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."
It was my understanding that Bush was very proactive before the storm hit, too, but if so, why did Bush allow Michael Brown to take the fall?
That is not, from my understanding, a reporter's notes.
I believe they were put out on behalf of the Republican party a few days back to clarify the misperceptions.
They are true from everything I know, though. I'm just trying to appropriately credit them.
impeach Blank-o bunp
Because Michael Brown was not effective. He did not deliver.
I saw this same Merrit Island reporters post on here a few days ago...and I got it in my email from my mom yesterday. Has anyone confirmed this story? When it was posted here, the only source was email and google.
Because he said something very stupid on television - indicating he didn't know what was going on at the convention center while the situation was being shown on national TV. And because everyone on site was reporting that FEMA was slow and incompetent.
Exactly. FEMA was given what they needed to go in and do a bang-up job but because of the agency's attitude to being managerial Brown simply couldn't move. So the Dems were able to toss their collosal failures onto FEMA's minor failures.
FEMA screwed up simply put. Had FEMA not screwed up then the MSM wouldn't have had a chance in hell of blaming Bush.
Rush was talking on Friday about how the democrats have been lying in wait for another terrorist strike - and this was it. When this disaster hit, they used the plan already in place to attack the President for not acting fast enough, for not doing enough, etc.
But the truth is .. the Governor and the Mayor are responsible - and since they're dems, then we have to blame the repubs .. that's just how it's done. We can't possibly hold democrats to blame .. can we ..??
There's nothing new in your post. It's appeared on many FREEPER threads.
Actually, I stand corrected. It is an email that continues to go around uncredited:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/katrina/nagin.asp
Yes, that's my take too -- it was Brown's broadcast statements -- ignorance about the refugees and horrenduous situation at the convention center that did him in by providing the MSM a mega-Zot to throw against him.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he's accused of padding a very scanty resume.
It's looking like if any federal government entity could have done better, it was FEMA only. But overwhelmingly, I think the evidence now shows that it was the LA State and NO city govts that made the largest number of mistakes before and after the storm, yet FEMA is still the sacrificial lamb in the msm, even though they made the smallest number of mistakes compared to LA governments. Amazing what gets ignored when it's democrats making the mistakes. If FEMA hadn't been rolled into DOHS like clinton and other democrats wanted, perhaps it would have reacted more quickly and more efficiently.
Blanco must have a very severe pride issue, either that or her head is stuck up her fourth point of contact.
I got it just this morning but had seen bits and pieces of it other places, and heard it on the radio, FOX News, blogs, etc. I think at this point, 100% of the article can be believed. There hasn't been anything credible to dispute it. I hope it gets all over. I figured it had been here already, but thought it might be a good idea to post is just in case. It needs to circulate. I'm glad it was here already. I was hoping lots of people had seen it.
Yeah Rush made very good points yesterday. I think as the weeks go by, time will show that over 90% of what went wrong was born and bred in Louisiana's long known corrupt democrat government. This exposure of their corruption has been a long time coming, it's just a shame that thousands had to die to fix what needs to be fixed in that state.
I hadn't seen it specifically, so I wasn't sure. Kinda figured it had been on FR already, but since it had so much important info, I thought I'd post it just in case.
Hi there. Is there any reason to think the article isn't factual at all? I know at least most of it is confirmed fact because it's been in even the MSM the past couple days. So it would stand to reason that it's all factual. I mean, there's so much that the Blanco and Nagin and their subordinates have done wrong the past two weeks, there really is just no need to make stuff up. You know?
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