Poor PR. forced to stay silent, else the orange guy will ignore them even more

[OldLady]

There was a big spot on PBS Newshour on this last night. FEMA's got stuff over there but they are having trouble distributing it due to .... lots of infrastructure damage and having to get the equipment to the island to repair the infrastructure so they can get the generators and fuel and water and medicine and fuel where it needs to go. Communications are totally out in places. It's a mess.
A congresswoman from Puerto Rico last night was calling for the military to bring in their equipment and resources, with a general overseeing the whole operation, to coordinate all the help that is out there so it can get where it needs to go. They need helicopters etc. Big job. Don't know if they will take her advice.

Listen, I get the disconnect, but com'on, if this were a place that had a bunch of depressed whites, a bridge would be intact yesterday. I for one hope these people rid themselves of power lined energy and get with the solar windmill technology.

Amen. Although windmills would get their asses kicked in a hurricane, I think. Power cables, when they are repaired, should be installed underground. Fuck the expense. And emergency generators and vast tanks of emergency fuel should be ON THE ISLAND prior to hurricane season. Brock said something like that last night. We are not a people that think about disasters BEFORE hand.

fuck the expense? Every citizen in PR owe over 30K dollars. Half their population is dirt poor. How can you fuck the expense when you dont have the means to do anything?

I don't know, TN, but where there's a will, there's a way. Should be the same way in the rest of the U.S. When Maine had it's huge power fail during the icestorm of '98, it took weeks to get everyone back on line and months -- probably years-- to rebuild all the towers, etc. (They toppled like dominoes.)
Our natural gas lines are underground. Our water lines are underground. Why the hell can't the electric lines be underground as well?

I have seen estimates that it cost 10-14 times the cost of overhead. That would be a huge increase in electric usage. Can poor people afford that?
But the problem isnt us doing it, its PR. They have no money. None. And we even feed, give healthcare to and welfare to half the country..

Yeah, I know it's expensive. It just makes sense and until we figure out another way to power our homes and industries and lives, it seems the transmission of that all important power should be as protected as possible. Lots of money is lost when that power fails, as well, not to mention the lives that can be lost (as in what is now happening in PR, a week after the hurricane as one by one the first responses fail to be adequate).
I know they haven't got money. I KNOW. It all comes back to money every time there is something important that needs to be done, it seems.

 

[TNHarley]

Listen, I get the disconnect, but com'on, if this were a place that had a bunch of depressed whites, a bridge would be intact yesterday. I for one hope these people rid themselves of power lined energy and get with the solar windmill technology.

Amen. Although windmills would get their asses kicked in a hurricane, I think. Power cables, when they are repaired, should be installed underground. Fuck the expense. And emergency generators and vast tanks of emergency fuel should be ON THE ISLAND prior to hurricane season. Brock said something like that last night. We are not a people that think about disasters BEFORE hand.

fuck the expense? Every citizen in PR owe over 30K dollars. Half their population is dirt poor. How can you fuck the expense when you dont have the means to do anything?

I don't know, TN, but where there's a will, there's a way. Should be the same way in the rest of the U.S. When Maine had it's huge power fail during the icestorm of '98, it took weeks to get everyone back on line and months -- probably years-- to rebuild all the towers, etc. (They toppled like dominoes.)
Our natural gas lines are underground. Our water lines are underground. Why the hell can't the electric lines be underground as well?

I have seen estimates that it cost 10-14 times the cost of overhead. That would be a huge increase in electric usage. Can poor people afford that?
But the problem isnt us doing it, its PR. They have no money. None. And we even feed, give healthcare to and welfare to half the country..

Yeah, I know it's expensive. It just makes sense and until we figure out another way to power our homes and industries and lives, it seems the transmission of that all important power should be as protected as possible. Lots of money is lost when that power fails, as well, not to mention the lives that can be lost (as in what is now happening in PR, a week after the hurricane as one by one the first responses fail to be adequate).
I know they haven't got money. I KNOW. It all comes back to money every time there is something important that needs to be done, it seems.

Sure, it makes sense. But money is a bigger factor than "sense" as unfortunate as that can be sometimes.
10 - 14 times more than what it is now. Think about that. Think of the poor people
But i do agree we dont do much planning. Its all knee jerk and corruption.