tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post5013760884946669498..comments2024-01-25T09:28:51.144-05:00Comments on Least Significant Bits: Anniversary of Hurricane KatrinaJAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04272374108524693575noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-54167491601439615662016-09-09T21:34:54.947-04:002016-09-09T21:34:54.947-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07287821785570247118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-11791841510866401422007-09-07T17:52:00.000-04:002007-09-07T17:52:00.000-04:00Must come back to this one again, too, Jam. Perso...Must come back to this one again, too, Jam. Personal responsibility - the concept is dying over here, too.Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-46254018754679282802007-08-31T20:15:00.000-04:002007-08-31T20:15:00.000-04:00Travis, I know you may not believe this based on w...Travis, I know you may not believe this based on what I wrote, but I think you are right on with most of your points here.<BR/><BR/>This post would have been a mile long had I written everything I was thinking, but what mostly came out was the disgust I have for the whiners and the lower life forms that live with their hands out and expect something to be placed there by somebody else, mostly the Federal Government.<BR/><BR/>The whole Katrina thing gets under my skin mainly because, although there are reports that are absolutely awe inspiring and uplifting, without exception the reporters feel compelled to point finger. It has become a political issue because every news report, big, small, good, or bad is wrapped up and finished with some finger pointing. <BR/><BR/>Almost all of the damage there was to private property. And while many have rolled up their sleeves and got to work, many more stand there saying, “why hasn’t the Federal Government come in an rebuilt my home yet?” What I was trying to bring out with my rant was that I’m responsible for where I live, where I work, getting out of the way of danger if need be and end the end, I’m responsible for getting my home and property repaired.<BR/><BR/>A poor person who rents might have lost all but the clothes on their back, but the $2000 credit cards the Federal Government handed out to everyone there is probably worth more than everything they owned. A TV, VCR, DVD, bedding and furniture that’s more than a few years old isn’t worth $2000. I know that it’s harsh of me to say, but for many of the folks who left New Orleans afterwards and were given those credit cards, they had more in their hands than their possessions were worth. I learned the harshness of this when our insurance company representatives and FEMA representatives each took five minute walks through and around our home and declared values for everything that was ruined. Their valuations certainly were less than the costs of replacement. I felt two inches tall after that. You work and save and buy a few things to make your life a little better or more enjoyable, and after a couple of years, even a nice TV isn’t worth much. The list goes on.<BR/><BR/>What we dealt with in our home caused incredible hardship and mental issues with me and my whole family. My oldest daughter had a nervous breakdown one month after the hurricanes that hit us and had to go into an institution for a short while. My younger daughter and me came close. My wife has been on antidepressant/anti-anxiety medication since then. I was out of work on disability, waiting for back surgery during that time and we were all messed up in this home. I understand quite a bit of the emotions and havoc these things can pound us with; and our home was still pretty structurally sound and we ended up paying $30,000 in repairs and refurbishments on our home. We didn’t try to blame anyone or to sucker the Government out of some cash for our discomfort and turmoil. I get severely upset when I see that expectation in New Orleans, as if it were the first and only place in the US to have been hit by a natural disaster.<BR/><BR/>I can’t imagine having lost it all, but then again, even what we did have to deal with, we looked to our preparations made beforehand and our own abilities afterward to get things repaired.<BR/><BR/>If it has taken us three full years to get our lives and home back in order, <B>there is absolutely NO WAY New Orleans could be rebuilt by now. NO WAY.</B><BR/><BR/>In any given year there are small earthquakes in the US, horrible tornados, flooding, and all manner of natural disasters. As I said, we choose to live in Florida, and have to deal with what comes at us. Oklahomans choose to live there and have to deal with hideous tornado damage every year. The floods in Ohio and places like that, that are going on right now are every bit as bad to those communities as Katrina was to New Orleans.<BR/><BR/>Having grown up in Louisiana, I can attest to you that there are levees all the way down the Mississippi River on the Louisiana side from the border with Arkansas, past Baton Rouge, and past New Orleans and almost to the Gulf of Mexico. And that’s just along the Mississippi River. Many other miles are along the Ouachita River, Red River, Tensas River, etc., and overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.<BR/><BR/>What levees are in the Mississippi delta from Missouri to the Gulf is overseen by them. Many, many hundreds of miles of levees, and they don’t have an infinite budget. They do what they can with the money allotted to them.<BR/><BR/>To say that they should be held accountable for the failure of the levees around New Orleans is easy to say, but that’s just a handful of miles in the many hundreds of miles of levees they are responsible for. The sad fact is that levees, bridges, all kinds of other infrastructure that needs regular upkeep gets neglected in favor of new bridges and new levee sections being built for the simple reason that those are high visibility items that Senators and Congressmen can have their pictures taken at groundbreakings for those projects and they use those pictures to remind their constituents every election cycle to vote for them because they brought in these new projects.<BR/><BR/>Upkeep and repairs of older structures have a low priority for the opposite reason, there are no pictures made or celebrations at levee repairs and the repairs of older bridges and no publicity, and getting the funds for those repairs are not high on our politician’s personal agendas. Again, growing up in Louisiana, I saw that pitiful routine over and over, all my life.<BR/><BR/>How the heck can you hold a Government entity like that accountable? What does that mean to hold them accountable? I sure don’t know. Pointing the finger at them after the fact won’t change a thing that happened. <BR/><BR/>In my life, I’ve seen nothing like the finger pointing a blame game for the damage to New Orleans. And what’s more special about New Orleans that the towns in Mississippi and Alabama that were wiped off the map? They get one story in maybe 100 on New Orleans on the news about their plight.<BR/><BR/>It is a human issue, but it was quickly turned into a political issue when people like Patrick Kennedy blamed Bush’s economic policies for the formation of hurricane Katrina itself. According to him, Bush has gone a long way to contributing to global warming which caused Katrina. That’s just one person among many who have pointed political fingers. That kind of idiocy helps no one. I’d have been just as upset had it been a Republican that said that.<BR/><BR/>I think the Federal Government’s reaction was slow, but then they were slow getting in here when Jeanne and Frances tore up central Florida in 2004, and the highways weren’t closed because of flooding here like they were in New Orleans. But I don’t believe that the Government’s response would have been any better, faster, or more complete under the Carter, Reagan, Bush, or Clinton administrations either.<BR/><BR/>Federal and State Governments are slow at pretty much everything they do. I don’t like it either, but that’s the way they have been in my lifetime and I don’t see anything happening anytime soon that will improve their responses at anything.<BR/><BR/>It’s part of the human condition that some people get a raw deal in life. No government can prevent this. I think it’s wrong to think that Katrina would be magically handled such that everyone was pleased.<BR/><BR/>This is America at the beginning of the 21st century. Sadly, whining is what Americans are good at these days. And I was just whining about how I hate that Americans are whiners.<BR/><BR/>I think we should definitely help those whose homes were destroyed, but then again, I hate the stomping of feet and demanding that we do so by so many there. It will take years and years for New Orleans to be like it was, if it ever gets there. <BR/><BR/>If the Brad Pitts of the world want to hold press conferences and lament that more should be done by now, then my response is get in line, buddy. There are people in other parts of the country still in need of a hand, from disasters that happened years before Katrina.JAMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04272374108524693575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-45874303735732735362007-08-31T17:33:00.000-04:002007-08-31T17:33:00.000-04:00Much of the flooding in New Orleans during the hur...Much of the flooding in New Orleans during the hurricane was caused by breaches in levees and canals, which were built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The government built those safeguards and should be held accountable for the failure.<BR/><BR/>I don't suggest that any structure can always be disaster proof, but when those structures fail and contribute to the destruction we see in NOLA, I don't believe the citizens of the area are idiots or that they are dodging personal responsibility for making demands on the government for help.<BR/><BR/>I've been watching videos this week of people working very hard to rebuild what they lost. People are taking responsibility. They are also asking the government to assist them, just like any other victims of disaster.<BR/><BR/>I have heard those people lament that things will never be like they were. But they are trying to build new lives and they are looking for some help.<BR/><BR/>This isn't a Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative, issue. It's a human issue.<BR/><BR/>I'm just saying.Travis Codyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06192526507760146748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-72453272689614597732007-08-31T16:43:00.000-04:002007-08-31T16:43:00.000-04:00There is no such thing as personal responsibility ...There is no such thing as personal responsibility anymore, "the blame game" is too popular. <BR/>In addition to cigerettes I imagine the people also had cell phones in their hands, it always amazes me that people who can't afford food can afford enormous cell phone bills.aftergracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13249401281857342192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-43617007540046674192007-08-29T22:34:00.000-04:002007-08-29T22:34:00.000-04:00what you all know as the San Francisco earthquake ...what you all know as the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 was actually centered here in Santa Cruz.<BR/><BR/>We are STILL rebuilding our downtown.katherine.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06000676644051958330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-4395516254145341212007-08-29T22:16:00.000-04:002007-08-29T22:16:00.000-04:00Personal responsibility? I didn't know that even e...Personal responsibility? I didn't know that even existed any more :)<BR/><BR/>I work for an insurance company and after the storm last weekend, we have had hundreds of calls regarding flooding damage. Despite my constant pleas, letters and phone calls to people advising them they are not covered for that, most still do not take the flood coverage. <BR/><BR/>Now all I'm dealing with are people who have massive losses and are uninsured for that. Somehow, this has become my fault and I've been getting yelled at and sworn at for 3 days straight now. Everything is always somebody else's fault, right?The Rock Chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04653277401124290907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-21717624534362054632007-08-29T18:26:00.000-04:002007-08-29T18:26:00.000-04:00You are certainly correct about personal responsib...You are certainly correct about personal responsibility. Mississippi and Florida have rebuilt as have many in LA. But others are still waiting for the gov't. The Democrats will never take responsibility for what happened in NOLA. Every major city sinking in poverty is controlled by a Democratic machine. <BR/><BR/>Good luck on changing the eating habits. It's very hard to do.Normahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11502895616873273470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23686262.post-83931103612152768672007-08-29T14:25:00.000-04:002007-08-29T14:25:00.000-04:00Personal responsibility isn't very popular anymore...Personal responsibility isn't very popular anymore, is it? At many, many different levels of our society, no one wants to take responsibility for the own action or inaction.Carinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12976869000808518440noreply@blogger.com