Ok, just read the whole thread. A lotta arguing about nothing.
1. Fenga Papit didn't cal anyone names. He wasn't even mean until someone accused him of calling people names.
2. Katrina was a "surprise". (Let me explain) We knew there was a hurricane coming, but it didn't become a category 4/5 until a day before hitting LA and when it actually hit LA it was a Category 3.
Apologies for citing Wiki. I usually hate using Wiki, but I am a little lazy to hunt for articles from 5 years ago. Anyone else want to cross check Wiki?
Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When I say "surprise" I mean while we knew a hurricane was coming it was a surprise that it would become that powerful. By the time Katrina hit Category 5, people were told to evacuate but that was clearly too little too late.
3. The levees were state managed by LA, not by the Federal government. So you can't blame Bush for them failing.
Orleans Levee Board - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4. Bush can't be responsible for Katrina, the late warning of people about it and the failure of the levees. People think the President has so much power. As stated above meteorologist didn't realize how power the hurricane became until it was too late anyways. No President would have known ahead of time. And it is not common to call for an pre-emptive evacuation. And when evacuation orders were given, many refused to listen.
5. I agree the Federal government's response could have been much better. But honestly I am not sure I can solely blame Bush either. Our bureaucracy has gotten so bloated that any single order has to cross so many desks before being implemented. A President can visit the site of the disaster but really, that does nothing.
6. People should buy all those damage insurance, but people don't. If there wasn't a law for car insurance people wouldn't buy it. People are short sighted. Does that mean we don't help them when a national disaster like Katrine happens and have no sympathy for them? Maybe, maybe not. I say everyone should buy insurance by law, but apparently that is "big government" and called unconstitutional. But when people don't take responsibility for their own fate and disaster happens then they want government to step in and help.
7. Personally, I am not sure what the Federal government can do about the oil spill either. It can take control from BP to try and "fix" the problem, but as mention above, I doubt the government has the personnel to do that. The government could bring in other oil companies to help, but that also requires the government to force a private civilian and international company to obey orders. I am sure there will be people that will cry foul if the Federal government takes over a private company's rig. Obama could visit, which he did finally, but what good does that do? In the end, I think all we can do is wait for BP to fix this and then actually hold them accountable for the whole mess and make sure they don't weasel their way out of paying for damages.
8. Lastly, we can pass laws to regulate all we want but if we can't enforce it, those laws aren't any good. There are so many laws and regulations out there that it has become extremely cumbersome and confusing. And that is where loopholes and gaps in enforcements are exploited. I'm honestly not sure what the solution can be. More laws won't fix the problem. And human nature dictates that people and companies will exploit loopholes as long as the reward outweighs the risk. After it is all said and done I am sure BP's profit will still be more than the costs of clean up this mess.
