Who's responsible for the Katrina response?

Got this via e-mail. Pretty much spells it out.

Subject: Battle Over New Orleans





On Friday night, August 26, 2005 before the Hurricane hit, Max
Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of
calling Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Blanco
personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New
Orleans and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was
after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was
destroyed.



President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his
advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for
a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the
Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act).



Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor
Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the request papers so the federal
government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call
up. He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal
government to be involved yet.



After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings
with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal
forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it
would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds
would not be invited in.



Saturday, August 27, before the Hurricane hit, the President again
called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers
requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an
emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.



After a personal plea from the President, Mayor Nagin agreed to order
an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the
governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing
federal action. In frustration the President declared the area a
national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could
legally begin some advanced preparations.



Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the
ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional
requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal
government can move into state with troops - but that had not been
done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to
use before the disaster.



Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New
Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted
to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the
investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to
the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was
never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of
gaining additional federal funding. As we now learn that the
organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or
coordinating into any planning, though the document implies that they
were.



The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard
questions as do we all, but they better start with why Governor Blanco
refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation
documents until Wednesday, August 31, which further delayed the legal
deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask why
Mayor Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered
500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency
plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his disposal
to use between the local school busses and the city transportation busses
- but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.



This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but
been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of
thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to
be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local
corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they
can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the
mistakes to avoid them in the future

Goose, is this an article this guy sent you, or did he write this himself? It appears anonymous.

Nope, it's been going around. There's a retort to it somewhere, too. Some journalist in Florida researched and wrote it. Everyone should be getting it em, cause from what I understand, it's pretty wide spread. Though they might dispute some of the facts quoted and times that things happened, it is the responsiblility of local government to evacuate. The federal government has no jurisdiction or responsibility for this. Dozens of city busses and school busses in New Orleans were left to go under water while thousands didn't have the means to escape. Danged shame.

I heard on TV there was an armed National Guard helicopter shot at today. I'm not sure what's left there is worth saving. Maybe they ought to clean out the rats now, fly a specter over the place and clean house? All this shooting and lawlessness gives you an idea what that town was like. I didn't like going there, too many street punks, too much crime. They hung out in the French quarter, too, looking for drunk tourists to roll. Quite a lucrative business there, attracted the thug element. Plus the police department would make Nuevo Loredo proud. Most corrupt in the country. The corruption goes to the top, too. Remember governor Edwards?

mmm tough call

I've heard some nasty stuff about New Orleans but simply put..it's not my place to judge the value of the citizens there. A bunch of agencies or levels of governments are going to be under scrutiny over this and they should be, they're being paid by the public..including Dubya ..and they should be accountable. The healing process should start now and that's where the focus should be.

No need to judge the city regards to crime and corruption. You can read about it. It's why I always referred to it as "the big sleezy". And, these people get what they ask far at the voting booth, I reckon.

http://www.freep.com/news/nw/neworleans22e_20050822.htm

This guy was Louisiana governor, before his prison career.

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-9-2001-2033.asp

ENRON, Worldcom etc. I don't want to be the bleeding heart liberal here but I'd sure hate to see me get looped in with a bad character based on my geographical location. I'll be the first to admit, I don't have much use for anyone that hampers rescue operations by firing at helicopters as was reported to have happened. The person should be prosecuted and his firearm priviliges should be revoked. It doesn't matter where you go nowadays you are going to run into the seedy underbelly of society and you don't have to go to New Orleans or Houston or Portland or Calgary to see it. On the way to the Bike Talk Ride this year, Marc and I were in podunkville Utah..cowboy country, beautiful place..and a local tells us that there's a drug problem there. I was dumfounded. There are a lot of good people displaced in New Orleans..my heart is out for them

good thoughts..I know what you mean..

I reckon the more remote you are from what's happening, the more filters you have to look through to see the truth, accurate as our media is, ya know. My wife an I offered our spare bedroom to a family from the area. They got out, lost their home, but I know friends of theirs and they're a working class family. They found refuge with family in Alabama, though. We were going to sacrifice because I knew they were good people. There's lots of good people like them.

However, this post from the Houston Sportbike Network (off topic column, of course, LOL) will let you sorta know what's going on, the REAL what's going on in Houston right now:

"The whole scene in N.O. is FUBAR. We all know that New Orleans has been one of the most corrupt cities in the nation for sometime - and that's not likely to change any time soon. N.O. has had federal money pouring into it for sometime, and as the "chain mail" suggested, it gets diverted - either into the suits wallet, or into their gambling boats.

As for the people there - I'm two sided. You have to realize that the un-employment rate in N.O. is roughly 35% compared with the national average of 4%. That means that a lot of the people that stayed behind in N.O. did not have the means to evacuate. Not to say that they would have left if the opportunity was given to them - but the bottom line is the busses were never used - or offered - to get them out. Who's fault is that - I think that's something each one of us has to decide for ourselves. Point fingers all you want. It's not likely to change anything.

Back to the people. A vast majority of the people that stayed are the takers of society. They make their livings off of fixed government income and don't do a thing to help themselves or anyone else. They're the first people to scream for help, the first to point a finger, the first to play the race card - and the last people to say thank you,

For those of you not in Houston, or any of the other major cities where the "survivors" as we now have to call them are, let me fill you in a bit on these poor, unfortunate souls.

There have been a number of major corporations that have tried to use this as good PR. Kinda back fired on them. Igloo in particular came to the Astrodome and offered these people jobs back in N.O. Out of the roughly 7,000 people that are still at the Dome, 12 signed up for a job. How do I know this - I'm a cop and I was working the Igloo booth. Kinda sad isn't it?

It gets better. One of my best friends works SW Houston, where the Dome is located. He's told me of countless stories of these "survivors" taking full and complete advantage of the people that have let them into their house. That's right. These 'survivor' people are steeling from the very people that have opened their doors to them. Survival is one thing - this is another.

The debit cards that were issued to these people - ya'll should have been there for that. I've never seen so many people rush somewhere in my life. Scores of people scaling the fence to get into a line for the $2,000 of FREE federal money. Pretty sad that they had to make a provision that the survivors could not use the cards for alcohol or tabacco. The free $2k was supposed to be incentive to get these people back to where they came from and start fresh.... Guess not.

Don't get me wrong - it's FUBAR that it took almost a week before the troops finally got into N.O. to restore order. But also understand there's a chain of command that starts at the bottom and works its way up. If the jokers at the bottom are dragging their butt, it's obviously not going to get to the top any quicker.

I for one, don't have a lot of sympathy for the vast majority of the people that are still sucking on the governments tit. I have a real problem with helping anyone that's not willing to help themselves.

And don't think these "survivors" are going any where any time soon. What do they have to go back to? Think they have home owners insurance? Think they have flood coverage if they do have insurance.... Oh thats right! They live in government housing! That's pretty cool. Seems like the new government housing projects / apartments, etc are a lot nicer than what I'm PAYING to live in.

I feel for the people that had something and lost it. I feel bad for the people that had a decent paying job and worked for everything they had and now it's gone. I feel bad for those that have lost a loved one - regardless of who they are.

I could care less if you're black, white, or anywhere, or anything in between - bottom line, you help yourself first, and I'll be the first one there to give you a hand. These "survivors" need to be thankful for what they do have, and what they haven't lost, and for what all has been given to them.

To anyone that's lost a loved on in this dissaster - my heart goes out to you. I'm sure I've offended plenty with this, not my intention - just my opinion. See ya on the streets - stay safe."

BTW, I was watching TV when they still were in the superdome, right after the winds had subsided. They were interviewing a woman. She's complaining about the government this and the government that and where are they? Well, the reporter asks her if she's had anything to eat. She says "We had this stuff they gave us, it was AWEful. We ain't had a hot meal in days!" Talk about your looking a gift horse in the mouth! Do we OWE this friggin' lady a hot meal, in a dome full of indigents, no electricity???? God, that lady Peed me off! I can remember boiling dandelion greens and seining a local pond with my room mate at the time to get a meal!!!! We were broke students, no money, didn't qualify for food stamps. I was making two bucks an hour at the time working on campus.

Life is what you make of it. Stand on your own two feet! Help YOURSELF!

IMHO, the whole idea of having thousands of indigents living in a hole 12 foot below sea level in hurricane country with two routes out over water an no transportation is assinine in the first place. I think they should bury the place, maybe build a dike around the quarter and St. Charles Ave and make it a historic recreation area so you can go there, listen to jazz and get drunk. But, shove the rest in and bury it and move everyone to Baton Rouge. What insurance companies are going to insure there after this? I wouldn't.

JMHO, of course.

Goose, I'm told that Bill Weiler, a freelance journalist appearantly does work with the conservative web site, rightnation.us. wrote that piece. Pretty much a rightwinger. I feel guys like Karl Rove will spin it as best in Bush's favor while leftwing media like The Times will spin it the opposite way. I believe it's got to be somewhere in the middle. It's easy to lay blame when the **** hits the fan, but no doubt all levels of govt from local to the feds screwed this one up bigtime. I consider myself a moderate and have reregistered as an independent because neither the fricking Republicans and Democrats speak what I feel. Right now we need to lay off the blame game and just fix the immediate problem in NO..get the water out and clean it up. When it's all said and done, many of the indigenous people who had no way out and are gone now won't come back. Hopefully NO will have less poverty after the rebuild, but let's rebuild smartly first.

Yeah, all the indigents will move out to places like Houston to help spread the poverty. Dosen't sound like many of 'em want to work.

There is the right wing spin, there is the left wing spin, and then there is the reality we're seeing down here with the folks in the dome. You ain't hearin' the real deal on any network about these people.

Another fellow on the HSN board says a guy who works with him moved here 10 years ago from NO. He still has his La drivers license, went down and got $800 bucks FEMA money!!!! ROFLMAO!!!!!! I gotta hand it to the guy! Might as well get something for your scooter with it if you can, better'n it going for crack! LOL!

This whole deal is STILL FUBAR! I'm beginning to hope a cat four hits Port Lavaca. I have insurance, a van to run with and live in. I'll pour a slab, buy a LARGE travel trailer to live in, and next time haul my house with me! Meantime, I'll get all this aid, debit cards, and such. Wonder if I can use those debit cards at Victoria Harley Davidson???? ROFLMAO!

From the bottom up...

The whole thing is that this is the typical finger pointing game. The feds this, the feds that, blah, blah, yech. If you are the mayor of a city or on the board of governors for your county or parish, whatever they are down there, it is YOUR freaking responsibility to make sure you have all of the needed disaster plans. Being that you live in a hurricane zone and your city is jest a tad under sea level, wouldn't you think about some good major disaster plans for just this scenario? Nah, easier to go get fired up and collect some graft. Being the governor of Louisiana, wouldn't you want a comprehensive disaster plan in place that is implemented before even needing to call in the government?

The Governor and the Mayor should both hang their heads and apologize for such ineptness and resign.

Have you noticed that we have become almost totally dependent on big government for way to many things such as this. Why have plans, facilities, equipment when big gov will do it for you? Whatever happened to the states being independent and self governing?

We have a festering, putrid zit on the forehead of society. It is being caused by the "not my fault", "what can you do for me" syndrome.

If this letter is even 60% true, dubya should have gone on national TV and pressured them with warnings of the pending disaster or somehow forced them to get the ball rolling.

basically that's where the buck stops.

Here's an interesting read that supports my thoughts about rebuilding the place. http://slate.msn.com/id/2125810/?nav=ais

Well..ole Bush finally took the blame today and it looks to be rightly so. An official memorandum from yesterday shows the timeline and Gov. Blanco had requested things in a timely manner. Whether we like it or not..the Federal govt. is responsonsible for setting our nations emergency response.

http://www2.dccc.org/docs/conyersgaokatrina.pdf