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Stupid before the storm

Posted on 09/10/2005 9:26:22 AM PDT by Allen H

Got this from my cousin this morning. Just in case anyone didn't see it or hear some of its content, read below. This reporter really locked down a lot that happened before the storm, and most of it isn't even being touched on the net. This kind of incompetance and stupidity in a Governor and Mayor is absolutely unforgivable and inexcusable. Before I read this, I thought impeachment talk for Blanco and Nagin was just talk, but now I don't think anything short of impeachment would be enough considering the level of absolute stupidity the two of them showed before this disaster. Totally unacceptable. Please read this below and pass it on to everyone you can think of. The more this gets out, the louder the outcry will be to remove them and those who worked for them.

"This is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter who's been researching what went on before the storm hit I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard in the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming to light.

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and 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 before the storm 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 Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states.

Or maybe ask why 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."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: beforethestorm; blanco; bush; katrina; nagin; possecomitatus; terryebbert
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To: Allen H

Amazing isn't it? The truth you will never hear from the MSM, and the polls that will never be done or heard.


21 posted on 09/10/2005 9:59:04 AM PDT by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
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To: Allen H; All
HURRICANE KATRINA- archive of links Click the picture:


22 posted on 09/10/2005 10:02:34 AM PDT by backhoe (-30-)
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To: Allen H

Watch for the names Terry Ebbert and Jay Mayeaux also begin to come to light as this investigation proceeds. Ebbert was the City's Homeland Security Chief and Mayeaux was his director of operations. When the heat begins to shine on those "elected" politicians in Louisiana, these two appointments will be right in the middle of it (IMHO).


23 posted on 09/10/2005 10:02:59 AM PDT by cwb (Liberalism is the opiate of the *asses)
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To: Allen H
I thought I'd post it just in case.

You're right to do so. In any case, most of the important questions haven't been answered.

24 posted on 09/10/2005 10:03:46 AM PDT by liberallarry
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To: AckyQuack
"Blanco must have a very severe pride issue, either that or her head is stuck up her fourth point of contact."

That's funny! 8) Yeah I think there was a lot of pride at play. That, and I think no democrat in LA wanted to be told what to do by some Republican. Now we see how well a 60 year corrupt democrat dominated state governement handles a disaster.

25 posted on 09/10/2005 10:14:40 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: vpintheak

I think as the weeks go by, there will be an ever increasing shift against blanco and nagin, and all those under them as the people who really made the mistakes that cost lives. I look for both of them, including landrieu, BOTH of them, to be voted out of office. This has the potential to really turn Louisiana into a solid red State. Not just a state that votes for Republicans for President. This looks to have the potential to end the emmense democrat corruption that has controled Louisiana for so many decades.


26 posted on 09/10/2005 10:30:26 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: backhoe

Great thread with LOTS of info in that pic link. Thansk.


27 posted on 09/10/2005 10:31:54 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: Allen H

Thanks for looking.


28 posted on 09/10/2005 10:32:31 AM PDT by backhoe (-30-)
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To: cwb

I'll keep those names in mind. All the libs talking about Bush being on vacation making it worse, by all appearances, those two guys were in comas somewhere.


29 posted on 09/10/2005 10:32:59 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: Allen H
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.

What they really meant was that it would give Bush a chance to be the white knight who saved them, and that would not be good for Hillary.

30 posted on 09/10/2005 10:34:03 AM PDT by Eva
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To: liberallarry

Well, I figured that surely that email had made its way here, but the more people that see info about this, the more people in the country get it eventually, thanks to email. I LOVE the fact that with FOX News, Talk Radio, and the blogs like this one, there is NO WAY the liberal media can control what gets out to most Americans. I LOVE that. The overwhelming majority of conservatives and rational moderates that actually vote are tied in to at least one of the three (FOX, Talk Radio, blogs), if not two of them or all three. And the power of email makes those three even more potent, since by the time something has been emailed for a day or two, it's reached millions of people who didn't see it on FOX, hear it on talk radio, or see any blogs. E-mail is such a powerful amplifier for the three legs of Conservative news distribution. It makes it amazing Reagan was able to get ANYTHING done in the 80s without any of them.


31 posted on 09/10/2005 10:39:02 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: Allen H
emergency preparedness plan ...may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding ...

the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.

Sick (in the bad sense of the word)

32 posted on 09/10/2005 10:39:44 AM PDT by syriacus (I think we can get [the breach] stabilized in a few hours - Terry Ebbert, NO Homeland Sec., Aug31)
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To: backhoe

Hey I was glad to go look. I bookmarked it. 8)


33 posted on 09/10/2005 10:40:11 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: Eva

Yeah, Heaven forbid Bush come in to a democrat controlled zombie zone and do what has to be done to save people, taking authority out of the hands of the local corrupt democrat hustlers. I just can't wait to see the ad against hillary whenever her next campaign is, showing how she pushed and voted for FEMA to be rolled into DOHS, and how poorly that worked in the Katrina relief.


34 posted on 09/10/2005 10:42:43 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: Allen H

We can always hope. At least the Republicans say they are conservative. Either way, they are far better than a rat.


35 posted on 09/10/2005 10:43:02 AM PDT by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
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To: Allen H
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

Actually, he did use some buses (don't know how many) - but only to take people to the Superdome, which had experienced violence and crime when used as a shelter in 1998 - that's why the National Guard was on hand to pat people down as they entered. Wouldn't it have been nice to dedicate some of those local and state resources to evacuation instead of crowd control?

BTW, interesting slideshow taken by a French Quarter resident who rode out the storm and got himself out last Friday.

36 posted on 09/10/2005 10:44:04 AM PDT by PhatHead
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To: Eva

I see the things after the buttons to post that says "No profanity, No oersonal attacks, No Racism or violence". Does it qualify as any of those if I say that I think that blanco, nagin, and their subordinates should all be taken in a plane, and dropped at 50,000 feet into the eye of the next major storm, without parachutes, to see if maybe that gives the storm a tummy ache and breaks up its center of rotation? 8) Just wondering.


37 posted on 09/10/2005 10:45:31 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: cwb
Ebbert was the City's Homeland Security Chief and Mayeaux was his director of operations

Ebbert was also the guy who said this to the AP about the levee breach and the rising waters

"It's a very slow rise, and it will remain so until we plug that breach.

I think we can get [the breach] stabilized in a few hours"

See: Is T. Ebbert [NOLA DHS chief] responsible for delay in large-scale response to levee breach?

I'd like to know how many people decided not to evacuate because they got a false sense of security from what Ebbert said.

38 posted on 09/10/2005 10:45:57 AM PDT by syriacus (I think we can get [the breach] stabilized in a few hours - Terry Ebbert, NO Homeland Sec., Aug31)
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To: vpintheak

Yep. That's what I always tell people is the difference between people like us here, and democrat voters. I am a Republcan third. Christian first, American second, and a Republican so long as the Republican party sticks to their plank, doesn't cave to liberal pressure, and defends first and foremost to the founding principles of the Constitution and Christian ideology which allowed the founding of the U.S.A. in the first place. The day those things stop happening in the GOP is the day they lose my vote. Democrat voters are just zombie drones doing what they're told when. I got this from my cousin a few weeks ago that is SO FUNNYY! http://users3.ev1.net/~rfet/misc/Greatest_Movie_Line_Ever.wmv . Ain't it the truth?


39 posted on 09/10/2005 10:50:36 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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To: PhatHead
Actually, he did use some buses (don't know how many) - but only to take people to the Superdome, which had experienced violence and crime when used as a shelter in 1998 - that's why the National Guard was on hand to pat people down as they entered. Wouldn't it have been nice to dedicate some of those local and state resources to evacuation instead of crowd control?

AMEN! And the fact he used them to get them to the Super Dowm with NO FOOD AND WATER makes it even worse. That displays a recognition of the fact he had them at his disposal! They should have been used to get those people out of the city to other cities for temperary shelter where food and water is. I STILL can't get over the fact that the idiot was herding tens of thousands of people in the Dome for what he KNEW would be 2 to 4 days, and he knew there were NO provisions there, and didn't leave and kind of authority structure or medical personnel there. HOW DO YOU NOT THINK OF THAT when you're mayor??? That's so bonehead obvious Forrest Gump would have thought of it! "My Momma always said, 'life is like an evacuation'. You're always gonna need food and water when you get were yer' goin'".

40 posted on 09/10/2005 10:55:44 AM PDT by Allen H (Remember 9-11,God bless our military,Pres.Bush,& the USA!)
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