Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 09/03/2005 9:07:35 PM PDT by aft_lizard
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). 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, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Associated Press
Louisiana kept a close watch on the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency, and a strengthening Hurricane Katrina moved further to the west.
Blanco ordered the state's disaster preparedness offices to start taking precautions, saying Katrina posed an "imminent threat." Meanwhile, emergency preparedness officers in southern Louisiana were mobilizing on their own.
..."We just hope our people are prepared," he said. "It's kind of late in the year to be making disaster plans."
Walter Maestri, the emergency director for Jefferson Parish, said he was concerned about the movement west and how it was intensifying.
New Orleans City Hall spokeswoman Tami Frazier said officials were watching the storm, and had activated what she called the lowest alert level -- monitoring storm movements.
Lowest level alert? The level of stupidity and incompetence would be highly entertaining if this were some sort of disaster/comedy movie. Sadly it's not.
New Orleans will be a town of the French Quarter, Garden District, Irish Channel, and Uptown. Gone will be the 9th Ward, Treme, Bywater, Central City, City Park, Lakeview, Bucktown, Gentilly. Give it 150,000 to 200,000 people at most. There just won't be the population there to produce those massive, lop-sided vote totals for the Democrats. There are some members of the Louisiana State Legislative that won't have any constituents to represent or vote in the next election. (How they handle that one will be interesting).
This has the Democrat power structure (of which Harry Connick Jr.'s family is part) scared ****less. That explains the charges of racism, the anti-Bush attacks, the refusal of the Governor to let the feds take over. Their backs are against the levees, and the water is rising."
Good analysis BUMP.
NPR: Does this mean the emergency plans are working? Maybe we should go over what the plans were?
Blanco: We have to hold tight, let it happen then pick up the pieces after it's all over.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=4821599
If this was Bush he'd be labled a bigot, insensitive and incompetent.
Nagin is incompetent but he did endorse Bush and Jindal. He and Blanco are no friends either. Those state rats in Louisiana lead by Blanco are a disaster.
Oh how I wish Jindal had beat Blanco. I remember that election had happened right before Saddam was captured, another week later Jindal might have won.
The dems are so determined to damage Bush that they'll throw Iraq over to Bin Laden. They know full well what the results of their actions will be.
Why would destroying N.O. bother them, if it can help get rid of Bush?
As I just said in an above post...this stuff would be pure comedy if not for the horror that followed.
this is why posters are supposed to use the ACTUAL CAPTION from the paper ... the other threads I saw didn't.
And Jindal was on Fox last night blasting the federal response. If I were any of these state and local leaders I would go to bed and cover my head for 6 months out of pure embarrassment and shame.
Nam Vet
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
N O's to La is like Portland Or is to Oregon for the rats re voters legit and illegal. The Rats in both states need the second class voter/slaves to keep them in power.
Imagine a similiar disaster happening in Portland, Or, and most of the Portland population moving to Washington, Idaho, Nevada and even back to California. In 2 to 4 years the rats would lose control of Oregon at the state and congressional level.
The loss would probably be permanent, and as you noted not that big of an impact in the other states.
Good L-rd!
The pieces were the citizens of your good state!!
"But the fact she won't give up control makes me think they're hiding stuff they don't want outsiders seeing."
DING DING DING DING!
Huge leftie.
Can ya link me to a few of those threads please.....
IMO President Bush has been too "nice" and not quite pushy enough.
These NOLA criminals need to be smacked down and he isn't doing it. I agree that GWB should have been a little more authoritarian. Of course he would have been viciously criticized. But the MSM and mentally ill liberals will viciously criticize him no matter what he says or does.
(freepmail on the way in a minute.)
Hey! How come you aren't in bed? It's later where you are then here even!
The letter is dated August 27, 2005. She declared an emergency in the State of Louisiana on August 26, 2005 citing state law and homeland security provisions delegated to the states. The letter to President Bush was a formal request that Louisiana be declared a disaster area under federal law. Adjacent states did the same. This is the second time I have recently seen the Washington Compost infest an article with a day, but not a date, just to get readers attention. Keep to the facts and avoid speculation.
Nam Vet
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