I don’t know whether Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco filed all the correct paperwork and crossed every “t” to get the federal assistance her state needed. All this bureaucratic CYA will eventually get sorted out, I’m sure. But for the record, contrary to what some media reported and many Bush defenders claimed, Blanco declared a state of emergency on Aug. 26, the Friday before Katrina hit.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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42 Comments
Is the declaration of an emergency the same thing as requesting the guard? I don’t think so. The governor didn’t announce her request fot help from the Guard until the Thursday after the Monday storm.
It’s a sad day when all the paperwork has to be filled out before the federal government will help out in a disaster.
Sum1,It is sad, but that’s the way the law was written. It keeps the federal government from invading any stste that doesn’t agree with the feds. Good law, but needs some cleaning up.
JM,That would be great if that were true at all. You have been fed BS, sorry.
Everybody who could access the internet has or should have known about the state of emergency declaration for several days. We need look no farther than the first post on this thread to see how conservatives are going to take this.
“Is the declaration of an emergency the same thing as requesting the guard? I don’t think so.”
You don’t think so? Have you read the document? Obviously not!
Looks like more of the conservative version of “What is the meaning of “IS”.
To watch Wingnuts make these charges against Governor Blanco with a straight face, well, what can you say?
The Rove Administration lives to spin again.
Here’s a great editorial in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune today:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5602234.html
It reminds us of the facts:
‘Administration officials appearing in public have downplayed the need to quickly assess failures, and have tried instead to discuss what’s being done now. To the extent that they — and allies who appear or write in their stead — do discuss failures, it is to point the finger at local and state officials or “bureaucrats.” Officials doing just that include Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, whose accountability is right up there with FEMA director Michael Brown’s.
These tactics are beyond outrageous. No state, no locality can take the lead in dealing with an emergency like Katrina. That’s why FEMA was created. That is why Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency on Friday, Aug. 26, when Katrina was a Category 2 hurricane. It is why the Gulf Coast states requested help from the Pentagon that same day.
It is why the next day, as Katrina was upgraded to Category 3, Blanco asked President Bush to declare a federal state of emergency in Louisiana. It was declared. Thus FEMA had full authority and responsibility from the White House “to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.”
Why do Bush supporters turn into liars for him?
Why put politics ahead of your own safety?
Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!
Explain how the dozens of school busses left to flood weren’t utilized by the Mayor to evacuate those who didn’t have transportation, as was written in the city’s own disaster plan. Busses that could have evacuated 14,000 people, at least if utilized.
Not one of you lefties has either defended or whacked Nagin for this outrage.
FEMA can still do its job with or without the Guard, can’t it?
Yes.
So either way, Bush cronies “Brownie” et al. are still shown to be the hopeless failures they are . . .
There Jimmy goes again, repeating on cue the Free Republic talking points.
Here’s a link to the 8/28 NOLA, which describes the provisions for evacuation by RTA buses. It’s also worth noting that Nagin provided a 1-800 for people to notify RTA that they wanted to be evacuated.
http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1125213007249320.xml?nola
The argument that 14,000 people could have been evacuated using school buses is pretty hard to swallow. Given the present difficulty getting folks out of their houses AFTER the flood, what makes you think they all would have been any more willing to go PRIOR to the flood?
If Nagin screwed up, he deserves blame. If anyone in charge screwed up, they deserve blame. And if the head of the Federal Government screwed up through his policies and failure to respond, he above all deserves blame for violating the social contract with the citizens of the United States.
Once again, Jimmy whores himself out to any extreme to defend Holy Emperor Bush.
CF is a butt sniffer
What Jimmy doesn’t understand is that we don’t defend the indefensible.
But he does.
Maybe we can agree:
Should the busses have been used: yep. There may be good reasons why not – I’d like to hear them.
Was there a serious problem with the timeliness of the federal response: yep.
Did Bush and his staff stay on vacation too long, and not do all they could: yep.
Did the governor fill out all the paperwork and requests she needed to in a timely manner: yep. PROVEN.
Is the huge, massive burden for relief of a cat 5 hurricane with the Feds: of course.
did “Brownie do a good job”? no.
did “Anyone anticipate the levees would breach”: oh, yes.
Hey, Get It–
After reading your post, it reaffirms my belief that a woman should be able to have an abortion in the event of incest . . .
But you probably won’t “get it.”
Now I have two troll stalkers. To what do I owe this…honor?
Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance.
Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved.
Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be “uninhabitable” after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper.
Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site.
Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor’s earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news.
Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in “medieval” conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies.
Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a “Desperate SOS” to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing.
Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials—despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op—diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president’s visit and White House press corps.
Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help.
Monday, Sept. 5: New Orleans officials begin to collect their dead.
(Adapted from: Katrina Timeline, http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/ )
Always, always, always question names like progressive party or thinkprogress. Like late night infomercials, what they are trying to sell will disappoint you and feeling empty. From another point of view, if you are interested in other points of views, see http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=78117
To Mr. Real and friends,The MSM is putting out all the lies you are talking about.
Joe,
“The MSM is putting out all the lies you are talking about.”
You’re damn right. They are, as you are. You are both liars. You may want to reference the Iraq War and the Swift BoatLie Machine for more examples.
Bush’s approval sinks to all time low.
http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1020
Looks like the wake of the flood, folks. They spin, and the Americans just aren’t buying it anymore.
Yes, Mr. Brownlee, as you say. Gov Blanco’s state of emergency proclamation may be found at:
http://gov.louisiana.gov/2005%20%20proclamations/48pro2005-Emergency-HurricaneKatrina.pdf
It states, in part: “The state of Louisiana’s emergency response and recovery program is activated under the command of the director of the state office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness…”
Bisoni,Do you suppose there’s even the slightest possibility the mayor didn’t know about the buses? Maybe he overlooked the buses? I wonder if our mayor Mayans knows the location of every bus in Wichita at all times? “The Buses” seems to be your only discussion point, besides your extreme dislike of poor black people. But I don’t suppose you’ve ever been poor.
A few buses aren’t the point here. The point is, high-ranking shills for the administration, Faux News et al, and all you zombies on the right seized on a lie to cover for an inept and dangerously incompetent administration.
Blanco issued the proper declaration in a timely manner. The Bush Junta dropped the ball, and all you good little republicans either lied about it, or repeated the lie.
But you republicans are the party in power, so you can lie all you want, right?
IOKIYAR
(It’s Ok If You’re A Republican)
Galahad, thanks for the timely link about the president’s standing in the polls…It brightened my day!
You say tomato, I say to mah to…USAToday/Gallup: Asked who was MOST responsible for the post-hurricane problems, 13% picked Bush, 18% said federal agencies, 25% selected state/local officials and 38% said no one was to blame
XXX, you don’t know whether I like or dislike “black people,” whether I have ever been poor or not. Let’s keep it on the issues.
Oh this is precious:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/8/133522/9857
‘”The bottom line is that despite the fact the president was strapped with two governors who bungled this crisis badly, in the end it is the president who sends in the National Guard and FEMA relief. The president’s suggestion that the size of this storm caught all by surprise just doesn’t get it. His administration was 48 hours late sending in the National Guard and poor Americans got raped and killed because of those mistakes.”
– Joe Scarborough, MSNBC
When Joe Scarborough and ultraconservative Family Research Council head Tony Perkins are on television discussing the government’s failed response to the Katrina disaster… when Tucker Carlson is wading through storm waters with a dazed expression but an odd, new fire in his eyes… when Michelle Malkin takes time out from thoroughly out-frothing has-been Ann Coulter in order to call for FEMA head Michael Brown to be fired… I’m sorry, but the administration spin is spun. It’s over.’
Who barred the Red Cross from getting to the Superdome? Why the State of Louisiana (bullet point #2). This, from the Red Cross’ own website, not dailykos.com. My point from the beginning is there is plenty of blame to go around, feds, state, local.
http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524
It’s not the xxx’s of the world fault that they can’t be objective. They are inundated with liberal-biased media spin. If they got their facts straight, it would give them the answers they don’t want to hear. In their eyes, it always someone elses fault. xxx, how much did you give the Red Cross or the Salvation Army? How many times have you volunteered at the Lords Diner? You are so busy bashing, you don’t have time to help.
I havent seen any news conferences with the Governor stating the plan of action. Actually, the only announcements have been from the Mayor complaining about the lack of anyone ELSE doing something.Where was the Plan?You live in a city below sea level. You are the mayor of a city that is below sea level. The levees could break anytime, not just during a storm. Someone has to have a plan. When the siren sounds that the city is flooding, someone needs to have a plan to do something! All we heard on the news was “get out now!” As the mayor, I know I have tens of thousands of people in my city that cant get out. Maybe my plan mobolizes all the school busses in town to pick people up and take them out of there. Maybe I have stockpiles of food and water at the superdome to help them when they get there.It was though everyone there was caught by surprise. They had no idea where to go or what to do. No one knew to call out the national guard? Or when they did, what to do with them? Where were you, governor? Where was the leadership from the Mayor or his emergency staff?If you want to complain about something, complain about that. Dont complain that it took three days to mobilize the largest humanitarian effort the US has ever attempted.
Hey, ID, or should I call you Gail or Ahmad?
How’s that visiting professorship working out for you?
Oh, wait, I forgot you’re a lying POS. Yeah, that’s right. Nothing you say is worth the bandwidth it takes to post it.
Change your name every five minutes, it doesn’t change the fact that you, sir, are a damned liar, a despicable liar, and a POS liar.
No wonder you worship Bush–you admire his technique of lying.
Liar.
ID falls:
“Where was the Plan?
You live in a city below sea level. You are the mayor of a city that is below sea level. The levees could break anytime, not just during a storm. Someone has to have a plan.”
Apparantly, the only one who doesn’t know about The Plan is… YOU.
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/STATE%20OF%20LOUISIANA%20EOP%202005.doc
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/EOPSupplement1a.pdf
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/EOPSupplement1b.pdf
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/EOPSheltersupplement.pdf
Good lord, people.
And the City of NO plan:
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26
Damn. That’s a lot of non-existent plans.
Call me anything you want, Galahad. Your comments prove my point. Are you having fun yet?
Jack Cafferty on CNN:
“Somewhere along the way FEMA became a dumping ground for the president’s political cronies with little experience in disaster relief. The agency’s first director was Joe Albaugh. He was president Bush’s 2000 campaign chairman. Albaugh brought in the current failure Michael Brown. His previous work was with Arabian horses. The number two guy, Brown’s top deputy at FEMA, is a fellow named Patrick Rhode. He worked for the 2000 election campaign. The number 3 guy at FEMA is Brooks Altshuler. He used to work in the White House. His job was planning presidential trips. FEMA’s long term recovery director is a guy named Scott Morris. He produced television and radio commercials for the Bush campaign. The federal agency charged with handling national emergencies is staffed at the very top by a bunch of political hacks with virtually no experience that qualifies them to respond to something like Katrina. But I digress.”
Galahad thinks someone’s a liar. Right? Wasn’t sure :-)
I agree Michael Brown should go. So what about you….Nagin? Blanco? Nah, didn’t think so :-)
ID,So far, I’ve donated $250 to the Red Cross for the NO disaster. Can’t say I’ve donated any time at the Lord’s Diner, But I spent a Christmas Eve in Washington DC handing out food and blankets to the homeless, I’ve been involved in numerous tornado clean ups, I’ve donated to Vietnamese refugee programs, and last Friday, I helped pay for and load a truck and trailer load of canned goods and water that one of our fellow bloggers, Aeon, took to Mississippi. (Aeon should be back tomorrow)
So ID….what have you done to help, besides shooting your mouth off?
I told you mine, now you tell me yours.
Who will be left in Louisiana or New Orleans to vote them out? The people who have lived through most of their lives in New Orleans are spread out hodge podge over the US.
The washington post had to put out a correction for quoting an anonymous senior white house official saying there was no state of emergency until late.
They didn’t file the correction until it was brought out to them that it was a blatant lie, by an anonymous senior white house official that even a minimal check into the source and information would have exposed.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200509060009
Actually, ID, Question, Ahmad, Gail or whatever name it is this time around–
I think the fact that I exposed you for the liar that you are means that you were “had,” not me.
Better luck next time, loser.
I’m so glad I found this great blog. Just the other day I was thinking to myself,I need more banal name calling and vitorolic political “debates.”
Sir G, looks like you need to add another name to your list. ^^^^
So Sal, Just the other day you were thinking? I’d suspect that was revolutionary for you. Must have been a real surprise for you to find out you could do that. I’m sure it’ll come as an even bigger surprise to those who know you. You need more banal name calling? I would assume you get plenty of that without coming here. Several names come to mind that aren’t in the least bit “banal” come to mind, but I won’t trouble your newly-found thought process with anything that would rise above banal. I’d hate to confuse you.
Sal, I’m sure we will all enjoy your posts, and I look forward to seeing the day you contribute something that rises above the level of moronic. But I won’t hold my breath.
How’s that for vitrol?
This was in the National Geographic almost one year ago. This is just the first part of the article, but its eerily accurate as to what has happened with Katrina: