Posted on 09/04/2005 8:50:29 PM PDT by abletruth
Who's Really to Blame for Katrina Chaos?
Geoff Metcalf Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 Discontent is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The tragedies of Hurricane Katrina continue, and help, aid and assistance are belatedly trickling into the devastated area.
In addition to the ubiquitous visual images of flood-ravaged victims, two equally disturbing images supplement the graphic catastrophic images:
We hear local authorities spin their complicity in problems with blame casting.
We see assorted special-interest elements exploiting the natural disaster to further personal, professional and political agendas. Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently uttered a very significant and largely overlooked empirical axiom: "Leadership at the local level is EVERYthing." HOOAH!
While filling in for Chris Core on WMAL Friday night and discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one caller said, "It's all Bush's fault!" HUH?!
This brand of brain flatulence myopia falls under category No. 2 above as one of those exploiting the natural disaster to further an agenda, regardless of facts and evidence that contradict the preconceived opinion or prejudice.
Was the president responsible for the weather?
Was he responsible for local officials ignoring his pleas to evacuate?
Prior to the storm's landfall, Bush said he "cannot stress enough the dangers this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities."
"I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground," he said.
Was he responsible for the incompetence of the New Orleans mayor?
Did he order school and municipal buses not be used in the evacuation?
"Scores of New Orleans school buses are sitting in flood waters after Hurricane Katrina instead of being used to evacuate thousands of poor people before Katrina hit."
"Almost 400 New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority buses are also now under water, never used for the evacuation of the neediest of the City's citizens."
Did he fail to protect the local infrastructure … and was that even his job? The answer to all the above (and more) is "No."
This is a complex and devastating situation that could have been mitigated and wasn't.
Mother Nature had already plotted New Orleans for a fire mission … it wasn't a question of IF but WHEN a major Category 3 or larger hurricane would hammer the artificial bowl of the Big Easy.
An old Army buddy wrote: "This wasn't a sneak hurricane attack. They have been tracking this Lady for weeks and knew she was a Class 5 storm. They knew exactly her landfall and surely New Orleans was a bucket ready to be filled." This former Special Forces/retired DEA agent said, "If this country can't handle a natural disaster, with an abundance of warning, I shudder to think what would transpire if a major terrorist attack occurred."
He isn't the Lone Ranger. What IF we had been (or ARE) hit with a biological or nuclear terrorist attack? If Katrina is any indication of how we will respond, we are S.O.L.
As with 9/11 and previous natural disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes … from blizzards to tornados, it is (and will always be) the LOCAL first responders who do the heavy lifting.
At best, the feds are a bridging mechanism and supplemental resource provider.
Beyond the miserable, incompetent job performance of local authorities, there was/is another contributing factor to the chaos, and it was manufactured by the government.
Several observers have commented on the disproportionate number of black faces in the growing file footage of post-Katrina New Orleans.
That is largely a function of demographics and the fact that the media have focused on New Orleans and not ventured into the surrounding devastation. Orleans county is 67.3 percent black. Were a camera crew to venture into Hancock, Mississippi, with only 6.8 percent black population, the file footage would look different.
The Orleans county black population is largely poor. Presumably, many have been ‘conditioned' to expect government to ‘help.'
The focus has been on the victims stuck in New Orleans. But how many packed up and left (as the president urged the mayor to order)? How many who couldn't get transportation just walked out?
When did individual self-reliance morph into waiting for the government to solve your problem?
The story of the Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp is illustrative of a for-real problem. http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/790.html
The allegory of the pigs includes a serious moral lesson. It is a story about federal money being used to bait, trap and enslave a once free and independent people.
Federal welfare, in its myriad forms, has reduced not only individuals but also state and local governments to a state of dependency.
Geoff is an author and talk show host. He is a ninth-generation commissioned officer in the U.S. armed services, a former Green Beret, and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel. Geoff hunts down the stories the rest of the media ignore and exposes them for public scrutiny. He is also Editor of CalNews.com.
Why didn't MS/AL have some of these same problems? because they accepted FEMA help before the storm hit. LA did not because they sadly believeed they could handled it on their own...thinking of themselves first is my estimation. All of this will come out because the LA officals want the congress to investiagte their own incompetence.
I would suspect they will be removed from office after the true facts come out and that won't be on the networks because as with Iraq tey report what is bad nothing ever good. This only makes the dems look even more foolish if that is possible. able
Murphy?
Act of God? Sorry, I forgot we had separation of Church and State - He can't possibly be responsible.
The victims could not care less who points the finger at who. Right now the only thing that matters is they get help. The blame game is currently a waste of time. It is a discussion best left for a time after everyone is helped.
welcome to FR
Oh, but I forgot, nothing good can come out of us being in Iraq...
Judging by the pictures it must be Bush.......Carl Rove behind the scenes was ordering the kidnapping of all the New Orleans bus drivers to make the New Orleans mayor look bad. (from the daily kos..lol)
By the way, why hasn't anyone seen or heard from Mayor Nagin for days. I heard the mayor of Baton Rouge talking on Fox tonight.
BTW, the churches and church leaders are awesome -- they're coming out to the shelters and doing all kinds of cool stuff with the evacuees.
The RATS in LA played/are playing politics with this, with their eye on 2008. They threw 1000's of lives aside for politics. Be very clear about that. The people of NO were back stabbed by their "leaders".
And surely God is not a "racist" who victimized the mostly poor black population of NO who could no evacuate.
It's Bush's fault!
From what I can tell, he's been in the city directing what is left of the city workforce. The only time I've seen him on TV was when the President came to tour the damage.
The single largest blame should fall on the people responsible for the failure of the police radio system. That in my mind is the single biggest cause of failure.
I guess that's where he is. It's kind of eerie, though, to not have him commenting on the goings on. Usually happens in a crisis like this.
Excuse me??? Could NOT evacuate??? Why?? Because the incompetent Mayor NEVER used over 500 buses?? Because he did not follow the evacuation plan?? Because the people were too stupid to leave their homes???
Because the Governor was too stupid to accept the fact that a disaster was about to happen???
I'm sure you catch my drift, don't you??
"Who is really to blame for Katrina Chaos?"
Umm, HURRICANE KATRINA!
Seems pretty simple to me.
Yup.....Another GOOD reason for NOT voting Democrat......The Democrat
Governor couldn't quit crying long enough to take control of the
situation and the Mayor of the City wouldn't release the fleets of
HUNDREDS of Busses to evacuate the Residents because he was waiting for
Federal Handouts.......That's what you get when you elect Democrats,
Folks!
That or on TV announcing that he's going to take his police and go to Las Vegas.
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