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Draginol
Draginol
Join Date 03/2001
+137

A tale of two states

Texas and Louisiana

November 14, 2005 12:49:58 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

This email is floating around. While it's totally unfair in comparing Texas and Louisiana in terms of their handling of hurricans (after Katrina, people were taking these things more seriously) but the general reality is still pretty accurate IMO.

 

:: A Tale of Two States


2 States, 22 Observations

Things noticed while watching media coverage of the
recent
hurricanes:

1. Texas: Productive industrious state run by
Republicans.
Louisiana: Government dependent welfare state run by
Democrats.

2. Texas: Residents take responsibility to protect and
evacuate themselves.
Louisiana: Residents wait for government to protect
and evacuate them.

3. Texas: Local and state officials take
responsibility for protecting their
citizens and property.
Louisiana: Local and state officials blame federal
government for not
protecting their citizens and property.

4. Texas: Command and control remains in place to
preserve order.
Louisiana: Command and control collapses allowing
lawlessness.

5. Texas: Law enforcement officers remain on duty to
protect city.
Louisiana: Law enforcement officers desert their posts
to protect
themselves.

6. Texas: Local police watch for looting.
Louisiana: Local police participate in looting.

7. Texas: Law and order remains in control, 8 looters
tried it, 8 looters
arrested.
Louisiana: Anarchy and lawlessness breaks out, looters
take over city,
no arrests, criminals with guns have to be shot by
federal troops.

8. Texas: Considerable damage caused by hurricane.
Louisiana: Considerable damage caused by looters.

9. Texas: Flood barriers hold preventing cities from
flooding.
Louisiana: Flood barriers fail due to lack of
maintenance allowing city
to flood.

10. Texas: Orderly evacuation away from threatened
areas, few remain.
Louisiana: 25,000 fail to evacuate, are relocated to
another flooded
area.


11. Texas: Citizens evacuate with personal 3 day
supply of food and water.
Louisiana: Citizens fail to evacuate with 3 day supply
of food and
water, do without it for the next 4 days.

12. Texas: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for
evacuees. State
officials provide accessible distribution points.
Louisiana: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for
evacuees. State
officials prevent citizens from reaching distribution
points and vice versa.

13. Louisiana: Media focuses on poor blacks in need of
assistance, blames
Bush.
Texas: Media can't find poor blacks in need of
assistance, looking for
something else to blame on Bush.


14. Texas: Coastal cities suffer some infrastructure
damage, Mayors tell
residents to stay away until ready for repopulation,
no interference from
federal officials.
Louisiana: New Orleans is destroyed, Mayor asks
residents to return
home as another hurricane approaches, has to be
overruled by federal
officials.

15. Louisiana: Over 400 killed by storm, flooding and
crime.
Texas: 24 killed in bus accident on highway during
evacuation, no storm
related deaths.

16. Texas: Jailed prisoners are relocated to other
detention facilities
outside the storm area.
Louisiana: Jailed prisoners are set free to prey on
city shops,
residents, and homes.


17. Texas: Local and state officials work with FEMA
and Red Cross in
recovery operations.
Louisiana: Local and state officials obstruct FEMA and
Red Cross from
aiding in recovery operations.

18. Texas: Local and state officials demonstrate
leadership in managing
disaster areas.
Louisiana: Local and state officials fail to
demonstrate leadership,
require federal government to manage disaster areas.

19. Texas: Fuel deliveries can't keep up with demand,
some run out of gas on
highway, need help from fuel tankers before storm
arrives.
Louisiana: Motorists wait till storm hits and
electrical power fails.
Cars run out of gas at gas stations that can't pump
gas. Gas in underground
tanks mixes with flood waters.

20. Texas: Mayors move citizens out of danger.
Louisiana: Mayor moves himself and family to Dallas.


21. Texas: Mayors continue public service
announcements and updates on
television with Governor's backing and support.
Louisiana: Mayor cusses, governor cries, senator
threatens president
with violence on television, none of them have a clue
what went wrong or
who's responsible.


22. Louisiana: Democratic Senator says FEMA was slow
in responding to 911
calls from Louisiana citizens.
Texas: Republican Senator says "when you call 911, the
phone doesn't
ring in Washington, it rings here at the local
responders".

What if state and local elected officials were forced
to depend on
themselves and their own resources instead of calling
for help from the
federal government? Texas cities would be back up and
running in a few days.
Louisiana cities would still be under water next
month. Republicans call for
action, Democrats call for help. What party will you
be voting for in the
next election?
politics
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Draginol
stevendedalus
Join Date 11/2003
+8
Reply #1 November 14, 2005 2:24:02 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I trust you enjoyed this "satire"--I call it a cheap shot--in dragging out the politicization of a disaster. You forget that Texas had the good fortune of learning from the mistakes of Louisiana. Nor can one really call Louisiana "Democrat." [whatever happened to "Dixiecrat" and Huey Long?]
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Draginol
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
+129
Reply #2 November 14, 2005 3:31:03 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Nor can one really call Louisiana "Democrat." [whatever happened to "Dixiecrat" and Huey Long?]

Since Reconstruction, how many Republican Senators has Louisianna had?  How many republican Governors?

While the graft and corruption is not limited to a party, Louisiana is high on the list of graft and corruption.  If it had been a republican monopoly, we could laugh at them.  Since it was the democrats........

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Draginol
stevendedalus
Join Date 11/2003
+8
Reply #3 November 15, 2005 12:03:01 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Louisiana is high on the list of graft and corruption.


I agree and implied that; but at the same time "those" are not my kind of Democrat.
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Draginol
stevendedalus
Join Date 11/2003
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Reply #4 November 15, 2005 12:13:32 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Moreover, from my 9/17 blog:The fault does not lie with the Republicans alone; for the control of Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, is in the hands of "Democrats"--need I say, however, there are Democrats and there are real Republicans and Democrats? — surely the mayor and governor are no Giuliani or Hillary. Before the Democrats get on their high horse, they should first seek absolution for their cowardice and milquetoast behavior since the second term of Johnson when they callously let the war on poverty slip away because of a war stripping the budget.
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Draginol
UBoB
Join Date 06/2001
+1
Reply #5 November 15, 2005 6:18:30 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Yeah, them good old boys sure showed them shiftless ni....s, huh?
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Draginol
ParaTed2k
Join Date 12/2004
+35
Reply #6 November 15, 2005 6:56:24 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
While (as you freely admit) this is overly simplistic and not a fair assessment of the two states, it does show the differences in Preparation and Mitigation between the two.

I have to laugh when people point out that Texas had a chance to learn from the mistakes of Louisiana. They act as if this kind of preparation, relocation and recovery effort is planned and executed overnight.

The difference between Texas' and Louisiana's response to the disasters had little to do with what was planned from one hurricane to the other... The difference was that, while both states had Emergency Management Protocols. Texas had more complete protocols that addressed specific needs, while New Orleans and Louisiana did not. Furthermore, Texas officials actually followed their protocols and were able to give FEMA officials accurate assessments of the situation and recovery needs. Louisiana didn't follow what plans they had, and when FEMA arrived, niether the City, County or State officials could give them a better assessment of the situation or need than "We had a disaster", "We need all you can give us".

Thanks for the laugh Brad!
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Draginol
stevendedalus
Join Date 11/2003
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Reply #7 November 16, 2005 12:57:45 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Are you sure your soubriquet is not ParaTex?
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