My Own Talking Points

[eggwards]

I went to dinner with my parents last night, spending more in gas than the free meal was worth.

My mother was discussing New Orleans in her usual style, speaking about this and that mostly with information she had picked up from Fox News. She made mention that New Orleans' mayor was "whining" on TV the night before.

I told her that she should probably get off of that subject. This was my warning that I was about to go off, since I'm certainly on the side of the mayor that the effort was federalized and that the federal government failed him and his city.

My dad chimed in that the mayor could have bussed out all of the people, and then I lost it. I told him, "There was no plan to do that, and there never has been not in New Orleans, not in Houston or Miami or Jacksonville or any other city in this country. You can't look in hindsight and create a program that didn't exist."

I could see that the lady at the next table at Chilis saw that I was getting upset, and my voice was carrying.

"There is no law stating that there is a mandatory evacuation, and no plan to transport people who have no cars, or cars incapable of getting far enough away. No city has a plan to move a percentage of it's population, those people are left to sink or swim! And don't tell me that they could do it after the storm, they didn't have the ability to contact and find bus drivers in the city. How would they do that?"

My Dad was obviously not happy with my outburst, but I couldn't take the stupid blame game that's been going on when the feds have clearly blown it, from cutting budgets to emergency planning to implementation. I even mentioned how silly it was that newsmen, Harry Connick Jr. and Wal-Mart could get into New Orleans when the people with FEMA and the National Guard couldn't. What kind of idiots are running this thing?

There needs to be a serious reorganization of priorities in this country. Sure Ronald Reagan said we should fear the words, "I'm with the government, and I'm here to help" but there's definitely times when we should be able to count on the government to be there and be in control, and this is one of them. what we don't need to here is "I'm with the government, sorry I'm late."

I'm very frustrated that my parents are still accepting the talking points of the group in control when they are clearly having the wool pulled over their eyes.

Comments

[denminn.livejournal.com]

You know, it might make more sense in the future to just keep quiet or at least tell them that now isn't the time to talk about politics. I mean this should be a time you all enjoy each other's company, not go off about who's right and who's wrong.

My Mom will sometimes go off on stuff (from the Left), but I tend to keep quiet and let her rant. Maybe its because of my parent's age, but I would rather enjoy them while they are here.

I guess I've come to the conclusion that it's pointless at times to try and change another person. From what I've heard, your parents are pretty conservative and probably will remain that way. Getting angry at them isn't going to help. There are times you have to just put up with the crap and just love them the best you can.

I know that's not easy. And I know it can be frustrating listening to them rant about stuff. But I also know you won't always have them and it's best to enjoy them now.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I rant about things too, so I guess we're all doing it to each other. I should have just held off from being goaded into the discussion, and just as you said, kept off the subject. Still, I know that eventually I will have to have the talk with them about Texas' Marriage Amendment coming up this November. That should be interesting.

[fuzbears.livejournal.com]

It is hard not to get upset when members of your own family end up as one of the stereotypes. My conservative baptist sister would have Bush's love child should he ask.

And we do cut corners alot to make sure the economy keeps churning. Here there are waivers all the time for flood plains, then we have to bail out those people allowed to build in the natural flow path every 10 years.
In my own town, they built houses that the fire marshall tried to veto because the fire truck does not even fit down the streets between them. He we overruled for economic developement.
With New Orleans being below sea level, they needed to limit people to what they safely could handle knowing it will flood eventially (it is still sinking). But in the name of economic developement, they still try to promote growth over safety.

[baddabing70.livejournal.com]

Liberals need to remember one
simple thing: the Federal government is prohibited from acting until
the State government requests federal assistance This fact has been completely overlooked by everyone...especially
the media...in the relentless pursuit of some way to blame either the
disaster or the recovery on President Bush. As soon as the request was
placed, the supplies and such were on the move. In fact, for those who
seem to have forgotten, President Bush ordered pre-positioned supplies
into the Louisiana and Mississippi areas three days before Katrina hit.
However, because the request for Federal aid was not received
immediately after the disaster...it delayed these supplies from getting
released. By the way ... we are now learning that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco might have had a direct role in delaying federal assistance in the Katrina disaster. The story is surfacing that at one point George Bush offered federal help, and Governor Blanco, a Democrat, by the way, said that she preferred to wait for 24 hours before she made that request. That sure gets in the way of the Blame Bush game, doesn't it? And whats with the making excuses for these people caught up in the flood. They didnt have the means??? If they have the means to go buy malt liquor and hot wings every night, they could have had the means to buy a bus ticket. Most of them anyway. Sure there were elderly people in wheel chairs that truely did not have the "means". But MOST did.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute, Gov. Blanco asked for federal assistance on August 27th - That's Saturday. The feds had all the access they needed to do the job BEFORE the storm hit. If there's a lack, it's the fact that the Feds and the state and local government couldn't communicate AFTER the storm hit. Let's not even talk about the fact that the aid didn't get quickly to the affected areas of Mississippi either, and they have a Republican governor.

As for the people, the large percentage of New Orleans residents that live below the poverty line, yeah, they can eat at McDonald's and get a beer, those things are cheap, but they don't have cars, and there was no plan to move them out except to the Superdome. Somehow thousands of people are supposed to find the last Greyhound to get out of town? Yes, city state and federal levels of government failed to plan, but it also knew that this scenario existed, and did nothing about it - at all levels. No one comes clean here.

The ones you call "MOST" did get out of town, unless they were stubborn, but those below the poverty line were left to fend for their lives because there was no plan for them.