Three posts above this one, you’re not criticizing Bush in the immediate aftermath of the storm and (what I think, at least) for an obvious lack of a quick federal response, you’re talking about “what might have been.”

This morning, the Mayor of New Orleans laid into the Fed’s for lack of response. He’s furious. Rightfully so, IMO. The Fed’s have been remarkably absent 5 days into this disaster.

It’s just not productive to talk about what happened three friggin’ years ago, is all I’m saying. There will be a time for that.

JK

Okay, Jk. Please inform us when it’s okay to criticize Bush.

Hmmm….I have seen plastic wrap that’s kind of tough to see through, Jay.

Generally acknowledged, that George W. Bush is the least intelligent, most incompetent President in our lifetime, I will admit there is nothing that George W. Bush could have done to prevent Mother Nature’s fury this past week.

It isn’t very productive at this stage to play the blame game. People need help.

I love a good scrap. This ain’t the time.

JK

The former head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that handles the infrastructure of the nation’s waterways, said the damage in New Orleans probably would have been much less extensive had flood-control efforts been fully funded over the years.

“Levees would have been higher, levees would have been bigger, there would have been other pumps put in,” said Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who headed the engineering agency from 2001 to 2002.

“I’m not saying it would have been totally alleviated but it would have been less than the damage that we have got now.”

While they are at in, I think they should make all levees able to withstand a direct impact of a Cat 9 hurricane. After all, though it has not happend yet, one might conceive of it happening in the future.

Do you really believe that it is government’s job to act for the worst case scenario, or would taking actions based on the most likely or probable scenario be more appropriate?

Another sad day… week in the history of the United States.

Wait ’til Rove and crew spin it. I can see it now: ‘It was good the levees failed. Levees hate our freedoms. Levee sounds French.’

It is less than 72 hours after one of the largest, if not the largest natrual disasters in our nation’s history, yet you have no compunction about assessing blame.

This is the end for George W. Bush.

And I’ve seen blogs on the left and the right posting links to relief agencies and other assistance. FEMA itself has a website that’s pretty much one stop shopping for federal disaster relief. What’s missing? The fact that 25,000 people in the superdome don’t have internet access. Is anyone bringing WiFi laptops to the Superdome (as if the networks were still up) so all these people can get access to blogs? I heard a story on NPR about a HAM radio operator in Kansas who was helping direct rescue information in New Orleans, literally communicating where people were to rescue helicopters. Can a blog help if someone doesn’t have an internet connection? Of course people could always loot a laptop along with food and water. Then again, that would get Sean HAnnity on their ass.

Phile, might I ask you if you feel that whining and bitching about the left’s whining and bitching is an appropriate use of your own time in this crisis? At the same time, I live and work full time in Los Angeles. I’ve given as much money as I can afford and will give more again when I can. What else do you want me to do?

And neocon has it right. Between do something to improve the quality of the levees and hindering that effort, Bush chose to hinder it. It’s that simple.

The government has a huge responsibility in times of crisis like this. Are you expecting provate citizens to relocate, house, feed and assist the 25,000 people in the Superdome?

I’m hesistant to accuse you of deliberately misunderstanding my remarks. Of course, the federal and state governments have huge roles and responsibilites, in dealing with this crisis. I never implied otherwise. My point was, and is, that no matter the level of government involvement, crises as huge as this require everyone to pitch in. What I have seen from the left blogosphere is pitiful. It’s mostly just whining, bitching, and finding ways to blame Bush and his administration for all this misery. What I see from the right side of the blogosphere is a huge effort to get help to the affected areas.

As for this new talking-point on levee funding: I’m still waiting for someone to explain what the cut in funding would have done to help avoid what we are seeing today. What contigency projects – that would have enabled the levee to breeze through the strom surge cause by a cat 4 or 5 hurricane – were not done as a result of lack of funds? I hear a lot of talk about cutting funds, but I hear no engineers screaming about how they had the solution, but no money to implement it.

Kind of like the response to the 9/11 warnings- we can’t POSSIBLY know EXACTLY WHEN and WHERE the hijackers will attack, so we’re just going to go to Crawford and do nothing.

You wingnuts always come up with these false choices- in Iraq, it’s either “Stay the Course” or “Cut and Run”. Nothing in the middle, like setting a timetable for withdrawl.

Here we have “Since we can’t prepare for EVERYTHING that may happen, let’s do nothing.” That’s a false choice. Taking the steps suggested by ACE probably would have mitigated the tragedy, and maybe would eliminate the risks altogther. Rational people know that you can’t always safeguard people, but you do what you can hoping the steps you take help.

Instead of having a real discussion and investigation of what could have been done to better prepare for this disaster, and therefore the next disaster, the wingnuts Make Excuses for Bush first.