SG,
It is not my foult you hang with lesser folks. Maybe if your world view changed you could meet more people that can do .
On the bikes read up on the RCW then we can talk.

TK,

I don't hang with lesser folks unless you call responding to your posts "hanging."

Maybe if you'd read up for a change, we could talk. I'm familiar with the RCW.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

SG,

"If a cyclist was taking the lane in front of you, that's his/her right. A cyclist must keep only as far to the right as is practicable."

You negated your fist definition with this definition. Just like a motor vehicle they then have to yeild the right of way if they cannot keep to the posted speed limit and delay 5 or more vehicles. They cannot cut off a vehicle by swerving on and off the shoulder to avoid debris etc.

-----------------------------------------------------------
'No transport or means to get out?'

http://www.snopes.com/photos/katrina/buses.asp




Blame Amid the Tragedy

By BOB WILLIAMS
September 6, 2005; Page A28

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected -- and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash.

What a shame so many had to die and so many have lost their worldly possessions. Didn't have to happen. When it became obvious that neither the Governor of Louisiana nor the Mayor of New Orleans had a clue in the managment of anything greater than their personal fortunes, the whole state should have been annexed by The District of Columbia. The aid organizations would have then been on the scene before the scene occured. LoL
What a crock. Somebody has to take the blame for a class 4+ hurricane that comes ashore in the midst of the vacation coast on the Caribbean. Hind sight is always 20/20 just ask the blind.
Talk about Greenhouse gas.

Wow Aunty I have never seen you sink so low. Kinda sad.

Sorry Aunty should have elaborated. I have no doubt your disdain for Bush remains constant. I just hate to see you resort to spewing insults as much as you have in these threads.

You manage a nicer decorum with Sparkly Helmet and Rory and they have provided much more vile opposition then JLH!

In other words this ****flinging battle is really not worth it! There are bigger battles we need fought!

Now that's true Wailuku. We need to find a surgeon that can get that anal tik of yours repaired. geeez I bet you get a stiff neck.

I think Rory made a post recently about folks like you with anal fixations. Err, wait maybe that was liberals... oh well I suppose it was just another one of his cut-n-pastes.

Well Aunty I guess you are missing my point. The point being is you are/should be better than that! Sorry for having that impression of you.

:rolleyes:

With your closed mind, I'm not sure your information is adequate to inform in this area. Because of your unwillingness to consider that others may have more experience or more learning in this area, this will keep you polirized and insensitive to others, such as "these people" that you consider failures down in NO. Information that may be painful at times to hear but still real, and can be gifted to you, by those that have seen and experienced first hand, and not as poluted as you are (because of environmental, limited resources, choices, etc.s), thereby preventing you from a genuine and honest understanding because of your limited experiences and prejudices.

You seem to want to represent yourself as an authority that speaks for America, when it comes to the matters involving the poor or people of colors. Maybe it's the Dorothy complex, on a board that's predominantly men? Thinking we all are made of Straw, Tin, or that we are Cowards and can't represent ourselves and that you can only do that for us. Thanks, but I still like to contribute my .02.

When you find that your leaning might be racist, you then justify it by sighting polls and recent elections results, where here in America racist sometimes do have the upper hand in politics. Why? Because politician are good at manipulating and controling these sick people with fear, anger and prejudice. :rolleyes:

Your superiority complex is really obvious in your latest post. You cast the middle class here in America as exclusive instead of inclusive, with your attitude that myself, and many others posting here, are not also a part of that middle class, or even in a higher tax bracket than you, and that we can think differently about how our tax money is spent. Not sure that you are in the same tax bracket as Bill Gates, as you seem to want us to believe here, but I'll give you benefit of the doubt, and that's your business not mine.

The tax money we spend in Iraq on lies, is much worst than spending my tax money on the truths, that clearly show American's, (NO) are suffering in our homeland, and they need attention first and foremost, not insults.

Click! Click! Dorothy I think it's time to leave OZ. We all have to play our part to help the real Wizard (America), to be strong. We do this by helping our fellow Ameican's, no matter how poor, or the color of their skin, during these difficult times.

I'm willing to move on if you are. I have no reason to insult you unless you choose to continue to insult me and suggest that my ass needs kicking because of my beliefs. I will not be bullied, period!

Hope this is the last response to a direct post by you, that you cast in my direction regarding this thread

:rolleyes:

Yah, right! :rolleyes:

Again AuntyM my point has sailed right over your head another time.

I am not disappointed in what you are saying but how you are saying. I have probably not made that clear enough, I think the argument you and JLH are having is stupid. Yes, JLH is using school yard tactics in his argument but you are responding with the same idiotic tactic? That is what is the most disappointing. Who started it? He did, no she did, no he did, no she did... get over it!

It is easy to overestimate someone's ability to act like an adult on Bulletin Boards, I'll keep that in mind in the future.

Aunty M I don't understand how you can carry on a dialogue with someone that has their head up their a....in a dark place at least half the time.

School starts here in the Next few weeks and JLH will disapear until the next break or vaction. I think he is a collge kid that comes home in the summer and psots from his daddies home on Mercer Island. He grew up rich and is a treust fund baby that has bnever worked a day in his life. He shows contempt and disdain for the way he was raised but still pockets the cash from daddy and the grandparents.

I would take the time to explain the difference but I can see that it would be a fruitless effort much like trying to explain my previous point. I will just leave it as is, you can claim another BB victory and go on to claim I am tucking tail and running. Maybe you can dedicate a full post to explaining why my ass needs tanning, or why you are the toughest chick on the school playground, or better yet just keep doing what you normally do... Must be rewarding to "win" so much! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: