Does this mean Bush gets just a little credit? :)
Do you think the rise in insurance rates is Bush's fault? I think the rates are going to rise a lot from the fact that home values have risen too. Especially, in the coastal areas.
Personally, I think the airport security, the barricades here in DC and other high profile measures are for public consumption and to detour the bungling wanna be terrorists. I believe the real war is going on overseas in places we never hear about and through CIA operations. It probably has taken years to rebuild the CIA from the castration it endured through the 1990s. It will probably take several more years to built it up to what it needs to be.
I think this is where Bush doesn't get enough credit. I can't imagine the stress level he has on a day to day basis. I bet he gets reports of terrorist plans that would make our blood run cold. We just never hear about them. I think he also knows that once they are here among us we will not be able to stop them. Our society is just too open and free flowing. I think the real war on terror is one we never hear about and our presence in Iraq helps to fire it more effectively by giving a base of operation right in the middle of our enemies.
I think the CIA and various intelligence agencies are still scrambling to be more effective after the beating they took in the 1990s. It has to take many, many years to develop the network to infiltrate these groups. I think as time goes on we will become more effective in neutralizing the threats.
I'm sure it will get spread to some degree. As I mentioned earlier, I think increased home values are going to drive increases as much or more than the disasters themselves.
They may be absurd but how else can you compare whether there is improvement? IMO, disaster relief is like most everything else when it comes to perfection. It might be easy to reach 90% of the ideal scenario but to gain the last 10% is impossible or improbable. I don't see how the Feds can get into a disaster area in a big way in shorter than the beginning of the 2nd day. The worse the disaster the harder it will be to response quickly in force. The disaster area this time was over 90,000 square miles. That is a huge number.
I don't think we get overseas that fast with aid. The relief the world has provided in Africa alone sometimes takes weeks to get there, if at all. Hell, so much is stolen during the trip that the people that need it probably get just a fraction of what is sent. If I told you to get a trailer full of relief supplies from your home to New Orleans the right after the hurricane, how long would it take you? Consider all the destruction and debris you would have to deal with. That is what Feds deal with on a massive scale. IMO, if the state and municipalities don't perform or have a good disaster plan and follow it, I don't see how any aid, in quantity, can get there in less than two days.
I don't think the aid gets there nearly as quick as you think. During the tsunami in December it took days just to assess the damage. I can't imagine the number of people that died because aid didn't arrive in the first couple of days. You may not like Jeb but it looks like he runs a tight ship when it comes to disaster planning. Any state located in a hurricane zone should do the same and if they don't the heads of the people responsible should role. The Feds can't mobilize every time a hurricane approaches the coast. It just isn't practical. The locals are already there and are best positioned to help in the first 48 hours.
One good thing that should come out of this is a rethink of how the Feds function in a disaster. I think the states are going to have to give the Feds the right to act unilaterally. We've now seen what happens when a Governor/Mayor fails to perform.
I agree. Trouble is the Feds just can't "take over". They have to be invited or Bush has to declare martial law or some other drastic measure.
This time though it was started by the left. The day after the hurricane hit Joe Kennedy was trashing Bush to no end along with several others. There was no justification for it other than serving their own selfish interests. It helped no one.