Making Baby Jesus Cry

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Whose, again?

Shape Shifter. I failed to follow my own rule.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Apparently Mississippi is very happy with the level of support and cooperation it received from the feds. It sounds to me like this was a local problem (either local state/city officials or those federal officials responsible for NO).

Really? Senator Lott apparently disagrees. And even after Bush said he'd rebuild the man's house.

• Sen. Trent Lott berated both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and his own state's emergency management, MEMA, for being mired in red tape at a time of urgent need given the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina.
  
  Lott said he has been trying to get FEMA to send 20,000 trailers "sitting in Atlanta" to the Mississippi coast, and he urged President Bush during a meeting Monday to intervene. He said FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are secured.
  
  "FEMA and MEMA need to be saying, 'Yes' to Mississippi's needs, not, 'No.," the former majority leader said in a written statement.
  
  "Mississippians are homeless, hungry and hurting."
  
  Similar stories of governmental red tape have been reported elsewhere, including a case of 100 surgeons and paramedics hindered from caring for hurricane victims in rural Mississippi. (Full story)
  
  "This is an emergency situation without peer, like nothing our generation has ever encountered," Lott said. "If suffering people along the Gulf Coast, from Mobile to New Orleans, are going to recover as soon as possible, we'll need an unprecedented public and private effort that can't be hampered by a process geared toward much lesser disasters."

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by ironweed
Don't get all defensive. Here's a disaster plan - mobilize the National Guard, whatever part of our Army, Air Force and Marines that's still here, and commandeer every bus, truck, van, boat and Vespa scooter you can find. Load it will bottled water and slim jims. Drive it to NO. Drop off the food, pick up as many people as you can carry. Repeat as necessary. Do this two days ago. Sounds dumb, right? Insufficient consideration for adverse conditions, cost, etc. Believe me, if there was a will, there would be a way.

Looks like some college students managed to do it in a Hyundai.

• A trio of Duke University sophomores say they drove to New Orleans late last week, posed as journalists to slip inside the hurricane-soaked city twice, and evacuated seven people who weren't receiving help from authorities.
  
  The group, led by South Carolina native Sonny Byrd, say they also managed to drive all the way to the New Orleans Convention Center, where they encountered scenes early Saturday evening that they say were disgraceful.
  
  "We found it absolutely incredible that the authorities had no way to get there for four or five days, that they didn't go in and help these people, and we made it in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai," said Hans Buder.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
“Listen, dumb-ass,” is not an emotional response. Kanye West making a buffoon of himself on natl television was what I’d call an emotional response. Ty was merely registering an observation - that you are a dumbass. If you disagree, offer some facts supporting the position that you are not a dumbass. Otherwise, I’m taking your non-response to Ty’s allegation as an admission that you are, in fact, a dumbass.

If you have a debate with someone, but they keep changing their story it is hard to debate. He first tells me that he is upset about the media coverage of Sean Penn because the space should be devoted to the "human tragedy" and cites to an article that shows that tragedy (as if we all don't know how tragic it is). I show how hypocritical and absurd that is and then he changes his tune to, well its not the waste of ink and electrons, I just don't like the fact that they are making fun of Sean Penn when he is trying to help.

Once I point out the absurdity of that position, then he will change his excuse again.

Sean Penn is an idiot. Sending him in is like sending in the Keystone Cops. He will probably only make the situation worse. He goes to see the Butcher of Bahgdad just before the war. Now this same idiot tries to go New Orleans and uses a boat that doesn't float. It is funny and shows what an idiot he is. It is a valid news story because it is humorous and he is a celebrity.

But Ty gets upset about the newstory. Instead of just laughing and saying, and agreeing Sean Penn is an idiot he gets defensive. Why, because Penn is a liberal.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Spanky
If you have a debate with someone, but they keep changing their story it is hard to debate. He first tells me that he is upset about the media coverage of Sean Penn because the space should be devoted to the "human tragedy" and cites to an article that shows that tragedy (as if we all don't know how tragic it is). I show how hypocritical and absurd that is and then he changes his tune to, well its not the waste of ink and electrons, I just don't like the fact that they are making fun of Sean Penn when he is trying to help.

Once I point out the absurdity of that position, then he will change his excuse again.

Sean Penn is an idiot. Sending him in is like sending in the Keystone Cops. He will probably only make the situation worse. He goes to see the Butcher of Bahgdad just before the war. Now this same idiot tries to go New Orleans and uses a boat that doesn't float. It is funny and shows what an idiot he is. It is a valid news story because it is humorous and he is a celebrity.

But Ty gets upset about the newstory. Instead of just laughing and saying, and agreeing Sean Penn is an idiot he gets defensive. Why, because Penn is a liberal.

You have yet to offer a single cite to evidence supporting your non-dumbassery. Ty is observing the Marquis of Lawtalkers Rules. He raised raised an allegation - you are a dumbass. Until you refute that assertion with solid evidence, you are assumed a dumbass. You risk a default judgment of dumbassery with these frivolous motions to dismiss. The Court does not recognize Mr. Penn’s dumbassery as either precedential or relevant.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Looks like some college students managed to do it in a Hyundai.
]

Yeah, because the people would be just as likely to bum rush a Hyundai as an Army convoy.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Yeah, because the people would be just as likely to bum rush a Hyundai as an Army convoy.

Que? You're saying that Army convoys couldn't make it to NO because of the risk of getting the bum's rush from looters?

[Spanky]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
You have yet to offer a single cite to evidence supporting your non-dumbassery. Ty is observing the Marquis of Lawtalkers Rules. He raised raised an allegation - you are a dumbass. Until you refute that assertion with solid evidence, you are assumed a dumbass. You risk a default judgment of dumbassery with these frivolous motions to dismiss. The Court does not recognize Mr. Penn’s dumbassery as either precedential or relevant.

Guilty until proven innocent? Does he have to provide any evidence to support his allegation? I don't understand the charges levelled against me. What exactly is a dumbass?

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Yeah, because the people would be just as likely to bum rush a Hyundai as an Army convoy.

I know which one I would be more likely to try to carjack. And which one I'd prefer to be riding with into New Orleans.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Que? You're saying that Army convoys couldn't make it to NO because of the risk of getting the bum's rush from looters?

No, I'm saying that you can't drive an army convoy into the convention center, where 10k hungry, thirsty, homeless people were "housed" without attracting attention. The bus loading and food distribution hardly appeared to be carried out with North Korean orderliness.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
No, I'm saying that you can't drive an army convoy into the convention center, where 10k hungry, thirsty, homeless people were "housed" without attracting attention. The bus loading and food distribution hardly appeared to be carried out with North Korean orderliness.

Mmmmmmm'ok. I suspect we're complaining about different things, then, but that's nothing new for this board.

[baltassoc]

Caveat: I have no idea who has donated what except for the few people who have sent me information directly.

$1060. That's what's been raised. And $200 of that was from me.

WTF is wrong with you people? You bitch about the mayor, the governor, the president, Sean Penn, Oprah, but what have you done?

(Obviously, this does not apply to those who have donated in non-monetary ways or who have otherwise provided assistance to organizations or individuals in need - but you know who you are.)

[Nut Case, Sensitive]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
You have yet to offer a single cite to evidence supporting your non-dumbassery. Ty is observing the Marquis of Lawtalkers Rules. He raised raised an allegation - you are a dumbass. Until you refute that assertion with solid evidence, you are assumed a dumbass. You risk a default judgment of dumbassery with these frivolous motions to dismiss. The Court does not recognize Mr. Penn’s dumbassery as either precedential or relevant.

As the preeminent board expert on nuts, I'd just like to say Spanky is Nuts. And, as Spanky has repeatedly demonstrated, once an authority has spoken, well, you can just write it down. See, e.g., Spanky for Dummies, p. 69.

I leave to the rest of you whether this is relevant or not to the question of Spanky's dumbassery.

[Spanky]

The Mayor of New Orleans is incompetant. There is just no question. You just need to compare his response to this crisis with Rudy Giuliani. After the planes hit the towers Giuliani took charge. He didn't start blaming the federal government for not preventing this, he didn't start saying he wasn't given enough help, he just went in and did the job.

Pataki and Bush were required to do stuff, but Giulian took control and got it done.

Bush did not ask to federalize all the resources in New York City because the job was getting done. Bush asked to federalize all the resources in NO because the job was not getting done. If the job had been getting done, then Bush would have been out of line in trying to change the pitcher.

You may be able to blame Bush later not making sure the levees were solid (just like the federal government could be blamed for the failure of intelligence in 9-11) but the post disaster response was clearly in the hands of the mayor. The man on cite. And he screwed it up.

Any defense of the Mayor is pure partisan B.S. He was faced with a crisis and he did not act.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Gattigap
Mmmmmmm'ok. I suspect we're complaining about different things, then, but that's nothing new for this board.

Perhaps. I took the hyundai escapade to be proof that vehicle traffic to downtown N.O. was not impossible, and that therefore there was no excuse for not sending lots of vehicle traffic, specifically food and water trucks, or buses, to downtown N.O.

The advice that my mom gave me when I was younger--always be sure to have enough for everyone when you share--applies with particular force here.