[percy-l] Countdown to a Meltdown

Ken Armstrong armstron at ohiou.edu
Sat Sep 10 08:25:53 EDT 2005



--On Friday, September 09, 2005 6:04 PM -0400 Tommy Armstrong 
<tfa at brickengraver.com> wrote:
>
> But no matter how you look at it there was an incredible "cluster
> screwup" as a good redneck would call it. Blame is everywhere to be
> found--but to rest it solely on an incompetent administration is only
> looking at the tip of the iceberg. The 80% of the iceberg that remains
> below water are local and state authorities, criminals, incompetents, and
> mostly just unprepared normal people.

 You're in denial. If the 800 pound federal gorilla had done the right 
thing, it would have dwarfed the 60 pound state chimp.  Those with the most 
power and the huge resources needed to step up, dump the rules, and move 
immediately.  Not only did they not take the action the situation called 
for, they stood on bureaucratic procedures, saying incredibly stupid things 
like the people in the superdome weren't a fact until they became a fact 
through bureaucratic procedure. The niceties that you delineate may be 
perfectly true, but are largely irrelevant in relation to the federal 
"response" to actual events. Everyone was incompetent? This is true and 
needs to be acknowledged. But to those with the greatest resources goes the 
greatest responsibility. Thanks to the character of the oversight provided 
by Michael Brown, the federal response was retarded, and this situation 
could not tolerate a retarded response.

Ken Armstrong



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