Free Republic

*snip* The Katrina chapter expresses Bush's clear frustration with then-Governor Kathleen Blanco, who refused to federalize the National Guard for the incident. “I did not need the federalization of the Guard because that would've taken police powers away from the National Guard. And goodness knows, we needed that,” she said. Bush said on Oprah, “I said to the governor, give me the authority to send in federal troops. By law, the president cannot send federal troops to conduct law enforcement without a declaration of insurrection." An insurrection declaration would've given the military police powers. “He didn't discuss that with me....

A second lawsuit was filed Tuesday trying to overturn Gov. Kathleen Blanco's decision to postpone New Orleans' scheduled 2006 mayoral and City Council elections indefinitely. The first suit was filed Friday in state court in Baton Rouge. The second, filed in federal court by lawyer Justin Asher Zitler, says that Blanco's decision was "unconstitutional . . . arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable." It asks that the originally scheduled Feb. 4 primary and March 4 runoff elections be held no later than March 4 and March 25, respectively, meaning the winners could be inaugurated on schedule May 1, as provided in the...

A second lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon seeking to prevent Governor Blanco from delaying the New Orleans elections. Attorney Justin Zitler filed the suit on behalf of four local residents who contend that delaying the election violates their constitutional rights. Zitler’s suit maintains that with a number of changes that are allowed by law, the elections could go on as scheduled. There is no word yet on a hearing date for this suit; however a judge Tuesday set a hearing date for the original lawsuit filed. Judge William Morvant set the hearing date for December 23. Rob Couhig, who filed...

For the first time, Governor Kathleen Blanco has responded to those Hurricane Katrina e-mails and documents her office has turned over to Congress and the media. They detail, in some cases, minute-by-minute staff decisions, and some of those e-mails talk about how the governor should dress and ways to make her look more commanding. The governor was forceful Wednesday when addressing those documents and didn't mince words. Working with our colleagues in New Orleans, 9 News asked her about whether she was embarrassed at an apparent focus during a crisis on how to improve her image. She told us...

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco speaks at a Rebuilding and Recovery Conference in New Orleans, La. Thursday, Nov. 10 The message emanating from the first day of the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference: It’s time to pick up the pace, speak with one voice and get things done. Gov. Kathleen Blanco was the first to urge the 500 community leaders and planners gathered at the Marriott Hotel to think boldly, acknowledging that the state needs a solid master plan if it has any chance at building a vibrant, sustainable New Orleans region. But Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu took that message...

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco's plan to trim more than $500 million from the state budget through cuts and spending freezes got a chilly reception Monday from legislators, some of whom questioned whether certain programs were being unfairly targeted. But Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc said more cuts might be forthcoming as legislators try to close a $959 million deficit in the state general fund caused by a slowdown in tax collections since hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The cuts could end up going much deeper, as the official deficit projections don't include money that state agencies generate on...

Gov. Kathleen Blanco may be even less popular among lawmakers than she is among voters, and that's saying a lot. Ten weeks after Katrina slammed into the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, the Louisiana Legislature begins its first extraordinary session to deal with the disaster and its aftermath. Mississippi has already convened two special sessions. Don't blame our lawmakers for the tardy response; in each state the governor set the agenda and scheduled the session. It has been widely noted that Gov. Kathleen Blanco suffered a calamitous drop in public esteem since Katrina. It's hard to say she doesn't deserve...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Levee oversight, New Orleans schools and an array of divisive matters ... on the lengthy list of hurricane recovery topics included in a special legislative session called by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who had initially pegged it for limited emergency needs. Among the hot-button issues[:]...stronger statewide building codes, a revamp of the New Orleans school system that would take control of the city's failing schools ... and unified state oversight of the fractured system of levees that protect coastal areas, towns and New Orleans. Blanco didn't necessarily carve out a strict agenda for recovery and rebuilding...

1. Spending trillions on welfare leads to the “Great Society” “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...

There is a shot where Blanco is being set up several days ago for a TV interview, and her press secretary is helping her adjust her mic. They’re having a personal conversation, but the cameraman catches it!! In it, she kinda jokes to her press secretary something like “yeah, well I guess I really need to ask for troops,” and a couple more things she says. A bit later in hte segment she gets into a semi-argument with Miles O’Brien, and he’s pointedly asking her exactly WHEN she asked the President for troops.She gets frustrated and says she didn’t even...

Grew Up in the Projects, Fed Up with Democrats September 9, 2005 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Janet in Hampton, Virginia, we'll start with you today. Great to have you with us. CALLER: Rush? RUSH: Yes. CALLER: Yes. This is Janet. Listen, one thing I've been so angry about-- RUSH: Janet, hold it, you must do me a favor here. I have a little bit of a hearing problem on the phone this week for some reason. Would you slow down what you say a little bit so that I can understand? CALLER: All right. RUSH: Thanks. CALLER: I'm just so...

Paul Simpson, a political blogger who lives in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, La., said he and other locals are puzzled by the governor's refusal to let the federal government temporarily command the state's National Guard. "I thought it was as standard as sunshine in California that the governor would tell the president, 'You have the Guard.' I thought that was a given," Mr. Simpson said. "She absolutely has no clue." Critics have long derided Mrs. Blanco for her tendency to call for studies and special commissions to find solutions for the state's biggest problems. In 2003, the Shreveport...

Tensions color Bush, Blanco meeting Gov. Kathleen Blanco canceled a scheduled trip Monday to visit Louisiana evacuees in Houston shelters to stay in Baton Rouge to meet with President Bush. Blanco Communications Director Bob Mann said the governor did not learn about the Bush visit until early Monday morning. “We had no idea the president was coming,” Mann said. Tension between the Blanco and Bush administrations has surfaced in recent days as state and federal officials try to coordinate recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Blanco administration clearly wanted to express their irritation with the communication about...

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.

More than a million people were jolted out of their weekend routines and spent a tense, hot Saturday preparing for a surprising Hurricane Katrina, which curved unexpectedly toward the low-lying city and is expected to make landfall Monday morning. Katrina was expected to approach the area as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 145 mph, and it could build to a top-of-the-chart Category 5 storm, with winds of 155 mph or higher, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Saturday afternoon.