From: elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.dan-quayle,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Re: "I can even forgive Bush for Dan Quayle, but not for this."
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 15:53:57 CDT
Organization: Minas Tirith BBS, New Orleans, LA

jason@ab20.larc.nasa.gov (Jason Austin) writes:

> In article <Z26DqB6w164w@mintir.new-orleans.la.us> elendil@mintir.new-orleans
> -> jason@ab20.larc.nasa.gov (Jason Austin) writes:
> ->
> -> >
> -> >
> -> >       I don't think you understand the magnitude what happened.  It
> -> > was more than anyone would have expected and the system was just not
> -> > prepared.  It's no ones fault when everyone's doing the best they can.
> -> > A hindsight argument that Bush should have predicted this and prepared
> -> > is ridiculous.  It's not even Bush's job to monitor each state's
> -> > emergency preparedness.  This is just another liberal scam to take
> -> > advantage of people's pain for political gain.
> -> > --
> -> > Jason C. Austin
> -> > j.c.austin@larc.nasa.gov
> -> >
> ->
> -> You've got to live somewhere where hurricanes are an annual threat to your
> -> community to appreciate just how wrong you are on this one.  Hurricanes ar
> -> earthquakes;  you get anywhere from 48-96 hours warning that one of them i
> -> going to whack the US.  Where specifically it will hit may be in doubt, bu
> -> that 48-96 hours warning ought to be sufficient time to begin staging fede
> -> disaster relief.  You also get 48 hours' warning as to how big the storm i
> -> going to be.  It's a safe bet that if a storm is Category 4 or 5 (Andrew w
> -> 4, Camille back in '69 was a 5) you're going to need federal help.  No sta
> -> disaster relief program is capable of handling the level of destruction th
> -> storm that size will bring about.
> -> I'm quite sure that the folks in the White House watch CNN.  They get the
> -> reports on a storm's location that everyone else does.  The National Hurri
> -> Center is a federal agency.  The notion that the White House is not aware
> -> what is going on is truly riduculous.
> ->
> -> As to the emergency preparedness of any given state, there is no state tha
> -> could handle the devastation of a storm like Andrew.  Even in Gulf Coast
> -> states, where the National Guard units are experienced in evacuation and
> -> disaster relief, the logistics are just too great.  Monitoring a state's
> -> preparedness is not the issue; even the most prepared state will need a va
> -> amount of federal help, mostly from the military after such a disaster.  T
> -> the Bush administration couldn't see this coming, and in of all years an
> -> *election year* is unbelievable.  You'd think at least that the campaign t
> -> would see this as a way to show that things are running smoothly on Bush's
> -> watch.
>
>       I live on the coast of Virginia.  A few days is not long
> enough to organize an entire disaster relief system large enough to
> handle that level of destruction.  In order to handle an incident like
> this to the level people seem to expect would require millions (or
> more) dollars of yearly spending for something that will rarely be
> used.

Completely wrong.  The type of aid needed after a hurricane is things like
medical care, fresh water, hot food, shelter.  All the feds have to do is
mobilize the logistical support for an airborne division without mobilizing the
troops in that division.  Since we already spend millions of dollars on rapid
deployment forces that we rarely use anyway, at least their justification for
existence is expanded beyond a strictly military role.  The response time of
these forces is quick enough that, with the 48 or so hours warning they would
receive of a hurricane strike, they'll arrive wherever they're needed with
little delay.

>
>
> ->
> -> The scam to take advantage of peoples' pain is Bush showing up last Monday
> -> south FL.  Had he wanted to really show he cared for the people of FL and
> -> he would have shown up in Miami riding in a C-5A loaded with supplies rath
> -> than Air Force One.
>
>       In it is a long tradition for the President to visit the
> location of an incident like this.  If he didn't go, the same people
> would have bitched that the president doesn't care enough to even see
> what's going on.
> --
> Jason C. Austin
> j.c.austin@larc.nasa.gov
>

And I don't fault a President for wanting to help.  But what help was he?  Bush
showed up for the photo-op, and let the bureaucracy underneath him churn at its
usual snail's pace.  He had a great chance to show that he does care and his
appearance in Homestead wasn't merely a photo-op.  He blew it.  Now, he's
having to go back there this week to clean up the mess.



|Edward J. Branley                         elendil@mintir.New-Orleans.LA.US|
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