Oddly enough, if people listened to different environmentalists, then levies would've been raised and wetlands wouldn't been destroyed. As for global warming, it's too complex an issue to relate to this incident.
The part that gets me about the anti-global warming camp is this: What if your wrong?" To the folks here that want to dictate what topics are allowable, let it go. If you don't want to hear about people talking about side topics of Katrina, then log off this BBS and go help some people...then you won't have to hear about it. Otherwise, on an Internet BBS, any topic is fair game.
I saw Trittin make live comments on German TV like that. I was embarrassed by them. I am ashamed as a German that this guy made these comments at that time. I have never had respect for this politician, but that was a low point. No matter whether I might agree or not with him regarding Kyoto, it was not the time to make that type of comments. Reactions by Americans to these comments displayed a lot of anger, and I can understand them. Here is a link to a page with more on this: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/ Anyway, I agree with Fatty Fat b*stard and Sishir Chang, and the reasonable German politician Friedbert Pflüger who said that even if it might be legitimate to criticize, when victims are being counted is most definitely not the time.
If you don't care for D&D, then don't read it. No one is forcing you to. There have been many, many threads I haven't read because of the subject matter. None of us love everything about this forum, or everything posted in Hangout, or everything posted in the GARM. All of us pick and choose what we read, or don't read. Don't take it upon yourself to pass judgement on the rest of us, Fatty. D&D is seen as valuable by many members of the BBS, by those who post in it, and by those that don't. There is not a soul here twisting your arm to participate. Give enough respect for those of us that do to spare us the judgemental attitude. Thanks in advance. By the way, I find that a lot of the day to day frustrations of being a news and political junkie, which I freely admit to being, are relieved by being able to post my opinions here on this wonderful forum. I am constantly surprised by the quality of much of what I read here. I often find out about things here before I hear about them on CNN, read about them elsewhere on the internet, or read about them in the newspaper. It is quite surprising, actually, because I consider myself pretty well informed when it comes to news and current events. I'm one of the people my friends give a call to when something has happened and they are wondering what's up. This place humbles me all the time. Posters from Mango to Max to Sishir, heck, even SJC, surprise me all the time. Look, I sometimes get angered by stuff I read here, and sometimes I post stuff and wonder later why in the hell I did. (that's true for all the forums) Be of good cheer. These are momentous and disturbing times. Someday your grandkids will wonder what this period of history was like, and they'll ask you questions about it, as I hope mine will. When they ask if I was engaged and involved in events, I'd like to be able to think I can honestly answer yes. Keep D&D Civil!!
Name one, I repeat, one natural disaster that has been blamed on politicos before. This was a Natural Disaster. Repeat. Natural. Everyone knew that New Orleans would be a catastrophe of magnanimous proportions if a big hurricane hit. Huge catastrophe. No other presidential cabinet did much of anything to stop it. FWIW, raising New Orleans would have had to have started in the Reagan administration for it to have the impact everyone hoped for. This just seems to be another reason to dogpile on the current regime, and I feel its plain silly.
Say it with us: The reaction to the natural disaster was poor. Again... The reaction to the natural disaster was poor. Is it sinking in yet?
Say this with me: This thread started 24 hours after the levees. This thread started 24 hours after the levees. Is that sinking in yet? To repeat myself, I'm not thrilled with the evacuation not being completed sooner myself. To me, a simple step would have been to run several military helicopters over New Orleans using megaphones and loudspeakers stating where everyone should head. One simple place: New Orleans Community Center. That thing is Monstrous and, while without power, it is on dry land. They could have evacuated everyone from there, rather than a bridge. As for those that refuse to leave? Seriously, that's going to take more than a couple of days.
It is hard to deploy helicopters ... WHEN THEY'VE BEEN DEPLOYED TO IRAQ. Quit trying to blame the victims for this. If a rape victim had on a short skirt, would you blame her too? Who is refusing to leave? They can't bus those folks out fast enough.
We have helicopters here. Are you really that dense, or just didn't know? Ummmmm, what the hell are you talking about? When did I blame the victims?
We have SOME helicopters. But not as many as we would have we not waged war against Iraq. That means we jeapordized our domestic security so we can fight a war overseas (based on a pack of lies). From CNN: "Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq." I heard on the news this morning, that not only did we send people, but we sent equipment including helicopters, generators and vehicles. I don't have a link for that immediately available but I hope you are not contending that point. You CONSTANTLY talk about the mandetory evacuations and had these people left the city, we wouldn't be in the problem. Am I misunderstand you?
Apparently, we only have 10 helicopters, and 8 are in Iraq. Is that the point you're making? As for me constantly talking about mandatory evacuations, you've confused me with someone. I've been saying every evacuation takes significant time to remove everyone, especially in the conditions there currently.
I do believe in global warming, but it's hard to believe that a Democrat president or an adopted Kyoto protocal would've prevented a hurricane of this scale. 4 years is not enough time. It's going to be a process much longer than the ozone hole problem.... Remarks like the German politician are made in poor taste and do not serve the purpose of improving the green movement.
That's a great point. Neo-con definitely used 9/11 to push through invading Iraq. It's funny how the same people now accuse that of environmentalists - talk about calling the kettle black. Anyway, in fairness, a rise in air temp takes about 30-40 years to have an effect on ocean tempertures, and it takes a while for C02 to have impact air tempertures, so Katrina if it really is related to global warming, which is highly questionable, is a result more from the industrial revolution then Bush's policies.
