Folks, here is the truth about what happened:
New Orleans had a PLAN for Hurricanes category 4 and up. It was an evacuation plan. Basically, they use all government vehicles in the city, school buses and the like to get as many as they could out of the city. The plan was obviously not implemented by the City of New Orleans like it should have been. Only the mayor could have implented the plan, he DID NOT do it. Days later, he is blaming Bush.
Here are some facts everyone doesn't seem to be focusing on:
1) We did not expect this to happen. A lot of people thought this would be a 12-hour event and things would go back to normal. Who would have known for sure a levy would break? This was unexpected.
2) FEMA is NOT a first-response organization! That is a common media misconception.
3) Bush is not the entire federal government!!! As I said earlier, no one could have known for sure this would happen, and like 9/11, there is no way something would have been done beforehand because it was not really expected to happen anytime soon.
4) Here in Georgia, we can also watch Spanish news. (We can't understand what they say, but we can see what they show) It is amazing the difference in slant. English news, you see tons of black guys and little relief coming. Reporters naturally try to make the most of a situation or more out of it than what it is. (Don't get me wrong, the whole thing was a huge tragedy) When I watched the Spanish news, they showed lots of shots of all the relief work that is going on, from watching the news, you would have no idea how big the effort is going on in New Orleans. It is amazing that they have got so much done in what early on people speculated would take two times longer. Also, the Spanish news showed a lot more white people. The media is DELIBERATELY trying to make this look like it is a lot of black people dying, but there are also lots of white people too.
5) In the plan I mentioned earlier, it stressed that people should make their own evacuation plans, because there was no way New Orleans could evacuate everyone. What you have is a Democrat city with lots of people who rely on government rather than themselves. Lots of people sat waiting for the government to get them instead of trying to do something themselves because they were used to it. This is the ultimate failure of the entitlement society.
6) The governor of Louisiana did get a call from Bush early on, Bush offered assistance, AND THE GOVERNOR SAID NOT NOW. 24 hours later, she FINALLY asks for federal aid. Folks, a lot of people don't understand how the government is supposed to work. The federal government was never intended to solve every single problem. It is initially (emphasis on initially) the responsibility of the local and state government to respond to a crisis. Federal aid CANNOT be given until it is ASKED for. Think of it like this: What if you were playing OP2 multi and someone took your computer and started playing for you. It is best that the person should not take over unless you ask for that person to take over.
Final Paragraph: In this age, the information age, we are used to getting things done fast. We have fast food, microwaves, high speed internet, and all other things that get things done faster. We are spoiled with being used to a lot of things getting done fast. I do admit, I am dissapointed that the relief has not gone faster in New Orleans. In this day and age, one value that is becoming more absent from our culture is the value of patience.