Freeps comparing apples to oranges

[Rude Horner]

Heard from a friend of mine about the freeps comparing hurricane Katrina to the heat wave in Chicago in 1995, so I had to check it out.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485071/posts

Wikopedia's summary of the heat wave:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Heat_Wave_of_1995

The heat wave caused about 700 deaths, and they're saying that Clinton got a "pass" when this happened, yet Bush is being blamed for Katrina.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that it's impossible to compare these two tragedies. First off, if you look at Wikopedia's summary of the temps during the heat wave, they aren't THAT hot.

Chicago's daily low and high in 1995:

* July 11: 73-90 °F (23-32 °C)
* July 12: 76-98 °F (24-37 °C)
* July 13: 81-106 °F (27-41 °C)
* July 14: 84-102 °F (29-39 °C)
* July 15: 77-99 °F (25-37 °C)
* July 16: 76-94 °F (24-34 °C)
* July 17: 73-89 °F (23-32 °C)

If FEMA sprang into action each time temps in this country got to 100 degrees, they'd have to set up a permanent outpost in Nevada!

To contrast that, Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 hurricane bearing down on a city below sea level, and they had at least a couple days warning that it was going to happen!

Anybody else wanna chime in on the differences, and why these two events can't be compared?

[GOPisEvil]

1. Did the Governor of Illinois request federal assistance like Blanco did?

And Barbour as well?

No, didn't think so.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. The diffference is, anything that happened under Clinton's watch

was his fault...no matter how miniscule the incident or remotly impossible it was for him to have an effect on it.

Now, under Bush's watch, NOTHING is his fault or the fault of the republicans who control everything. For some reason, freeper logic only works when its to their advantage! what a shocker :eyes:

[ET Awful]

3. A more accurate comparison would be Clinton's response to Hurricane

Floyd.

You know, the one where he flew back from New Zealand BEFORE the hurricane hit to coordinate the response?

Yeah, that one where he declared a state of emergency well ahead of time and had FEMA ready to go in immediately. . . yeah, that hurricane.

[thefloyd]

4. Sure

First off people die due to heat waves every summer all over the country Not on the scale in Chicago but it happens.

Second, did Illinois declare a state of emergency?

Also, were there computer models showing the kind of destruction a heat wave would cause in Chicago? Doubt it

[jillan]

5. Well for one thing

It wasn't the Hurricane that brought the most damage to N.O.

It was the fact that the levees broke, the town flooded, and that this admin ignored repeated warnings that this would happen. Studies had been done to show what would happen. Senator Landrieu has been on the senate floor begging for funding to rebuild the levees.

Sounds like the freeps are getting pretty desperate!

[niyad]

6. just what was clinton supposed to do about the heat?

[RoyGBiv]

7. They are comparable ...

Just not in the way those idiots think.

The underlying cause of the deaths during the Chicago heat wave, as it pertains to matters of public policy and policy implementation, has its roots with Reagan and then Bush I, so-called Reaganomics. To very briefly summarize, the goal was reduce and eventually eliminate government's role in social services and to encourage private investment in housing areas. Such private investment led to less and less affordable housing for Chicago's poor who had to choose between such things as health care, A/C, food, etc. So, over time, more and more people lived in close quarters without A/C and in poor health. Extreme weather conditions fuel tragedies under these circumstances. The stage was set, in other words, by the rising tide of neo-conservatism and its theories about the role of government. The levees were about to break in Chicago.

In the event, the pre-existing conditions were compounded by Mayor Daley, who was too busy trying to beautify Chicago for the 1996 DNC and avoid the public relations disaster that doomed his father. He didn't ask directly for help during the crisis, preferring instead to ignore that it was happening or that it was anything out of the ordinary.

Read "Murder by Public Policy."

And, yeah, Clinton bears at least some responsibility as do all government leaders who have not done all they can to stop this now almost complete shift in public policy. But, I will remind anyone will to throw all the stones in Big Dog's direction that the Republican Congress prevented him from doing many of the things he wanted and tried to do, and the circumstances that led to these conditions were in fact created by Republican policies.

[DBoon]

9. a safety net is supposed to limit the downside risk

to the most vulnerable members of society when bad things happen.

You get rid of the safety net, then poor people will die.

It is as inevitable as the deaths of a million Irish in the potato famine.

[DBoon]

8. Heat waves don't destroy regional infrastructure

wipe out hundreds of businesses and home, and displace thousands of people.

While deaths during a heat wave are tragic, the magnitude of destruction does not match a hurrican or earthquake.

Of course these folks think lying about consenting sex between adults is just as bad as destroying an undercover CIA agent's identity.