Hurricane Katrina, Five days Later

Yesterday on All Things Considered the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA was being interviewed. The interviewer (either Neil or Robert) kept telling him that NPR reporters keep talking about the thousands of people in the Convention Center who went there when they were refused entry to the superdome who have been without food and water for 4 days then and had dead bodies shoved off to one side, a 10 yr old girl raped on Wed night and all the other horrors we have heard about.

The idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA then said that there were no people in the CC, he had not been told about it. N or R kept pounding away about how the Nat Guard (NG) had been there etc. The idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA said how they are feeding the people in the superdome and N or R kept saying what about the CC and the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA kept going back to the superdome. N or R presses on about the CC and then the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA says how if people want food they have to get to the "selected staging areas where food and water is being distributed". He continually dodged the questions about the CC, clearly getting more and more angry and N or R kept pressing on until finally the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA said that now that N or R has brought it to his attention he would have the situation checked out.

And then on the news last evening what did I see by 15000 people in the CC and it would appear that everyone in NO knows there are thousands of people in the CC except the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA .

And all through the interview I was wanting N or R to ask how are people supposed to know where the selected staging areas are in a city with no means of communication like the radio or TV? And how are they supposed to get there in an increasingly violent and desperate situation?

Also N or R made the point that what are being called looters are starving people who once they get their hands on food and water are distributing it to others. What I don't understand is how any head of FEMA, even an idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent one could be so unaware of conditions? And people who are saving lives in this way are being called looters and criminals? What are people supposed to do when they are starving, literally dying of thirst? Sit back and die instead of trying to help themselves?

N or R also presses the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA about the 2001 report which claimed that 3 diasters waiting to happen in the USA were a terrorist attack on NYC, a major hurricane in NO and of course, the Really Big One here in CA. The idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA said that yes, FEMA had plans in place for all these and they immediately acted on the one for NO.

All I could think was that either the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA didn't know what on earth he was talking about, was late giving the orders to implement the plan or that the plan was just plain woefully inadequate because with all the resources of this nation, I think that there is no excuse that there should be anyone still in that city who doesn't want to be there. No excuse for people to be dying due to lack of medical care. We are the richest nation on the face of the planet, or so I keep hearing and I just do not understand why NG from all over the country aren't there already and why martial law hasn't been declared and enough NG etc there to protect the people and stop the violence.

This FEMA guy kept on blaming the flood for interfering with the rescue effort. I don't see how that is a factor when everyday on the news I see pictures of hundreds of people walking around New Orleans (NO), refugees, police, reporters. If they can manage to move around NO, why can't FEMA? God bless those people who are in there already trying to rescue people even though the idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA can't imagine how to do it.

We have millions of vehicles in this country that are high enough to drive through the flood waters of NO. Why aren't all the Hummers on the various carlots around the country commandeered? Or for that matter, the privately owned ones too? What about dump trucks and front end loaders or other construction vehicles? Monster pickup trucks? The airport at NO is not flooded. Planes are landing there and so equipment can get there quickly.

Heck, here in San Diego we sent way way way more people to NYC after 9/11 then we have sent to the Gulf Coast after this much huger disaster.

Lawlessness, starvation, rape, murder, dehydration,death and the USA is stumbling around? When we have the reserves of all the military and 50 states with NG?

We can spend a lot of time faulting people for this or that contribution to the causes of the disaster and yes, those people need to pay for their sin, but for crying out loud, I fault the USA for what I can only call a very poor response. Of course, the poor response may be the fault of that idiot dingbat stupid uninformed evasive and completely incompetent head of FEMA but if I were the govenor of any state around the area, I'd have mobilized my NG and I'd have gotten whatever military bases there were to move, God damn it, and rescue those people and save those lives.