And if things can not get any worst for George W
Discussion
I swear that a couple of friends and I were talking about the very same thing the day after the news started coming through about the problems in New Orleans.
Who will Bush find as a scape goat for this one? Will he launch nukes at the sky in revenge..... Doesn't bear thinking about.
Who will Bush find as a scape goat for this one? Will he launch nukes at the sky in revenge..... Doesn't bear thinking about.
They have had major earthquakes. And major, city-destroying fires in big cities, such as Chicago and LA. However, both cities were more economically stable, on an upswing in growth, and so were able to recover from these. (Though it was a matter of years.)
The blame for the response and post-catastrophe crime is a failing on many levels of government: city, county, state, as well as federal. There were a lot of inherent problems the local government and policies in Louisiana, and they have just been magnified by this catastrophe.
Here's a cut and paste from this page:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9190577/
The "before" is critical. Experts in urban recovery say that the most important factor in how a city fares is not the extent of the damage but the pre-existing trend lines. Chicago was mostly destroyed by fire in 1871 and San Francisco by earthquake and fire in 1906. But both cities had been on the way up beforehand. So while the rubble still smoldered, entrepreneurs were already getting loans to rebuild. Almost overnight, San Francisco constructed 8,000 barrackslike "refugee houses," with six to eight families in each. Within seven years it had recovered enough to host a world's fair.
The same dynamic applies to more recent disasters. Los Angeles, built on a fault line, is as geographically nonsensical as New Orleans. But it bounced back from an earthquake and riots in the early 1990s. The difference this time is that New Orleans has been in decline for decades. The headquarters of almost every energy company in town has moved away, usually to Houston. Its business establishment lacks the entrepreneurial dynamism of other Southern cities. Its work force is largely poor and uneducated.
The good news is that Mumford's litany of doomed cities is less relevant in modern times. "In the last 200 years, city rebuilding has been almost ubiquitous," says Lawrence Vale, professor of urban studies at MIT. "There's a deeply rooted necessity to turn disaster into opportunity." Vale says it was only a few days after 9/11 that he first saw that word—"opportunity"—in The New York Times.
(There's more, but it goes on for a bit)
The blame for the response and post-catastrophe crime is a failing on many levels of government: city, county, state, as well as federal. There were a lot of inherent problems the local government and policies in Louisiana, and they have just been magnified by this catastrophe.
Here's a cut and paste from this page:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9190577/
The "before" is critical. Experts in urban recovery say that the most important factor in how a city fares is not the extent of the damage but the pre-existing trend lines. Chicago was mostly destroyed by fire in 1871 and San Francisco by earthquake and fire in 1906. But both cities had been on the way up beforehand. So while the rubble still smoldered, entrepreneurs were already getting loans to rebuild. Almost overnight, San Francisco constructed 8,000 barrackslike "refugee houses," with six to eight families in each. Within seven years it had recovered enough to host a world's fair.
The same dynamic applies to more recent disasters. Los Angeles, built on a fault line, is as geographically nonsensical as New Orleans. But it bounced back from an earthquake and riots in the early 1990s. The difference this time is that New Orleans has been in decline for decades. The headquarters of almost every energy company in town has moved away, usually to Houston. Its business establishment lacks the entrepreneurial dynamism of other Southern cities. Its work force is largely poor and uneducated.
The good news is that Mumford's litany of doomed cities is less relevant in modern times. "In the last 200 years, city rebuilding has been almost ubiquitous," says Lawrence Vale, professor of urban studies at MIT. "There's a deeply rooted necessity to turn disaster into opportunity." Vale says it was only a few days after 9/11 that he first saw that word—"opportunity"—in The New York Times.
(There's more, but it goes on for a bit)
venom said:
I swear that a couple of friends and I were talking about the very same thing the day after the news started coming through about the problems in New Orleans.
Who will Bush find as a scape goat for this one? Will he launch nukes at the sky in revenge..... Doesn't bear thinking about.
If George Bush launches Nukes at the Sky then if the USAF are in charge we have big problems knowing how good those guys are they have probably put the misslies in the slios up side down.
john75 said:
I swear that a couple of friends and I were talking about the very same thing the day after the news started coming through about the problems in New Orleans.
Who will Bush find as a scape goat for this one? Will he launch nukes at the sky in revenge..... Doesn't bear thinking about.
If George Bush launches Nukes at the Sky then if the USAF are in charge we have big problems knowing how good those guys are they have probably put the misslies in the slios up side down.
Well they probably figure the chinese won't be expecting an attack from below
There was an amusing cartoon in the Sunday Times with an Aide showing the President who was responsible for New Orleans and said 'heres the bearded religious fanatic responsible, sir' and showed a picture of God (the historically stereotyped view of God anyway for you nitpickers...)
and if you enjoyed that you will enjoy this little flash animation...
www.endofworld.net/
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