would you accept help from

[Gonz]

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

Greta has a new story to work on.

Thank God.

 

[HomeLAN]

I still maintain that FEMA should have put the military on an alert status and hed gthis shit ready to go 3 days before the order went out. That's the major fuckup here.

FTR, I absolutely would accept help from Cuba, as I would any gov't willing to help us. We've recoprocated, many times, when situations get bad enough to override all political considerations.

 

[unclehobart]

Although interestingly, most experts expected it to happen. Another one of those "bad stuff doesn't happen to us" situations.

I know it was all over the news, but from the time it hit until at least twelve hours later, it seemed to me more like they were re-hashing. Our local "on the spot" guy had to drive to Baton Rouge before he could even get a cell signal on Wednesday. I guess he doesn't rate a satellite phone. You are aware that most news reports not in exceedingly remote locations are filed by land-lines or cellular rather than satellite, right?

Our local news, at least the important stuff.. and most certainly the stuff threatend by bad weather is done with microwave and sat. communication. I figured the national stations, god knows the weather channel did, should have ben working with uninterrupttable communications. It would seem moronic to walk into a cat4 hurricane otherwise.

I'm cynical, but not cynical enough to think that all of the news crews walked into this thinking it was going to be a dog and pony show.

 

[Gato_Solo]

Yeah, and you also have one helluva of an army, yet they were unable to control the situation.

edit:
unc, I think we sent water, helicopters and ships, don't know of which kind.

Bull. The reason why nobody came is because nobody asked until it was too late. Contrary to popular belief, the US military does not make it's own decisions as to where, and when, to go into action. That's what politicians decide. As much as we'd've liked to go in before we were asked, that would've been illegal as all get-out, regardless as to the outcome. If you permit such decisions to occur outside of civilian command, you'll wind up with a military government...and nobody likes that.

When the cal for help came was the issue here. We're sending out 6 planes a night packed with supplies to the New Orleans International airport...which is being controlled by a USAF TALCE team, and secured by RAVENS. It only took 12 hours for the set-up, and the planes started rolling in at daybreak.

 

[chcr]

Our local news, at least the important stuff.. and most certainly the stuff threatend by bad weather is done with microwave and sat. communication. I figured the national stations, god knows the weather channel did, should have ben working with uninterrupttable communications. It would seem moronic to walk into a cat4 hurricane otherwise.

I'm cynical, but not cynical enough to think that all of the news crews walked into this thinking it was going to be a dog and pony show.

Well, you're in Atlanta and I'm in Nashville (more or less). Oh, and from where I was sitting, even the national news was interrupted, at least temporarily. Microwave and satellite communications are not uninterruptible, just harder to interrupt (microwaves need relaying, for instance, relay stations need power). Even the Weather Channel stopped having live reports at the height of the storm. They're crazy, not suicidal. Oh, and our "on the spot" guys left right after the storm went through here. One of their parents lives outside of Biloxi, the station sent them down there to "report" and to find out if they were okay (they were).

 

[unclehobart]

That would account for a 6 hour window at the height of the storm... but still leaves the following 48 hours of inexplicable delay.

 

[chcr]

That would account for a 6 hour window at the height of the storm... but still leaves the following 48 hours of inexplicable delay.

Oh, I completely agree that there was delay. Inexplicable? I attributed it to shock.

 

[unclehobart]

I wonder if anyone in the fed level ever called them up and said, 'dude... its lookin' mighty bad. You want some help or what?'

 

[chcr]

I wonder if anyone in the fed level ever called them up and said, 'dude... its lookin' mighty bad. You want some help or what?'

The reason why nobody came is because nobody asked until it was too late.

This seems to be pretty much the consensus, so what do you think?

 

[unclehobart]

I think that the feds fucked up by way of throwing all of their emergency training and efforts towards the great Al-Qaieda boogeyman at the expense of natural disaster prep.