www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/09/three_days.shtml
all of three day s to fly back to Washington, hold an extraordinary session, and pass a l aw affecting the life and death of one human being. George Bush "returne d from vacation in Crawford, Texas to sign the bill into law at 1:11 am that morning." It's been three days since Katrina began ruining New Orleans and killing untold thousands of her residents (many of whom presumably could not eva cuate, because there was no transportation) ...
talking about replenishing the rapidly draining F EMA budget. There are few disasters that are true National Emergencies, but the eradication of one of our most unique cities, and the preventabl e deaths of who knows how many thousands, strikes me as one of them.
Back to Hit & Run Main Page Comments Yes, but the people affected here were mostly poor, black, and had brain functions. You need several thousand of them at least to equal a disable d middle class white woman.
SR at September 1, 2005 04:58 PM --- Man, when the freaking Reason Foundation's blog is plinking the governmen t for not spending enough money or responding quickly enough to a story in on the news, you know you screwed up reeeeeaaaaaaal bad.
joe at September 1, 2005 05:03 PM --- I have strong reservations about the federal government's response to thi s disaster, but I am not yet ready to point fingers and assign blame. I worry that those in power are too corrupt to be decisive. The political fallout from this will be immense, no matter what happens.
SR at September 1, 2005 05:09 PM --- Disasters are handled by an established bureaucracy. To equal that performance, Congress would have had to pass Schiavo legislation before Terri went comatose.
Dynamist at September 1, 2005 05:09 PM --- Why all the talk about draining New Orleans? Don't they realize that it c an now become something far cooler: an American Venice! Imagine Mardi Gras with gondolas, and wet t-shirt contests that only requ ire the contestents jump into the "street" for the proper look.
smacky at September 1, 2005 05:19 PM --- Also, do you think the Dems can possibly remind the public of the adminis tration's paltry handling of this situation when the elections roll arou nd?
Grammar Rodeo Champion at September 1, 2005 05:26 PM --- the preventable deaths of who knows how many thousands I'm not sure that I see the connection between sending more money to FEMA this week or next and the "preventable" deaths of thousands. First, you have to believe that FEMA is actually making a material contri bution here, that without it thousands would die. I think the organization that is going to make the life-or-death dif ference over the next week is the military, followed pretty closely by t he private charities. Second, you have to believe that FEMA's behavior will change if the appro priate is passed, say, tomorrow rather than a week from now. I find that pretty hard to believe also, although I wouldn't be shocked to hear tha t some pencil-necked bureaucrat started interfering with the rescue effo rt because it looked like it might exceed the current fiscal quarter bla h blah. Still, point taken about the apparent Congressional priorities.
R C Dean at September 1, 2005 05:26 PM --- Matt, I know you're down on Republicans. But when you use this lame an ex cuse to bash them over not spending money faster, I can't put you in the libertarian camp anymore.
Joe Bonforte at September 1, 2005 05:29 PM --- Disasters are handled by an established bureaucracy. So are end of life laws and procedures (ie, the state gov't, Florida). Bu t that wasn't good enough for Congress and the Administration with Terri Schiavo. They wanted to intermeddle there (where it was inappropriate), rather than on the flood (where it would have been).
Dave W at September 1, 2005 05:29 PM --- Smacky: Funny, I thought it was a Willie Nelson reference. Rodeo Champion: Could we put an end to this grammatical urban legend that it's impossible for one item to be "more unique" than another? If it ha s a greater number of unique qualities, it's more unique. New Orleans ha d a greater number of unique qualities than most other American cities; therefore, it was and hopefully one day will again be one of our most un ique cities.
Jesse Walker at September 1, 2005 05:34 PM --- Joe Bonforte -- Does Congress have no Democrats now? And are there no Dem ocrats involved in the governments of New Orleans and Louisiana? I don't know who to blame here, and I don't know how many times I have to preface every comment with "I have no idea what I'm talking about"; wha t I *am* sure of is that there was a massive governmental cock-up here, and that also Congress is expressing less urgency about the matter than they did about Terry Schiavo. If either of those two points are wrong, I 'd love to hear why.
Matt Welch at September 1, 2005 05:37 PM --- First, I do get Matt's point: While he's not a big fan of spending and bu reaucracy, yadda yadda yadda, it is interesting how in one case they wer e very eager to "Do Something!" while in another they seem less eager to go and demonstrate their concern with a symbolic and/or expensive gestu re. Anyway, the fact that I get his point won't stop me from from mocking him anyway: A city has been destroyed by storms.
thoreau at September 1, 2005 05:37 PM --- Joe B- You know, there are situations that do warrant government expenditure of our money, and I think that the point Matt is trying to make is a valid one. ever" is exactly the reason nobod y votes for those fools at the LP.
dpotts at September 1, 2005 05:38 PM --- For a bunch of people that do not believe in evolution, the Republicans s ure are engaging in an immense implementation of Social Darwinism. As far as to where all the evac-copters are, I guess they are too busy hu nting for 'black helicopters' to actually use the stinking things.
tomWright at September 1, 2005 05:39 PM --- Although FEMA is an utterly useless apendage, dealing with disasters, especially when they involve moving thousands of people both living and dead, falls squarely on the Government. I am ruth lessly libertarian and I would have no problem with the US throwing ever ything it has at this. Every longboat, amphibious hovercraft , and any other funky DARPA hardware the military has should have been d ispatched within hours of the flood to begin evac. An operation this big needs rapid depl oyment and a fair degree of centralized coordination. Even Ayn Rand's Ethics of Emergencies spoke of disaster rescue and relief being a proper function of gov't. Within two weeks you're going to see folks in hazmat suits down there. I fully expect some form of martial law to hold sway (especially in NOLA, where everyone has officially been told to leave) before long.
Jeff P at September 1, 2005 05:44 PM --- Dave: The relief is organized and funded already. Congress must meet to a uthorize continuing to fund the relief. They didn't have do anything rig ht away because the work had been delegated. They had to meet about Schi avo because she was there was nobody already delegated to keeping her al ive. Jeff: How do you know there were no evac fleets in place? If you listen t o the people who didn't flee, the overwhelming consensus says they didn' t want to go, they didn't think it would be that bad, and believed that some government angel would sweep them to safety if it was truly bad. Would you prefer forced evacua tion (more coercive than mandatory)?
Dynamist at September 1, 2005 05:45 PM --- Claiming that the idiotic government response to this disaster is spawned by racism is clear lunacy. A perfect example of that is the biggest wildfire in the hist ory of California, which happened because a bureacrat forced a water dro pping helicopter to return to base because the regs said he wasn't allow ed to fly after dusk. The fire could have easily been extinguished in 10 minutes. Instead it burned all night and the rest, including scores of deaths and billions of dollars in damages, is history.
The Wine Commonsewer at September 1, 2005 05:45 PM --- You know, there are situations that do warrant government expenditure of our money, and I think that the point Matt is trying to make is a valid one....
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