Posted on 09/06/2005 6:00:15 AM PDT by Brilliant
As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?...
Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.
The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The whole thing is insane. N.O. was a city of about 500,000. One week to evacuate and provide relief for the the ones too dense to heed the warnings following a category 5 hurricane, is inadequate? What do people expect?
They're still thinking they'll return to the levers of federal power one day.
Your right Louisiana has been totally corrupted over the past years. Each parish in New Orleans is responsible for maintaining the levees that fall within their parish. Each year the Federal gov. provides funds to each parish president and council to maintain those levees. Some parishes have used the money wisely and maintained the levees, others have found other use of the funds including lining their own pockets. The problem can be traced all the way back to the local gov.
And with the total help of the media
Oh, I have had it with the national media. They can all go to hell. Don Imus and MSNBC can all go to hell. CNN is the worst, and it can go to hell. I watched some idiot Chinese young thing try to get Rev. Jakes to call Bush a rascist 4 times in an 2 minute long interview. Shameful. She should be fired. Its all "Hate Bush" ranting disguising itself as hurricane coverage.
NRO Corner had a write up on the Nagin/CNN interview:
24 HOUR WAIT? [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
I take everything this man says with a grain of salt, but is this true, what he claimed on CNN yesterday?
NOLA Mayor Nagin interview w/Soledad O'Brien in which he says Gov. Blanco told the President she needed 24 hours to make a decision for Federal aid.
NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."
He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.
S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?
NAGIN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?
NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.
S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.
NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died.
UPDATE: Here's the video.
http://wizbangblog.com/archives/006994.php
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2005/09/04/katrina-response-timeline/
They can't flush all the News Papers
Do you know where I can find the video of Soledad's interview with Blanco because she was using Nagin's interview for Blanco to respond to?
Thanks for the ping!
It took a few days for Nagin and the NOPD to get their story together.
I heard this morning that Nagin said he sent buses with sirens and cops through the city before the storm.
I guess he is finally catching on to what he should have done.
Mayor Nagin killed thousands more poor black people by his very real inaction in the 48 hours preceding the storm
than
Bush killed by his supposed inaction in the 48 hours after the storm
I'm with you! I came accross Lou Dobbs interveiwing Jesse Jackson on CNN (forgive me for this one - I just channel surfing). What made me stop and watch was the tone of Dobb's voice. He had Jesse in a corner with his racist remarks that he made earlier in the week. But good ol' Jesse "BoJangles" just kept tap dancing around the facts of what he said and after about 5 minutes it was Dobb's and Jesse in agreement that it was a breakdown on the federal level. I know how little regard the MSM has on this site BUT people have to find a way to expose the TRUTH as a mjority of the people in this country still get their info from the MSM! If we don't get the truth out it will be "Republicans don't care about blacks" in 06 and 08.
Most people that I talk with are putting more blame on the local/state than the Feds. A good friend of mine's mother and family lived in NO and were stranded 2-3 days last week during the storm. (they are African American BTW)They finally got bussed out to a shelter in TX on Thur/Fri. He flew down and picked them up over the weekend. He said the mayor and govenor should have criminal charges filed against them. Said it was total chaos. No one told them anything. Even where they were taking them once they started the evacuations.
I pulled the National Response Plan this morning, looked for catastrophic incidents, and found this paragraph under "policies":
Federal resources arriving at a Federal mobilization center or staging area remain there until requested by State/local incident command authorities, when they are integrated into the incident response effort."
I think that's pretty clear.
Yet another fool who is letting the facts get in the way of the propaganda. Doesn't this idiot know that it is Bush's fault!!! /sarcasm
Blanco's behavior leads me to believe she or Witt have something to hide apart from her handling of the Katrina-crisis.
Some sort of Louisiana-based FEMA scam during the Clinton years?
Some sort of misuse of Federal relief given for Hurricane Ivan?
President Declares Major Disaster For Louisiana To Aid Ivan Recovery September 16, 2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that President Bush has ordered the release of federal disaster funds and emergency resources for Louisiana to help meet the recovery needs of people victimized by Hurricane Ivan.Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, said the President took the action under a major disaster declaration issued for Louisiana in response to the hurricane that made landfall this morning. The declaration covers damage to private property from the storm that began affecting the state on September 13.
Brown said emergency assistance triggered by the declaration can range from the use of federal personnel, equipment and lifesaving systems to the delivery of heavy-duty generators, plastic sheeting, tents, cots, food, water, medical aid and other essential supplies and materials for sustaining human life. [excerpts]
Just how well did Louisiana handle the federal relief given to them for Ivan?
Who says the majority still get the information from the MSM? My friend, Fox alone has the combined ratings of the other cable news networks. . .then add the internet and you will find it is evening out quickly.
A homeless girl being interviewed on FoxNews this morning was asked how she felt about was she was undergoing.
Two times, she said it was "fun."
I'm glad she repeated it because I thought I misunderstood her at first.
A man being interviewed on FoxNews right now said he was impressed by all the people who were helping him because [paraphrase] "coming from New Orleans...it's pretty much everyone for himself down there"[/paraphrase]
I'm sorry to hear about your friend's family. I'm glad they are okay...(and that they are thinking more clearly than the MSM folks are).
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