Posted on 09/08/2005 9:09:44 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
If Hurricane Katrina is not America's greatest natural disaster, it's near the top of the list.
There are many important lessons to be learned from it.
For example: building a city below sea level was a big gamble.
And building levees to withstand a category 3 hurricane instead of a category 5 hurricane was pennywise and pound-foolish.
The leftist politicos and their media allies are furiously blaming white Republican men (President Bush, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and Federal Emergency Management Administration Director Michael Brown) for the enormous scope of the disaster.
They are desperately trying to keep the public from focusing on the fact that a black man (New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin) and a white woman (Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco), both Democrats, actually are mostly to blame.
And another white woman who earned a large share of blame (Senator Mary Landrieu) became hysterical and actually threatened to punch President Bush:
"If one person criticizes [our sheriffs], or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," Landrieu announced on ABC's "This Week." [Note to Secret Service: Watch her carefully.]
Pointing out that an elected black man and a couple of elected women (all Democrats) failed their constituents miserably and that black man and one of the women then lost self-control during the resulting crisis is not politically correct.
BUT, it's true.
And it DOESN'T mean that there aren't plenty of qualified blacks and women who would have performed admirably in their place.
Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco deserve to be designated as the main culprits.
And Mayor Nagin is much worse (see Ray Nagin Is NOT America's Mayor).
And quicker to blame others.
After Hurricane Ivan last September, Mayor Nagin had absolutely no excuse for failing to have the Superdome ready, waiting to order mandatory evacuation (despite urging from President Bush) and failing to use the school buses and municipal buses to get people without their own vehicles out of harm's way (see AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION).
On September 1, 2005, Mayor Nagin "calmly" offered a constructive suggestion: "Governor Blanco and President Bush need to stop holding "goddamn press conferences" and "get their ass[es] on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now."
His strategy was to scream and to blame others: "I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem."
(All he "knew" was that it was someone else's problem.)
White Republican males are supposed to be the only scapegoats, Mr. Mayor. Didn't you get the word?
Or did you retaliate because Governor Blanco publicly acknowledged the embarrassing truth--that President Bush had urged a mandatory evacuation long before you ordered (but failed to really implement) New Orleans' first mandatory evacuation?
The event most of the major media disregards or downplays: Governor Blanco, standing beside Mayor Nagin, at a news conference, announced that President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation.
It took until September 6, 2005 for Mayor Nagin to issue the appropriate declaration:
"Whereas, the presence of individuals not specifically engaged by the City, State or U.S. Government to assist in the remediation and recovery effort would distract, impede, or divert essential resources from the recover effort.
"Now, therefore, I as the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, pursuant to the authority granted by Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:727 and: 730.2, do hereby promulgate and issue the following mandatory evacuation order, which shall supercede the Order issued by me on August 28, 2005, which shall remain in effect for thirty days from this date, unless extended by my order or earlier terminated by my order:
"Civil District Court District Court for the Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana City of New Orleans
"Promulgation of Emergency Order"
"Whereas, Hurricane Katrina has caused catastrophic damage to the City of New Orleans, including, without limitation, several breaches in the levee system, loss of power and water service and the collapse and or loss of structural integrity of roadways, building and other structures;
"Whereas, the above referenced damage necessitates an immediate and unimpeded recovery effort by the City, the State of Louisiana and the United States Government;
"Effective immediately, any public safety officer within the boundaries of the Parish of Orleans, including, without limitation, members of the New Orleans, including, without limitation, members of the New Orleans Police Department, the New Orleans Fire Department, the National Guard and any branch of the U.S. Military, is hereby instructed and authorized to compel the evacuation of all persons from the City of New Orleans, regardless of whether such persons are on private property or do not desire to leave, unless such persons are determined by such public safety officers to be specifically engaged by the City, the State or the U. S. Government in providing assistance in the remediation and recovery effort.
"Those persons who are currently located in Algiers on the West Bank side of Orleans Parish are hereby excepted from this Order.
"The City Attorney is hereby directed to file this Order with the Clerk of Court.
"Mayor C. Ray Nagin"
Better late than never!
Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi called on FEMA Director Brown to resign for not acting faster, but not Governor Blanco.
Sexists!
Governor Blanco declined to let the federal government take control of disaster relief efforts when she received the offer!
"Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans," the Washington Post reported.
No, said the Governor, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law.
Governor Blanco also failed to use more than a hundred school buses parked near the Superdome to transport stranded citizens who didn't have the means to obey earlier evacuation orders.
And the buses were rendered useless by rising flood waters after the levees broke.
Governor Blanco even dawdled over invoking a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until the day after the levees broke.
Dick Morris rightly blames not only Senator Mary "I'll punch the President" Landrieu, but also former Senator John Breaux, for leaving New Orleans so vulnerable to a category 4 hurricane like Katrina:
"Where was Sen. Mary Landrieu demanding aid? If this swing-state senator, whose father was a mayor of New Orleans, had made clear to her party's leadership and to the White House that her legislative course would be determined by their response to this critical need for a new levee, she could have exerted the pull needed to get the project under way.
"Likewise, ex-Sen. John Breaux -- who was probably the single most influential senator during the Clinton years. In the '90s, he could have weighed in successfully and gotten the capital support his state needed.
"Breaux and Landrieu have always been among the handful of swing votes in the Senate. Where were they? They have a bit of explaining to do as well."
They do indeed.
But Democrats are busy trying to distract the public from their own failures while the federal government, the national guard, those New Orleans police who did not flee or fly to Las Vegas for a vacation (courtesy of Mayor Ray Nagin) and good people across America and even abroad are dealing with a preventable crisis.
Immediately.
On September 1, 2005, Mayor Nagin "calmly" offered a constructive suggestion:
"Governor Blanco and President Bush need to stop holding "goddamn press conferences" and "get their ass[es] on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now."
Of course she became hysterical. You would, too, if the only Democratic bastion in your state flooded and the voters moved to neighboring states. As Landrieu watched the floodwaters, all she could do was lament, "there goes my voters and my ballot-box stuffers."
Blanco and Landrieu couldn't be elected again without the 300,000 black New Orleans voters who reliably pull the Dem lever. Landrieu won the first time a stolen election by a couple thousand votes. She won in 2002 by 60,000 votes. She's history in 2008 unless ALL NOLA residents move back.
There won't be a NOLA to move back to my friend.
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. We need help taking care of their pets, too.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you. Believe me, there are a lot of organizations who need your help.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I'm adding more every night. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas Tuesday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
Nagin experienced in reality the most commonly shared nightmare - standing in front of an angry crowd, naked.
I understand several state appointees committed suicide, but I have no references, just some comments from the radio - anyone?
One was murdered by a beligerant.
Out of over 1,500 on the NOLA PD, over 500 of them abandoned.
It is a terrible day for law enforcement. I doubt those who abandoned will be given jobs in LE ever again.
thanks - I am sorry for the PD guys who were so anguished, and the poor fella that was killed. Not quite worth $26,000, (starting pay), was it?
That likely gave them at least some moral authority to go and check on their families.
A NO-WIN situation all the way around.
Most interesting.
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