A Canadian's take on USA Emergency Preparedness

[Bluehawk]

Sent on by a trusted friend...

"There's plenty wrong with America, since you asked. (Everybody's asking.) I'm tempted to say, the only difference from Canada, is that they have a few things right. That would be unfair, of course -- I am often pleased to discover things we still get right.

But one of them would not be disaster preparation. If something happened up here, on the scale of Katrina, we wouldn't even have the resources to arrive late. We would be waiting for the Americans to come save us, the same way the government in Louisiana just waved and pointed at Washington, D.C. The theory being, that when you're in real trouble, that's where the adults live.

And that isn't an exaggeration. Almost everything that has worked in the recovery operation along the U.S. Gulf Coast has been military and National Guard. Within a few days, under several commands, finally consolidated under the remarkable Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, it was once again the U.S. military, efficiently cobbling together a recovery operation on a scale beyond the capacity of any other earthly institution.

We hardly have a military up here. We have elected one feckless government after another, who have cut corners until there is nothing substantial left. We don't have the ability even to transport and equip our few soldiers. Should disaster strike at home, on a big scale, we become a Third World country. At which point, our national smugness is of no avail.

From Democrats and the American Left -- the U.S. equivalent to the people who run Canada -- we are still hearing that the disaster in New Orleans showed a heartless, white Republican America had abandoned its underclass.

This is garbage. The great majority of those not evacuated lived in assisted housing, receive food stamps and prescription medicine and government support through many other programmes. Many have, all their lives, expected someone to lift them to safety, sans input from themselves. And the demagogic mayor they elected left, quite literally, hundreds of transit and school buses parked in rows to be lost in the flood, that could have driven them out of town.

Yes, that was insensitive. But it is also the truth; and sooner or later we must acknowledge that welfare dependency creates exactly the sort of haplessness and social degeneration we saw on display, as the floodwaters rose. Many suffered terribly, and many died, and one's heart goes out. But already the survivors are being put up in new accommodations, and their various entitlements have been directed to new locations.

The scale of private charity has also been unprecedented. There are yet no statistics, but I'll wager the most generous state in the union will prove to have been arch-Republican Texas, and that nationally, contributions in cash and kind are coming disproportionately from people who vote Republican. For the world divides into "the mouths" and "the wallets".

The Bush-bashing, both down there and up here, has so far lost touch with reality, as to raise questions about the bashers' state of mind.

Consult any authoritative source on how government works in the United States, and you will learn that the U.S. federal government's legal, constitutional, and institutional responsibility for first response to Katrina, as to any natural disaster, was zero.

Notwithstanding, President Bush took the prescient step of declaring a disaster, in order to begin deploying FEMA and other federal assets, two full days in advance of the stormfall. In the little time since, he has managed to coordinate an immense recovery operation -- the largest in human history -- without invoking martial powers. He has been sufficiently Presidential to respond, not even once, to the extraordinarily mendacious and childish blame-throwing.

One thinks of Kipling's "If --" poem, which I learned to recite as a lad, and mention now in the full knowledge that it drives postmodern leftoids and gliberals to apoplexy -- as anything that is good, beautiful, or true:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise...

Unlike his critics, Bush is a man, in the full sense presented by these verses. A fallible man, like all the rest, but a man."

David Warren

[SherryGrace]

...waiting for the Americans to come save us, the same way the government in Louisiana just waved and pointed at Washington, D.C. The theory being, that when you're in real trouble, that's where the adults live.

Wave and pointed...for both help and to place blame. <tsk tsk tsk>

From Democrats and the American Left -- the U.S. equivalent to the people who run Canada -- we are still hearing that the disaster in New Orleans showed a heartless, white Republican America had abandoned its underclass.

This is garbage. The great majority of those not evacuated lived in assisted housing, receive food stamps and prescription medicine and government support through many other programmes. Many have, all their lives, expected someone to lift them to safety, sans input from themselves. And the demagogic mayor they elected left, quite literally, hundreds of transit and school buses parked in rows to be lost in the flood, that could have driven them out of town.

"Many have, all their lives, expected someone to lift them to safety, sans input from themselves." Add to that: sans effort or responsibility for self.

Yes, that was insensitive. But it is also the truth; and sooner or later we must acknowledge that welfare dependency creates exactly the sort of haplessness and social degeneration we saw on display, as the floodwaters rose. Many suffered terribly, and many died, and one's heart goes out. But already the survivors are being put up in new accommodations, and their various entitlements have been directed to new locations.

"Creates"? Stating that welfare dependency "creates" social degeneration reduces the social degenerate to status of victim and alleviates him/her of responsibility...that is not the case. Welfare "creates the opportunity" for a person/family to get back on their feet. It is an absolute choice to turn welfare into a dependent way of life...and...it is an absolute choice to turn welfare dependency into social degeneration. Welfare dependent persons and welfare dependent social degenerates live like they do by choice. They are not victims of a social program.

The scale of private charity has also been unprecedented. There are yet no statistics, but I'll wager the most generous state in the union will prove to have been arch-Republican Texas, and that nationally, contributions in cash and kind are coming disproportionately from people who vote Republican. For the world divides into "the mouths" and "the wallets".

Not just monetarily...but in volunteer man hours and donations of everything from clothing to cars and homes. Texas and Texans have done the right thing.

Consult any authoritative source on how government works in the United States, and you will learn that the U.S. federal government's legal, constitutional, and institutional responsibility for first response to Katrina, as to any natural disaster, was zero.

Notwithstanding, President Bush took the prescient step of declaring a disaster, in order to begin deploying FEMA and other federal assets, two full days in advance of the stormfall. In the little time since, he has managed to coordinate an immense recovery operation -- the largest in human history -- without invoking martial powers. He has been sufficiently Presidential to respond, not even once, to the extraordinarily mendacious and childish blame-throwing.

Louisiana's own government's entire state of mind is to look for everyone else but themselves to fix their sh*t. Its no wonder the residents are the same way. Not all, but certainly the most tremendous majority of those that had to be evacuated.

Anyway. Great post, Blue.

And for all you anyone-but-those-helpless-poor-black-degenerates and federal finger pointing arm chair Katrina/Rita quarterbacks.....KMA.

[Bluehawk]

Originally Posted by SherryGrace

...KMA.

I will personally bare my sorry arse on the Times Square JumboTron for the purpose of seeing it happen.

I'd reckon Jesse Rainbow first, the Alonso Sharpless (and Congressional Black Caucus) second, and then, for the finisher, "Reverend" Louis Farakhan in line, all on their knees.

I promise not to shower beforehand.

Optional:

Oprah and Barak Obama

[Woodmonkey]

FEMA is not a first responder and the cities/counties (parishes)/states are responsible for making sure the first responders do just that -- with plans etc that are actually used when emergencies occur.

Thanks to ollie, we've had an excellent explanation of Posse Comitatus and how that act prevents the military from coming in and taking over without the express invitation of the governor of the state involved.

We now have two states that are side-by-side to compare.

Louisiana was a disaster created by their corrupt inept politicians at the city, parish and state level.

Texas got a couple of million people (a little more than twice what La did) evacuated, including their elderly from nursing homes and sick from hospitals. Was it without problems? No, but that is because people were involved, but it was successful.

The media is trying to say that it was because they learned from Katrina. Those plans didn't just materialize after Katrina ... they were well thought out and implemented. Texas did it right.

I love Texas!

[JohnRN]

Originally Posted by Woodmonkey

The media is trying to say that it was because they learned from Katrina. Those plans didn't just materialize after Katrina ... they were well thought out and implemented. Texas did it right.

I love Texas!

I'd say it's a bit of both - it would be incredibily stupid of Texas to NOT learn anything from Katrina.Every disaster teaches you something.

That said - definitely hats off to Texas! Incredible amount of lives saved. I liked how their LOCAL authorities stepped up to the plate and played nice hard ball.

I'm just glad more lives were saved and there were no negligent deaths caused.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by John.

I'd say it's a bit of both - it would be incredibily stupid of Texas to NOT learn anything from Katrina.Every disaster teaches you something.

That said - definitely hats off to Texas! Incredible amount of lives saved. I liked how their LOCAL authorities stepped up to the plate and played nice hard ball.

I'm just glad more lives were saved and there were no negligent deaths caused.

Yes, LOCAL officials did step up and do their jobs. Instead of letting buses etc sit and get flooded (and made useless), they used them to move their vulnerable out. They actually implemented their plans. I think one thing they learned was to make evacuations mandatory and to announce ahead of time that people who refused to leave would be on their own during the storm and for a while after.