Louisiana authorities DELIBERATELY MADE THINGS WORSE

Various (see article) ^ | 9/8/05 | Various

[Politicalities]

Folks, I'm sorry for the semi-vanity post, but THIS NEEDS TO GET OUT THERE. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell perfect strangers. Tell everyone. Frankly, I'm absolutely stunned that this isn't the top article on every single news site. I'm stunned that the blogosphere isn't buzzing about nothing else. Why hasn't this gotten the attention it deserved?

In short: the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security BLOCKED THE RED CROSS from bringing desperately needed food, water, and supplies to the Superdome and the Convention Center. This was done to deliberately make conditions worse. Why? Because they wanted people to evacuate, and I guess they figured that if the people there had the luxury of, say, CLEAN WATER, they'd be less likely to leave. So they made a willful decision to starve and dehydrate the people in the Superdome so they'd be miserable enough to leave... or, if they were weak, miserable enough to die, as a few of them did.

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. Check the Red Cross site:

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?

• The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Governor Blanco doesn't deserve electoral defeat. She doesn't deserve impeachment. She deserves to sit in prison for the rest of her life... or to hang by the neck until dead for inflicting on Americans what would be considered an atrocity if Americans inflicted it on anyone else.

And while this was going on, both the Mayor and the Governor were crying, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The food and the water were sitting on trucks which were prevented from delivering them by the State of Louisiana.

Tell everybody.

[cricket]

"And while this was going on, both the Mayor and the Governor were crying, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The food and the water were sitting on trucks which were prevented from delivering them by the State of Louisiana."

Any Demrat strategy includes 'how to make Repubs look like dirt'. . .and die by scream if necessary to do it. . .

Surely this speaks to a strategy that went beyond being either being 'overwhelmed'. . .or misinformed.

Blanco that the trucks were not to deliver. . .

[cricket]

let me try this again. . .:

"And while this was going on, both the Mayor and the Governor were crying, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The food and the water were sitting on trucks which were prevented from delivering them by the State of Louisiana."

. . . Surely this speaks to a strategy that went beyond being either being 'overwhelmed'. . .or misinformed. Blanco ordered that the trucks were not to deliver. . .

[cricket]

"I really wish we had a tape recording of blanco's telephone conversations with the feds. They would be "special."

Seems the Mayor decided it was to his good, to release his taped phone call to Fema - just in case we were to think he was weak and incompetant . . .or worse. And the Media duly played the same (one) call all week.

Surely there were more telling phone calls that might explain more fully. . .what was going on. . .

[GoLightly]

I missed that! Do you have a link to a transcript of that call? (I don't have any sound working on my computer)

[podkane]

LA had & has a standing government & because of it they maintain full jurisdiction over any and all federal action within their territory. It wasn't just in the name of "bipartisanship".

Except when the Governor declares a state of emergency, and specifically asks for the Feds to take over. Unfortunately for the LA governor, there is a paper trail. On Aug. 27th, she specifically did just:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

And Bush in turned authorized DHS and FEMA to take over:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

At this point, the LA governor had jurisdiction only over state police and LA NG. Apparently there was some flap over whether she would let the Feds take over the LA NG (which I didn't quite understand), but that had no effect on all other NG units, Army, Navy, Marine, etc. She had no authority to halt any of their activities, and if she attempted to do so, she is in big trouble and should be prosecuted.

[handy]

Drudge had this story as a red headline last night. Now it's gone from his page. What's the deal? Say what you will about Drudge, his site gets a lot of hits.

[Alia]

I'll only admit to being Intnl Red Cross, if it involves Panties on the Head; and a/c units at Gitmo.

[TAdams8591]

"In short: the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security BLOCKED THE RED CROSS from bringing desperately needed food, water, and supplies to the Superdome and the Convention Center. This was done to deliberately make conditions worse. Why?"

This is absolutely stunning. I do recall early on they wouldn't allow relief workers in the city because of the armed gangs.

I am listening to my local talk radio station, now, and the point you addressed in your post, is being discussed on the Dom Giordano Show WPHT 1210AM, Philadelphia.

[Politicalities]

This is absolutely stunning. I do recall early on they wouldn't allow relief workers in the city because of the armed gangs.

If the Red Cross had said, "The Louisiana authorities wouldn't let us in because they said it was unsafe," that would have been a different thing. That still would have been a major black mark against the Governor, whose job it is to enforce civic order and whose first priority should have been getting aid to the desperate people who needed it, even if it meant surrounding the Red Cross convoy with a battalion.

But as it turns out, that wasn't the reason. And not only was the Governor's first priority to get aid to those who needed it, but she actively thwarted attempts. She made it a priority to stop the Superdome and the Convention Center from getting any aid.

[Politicalities]

And not only was the Governor's first priority to get aid to those who needed it

Er, I mean of course "not only wasn't the Governor's first priority...

[cricket]

. . .only heard this on tv/radio and was away and w/o computer access. . .soooooo; it was a 'phone call' but it was an interview with a radio station by which these comments are heard from Nagin. . .you did probably hear that interview snippet already. . .sorry for the confusion; and mine as well!

Just figured this out, when you asked the question and I checked 'google' for answer. . .and no doubt FR has it as well. . .and for sure. (of course, the entire interview is the ''Blame Bush' scenario. . .)

[DallasMike]

Fellow Freepers:

At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.

Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. We need help taking care of their pets, too.

If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you. Believe me, there are a lot of organizations who need your help.

Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I'm adding more every night. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas Tuesday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.

There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.

Many thanks,

Michael McCullough

Stingray blogsite

[johnb838]

They've already survived the storm, the flood, and the riot, why would they leave now?

[combat_boots]

"I think Blanco got a call from the DNC, telling her to "go easy" on maintaining civil order, because that would make the FEMA job harder, and therefore the relief efforts more difficult, which could be kicked back at Bush.

Not so hard to believe.

The more I see of Blanco, the more I believe she could not be THAT stupid,

The more i see of her, the EASIER it is to believe that she is that stupid."


Maybe that's where the money went. To keep her and her cronies quiet, and in the ranks.

[combat_boots]

"Drudge had this story as a red headline last night. Now it's gone from his page. What's the deal? Say what you will about Drudge, his site gets a lot of hits."

All of the NGB and active military are under a gag order about Katrina.

[TAdams8591]

I STRONGLY agree with your post ENTIRELY.

She should be charged CRIMINALLY for her actions (and lack there of). What a complete incompetent a**. It is mindboggling. Both comments apply to the mayor too.

I just wanted to let you know the information is getting out, but of course NOT in the lame stream media.

[Dante3]

All those buses sat while the Mayor waited for Greyhounds. Incredibly stupid.

It is so sad that so many died and people lost everything they had.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This is a federal system. There are vestiges of State's rights left in the country - at least when there aren't Clintons in the White House.

The scandal is not that the governor was able to block the movement of people in an emergency situation, the scandal is that Governor Blanco in fact did block the Red Cross from supplying people with food and water. And blankets.

And the really big scandal is that establishment journalism did not then, nor even now does not, ask the Red Cross where the relief supplies were.

The real scandal is that, with the connivance of the FCC, big journalism arrogantly proclaims its own objectivity. To do that is is to argue from the premise of superior virtue. And to do that is to engage in sophistry, which is an ironclad proof of lack of objectivity.

The real scandal is that the journalism establishment is stuffing the fecklessness of the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans down the memory hole before your very eyes, and fabricating a Republican "scandal" out of whole cloth. The real scandal is that "objective" journalism merged with the Democratic Party during the Vietnam War.

Cindy Sheehan, Rush Limbaugh, and CBS
August 22, 2005 | conservatism_IS_compassion

[GoLightly]

Except when the Governor declares a state of emergency, and specifically asks for the Feds to take over.

She never asked the Feds to "take over", never! LA statues spell out the powers given to the Governor after the Governor declares a state of emergency for the state. Start here:

http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=85667

BTW, there was more to Blanco's request than was shown in the press release you posted & it was a request for federal funds to be used by her state's agencies. See the rest of "Enclosure A":

ENCLOSURE A TO EMERGENCY REQUEST

Estimated requirements for other Federal agency programs:

• Department of Social Services (DSS): Opening (3) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby. Costs estimated at $500,000 per week for each in operation.

• Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH): Opening (3) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby. Costs estimated at $500,000 per week for each in operation.

• Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters. Costs estimated to range from $250,000-$500,000 to support (6) Shelter generator operations.

• Louisiana State Police (LSP): Costs to support evacuations - $300,000 for a non-direct landfall.

• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Costs to support evacuations - $200,000 for a non-direct landfall.

• Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD): Costs to support evacuations - $2,000,000 for a non-direct landfall.

Totals: $ 9,000,000

Estimated Requirements for assistance under the Stafford Act:

Coordination: $0

Technical and advisory assistance: $0

Debris removal: $0

Emergency protective measures: $ 9,000,000

Individuals and Households Program (IHP): $0

Distribution of emergency supplies: $0

Other (specify): $0

Totals: $ 9,000,000

Grand Total: $ 9,000,000

Unfortunately for the LA governor, there is a paper trail. On Aug. 27th, she specifically did just:

Unfortuately for the LA Governor, she screwed the pooch & she screwed it big time & it cost people their lives.

And Bush in turned authorized DHS and FEMA to take over:

You are seeing things that are not there. See The Stafford Act, section 501(a)

§ 5191. PROCEDURE FOR DECLARATION {Sec. 501}

Request and declaration

All requests for a declaration by the President that an emergency exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State. Such a request shall be based on a finding that the situation is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments and that Federal assistance is necessary. As a part of such request, and as a prerequisite to emergency assistance under this Act, the Governor shall take appropriate action under State law and direct execution of the State's emergency plan. The Governor shall furnish information describing the State and local efforts and resources which have been or will be used to alleviate the emergency, and will define the type and extent of Federal aid required. Based upon such Governor's request, the President may declare that an emergency exists.

The National Response Plan (NRP) fully mobilizes the resources of the entire federal government to support response and recovery efforts for state and local authorities - particularly in the event of a catastrophic incident. Secretary Chertoff has declared the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina an incident of national significance - the first-ever use of this designation.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050831-4.html

Watch for Blanco's requests supplementing her initial request, because the amount of aide ($$$) she requests for things like removal of debris will be on it.

[null and void]

In short: the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security BLOCKED THE RED CROSS from bringing desperately needed food, water, and supplies to the Superdome and the Convention Center. This was done to deliberately make conditions worse. Why? Because they wanted people to evacuate, and I guess they figured that if the people there had the luxury of, say, CLEAN WATER, they'd be less likely to leave. So they made a willful decision to starve and dehydrate the people in the Superdome so they'd be miserable enough to leave... or, if they were weak, miserable enough to die, as a few of them did.

And yet, when it came time to pass out $2000 cash cards, did they only distribute them to people who had been relocated???

Nooooooo!

The passed them out at the Superdome!!!