Posted on 09/18/2005 12:06:58 PM PDT by wagglebee
The primary villain in the Hurricane Katrina saga, of course, was Katrina herself. Yet the aftermath of the storm seems to have unleashed a pent-up fury among paint-by-numbers Bush-haters. The entire Democratic Party and its unofficial brain trust, it seems, have gotten in on the action.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi denounced President Bush as "oblivious" to the suffering of others. Her California Democrat colleague, Rep. Barbara Lee, was even more barbed. "If anyone ever doubted that there are two Americas," she huffed, "this disaster and our government's shameful response to it have made the division clear for all to see." Jim Wallis, editor of the evangelical Left magazine, Sojourners, put it this way: "Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster."
Purist libertarians, for whom central government is the fount of all evil, also were spinning a predictable narrative. Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger, for example, cited "the 70-year-old New Deal-Great Society" as the root cause of the destruction. He was apparently unable to explain how FDR or LBJ caused the great floods of 1900 and 1927.
Let's be straight about this. Nobody is suggesting leadership in Washington ought to be immune from public scrutiny. President Bush has said as much from the outset. Already, the political fallout has cost Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown his job. But the best place to start a search for an accountability breakdown should be at the local level, preferably among criminals and cops - in that order.
It is little secret that New Orleans has a large and nasty criminal class. The city's murder rate is about ten times the U.S. average. Only one in four murders results in a conviction, in large measure because witnesses fear retaliation or don't think their testimony is worth the effort. Keep in mind that on January 4, 2004, musician Ray Davies of The Kinks, taking an evening stroll in the French Quarter with a female companion, was shot (in the leg - he recovered quickly) after giving chase to a pair of purse-snatching holdup men. That's enough reason to walk softly in the Crescent City.
The criminal element acted up with a vengeance after the flooding forced tens of thousands of people into the city's downtown area. Hoodlums went on an orgy of robbery, burglary, assault, rape, arson, and yes, murder. Perhaps most egregiously, a number of them shot at police, firefighters and rescue helicopters.
It's tough enough to recruit police officers under such conditions. Making things tougher in the case of New Orleans is a residency requirement for cops (who have been known on occasion to flout the ordinance). Nor surprisingly, New Orleans has only a little over three police officers per 1,000 residents, a ratio less than half that for Washington, D.C.
The city does have its share of honest, dedicated cops, by now thoroughly exhausted. But it also has a higher portion of bad apples than most cities. Just how much higher was suggested by a segment of CBS's "60 Minutes," aired Sunday, September 11. During the course of the flood, New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass admitted that roughly a third of city's police force simply had walked off the job. And some of those who stayed joined the looters. In a program aired over a week earlier on MSNBC, Martin Savidge, reporting from a Wal-Mart in the process of being looted, interviewed police officers claiming to be arresting suspects, even as they were loading their own shopping carts with dry goods. How's that for abdication - and chutzpah?
Chief Compass knows his force has a major morale problem. He didn't mince words on the "60 Minutes" broadcast either, expressing regret he couldn't find a word in the dictionary more harsh than "coward" to describe those AWOL officers.
Meanwhile, let's put away the FEMA jokes for just a minute, and give a modest round of applause for the feds. In the week following the main levee's breach, the military and the Coast Guard managed to rescue more than 32,000 stranded civilians, many from rooftops by helicopter. The Army Corps of Engineers all but completely repaired levee breaches, and began pumping large quantities of water. Fact: Federal response time for Hurricane Katrina was faster, not slower, than for hurricanes Hugo (1989) or Andrew (1992), each a brutally destructive Category 5 storm in its own right.
It would be easy for President Bush to excoriate local failures. But wherever possible, he should stand tall with the rescuers. Let his enemies appear as inveterate complainers exploiting tragedy for political gain.
Carl F. Horowitz is director of the Organized Labor Accountability Project of the National Legal and Policy Center, located in Falls Church, Va.
Stolen NO cop cars in Houston, not a great endorsement of the NOPD.
Any police arrested yet in NO?
[Blame belongs on New Orleans criminals -- and cops]
But I repeat myself.
"...but I repeat myself."
Seriously, I have several suggestions for other words Eddie Compass could have used, but none that would have made it past CBS Program Practices.
....aaaaaaauuuuuuuuggggghhhh!!!!
:-D )))
And the libertarians are right. Just how is it that large criminal class can sustain itself without New Deal/Great Society help?
HA!
A better question is why haven't the MSM covered this? Except in very few instances it's all been Bush's fault. The media is disgusting.
Mayor Nagin will not allow recruitment of police officers out of Orleans Parish (hello) what are the stats in downtown NO. Jefferson Parish and Kenner would love to apply for those jobs but can't because Nagin wants the police to be from Orleans Parish only. Man, there are only just so many honest, moral, and strong men in NO.
Mayor Nagin will not allow recruitment of police officers out of Orleans Parish (hello) what are the stats in downtown NO. Jefferson Parish and Kenner would love to apply for those jobs but can't because Nagin wants the police to be from Orleans Parish only. Man, there are only just so many honest, moral, and strong men in NO.
Repetitively redundant?
The left practices "the best defense is a good offense". When they are uncovered, or in anticipation of being uncovered as in this case, they immediately divert attention from themselves to the opposition. That is always Bush and the Republicans. The MSM keeps the drum beat going hoping to sustain the lie. By the time the truth is known they ignore it and let the lingering accusations remain.
This time it will backfire as there are alternative sources of information putting the pressure on the MSM to perform or die. People are getting tired of the politics practiced my the minority.
The "It's Bush's Fault!" crowd is out and chanting "IBF!"
IBF!
UBF!
WE ALL BF!
FOR IBF!
Given that Mike Brown was wholly unqualified for the position,did he really do that bad of a job?
I love listening to Col. David Hunt he reminds me of Col. David Hackworth (Hack) long on insight short on BS. What you expect from Military Leaders. That the media refuses to assess the blame where it belongs is why they keep losing viewers, Readers of the Bird Cage Liners (LA Times, NY Times) etc. When you excuse any conduct even mayhem, Gang Rape of children, Murder you will get more of it. This is why you must have the means to defend yourself in public. The Police were outgunned and understaffed.
This disputes all of the 2nd Amendment nonsense you hear about from the Trust Fund, Red Diaper Doper Babies, and Moonbats on the left. A 2 year old was raped, and their throat slit by these Thugs. We need to bring back hangings our the electric chair.
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