Page 2 - Engineering Failure News Today

>> i dont want to panic you, but i want to make sure that you understand that theres a major hurricane that is in the gulf of mexico. >> we did have several people come up to us and say what are you doing? were here for a hurricane. they said, oh, what hurricane? >> saturday august 27 is too late to start saying to your city that it is time to think about evacuating. >> my names michael brown and i was the undersecretary of homeland security and the director of fema. >> we have had conference ca...

Gulf coast that was a different event. that was an act of nature. what happened in new orleans was a massive engineering failure and we have to always keep that in mind. >> we do. what happened in mississippi, towns were completely wiped out. >> weve seen our mutual friend rahm emanuel, who is trying very hard in chicago and other good mayors in philly, et cetera, you almost have to be at rock bottom, which gafs me great hope for detroit. i would see new orleans as the extent of the religious co...

like, what if, like, "titanic," like part two and we always look at the lifeboats and see, i wonder if there would be enough for everyone and just kind of joke about it, but now, you know, it actually happens. >> it was terrifying at the time, definitely. but, i mean, i dont know -- >> now that were safe -- >> yeah. im just glad to be back on land. >> search and rescue teams are still in the waters trying to determine whether there are any other survivors or bodies that could be recove...

This is another massive engineering failure. and some projections are right this is not just going to be a disaster in the gulf this is going to get into the gulfstream. >> and james -- >> i guarantee you one thing if it gets to the hamptons, somebody will do something about it. >> james, this story near and dear to my heart, too, i am from louisiana, my mom is in baton rouge, she is concerned about. this you bring up a good point you spent time with the governor today, being from louisiana, you...

A lot of folks are trying to say this is barack obamas katrina. is there any comparison? >> theres no comparison whatsoever between them. this was a corporate bungle. might be three or four corporations by the end of the day of a deadly magnitude. katrina had an engineering failure, the levees in new orleans, and this is also an engineering failure, and theres a connection there. but the obama administration has done nothing wrong. this has been british petroleum not having a plan a or plan b or...

Say, oops, well, dont blame me for the accident them didnt have the regulator thats proper. obviously, this san unprecedented oil spill. and the fact that they have been so, in my -- and the word keep coming to my mind, mealy-mouth british petroleum about the way they talk to the public, i havent seen british petroleum educating anybody, in hideout mode, worried about lawsuits and constantly reeling information back in and putting it back out there. it has been awful. >> doug, i want james to ge...

Conservationists, all in an effort to try to curtail some of thf offshore drilling and sloppy oil practices of big corporations. >> doug, you wrote the definitive book on hurricane katrina. a lot of folks are trying to say this is barack obamas katrina. is there any comparison? >> theres no comparison whatsoever between them. this was a corporate bungle. might be three or four corporations by the end of the day of a deadly magnitude. katrina hads a failure of the levees, and this is also an engi...

Be held accountable and i mean strictly caccountable. >> james, you mentioned sports as an example here, therefore, we can use the term snake bit. do you think your state is snake bit? >> no my state is a victim of two massive engineering failures. what happened in orleans and st. bernard parish is an engineering failure. what happened in the gulf of mexico is an engineering failure. we are a victim of sloppy engineering and that is a real kind of a tragedy here. you know, storms are going gonna...

But the government will have to spend money in resources. all of this area down here is so environmentally sensitive. whether its florida, louisiana. lake pontchartrain, whatever. you really have extra steps. you know, its one thing to drill in oklahoma and texas, and pennsylvania, and some other places. but when you go off shore and you get into these environmental areas, you really have got to be sensitive. >> all right, guys, ed rowlands and james carville. ten seconds, james. >> louisiana su...

Lot of people, who felt left behind. which was the single most engineering failure in history. the hurricane missed new orleans, the flooding did not. and since that moment, the federal response to it has been to meager and so grudging and there have been so many comments from around the country about, you know, why rebuild new orleans? its below sea level, isnt it? great societies rebuild their great cities. and the response has left new orleanians looking at a different life. culture is what b...