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 He's been called an idiot, an incompetent and worse. The vilification of federal disaster chief Michael Brown, emerging as chief scapegoat for whatever went wrong in the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, has ratcheted into the stratosphere. Democratic members of Congress are taking numbers to call for his head. "I would never have appointed such a person," said New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Let's bring in someone who is a professional," urged Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. A more visceral indictment came from closer to the calamity. Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish near New Orleans, said the bureaucracy "has...

This is the first time I have ever posted anything. If I did it incorrectly, I apologize. Nagin, Blanco, Nagin, Blanco – what the hell is the difference.; there are not enough people left in NO to reelect either one. I spent the last week trying to locate relatives 40 miles north of New Orleans. After a week of searching I am happy to report that they are well, thank God; although they are cooking their food on an open fire. Trees fallen into their homes, men out all day removing trees to open the roads. No help from FEMA,...

In the weeks before Hurricane Katrina, state emergency-planning directors repeatedly warned that the Bush administration’s post-September 11 focus on terrorism was seriously undercutting the federal government’s ability to respond to catastrophic hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for a broad investigation that would explore questions such as “How much time did the president spend dealing with this emerging crisis while he was on vacation

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

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...

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans with a double blow when it made landfall Aug. 29. First, storm surge waters from the east rapidly swamped St. Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans before the eye of the storm had passed the city around 9 a.m. Within hours, surge waters collapsed city canal floodwalls and began to “fill the bowl,” while top officials continued to operate for a full day under the mistaken belief that the danger had passed. --Snip-- Sometime Monday morning, the 17th Street canal levee burst when storm surge waters pressed against it and possibly topped it, Corps officials...

This site has photos of the Army Response. This photo and caption on the bottom right (last photo). National Guard multi-purpose utility truck brings supplies to the Super Dome in downtown New Orleans, La., on Aug 31, 2005. Tens of thousands of displaced citizens sought shelter at the dome, before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, but have been forced to evacuate as floodwaters continue to rise throughout the area. Department of Defense photo.

Bloated blowhard Michael Moore says George Bush is a racist and intentionally delayed Hurricane Katrina relief because he hates blacks. The remarkably wealthy and obese Moore, who makes more money during lunch than most Americans make in a month, refuses to take some of his scores of millions and mount a rescue and relief effort for the very blacks he claims to love and care for. Self-proclaimed scientist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., says Bush created Hurricane Katrina because he wouldn’t sign off on the Kyoto Accords. He fails to mention that the Accords came about during the Clinton years and...

The Red Cross has confirmed to Fox News Channel's Major Garrett that they had requested permission to take food and medical supplies to the Louisiana Superdome in the hours immediately after Hurricane Katrina's landfall. That request was denied by none other than Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.Garrett appeared on Hugh Hewitt's syndicated radio program this evening to discuss the shocking revelation.MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New...

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth: 1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying. 2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one. 3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born. 4.) There...

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...

If the human misery that followed Hurricane Katrina has been shocking and painful, the federal government's shifting explanations for its needless severity have been utterly shameful. That assessment is not part of some political, postdisaster "blame game," but an insistence that accountability for preparing for and responding to a major U.S. disaster be placed squarely where it belongs: the federal government and its emergency-response program, FEMA.

Blame Bush By Alan W. Dowd "The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina and because of neglected environmental policies." -German Environment Minister Jurgen Trittin "Watching helplessly from afar, many citizens wondered whether rescue operations were hampered because almost one-third of the men and women of the Louisiana National Guard, and an even higher percentage of the Mississippi National Guard, were 7,000 miles away, fighting in Iraq." -The New York Times "A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study...

"To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.” — novelist and New Orleans resident Anne Rice Let me get this straight. Ms. Rice, you live in (what was) a very attractive city which lies below sea...

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...

The hate Bush crowd wants to play the blame game. Ok, I’ll play. Since his ELECTION in 2000, they have blamed President Bush for EVERYTHING and anything that goes wrong not just in the US but in the world. They want so badly to impeach him it’s driving them crazy and they will go to any length including lie to do achieve that end. Each time, they hope this is the one to achieve their goal. Logic and common sense never occur to irrational people blinded by hate. As we all know and the Bush haters refuse to acknowledge, in...

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

I am stunned! MSM is starting to point in the right direction now. NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 6, 2005 — In New Orleans, those in peril and those in power have pointed the finger squarely at the federal government for the delayed relief effort. But experts say when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments — not the federal government — to respond. New Orleans' own comprehensive emergency plan raises the specter of "having large numbers of people … stranded" and promises "the city … will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate...