Hurricane Katrina - Spot the difference

[oralpain]

That is true. Halliburton provides very good service quality, but they charge 50-100% more than what is really needed.

Currently, in Iraq, they are charging about $3 per gallon of gasoline that they supply. That might not seem high, but it's absurd for being smack in the center of the middle east. Government agencies (as opposed to Halliburton wich is a private contractor) can to the exact same thing for less than 2 bucks a gallon.

Haliburton is also charging (the US government and tax payers) roughly 28 dollars per plate for each meal it feeds a soldier.The quality of food is by all counts exceptional (for the military), and there are significant logistics involved in feeding hundreds of thousands of troops, but this is still a huge mark up.

Haliburton is coming out of all of these contracts with a huge profit margin.

[RVF500]

I did see some footage on CNN here of looters taking things that would be labelled luxury goods as opposed to life saving neccesities. The footage showed the looters to be predominently black. Now that may be down to the fact that the majority of poor people who remained in New Orleans are black. Given also that the population (as I understand it) are blacks then that is going to be born out as a simple numbers game. You can't make a judgement based on 30 seconds of tv footage though.

What I found most disquieting was the speed at which the situation deteriorated into a 'Mad Max' kind of anarchistic environment. To the point that the state government was forced to send troops onto the streets with a shoot to kill policy (not quite sure how a shoot to inconvenience policy is supposed to work). I demostrates that the line between civil order and total anarchy is a very thin one. Perhaps the divide between the haves and have nots is so great that as soon as the shackles come off the latter run riot.

There were also reports of gangs holding up vehicles carrying aid and roaming around attacking women while the forces of law and order were busy trying to save life. Prompting Mayor Nagin to redirect the police to stop their humanitarian effort to try and regain some kind of order. Which may have led to more people dying than needs be. But equally may have saved the lives of helpless people being preyed on. Pretty nasty call to have to make either way.

Bottom line is that the relief effort was deplorable from the government of the self styled greatest country on earth (according to George).

Did anyone hear the original radio interview between Mayor Nagin and a local radio station? I did. If not it's worth a listen.

[RVF500]

I heard the mayor going mad and swearing a bit, and rightly so.

Exactly. Billions can be expended in playing world cop but the effort put into relieving their own people was laughable in the beginning. Nagin was absolutely right to say it as it was. IMO Bush didn't have someone to blame, no Saddam, no Bin Laden and so was lost. He couldn't send bombers to New Orleans and his administration simply failed to function in a civil emergency.

[oralpain]

Nagin is far from blameless himself.

This was a disaster that never should have happened. Preparation and response were horrible.

What's even worse are the fools who are still calling this a "purely natural disaster" and basically saying "**** happens", like there was nothing that could have been done about it. There would have been no disaster without the constant poor decisions of human fools.

The final death toll will almsot certainly be above 10,000 and could be as high as 30,000. The vast majority could have been prevented if previous warning were heeded.

The footage showed the looters to be predominently black. Now that may be down to the fact that the majority of poor people who remained in New Orleans are black. Given also that the population (as I understand it) are blacks then that is going to be born out as a simple numbers game.

About 90% of the population remaining in the city after the evacuation was black, so it's obviously a given that the vast majority of looters will be black as well.

In many cases state and federal intervention made things worse. Alot of violence happened outside of the looting. When you pack thousands of people in any enclosed area (esp when that area is very hot, and has no food, water, or plumbing) and prevent them from leaving, violence is inevitable.

[schmunk]

The final death toll will almsot certainly be above 10,000 and could be as high as 30,000.

Rubbish - Current reports suggest 400 deaths so far (of which several would have died in the period since the hurricane anyway).

The city's almost dry now - where are the other 9600+ bodies?

[[GSV]Trig]

This was a disaster that never should have happened.

What do you expect to happen when u build lower than sea level?

[RVF500]

What do you expect to happen when u build lower than sea level?

Not just below sea level but on the coast, in a bowl, flanked by a large lake which is higher than sea level. In a region known for its tropical storms a characteristic of which is a significant surge of water. Not to mention a major river flowing through the middle of it.

Which idiot gave them planning permission? Must've been ex-Lambeth council or something

[oralpain]

Rubbish - Current reports suggest 400 deaths so far (of which several would have died in the period since the hurricane anyway).

The city's almost dry now - where are the other 9600+ bodies?

They have scarecly begun looking for dead.

This estimate also includes the people that have died after the hurricane, as a result of the hurricane and is not limited to New Orleans.

Time will tell. Hopefully the estimate is wildly high.

Trig]
What do you expect to happen when u build lower than sea level?

I expect them to build a bigger stronger levee and pump system. 10 billion dollars spent 5-10 years ago would have certainly prevented the flooding of New Orleans.

Nothing happened that was not predicted to have happened. Now because of buracracy and procrastination they can spend 150 billion.

[G4Z]

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/c...uotes.htm?nl=1

Worth a look