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Louisiana officials pushed back hard against the White House yesterday, sharply criticizing President Bush for offering a tentative and insufficient response to the obliteration of New Orleans and then trying to shift the blame to the state and local governments. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) accused Bush of failing to fund efforts to fortify the levee protecting New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit, and of failing to send troops, supplies and other assistance quickly enough in Katrina's aftermath. "Would the president please stop taking photo-ops, and please come and see what I'm trying to show him?" Landrieu asked on ABC's "This...

New Orleans' local newspaper, the Times-Picayune, is blasting President Bush for his handling of response to Hurricane Katrina, and is calling for heads to roll within his administration. "Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially," the paper states today in an open letter to Bush in its print edition.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina has been "inadequate," and said more aid, including police officers and firefighters, was en route to Louisiana. The Republican mayor, who usually treads carefully when it comes to commenting on the Bush administration, told reporters that the president himself was aware of the government's failings. "It would appear, and I think the president acknowledged, that the federal government's response has been inadequate," Bloomberg told reporters at City Hall. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said 150 police officers, plus support vehicles, were to leave for the region Monday, in...

Disasters happen. Two hundred and fifty years ago, on November 1, 1755, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, was flattened by an earthquake that killed thousands of its inhabitants. Like the hurricane that inundated New Orleans last week, the calamity inspired not only awe at the power of nature and sympathy for the helpless victims, but also all kinds of moral commentary. None was more profound than that of the French philosopher Voltaire. To Voltaire, the destruction of Lisbon was proof that we do not live "in the best of all possible worlds" - a philosophical position associated with Gottfried Leibniz, but...

Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened the president of the United States with physical violence on Sunday, saying that if he or any other government official criticizes New Orleans police for failing to keep civil order in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - "I might likely have to punch him - literally." "If one person criticizes [our sheriffs], or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," Landrieu railed on "ABC's "This...

Liberal Blame Game Has anyone else noticed that the news shows seem to only be blaming BUSH for everything? No one is asking why the New Orleans inhabitants acted like ANIMALS? The animals were looting and shooting at rescuers. Everyone seems to think that one can just snap there fingers and Government support is there. Does anyone really think that another US President would have done better? They did not mention that National Guard were rescuing people in immediate danger? The majority of the people at the Super Dome were not in danger of dieing. Brain dead news broadcasters know...

There’s been a lot of complaining this week, from the victims and from a lot of what Michelle Malkin calls “armchair first-responders”. Polipundit readers with experience have tried to explain how successful the actual effort has been, but the facts are competing against an entrenched desire to pursue a story which drives the emotions, and the emotions chosen by the media to build on, are anger and envy. Others try to avoid dwelling on the negatives, but are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the disaster. The first task, reaching people to get them out, was complicated by the destruction...

<p>NEW ORLEANS - Tens of thousands of people spent a fifth day awaiting evacuation from this ruined city, as Bush administration officials blamed state and local authorities for what leaders at all levels have called a failure of the country's emergency management. The White House dispatched 7,200 more troops to the area, bringing the total in the stricken region to more than 40,000 National Guard and active-duty soldiers.</p>

... add LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton to the list ... There were inadequate supplies, inadequate plumbing, and no porta-potties. There were conflicting instructions - go to the Superdome, don't go to the Superdome. In the end, the Superdome itself needed evacuation as conditions became intolerable. Emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars were not moved to higher ground before the hurricane hit. It is obvious the city had no plan other than telling people to drive out of the city. Homeland Security automatically grants authority for emergency management to the "lowest possible organizational...

Can anyone help with finding the statistics for how much money the city of New Orleans spends on Mardi Gras as opposed to disaster preparedness. I have been a freeper for some years now and this is my first vanity post. Please be kind!

A WORD ABOUT FINGER-POINTING: I'm not going to get into every outrageous thing every lefty has said since the New Orleans crisis began. They're too numerous, too unreasonable and besides, the left is really beyond the reach of facts now. snipThere may not be time to address the left's lies later. Led by Jesse Jackson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr and a slew of other major leftists who can't win political power the legal way, a larger than reasonable number of Americans have been sniffing revolutionary airs since the crisis started. They have tried to turn hurricane Katrina into a race...

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)

In the gambling art of poker, the cards are the cards. The art is the ability to bluff and to read other peoples “tell” and to suppress your own. A successful poker player has the proverbial poker face and the ability to read what other players give away. The analogy can be made to the Democrat party. They have a habit of yelling loud and long and slinging every type of salacious remark at both President Bush and Conservatives (particularly Conservative Christians), hoping to defame and control the spin cycle. The Democrat “tell” however is to call for Congressional hearings....

Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.

  Hmmm... Seems to me that thousands of people owe their lives to the competence and compassion of President Bush. Why Was New Orleans Evacuated?Power Line, MN - 2 hours ago... Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low ...   Looters Take To Streets; Martial Law DeclaredNew Orleans Channel.com, LA - Aug 30, 2005... Gov. Blanco said President George W. Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. ...   New Orleans Mayor Issues Evacuation...

-snip- Less than 24 hours later, the mayor found himself aboard Air Force One, face to face with the president at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. He repeated his criticisms, he said in an interview last night, and got a positive response from the president. "He said he was fully committed to getting us the resources we need," Nagin said in the stifling heat of the tattered Hyatt Regency hotel next door to the Louisiana Superdome. "I told him I knew we could work together, and he said he understood." In their two hours together, first aboard Air Force...

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that it was President Bush that had called and urged the state to order the evacuation. New Orleans orders evacuation Hurricane Katrina's winds nearly 175 mph Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 11:47 a.m. EDT (15:47 GMT) NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a state of emergency on Sunday and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city as Hurricane Katrina churned toward the city with maximum sustained winds of nearly 175 mph. All of Orleans Parish falls under the order except for necessary personnel in government, emergency and some other public...

WASHINGTON (AP) - At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims. They didn't strengthen the levees. They ceded the streets to marauding looters. They left dead bodies to rot or bloat. Thousands suffered or died for lack of water, food and hope. Who's at fault? There's plenty of blame to go around - the White House, Congress, federal agencies, local governments, police and even residents of the Gulf Coast who refused orders to evacuate. But all the finger-pointing misses the point: Politicians and the people they lead too often ignore danger signs until a crisis hits ...

To listen, scroll down to where it says Select your download and click on the Free button. Then scroll down and wait a few seconds until the file called nagin.mp3 shows up and download the file to listen. http://rapidshare.de/files/4632564/nagin.mp3.html