Sure blame the local govt

[Iapetus999]

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 administration had sought control over National Guard units, normally under control of the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request, noting that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. State authorities suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who is an adviser and does not have the authority to speak publicly.

Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government.

I remember a time when "The buck Stops Here" was the motto of the President.
Too bad assigning blame is a better use of his radio address than reassuring all the suffering people that someday they would get their lives back in order.


I also noticed how Halliburton is being brought in to deal with reconstruction.
No wonder we haven't heard from Cheney...he's figuring out how to profit from all this.

[Bugaboo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

I also noticed how Halliburton is being brought in to deal with reconstruction.
No wonder we haven't heard from Cheney...he's figuring out how to profit from all this.

Well, Halliburton is experienced with war zones...this isn't much different. And as cruel as this sounds and I don't mean to be, there's going to be a lot of profit from this disaster. For example, Baton Rouge sold 500 houses in 2 days. I would say my own's state timber industry would benefit from the re-building but so much timber is tied up in red tape I don't know if that will happen. I think the whole situation is completely overwhelming. With other hurricanes the water goes in and then it goes out. This time it stayed and became muck...and it's still there. The city will have to be completely torn down and rebuilt. How can Bush say their lives will be back in order when it probably won't? And it's not just New Orleans...city upon city has been wiped out. They're starting all over trying to figure out what to do in the next hour or the next day. As horrible as it's been I'm confident the American people will overcome this. I'm focusing on what I can do to help and what kind of donations the people will need. They're going to need our help for a very long time.

[Piasabird]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Iapetus999, shame on you! Shame on YOU!

[Finelly]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

It's the Military, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.
It's the Military, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.
It's the Military, not the politicians that ensures our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
It's the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.
Wrong. It is the framers of the Constitution, who rebelled against military rule and were determined not to have military rule, who gave us the freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the civil rights guaranteed to us by law.
It is the PEOPLE who have ensured that those rights are preserved, with the help of the judiciary. A government by the people, and for the people, and OF the people, remember?
It is the PEOPLE who salute the flag, not just the military.
It is PEOPLE who serve - the military serve the military, but we all serve our nation.
And having a coffin draped by the flag is a nice privilege, but it does not imply that the deceased was a better person or citizen.

Now, as for who is to blame, the Director of Homeland Security has been lying his tushie off all week. CNN did a whole segment on the lies he is telling about preparedness, and planning. He claims that nobody had considered the impact of this type of hurricane and the destruction of the levvies - in fact, FEMA, the weather experts, and the officials of New Orleans have been predicting this for YEARS. DECADES. He claims that 10,000 people were rescued in 3 days - in fact, the number is closer to 4,800. He claims that it is too dangerous to allow the Red Cross into the city of New Orleans - The Red Cross deny that.
My guess is that there is enough blame to go around from local to state to federal, and back down again. But THIS Democrat thinks it is significant that it was the President of the United States who insisted that the evacuation order be a mandatory one, whereas the Gov. of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans wanted it to be voluntary. And that it is EQUALLY significant that the President of the United States appointed this yahoo to be head of Homeland Security......

[Democat]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Wrong. It is the framers of the Constitution, who rebelled against military rule and were determined not to have military rule, who gave us the freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the civil rights guaranteed to us by law.
It is the PEOPLE who have ensured that those rights are preserved, with the help of the judiciary. A government by the people, and for the people, and OF the people, remember?
It is the PEOPLE who salute the flag, not just the military.
It is PEOPLE who serve - the military serve the military, but we all serve our nation.
And having a coffin draped by the flag is a nice privilege, but it does not imply that the deceased was a better person or citizen.

Now, as for who is to blame, the Director of Homeland Security has been lying his tushie off all week. CNN did a whole segment on the lies he is telling about preparedness, and planning. He claims that nobody had considered the impact of this type of hurricane and the destruction of the levvies - in fact, FEMA, the weather experts, and the officials of New Orleans have been predicting this for YEARS. DECADES. He claims that 10,000 people were rescued in 3 days - in fact, the number is closer to 4,800. He claims that it is too dangerous to allow the Red Cross into the city of New Orleans - The Red Cross deny that.
My guess is that there is enough blame to go around from local to state to federal, and back down again. But THIS Democrat thinks it is significant that it was the President of the United States who insisted that the evacuation order be a mandatory one, whereas the Gov. of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans wanted it to be voluntary. And that it is EQUALLY significant that the President of the United States appointed this yahoo to be head of Homeland Security......

[Iapetus999]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Iapetus999, shame on you! Shame on YOU!

WTF those quotes are right off MSNBC.com.

AFA the Halliburton stuff I couldn't find any decent quotes about that so maybe I was rumour-mongering a little.

I don't feel like supporting a gov't that is responsible for over 2000 US fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan AND now may been able to prevent some of the 1000's of deaths in NO.

Since you support the Military so much...where were they this week??? I've heard plenty of stories of how all they did was lock down NO so no aid could get in.
The S will hit the fan big time over this.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Now, as for who is to blame, the Director of Homeland Security has been lying his tushie off all week. CNN did a whole segment on the lies he is telling about preparedness, and planning. He claims that nobody had considered the impact of this type of hurricane and the destruction of the levvies - in fact, FEMA, the weather experts, and the officials of New Orleans have been predicting this for YEARS. DECADES. He claims that 10,000 people were rescued in 3 days - in fact, the number is closer to 4,800. He claims that it is too dangerous to allow the Red Cross into the city of New Orleans - The Red Cross deny that.
My guess is that there is enough blame to go around from local to state to federal, and back down again. But THIS Democrat thinks it is significant that it was the President of the United States who insisted that the evacuation order be a mandatory one, whereas the Gov. of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans wanted it to be voluntary. And that it is EQUALLY significant that the President of the United States appointed this yahoo to be head of Homeland Security......

Hmm....some good stuff there

I was thinking about this over lunch...it almost doesn't matter who we blame....it's the people who have lost their homes and loved ones who will do the most appropriate finger pointing IMHO.

[Bugaboo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Since you support the Military so much...where were they this week??? I've heard plenty of stories of how all they did was lock down NO so no aid could get in.

There were National Guardsmen there before the storm and were there during the storm. We had the same problem as we did with 9-11...break down of communication. If they didn't think it was safe for the aid to get in than they may have very well saved those people's lives. Another thing I wonder about is why didn't they try to get more people out before the hurricane came in. There were pictures of bus yards full of buses that are now submerged in salt water. I guess hindsight truly is 20/20. I know I've learned an extremely valuable lesson. Be prepared to take care of yourself in a crisis without depending on the government. Now it's time to get these people taken care of.

[mamakimberly]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

it's the people who have lost their homes and loved ones who will do the most appropriate finger pointing IMHO.

The refugees I'm working with are not blaming anyone. They're just thankful they're alive and scared to death about starting over in a new city.

They don't have the emotional energy to spare to blame anyone. They're too busy trying to find food, clothing, and finances to keep going and keep their families together.

[Finelly]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

You know who else doesn't have the ability to blame right now? The babies that died of dehydration at the Convention Center. You know that place. The one that was on tv for three days in a row when the director of FEMA insisted he had no idea they were there and needed water.....

[Bugaboo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Let's go back to the beginning...why did the city officials tell people to go there if they had no plan on taking care of them for more than a day? I really don't understand what kind of plan the city had in place for taking care of their citizens. Sounds like they didn't have one.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

I believe that the local "plan" was to get everyone without transportation to a shelter....namely the Superdome.
And they did just that...for the people that wanted to go there.
I haven't heard of anyone who wasn't able to get there (before the storm) who wanted to.

[Finelly]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Plenty of people couldn't leave their neighborhoods.

[Bugaboo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

I believe that the local "plan" was to get everyone without transportation to a shelter....namely the Superdome.
And they did just that...for the people that wanted to go there.

And where did their plan go from there? They failed their own people. It begins at the beginning. They did not take care of their own.

Plenty of people couldn't leave their neighborhoods.

Again...they knew this...but they high-tailed it ouf of there didn't they? Where is the responsibilty in a community level? They're out on safe and higher ground where it's easier to point a finger away from their own responsibilty. How many city officials were there at the Superdome or the Convention Center? I think we can all bet the farm that the answer is a big ol' ZERO! They had a way out...they took it...and now are pointing fingers away from anyone but themselves...because damn...it's much easier blaming someone other than themselves.

[not2late]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

I think the local government shares some responsibility in this fiasco too.

According to this cbs.com article dated August 29, the mayor KNEW that at least 100,000 people were trapped in the city because they had no means of transportation. The Superdome was opened but the capacity is 9,000.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/27/national/main798725.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=HOME_798725

So I think it was a planning failure on the part of the local and state officials. They knew at leat 100, 000 people had no means of getting out. I think they also failed after the storm too in terms of not mobilizing the state police to help prevent the lootings and assaults.

I live about 3 miles north of a town called LaPlata. In 2002, a tornado hit LaPlata and took out the fire department, the police department, part of the hospital,part of the city hall, many businesses and many residences. Within 1 hour of that tornado,the state police and local police from many jurisdictions were there. Damaged store front s were secured and those areas were patrolled by the police. There was no looting, no murders, no rapes/assaults because the local government and state government acted promptly.

It took FEMA 2-3 days to get to LaPlata---which is about 40 miles south of FEMA headquarters in Washington, DC.

But what this diaster shows me is that you can't live your life relying on the government and hoping that the government will do X, Y, and Z for you or will rescue you.