Is it just us or ...
... does this seem a little inappropriate, given the present circumstances?
- NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 4 - A day after two police suicides and the abrupt resignations or desertions of up to 200 police officers, defiant city officials on Sunday began offering five-day vacations - and even trips to Las Vegas - to the police, firefighters and city emergency workers and their families.
Read the whole article here. Now don't get us wrong, we're all for rewarding public safety officers for the job we do. Reward us LAVISHLY. You won't hear a word of complaint from us. However, this doesn't seem the time or place to be offering this. There are hundreds of thousands who have lost everything, thousands of bodies to be recovered, clean up to be undertaken and who knows how many crimes to be solved (yes, crimes to be solved - laws were broken - see the videos.) Mayor nagin claims that his people are exhausted and "traumatized."
No shit, your honor. That's what happens during a disaster.
But with the National Guard on scene along with the 4th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne, the mayor figures his guys are due for a break. All well and good, have them stand down for a 24 or 48 hour period. Help them contact relatives to check on families or let them get some sleep or have a few beers or whatever. But it doesn't send any type of message to the other 450,000 people from New Orleans or the other millions of people up and down the gulf coast that New Orleans is giving away 5 day trips to people who are supposed to be on call in case of a disaster.
And best of all, the mayor asked FEMA to pay for all these trips, but they turned him down flat. Good for FEMA. However, the question remains - how is New Orleans going to pay for these trips? They have no income as sales taxes are non existent and payment of property taxes will be rightly declined on the basis that property is unusable/unavailable. Insurance settlements are months or years away and most municipalities are self insured anyway. Local governments can't just print money. This is just more bad decision making all around by the local authorities.
Open thread for the holiday people. See you tomorrow unless something else breaks loose. (hat tip to Michelle Malkin for the story)
No shit, your honor. That's what happens during a disaster.
But with the National Guard on scene along with the 4th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne, the mayor figures his guys are due for a break. All well and good, have them stand down for a 24 or 48 hour period. Help them contact relatives to check on families or let them get some sleep or have a few beers or whatever. But it doesn't send any type of message to the other 450,000 people from New Orleans or the other millions of people up and down the gulf coast that New Orleans is giving away 5 day trips to people who are supposed to be on call in case of a disaster.
And best of all, the mayor asked FEMA to pay for all these trips, but they turned him down flat. Good for FEMA. However, the question remains - how is New Orleans going to pay for these trips? They have no income as sales taxes are non existent and payment of property taxes will be rightly declined on the basis that property is unusable/unavailable. Insurance settlements are months or years away and most municipalities are self insured anyway. Local governments can't just print money. This is just more bad decision making all around by the local authorities.
Open thread for the holiday people. See you tomorrow unless something else breaks loose. (hat tip to Michelle Malkin for the story)
posted by SCC at 12:40 PM
44 Comments:
There are so many things that aren't being done! Its amazing in view of the amount of money and resources being piled in.
Want to avoid filing reports and spending endless hours looking for hundreds of thousands? How about a verified list of the living, and an updated database on their locations?
Get GWB on TV to tell every single living person from the affected communities to call 1800XXX... or visit website xxx.com and provide their information.
Last name/first name/MI/DoB/last address, current whereabouts.
Soc. (Soc. only for verification purposes).
Have hospitals and emergency officials do the same for all who are unable to do this for themselves, like missing children, the elderly and the incapacitated.
You could do this sorta thing from freaking Omaha at a call center, and I guarantee you there'd be lots of volunteers to take down the information and enter it.
Then, anyone looking for someone? Go on the internet or call the number.
As to the vacations, I agree with you on both counts. It would be good to offer this up as a prize 2 or 3 months away, and definitely counseling as-needed right now, but no way is Vegas tomorrow a good idea in the midst of this. No way.
How can you be asured the person calling the 800 number is in fact the person they say they are. Folks shooting at helicopters and relief workers wouldn't be above that either.
Does anyone know why the gas attendants for cpd around the city are asking how many people are on your car?
OC (original commentator) here.
The soc. mostly.
You'd have to have a pretty strange sense of motivation to obtain someone's name, DoB and social security number and report them alive at a specified place.
Even still, what are they gonna do with this ability, steal someone's "I'm glad you made it out alive" cards? Just to try and make sure that doesn't happen, get GWB to add that people should not send money based solely on this information. Rather, the information should be used only to try to track down the lost and separated. There are tens of thousand of man-hours being spent every day (for now) looking for people who may or may not even be lost.
Alternatively, it seems like it might be useful to ask all refugees from the region (over 4 yoa) to get a government ID immediately, as that could also be used to get people in the system.
OC again here. This is why I love Yahoo and hope they kick Google's ass:
http://boards.news.yahoo.com/boards/
Looks like Yahoo is way ahead of me on this front. Now if we could only get GWB and the G to press this and tie it into a call center.
Our city has poor taste in offering all expense trips to New Orleans for our officers right now!Stay at the lovely under water 5 star sewer and aligator filled hotel on the french quarter. Eat nothing but delicious sea foods, catch em by hand off the roof of the hotel.
I went to DC when the city sent us there it was real nice and the city of Dc took care of us. The union told us not to go because if something happened we were not covered by them, are we here????? We were sworn in as US marshalls for three days.
Why does the president have to get on TV for goofy plan? Why is everything always about my big federal daddy? This is the kind of crap that drives repub's away. Why isn't the governor leading the charge? I'm tired of watching her and the NOLA mayor scream and cry. Yesterday their equivalent of Stroger was on TV crying. Total abdication of responsibility. No wonder the cops ran away. I'm sure all three of these idiots were yapping about their "leadership" skills when they were running. Leaders dig in, make hard choices, and influence the situation when things are bad. Of course these three idiots will get re-elected now that they have blamed the the whole thing on the G. Their "and out" constituency will love that bullshit story.
Check out this television report showing New Orleans police officers "shopping"
http://www.zippyvideos.com/8911023771013466/countdown-looting-in-walmart/
Hold on, some guy posted on here two days ago saying that they were getting medical supplies and that we're all assholes for knocking them. Watch the the video sparky. I would expect the same from these particular type of officers on our job.
Yep, I checked it out too! Look inside their shopping cart. I don't see any medical supplies or bottled water. They were looters, free and clear.
Maybe the Moderator should post it in a section and let everyone see it!
CPD has deployed around 30 to N.O. LA
>>Why does the president have to get on TV for goofy plan? <<
OC here again. He has to because even Dem constituents know that Dems don't have the leadership or sense to do something like this.
And did you just say this is goofy? I'm not sure what you contribute with this characterization, but I now note that CNN also has a "Safe List" on its front page.
So we have Yahoo and CNN with separate safe lists. And I'll bet there are a few dozen more among private aid groups and various refuges. Amazing how many people can think of a variant of this "goofy" plan, but nobody thinks that maybe people would be better off with a single centralized list.
Anyhoo, just a thought. You figured out what your role is in the evacuation of Chicago yet, or are you just another professional critic collecting a paycheck?
I heard that one of the police officers that killed himself did so after going home and finding the house destroyed and everyone dead....any confirmation of this?
In respect to the police that were looting, at Wal-Mart no less. Couldn't they find any jewelry stores. Diamonds are a girls best friend
They might have had to draw down to get into the jewelery store. That gun only comes out for their own domestics.
We sent 30 po's to help, New York 275.....anyone see a problem here??
Yeah, CPD SUX
The Bronze Rat
A tourist walks into a curio shop in San Francisco. Looking around at the exotica, he noticed a very lifelike, life-sized bronze statue of a rat. It has no price tag, but is so striking he decided that he must have it. He took it to the owner: “How much for the bronze rat?” “Twelve dollars for the rat, one hundred dollars for the story,” said the owner.
The tourist paid the owner his twelve dollars. “I’ll just take the rat, you can keep the story.” As he walked down the street carrying his bronze rat, he noticed that a few real rats had crawled out of the alleys and sewers and began following him down the street. As this was disconcerting, he began walking faster. But within a couple blocks, the herd of rats behind him had grown to hundreds, and they began squealing. He began to trot toward the Bay, looking around to see that the rats now numbered in the MILLIONS, and were squealing and coming toward him faster and faster.
Concerned, even scared, he ran to the edge of the Bay, and threw the bronze rat as far out into the Bay as he could. Amazingly, the millions of rats all jumped into the Bay after it, and were all drowned. The man walked back to the curio shop.
“Ah ha,” said the owner, “You have come back for the story?”
“No,” said the man, “I came back to see if you have a bronze Democrat!”
It would have been more appropriate if the city was Chicago!!!
If the deadline to apply to volunteer in New orleans is this morning how come we already sent 30 P/O as a previous post said?
Think we should have a volunteer, standing group ready to roll for such diasters? I mean, there are much smaller departments already down there and we are still here.
Wasn't the mayor in the National Guard top avoid the draft? Maybe he can be reployed down there.
We sent 30 guys down, all SWAT with a load of heavy weapons as a preliminary contingent. Others will be sent shortly. NYC can sent 275 guys because (a) they have 30,000 + guys, not 10,000 and (b) they are way better organized than CPD.
We will try to confirm the story of the suicide. Supposedly, it was the spokesman for the department who went home and found his family dead.
What are we sending the SWAT for. There's nothing left to loot. Do you think the assholes would be more scared of the 4th I.D.'s infantry battalion that just got back from Iraq or our fat ass phone call entry SWAT team. I've never been around as big a bunch of wannabes.
SWAT???? What kind of skills would these guys have to help out? I have not seen these suppose SWAT Teams once on the streets. Isn't true they just took the HBT guys and now call them SWAT. Never saw them once on the street either. Great department we have here when instead of using these supposedly skilled people for a weapons warrant we just send in a tact team with 9mm guns and maybe one unloaded shot gun and no breach training.
I understand we're compiling a list of volunteers, sent mine in on the 2nd, but 4 days to do it?? I seems a bit obvious that the holiday weekend for the 35th street crew might have something to do with it.
I'd be surprised desk jockeys like sweetbabyray and the rest there would volunteer. Sorry, sweetbabyray, I like your posts, but let's call a spade a spade.
> Friday, September 2nd, 2005
> Dear Mr. Bush:
> Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane
> Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to
> be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our
> military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my
> car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
> Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could
> really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to
> do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't
> there to begin with?
> Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye
> of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1
> then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today,
> there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman
> said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday!
> Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your
> vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you
> had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore
> and smear. You sure showed her!
> I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of
> flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your
> business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after
> all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put
> your finger in the dike?
> And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how
> you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for
> New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell
> them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees,
> there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway
> because you had a much more important construction job for them --
> BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
> On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say
> I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from
> the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick
> look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a
> bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in
> chief. Been there done that.
> There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and
> try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing
> that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who
> predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of
> Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this
> inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken
> Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so
> wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from
> New York to Cleveland.
> No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that
> 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of
> thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're
> black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can
> you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days?
> Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
> You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army
> helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans
> and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
> Yours,
Michael Moore
> P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your
> ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are
> now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the
> way. Maybe you can catch up with them
> <> before they get to DC on September 21st.
That anonymous poster of Micheal Moores article is a piece of shit. Get a life you mope, how is it Bushes fault. Those mopes had the warning but refused to leave.
You can lead a horse to water you cant make him drink. How is the president at fault, what about the looters. Blame the mayor of New Orleans and their politicians this was common knowledge for the last hundred years.
You got no balls at least some of us post with a name. Just like when the tunnels flooded in the loop Daley was blamed for trying to remove the homeless in the loop. No one challenged the black alderwoman who made that joke.
That bitch Sheehan needs a bullet to her head, destroying her sons memory. The kid voluntered, just like we joined the big blue whore to be the police, and then got wise. You should be assinated punk your probably the dope police driving around grabbing nickel bags instead of taking guns of the street or backing up the real police handling the usual bullshit.
Go to New orleans with the other members of the Swat team SOS suck or swallow bitches you patronage hack.
The war is on it was decision we should support until victory, I am so sick of these pieces of shit actors who never served a day in the military slamming the US.
Moore and Sheehan should go to Cuba we will give them a row boat and hopefully they will both drown trying to come back.
Thats why we need a Hitler in this country. The moderator will probably ban me. I'm beginning to shake my housekeeper is putting Music of the Reich on the stereo I have to lie down and rest with my Lugar at my side.
I do love the sounds of "sanity" and moderation found in the last post. Perhaps it really is time to have some of our members re-psyched. You may disagree with Michael Moore or the poster but you really bring discredit upon the Dept and your fellow officers with your language and abusive rhetoric. Have a nice day!
Point by Point refuting of Michael Moore's BS letter:
1) The choppers are where they always were. Under the control of the governor of Louisiana. Strike 1
2) 75% of Louisiana Nation Guardsmen are right where they started - In Louisiana under the control of the governor - including the decorated engineering battalion that would be of most use today. Strike 2
3) I'm sure Bush saw the weather reports. Bush asked Blanco to evacuate 36 hours before Katrina hit. She said she needed 24 hours to answer. See Nagin's comments on CNN. As to Sheehan, name the smear. Document it. Oh wait, you don't do that in your films or your letters. Strike 3, 1 away
4) Maybe Bush assumed Louisiana authorities had the situation in hand. Oops. Bad President! Never assume a democrat has a handle on anything except someone else's wallet. Strike 1
5) Still waiting for that "proof" Bush cut the Army Corps of Engineers "levee" budget. Because we were under the impression that once the Corps builds it, responsibility is given to the local authorities to maintain it, which they didn't, despite repeated warnings it would fail/had been failing. Read point #2, the Louisiana Engineer Battalion was at home. And Democracy is taking hold in Iraq, or hadn't you noticed the elections? Strike 2
6) Where was he going to land on day 3? Both airports were still underwater, local authority was still in charge (as Blanco hadn't asked for Federal assistance and wouldn't for another 2 days), and there was no way to secure transport in and out. Presidential visits take a bit of planning, too. Strike 3, 2 outs
7) Global Warming? Please. We've posted at least one links that debunks that instantly. The average number of hurricanes has GONE DOWN and the intensity has lessened over the past 50 years. One bad hurricane doesn't prove kennedy's pseudo science anymore than one look at you proves all americans are fat asses. Strike 1 (This kid is on a roll Hawk)(You said a mouthful there Ed)
8) The first grain of truth from the Fat One! It ISN'T Bush's fault that 30% of New Orleans lives in poverty! Since when has it been the Federal government's job to guarantee everyone a middle class existence? The government exists to provide opportunities by nurturing a healthy economy, not give everyone handouts. And it sure is funny how the ones who ALWAYS bring up the Black v White issue are liberals and democrats. Didn't Martin Luther King say something about not judging by the color of skin, but by the content of their character or something? Newsflash Mikey - White people WERE on the roofs for 5 days, same as black people. Strike 2 (fastball down the middle!)
9) Sheehan again. Poor Cindy. We've avoided talking about her because she is so obviously being used by you and your ilk. He son VOLUNTEERED. And when his tour was up, he REENLISTED. And every day she draws breath, she dishonors his memory. Did you know she met with Bush? And she said Bush brought her comfort and eased her burden? It was shortly after Casey died and she was quoted in numerous publications about how caring the president had been. Why in the world would he meet with someone who has become so deranged that she regularly spouts your BS about war for oil, haliburton, jewish neocons killed her son blah blah blah? She called the terrorists who killed her son "freedom fighters." She must be reading your playbook mikey. If the president DID meet with her, we'd have to question HIS sanity. Strike 3, fanned the side!
1256 a.m. Yeah the problem is we sent 30 too many!
Anyone who would quote Michael Moore is a fucktard. If you want your point to be credible, you have to use credible sources.
There were over 600 volunteers for the Hurricane detail; now the Department, though "grateful" doesn't know whether or not they're going to send anyone.
It's a disgrace we have only sent a small group not there. Even suburban fire departments are there.
And the guys we sent!!! The goof on tv being interviewed by Jay Levine has a tounge piercing and can barely speak. They are heros, just ask them.
Did you see the kid on television.
How did they decide or determine who should go. My wife is positive the kid had a toungue ring.
That cant be true? Please tell me we do not allow piercings now.
May be I have been in central d for to long.
Would nt the unit send men by senoirity?
I have to run this guy on clear, my coworkers said there was also a sergeant on the tube acting all broke up. Thats hard to believe if their getting ot.
He does have a tongue ring. His name is Suchoki (sp). Been on about 7-8 years.
No doubt that are Klein's boys, or his kids. Each day i think that he is more and more of an idiot.
Suchocki is a total stroke. He has about ten years on. He was in the academy with me. One of those fucks who spent all his time hanging out with the range staff. He went to SOS with about two years on the job. He was this skinny kid with a floppy haircut. I ran into him a year later and he was a monster with a crew cut. His head was swollen up like Sosa's and acne everywhere. Gee, what could be going on? A friend of mine got stabbed in the groin about 7 years ago. The W.C. lied to keep him on the desk instead of going to callback. Suchocki comes in the station to inventory his 3 bagger and starts blowing my friend shit about being a desk bitch. My buddy asks him when was the last time he answered a radio job and a huge motherfucking contest starts. The desk sgt throws Suchocki out of the station and tells him he's "barred" from the district. I laughed my ass off. His cock is pierced too. He shows it off at Dugans 3 or 4 nights a week. Just ask he'll show it.
I believe Suchoki just got saved by uncle phil about a year ago something about not inventorying guns p.s. momma is the secretary for Donahue and as for the roids allegation he has GROWN OVER THE LAST 6 YEARS
Suchoki is the boner who about a month ago a couple of 10 district tact officers are shot at, everone responds to help catch the shit heads. After everything is calmed down and the guys are already in the cars here comes hair gel boy with his heavy weapons from the trunk of the SORT car and while walking down the street in front of about 40 PO's and 100 idiots from the area he drops the magazine from weapon and straight to the ground.......Elite officers, what a joke!!!!!
Ha ha, that's my boy!
Test him for roids. He will tell you he is the best po out just look at the 15 medals on his chest, that mommy helped him and drinking at duggans with his bosses got him. And he was on verge of gettin fired for stealin guns.....Dork
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