Posted on 09/03/2005 9:02:07 PM PDT by wildwood
Who’s Responsible For New Orleans?
by D.C. Thornton @ 11:58 pm. Filed under Commentary, Blogosphere
If critics of the Hurricane Katrina disaster are going to play the blame game, they should at least play according to Hoyle.
A comment to a Blogs for Bush posting sums up my thoughts on the issue clearly. I’m reposting it here in its entirety:
In case you aren’t familiar with how our government is SUPPOSED to work:
The chain of responsiblity for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is:
1. The Mayor
2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security (a political appointee of the Governor who reports to the Governor)
3. The Governor
4. The Head of Homeland Security
5. The President
What did each do?
1. The mayor, with 5 days advance, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). The he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.
2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much for political appointees)
3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.
4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them
5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.
Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long.
Funds for disaster protection and relief have been flowing into this city for decades, and where has it gone, but into the pockets of the politicos and their friends.
Decades of socialist government in New Orleans has sapped all self reliance from the community, and made them dependent upon government for every little thing.
Political correctness and a lack of will to fight crime have created the single most corrupt police force in the country, and has permitted gang violence to flourish.
The sad thing is that there are many poor folks who have suffered and died needlessly because those that they voted into office failed them. For those who missed item 5 (where the President’s level of accountability is discussed), it is made more clear in a New Orleans Times-Picayune article dated August 28:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome.
The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. (emphasis mine)
The ball was placed in Mayor Nagin’s court to carry out the evacuation order. With a 5-day heads-up, he had the authority to use any and all services to evacuate all residents from the city, as documented in a city emergency preparedness plan. By waiting until the last minute, and failing to make full use of resources available within city limits, Nagin and his administration f**ked up.
Mayor Nagin and his emergency sidekick Terry Ebbert have displayed lethal, mind boggling incompetence before, during and after Katrina. […]
As for Mayor Nagin, he and his profile in pathetic leadership police chief should resign as well. That city’s government is incompetent from one end to the other. The people of New Orleans deserve better than this crowd of clowns is capable of giving them.
If you’re keeping track, these boobs let 569 buses that could have carried 33,350 people out of New Orleans–in one trip–get ruined in the floods. Whatever plan these guys had, it was a dud. Or it probably would have been if they’d bothered to follow it.
As for all the race-baiting rhetoric and Bush-bashing coming from prominent blacks on the left, don’t expect Ray Nagin to be called out on the carpet for falling short. You want to know why? Here’s why:
It’s more convenient to blame a white president for what went wrong than to hold a black mayor and his administration accountable for gross negligence and failing to fully carry out an established emergency preparedness plan.
To hold Nagin and his administration accountable for dropping the ball amounts to letting loose the shouts and cries of “Racism!”. It’s sad, it’s wrong, but it’s standard operating procedure for the media and left-wing black leadership.
Mark my words: you will not hear a word of criticism from Jesse Jackson Sr., Randall Robinson, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, or Kanye West being directed toward Raymond Nagin. Why? Because he is a mere black politician instead of an effective elected official who happens to be black. In the mindset of more-blacker-than-thou blacks, black politicians who are on their side can do no wrong.
(links via Sister Toldjah, Balloon Juice, and Ramblings’ Journal)
Update: JunkYardBlog points out more evacuation plans at the state level which weren’t implemented.
Ping for later and thanks!!
Are the people themselves anywhere on that list of responsibility? Even if they are last on the list I think they should be on it somewhere.
Does anyone else notice that the supporters of the liberal lying democrats is ALWAYS a n00b?
No.
If your child dies from a disease because you did not vacinate them then it is your fault, not the disease.
These liberal scumbags were elected to protect these people not to fail them. The hurricane caused the damage, the crooks in office stoked the fire.
Do not for a minute let them go blameless.
If you get drunk, wreck your car and kill a kid do not blame the car. Lay the blame where it belongs.
That's the bottom line isn't it? Those who suffered are those that relied on government, of any form, to protect them, rather than taking steps to protect themselves.
When society gets to a point where folks aren't willing to take responsibility for their own well-being, we're in trouble.
I am a black democrat from Louisiana and right now it is hard to disagree with your statement. However, I must say that right is right and wrong is wrong. How many poor whites do you see stuck in the Superdome or bussed to Houston?
Regardless of your personal or political views, we live in a time of haves & have nots. And the have nots are in shelters and looking for a new life.
Yes, the "Black Mayor" messed up bad, but so did the white Governor, and all the rest of the white politicians that stood by dumb founded while nothing was being done. Then when press conference time came around, they all popped up like prairie dogs.
So don't just say a Black Mayor won't get criticized, say no one that could have made a difference did anything. Because there are Republicans in New Orleans, but they won't be criticized will they?
"Because there are Republicans in New Orleans, but they won't be criticized will they?"
Hmm..
Blanco -governor - Democrat.
Nagins - Mayor - Democrat.
Funny, the people responsible for evacuating people were Dems.
if you DID mean to reply to me, well....you seem to be complaining that primarily black people are stuck in shelters while whites are not. this is statistically to be expected, considering the percentage of persons who are both poor and black in new orleans.
i think the thing you need to ask yourself is, why is this true?
is it possible that the welfare mentality, which holds few people responsibility for their own care and well-being, helped to create the vision for these people that, if they lay around and wait until someone comes to get them, the government will save you?
yes, i do blame democrats for this. i believe, in general, liberal democrats are the folks that control the general populace by throwing out that gov't teet.
sure, you can blame fema folks....i just think when you look at the actual timeline of events, the mayor and the governor and the state homeland security chief are the triggers for the tragedy of the aftermath.
think of all those empty schoolbuses, a way of escape, sitting unused, leaching oil into the water, skeletal testaments to one man's foolishness and irresponsibility.
It's the Joooozzzz! Oops, wrong thread...
Mark
So how do you take this sentence, and then imply that I was "blanketing" all blacks? What I was referring to was a relatively small part of the population that feels that way. Kanye West had a point, the media likes to focus on the angry blacks, and ignores blacks that may not subscribe to the views of Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.
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