This is a good place to voice support for Congresswoman Virgina Foxx - who alone with only a few others voted to slow-down the squandering of our money, as noted above, until a plan was at least started.

So much money has been / is being burned needlessly - you can only spend it so fast until it becomes a wasted fuel. We're gonna regret it some day soon.

THANK YOU VIRGINA.

Mr. Wilson,

I agree with your concerns about FEMA. It's typical of many of our bloated, mis-directed govenrmental agencies. But, I don't understand what FEMA had to do with school buses not being used in New Orleans. The school buses, as well as hundreds of city buses, were at the command of the local government to support their emergency evavuaton plan. They just weren't used. I read one interview with Mayor Nagin and his answer was that he didn't have any bus drivers. ?????

I was wondering about the reference to the school buses myself, but chalked it up to bad editing. I know in that past some letter that I have written were edited badly, and thus left people wondering what my point was. I have found it funny in the past couple of days how much we are hearing from Nagin claiming "I am the mayor". Is this the same guy that a couple of weeks ago was claiming that he wasn't responsible for this and that. Now all of the sudden he is the only one who is able or qualified to make decisions for "his people". Funny, apparently he thinks he can just decide the times when he is actually in charge.

The following comments come from a friend who is a teacher in a small village in England and who was a VIF teacher at SW for 2 years.

The aftermath of the hurricane was bizarre. What were the federal government playing at? The European commentators have certainly been taken by surprise by the whole situation - how come the US can have its fingers in so many pies overseas but can't sort out major problems in its own backyard?

The slant has been on the issue of rich and poor, black and white, and certainly there are many people here and on the continent who are shocked at the Bush adinistration and their seeming disregard for the suffering of some members of American society. Why did it take so long to help those poor people, including many, many children and babies? It was like watching a report from Africa. Maybe we finally get to see the real underbelly of capitalist democracy in focus.

Carol Dunn,
I'll bet you don't give any blame to Nagin and Blanco, do you? There were too many mistakes made all up the line, however so many place all the blame on Bush. This is, in itself, letting one's politics cloud one's vision.

I watched BBC news last night and can tell you this: They crucified Nagin for his ineptness. They sided with Bush (it took smelling salts to wake me up from that one) and put most of the blame on Nagin's shoulders.

I think people did what they normally do in situations of catastrophe. They run to help as fast as possible without much of a plan.

My question is this: Is cleaning toilets beneath firemen? That seems more productive than going to sensitivity training.

Perhaps toilet cleaning wasn't heroic enough for firemen. People who really want to help do what needs to be done, not what they want to do.

Dear Bunny, the comments came from Europe. Thought it would be interesting to see how others view the situation.

The things I blame totally on the Bush admistration are the war in Iraq and the oil situation we are in. The hurricane was such a show of unprepardness from so many that blame should be forgotten and solutions should be our main concern. Namely, how will we pay for all the reconstruction and what will happen to the thousands who are poor and homeless. Perhaps you are letting politics cloud your vision.

Carol,

Let's not forget that Congress supported this war with a vote and that includes democrats as well. So you can now mark off one of the two things that you totally blame on the Bush Administration.

Carol, what do you mean the "oil situation we are in". If you are referring to high gas prices, check this out:

http://www.knowledgeproblem.com/archives/001385.html

This was written pre-Katrina. World wide gas prices are not solely in control of the president of one country. Locally, you might look at our esteemed governor and state legislators. NC gas taxes rise with the price of gas, NC is making a huge windfall from high gas prices. Would they consider lowering the tax a bit to help us? Don't hold your breath.

So now you can mark off the other thing you totally blame the Bush admin for.

Anything else?

"Is cleaning toilets beneath firemen?"

Is cleaning toilets beneath the folks that crapped in them?

Dan,

You're missing a huge point about gas prices. While you're quick to point blame at state gas taxes -- all states have them -- you ignore the oil companies and their windfall. If we have to suffer with $2.70 per gallon, why is there no attempt by Exxon or Texaco to share the pain. I'll tell you why -- they are gouging the consumers then hiding behind the issues of supply in China and environmental reguations. They have all posted RECORD PROFITS this year. And on top of that, the energy bill that we just signed into law gave them $9 billion in tax relief. Explain that one to me, and I might be more willing to consider the point on our governor.

On Oil.
If you can't refine it, you can't get it to market, if you can't get it to market you can't sell it. If you can't sell it that makes for short supply.Short supply makes for speculation in the market place(kinda like rolling dice except in this case profit is closer to a sure thing rather than craps). That and short supply makes for higher cost. Higher cost makes folks say ignorant things like it's the Prez's fault.

If anyone has been watching the news lately, CNN, MSNBC etc you would have heard that OPEC has increased supply significantly. Problem, according to the news folks, NO REFINERY CAPABILITIES, and that is world wide. In the Australian, on Monday, was an article on high petrol prices, so folks if it is a problem in Australia and the rest of the world, just how is it the primary problem of the Prez or anyone else in the US and that includes the oil companies, who yes seem to be making larger than normal profits. However, I will be interested in seeing the end of year overall profit picture and not base it on a couple of quarters and compare it to several previous years when situations created shortages, real and artificial.

Bunny,
Based on your second post, I stand by my comment about your vision.

Ooops! My post should have read

Carol,
Based on your second post, I stand by my comment about your vision.

NOTE: I am well aware of MY vision :-)

Howie, If you think high gas prices are only in the US and that the government is to blame perhaps you need to read something more than the NYTimes and a few other papers which shall remain nameless. Here is what another newspaper had to say about the price of petrol. The writer makes a bit of sense, that is if one is willing to be open minded and read. It's a bit long but links will not go back to the archives in this paper. One could sub Australian for American in many places.

James Morrow: The market should fuel petrol prices
13 September 2005
WHAT are they teaching Australia's journalists in communications school these days? Anything but economics, if headlines about the rising cost of petrol are any guide. Each day brings another round of paint-by-numbers stories and populist rhetoric about the cost to families of filling up the Holden and of sinister figures "at the big end of town" who are getting rich by "sticking it to the little guy who's doing it tough". Kim Beazley and others, including the NRMA, have called for a national inquiry into what the federal Opposition Leader describes as "price gouging".

Please; if there is one thing we don't need in the face of rising gas prices, it is a bunch of grandstanding politicians and interest groups parading around advertising their concern for ordinary folk.

The reasons petrol is getting more expensive don't require a summit meeting to discern. Indeed, during the short to medium term, rising prices are a natural - and potentially very good - thing.

As John Howard pointed out in New York yesterday, $1.40 or more a litre may be painful, but the causes for the price spike are international, not domestic. Calling a public meeting for the purpose of letting consumer advocates and Labor pollies look concerned and have a whinge won't do anything for Australia's motorists. Instead, what is needed is a little refresher course in the immutable laws of supply and demand.

Along with that old standby, tensions in the Middle East, the supply side of the pricey petrol equation has been exacerbated by the temporary devastation of Gulf coast oil and natural gas refining and shipping points in the US caused by Hurricane Katrina and a backlog created by insufficient plants operating globally at the moment to turn crude oil into gasoline. Meanwhile, demand-wise, myriad factors including increasing oil consumption in India and China mean there is not enough to go around, at least not at 90c a litre.

Yes, higher petrol prices are painful, especially in the mortgage-belt suburbs where cars are a necessity, not a luxury. And yes, the increased transportation cost for just about every good in the marketplace will squeeze the economy and could awaken the sleeping beast of inflation. But there's a good side to this as well.

Today's higher prices - and the profits that go along with them - are what oil companies need to build more refineries and clear the backlog that is holding back supply from keeping up with rising demand.

Consumer pressure from $100-a-week petrol bills will also spur researchers to develop new energy technologies such as hybrid vehicles, just as they have opened up a hearteningly scare tactic-free debate about alternative energy sources such as nuclear power. Shouldn't the Left be happy about this change in fortune for the environment?

And, perhaps most important, letting the market sort out the price of gas is a far better alternative to government rationing, price controls and long queues at petrol stations. Think about it: would it be worse to pay $1.75 a litre or not be able to fill up at all?