www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Venting Anger ....

I am sorry I was not pointing fingers at anyone, just stating that martial law was never declared so it was not possible for the Federal part of the Armed Services to go in and stop the looting and shooting and such. They have to be given permission to perform a police action. So there just was not enough security - boots on the ground as they say - to secure everything that needed to be secure, which was so unfortunate.

Pani Rose

Dear Rose 2,

Thank you for responding to my posting. It does appear that the responses to hurricanes here in Florida appear to be organized with a higher degree of competence than has been exhibited in the case of our brothers and sisters from New Orleans!

I appreciate that fact and I appreciate your concern.

Steve

Dear tlk,

I was glad to read your post.

But from one sinner to another, all we can do is accept one another and love and hope for Mercy from One who can grant it. So, please pray for me!

Thanks,

Steve

Dear djs,

It really has been a long time!

I've read your postings regularly in the interim. They are carefully thought out and well expressed. In them there is wisdom and charity.

Thank you.

Steve

Dear Diak,

Thanks for the welcome back!

I agree that there are many questions to be asked of many who have civil authority and responsibility to protect the weakest among us.

The picture of the level of incompetence and malfeasance emerging from the aftermath of Katrina is a cause for deep civic concern. The fact that water and food was kept from the civilians in New Orleans, for example, because of some type of power fight between agencies can only raise red flags.

I pray that we as citizens will do as you do and keep asking the questions that will help us to prevent this kind of disastrous response from happening again.

Democracy is not free and it seems that we the people will have to assert ourselves to find the truth burried in spins galore!

May the Lord preseve us from Spin Doctors of all breeds and lead them to speak the truth plainly. Until they do, may He grant us the strength and patience and wisdom to recognize their workings and counter them with loving presentation of truth!

Steve

Scripture says something about where sin abounds grace is even greater...There was great grace given during the storm, yet to me this is such a sad statement made by the head of an athiest group. This person is so blinded by the worldiness of the world that she can't see the grace of God. May she have the opportunity to repent and speak the words of life not death. The story witnesses to so many who have grown closer to God, and then this person...

"People need material aid, medical care and economic support -- not prayers and preaching."

Some evacuees see religious message in Katrina [reuters.myway.com]

Dear Pani Rose,

I'm not sure what you have to be sorry for. It is hard to sift the facts hidden in the layers of spin used to protect miscreants and others who would protect themselves at the expense of the truth!

You ask questions! May you be blessed for it!

Questions are the bane of those who would spin the truth for selfish gain or to protect evil. They are the curse to those who would have the people simply repeat talking points of any kind without analyzing what they are repeating!

In regard to the delay in sending in the troops, it comes clearer that there were other reasons besides the legality of being able to send them in. I read today that military leaders delayed in part because of their concern about asking 19 year old soldiers to enforce civil law.

That is another layer!

They keep mounting up.

The end result of them all are the destruction and the wanderers forced form their homes and the sick and the dying and the dead.

So questions we must raise or we fail the sick and the dying and the dead and the wanderers who, after all are not refugees but our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters. To simply look away and allow this horror and its causes to become shrouded in secrecy and spin would be unforgivable!

In my opinion, we could be failing ourselves in the event that another disaster natural or man made (let's not forget the terrorists) would be made easier. Certainly horrors would be easier if we shrink from asking questions about who is or is not doing what and why or why not.

May the Lord protect us from incompetence and malfeasance.

May He help us to shine light on those who would spin His truth to conceal the incompetent ones and the malfeasant ones of all stripes!

I pray that the Lord will aid us to do the things that will restore the faith of people that their government is focused on them and their lives and their welfare first and foremost!

Thank you.

Steve

I understand your anger! Having served in the Marine Corps for 10+ years, I was angry, appaled and horrofied that "thugs" as the press called them were roaming the streets of New Orleans beating people and raping women. I never in my life other than September 11th, 2001 have felt so bad and sad and hopeless as I read these reports on the internet. I am still angry at this country's government's slow moving on this situation with the hurricane. Our National Guard should have been mobilized long before they were and sent in to restore order and protect fellow Americans. I was asked by a friend of my son, if I were still on active duty and I was told to "shoot looters" would I or what conditions would I shoot to kill? I told my young friend that if I saw men and women who were taking diapers, baby food/formula, water and other items needed to sustain their life and the lives of their families I would let them pass. When it comes to looters stealing TV's and other appliances I would apprehend them and if the situation warranted a warning shot, then I would do so. I told my young friend I am not in any way going to kill fellow Americans, I am not condoning "stealing" but these fellow Americans did not get food and water until the 4th or 5th day? Had this been another country, our government would have made sure all necessary supplies would have been on the ground and delivered within 24-48 hours. I find it horrible that our great country which has welcomed millions, that its own government could not get basic supplies to it's own people. The Anarchy that has gone on there I honestly believe could have been prevented! and this includes the crime of rape! And I understand the government is going to once again start an investigation into what went wrong about the after effects of Hurricane Katrina, and every year close to September 11th which none of us will ever forget, some mention is made about the mistakes made on that day! I do not apologize as I lost three dear friends on 9/11, I firmly believe 9/11 should not be remembered as the day so and so didn't do this or that! It should be remembered for all the victims and I for one will remember Hurricane Katrina and all the victims also. Believe me as a man I could not just sit and look the other way if I saw a woman being assaulted.

Self-reliance involves making the effort to find out what is going on around you, and, if needful, getting yourself and your family to safety. People who are poor in this country still have access to the internet (free, in public libraries), access to TV and to radio and to these warnings. I would feel that a major factor of daily life in Southern coastal towns would involve being aware of the weather, and a daily check would be in order. As for poverty, in most cases in this country, one can very easily get to safety on public transportation for very little money. If one is self-reliant, one has a plan...family, friends that one can get to for safety.

I think that the major problem is too much reliance on the government to take care of everyone. It may be that these "self-reliant" people who remained were not being self-reliant as much as feeling forced to hang around the few things they owned because they did not have those things protected by insurance, etc. Self-reliance involves self-preotection. I can leave my house because it is appropriatey insured, as is everything in it. That is self-reliance, not standing in ruins because you fear you will have nothing if you don't stay.

Gaudior, appalled at the looting and the inhumanity men are showing to each other at a time they should be pulling together.

I heard a discussion between Shaun Hannity and Jessee Jackson today on the radio. Shaun asked him why the people weren't taken out of New Orleans with over 1,000 buses just sitting there, that should have been used to evacuate people.

Jacksons responce was that there was no place to take them. That was the reason they didn't evacuate the people.

Sorry that doesn't make sence to me. Get them out of there, they will have a place to go. I mean even if they took them upstate someplace for a bit, at least they would have been out of town. Then worry about where they were going to go.

Just struck me odd.

Pani Rose,
I agree. Get them out. Did they not have any kind of evacuation plan in place before the tragedy happened? At least evacuate the elderly and those in hospitals. So very sad.

tlk I know what you mean.

There is a nursing home where I think they said there were 30 dead. I heard today they died because the people that worked there just left them. They said they couldn't get them out, so they just left. May God have mercy on their souls! The elderly are home with the Lord, the ones that left them have to live with it the rest of their lives. I pray they find peace.

Seraphim,

They are only going to try to apprehend those who were taking tv's and such. Those taking necessity items to live are not being sought. The government said they had to survive the best they could - I can't think of the word they used, but anyway those were not the ones they were referring too. It was those who were out and out stealing becasuse they could. I hope that helps some.

Glad to see you are posting again. You have a wonderful family and they love you very much!

Pani Rose

Pani Rose

To All,

I'd like to give my own personal opinion on the situation in New Orleans. What happened was not expected. Pres. Bush did declare it a disaster area before the storm hit, but when it veered to one side rather than the other they really thought New Orleans was out of major danger.

They were wrong because they never expected the levees to break. They did! Well let's face it, they don't call it the 'Big Easy' for nothing.

The world lives and learns, so I do wish the politicians would stop the blame game. As for me I put the blame somewhere else.

I recall about two years ago, someone we know from another country had to do some work in New Orleans. Well since he was there, he decided to take a look around. While doing so he noticed the extent of religious programs, but also the extent of the 'occult'. When I heard that I thought 'oh, oh', New Orleans is in for it.

Okay, Okay! It doesn't mean that the majority of people are worse than us, and who are we to judge, etc. etc. But then again the occult is prevalent in Haiti and Jamaica, and look at the state they are in.

Maybe I'm just reading things wrong, but it seems whenever I hear about catastrophic situations such as earthquakes and wars in certain places and times in history it always seems that they were into the occult big time. So let's not blame the different governments or climatic changes due to our negligence, etc., because even that would depend on the amount of enlightenment that is given to us by our Lord.

The truth is that our climate may be changing, (oh we sinners), and that does bring major changes that take a long time for people to adapt to. One senator from Mississippi said that his house had withstood every hurricane since 1860, and yet it was demolished in this one. So we live and learn. We learn how to deal with a city that becomes out of touch with everyone because of a flood, and we learn how to build homes that can withstand floods and wind.

I say people live on the second and third floor, and build cement homes with rounded edges.

Zenovia

To All,

And the worse is that all the criminal records were lost. We now have murderers walking around freely.

One of the reasons there was so much criminal activity during the flood was because all the criminals were let out of their jails. Now that's another problem that FEMA's going to have to figure out. The Greeks have an expression: 'To pathima, (what happens), eine mathima', (is a lesson). In other words, we learn from our experiences.

Zenovia

Gaudior:

You are talking about responsibility, not "self-reliance". One cannot go to a public library, go on-line download government weather reports, evacuation advisories and plans, etc. and talk about "self". The distinction is important.

Btw, what fraction of the people here do you think have exercised due diligence by having read the risk mitigation plans for their municipality, and have prepared themselves for immediate action in the aftermath of a chemical/biological/radiological attack?

tlk: Yes. Available on-line.

On the contrary disaster planning for hurricanes of this level focussed on just this possibility. Any person in a position of responsibility who claims that they didn't anticipate the brach of the levees is guilty of gross malfeasance.