The Age of the Ring (Lord of the Rings) Forum
Off Topic Section => World Events => Topic started by: EG on September 05, 2005, 02:04:58 AM
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Living near Louisiana I have seen the effects of the hurricane firsthand. Over 45 hundred people have been evacuated to the town where I live They are spread out in at least 5 of our largest churches. All of the hotels in town are said to be full. That doesn't include the families staying with friends and relatives in the area. My youth pastor and his wife are both from Louisiana and some of his family were in New Orleans.
No one knows yet how many people were killed as Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans or how many more died waiting to be rescued.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says it will probably be in the thousands.
And a top U-S Public Health Service official says one prison morgue alone is expecting as many as two-thousand bodies.
With the living now mostly evacuated from the Superdome and convention center, the dead are more evident.
Bodies are floating among flooded ruins, crumpled on wheelchairs and abandoned on highways.
Touring the airport triage center, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician, said "a lot more than eight to ten people are dying a day."
Even as utility crews prepare to enter the city for the first time, paramedics have begun carting away the bodies and a once vibrant city more closely resembles a sodden tomb.
The city is below sea level, and the network of pumps, canals and levees isn't keeping up with the rising water. Many pumps weren't working this morning.
Rising water has sent patients from one hospital to the Louisiana Superdome. A knee-deep moat surrounds the stadium and downtown streets are swamped. The water is fouled with gasoline, debris and floating islands of red ants.
There are still many people trapped in their homes, on roofs, and stranded in hospitals without electricity.
~Padmé Organa~
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Its stunning isnt it!
When we first saw the pictures on the News, the devastation looked like it was a country in Asia, like the countries hit by the Tsunami!
Unbeleivable to realise it was America hit!
What I find even more incredible is how long it has taken to get aid to those poor people trapped in New Orleans, without food, water or even the National Guard for protection! You'd think that the richest country in the World would have been capable of getting aid to its people quicker than that!
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It's unbelievable and quite sickening that so many people are still without aid in the richest country in the world. My deepest sympathies go out to those affected, but how can this be compared to the Asian tsunami? Over 100,000 people died in some of the poorest countries in the world. America is the richest country, the money needed to recover is there.
And I hope the American people have now seen how hopeless George Bush is. If any good comes out of this disaster then it will be that he will not be given a third term as president.
I just hope the people responsible get all the aid and help they can to those affected before anyone else dies needlessly.
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The problem is the people left in the city are mostly the very poor. The rich got out as soon as they got warning but the very poor couldn't leave, mainly african-americans. I get the feeling that the Republican government doesn't really care....Well no that's too harsh. What I mean is if it had been the rich and influential that had been effected, the kind of people that vote Republican, the American government would have shifted their ass into gear sooner. As it is Bush took his sweet time deciding what to do, costing life. Now having realised this he is trying to rectify his early incompetance in an attempt to save his currently downward spiralling reputation. I just hope that the people still trapped in the city make it out alive.
Oh and unless I have gotten American politics wrong no president can serve more than 2 terms. Let's just hope Bush doesn't kill us all before his term expires. ::)
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I hope that's right about the 2 terms as president.
I've been watching the coverage in New Orleans on the news and my heart goes out to those poor people. I just wonder who will help them in the long run, because they will be too poor to rebuild their own homes.
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The people that are still there and the ones that have been evacuated were the ones that were stupid enough to stay. The president does only get 2 terms. Lowes and Home Depot and many others have donated materials and money to help families rebuild. The reason people are only now getting help is because it takes time to get the supplies and volunteers and it takes time to get there. Help has been coming from all over the country and from other parts of the world as well. Sri Lanka sent money ($25,000 I think)
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My heart goes out to the people who have suffered from Hurricane Katrina. I can't imagine how you must be feeling. I think it's ridiculous how it took a week for help to arrive. Although I don't know a great deal about American politics and all that but I seriously hate George Bush, he acts like he doesn't care about the people of Louisiana as well as the neighbouring states that too have been affected and he seems like he's power hungry (yes I know it sounds harsh but that's what I think).
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I think Bush's reaction to this has been disgraceful! He acted too poorly, with lack of judgemnet & confidence AND too late! The water that has submerged many first-floor buildings is contaminated! People have died because of diseases like Typhoid, Cholera and Maleria (sp?). I think this kind of act is terrible, the goverment should've acted quicker! I saw people on the news dying, of things like lack of Insulin, lack of water and food. It's been days and they've just started to bring food, survival packages in! Bush should be kicked out.
When I first saw the story on the News I just could not believe my eyes! I thought it could be in somewhere like Africa, or the Far East. But no, it was in a Southern State of the biggest power in the USA. I mean, it's a bit Ironic that the biggest super power in the world gives support (or tries to) to Poverty stricken countries when they have a serious disaster on their door-step they can barely scramle to send supplies and aid.
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As an American I appreciate all of the concern each of you have for us. Although it is bad it is not even comparable to the tsunami and hurricanes have hit us really bad in the past such as Camille in 1960's and about a hundred years ago the city of Galveston was almost completely wiped out with thousands dying.
A little clarification for those who don't understand politics around here. Franklin Roosevelt was the only American president to serve three terms. After him we passed legislation that only allows two terms. And although Bush is our president that does not mean that he is in charge of everything. American politics is different from most countries. Just think about the name of our country "The United States of America". The way our political system works is a united system of states. State government is responsible for how each state is run independently. That results in some states being better to live in such as less taxes, better roads, better schools than other states. Also city mayor's are responsible for their city's. The responsible people in this were the mayor's and governors of the local areas effected. That is how things have always been run here. The other responsible element is FEMA. They are responsible for emergency's as well. Even though Bush stood up and said "I will take the blame" he didn't have to. It was not his chief responsibility. He was not the person who screwed up but that just shows you the kind of man he is that he cares more for getting the job done than allowing time to be wasted on the blame game.
Another thing you might be interested in knowing is that Louisiana is infamous among the other states for its corrupt political system. Hopefully that will improve after this.
Finally, bad stuff happens. So many Americans have a mindset that because we are so wealthy and influential that nothing bad can happen to us, but that is wrong. We are just as susceptible as anyone else especially when it comes to nature. The hurricane was a bad thing, but one can't blame people for it no more than you can blame people for getting old. It is nature.
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Hurricane Rita is supposed ot hit near us so They expect our electricity to go out for a couple of days. They are having to evacuate some of the Katrina victims from Houston as the hurricane will hit near there.
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Rita is category 5 hurricane, worse thann Katrina.
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I watched the news this morning about Hurricane Rita and they have said that it is now category 4. Apparently, there are loads of traffic jams in Houston and only 2 of the main roads are open.
I don't know about any recent updates about this but I shall check it out asap. I hope that everyone manages to be evacuated before the hurricane arrives because it will be awful if there are anymore deaths in America and if it's worse than what happened in New Orleans then let's hope that Bush actually gets aid and stuff as soon as possible.
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Why do you say "let's hope that Bush actually gets aid and stuff as soon as possible."? Bush is not in charge of emergency relief, the city of Houston, the state of texas (though he used to be), or of New Orleans etc... My post above explains how American government works. Our's is a system that puts the responsibility for different situations into different people's hands. And I might add that those who are in charge of New Orleans and Louisiana who were responsible refused help that was offered before Katrina landed. Hindsight is 20/20.
Things are going better in Texas because they have learned from Katrina and they have different people in charge there of evacuation. BUSH IS NOT TO BLAME!!!
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Rita is now Category Three... or so I heard...
But the really bads things are that the make-shift barriers on the Levee's broke, and now part of the past dry New Orleans is wet... again...
And a bus exploded on a highway in Texas, supposidly the brakes caught fire, and then blew the oxygen tanks all the elderly people had on there. (The bus was evacuating the elderly).
I hope it doesnt stall in the middle of some hot water just like Katrina did. It is a possiblilty that Rita will stall in Oklahoma (my new home) or Texas, dumping LOADS of water... :(
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Rita's a 4 again and the eye is hitting land as of now.
its about to rain here and its kinda freaky cause i was riding my dads motorcycle and it felt like we were going to fall over cause the wind are about 25 to 30 miles a hour right now.
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Why do you say "let's hope that Bush actually gets aid and stuff as soon as possible."? Bush is not in charge of emergency relief, the city of Houston, the state of texas (though he used to be), or of New Orleans etc... My post above explains how American government works. Our's is a system that puts the responsibility for different situations into different people's hands. And I might add that those who are in charge of New Orleans and Louisiana who were responsible refused help that was offered before Katrina landed. Hindsight is 20/20.
Things are going better in Texas because they have learned from Katrina and they have different people in charge there of evacuation. BUSH IS NOT TO BLAME!!!
I understand what you're saying but from what I've seen on the news, newspapers etc (and I'm not saying that I believe everything that the media says because I don't) are portraying Bush as a bad person and saying that he along with the FEMA took too long to help them evacuate and for aid to arrive.
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I understand what you're saying but from what I've seen on the news, newspapers etc (and I'm not saying that I believe everything that the media says because I don't) are portraying Bush as a bad person and saying that he along with the FEMA took too long to help them evacuate and for aid to arrive.
I can appreciate that. :) But our media leans to the left as well as overemphasizing the bad stuff while hardly mentioning the good (they love the sensational just as all media outlets do). The media is a business that has an agenda and you would be right to not trust their opinions. Only listen to the facts of America's media not the opinions (which are plenty). Bad stuff happens and Katrina was a bad thing. It wasn't Bush job to respond but many offered help to those who did bear the responsibility before Katrina hit and they turned it down because they had experienced hurricanes before and didn't believe this one would be all that bad. They were wrong!
On a sidenote I have personally been of the opinion that we should not always rely on the government to take care of us. The wealthy and the middle class should take care of themselves as well as taking care of those who are less fortunate and going through tough times with well run charities but that would only happen in a semi perfect world and this is far from even an almost perfect world. Still I perfer to do my best Ican for myself as well as for others. If we all went by the idea of "love your neighbor as yourself" than the government wouldn't have to take care of anyone. So what if we never can achieve perfection in taking care of the needy, I am still going to try.
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I understand the points you have made Vevian.
Whenever disaster/problems strike, a society will try and do whatever they can to solve the problems but maybe they can't solve the problems by themselves or maybe they can't solve them alone which is why the government may have to step in and help the disaster/problems be resolved..maybe this is the reason why many of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina were angry about FEMA and Bush delaying the help that they needed.
What I'm trying to say here is, this could be the reason why society or the mass media are pointing the finger at Bush and the FEMA becuase it took them a week or so to help those who needed the help.
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Because I doubt you all will hear as much good news as you will bad from the media let me tell you something I just heard about happening in Texas. We have family friends that had to evacuate from Texas but texans were not the only people evacuating. About 80 refugees from New Orleans had been hosted by our friends church and all of them had to evacuate as well so our friends and some of the refugees evacuated together.
All along the highway the traffic was stuck and not going anywhere even though they had passed the danger zone. But it did not stay that way because people from the community who lived near the highway would come up to the highway and take the different families sitting in the cars to their own homes. Our friend said that she was so proud of texans and that this was happening all over the highway, thus clearing it up for the traffic.
I doubt you will hear this story from the media. The first news I heard from the media about Rita was the one bus that caught fire and not of all the hundreds of people who were helping families along the highway and the good people of Texas who, despite their own peril, have been helping those from New Orleans.
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I heard about the one bus that was caught on fire, can't remember how many injuries/deaths there were though. I also heard about traffic jams that occured during evacuation hours before Rita was going to arrive in the Gulf Coast.
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I haven't been keeping up to date with the hurricane Rita situation, nor the end of the Katrina crisis either. I think the sad and pathetic way George Bush dealth with this is disgracefull. He should've come to his country's need when he was supposed to! However, at least they had some sort of warning and such beforehand so they could evacuate.
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Tell you the truth... I dont think it is Bush's fault...
It is his stupid cabinet members... for not telling him things when he needed them...
And that damned FEMA... it is there fault for not doing anything, not Bush's...
Cha... my opinion has been said...
(HA... silenced another one!)
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Here is an interesting article about Katrina and helping those in need
http://boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001148.cfm