After a woefully inadequate federal emergency response last week to Hurricane Katrina that President Bush admitted was “not acceptable,” it was good to see National Guard troops and aid finally begin rolling into New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas to help the thousands of people desperately waiting for food, water and medical help.
As the president said, this is an effort that will be measured in months and years. But the immediate need is urgent and, for those living through it, terrifying.
This tragedy is a reminder that major natural disasters pose as much of a threat to national security as terrorism. Are we prepared for them? Katrina suggests the answer is “no.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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44 Comments
We can never really be fully prepared for any castrophies. It’s too unpredictable!
I was just sittin’ on my flag pole in Wichita, Kansas thinkin’ the same thing, Randy. By gosh I been up here four days and ain’t nobody come to pluck me off yet. It’s, uh, well, it’s just a doggone disgrace. That’s what it is. Can’t nobody see I’m needin’ help?
An’ I don’t want no piddlin’ help. My dang neighbor thought he’d just put a ladder up and git me down. Ain’t that rich? Thinks I ai’nt worth a helicopter! I shot the bast’rd. Imagine, dissin’ me like that!
Why I even paid taxes 14 years ago for a couple months. Where the heck is that dang Bush. I needs toilet paper!
Dang gummint needs to get off the stick. Time was when the democrats ran this place and I could get my ceegar lit by one of ‘em any time I wanted. Now I just sits here next to my blue roof waitin’ fer the flood to go down.
An’ don’t tell me there ain’t no doggone flood. I seen it with my own eyes on TV. I ain’t movin’ till they lifts me off.
Friggin’ Bush done it, they tell me. What with his drillin’ big holes under the Gulf an’ all. My muslin buddies tell me he hacked off Alla and now look. The Gulf done spit up enough water to float all the alligators clear to Nebraska. Watch where ‘ya steppin, boy!
I tell you what, by dang; I want a meeting with that Bush dude, or I’m coming back here to haunt his butt until the next ice age. You kin jist call me the new Cyndy Crawford, by darn.
Hey, I wrote this here rap just fer you, Randy.
……Bush RAP……I hate Bush, I really doAnd if’n you like him, thenI hate you, too.
He ’sposta know when to fill my glass,Bring me food,And wipe my a**.
Wassa matter with them gummint drones?Where’s my helicopter?Wheres my phones?
Gotta get pimpin’ ‘fore the sun goes downBut Bush ain’t helpin’with his Army clowns.
How’s a dude ’sposeta get respectWhen they poke them gunsIn my new Corvette?
It was cool in the good ol’ daysJist pay off the demsAnd they go aways.
AIn’t it somethin’How the bull roar fliesWhen the people gotta payFor my new knee highs?
They got them presses up in Washington.Makin’ lots of moneyAn’ it must be fun.
They spreads it around when it gets too hairyBut I never get as much as that dude, John Kerry.
He floated by here in his Swift Boat gearAn’ I tol’ him Cambodia is west of here.
It jist ain’t fairNo it jist ain’t fairI hate BushAnd it jist ain’t fair.
Get me a helicopterGet me a ropeFind me a Bush haterWho ain’t on dope.
It jist ain’t fairNo it jist ain’t fairI love to hateAnd it jist ain’t fair.
Ahmed the magnifico (whiny the pohbahumbugger),Best dang post I’s read here lately.
This is good:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05247/564856.stm
I am from New Hampshire,looking for a dear friend of mine from Lumberton, MS. The name is Bobbi and Benny Rayborn. With the phones out I have no idea if they made it through the storm. I am hoping a reply to this will help me find out.Thank you
Hey GetReal…you notice how the “conservative republicans” have resorted to nastyness? They haven’t produced any hard facts in a long time. Just a bunch of racist ramblings.
The number one thing I have learned from hurricane Katrina is that racism and classism exist in the good ol’ USA to a level that shocks me. As a middle class, spiritual, educated white woman, my eyes have been opened!
Well, GetReal, you saved yourself some finger time by pointing readers to a blog that says the same thing we already know: Bush is incompetent.But what exactly does that have to do with the topic of this blog? Or are you incapable of staying on topic because of your much blogged hatred of Bush? Are you capable of writing anything on topic without once refering to Bush? As I said earlier, your writing gets more boring everyday…nothing but variations on the same theme. Get Real, GetReal.
Joe,We CAN be prepared for just about anything, including worst case scenarios. All it takes is intelligent people using past disasters, and how they were handled, what was done wrong, how can we correct the mistakes, etc, etc. The disaster can take any form, but the logistics can and should be in place to handle it. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case, ever, in this country.This goes way beyond politics, but has to include it. There is NO way that city or state people can handle something of the magnitude of Katrina.The bottom line is, what exactly is government for if not to protect and serve its people?The whole process needs some serious rethinking by people with the education in logistics to set it up as it should be. Hopefully, the horrors in New Orleans will be a wake-up call for just such actions.
JM puts down a chicken wing long enough to type:
“Well, GetReal, you saved yourself some finger time by pointing readers to a blog that says the same thing we already know: Bush is incompetent.But what exactly does that have to do with the topic of this blog?”
First of all ding-dong, I linked to a printed newspaper editorial by one of this country’s leading newspapers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s not a blog. How long have you been using a computer, anyway?
The topic of the Eagle’s blog entry we’re writing in is about being prepared for a terrorist attack, and that this President has not made us safer. The topic of the newspaper editorial is about how Bush, like his father, puts his political and business connections ahead of the country. It’s giving you jsut a few reasons WHY we’re not prepared for a terrorist attack or a natural disaster like this. It includes this paragraph:
“With 15 of the 19 hijackers carrying Saudi passports, Bush still couldn’t bring himself to part with his old business associates. Now, with the last of Hurricane Katrina soaking into the lawns of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, George W. Bush is as powerless to do anything about the spike in gasoline prices as he is incompetent to resolve the anarchy loosed upon one of his treasured red states by fiat of nature. And he will never see the connection.”
Reading is Fundamental. And… that’s the game! I don’t want to publicly spank anyone, but you begged me to with silly comments done without reading or thinking.
GetREal…samo-samo…bash Bush and offer NO ideas of any kind. The answer lies in learning from the mistakes, NOT bashing every individual we don’t like. But of course that’s something you’re incapable of: your hatred of the Bush administration can’t and wont allow it.Bashing the current administartion is something any moron can do. It’s kinda like a bowel movement: It’s gonna happen. Problem is, civilized people keep it private.The topic of this blog is “Are we prepared for the big one”. Even Bush admitted no. So what do you do? Continue to Bash Bush. A lot of good that will do. Sure answers my questions about where your head is at. Typical liberal nonsense. All bash, no new ideas, no answers.Me? I’ll take my “chicken wing”, slather on some Curly’s and enjoy the moment.
One of the reasons we’re not prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters is because George Bush and the Bush Administration simply do not take the subject seriously.
For a heartbreaking, soul-crushing timeline of what we just lived through, check it out:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/111017/0402
A view from Mississippi:
Torrent of hardship reaches far and wide
Star News Services
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi hurricane survivors looked around Saturday and wondered just how long it would take to get food, clean water and shelter.
They were angry at the federal government and the media.
Richard Gibbs of Gulfport was disgusted by reports of looting in New Orleans and upset at the lack of attention hurricane victims in his state were getting.
“I say burn the bridges and let ’em all rot there,” he said. “We’re suffering over here too, but we’re not killing each other. We’ve got to help each other. We need gas and food and water and medical supplies.”
“I say burn the bridges and let ’em all rot there,” he said. “We’re suffering over here too, but we’re not killing each other. We’ve got to help each other. We need gas and food and water and medical supplies.”
I hope that they’re not being neglected because of the massive, massive effort in New Orleans, but I’m sure he said this out of fustration – no one in their right minds would actualy agree with that sentiment.
No one in government in any past OR present administration has taken a disaster of this magnitude seriously. At the risk of sounding redundant, bashing can not, will not do any good in preparing for future disasters.What this country needs is a new mind-set that places more emphasis on protecting the people of this country. That is what government should be doing. It is not now and never has, so pointing out actual mistakes and lack of foresight, and how to correct them is what will help us prepare for the future. Not more bashing.
JM says:
“No one in government in any past OR present administration has taken a disaster of this magnitude seriously.”
That’s untrue. But onto the larger point.
We have to at least come to the conclusion, at a national level, at a political level – that there needs to be massive changes at the top. That’s where the resources are – the billions of dollars, the armed services, equipment, food. That’s the level where we can make the most changes that will do the most good to people for disasters like this that are predicted.
Hence, the extensive documentation of what went wrong, what happened, and what didn’t happen. That’s a HUGE part of finding a solution. Without “bashing” as you put it, you’re bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It’s the “bashing” that got the response there en force after it went missing for so long. Only when it became a clear political liability did George Bush respond. Only when Condi Rice was shamed publicly in the streets of New York while buying $1000 shoes and attending Broadway plays, did she return to coordinate aid efforts.
So these people will get bashed, and good, because that’s all they respond to. We will demand answers – and figure out what went wrong, and why it went wrong. It’s a crucial part of crafting a solution to make sure it never happens again.
I wonder if any of the hurricane refugees are boeing machinist wanabes?
I wonder if any of the hurricane refugees, are Boeing machinist wanabes?
This is good:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054581
Um, excuse me, Mr. Mayor…about that picture of dozens of school busses under water…
Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00
‘The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating’…
I really get disgusted by all of the Bush bashing that goes on but I guess I can understand it. We finally, after 8 years, have someone in the office who respects the office and doesn’t think of it as his personal dating service. But that’s another story. If the democrats and you liberals would find a new line, you might realize that you could get alot further in your political arena if, instead of bashing our President, try to lead. I agree there have been mistakes. The first was the Mayor of New Orleans, he should be held accountable for not preparing his city for the inevitable. The whole city is below sea level, HELLO, the city will flood. He accused the federal government of not being prepared, why wasn’t he prepared? Where are all of those Democrats who think they can do better? Everyone of them is in a position to make a difference. Where is the beloved Hillary, she is in a position to do something but I’ve not heard of any actions by her. Where is the beloved 500 million dollar man, Kerry. What has he done? My point is that this is an opportunity for someone to take up a leadership role and make a name for himself by standing up for the victims. But all we get is more Bush bashing and even more “Monday Morning Quarterbacking”. It just goes to show the problem with the democratic party, they have no new ideas only criticisim for the current administrition. Get a new party line and come up with some new ideas of your own or are you afraid that they might not work and then you will be the ones critisizing your own ideas.
A 2001 Scientific American article laid out the exact scenario that has occured in N.O.
Oil and gas interests are prime culprits. They dredged canals and drained wetlands that led to the bowl of N.O. totally unprotected from storm surge.
The same thing ALMOST happened after Hurricane Georges but it changed course at the last minute.
QUOTE–”If Congress and President George W. Bush hear a unified call for action, authorizing it would seem prudent. Restoring coastal Louisiana would protect the country’s seafood and shipping industries and its oil and natural-gas supply. It would also save America’s largest wetlands, a bold environmental stroke. And without action, the million people outside New Orleans would have to relocate.”
Of course, we know now that BushCo. and the Republican Congress chose to attack Iraq rather than plan for the hurricane that Georges almost was.
The number dead in this one is going to make 9-11 look like a car accident by comparison . . .
Here’s the link to Scientific American–
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000
The point is: NOLA has been under the gun from just such an event for over 50 years. Blame oil, blame Bush, blame the man in the moon. That gets absolutly nada done to correct the problem.GetReal does make a point, however small, that we can’t let our so-called leaders let this slide, but the bashing is hogwash. From Galahad’s and GetReal’s posts, one would assume that there have been NO studies done and made public for any other administration to read and do something about. Right, Santa Claus will visit you tonight.If Kerry, or Gore were president, this STILL would have happened, and the results would be pretty much the same. To believe otherwise is to look at the world through rose colored glasses.The heart of the question is: HOW DO WE PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN? Not who’s to blame. Sheesh, no wonder you guys can’t win an election.
With so many professors in the country crying wolf about their favorite potential calamity and threating doomsday if their pet projects don’t get government bigbucks, it’s no surprise that priorities for action on truly necessary fixes are rare.With so many weather people going frantic at the sight of actual weather, and spouting over-wrought warnings all the time for potential calamities that never happen, it’s no wonder that people ignore them.
Crying wolf for generations is a problem that did, in fact, contribute to this very real disaster.
It’s also clear that politicians don’t want to risk taking heat for enforcing a major evacuation when two centuries of doomsday predictions have never before come true. Unnecessarily shutting down a city for a week would ruin a politicians career.
Fifty years from now, the blogs will rehash every word being written now. Why? Because there was no concensus nor political will to do what had to be done — not before, not now; nor will there ever be. Besides, there very possibly may be nothing anyone can realistically do, except to make some of our financial, industrial, and transportation infrastructures less vulnerable to these storms.
Unfortunately, people who choose to live where angels fear to tread will sometimes find themselves all alone.
The tragedy has shaken JM’s worldview, but he still doens’t get the whole picture:
“The heart of the question is: HOW DO WE PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN? Not who’s to blame.”
You’re sooo close. Blame is exactly what should be placed, at all levels. For this administration, blame is the only motivating factor they understand. Unless they are held responsible, they will not perform. And now, as we move ahead to make up a real plan to prevent this, blame is the only thing that will keep them from sweeping this under the rug.
This very slow and inept response is the best we can do after 9/11? Condi Rice is shopping for $1000 shoes when hundreds of thousands of people are stranded and dying? They absolutely need to be held responsbile so this will never happen again.
It’s great to see some leading “Christians” (and I use that term extremely loosely) responding to this tragedy with compassion and reverence.
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/the_godless_are_not_celebrating/
This is why so many people are so angry about the results of the hurricane response.
http://dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/233718/2082
If I performed on my job like President Bush, FEMA and Homeland Security have in response to Hurrican Katrina, I would be fired, my company and I would be sued, and I would lose my state licensing–and probably my own home.
Awww, GR, sadly, you will never understand what the real world is like. You know anger and hate, and it blinds you to live a life of bash, blame, yadda, yadda. No answers, no suggestions, just stone the guilty and let God sort em out.I have a very clear view of the real world and it starts with learning from our mistakes, not bashing the ones who made them.In YOUR world, blame is the only motivating factor, not mine.As I stated earlier, that attitude will never win you elections. Nor will it accomplish anything.I think by now everyone knows Bush is incompetent, so do you think everyone is so stupid that they will forget that fact? They need hate-mongers such as yourself to remind them? If so, you got a sad view of the people of this country.
JM,
Incredibly, you’re making the argument that placing responsibility where it belongs, and making a visible public record of it is somehow counter productive. Your idea boggles the mind.
It’s an essential, necessary first step to learn from your mistakes.
This is so much larger than “Bush in incompetent.” Bush is only a small part of this story.
How did FEMA respond – who exactly did what? Did its dismantling and absorption into the DHS contribute to the problems we experienced? Should the director of FEMA be a political appointee with no real qualifications in disaster preparedness?
Your idea of taking responsibility doesn’t go beyond “Bush is an idiot – OK we know!” My idea of blame – again, pinpointing failures in responsibility and performance – looks at the whole picture, and sets the stage to properly fix the problems that led to this. The solution is operational, structural, and political.
I think that it is great that this country as well as the world is responding to the hurricane disaster. However, I believe that we should be careful as to how much and what we are promising them. Helping is one thing but giving them what they will not appreciate and take care of is completely another.
I just heard that victims were being offered to go to Utah and many of the ‘victims’ refused to go to Utah, they would go to other places/states/cities but not to Utah.
It frustrates me when these people are being offered free everything and they have the gall to refuse to go to Utah because of the rural stigma, I would assume. How sad!
I believe that the front line fault falls with the cities and states of the gulf region. They knew the hurricane was coming (hell, we don’t get that kind of warning for tonados) and they should have had plans of what to do if things got bad (flooding, medical needs, electricity, etc.). And those govenments should have communicated to the communities where they should go and what they should do if the environment and living conditions got so bad in their homes. Thus, they would have had a better plan than having everyone go to the Super Dome, which couldn’t house everyone in the city. They should have sectioned the cities off so that the citizens would have had areas to go to and not overrun specific places that couldn’t accomindate their needs.
I know that it is easy to point fingers now but I would hope that every city in the nation would learn from the lessons that we have learned from this disaster.
In the meantime, we should arm the victims with the tools and let them put the tools to work. They should not expect handouts of everything. I heard of some victims volunteering to help others in the shelters (cleaning bathrooms, handing out food), that is what they should be doing, not sitting there for a handout and critizing leaders for not handing things to them.-LShay
GR,Yours never has been about “pointing out the mistakes or placing blame”, but pure bashing; read your own posts. My idea of responsibility is to learn from the mistakes made. I never said those in charge shouldn’t be held accountable, but bashing them does nothing but fuel hatred, which is not what’s needed now, or ever. Thats the “crowd” mentality that is so evident when disasters happen; that’s what gets more people killed.Your last sentance “The solution is operational, structural, and political.” is one I can agree with one hundred percent, but then again, that’s what I’ve been trying to get across to you the whole time. Welcome to the real world yourself.Ain’t communication great?
This is making the E-mail rounds:
CHRONOLOGY….Here’s a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.
April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration’s goal of privatizing much of FEMA’s work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: “Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program….” he said. “Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level.”
2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three “likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country.”
December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.
March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.
2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA’s preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.
Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana’s pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: “You would think we would get maximum consideration….This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it.”
June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay.”
June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.
August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.
A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA. Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration’s conservative agenda. After DHS was created, FEMA’s preparation and planning functions were taken away.
JM,
Well maybe you can tell me what I specifically wrote is “bashing” and what is holding people accountable? What statements from me do you think are inappropriate?
Brian Williams has a good piece today:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9216831/#050905
GR,Well, how about all the blo…excuse me…news reports about the same thing; the incompetent way the disaster was handled. Does anybody, other than yourself, have to flagellate themselves by reading the same thing over and over again? I consider that bashing. Going back throught pervious blogs, you are plainly on record as hating Bush and everything he stands for. You have used any and all opportunities to bash this administration. In fact, so often, that it has taken on the veneer of whining. The disaster in NOLA has served you well as an excuse to further bash. It wasn’t until your next to last post that you finally made sensible suggestions.That’s MY take and MY opinion. You are certainly entitled to yours!
I find it sickening that the Democrat response to the problem is to use it for political gain. CNN has had a constant stream of nay Sayers with Wolf etc. asking leading questions to bash anything Republican.There is no blame that we are sure of yet. By the time the crowds gathered at the Dome and Convention center it was almost there. Too late to use all those busses. The storm passed and the local authorities still saw no need for the Feds (they have to be invited you know). Then the flood. No surprise but maybe a shock. Many civilian boats came to the rescue and they were shot at – the third leg of the tragedy. The next day they stayed at home. In a few months we will have hearings. Official finger pointing. Lessons learned. Firings.BUT for now, Democrats, SHUT UP!
Joe,
Thanks for laying out exactly what didn’t happen in New Orleans. We can scratch that off the list of fantasy history scenarios.
Check out what Keith Olbermann of MSNBC was saying today.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8514671/#050905a
http://media.putfile.com/OlbermannSwings
OhNoJoe sez:
“There is no blame that we are sure of yet… BUT for now, Democrats, SHUT UP!”
As you can see, it isn’t just “Democrats”. Sorry you can’t take the heat when Republicans screw up on a galactic scale, as they’ve been doing for many years now. But Republicans are the party of personal responsibility, right?
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006418
It’s too bad you can’t put the country ahead of your blind political allegiances when it comes to a matter that effects all of our personal safety. When will the water you carry for Bush finally break your back?
Call it like it is.
It’s obvious that the Federal response was massively flawed, in a fundamental way that borders on the criminal. They’re being called out by just about everyone within screaming distance of a microphone or rescue convoy. If there were mistakes by Democrats, I say hold ‘em to the fire too. But you won’t do the same, even now as the facts are staring you in the face, and are being broadcast at 1000 megawatts by every media outlet from here to Pluto.
Hold them responsible. This is your moment.
Devastating post anon!
Bush was the choice of the right becuase he would PRESIDE. That is what the right sees a president as doing. They preside over things and delegate policy and response.
Did bush preside? NO clearly not. bush continued in the face of impending disaster to ACT as the presider. He continued on with a fund raiser. Just as with 911, he ran away from the happening event threat to the country. Just as with 911 he arrived too late to do anything more than photo ops with more tired rhetorical platitudes.
Let’s look at the “big one’s ” and how “president” bush has adressed them.
911…billions spent, lives lost, culprit still at large.
security of the nation…..bush has “presided” over the greatest wholesale invasion of this nation in history by foreign nationals. He does so by protesting that America needs this invasion to “do the jobs Americans won’t do” even as our federal debt and trade deficit increases to record levels.
Ready for the big one? I think bush and his folk are hoping for the big one if by that you mean a terrorist attack. bush and his folk are MAKING MANY big ones. Get yourself ready for the complete loss of of American sovereignty, the decimation of the middle class, the collpase of the economy, loss of many long held freedoms, a war that not only will not end but will expand and finally for the end of democracy as we have known it.
By law, a governor has to request federal disaster assistance from military units (except for the Coast Guard).
That usually happens very quickly; but in this case, the president first had to explain to the governor of Lousiana how to be a governor.
She refused.
He persisted, but she delayed for several days. It wasn’t until Thursday, 3 days after the storm hit, that she announced her request for National Guard troops.
The Wisconsin governor took the unprecedented step of declaring a disaster in another state (Lousiana) in order to activate his Guard.
“This was the first time a governor ever declared a natural disaster in another state and activated to that other state,” said Gov. Jim Doyle, who issued his order Wednesday.
Wednesday! And the Louisiana governor had still not asked for nor allowed the Guard into her state.=================================From CNN:New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin praised President Bush on Monday [Labor Day]- and charged that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco had delayed federal rescue efforts….
…Nagin had harsh words for his state’s leaders, telling CNN: “What the state was doing, I don’t frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn’t adequate.”=================================
Trell,
As you can see, the Rove spin machine is now running on 208 3-phase.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html
And it looks like you bought the spin and lies hook line and sinker.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/225114/3036
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html?pagewanted=print
First of all, let’s kill the crazy rumor that Louisiana didn’t declare an an emergency and ask for Federal assistance. They did – on FRIDAY.
http://gov.louisiana.gov/2005%20%20proclamations/48pro2005-Emergency-HurricaneKatrina.pdf
On Sunday, Blanco sent Bush this:
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf
which includes:
“I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster … ”
Bush put this out on Friday, BTW:
“The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe … Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.”
I mean, after all, DHS’ job is
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp
“In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.”
Now let’s talk about this false Federal issue with the troops. The delay was Bush’s fault. Completely and totally and total.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/225114/3036One of the comments in that entry says it best:
“While there is much more here that it important I think this section is the most telling. Notice paragraph a states immediately upon his declaration, not two or three days later, not when he returns from vacation, but immediately!
Notice too that the act clearly states that the function of the Federal coordinating officer appointed by the President is to make an initial appraisal of the relief needed, establish field offices, coordinate all the administration of relief, and finally TAKE ACTION.
No where in this section of the act does it require the state’s governor or a city’s mayor to beg and plead for assistance. You only have to read the Stafford Act to clearly understand who was at fault for the horrific events that unfolded after Hurricane Katrina.”
Wow. I can’t believe the massive spin machine that’s taking hold of some folks who are gullible enough to believe whatever they’re told without doing the most basic research to see if it’s true or not.
Typical try, GetReal. Unfortunately, you misrepresent the truth.
Blanco declared a state of emergency on Friday, but the armed looters and general breakdown of order made it necessary to get the National Guard to clean them up first. Bush had to explain that to her, just as he had to tell the New Orleans mayor to evacuate his city.
The truth is that Bush moved quickly, but the governor and mayor were frozen like deer in the headlights.
Blanco didn’t announce her request for Guardmen until Thursday; so she clearly didn’t make that critical move any sooner than that.
The very next day, the National Guard and relief people were swarming all over New Orleans.
Federal assistance in other states went much better. The problem cannot be blamed on the federal government.
The only spin machine is that stuff your getting from Kos.
“Blanco didn’t announce her request for Guardmen until Thursday; so she clearly didn’t make that critical move any sooner than that.”
Gee Trell, as usual, it looks like you don’t know what you’re talking about (see today’s newspaper).
If your Great Leader and his minions lied to you about this, what else do you suppose you’ve been lied to about?
As it turns out, Blanco didn’t properly request the Guard until Wednesday, like Trell said. She dropped the ball, big time. Everyone (but the Bush bashing kos lovers) agrees that the local and state governments blew it badly. As first responders, they ran, dithered, blamed, and failed.