Honestly, you meet the most appalling sort of people....

Giles ,'Chosen'


Natter 64: Yes, we still need you  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Typo Boy - Sep 01, 2009 10:05:11 am PDT #6475 of 30001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

In terms of comparing natural disaster to 911. The natural disaster may not be human caused but quite often the deaths are. In Katrina the neglect was at least careless, and in my personal opinion deliberate. Rove was heavily involved in decision making. And I assume that he was thinking "we can drive out and kill a lot of the black people who live in a purple state, on that can go either red or blue, and make it more reliably red." A lot of the Bush very White House Katrina choices can be explained on that basis. And in general how many people a disaster kills depends on a lot on preparation and government response. So if a natural disaster results in a lot of deaths, most of the time it means the public authorities did not do what they should have. And most of the time much of this neglect is done in the face of warnings that they are asking for trouble.


Gudanov - Sep 01, 2009 10:16:02 am PDT #6476 of 30001
Coding and Sleeping

The impression I got from the Bush administration's handling of Katrina was more of incompetence rather than malice.


Trudy Booth - Sep 01, 2009 10:19:17 am PDT #6477 of 30001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

The impression I got from the Bush administration's handling of Katrina was more of incompetence rather than malice.

At the very least, I can't help feeling like they'd have gotten competent if it were a population they cared about.

Of course, in my darker hours I think the neglect/gutting of the public schools is a deliberate effort to create/maintain an easily manipulated underclass.


SuziQ - Sep 01, 2009 10:21:10 am PDT #6478 of 30001
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame

Get out of my HEAD, Suzi.

Ya know, I think Barb's head would be a real spicy place to hang out.


Fred Pete - Sep 01, 2009 10:24:28 am PDT #6479 of 30001
Ann, that's a ferret.

The impression I got from the Bush administration's handling of Katrina was more of incompetence rather than malice.

Either way, if there was one instant when the last administration reached the Point of No Return in the public's eyes, it was, "Heck of a job, Brownie."


Gudanov - Sep 01, 2009 10:29:03 am PDT #6480 of 30001
Coding and Sleeping

Of course, in my darker hours I think the neglect/gutting of the public schools is a deliberate effort to create/maintain an easily manipulated underclass.

Some public schools are great though. I think there is a really tough problem with schools. In general, where there is a good tax base there are good schools. It would be hard to fix that.


Typo Boy - Sep 01, 2009 10:30:41 am PDT #6481 of 30001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

The reason I think it was at least partially deliberate was the extensive involvement of Rove from the beginning. Rove was all about winning elections. Rove, though not the genius he is sometimes called is not a complete moron. The Bush White House not only failed to do the right thing, but stopped others from doing the right thing - refusing permission for NG units and red cross units to help. Where was the political gain in that? Changing the demographics. When someone has a proven record of malice I think the "assume incompetence over malice" heuristic no longer applies.


Gudanov - Sep 01, 2009 10:32:59 am PDT #6482 of 30001
Coding and Sleeping

Either way, if there was one instant when the last administration reached the Point of No Return in the public's eyes, it was, "Heck of a job, Brownie."

That was a heck of a moment. Bush was such an idiot, the crowning jewel of political cynicism.


Jesse - Sep 01, 2009 10:41:05 am PDT #6483 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

"George Bush doesn't care about black people."


Jesse - Sep 01, 2009 10:43:24 am PDT #6484 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

In other political news, I'm so interested in the reasons people have various opinions. For whatever reason, I said something to a coworker about how Peter Jennings was always my anchorman boyfriend. She said she hated him. Why? Because he was biased because he dated Hanan Ashrawi. In the 70s! She just automatically hates anything with any connection to Palestine, because she's Jewish.