Ummmm. I'm confused. What did Americans do 250 years ago without the government holding our hands?
Posted on 08/27/2006 5:33:39 PM PDT by Graybeard58
The U.S. still isn't ready for another catastrophe such as last year's Hurricane Katrina, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said Saturday.
"Unfortunately our nation in many ways remains unprepared for major disasters, whether they be hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorist attacks," Landrieu said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address. "Too often federal agencies are slow to move and encumbered by red tape."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is "a shell" of what it was six years ago, "stripped of authority and denied resources," and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "has failed us," she said. "Much of the destruction from Katrina was the direct result of flawed, inadequate levees."
Aug. 29 is the one-year anniversary of Katrina, which caused more than $81 billion in damage and killed more than 1,800 people across the U.S. Gulf Coast. Landrieu's radio address refers to "past mistakes" of the Bush administration as Democrats try to wrest control of the U.S. Congress from Republicans in the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
"Many of us questioned the White House decision to cut funding for levees and flood control" before Katrina, Landrieu said. "We were told the money was needed instead for the president's priorities, which included homeland security. But what is homeland security without hometown safety?"
The government spends one-tenth of what it did 70 years ago for civil works as a percentage of gross domestic product, Landrieu said. "For too long, nationwide infrastructure has been ignored."
Sensitive to Democratic charges of incompetence and mismanagement, President George W. Bush plans a two-day visit to the region beginning Aug. 28 to offer hope and reaffirm federal help for the long haul. Thousands of people are still homeless or living in government trailers, debris remains piled high in some neighborhoods and services ranging from medical care to education aren't yet at pre-Katrina levels.
"Last year I made a simple pledge: The federal government would learn the lessons of Katrina, we would do what it takes, and we would stay as long as it takes," Republican Bush said today in his weekly radio address. "We will stay until the job is done."
A report this week by Democratic leaders said an estimated 11 percent of the money spent by Federal Emergency Management Agency, or about $2 billion, has been squandered because of waste, fraud or abuse. Just three of the 10 acute-care hospitals in New Orleans have re-opened and the only public hospital, Charity, remains closed. Fifty-six of 128 public schools in New Orleans are enrolling students this fall.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
OK, Landreau, what have YOU done to make sure Louisiana and its people are ready for a disaster. It is not mainly a federal problem. It is a personal, city, and state problem. If they are overwhelmed, then the feds can step in.
Doesn't Rush call her "Cute little baby fat?" LOL! I love that one.
The whole lesson of Katrina is that the Gubmint is NEVER ready to save everyone's butt - prepare yourself.
Florida has had to deal with Wilma, Dennis, Jeanne, Ivan, Frances, and Charley since 2004. I don't see Jeb Bush and the White Man sticking it to the minorities there. What gives?
The reality: Louisiana has corruption and incompetence equalled only by New Jersey, another Democrat state.
Hey Mary .. many of us are wondering what y'all did with the BILLIONS sent for the levee's before Katrina hit
"""A report this week by Democratic leaders said an estimated 11 percent of the money spent by Federal Emergency Management Agency, or about $2 billion, has been squandered because of waste, fraud or abuse"""
I assume these are the same democrats, who last year said " Damn the procedures! Its heartless to have to wade through the red tape of procedures while millions are in need". I wish they could get their story straight. (Or do they think I am one of their democrat followers, and cant remember as far back as last year?
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Sometimes known as "the fourth Dixie Chick."
At least the "Dixie Chicks" can sing sometimes.
Which is precisely why Republicans are going to turn out in record numbers this November and in 2008.
L
Shut up Mary. Your days are numbered and you know it.
No one is, that is why it is called a disaster! Duh!
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005460.php
September 17, 2005
Louisiana DHS Officials Under Indictment As Levees Broke
One of the events that any inquest into Hurricane Katrina and its devastation must explain why the state and local agencies did not follow their own emergency plans or put all their assets in the field. The response appeared sluggish and confused, and the emergency operations plans approved by the state and on which the federal government relied never got implemented.
Now the Los Angeles Times reports that several officials of the Louisiana state Department of Homeland Security had already been indicted on charges of misappropriation of government funds, waste, and mismanagement. FEMA had sent millions of dollars to Louisiana to help them prepare for an event like Katrina, but no one knows what happened to the cash:
Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste, mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck.
And federal auditors are still trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998. ...
For instance, a Nov. 30, 2004, report by Tonda L. Hadley, a director in the Denton field office, examined $40.5 million sent to the Louisiana agency, mostly for the Hazard Mitigation program. The report found that the state's emergency office did not have receipts to account for 97% of the $15.4 million it had awarded to subcontractors on 19 major projects.
Even in the notoriously corrupt government of Louisiana, having receipts for only three percent of government spending has to set a new record for opacity. Those undocumented expenditures will no doubt implicate the subcontractors in some sort of money-laundering scheme, especially if the investigation finds that little of the work got performed -- and based on the response to Katrina, that appears to be the case in general, if not in specifics.
More money got sent to Aegis Innovative Systems, a consultant firm that ate up most of $2.8 million in government grants for that purpose. Aegis, it turns out, is run by Michael Howard, a former Louisiana DHS official. More money went to buying LL Bean parkas, a Ford Crown Victoria, a junket to Germany for the DHS director, and so on. $10.7 million earmarked for buying up low-level property for condemnation and conversion to non-residential use wound up in the coffers of other government agencies and consultants.
It looks like the DHS officials in Louisiana wanted to prepare for a rainy day, but just not for the kind of rainy day that Katrina brought the Gulf Coast. The feds had already tried to clean house where the state couldn't or wouldn't, bringing indictments against the deputy director of hazard mitigation, Michael L. Brown (no relation to the former FEMA director) and Michael C. Appe, who led a team tasked with identifying abuses. Louisiana put the foxes in charge of the henhouse, it seems.
All of this shows that Louisiana left itself woefully unprepared for the catastrophic damage of Katrina. Small wonder that state and local officials reacted like deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck in the days before and after landfall. Funds that could have gone towards emergency preparedness, identificantion and abeyance of hazardous materials, and especially identifying fraud and abuse went elsewhere. Now Louisianans and New Orleans' evacuees must pay the price for the corruption and incompetence of not only their leadership but also their bureaucracy. Is it difficult to understand why more than half of the displaced have little desire to return?
Ummmm. I'm confused. What did Americans do 250 years ago without the government holding our hands?
Let me set the record straight, NOLA officials were the one's with the deer in the headlight paralysis. SWLA did a phenomenol job with Hurricane Rita. We aren't all stuck on stupid here.
I live in a tornado prone area. If one hits my house, as long as my life is spared, I am prepared. My house is fully insured and I have plans on where to live while I am rebuilding. If the tornado doesn't kill me I will survive without any government hand outs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.