Centerfield

The League of Pissed Off Voters (AKA League of Independent Voters) has teamed up with DemocracyInAction.org to funnel relief funding directly to the League's New Orleans operation. You can donate Here

Or you can donate here.

They accept Paypal and credit card.

Kevin, you did not link to a disaster relief fund.

You linked to a site which is exploiting the tragedy of this hurricane to raise funds for *political advocacy*.

This is especially ironic when the article you are responding to was complaining about people exploiting this tragedy for political opportunism.

First of all, no one feels more shocked and saddened by the incredible imagines coming out of the Katrina impact area. I must say however that I am getting totally revolted by glib Federal and State politicians preoccupying themselves with patting themselves on the back for the outstanding effort they are putting forth as ordinary citizens are dying like forsaken animals on the street for the lack of even the most simple items of human needs, i.e., water, food, basic security and safety. One wonders, god forbid, what would happen in the event of an unspeakable large scale terrorist nuclear or biological attack? While our politicians rattle off the list of all the great things that are being done "right now" from the confines of a safe and secure setting, every individual who is actually in harms way right now tells a MUCH different story.This is the worst case of planning and disaster response every witnessed anywhere, third world countries included.A true "keystone cop" fiasco. The final insult, was to have our Commander in Chief ask us to open our wallets (assuming we haven't left them at the gas station) in order to help get relief effort rolling. How about that 35% in income taxes I paid into the Federal government last year?? Oh, I forgot, that was all spent on the $5 billion a week we are spending in Iraq to help the fair citizens of that country. Given those people's high regard for America, I guess we will shortly be swamped by Iraqis eager to offer their help to us in our own time of need.

Amen, brother. There will be plenty of blame to go around as we fully analyze this tragegy over the next several years.

While the images are fresh in our mind, it's important to record what is going wrong. We may forget some of the details even a week from now.

What strikes me most is the inability to evacuate low-income citizens. We tend to assume that most people have cars, and if told to get out, they can. It irritates me that some politicians are blaming the people who "chose to stay" when many of them didn't know how to get out. There clearly wasn't enough public transportation to evacuate them, and not enough information got out about how to evacuate without a car.

I can easily imagine the same sort of disaster occuring in Manhattan should there be a terrorist attack. Now is a good time to talk about this, before we're distracted by the next story that dominates the news.

Believe me that there's plenty I could write on this subject, but I'll hold back for now. Given the tenor of Pat's post, I would assume he's pretty stressed right now and looking to us for moral support. Hopefully, he won't have to endure the commentary that he came here to avoid (or more of it, considering what's already been written), on top of whatever he's going through as the result of this catastrophe.

Hang in there, Pat.

Rick,

I agree we need to focus on what we could have done to lessen the human death toll.

I think that from now on, that disaster plans like this should include an automatic round up of all school buses, city buses, taxi's, etc and nursing homes, low income housing, etc should be the first on their list to evacuate. Another thing that they could do is announce a spot on the evacuation route for these people to get to so that people fleeing the city can pick up as many as they can carry and also help in the evacuation process.

Vans from car dealerships can be commandeered to transport people, (the would just be damaged in the storm anyway) why not use them since you are just putting some miles on them instead.

Lets also keep in mind that usually a hurricane comes in, does it's damage, and the water recedes very quickly, but since NO is below sea leavel there is not where for the water to go, especially since they don't have the levee breaches repaired yet. That is another reason that this 'one' is so much worse.

Amen, Pat. Our thoughts are with you, yours, and all of your compatriots. Stay strong, do what you can, take it one day at a time.

I could not agree more with the notion that there will be plenty of time for fingerpointing and assigning blame after the immediate crisis has passed and things have stabilized. No time for blame _or_ back patting right now, all we need to see right now is @sses and elbows.

The left has gone too far, and was amazingly quick at blaming Bush for everything that went wrong, but I think Rick is right. To not document what is going wrong, or to not debate the merits of the government's response to this situation would be a mistake. It isn't as if the scenario that has occured was out of the realm of possibilities. It is completely fair to say that state, local, and the Federal authorities could have been better prepared, which is a fact that is becoming painfully obvious. However, I think those who would turn this into a partisan debate are hysterical, and more to the point, should be ashamed of themselves. We were just as unprepared in the 90's as we are now, if not more so.

Brooks has an unusually good NYT editorial today warning with some good examples that political storms generally follow natural ones.

Alas, it's probably inevitable....

Just out of curiosity, was this much political hysteria in evidence when Andrew hit Florida? How about when the Mississippi River flooded out the midwest? Has it always been this way? Or, is it getting worse?

I can't hardly stomach this crap!!!! I can't believe that otherwise intelligent human beings could be so 'BLINDED BY THEIR IDEOLOGY' that they have themselves convinced that Republicans eat babies and drain the blood of old people so they can bathe in it... it is almost to the point of 'mob mental illness'.

However, I think those who would turn this into a partisan debate are hysterical, and more to the point, should be ashamed of themselves. We were just as unprepared in the 90's as we are now, if not more so.

That is not true. In the mid-nineties, research was done to keep the wetlands of the region protected and to reinforce and complete the levee system. Monies were actually set aside in the late 90s/early 2000s to begin the projects. That money was diverted out to other things..namely Iraq.

It's entirely appropriate to cast blame right now.

We elect our leaders with a political system. When they fail us..it is completely appropriate to say so and demand that they are held accountable. When Condi Rice goes on an expensive shopping spree while dead bodies are floating and rotting with no one to pick them up..that's not okay. When Cheney remains on vacation in Wyoming..announcing that he'll be holding a big fundraiser for the local Senatorial candidate on a day when people are in mortal danger from lack of food and water..this is a problem.

The President himself was incredibly slow to respond..finally getting himself to the disaster area today..SIX DAYS after the hurricane and 5 after major flooding sets in. It's unacceptable.

This is the largest natural disaster in American history, by many accounts. Larger than Andrew. Larger than the Mississippi flooding the midwest. Larger than the SF earthquake.

It's at least as big as 9/11.

Government at all levels (local, state and federal) completely failed a very large group of our citizens. Casting blame at them is not only entirely appropriate, it's necessary.

The idea that it can't and shouldn't be a political discussion is folly, frankly. It's a political situation in which politically elected individuals have showed an utter failure of preparedness and leadership.

Carla and others are hijacking one of the worst human crises in American history as just another vehicle for anti-Bush ranting.

Shame on you.

The local government in New Orleans is and has been for some time full of democrats as far as I know. Is critcizing them anti-Bush ranting?

Carla and others are hijacking one of the worst human crises in American history as just another vehicle for anti-Bush ranting.

Shame on you.

No Susan, shame on YOU. Shame on you for not expecting or accepting responsibility for saddling this nation with inept leadership. Shame on you for not recognizing that when our leaders screw up...we're supposed to call them on it.

Shame on you for continuing to make excuses for POLITICAL leaders who've failed to lead.

You'll note that I have said government at all levels failed in this. But you're only going to defend Bush....which is excuse making of the highest, most disgusting order.

Just stop it.

Well, that was an exercise in futility.

Republicans blaming the mayor and the governor, the Democrats blaming the president. Local officials blaming the feds, the feds quietly blaming the locals. The politicians congratulating each other (an often necessary but unfortunate part of politics).

Meanwhile, a MILLION people are still displaced, homeless for the next several months. People are still stranded. None of the bickering is doing a single thing to help. In fact, it is hurting. People bickering at each other don't trust each other, don't help each other, don't reach out to find common cause.

And Rick, you're still wrong. Arguing now is not going to help prevent this in the future, because we're not anywhere close to knowing what all the facts are. And the people who do know the facts are too busy helping to engage in navel-gazing. And those most affected (who are the people who are most familiar with, for example, living in a hurricane zone) are far too emotionally raw to participate in such an exercise.

Many thanks to Brian and the others who offered words of comfort and support instead of political blather.

No Susan, shame on YOU. Shame on you for not expecting or accepting responsibility for saddling this nation with inept leadership.

Alright, I accept responsibility for the entire leadership, and while I'm at it I'll take responsibility for the hurricane too.

Let's put aside your hysterical, overwrought, opportunistic anti-bush ranting for just a moment.

Carla, the person you run your "pre-emptive karma" website with, Kevin, began this thread by exploiting the hurricane to lure donations for political advocacy.

People intending to help victims and provide disaster relief, may have been lured by Kevin into funding a rather peculiar political lobbying organization instead.

What do you think of the propriety of that Carla?

I think many of the liberals laying blame have no understanding of emergency management policy. That isn't their fault, but this could be an interesting discussion on this blog. The hysteria regarding Bush is completely and utterly politically motivated. What are we measuring the failure of the Federal government with? And frankly, what would have been different under any other President? I submit: absolutely nothing.

Yes, Susan and Mathew; everyone is guilty, but W alone is innocent. :-]

If I wanted to get ornery about it, I would point out that FEMA is directing donations to Pat Robertson, but I have a couple of closets to clean out. The Salvation Army accepts clothes, bedding and canned goods, in case anyone was wondering. As a matter of fact, a couple of churches in Topeka (not PF's, of course.) have set aside garages and trucks for collecting just such items.

Perhaps we could focus on that and argue next week, hmmmm?

Just having a chance to get caught up on postings and I couldn't possibly agree more with Pat. I'm really having a hard time watching any coverage because I'm so tired of hearing everyone blame everyone else. I just want to raise my hand and ask "What have you done?"

Why is it necessary to fight over whose to blame? Can't we just focus on donating what we can now? Let's help these people now why they need it, and if everyone else still insists on placing blame in a few months, then go at it.