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percy-l - Re: [percy-l] Countdown to a Meltdown

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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: Ken Armstrong <armstron AT ohiou.edu>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>, ttbrader AT mindspring.com
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] Countdown to a Meltdown
  • Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:25:53 -0400



--On Friday, September 09, 2005 6:04 PM -0400 Tommy Armstrong <tfa AT brickengraver.com> wrote:

But no matter how you look at it there was an incredible "cluster
screwup" as a good redneck would call it. Blame is everywhere to be
found--but to rest it solely on an incompetent administration is only
looking at the tip of the iceberg. The 80% of the iceberg that remains
below water are local and state authorities, criminals, incompetents, and
mostly just unprepared normal people.

You're in denial. If the 800 pound federal gorilla had done the right thing, it would have dwarfed the 60 pound state chimp. Those with the most power and the huge resources needed to step up, dump the rules, and move immediately. Not only did they not take the action the situation called for, they stood on bureaucratic procedures, saying incredibly stupid things like the people in the superdome weren't a fact until they became a fact through bureaucratic procedure. The niceties that you delineate may be perfectly true, but are largely irrelevant in relation to the federal "response" to actual events. Everyone was incompetent? This is true and needs to be acknowledged. But to those with the greatest resources goes the greatest responsibility. Thanks to the character of the oversight provided by Michael Brown, the federal response was retarded, and this situation could not tolerate a retarded response.

Ken Armstrong




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