steve_gus
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| posted on 9/9/05 at 10:02 AM |
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In the 1980's, Maggie Thatcher was getting a reputation for turning up whenever a disaster happened in the UK. There were jokes saying people
should carry the equivalent of a donor card stating ' in the event of an accident or disaster, I do not want Mrs Thatcher to visit me in
hopspital' . 
We too have a 'region problem' in the UK. We are little bigger than the population of California, but we still have devolved govt in
Scotland and Wales. Even Cornwall has spoken of independence! Thats a bit like Kenosha and Racine county wanting a separate govt!
Still, in the UK (scotland has a slightly different legal system) we do have the same laws across the board. Same drink laws, same driving ages, same
'legal' ages for sex. In america, you could cross a state line and imediatly get done for no driving license, being drunk, and having sex
with your 16 year old wife. Would it work that way?
atb
steve
[Edited on 9/9/05 by steve_gus]
http://www.locostbuilder.co.uk
Just knock off the 's'!
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splitrivet
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| posted on 9/9/05 at 10:31 AM |
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The report on ITN news summed it up the other night,the ITN reporter rescued an 80 odd year old guy with dead body's floating all around his
house,when he got him back to safety and took the guy to the local military headquarters the guys in charge there couldnt give a monkeys and didnt
know what to do with the him.
At the same time hundreds of national guardsmen were patroling the affluent evacuated area of New Orleans guarding empty property.
A sad sad country.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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steve_gus
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| posted on 9/9/05 at 12:37 PM |
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Another interesting point.......
when the tsunami hit Aceh, almost right away they dealt with dead bodies - like really fast.
In NO they seem to have taken 10 days to do anything, whilst at the same friggin time banging on at how dangerous the place was cos of all the dead
bodies.........
One interpretation could be that in Aceh, no one had anything. There was no rich and poor. No gang culture. No wish to get into affluent areas and
steal things. No wish to shoot your fellow man cos they had things you wanted. No shooting from rooftops at people trying to help.
There is obviously something very very different about how some people in USA cope in a crisis compare to a backwater 3rd world country. And America
loses in the comparison.....
atb
steve
[Edited on 9/9/05 by steve_gus]
http://www.locostbuilder.co.uk
Just knock off the 's'!
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MikeP
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| posted on 9/9/05 at 04:35 PM |
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I don't think that's fair - the american people I know and the behaviour I've seen says most of them are quite generous and fair.
With the warning that I get most of my news from watching "The Daily Show" (hilarious btw), I don't believe this is a black vs white
or a rich vs poor thing. It's ineptitude of the leadership. Many reporters are reacting negatively to the fact that the civilian leaders
didn't bother to watch CNN (unlike the military). Interviews go: "Why weren't you prepared?" "We didn't know how
bad it is/was/was going to be." "But we've been showing it on TV for 4 days!" - no wonder they take great delight in
embarassing them.
Clearly there's a disparity in how quickly mistakes were discovered and rectified in NO vs what might have happened in other parts of their
country. But it's not because it's the poor and no one cares. Rather it's because they are poor and don't have the facilities
to raise awareness with the leadership - a fact of life, not malice.
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