Free Republic

September 06, 2005 RALEIGH — There is a fetid stink in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and it’s not coming just from the fouled waters flooding New Orleans. It also wafts from the putrid reporting of the disaster by the mainstream media. From the moment Katrina made landfall the media focused on anything that could redound to the detriment of President Bush or inflame race and class tensions. Reporters and commentators ignored the dismal performance of New Orleans’ Democratic mayor and Louisiana’s Democratic governor, blaming every problem that arose on the Bush administration. Racial demagogues accused Bush and his administration...

Where to even begin in being one more idiot talking about Hurricane Katrina? I hate the subject. It should be a news item and a humanitarian cause --a huge recovery and reconstruction effort joined in by all. It should not a political issue fit for “commentary.” But the Hurricane tore at more than just the weaknesses in New Orleans’ inadequate levees. The shortcomings of the levee system were known to all who ever lived on the Gulf Coast, and in the end, all the levees really did was encourage expanded development in a huge geologic bowl sitting between a large...

The vultures of the venomous left are attacking on two fronts, first that the president didn't do what the incompetent mayor of New Orleans and the pouty governor of Louisiana should have done, and didn't, in the early hours after Katrina loosed the deluge on the city that care and good judgment forgot. Ray Nagin, the mayor, ordered a "mandatory" evacuation a day late, but kept the city's 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty...

Why do we always assign blame? Dennis Byrne Published September 5, 2005 ... The ease and earnestness with which people express the knee-jerk belief that one of the most destructive and powerful forces in nature could have been defeated "if only ..." belies a troubling level of ignorance or naivete. An "average" hurricane packs the energy of hundreds of atomic bombs. Or the equivalent of a half-year's supply of energy for the U.S. To suggest that all "they" have to do to beat such a force is to build a sea wall 10 feet higher is screwy. So is the...

Sept. 4, 2005 — Americans are broadly critical of government preparedness in the Hurricane Katrina disaster — but far fewer take George W. Bush personally to task for the problems, and public anger about the response is less widespread than some critics would suggest. Full Coverage: Katrina The Polling Unit: Archives In an event that clearly has gripped the nation — 91 percent of Americans are paying close attention — hopefulness far outweighs discontent about the slow-starting rescue. And as in so many politically charged issues in this country, partisanship holds great sway in views of the president's performance. The...

Views of Hurricane Response Yes No Federal government adequately prepared? 31% 67% State/local government adequately prepared? 24 75 Blame Bush? 44 55 Bush's Response to Katrina Approve Disapprove All 46% 47% Democrats 17 71 Independents 44 48 Republicans 74 22

Frustrated and grieving, Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday again ripped the painfully slow response of state and federal authorities to the plight of tens of thousands of stranded New Orleanians in the days following Hurricane Katrina, saying their inaction cost lives and caused needless misery. Nagin singled out Gov. Kathleen Blanco for criticism, saying that the governor had asked for 24 hours to think over a decision when time was a luxury that no one, especially refugees, had. “When the president and the governor got here, I said, 'Mr. President, Madame Governor, you two have to get in synch....

If I get this pasted go to the near bottom of the Washington Post article and see how K. Blanco thought it better to avoid Martial Law declared in her state than to save the lives of her people. and - she is advised by the law firm of Clintoon's ex, former director Witt in how to avoid a "takeover" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local officials. Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact. This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered – is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters. The founding fathers...

Who's Really to Blame for Katrina Chaos? Geoff Metcalf Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 Discontent is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will. – Ralph Waldo Emerson The tragedies of Hurricane Katrina continue, and help, aid and assistance are belatedly trickling into the devastated area. In addition to the ubiquitous visual images of flood-ravaged victims, two equally disturbing images supplement the graphic catastrophic images: We hear local authorities spin their complicity in problems with blame casting. We see assorted special-interest elements exploiting the natural disaster to further personal, professional and political agendas. Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently uttered...

Put a public school teacher in the governor's mansion and you'll have a pedagogue as the chief executive every time. It really doesn't matter how long she's in office, she'll always be a schoolmarm who's out of her element and in over her head—the Peter Principle epitomized. Unfortunately for the people of New Orleans, it took a crisis of cataclysmic proportions in which thousands of people suffered physical deprivation and emotional humiliation—and hundreds died before anyone realized that when you elect a follower as your leader, no one makes realistic plans for the crisis until a catastrophe occurs, and while...

In the coming weeks, when people in Greater Waterbury, Litchfield County and the rest of Connecticut and the country are pumping gasoline costing upward of $3 a gallon, they shouldn't curse Hurricane Katrina for disrupting the flow of oil. No, their epithets should be reserved for their elected representatives and for the feckless environmentalists who have put the nation in this petroleum predicament. Successions of Congresses and presidents, abetted by the greens, have created a national energy policy that puts pork ahead of people. They have blocked domestic energy exploration and development while consumers became more dependent upon foreign oil....

Saturday, September 03, 2005 Hurricane Katrina: Don’t Blame Bush for Local Corruption and Democrat Incompetence There has been a lot of criticism of President Bush for the handling of the New Orleans disaster and the alleged diversion of funds from the work on the levee, to the Iraq war. There’s only one problem with this argument, two actually. The representative of the Army Corps of Engineers has stated that the critical Levee work was completed, that it was up to designed specs. The problem is, those specs were for a class three hurricane, not a four or five. Secondly of...

Don't Blame Bush for Katrina Christopher Ruddy Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and other local officials. Yet, leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact. This fact, which needs to be repeated and remembered, is that in our country state and local government have...

As the crisis in New Orleans ebbs and civil order is restored we can begin to question the causes and assign blame. A considered look shows it to squarely rest on the shoulders of two men. Two men, not monsters or malevolent creatures from some alien planet. Just two men who have wives and children. Two men who love their pets and have neat lawns. Their names are John F. Kerry and Edward (Ted) Kennedy. They are senators from the state of Massachusettes. Rather than use their considerable influence to get the needed tax dollars to strenghten to a Cat...

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday. The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law....

In 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the southeastern Gulf Coast, killing hundreds and decimating towns throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. I don't recall anyone blaming Richard Nixon for the destruction and loss of life. In 1980, Mount St. Helens blew its top and consumed more than 60 people in and around the blast zone. No one blamed their deaths on Jimmy Carter. During the Clinton presidency, the Bay Area in California was hit with one of its worst earthquakes in 30 years. But no one blamed Bill Clinton when people died there. And now comes Hurricane Katrina. And somehow, George Bush...

I'm trying to picture a different aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction of New Orleans: one in which all residents were evacuated in advance, no lives were lost, order was perfectly maintained, emergency supplies were delivered and distributed in ample quantities with flawless precision, and everyone was pleased with how well the government performed. And you know what? I can't do it. These things are called disasters for a reason: They have terrible consequences, most unavoidable and some unforeseeable. When nature unleashes its fury, it leaves a mess no amount of human ingenuity can instantly dispel. The images of chaos and...

On CNN just now. New Orleans Mayor Nagin, apparantly stressed out, in interview segment, said he has been yelling at the President and the Governor, and for all he knows, the "CIA could wipe me out". (Paraphrase) Just now. Turning into a strange, macabre show now. Blame continues, spiraling out of control. Sad. It even raised CNN's eyebrows a bit.(5:57 p.m. Eastern/4:57 p.m. Central)