Puerto Rico, within the span of two weeks, received two Category 4-5 hurricanes. That has never happened anywhere. The devastation has been enormous.
The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.
Things that came apart could be put together again, but never exactly the same.
We will emerge stronger as a diverse community; the area will be rebuilt with life around the clock, new buildings, restaurants, places of entertainment.
I think the rebuilding of the city has to start with the spirit first. So the music, the vibe, the connection spiritually with the artists. Everybody out here is the main key. A lot of people are still in a lot of tough situations. My heart still goes out to the people of New Orleans.
Accomplishing this missile rebuild and our military retooling will be a 50-state effort. Every state in the union will be able to take part in rebuilding our military and developing technologies of tomorrow. In other words, the workers and the jobs will take place throughout the United States.
The condition in New Orleans was changing every day. I said, why don't we appropriate another $10 billion, come back and look at the situation, and do another $10 billion every week, or every 10 days?
And if citizens of New Orleans who are really contemplating coming back heard that we're really intent upon making the place secure again - regardless of whether the levees held or not - then I think a rebuilding process would really take shape.
Germany is now a field of cadavers, soon she will be a paradise.
There is nothing here that's broken that can't be fixed, but it won't happen on its own. It's going to require a huge lift by the entire country of the United States of America and people on the ground taking personal responsibility for themselves. You cannot take it as a fait accompli that the city's going to come back.
In Minnesota, we were caught between rebuilding or trying to continue to build around Kevin Garnett. I got caught right in the middle of that. KG was at an age where he was a good player, but he couldn't carry a team anymore. I think my inexperience as far as being a head coach hurt me there.
In any rebuilding process, I feel like there's probably going to be two or three coaches.
Rebuilding a network is a slow, brick-by-brick process. It's not just creating a hit show - it's building shows to back up that hit show; it's creating an identity of success so that people want their shows on your network.
The important thing is that the worst is over, ... Now comes the reconstruction.
While natural disasters capture headlines and national attention short-term, the work of recovery and rebuilding is long-term.
A great deal remains to be done in Afghanistan and the jury is out as to whether the international community has the commitment and the patience to see the rebuilding process through.
My dad always took over teams, except for Washington, that were rebuilding, and you hear the taunting, the jokes, negative, awful things about the person you love. That hardens you at a young age.
It's definitely tough seeing your city be devastated. People always give it the most attention when it's actually happening, but then they're not around for all of the relief and all of the rebuilding.
Disasters impel a nation to rise
As more information becomes available, and the magnitude of the storm's impact becomes even more apparent, it becomes clear that this recovery will be lengthy.
I've always been intellectually restless, but it is the building part of it that most interests me. It is the constructing of the team that is my favorite part. Anyone who is familiar with the history of the A's franchise, even dating back to Philadelphia, knows that every five or 10 years, you have to tear it apart and rebuild it.
In my home State of Louisiana, several institutions of higher education have been impacted by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, literally dozens across the entire State.
It's not just the war itself. It's what you do after the war and what structure you put in place and how you make that structure work.
Slowly, painstakingly, like ants, men would make their paths and civilization and their wars once again, only to have it wash away again.
I've never said that troops should be withdrawn. What I've said is, is that we've got to make sure that we secure and execute the rebuilding and reconstruction process effectively and properly, and I don't think we should have an artificial deadline when to do that.
