Being snowed in, cooking on a grill and keeping warm by the fireplace is not exactly the same thing as taking your last breath in the attic as you drown with your face against the rafters. I'm sure 99% of the people in N.O. would have gladly burned a couple pieces of furniture in lieu of drowning to death. It's not the same. It's not close.

It's not exactly apples and oranges Hoss. It was real bad in the snow belt region. Nobody sat and waited for help, they got through it without many complaints. No, I don't want to leave my home, but I don't live below sea level either. I know you're not far from me, so you know about the floods we had here last here. The mighty Mohawk took over half our town. Not even 1/1000 on the scale of New Orleans, but we (I'm in the fire department)evacuated people quickly. The stubborn ones that stayed had to be taken out by boat or front loader later. It all comes down to choices. Some people in New Orleans made bad choices.

Oh C'mon. Are you that naive to think it was easy as that. Hello? The liberal media just panders to people like you. I'm not completely insensitive, but much of what happened in New Orleans was avoidable. CHOICES!!
Good Choices, Good Consequenses. Bad Choices, Bad Consequenses.

I'm as conservative as the day is long. I've been through upper Michigan "snow-outs" and also SoFlorida hurricanes, going 5+ days in each with no electricity. The aftermath of a serious hurricane is FAR more serious than that of a blizzard. Like I said, it ain't close.

Well, OK. Like I said I'm not going to try to equate the two, but the blame game that went on after this was just crazy. I'm not big on running to the Federal governments defense, but this idiot Mayor and even bigger idiot governor almost lost their fingers from pointing the blame so quick. There were definitely mistakes made and it was a tragedy unmatched by much in the history of our country, but I don't feel the least bit sorry for one single sole living there today.

What about the flounder?

:)

Interesting to see what this thread has to say. Well I guess some one from here should respond. I hardly watched yesterday and knew it would either be wonderful things happening or just horrible. I did catch the woman from St. Bernard Housing project whining that they are not rebuilding it. But those are the ones that get attention, mainly hard working people have picked up and regained their lives whether it be in NOLA, or the Miss. Gulf or moved over here to my side of the lake.

So now here's my take on things, from someone that lives here.

Katrina is not just New Orleans it is a 90,000 sq. mile area from Louisiana thru Mississippi and into Alabama, we just get all the attention. Then came Rita to wipe out the rest of the gulf and part of Texas. You should see what is going on in western Louisiana and Eastern Texas.

I will tell you that most of you never want to see the things I saw in the aftermath of Katrina, EVER.
And I will never understand many things that happened, from people not leaving to the government not coming for 4 days. We can get to Achea in 24 hours but couldn't get to the Superdome. I saw the busses lined up on Tuesday in LaPlace and not moving. I watched the helicopters not come until Thursday nite 4 days later.
We have multiple generators so I watched the whole thing on TV, didn't miss one minute, in air conditioning and stocked up for a CAT 5. We knew over here that when they said NOLA was spared the levees would probably fail.

It has been a failure of every governmental agency from the Fed down to our State and local government. Private industry and volunteers are the ones that keep things going. NO red tape just hard work.

However, how anyone can say a major metropolitan city of the United States and one of the oldest settlement in the US should not be rebuilt, well I just don't get that at all.
I expect the people experiencing flooding in the midwest would want their homes and towns rebuilt. Or the people who have losses from mudslides, earthquakes and fires every year. Almost every place in America has some kind of vulnerability. You should hope it never happens to you.
New York and Philly could easily flood in a Cat. 5, should we not rebuild?

I live on the northshore was never going to experience flooding from the man-made disaster of the levees failing, but I'm only 30 minutes out of NOLA, I'm the next town on the interstate. They all came here.

They only show the people biatching because the rest of the hard working folks dont have the time.

Until it happens to you, you don't know how you will think or feel. How many of you responded? I know a few on here that did. Are you prepared? While the pundants from local, state and fed fuss, the citizens suffer.

Easy for those that said it is all the mayor and the governor. Having travelled the world I never dreamed the lack of response and preparedness in the US could happen like this. I've been in military coups and the US came immediately half a world away, but couldnt get to NOLA.

But you should be very aware prior to Katrina no US government agency was ready for a disaster of this magnitude. Now agencies are realizing they are not prepared. You should be very afraid and get prepared. Are you FEMA certified in the event of a disaster of any type in your area, I AM.
We can bomb and rebuild Baghdad every day, but part of America should just die out.....I just don't get it.

For those that responded here and get it, we thank you !

All I can say is....
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans....I DO.
Attachment 507

Oh and to respond to the topic of the thread, yes you are wrong.

Umm...I don't miss New Orleans. I heard it was for the most part a dirty place before the flood. I think many people have seen devastation. Do you remember 9/11? Many of my brother firefighters do. My brother firefighters in that skank city in Louisiana were being shot at by a bunch of hoodlums.
The city was built below sea level. The flood only brought attention to the shiathole it was and from all media reports it still is. Prepared for catastrophe? Nope we aren't. Dirty Bomb.....Death and much of it. Chemical attack..the same. Most of these people in New Orleans had a chance to get out and didn't. Why? 1. Lazy.....have had things done for them their whole lives. 2. Entitlement....Come get us Federal government.
3. Money Grubbing...To heck with leaving, we have welfare checks coming tomorrow.

The funny thing about it is the fact this douche bag president goes and visits. What is wrong with him? They hate them there. This dipshiat idiot Mayor rips him constantly. No man, No sympathy here. No Way!!

I really am an idiot for starting this thread. :)

I don't think you are an idiot...I just wish I never read it. As you can tell this really gets me going. You have to remember, I'm in a profession(teaching) where I hear excuses and crap all of the time. You have parents who as Bill Cosby says, buy their kids a $300 pair of sneakers, but ask them to pay for a $5 field trip or buy a notebook and it's an infringement on their rights.

No Hoss...Just a real sensitive topic with me. I just read his post again and made a little more sense out of it and was attempting to respond in a little more of a resonable manner but since you ask....

1. Two years ago(before the flood) I had family members who have traveled the country together tell me that New Orleans was by far the most disgusting city they've ever visited.

2. My power was fine during the storm because Fort Plain is not in the snowbelt. I have several people I know that live in those areas. But, as I'm sure you remember we were hit with a blizzard in February. But, unlike the people in New Orleans, we prepared for it.

3. You've never heard me ask for sympathy and most likely never will.

FG FAN,

I re-read your post and my apologies. I'm sure it must have been awful to experience what you did. Nobody deserves what you and the people of New Orleans went through. I remember how helpless I felt watching the whole thing unfold in front of me on TV. There were some real acts of heroism during that entire ordeal. I can't help to think of what it was like for those folks in that retirement/nursing home. What an awful way to die. There are many things that went wrong with that whole catastrophe, but to play the blame game and biatch and moan and try to get hard working american people to feel sorry for lazy people is a little hard to take.

Hope your glass house never shatters. Oh that's right you as a firefighter are not prepared. And we won't have to worry about helping anyone rebuild, New York or LA or Philly, or anywhere in the US.

All I'm saying is that for a country as great as ours we should be able to handle disasters in a more efficient manner. But we are not prepared. Thankfully that is changing as a result of Katrina/Rita.
As I said I have been all over the world, I love the US, I choose to settle here near NOLA, that could change. But I still LOVE New Orleans and I miss what it used to be as I would miss New York, Philly, DC, LA, San Fran, Chicago and many other cities around this world.
Poverty is here in the US,all over the US, drug addicts exist and old people need help. If we can police and rescue the world we should do the same for our own citizens.
I'm going to watch the Saints game now.

Might help if Dubya brought back some of the Nat Guard & equipment don't ya think?

Wasn't it this spring when the tornadoes ripped thru the midwest and they could do **** because the only about 40% of the NG equipment(dozers, loaders, personel) still remained in the US...the rest were rebuilding what we have destroyed in Iraq. Billions to build a country we don't belong in and $000
to help our own good folk and even the bad in our own USA.

I'm sure by now you read my other post. I'm once again sorry for your devastation and here's hoping you make a fully recovery. I will tell you again that we are in no way prepared for a chemical/biological catastrophe. God forbid it ever happens.

DID you help during our flood. No,you were drinking beer. So take your dozer and pipe down. Are you golfing tomorrow?