Oh...the HORROR

Yeah, well all of these hurricanes are the result of poor US environmental policy. Mainly, it's Bush's fault (like that makes any sense). The bleeding heart liberals that are trying to make this connection just don't get logic in its basic form. Five years of even the worst environmental policy wouldn't cause such a sudden change. So, what was it?

Um, perhaps we should ask the experts. Dr. William Gray from Colorado State University has become rather famous over the last several years for his tropical forecasting skills. If you've watched the media he has repeatedly tried to make the following point (which i am quoting from a written news account):

"Dr. Gray disagrees with other experts who said the power of these storms is related to global warming. He said there is simply no proof of that.He said 1933 was a very active season, similar to this year's season. There were 21 named storms in 1933."

He has also made the point that we seem to simply be re-entering an active pattern similar to the 1930s through the 1950s. It's just that the population growth along the coasts has grown explosively over the last 50 plus years. It's simple, you put more people along the coasts, then you have more people in harm's way when a storm comes along. And they will continue coming.

More later...

Katrina - might as well

Sheesh...it has been FOREVER since I last posted. I guess if you're gonna do this, you've got to have the time...anyway:

Katrina, who's fault is it? At this point in the disaster, I don't really care who's fault it is as long as the relief efforts continue until we can get everyone settled and begin the true recovery phase. However, since I started this, I might as well finish it. It's not the Federal Government's fault, it's the local officials who are at fault.

FEMA is designed to support local and state governments in their responses to natural or other disasters. If one were to investigate a little further, it would become evident that the stated response time of FEMA is 72 to 96 hours after the event before Federal resources will begin arriving in the area to begin providing relief. That is exactly what happened in this case. BUT, no one in the major media wants to point this out because that takes away from the horror of the event. It is far easier to begin laying blame and identifying victims than it is to move on and make the best of an already bad situation.

Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco are blaming Bush for all of the problems related to this disaster and the ineffective response. But, there is one small crucial point that they choose not to face and probably hope to avoid. If one does a little investigation, it will become exceedingly clear that the written Disaster Plans were never followed as they should have been. In the plan, which can be accessed here, you can read all of the steps to be taken for empowerment of local officials, evacuation declaration, evacuation proceedings and evacuation of residents without transportation. The sad part is that no evacuation order was issued until AFTER President Bush and the National Hurricane Center Director called the Governor pleading with her to urge Mayor Nagin to evacuate.

Let me clarify here for those of you that do not understand our form of government. In our form of government, neither the President nor other Federal officials have the authority to issue evacuation orders, order local National Guard or impose Disaster Plans. All of these functions are the responsibilty of the local governments. But, in this case, the local officials have found it far easier to blame the Federal Government for not taking care of everyone than to take responsibility for their respective parts of the written (but not implemented) Disaster Plan.

All I ask you to do is look at Florida from last year. Florida was hit by 4, yes 4, not 1 but 4 hurricanes. (Did I get my point across?) and the local governments and Governor Bush acted appropriately and took the appropriate steps to protect life and property. Before you start, I know....flooding, Category 5, huge disaster area over 3 states, etc, etc, etc. BUT, had Mayor Nagin executed his authority to begin evacuations, the city could have used its resources PLUS 2,000 buses (which are now flooded) to evacuate people from the city. Simple math, 2000 buses at 55 people per bus would have moved over 100,000 people. This might have prevented the scenes we watched at the Superdome and the Convention Center.

More later....