Bad equipment blamed in tsunami warnings

Oh, that's what it was?
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Dec. 31, 2004 | Bangkok, Thailand -- Faulty equipment, poor communications and cumbersome bureaucracy are being blamed for the failure of nations around the Indian Ocean's rim to warn communities about to be hit by one of the world's most devastating natural disasters.

A sensor system in Indonesia that could have warned of Sunday's huge waves was not working because it had been hit by lightning. In India, bureaucrats faxed a warning of possible disaster to the wrong official. A Thai meteorologist acting on a hunch sent an alert to radio stations, but it doesn't appear the warning was widely relayed.

Even if the Indian Ocean had an international tsunami alert system, like one in the Pacific, the warning likely would have come too late for the people of Sumatra, the Indonesian island closest to the epicenter of the magnitude 9 earthquake that set off the killer waves.

For the love of whatever God you want to claim, if 100,000+ people dead in half an hour isn't enough for you to get over yourself, doing a CYA on this monstrous natural disaster, what will it take? Who do you think wants to hear your excuses?

Tell it to the the Tamil Tigers as they're burning the bodies of babies they're finding everywhere, babies they knew. I'm sure they'll be glad to know it.

Tell it to the families still alive who not only their lost loved ones and their homes -- they lost the land their homes were on. Tell them...

They'll be glad to know that it's really all about you and your system not working. Tell them, "Ooops." (It works for Rumsfeld and Bush.)

And it seems so familiar, not a surprise at all... and I'm reaching into my shrivelled brain to figure out... I mean aside from this being year 4+ of the Bushleague finger-pointing, mistake-denying, jive-ass, bald-face lying administration... it's ...

ahhh, I've got it:

"I ran out of gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to god!"

Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers Movie

It was funny when John Belushi did it.

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