Originally Posted by chinese-canadian

Bush was told that levees would collapse according to the tapes released now, and Bush did nothing about it. (he said he didn't know possible collapse...although on the tape the FEMA guy told him in the face)

So was everyother President since FDR, they did nothing.

Originally Posted by Damien435

So was everyother President since FDR, they did nothing.

I mean before the storm coming, Bush was told that there would be a flood, and Bush should at least have a forced evacuation or something...sadly....nothing was done

Originally Posted by Strongbow

Ouch Rabs!

"defecit" is usually spelled as "deficit" in th UK. Is this the US version?

Lower interest rates have also helped but the US dependence on foreign capital is getting bigger and bigger. I think foreign investment in the US is about $1.7 trillion at the moment (News Hour with Jim Lehrer 10/03/06. Great show for us foreigners!). Are huge budget deficits healthy in the long term?

I think the so-called foreign investment in U.S is probably foreign nations buying up U.S government debt bonds

Deficits are never good things, especially in long term:

1. The more you borrow, the more you pay (interests)
2. Less money to invest in social security, infrastructures, creating jobs in public sectors or whatever

Even the so-called deficit spending is only for short-term stimulation of economy. Budget is better to be balanced.

This thing about the Bush Administration doing allot of good for Afganistan.

The Drug trade has floursihed to the point where Russia has troops on the Tajikstan Boarder, openly engaging drug runners with what ever they can, including Mi-24's and T-72's.
The Russians are openly reciving no support from the West, and there is vey little done effectivly inside Afganistan to curb the opium trade.
And most of the drug runners, were Northern Alliance Soldiers, who recived training, weapons and equipment from the coalition.

The guys they went into destroy, the Taliban, are not gone, they still control parts of the country, they are still hiding AlQueda Terrorists.
It is as if little has changed in the country since the arrival of the Coalition.

Yes the coaltion have built schools, hospitals, given woment to vote, In coalition controlled areas, but at the moment, Afganistan is far from a succsess. It has to be disregarded if you are on the Affirmative of this Argument.

Originally Posted by chinese-canadian

I mean before the storm coming, Bush was told that there would be a flood, and Bush should at least have a forced evacuation or something...sadly....nothing was done

They were all given plenty of warning if I recall correctly. One of the sticking points was that people with low or no income did not have a means to remove themselves from the area. The President can not issue a lawful "forced" evacuation of any city if I recall correctly.

Not sure of the particulars, but I think other than appointing the wrong person to head up FEMA and such that President Bush did all that could be expected of him until the aftermath. Then it was all about the finger pointing etc.

Originally Posted by Marinerhodes

They were all given plenty of warning if I recall correctly. One of the sticking points was that people with low or no income did not have a means to remove themselves from the area. The President can not issue a lawful "forced" evacuation of any city if I recall correctly.

Not sure of the particulars, but I think other than appointing the wrong person to head up FEMA and such that President Bush did all that could be expected of him until the aftermath. Then it was all about the finger pointing etc.

oh ya? how about the next storm--Rita, The government issued a forced evacuation and everybody was out..

however, i dont believe that "George Bush does not care about black people", I think he just made a big mistake there

CC, I don't know if you have been paying attention or not but when **** like this happens it kind of changes how things are handled, like before 9/11 anthrax threats would not have been taken as seriously as after 9/11. The situation in New Orleans changed after Katrina also, after Katrina New Orleans was no longer a city, it was a federal disaster zone which gives the government certain powers they wouldn't have otherwise, furthermore it is likely that many people would have refused to leave if the government told them to and if Katrina hadn't destroyed New Orleans then it would have looked like W was just manhandling a bunch of blacks and forcing them to relocate, wouldn't play well in the media. In addition to that many idiots refused to leave their homes after the hurricane destroyed the city and the reason they had to be forcibly removed for Rita was because they had still refused to leave.

Originally Posted by chinese-canadian

oh ya? how about the next storm--Rita, The government issued a forced evacuation and everybody was out..

however, i dont believe that "George Bush does not care about black people", I think he just made a big mistake there

President Bush never made that statement, but his political opponents sure tired to make it seem like he did.

Originally Posted by chinese-canadian

I mean before the storm coming, Bush was told that there would be a flood, and Bush should at least have a forced evacuation or something...sadly....nothing was done

We worked for weeks to rescue those stranded in New Orleans and surrounding areas after Katrina.

There would have been NO way to remove every one from the city prior to the hurricane. That said, it was the local government's responsibility to take care of the people and arrange for transportation. But even then, where would they go? The Super Dome? Yeah, that was a safe spot. Houston took in many evacuees, but after the disaster, they wouldn't have opened their doors to hundreds of thousands of people on warning.

I wouldn't have wanted to have been in the city if a forced evacuation was instituted. It would have made the crime spike after Katrina look like a walk in the park.

The blame game for Katrina has been blown way out of proportion. Plenty of mistakes were made, but hindsight is always 20/20. Shoulda, coulda, woulda is easy to say when it isn't your butt making the decisions.

After seeing what I saw, if I had to blame anyone it would be the Mayor of NOLA and the Governor of LA.

Louisiana had years of warnings about the leevies and did nothing, but that doesn't matter I guess.

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2...xecsummary.pdf
read this, the report done by Republican members of the congress, "a failture of initiative"

The 600-page report lays primary fault with the passive reaction and misjudgments of top Bush aides, singling out Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Operations Centre and the White House Homeland Security Council.

The report found that "earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response" because Bush alone could have cut through all bureaucratic resistance.