You are a hoot, GUEST... Apparently you don't have any real experience in real live governemnt, do you???

Okay, GUEST, rather than go point by point here lets just take it slow and easy 'cause when we go point by point you tend to not respond to various points...

So you think that my response to yer question about following plans is "bulls**t"... Lets talk a little about plans here...

This isn't about wheteher or not there was a so-called plan in place to evaculate NO but the realities of having a workable plan in place...

So let me ask you a few questions...

1. Take an average metropolitan area of 1,000,000 people... Do you have any idea what the cost would be to transport yer popultaion out of that area to a safe place???

2. Do you have any idea how much it would cost to have contracts in place to house and feed yer population for, say, 30 days???

3. Do you have any idea how much it would cost to restore your community back to where it is livable so that your population can return???

These are just the basics... Then throw in the disabled, the incarcerated, those folks living in homeless shelters, battered woman centers, half way houses... Throw in police protection of the paroperties of those evaculated, the colleges, the hospitals, yer movable assests... And not to forget, the first responders, the folks who will be there fighting the disaster, be them firemen or teams of folks with boats for rescue...

See, GUEST, you seem to want to minimalize the realities of a full scale evacuation by saying merely, "Well, there was a plan"... This is just one area where you an I differ... Plans are a dime a dozen... Any kid with a masters degree in public administartion can write a "plan"...

Problem is, when the chips are down, what we see is that underfunded plans don't work...

Now back to those budget work sessions that I've brought up a time or two... Cities and towns are strapped for cash... Yeah, they might have someone on staff that can put together a "plan" but if you go back to the questions I asked you, what do you really think is going to happen when the "big one" hits???

I mean, let's get real here, GUEST... You live in some kind of dream world if uyou think that major population centers have those kinds of readially available resources... A complete dream world bnot based on a smidgen of real world knowledge or wisdom...

Now TO WIT:

Even the Bush administration recognized that a major population cneter could become so "over whelmed" that it would need federal assistence to deal with a disaster... Alot of folks before him allreadt knew this but Bush is a hard head and would rather try reinventin' the wheel rather than accept the fact that the wheel allready esisted... Yes, the entire idea of FEMA had recognized that there were situations where local or regionial (COG's) governments could be overwhelmed... But in Bush's reinventing the wheel his own folks siad, "Hey, we need a plan in case a local or regional government is overwhelmed" and thus the National Response Plan...

Hey, the Dems didn't force this on them... They wrote it and in doing so recognized that local or regional governemnts could be over whelmed by a disaster...

Now before we go on will you admit that hanging endlessly on yer argument that NO had a "plan" is somewhat simplistic and not based on the real world???

Hey, we have to start somewhere...

A mean, if you want tro debate this, then lets get it on right here where it all begins...

You stickin' with yer premise that major population centers ahve adaquate and funded evaculation plans???

If that is yer argument then we will just have to stay right here until you better understand the real world...

No slam intended....

And no, you may think this is all a lot of "bulls**t" but I not only have been in budget sessions but also have a purdy good grasp of public administration...

But if this is where we fight it out, then this is where we fight it out... No reason to delve into a greater discussion until you at least accept the same realities that the Bush staffers accepted in writing the National Response Plan...

Bobert