Re: Latest Letterman sked:Paul Reiser, Anderson Cooper, Tony Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Amy Sedaris


Motorcycle Mama wrote:
> Brady said ...
>
> <snip>
> > ... it's clear to me that there was a
> > breakdown in leadership in the days immediately following the hurricane's
> > landfall. At a later date, some difficult questions are going to have to be
> > answered. For example, I want to know why it took *five goddamn days* to start
> > evacuating folks en masse from the New Orleans Convention Center. Those people
> > were sitting in squalor. I'm thankful that they're finally being airlifted and
> > are being given food & water. But why did it take so long? I'm not blaming
> > anyone, but it's clear to me that the relief efforts were, initially,
> > unacceptably disorganized.
> >
> At the risk of sounding incredibly insensitive, much of the
> responsibility for the conditions the people were in were due to their
> own lack of preparedness. I live in an area that is at risk for
> hurricanes every year. The FIRST thing that they tell people is to be
> prepared to survive for a WEEK without water or electricity after a
> storm. Everyone I know has water and non perishable food ready to go.
> And if you evacuate to a storm shelter, it provides SHELTER and nothing
> else. You are told to bring your own bedding, food, water, medicine,
> etc. No one is going to provide it for you. At least not for the first
> week.
>
> You HAVE to take responsibility for yourself. Why did people go to the
> Superdome with infants without baby formula? In my area at least, they
> tell people REPEATEDLY to stock up when a storm is approaching. New
> Orleans had at least 2 days to get ready.
I have sympathy for the aged
> and infirmed who physically could not leave or prepare, but able-bodied
> people have to take responsibility for themselves and their families.
>


How, exactly, does an able-bodied single mother carry her infant and
hold the hand of her toddler, plus carry the baby's formula, bedding,
and diapers while clinging to the roof of their almost-submerged house?
I can easily imagine how difficult it would be to bring everything you
need with you to a SHELTER when you are poor, single, and have young
children. From what I've seen on TV, to be prepared for the devastation
in New Orleans, one would also have to bring her own toilet and handgun
to the SuperDome SHELTER

How does the able-bodied man tote his family and a week's worth of
supplies to a SHELTER if he doesn't own a car, if he lives from
paycheck to paycheck with barely enough for groceries that week and
doesn't have enough money to buy extras in case of a hurricane? And if
the family *had* stocked up, ready to weather the hurricane inside the
house -- what are they expected to do if the house is blown away or the
non-perishable food is under several feet of water?

Maybe they could have stockpiled their attics with boats, generators,
and axes so they could cut through the roof.

No matter how well-prepared people might have been, there was simply no
way most of these victims could survive what happened in New Orleans
without rescue efforts.

Have a little compassion, for God's sake.




Kate

.

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