Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Bush Takes Responsibility for Federal Response to Katrina
On 10 September 2001 I was on vacation in Las Vegas. It was a good day and an even better evening. I had a sizable sum of money on the Broncos/Giants Monday night game, the only time I have ever bet on my favorite football team and by far the largest wager I've ever made. I met a young lady in the Hard Rock sports book and with the Broncos well ahead and covering the spread, we retired to my room for most of the second half. I finally turned the TV back on to see Ed McCaffery break his leg. Later that evening and well into the morning of 11 September 2001, I was at the Hard Rock's blackjack tables, having a pretty good night. At about 3am Pacific time I went to bed, nearly a thousand dollars richer, the money not the only reason for the big smile on my face.
We all know what happened about the time I went to bed, an event that changed all of our lives, something that's touched all Americans in some way. I spent the next couple of days in Vegas, watching a lot of TV hoping against all hope that living people would be pulled from the twisted wreckage of the World Trade Center. I was on vacation but I kept up with the news as much as I could, in fact, it was sort of hard to get away from.
When the second Iraq war started, I was again on vacation, spending a weekend in Deadwood with 5-55, the first time we'd really gotten to spend any time with each other after having met the previous Christmas. I'll admit that I didn't turn on the TV too much that weekend, having many other activities planned, but I made it a point to catch some news here and there, just so I would have an idea of what's going on in the world. I wasn't compltely up to speed on the war during that weekend, but I had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
My point is, other than letting people know that occasionally women don't find me to be total ass, even though I was on vacation for two of the bigger news events of the last five years, I made it a point to keep myself abreast of what was going on in the world.
I just heard a story on NBC & MSNBC that President Bush wasn't really aware of what was going on in New Orleans because he was on vacation. He didn't become truely aware of the gravity of the New Orleans situation until he viewed a DVD of news reports that his staff had prepared for him. The President has access to every agency in the government, he can get briefings from any of them at any time. He has a staff that prepares daily briefings of the important events of the day, nationally and internationally. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a news junkie, so having access to information like that would be quite exciting to me. The President didn't seem to want to hear any of that, he first became aware of how bad things were in New Orleans when he saw news reports that I, a private citizen, had seen days earlier.
Today President Bush took responsibility for the slow federal response to this disaster. I applaud him for that, for standing up and being a man, even as the right-wing radio nut jobs try to shift blame from the President. I'll actually want to listen to a little Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity tomorrow to see if they change their tunes any.
But the important thing is that the President said, essentially, that he was at fault for the slow response. I know that one man can't be totally responsible, Mike Brown had the decency to resign yesterday, others will undoubtedly follow. Others are at fault and I hope they are strong enuogh to stnd up and take what's coming to them. I hope the President is too.
BOJ
We all know what happened about the time I went to bed, an event that changed all of our lives, something that's touched all Americans in some way. I spent the next couple of days in Vegas, watching a lot of TV hoping against all hope that living people would be pulled from the twisted wreckage of the World Trade Center. I was on vacation but I kept up with the news as much as I could, in fact, it was sort of hard to get away from.
When the second Iraq war started, I was again on vacation, spending a weekend in Deadwood with 5-55, the first time we'd really gotten to spend any time with each other after having met the previous Christmas. I'll admit that I didn't turn on the TV too much that weekend, having many other activities planned, but I made it a point to catch some news here and there, just so I would have an idea of what's going on in the world. I wasn't compltely up to speed on the war during that weekend, but I had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
My point is, other than letting people know that occasionally women don't find me to be total ass, even though I was on vacation for two of the bigger news events of the last five years, I made it a point to keep myself abreast of what was going on in the world.
I just heard a story on NBC & MSNBC that President Bush wasn't really aware of what was going on in New Orleans because he was on vacation. He didn't become truely aware of the gravity of the New Orleans situation until he viewed a DVD of news reports that his staff had prepared for him. The President has access to every agency in the government, he can get briefings from any of them at any time. He has a staff that prepares daily briefings of the important events of the day, nationally and internationally. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a news junkie, so having access to information like that would be quite exciting to me. The President didn't seem to want to hear any of that, he first became aware of how bad things were in New Orleans when he saw news reports that I, a private citizen, had seen days earlier.
Today President Bush took responsibility for the slow federal response to this disaster. I applaud him for that, for standing up and being a man, even as the right-wing radio nut jobs try to shift blame from the President. I'll actually want to listen to a little Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity tomorrow to see if they change their tunes any.
But the important thing is that the President said, essentially, that he was at fault for the slow response. I know that one man can't be totally responsible, Mike Brown had the decency to resign yesterday, others will undoubtedly follow. Others are at fault and I hope they are strong enuogh to stnd up and take what's coming to them. I hope the President is too.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 6:21 PM 
