[jsalcedo]

I don't know who this old boy is - but he's had the guts to say what
most of us are thinking AND sign his name to it.


School of Hard Knocks


If people haven't been learning the lessons from Katrina that they
absolutely need to learn, then they haven't been paying attention.

1. On Friday evening the National Weather Service predicted the path of
the storm heading towards New Orleans. By Saturday morning, it was
clear that the storm was growing in strength and it was suggested that
people begin evacuating.

2. By Saturday afternoon it was clear that Katrina was growing in
strength. The Mayor of New Orleans appeared on TV weepy and sad,
expressing concern about what could happen in New Orleans.

3. Sunday morning it was obvious that the storm would hit as a Category
4 or 5.

4. On Sunday the Governor of Louisiana was crying and worried about the
state and asked the rest of us to pray for Louisiana.

5. Sunday at 2:00 PM a mandatory evacuation was ordered.


Now let's look at what has happened so far and what we know after the
fact:


1. 10% of New Orleans was below the poverty level. It would have been
obvious (and was obvious) that these people had no means to leave the
city themselves.

2. Not a single hospital, faced with mandatory evacuation orders, was
moved. We've not heard of a SINGLE airlift of patients out of hospitals
in the direct path of the storm, moved to areas outside of the impact
zone.

3. Not a single school, public, or charter bus left the city carrying
people unable to find the means of leaving on their own.


What should happen now:


1. There are hundreds of buses and cars under water in New Orleans and
elsewhere in the regions. The Mayor of New Orleans should be brought up
on criminal negligence charges.

2. The people should understand that you NEVER elect a sympathetic
social worker type to public office. If an individual hasn't served in
the military or in an equivalent capacity of managing huge
infrastructures and people, they have no business running a government.

3. The Governor of Louisiana should be brought up on criminal negligence
charges--she did not call up the National Guard, order a single
evacuation plan, or organize shelters until AFTER the disaster hit. She,
a babbling idiot, should spend the rest of her days behind bars,
watching the death and destruction on a continuous loop in her jail
cell.


What people should have learned by now:


When the government says "leave" you LEAVE!

You have ready: 3 days of water and food, a "grab and go" bag that
contains clothing, toiletries, and cash to get you where you will be
safe.

If it takes you more than 15 minutes to evacuate, you're doing it
wrong and are not sufficiently prepared. If you have more time, you
should be able to evacuate with three weeks of supplies.


Every person in your family over the age of about 12 should be trained
in the use of firearms. If you live in an area that doesn't allow you to
own firearms, MOVE. You should have in your possession a weapon for
every member of the family. That includes arming your 12 year old
daughter. Because SHE may become separated from you and will need the
means of defending herself.


You must have an evacuation plan. Discuss with family every possible
need to evacuate--what conditions might require you to leave. Plan the
routes, what you'll take, a location to meet up if you are separated,
etc. etc.
Do not leave your neighborhood with an empty seat in your car or truck.
Make sure you have filled that seat with one of your neighbors. Be
prepared to take care of yourself for AT LEAST 3 days.


Expect civil unrest and looting. If you value your property more than
the lives of your family, YOU WILL DIE.

I repeat: IF YOU VALUE YOUR PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS
MORE THAN YOUR LIFE OR THE LIFE OF YOUR LOVED ONES, YOU
WILL DIE.


The Federal Government is not going to be able to help you. As with ALL
law enforcement matters and catastrophes, they only come for the clean
up. They are not going to help you until AFTER the catastrophe has
occurred.

If I hear one more person making a statement that begins with "The
President of the United States should..." I am going to punch him in the
nose, kick him in the balls, or knock them over the head with a mallet.
This is NOT a Federal matter. There is no way that anyone is capable of
doing anything for AT LEAST three days, more likely three weeks.


The Federal Government is not the authority in charge here. The STATE
and LOCAL governments are in charge. If the people you've been electing
to PROTECT AND SERVE you in your local and state are bureaucrats with no
leadership, management, or disaster experience, knowing how to do
nothing more than write welfare checks, you are seriously screwed. MOVE.


Looters or anyone stepping outside of civilized behavior should be shot
on sight--no malice, no concern. You're eradicating pests. Society will
be better off without them and the neighborhoods and decent people of
the world safer. If a law enforcement official attempts to disarm you
while you are shooting looters, shoot the police officer. He's not your
friend or your ally. It doesn't matter that the looter is only stealing
food or clothing. What matters, is that they've cut in front of the
line. You know the expression "women and children first"? That's what
civilized society does in a catastrophe. Civilized people, without
prodding and babysitting from government, form distribution networks to
equitably distribute food and clothing from the remaining supplies.
Civilized human beings DO NOT loot. SHOOT THEM.


You have only one ally in such a disaster: YOU. You are responsible for
the health and safety of your family. The looters and thugs of the world
WILL crawl from the cracks of society and will prey on you and your
neighbors.
This has happened in EVERY SINGLE catastrophe.
If you are not prepared for this, YOU WILL DIE.


Not a single event of this catastrophe is a surprise, with the exception
of the extent of the incompetence of the local leadership.


You have been warned.


N. M. WOODRUFF

[Zrex]

When the government says "leave" you LEAVE!


heh.

[jsalcedo]

When the government says "leave" you LEAVE!

Thats the one part I sorta disagree with as a blanket rule.

I think he's talking about government meteorologists saying leave or you will die.

[Azrael256]

I think he's talking about government meteorologists saying leave or you will die. I don't much care for the idea of relying on government anybody telling me to leave. I am, however, smart enough to know that cat. 5 hurricanes headed my way when I'm within sight of the ocean should be ample motivation to start hoofin' it.

That used to be called common sense. Now, people think you're some kind of wacko nutjob survivalist type if you're prepared for the annual annihilate-the-coastline natural disaster.

[JohnBT]

"Now let's look at what has happened so far and what we know after the
fact:

1. 10% of New Orleans was below the poverty level. "
____________________________________________________________

10%? Wrong. Hard to believe an author who misses the easy stuff.

"The per capita income for the city was $17,258. 27.9% of the population and 23.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.3% of those under the age of 18 and 19.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line." - 2000 Census figures

P.S. -
"You have ready: 3 days of water and food, a "grab and go" bag that
contains clothing, toiletries, and cash to get you where you will be
safe."

This guy is clueless. The hurricane hit at the end of the month when people living below the poverty level, possibly on welfare or SSI, usually don't have much food at all, much less three days worth. Or gas for the car they don't own.

[one45auto]

The lessons I learned from Katrina?

1) Always be prepared and think in advance. (Already knew that)

2) In a crisis the government and civil authorities - including the police, will adopt an "us against them" attitude and turn on you in a heartbeat.

3) Police and military units will willingly violate the Constitution under orders. The Nuremburg principle is obviously considered archaic.

[NCP24]

including the police, will adopt an "us against them" attitude and turn on you in a heartbeat. Sad but true. Oh you forgot to mention the 1600 officers who turned in their badges and walk away, here I thought they took an oath to serve and protect.

[Preacherman]

Where did this come from? Source? Link?

[NCP24]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.police.ap/

[bountyhunter]

The federal government was eager to show it, too, had learned its lesson, after getting pounded for its sluggish response to Katrina. It rushed hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals to the Gulf Coast and put rescue and medical teams on standby.


WOW! Imagine that.... staging essential relief supplies and personnell BEFORE the thing hits... and they did it without permission from the states or an act of Congress.

Whooda thunk such a thing was possible....... besides me, I mean.






http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169984,00.html


Hurricane Rita Grows to Category 4 Storm
Wednesday, September 21, 2005


KEY WEST, Fla. — Hurricane Rita (search) on Wednesday grew into a Category 4 storm, with winds reaching 140 mph, as it churned toward landfall later this week on the Texas or Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Residents of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas, were being urged to evacuate. On Tuesday, Rita skirted past the Florida Keys (search) as a Category 2 storm, causing minimal damage.

"After this killer in New Orleans, Katrina, I just cannot fathom staying," 59-year-old Ldyyan Jean Jocque said before sunrise Wednesday as she waited for an evacuation bus outside the Galveston Community Center. She had packed her Bible, some music and clothes into plastic bags and loaded her dog into a pet carrier.

The federal government was eager to show it, too, had learned its lesson, after getting pounded for its sluggish response to Katrina. It rushed hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals to the Gulf Coast and put rescue and medical teams on standby.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the evacuations in New Orleans and Galveston were mandatory or not.

[bountyhunter]

27.9% of the population and 23.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.3% of those under the age of 18 and 19.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line." - 2000 Census figures

This guy is clueless. The hurricane hit at the end of the month when people living below the poverty level, possibly on welfare or SSI, usually don't have much food at all, much less three days worth. Or gas for the car they don't own. Yes, it's one of the poorest states and anybody who lived there already knew that.

BTW: I have noticed that they tend to get angry when you apply facts and reasoning to upset their "blame the victim" strategy. It's all the governor's fault..... ot the mayor's fault.... or the stupid people's fault..... it's everybody's fault except FEMA.

[cropcirclewalker]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16147117&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=up-in-flames--name_page.html

19 September 2005
EXCLUSIVE: UP IN FLAMES
Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by Americans
From Ryan Parry, US Correspondent in New York

HUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.

US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.

Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.

And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.

One British aid worker last night called the move "sickening senselessness" and said furious colleagues were "spitting blood".

The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed.

Scores of lorries headed back to a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, to dump it at an FDA incineration plant.

The Ministry of Defence in London said last night that 400,000 operational ration packs had been shipped to the US.

But officials blamed the US Department of Agriculture, which impounded the shipment under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

The aid worker, who would not be named, said: "This is the most appalling act of sickening senselessness while people starve.

"The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned as unfit for human consumption, despite the fact that these are Nato approved rations of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.

"Under Nato, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations, yet the starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because of FDA red tape madness."

The worker added: "There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock soon - of burned food, of anger and of shame that the world's richest nation couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.

"Everyone is revolted by the chaotic shambles the US is making of this crisis. Guys from Unicef are walking around spitting blood.

"This is utter madness. People have worked their socks off to get food into the region.

"It is perfectly good Nato approved food of the type British servicemen have. Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it has come from Britain it must be destroyed.

"If they are trying to argue there is a BSE reason then that is ludicrously out of date. There is more BSE in the States than there ever was in Britain and UK meat has been safe for years."

The Ministry of Defence said: "We understand there was a glitch and these packs have been impounded by the US Department of Agriculture under regulations relating to the import and export of meat.

"The situation is changing all the time and at our last meeting on Friday we were told progress was being made in relation to the release of these packs. The Americans certainly haven't indicated to us that there are any more problems and they haven't asked us to take them back."

Food from Spain and Italy is also being held because it fails to meet US standards and has been judged unfit for human consumption.

And Israeli relief agencies are furious that thousands of gallons of pear juice are to be destroyed because it has been judged unfit.

The FDA said: "We did inspect some MREs (meals ready to eat) on September 13. They are the only MREs we looked at. There were 70 huge pallets of vegetarian MREs.

"They were from a foreign nation. We inspected them and then released them for distribution."

[scout26]

You should have in your possession a weapon for
every member of the family. That includes arming your 12 year old
daughter.

My daughter is only 11. Does she have to give back her 20 ga.shotgun and .22 rifle ??

Mrs Scout26 and I have been discussing what to get our 4 yo (soon to be 5) for his b-day (single shot .22 or .410, we might compromise and get the Rossi combo.) Should we now wait ??


Seriously, he nailed it.

[JohnBT]

"It's all the governor's fault..... ot the mayor's fault.... or the stupid people's fault..... it's everybody's fault except FEMA."

I see you're finally beginning to understand. ;)

John

[fallingblock]

bountyhunter seems to believe that 'poor' really does equal 'stupid' -

if your local corrupt politicians aren't caring for your every need, then your federal ones ought to be right there for you.

The argument that poor folks COULDN'T leave New Orleans is caca del toro.

Our local aborigines ('poor' beyond the comprehension of most first worlders) may also be thoroughly addicted to government handouts, but they can really move when there's a bushfire approaching their area...

and that's without helicopters!

[Bartholomew Roberts]

WOW! Imagine that.... staging essential relief supplies and personnell BEFORE the thing hits... and they did it without permission from the states

Not true, Gov. Rick Perry invited the federal government to help, unlike the Gov. of LA.

http://www.governor.state.tx.us/priorities/health_safety/hurricane/rita_prepare

Also the same press relief notes that staging of supplies and relief is being done by the State Operations Center, not the Feds.

[publius]

I'm inclined to agree that a British MRE is pretty unfit for human consumption. A guy on the radio was doing a bit on them the other day. The menu, if prepared in the best British restaurant, might be edible. When reduced to MRE form, it was pretty frightening to imagine. I wish I could remember the offerings. Sheep guts and brick cakes with wierd jelly or something.

Still, it is annoying and a slap in the face that our government won't distribute this aid from our allies. If there's one thing Nawlins residents know, it's good food. They'd probably pick out the edible parts and munch them right down, then add a pound or so of spices to the rest and somehow render them edible as well.

[RealGun]

One lesson they are learning is that hurricane insurance is not flood insurance. Most of the damaged residences will be a complete write off. I don't see why the nation's taxpayers should shield those unfortunate folks from reality. Help yes, a complete bail out, no way. NO is gone. Get over it.

The inability to obtain adequate insurance is why rebuilding NO will be the world's greatest boondoggle. The taxpayer will have to underwrite all of the new facilities, levees, and infrastructure, and there will be virtually no new private homes. If you can't get insurance, you can't get a mortgage, certainly not at any normal rate and terms. The only residences they will build is projects for underpaid people to live in, so that the rich folks who enjoy partying in NO will have someone to wait on them and clean the toilet.

Many have no plan to return to NO, so I think that should be the controlling factor. Making everyone feel good, congratulating each other about how they take care of folks by rushing in to rebuild NO is pure BS.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

One lesson they are learning is that hurricane insurance is not flood insurance.

The Mississippi Attorney General is actually suing all the insurance companies to force them to provide flood insurance under their hurricane insurance policies, claiming that selling hurricane insurance and flood insurance separately is misleading.

http://www.ago.state.ms.us/katrinamotion.pdf

[NCP24]

The Mississippi Attorney General is actually suing all the insurance companies to force them to provide flood insurance under their hurricane insurance policies, claiming that selling hurricane insurance and flood insurance separately is misleading. Sure they can do that but the insurance companies will just file bankruptcy.

[bountyhunter]

Sure they can do that but the insurance companies will just file bankruptcy. Bingo, give that man a cigar.

And the day after filing, they can dissolve and re-open the company under a different name and they are good to go.

[bountyhunter]

The Mississippi Attorney General is actually suing all the insurance companies to force them to provide flood insurance under their hurricane insurance policies, claiming that selling hurricane insurance and flood insurance separately is misleading. For the record, the insurance companies are refusing to pay anybody who did not have flood insurance... claiming all damage must have been due to "flooding". Well..... actually, when you have 140 mph winds coming in ahead of the storm surge, how can you later claim to KNOW that the ultimate destruction of the home was due to the flood? It may have eventually ended up ten feet under water, but that doesn't prove the wind did not trash the place first.

The second point is: what is a flood? Most people agree it is when you get heavy rains which overwhelm drains causing water to rise... or maybe a dam breaks causing water to rise.

The 20 feet of water that came in with Katrina was TIDAL SURGE... which is, by definition, a tidal wave caused by a hurricane. A tidal wave is not a flood, it's a tidal wave. It may flood your city, but it's still a tidal wave which is a specific act of God under legalese.

[bountyhunter]

I'm inclined to agree that a British MRE is pretty unfit for human consumption. I don't know about that, but I lived in La and I know one thing: with the heat and humidity they have and all manner of fungus, bacteria, and blight which will grow given the slightest opportunity...... I don't think I would distribute any food which had sat unrefrigerated for several days.

[LawDog]

Sad but true. Oh you forgot to mention the 1600 officers who turned in their badges and walk away, here I thought they took an oath to serve and protect.

From the link posted:

Several dozen of the city's 1,600 police officers have failed to report for duty, and some have turned in their badges. (See the video on securing New Orleans -- 2:52)

Published reports put the number as high as 200, but Riley declined to comment on those figures, saying more than 100 officers may have been trapped in their own homes or unable to reach command centers.

The 1600 number is the full roster of NOPD.

LawDog

[NCP24]

Oops sorry about that, my bad.

[HankB]

Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by AmericansWhen things like this happen, a COMPETENT news media would hunt down the person - I mean the PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEING - who ordered it, and hound him until he went on the record with justification.

Saying some "department" ordered it done is so much BS. PEOPLE make decisions, DEPARTMENTS don't.

Maybe, just maybe, the food actually was unfit for human consumption - spoiled, contaminated, past its expiry date, whatever. But given our bureaucracy, I'd say the extent of its "unfitness" was probably limited to some missing or nonexistent paperwork. (If I were a cynic, I'd say someone's palm was greased . . . )

[scout26]

Maybe, just maybe, the food actually was unfit for human consumption - spoiled, contaminated, past its expiry date, whatever. But given our bureaucracy, I'd say the extent of its "unfitness" was probably limited to some missing or nonexistent paperwork. (If I were a cynic, I'd say someone's palm was greased . . . )

Or maybe it's food from a country that has a history of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, aka Mad Cow Disease) and we still ban meat products from that country, and there are meat products in the MRE's ......

"You Honor, my client survived Hurricane Katrina, then FEMA fed him British MRE's, which the USDA had previously banned because of Mad Cow Disease and now he may have Creutzfeldt-Jakob's, the human form of Mad Cow. We're asking for $200 Trillion dollars. We want half from the US government and the other half from the Queen."

"Tonight on 60 Minutes - George Bush continues the race war on the poor. How he is deliberately poisoning the evacuees of New Orleans by deliberately feeding them meals tainted with Mad Cow Disease"

Just to give you some idea about how serious they are about preventing BSE/CJD. My wife and I and permanently banned from being blood donors because we lived in Europe (Germany) from '87-'91. Reason being that we possibly would have/could have consumed BSE tainted meat while stationed there. I was up to 1.5 gallons when they made the rule.

P.S. BountyHunter: When water overflows the bank of the river/stream/lake or the levee breaks it's a flood. Tidal Surge is was happens along the coast when a Hurricane come ashore. Tidal Surge did not hit NO.

[TooTaxed]

Before you get too hasty about placing the majority of the blame on FEMA...or the Federal Government...remember that by law they are only supposed to respond third in line: (1.) After the local government has exhausted it's capability to respond and (2.) requested State assistance; and (3.) after the State has exhausted it's capability (including the National Guard) and requested assistence from the Feds. THE FEDS ARE NOT REQUIRED..OR EVEN ALLOWED...TO BE FIRST RESPONDERS! The locals are jealous of their authority, you know.

Alabama and Mississipi also suffered severe damage, but were organized to handle it. The City of New Orleans and the State of Lousiana were not either prepared or organized to respond promptly.

Granted FEMA was also disorganized...those blockades on the main highways preventing aid vehicles from going to NO until they were verified "non-terrorist" were incredible and shameful. But just when was Fed assistance requested by the Governor? By that late date NO came third, after large amounts of FEMA resourses were already committed to Alabama and Mississipi.

And if the British military rations are truly prevented from going to hungry people by the Food and Drug Agency, that's both an incredible blunder and an insult to the British.

[homely]

He was one of David Koresh's right hand men in Waco

[homely]

:)

[STW]

Personal lesson learned from this and so many other emergencies = Live on high ground.

[DRZinn]

couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery :D