lousiana doesn't need permission from
> >ANYONE to commit her troops, some 8000 at home into
> >action.  The order to evacuate the city of NO came
> >after Bush personally pleaded with the mayor and
> >governor to do so (they have phones in Crawford,
> just
> >like Martha's Vineyard).  Blah, Blah, Blah. There
> is
> >plenty of blame to go around:  W, the Feds, etc. 
> But
> >where the hell was the local government, first
> >responders, etc?  Have you read the article
> published
> >August 18, 2005 that on the first day of school in
> NO
> >they didn't know how to get in contact with all the
> >school bus drivers or how many employees the school
> >district had?  What did Rudy do on 9/11 with no
> notice
> >versus these people who had days notice?  Rather
> than
> >try and improve on this theme, I'll post a blogger
> who
> >has probably written the best obvervation yet.  
> >
> >Brad
> >
> >Here it is, it is quite lengthy but worth it. 
> Enjoy
> >
> >TRIBES
> >(Folks, there's R-rated language throughout this
> >thing. Normally I can edit it out; this time, not
> so
> >much. I may do so later, but now I want to leave it
> as
> >I wrote it.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >I'm generally an optimist, and it's been my
> pleasure
> >to be able to write mostly about the good and the
> >noble things in our lives. But the events in the
> Gulf
> >- of Mexico - have brought to a head a summer and a
> >year that has been getting progressively uglier and
> >more painful to watch. 
> >
> >Who can not see the way the country has changed,
> not
> >since 9/11, but before that - since the 2000
> election?
> >Who cannot feel the split, the division, that rips
> >like a shredding sail on a broken mast, canvas
> tearing
> >like the sound of musketry, as the rigging falls to
> >the deck?
> >
> >This breaks my heart. It just breaks my heart into
> >little pieces. I have said less and less as I see
> more
> >and more, because deep in my core I still don't
> want
> >to believe that some Americans could willfully and
> >consistently do such destructive things out of such
> >petty and base motivations, things which make in
> time
> >will make the horrors of New Orleans look like a
> flea
> >circus in a small tent, with the much larger
> carnival
> >raging unseen in the background. 
> >
> >I've taken sides in these essays, obviously -
> that's
> >what I do. But I have never, until now, felt the
> need
> >to take the gloves off and really let fly. I always
> >feared I would regret it, later. I still do. Only
> now,
> >I fear I will regret it worse if I do not. 
> >
> >So now we must look at Tribes.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Now please pay attention to this, because I'm not
> >going to state it again, and if you don't hear it
> now
> >much mischief will follow:
> >
> >I believe that the human animal - the raw material
> of
> >our physical bodies - is essentially
> interchangeable.
> 
=== message truncated ===



	
		
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