Thursday, September 08, 2005
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency's online aid request form works best with newer versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It can cause problems for people using Apple or older Windows PCs."
Now that's bogus. Even Republicans have been complaining about the incompetence at FEMA.
You might have heard the Congressional Black Caucus railing about racism in rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina. I don't know. As far as I can tell, the standard rule for cockups applies: think incompetence before malice. Apart from the current Administration's well-established malice toward Democrats.
There is, unquestionably, deep racism among some people in New Orleans, in the South generally, and in parts of the Federal Government, going back to the aftermath of the Civil War and beyond. That's why a disproportionate number of blacks are poor, and of course it is the poor who lived in the lowest parts of the city, the furthest below sea level. But the poor in New Orleans are not only black. There are Latinos, and Vietnamese, and many others there.
The current problem is that rescue efforts started from high ground, and rescuers turned back whenever their boats or helicopters were full. So help was provided for the shallow end of New Orleans first and most, with much less happening in the deep end for at least the first four days.
One could argue that this scheme rescued the greatest possible number of flood victims in the first few days, but it is clear that it rescued the least possible number of those at greatest risk for as long as possible. Why didn't FEMA think about those at greatest risk more? Well, FEMA management is certainly incompetent enough to account for this, but the Bush administration's well-known contempt for the poor certainly played a major part. It just isn't clear that racism was the problem. They seem to despise the poor equally, not on the basis of ethnicity or national origin but just on the basis of money. And their contempt isn't based only on money. FEMA paying no attention to Mac and Linux users isn't based on poverty, but those are definitely two very liberal minorities, on average). Users of older PCs, OK, that could be money, but never mind.
But I certainly can't claim to know, on the available evidence, that anybody in the current Administration isn't racist.
Now that's bogus. Even Republicans have been complaining about the incompetence at FEMA.
You might have heard the Congressional Black Caucus railing about racism in rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina. I don't know. As far as I can tell, the standard rule for cockups applies: think incompetence before malice. Apart from the current Administration's well-established malice toward Democrats.
There is, unquestionably, deep racism among some people in New Orleans, in the South generally, and in parts of the Federal Government, going back to the aftermath of the Civil War and beyond. That's why a disproportionate number of blacks are poor, and of course it is the poor who lived in the lowest parts of the city, the furthest below sea level. But the poor in New Orleans are not only black. There are Latinos, and Vietnamese, and many others there.
The current problem is that rescue efforts started from high ground, and rescuers turned back whenever their boats or helicopters were full. So help was provided for the shallow end of New Orleans first and most, with much less happening in the deep end for at least the first four days.
One could argue that this scheme rescued the greatest possible number of flood victims in the first few days, but it is clear that it rescued the least possible number of those at greatest risk for as long as possible. Why didn't FEMA think about those at greatest risk more? Well, FEMA management is certainly incompetent enough to account for this, but the Bush administration's well-known contempt for the poor certainly played a major part. It just isn't clear that racism was the problem. They seem to despise the poor equally, not on the basis of ethnicity or national origin but just on the basis of money. And their contempt isn't based only on money. FEMA paying no attention to Mac and Linux users isn't based on poverty, but those are definitely two very liberal minorities, on average). Users of older PCs, OK, that could be money, but never mind.
But I certainly can't claim to know, on the available evidence, that anybody in the current Administration isn't racist.
