Posted on 05/26/2006 9:21:17 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
I’ll be brief this time about Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. Due to stupidity and incompetence, he did not carry out the evacuation plan for his city. As a result, more than a thousand of his constituents died, and tens of thousands suffered personal disaster, and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard and the National Guard.
There was an established evacuation plan for Southern Louisiana, dated 1 January, 2004. Local and national media were incompetent in not reporting this plan and its details. The salient point was that the mandatory evacuation had to be called early, to get the people out. It specifically called for “public buses” to carry to safety those who “did not have access to private transportation.”
It was part of the duties of the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans to know this plan, and carry it out. Both failed miserably. Mayor Nagin evacuated to Baton Rouge, but he left public buses sitting in their parking lots, so both the buses and thousands of citizens were drowned where they were.
What was the result of Mayor Nagin’s deadly incompetence? Well, he was just reelected for a new term. Nagin is a mouthy fool who will fail in his new term as he did in the one just ending. But what does this say about the people and voters of New Orleans?
Consider your average third-world nation. They are mired in grinding poverty. Crime is commonplace. The governments tend to be kleptocracies. The only visible skills of the leaders of these countries are to make semi-literate justifications of their “policies” and to attack their opponents. The only difference between such leaders and Mayor Nagin is that it doesn’t seem that Nagin has been stealing money. Other than that, the match is perfect.
Why in the world did a majority of the voters in the City vote to reelect this incompetent buffoon? Well, it shows that in the view of the people of New Orleans, neither stupidity nor incompetence are disqualifying qualities in a potential civic “leader.”
Unfortunately, that leaves Nagin sitting astride the planning for the rebuilding of the City. Based on his prior, abysmal understanding, he will probably insist that the City be rebuilt as is, and where is, but with “better levees.” That only kicks the can down the road, and guarantees there will be another catastrophic flood there with more thousands killed. Another, inevitable Nagin legacy.
The City can be successfully rebuilt to withstand the worst of storms. See “The Hart-Miller Solution to the New Orleans Problem” I wrote more than a year ago. But understanding that engineering – the same thing that Galveston did privately after its horrendous death rate from a hurricane a century ago – is beyond Nagin’s capacity to understand, much less implement.
Perhaps returning this unintentional clown to the Mayor’s office was an aberration. That will be tested this fall, as Rep. William Jefferson seeks reelection as the Congressman representing primarily New Orleans. Apparently, federal prosecutors have him on tape accepting a $100,000 bribe, and found $90,000 of that in his home freezer, wrapped in tin foil. Jefferson claims he “did nothing wrong.” I’ve been around the barn a few times and never encountered the hiding of C-notes like that, except when the money was “hot” and the result of criminal activity.
Jefferson said the prosecutors were “trying to embarrass him.” No, they are trying to put him in jail, which they should do with all politicians who accept bribes. As an experienced lawyer, I conclude that Jefferson is shortly going to be convicted and sent to prison. That’s the same fate as Rep. Duke Cunningham of California. Perhaps Jefferson thinks he can play the race card and avoid conviction, despite evidence that is more solid on him than on Cunningham.
And old case comes to mind. Then-judge Alcee Hastings, now Congressman, beat the rap for taking a bribe for leniency to major drug dealers even though William Borders, the man who bribed him, was convicted. That’s Jefferson’s situation, now. The man who paid the bribe to him has pleaded guilty, yet he still claims he “did nothing wrong.”
So, what will it mean if the City reelects Rep. Jefferson? It’ll mean corruption is also not a disqualifier for public servants in the Big Easy. It’s not even necessary that candidates talk a good game. Jefferson, like Nagin, demonstrates himself to be a public fool, counting on his voters to share his foolishness and elect him nonetheless.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (who grew up in the corruption of Baltimore City politics) is trying to make “the culture of corruption” an issue against the Republicans in the November. Self-evidently the issue falls apart if the Democrats cannot dump their own corrupt candidates, like Rep. Jefferson.
I expect the Democrats will eighty-six Rep. Jefferson before the election. But, if he remains on the ballot, will the bone-headed voters of New Orleans will reward him with another term in Congress? If so, that’ll confirm the voters of the City are incapable of self-government with even the pretense of intelligence, competence, and honesty.
As H. L. Mencken wrote, “The American people get the government they deserve, good and hard.”
About the Author: John Armor still might be a candidate for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
I'm sure you know this, but the consulting engineer on the Galveston project was an eminent Army engineer, major general Robert.
He is best remembered today for the product of an avocation of his: Robert's Rules of Order.
He just applied engineering principles and current best practice to the problem of running an organization (or government). The book is still in print and is occasionally revised. The ownership and editorship remain with Robert's descendants.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I'm actually not sure that Nagin winning another term was a wrong thing. Not that I think he's great or anything, not by a longshot, but A. It seems to me he merely made some bad choices, but on the whole was...not good, but not disasterous. It was Blanco who was the true disaster, it seems to me. I mean, give me a day to think about it? WTF? B. Mitch Landrieu was most likely even worse, I know that's difficult to believe, but from what I've seen he was clearly the more liberal of the two candidates.
Yes, and of course that may be part of why you were not found dead in your attic by the 82nd Airborne. The sort of people that blundered into desperate straits in the city and required rescue aren't the sort that go to community meetings, are they?
There are some people in every city who are incapable or unwilling to take the least responsibility. Some lack intellect or motivation, some are mentally or physically ill, many have no grasp of cause and consequence.
As a society, we are ambivalent about where government stands with relation to this non-trivial group of people, who are incapble of living as responsible free men, but to whom government cannot simply assert a custodial relationship. It was these people, who cannot or will not fend for themselves, but whom we can't fend for without ACLU lawyers crawling up our collective nose, who made up the bulk of the nonevacuated problem citizens.
And anyone who thinks this social element is unique to one city, one state, or one race, ought to call the local PD and see if you can do a night shift ride-along. A cop in his career interacts with so many of this stratum that he may lose the ability to interact with normal free citizens.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
" The sort of people that blundered into desperate straits in the city and required rescue aren't the sort that go to community meetings, are they? "
Not true at all. You don't have a clue, so take your biased crap elsewhere.
.......And if the drivers of those buses had been on board them for a timely evacuation, lives would have been saved.......
Perhaps! But there was absolutely unnecessary for all those busses to continue to be parked lower than sea level, rather than having them moved to the higher ground areas within the city.
That's Nagin's fault, not Blanco
And for the below water level emergency pumps powered by electricity to be provided by flooded out electrical plants is just the ultimate in stupid engineering!
Remarkably applicable to Katrina. Or Louisiana politics. Or politics anywhere.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
So you would have rather had us elect Mr. Landrieu?
The person who was being pushed by the National Democrats? Who allowed them to run his election campaign?
The person who spent about $500,000 public dollars on his office and about another $500,000 public dollars on his home since being elected Lt. Governor?
Have you not ever heard of the Landrieu family before?
Nagin was the best choice by far of a very bad lot. It was not Bush's, Nagin's nor Blanco's responsibility to get the buses rolling. People are responsible for their own evacuation and EVERYBODY WHO WANTED TO GOT OUT IN ADVANCE OF THE STORM. There was time to WALK out to Baton Rouge.
The people who stayed (like Brinkley) stayed because they were ignorant and wanted to stay. They figured the storm would be like IVAN the year before and be another non-event.
FYI... The Louisiana Freepers picked Nagin over Landrieu.
Nagin is much more of a conservative than Landrieu is. The Landrieu family is much more corrupt.
Excellent point. So it's a containment strategy.
I recommend regular inspections.
Anyone who questions how Nagin got white/conservative support just doesn't understand how negative the reaction to the Landrieu name can be. That family is like the Clintons-On-The-Bayou.
Nagin has no political asperations beyond his current office. Mitch Landrieu, on the other hand, was recently dealt a career setback. Ponder that a bit, and you might eventually thank some New Orleans voters for throwing themselves on that grenade.
You're essentially correct - the Quarter, much of Uptown and the CBD did not flood (some roof damage and such, but those areas did not sit in flood water - perhaps some water over the floors in some downtown buildings). The Audubon Zoo and Aquarium have reopened. The St. Charles Avenue streetcars are not running yet; the overhead powerlines were damaged and are still being repaired.
The "Lower Ninth Ward" was a slum before the hurricane, and anyone who tours that area no can see that.
Many other areas of the city were badly damaged by flooding, but those aren't the "touristy" areas, anyway. The biggest problem is still housing for workers - many businesses that were not flooded or otherwise badly damaged are still having a tough time finding employees.
For example, some local fast-food joints still close around 4:00 p.m. Either they can't find enough workers for a third shift, or they can't afford that shift due to the bonuses they're still paying to the initial bunch of new hires from last September-October.
What does it say about the quality of mayoral candidates if Nagin is the BEST they can come up with?
"Anyone who questions how Nagin got white/conservative support just doesn't understand how negative the reaction to the Landrieu name can be. That family is like the Clintons-On-The-Bayou.
Nagin has no political asperations beyond his current office. Mitch Landrieu, on the other hand, was recently dealt a career setback. Ponder that a bit, and you might eventually thank some New Orleans voters for throwing themselves on that grenade."
Then that begs the question of what does it say about the quality of mayoral candidates if Nagin and Landrieu are the best they can come up with?
"Perhaps! But there was absolutely unnecessary for all those busses to continue to be parked lower than sea level, rather than having them moved to the higher ground areas within the city.
That's Nagin's fault, not Blanco "
It was a crying shame all those busses were flooded. But it's not Bush's, Blanco's or Nagin's fault.
They are a school board responsibility.
So agreed.
Sickening.
I am a female..65 yrs old... and I could have driven any bus loaded with evacuees. I agree with you..no need for a certified "bus" driver. What nonsense and lame excuses.
FEMA is NOT at fault....the fault lies with Nagin and Blanco. And now the nutcases are going to rebuild a city 12 feet below sea level that lies in a known hurricane zone??? Hello??? DUH!!!!!!
Of course they are incapable. Utterly so. Substitute any major Democrat stronghold (parasite nest, city) in the country for New Orleans and the results are inevitably going to be the same. Anecdotal examples are abundant, from Marion Barry in Dirty City, to John Street in Philly, to Coleman Young in Detroit - - good grief, I could go on forever. Camden, Houston.... In Boston, the Democrats once re-elected a dead man. (In fact, didn't the Democrats recently re-elect dead Senators in Colorado and New Jersey? Oh wait - - Carnahan is dead, but I think Lautenberg is still alive....).
The point is that America is at a tipping point and even though over the past 12 years, normal, traditional American families have prevailed in keeping America civilized, the fact that it's almost 50/50 scares the H out of me. Worse, the Republicans are looking and acting like they have overstayed their welcome.
I take this to mean that New Orleans cannot seem to repent of it's bad choices. Or maybe they just like corruption and incompetence.
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