(OT) United States of Shame

Kreisleriana wrote:

On 7 Sep 2005 07:40:17 -0700, yodeled:


Magic Mood Jeep© wrote:

That was an interesting POV.

Mine might be a very naive and even childlike opinion, but the
President's job is to place competent people in positions of authority,
no? He is the boss, so to speak, and the shortcomings of his chosen
people rather fall back into his lap, IMO.


Wait a minute, you mean he's *not* supposed to put his friends and
political supporters in? I thought he he was the boss, he could do
whatever he wants. :P

Truman had it right: "The buck stops here"! Whoever is
directly responsible for failures, the president is
repsonsible for the well-being of the entire country. If he
lacks the intelligence to appoint competent people when he
delegates authority, whose is the ultimate fault?

Cheryl Perkins wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:


Truman had it right: "The buck stops here"! Whoever is
directly responsible for failures, the president is
repsonsible for the well-being of the entire country. If he
lacks the intelligence to appoint competent people when he
delegates authority, whose is the ultimate fault?


I thought in a federal system both authority and responsibility were
divided between the state and federal governments, with the more recent
addition of municipal government to the list in many places.

Nevertheless. Many disasters are too big to be handled
except on a federal level - this certainly qualifies as one
such. If you have competent people managing the federal
government's responsibilities, things get done.

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:30:01 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Cheryl Perkins wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:


Truman had it right: "The buck stops here"! Whoever is
directly responsible for failures, the president is
repsonsible for the well-being of the entire country. If he
lacks the intelligence to appoint competent people when he
delegates authority, whose is the ultimate fault?


I thought in a federal system both authority and responsibility were
divided between the state and federal governments, with the more recent
addition of municipal government to the list in many places.

Nevertheless. Many disasters are too big to be handled
except on a federal level - this certainly qualifies as one
such. If you have competent people managing the federal
government's responsibilities, things get done.


One thing that has me scratching my head is why the natural gas is
still turned on in New Orleans. The news reports keep mentioning the
fire hazard caused by the gas bubbling up from broken lines. The gas
mains leading to the city must have valves built into them, so that
the flow could be turned off in order to do repairs on a broken main,
so why haven't they turned off the natural gas supply to the entire
city? The inconvience of not having gas available in the few intact
buildings that need it would be more than offset by the reduced risk
of not having up bubble up all over the place.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

Nevertheless. Many disasters are too big to be handled
except on a federal level - this certainly qualifies as one
such. If you have competent people managing the federal
government's responsibilities, things get done.

Ultimately, there will be plenty of blame to go around and
federal, state and municipal authorities will be able to share
it without anyone feeling deprived.

On the federal level, there is a sense in which the people of NO
can be said to be further victims of 9/11. Inappropriate
governmental reaction to that tragedy has increased the
bureaucratic morass and made quick federal action in an
emergency less likely. It takes time to be always having to
check whether it is a breach of national security to let the
people at point B know what the conditions are at point A.

Even if the current head of FEMA had been a more competent man,
FEMA isn't as free to act on its own initiative as it was five
years ago, and its resources are indentured to security. The
federal Department of Homeland Security, without making us one
whit more secure, has made us slower and dumber.

--

Wayne M
(indulged by Will and Heidi)