I am still sickened by the fingerpointing, the wailing and the attempt by so many to make the hurricane a political issue. Have you no shame? Have you no sense of propriety. It is disheartening to see the insistence on creating more divisiveness among us.
Chrenkoff has a list of quotes that should make you ill.
Let me be clear about some things. I am an independent because I don't trust either party anymore to act altruistically, if they ever did. I cross between party lines on multiple issues.
I think that we need to get a full report on how this happened but now is not the time. Now is the time to put aside petty partisan politics and try to pull it together to help our fellow man.
I also think that whenever the report on accountability is issued it should be a transparent process and be a global view of how things came about. That means that we need to focus on all levels of gov't, local, state and federal and their roles.
I want to know what plan the city of New Orleans had for dealing with emergencies and the same for state and federal. I want to see which presidents kicked the funding for the levees. Are Carter, Clinton and Bush the only ones? I sincerely doubt it.
This is like an onion in that it has many layers. I want to know the answers and I want to know what the other cities in this country have learned from this and 911.
And most of all I don't want to feel like if an emergency happens I have to wait for the Federal gov't to come riding to the rescue. I want to be comfortable that my city has a plan in place and that the Feds are coming in to help as a second or third line of defense, not the first.
10 comments:
Yes, yes, yes. Valid points! This is not the time for partisan politics, it is the time to band together and help our fellow man.
While i agree that an ecological catastrophe should not be politicised, it should be a reminder that although a hurricane might not be caused by global warming, the intensity does. The warming of the oceans multiplies the force of the hurricane by atleast 2 in the earth's current condition. If greenhouse gases continues to be emitted as they are today, then in this century there will be hurricanes with such propensity that they can awash entire continents.
This is so sad. I was especially angry about people who are ready to let others die because of their (perceived) political affiliation. I thought we were supposed to be one country! : (
Shmata Queen,
Agreed.
Z,
I am not so sure that I agree or disagree. Your premise sounds like it makes sense, but they have found cyclical patterns in hurricanes that suggest it could be otherwise.
Irina,
It really is sad.
Zeruel, check your history books, catastrophic hurricanes are not new things, in the early 20th century there were many storms that caused this type of damage.
Galveston Hurricane of 1900--The deadliest natural disaster in United States History, this Category Four Hurricane moved through Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico before slamming ashore in Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900 killing 6,000 people.
Major Hurricane of September, 1933--1933 was a very active year for tropical storms and hurricanes with 21 named storms, and 10 of them becoming hurricanes. In addition to the Great Chesapeake Hurricane of 1933, the Mid-Atlantic was hit by another hurricane almost exactly a month to the day later when a Category Three storm emerged from a disturbance in the Bahamas, and came up the coast to make landfall at Cape Lookout, North Carolina. The storm ended up causing about a fraction of the damage caused by the Chesapeake Bay storm. Only about 2,000 telephones were knocked out by the storm, and only two people died in Virginia.
Edit Note: (that's TWENTY ONE NAMED STORMS!)
Hurricane King--Another powerful storm in 1950, this particular hurricane affected the Miami area in October of that year. It was a compact, but very powerful hurricane much like Hurricane Andrew. It only carved a path of destruction some 7 to 10 miles wide, but had wind gusts as high as 150 mph, minimum pressure of 28.20 inches of Hg., and a storm surge of 19.3 feet.
Edit Note: As large as ANDREW, the (now) second worst storm we had. With a storm surge of 19 feet!
See more here: http://www.hurricaneville.com/historic.html
Global Warming IS a serious thing, and needs to be addressed properly, but it's not the end of answer to every present natural disaster.
One last thing about Hurricane King, in 1950 when it hit Miami, it practically wiped Miami off the map, they had to completely rebuild many areas there.
Chaim,
Thanks for that, it was interesting.
Good post. I linked it on one of mine (stole Rubin's idea)
Hi Ezzie,
Thanks for stopping by. Have a good Shabbos.
[quote]Zeruel, check your history books, catastrophic hurricanes are not new things, in the early 20th century there were many storms that caused this type of damage.[/quote]
Like i said, global warming might not cause hurricanes, it does increase their intensities. Historic exceptions notwithstanding.
See here: http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~tk/glob_warm_hurr.html
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