Impeach Bush?
Sep. 2nd, 2005 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_vultureYep, it sounds like a good idea, but not for the reasons currently being expressed over the issue of disaster relief in the aftermath of Katrina. As much of a goober as he is, I don't think it's really his fault that relief efforts have been so half-assed. In this case, I'm guessing the fault actually lays with with state and civic disaster planning authorities. After all, it is the job of such agencies to ensure that proper plans and resources (or at least how they can be obtained) are in place to deal with these kind of emergencies and that should have little to do with the president; he has a different set of duties (however poorly he may be performing them) and priorities that carry at the national level. It would sort of be like blaming the president of the Ford corporation for a botched repair job on your Ranger. If Bush is to be held responsible, then that would imply an expectation that he should be micromanaging every aspect of state and civil planning. Isn't that a scary thought!
Amendment: After reading through some of the material provided by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
browlie, I will state that Bush (and his government (and all those who elected it)), are responsible for contributing factors such as funding cuts, diminished manpower, and, arguably, environmental policies that allow for increased global warming. I will even state that Bush has botched his role as a leader in terms of providing needed leadership on the national level.
Still, in my opinion, the mismanagement of resources and lack of planning reflect some critical failures on behalf of local disaster management authorities. For example, if using a stadium for shelter was part of the planning, why wasn't the sufficient provision of essential supplies also part of it? Bush isn't the only one who should be looking for a new job after all this is dealt with; the sheer magnitude of ineptitude goes beyond one man's capacity for stupidity (even Bush's).
Amendment #2: After reading through this post bydancingwriter, particularly the part where Homeland Security declares sole responsibility for handling large scale disasters, I am willingly to cede that the mismanagement is entirely the fault of the federal government.
Amendment: After reading through some of the material provided by
browlie, I will state that Bush (and his government (and all those who elected it)), are responsible for contributing factors such as funding cuts, diminished manpower, and, arguably, environmental policies that allow for increased global warming. I will even state that Bush has botched his role as a leader in terms of providing needed leadership on the national level. Still, in my opinion, the mismanagement of resources and lack of planning reflect some critical failures on behalf of local disaster management authorities. For example, if using a stadium for shelter was part of the planning, why wasn't the sufficient provision of essential supplies also part of it? Bush isn't the only one who should be looking for a new job after all this is dealt with; the sheer magnitude of ineptitude goes beyond one man's capacity for stupidity (even Bush's).
Amendment #2: After reading through this post by
dancingwriter, particularly the part where Homeland Security declares sole responsibility for handling large scale disasters, I am willingly to cede that the mismanagement is entirely the fault of the federal government.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-03 05:12 am (UTC)http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_editorials/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19867_4047143,00.html
You might not be aware that when Clinton was in office and the hurricane hit, he left two days before, flew from overseas to be here and had disaster relief up and running *before* the storm hit.
anyhow I DO think he has enough time for a PHOTO opportunity in the 'battered gold coast" forget the poor blacks of New Orleans.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Um... he isn't worth defending. He is incompetent and it is shameful how a man who is president is too busy on vacation to deal with a situation that is going to cost a STAGGERING amount of money and federal aid to fix... not to mention he had 5 days of warning that this was about to happen and the government could have stepped in to make the disaster less of a disaster. That doesn't leave New Orleans off the hook for responsibility but when many (if not most) of your team (the National Guard) is off fighting a war where they don't belong... it makes it difficult for your disaster plan to work.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-03 05:34 am (UTC)I have spent the day today reading and looking into this. I can't believe what you wrote. Bush IS reponsible. WHO cut the levee funding for the poorest parts of the country where the money was desperately needed? Hmm? The Republicans to pay for the Iraq fiasco. Who keeps lowering the polution regulations that has, directly and indirectly caused the temperature of the gulf of mexico to soaring heights which only enflamed the hurricane? Who was so busy on vacation he couldn't be bothered to DO anything???
WHO FLEW OVER THE disaster and took photos without stopping? BUSH. Who could have, for ONCE, stood up as a noble and determined president and acted like the commander and chief that he is??? *sigh* I have to stop. I'm so riled up I'll never get to sleep... people are living on their rooftops for 5 days and he is telling the people in charge to STOP THE LOOTING???? Who cares about THINGS??? "Stuff" insured... people are DYING...
okay that is the last thing I am going to say.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-03 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-03 05:39 am (UTC)i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-03 04:18 pm (UTC)There is city/state responsibility. But a disaster of this magnitude is a *national* disaster. No one state could possibly deal with the magnitude of the situation. If Mt. Rainer blew tomorrow, no matter how *good* our disaster plan is, and how often we have practiced it, etc. we can't *really* prepare for the devastation caused by such an event. *And* we have funding, etc for such emergencies. New Orleans has its funding cut and it is a poor city. Or should I say it *was* a poor city. We, as a people and a nation, rely on our federal government to step in in a crisis. That is why we have a "National" Guard not a Louisiana Guard and an Oregon Guard. It is a National Guard. Created specifically for this type of situation. I won't go on again about how our National Guard is being used right now, but NO STATE alone could POSSIBLY be expected to have the resources to deal with this type of situation. That goes well beyond a state's capacity to afford and cope with. When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida's coast, the National Guard was ready. With Katrina, our *country* let down those people in New Orleans. OUR COUNTRY. Not just the president, not just the Republicans, but our country. Seeing the outpouring now of support and aid is wonderful and I am proud of the Americans who are involved in the effort to help the people who are sick and dying. New Orleans and that entire area will need help getting back to "normal" for MONTHS. This disaster FAR surpasses the 9/11 tragedy because this covers *thousands* of families, several states and will, on a national level, affect our economy. Wonder if we will go to war with Mother Nature to cover our ineptness this time?
It is my deepest hope that this type of emergency wakes people up who continue to spout off about how wonderful our president is (as our gas prices head toward $5 a gallon in many cities)who insisted that we go to fight a war to 'bring Democracy' to the middle east when everyone knows it was to protect the financial interests of the companies with large amounts of money invested in Oil, etc. in Iraq. The reality is that this war is not only bankrupting our country BUT it is also killing our sons and daughters, preventing our ability to handle national disasters at home, ruining our reputation as a wise and efficient nation *and* destroying our economy (including the price of gas which was the biggest reason we went there in the FIRST PLACE).
I love you dude, but you can not blame a city or even a state for a disaster of this magnitude. This is a national failure, not a failure of a state or even a series of states... no one state, no matter how well designed the disaster plan could have been ready with supplies and manpower to deal with the enormity of the effects of Katrina.
Re: i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-04 11:38 am (UTC)I disagree. I was speaking with a bunch of Jamaicans last evening and they were shaking their heads at the immediate response to Katrina. There was a lot that COULD have been done in advance, as the tiny, relatively impoverished island nation of Jamaica has proven time and time again in similar circumstances.
Even if planning for certain disasters required the assistance of the National Guard, there SHOULD have been plans on how many would be needed and how to implement them. The requests for needed manpower SHOULD have gone in immediately, instead of waiting for the president and his aides to do all the required thinking.
Re: i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-04 11:40 am (UTC)Re: i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-04 12:08 pm (UTC)Re: i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-04 12:13 pm (UTC)Re: i used spell check this time...
Date: 2005-09-04 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 02:19 am (UTC)*smile*
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839943