Price of gasoline

[blacknblue]

Bush is a megalomaniac. But he is OUR megalomaniac.

Seriously, we could have used all the help we could get after Katrina. But numbwit believed his cronies who assured him that everything was under control. It wasn't. Not even close. They tried to cover their asses to keep from looking bad. As it ended up, they looked even worse and most people died that should not have needed to. SOBs.

When they starting digging into the levee system around New Orleans after Katrina, they found a pattern of incompetent design and half-assed maintenance going back generations. Yeah, we needed help. Badly.

[Alelou]

I think I'm going to behave myself and not go there ... as really really badly as I want to.

Oddly striking resemblance to Myanmar, though, don't you think?

[blacknblue]

I think Bush started out as a reasonably decent human being with decent intention who who let the power go to his head. I can't say that I would have done any better. Commander in Chief of the US military? Able to wipe entire cities, even small nations off the face of the earth with a single word? Commanding the unchallenged obedience of the CIA, the FBI, the Marines, the Green Berets, NASA, and you name else? Knowing that there literally isn't anyone in the world who doesn't fear your enmity? How many of us could carry that kind of power and not be corrupted? I really doubt that I could. Only a few months more. And he could have done worse for us. Remember that he wasn't elected to look after anyone else on the planet but the USA. Granted, he ended up looking after a particular section of the USA and a particular level of US society more than some other portions. But he did do his job. In some ways badly. But he did it.

[Alelou]

Must re.....sist....... must resist .... urgent desire .... to ..... begin.... ranting..... might never stop .............

[blacknblue]

Sorry. I will hush.

[Distracted]

As far as Katrina went, Bush had nothing on Gov. Kathleen Blanco (and she's from my hometown!).

"Buses? What buses? Oh... you mean the ones that should've been driven OUT of the flood areas as soon as the warning sounded so they'd be operational when it was time to evacuate everyone. THOSE buses. Sorry. I was too busy deciding not to send in the National Guard until the entire city was under water."

As far as Dutch help for the levees went, how could the mayor of New Orleans (I forget if it was Morial or Nagen but it really doesn't matter) POSSIBLY agree to that? He's not related to any Dutch people. He doesn't even KNOW any Dutch people. "Whatever happened to good old fashioned nepotism? THAT's the way Louisiana government should be run, dammit. It's tradition."

[Mitchell]

definatly had a serious communication problem some where when Katrina hit.
Cause Dang we get aid into far off corners of the Arse end of the world when theirs natural Disasters out there quicker then we got into the Katrina Mess.


BTW: I just have to ask, Cause it makes nosence what so ever at all to this Ridge Runnin, Hillbilly.
Why continue to live in a City thats constantly sinking below sea level? Especialy a Coastal City?!?! Its gota be one of the top 10 most illogical things we Americans, aww heck any of us humans have ever done.

An I have to agree with bnb. Bush Has a job, I dont want. An it aint Cause he has to put on a freakin suit, an tie for his job. Theirs a Reason most US presidents look 10 years older after only 4 years in office.
I dont want that kinda stress, Ive got enough already.
An besides, I dont think anyone would want me in that office,, Since If I had been in the Oval Office on 9/11,, Well a certin part of the world would probably still be Glowing in the Dark today.



To keep on topic--- Gas was $3.89 in Both Mansfield, an Troy PA Yesterday.
Diesel was $4.70!!!
This gets any worse, Im gona start shopping for a Really long Drill bit.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

"Whatever happened to good old fashioned nepotism? THAT's the way Louisiana government should be run, dammit. It's tradition."

The (not so) proud tradition of Huey and Earl Long et al...

[blacknblue]

What irritated the hell out of me more than anything else was the political infighting over who had jurisdiction. Who the f**k cared who held jurisdiction? Get the damn trucks in there, let the refugees out of that blasted arena and give them access to the supplies and tents. And let all those thousands of civilian volunteers get IN THERE with their personal canoes and flat bottom fishing boats. Shit. Nobody but the politicians gave a rats ass whether the federal government or the state government was ultimately responsible for handling the rescue. They just needed rescued. Damn...

We had individuals. Personal, private citizens who were willing and eager to drive down there on their own dime with their own boats strapped to the top of their own trucks so that they could go in and help. But would either the state or the feds let them do it? Noooooo.

Bush should have declared martial law, gone in and gotten the job done, and then let the courts battle it out afterward. Once the people were taken care of the governor would have had to back down or she would have looked like an idiot. Not that she didn't anyway.

No offense intended Dis.

[Distracted]

None taken. I agree.

[CX]

Yeah, I mostly blame the governor and the Mayor of New Orleans for what happened there. They knew in well in advance that Katrina would probably hit them, but they did nothing. Why wasn't the guard mobilized and a tent city set up in the northern part of the state? Why weren't civilians evacuated prior to the hurricane making landfall? Mostly that stuff sticks in my craw because they then had the gall to blame Bush and FEMA for everything after the fact.

So how did we end up talking about this in a thread about gas prices anyway?

[blacknblue]

I suppose because we have another looming catastrophe on our hands, this time an economic one. We all see it coming, and nobody is doing anything substantive about preparing for it.

The Katrina discussion kinda reminds me of the old Koss vs. Trip debates RE: VUlcan strength. It illustrates my point perfectly. Strength is useless if you can't apply it effectively. We had the strength. We had the resources. We had the technical know how. We had everything we needed except competent leadership. Our strength was useless to us because we could not apply it effectively.

[Escriba]

If it is of any consolation a lot of countries (mine included) have the same lack of competent leadership.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

If it is of any consolation a lot of countries (mine included) have the same lack of competent leadership.

Ain't that the truth. Our country (Sweden) was one of the last to evacuate its citizens from Southeast Asia after the tsunami hit, and that's because those in charge couldn't get their rear ends off the Christmas couch to do something! There was a big scandal about it when it turned out that the Cabinet Secretary responsible for crisis management wasn't really in contact with anyone for a full day afterwards (there was even a persistent rumour that he had been spending time with a mistress instead).

After that we've had a change of government.

[Alelou]

After that we've had a change of government.

And that's exactly how democracy is supposed to work. And how I really hope it's going to work this time in this country.