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CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE AND KATRINA?

By Larry Johnson on September 4, 2005 at 5:02 PM in Current Affairs

by
Larry C. Johnson

The provocative title is intentional. Why did the Bush Administration fail to act according to the National Response Plan they created in December of 2004 to deal with an incident like Katrina?
What do you do when the words on the paper don’t match the action in the field? People are dying today in New Orleans because of the failure to provide immediate aid are dead in part because of the negligence of Michael Chertoff. That is a harsh judgment, but if you will take time to read the National Response Plan that was signed into effect in December of 2004 there is no other reasonable conclusion.

The current effort by the Bush Administration to blame the victims in Louisiana and Mississippi is bad enough, but they are in big trouble once Americans take the time to understand that they the Administration ignored it’s own plan for dealing with a threat like Katrina. Why did they fail to implement the plan until it was too late to save lives along the Gulf Coast?

Don’t take my word for it, read the plan yourself. You can download it at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf

The National Response Plan was accepted and implemented by Bush Administration in December 2004. According to the PREFACE, President Bush, “directed the development of a new National Response Plan (NRP) to align Federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. . . .The end result is vastly improved coordination among Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations to help save lives and protect America’s communities by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management.”

Efforts by Chertoff and other Administration spinmeisters to pin the blame on the delayed response on State and local authorities does not hold water. Although the NRP recognizes that State and local authorities have a responsibility to ask for help, the NRP correctly provides a provision to take proactive steps to deal with a threat. On page 43 of the NRP the section is titled, “Proactive Federal Response to Catastrophic Events” (which I have copied and pasted below:

The NRP establishes policies, procedures, and mechanisms for proactive Federal response to catastrophic events. A catastrophic event is any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions. A catastrophic event could result in sustained national impacts over a prolonged period of time; almost immediately exceeds resources normally available to State, local, tribal, and private-sector authorities in the impacted area; and significantly interrupts governmental operations and emergency services to such an extent that national security could be threatened. All catastrophic events are Incidents of National Significance.

Implementation of Proactive Federal Response Protocols

Protocols for proactive Federal response are most likely to be implemented for catastrophic events involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive weapons of mass destruction, or large magnitude earthquakes or other natural or technological disasters in or near heavily populated areas.

Guiding Principles for Proactive Federal Response
Guiding principles for proactive Federal response include the following:
■ The primary mission is to save lives; protect critical infrastructure, property, and the environment; contain the event; and preserve national security.
■ Standard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of
catastrophic magnitude.
■ Identified Federal response resources will deploy and begin necessary operations as required to commence life-safety activities.
■ Notification and full coordination with States will occur, but the coordination process must not delay or impede the rapid deployment and use of critical resources. States are urged to notify and coordinate with local governments regarding a proactive Federal response.
■ State and local governments are encouraged to conduct collaborative planning with the Federal Government as a part of “steady-state” preparedness for catastrophic incidents.

Implementation Mechanisms for Proactive
Federal Response to Catastrophic Events
The NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement (described in the Catastrophic Incident Annex) addresses resource and procedural implications of catastrophic events to ensure the rapid and efficient delivery of resources and assets, including special teams, equipment, and supplies that provide critical lifesaving support and incident containment capabilities. These assets may be so specialized or costly that they are either not available or are in insufficient quantities in most localities.

The procedures outlined in the NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement are based on the following:
■ The pre-identification of Federal assets and capabilities;
■ The strategic location of pre-identified assets for rapid deployment; and
■ The use of pre-scripted mission assignments for Stafford Act declarations, or individual agency authority and funding, to expedite deployment upon notification by DHS (in accordance with procedures established in the NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement) of a potential catastrophic event.

Agencies responsible for these assets will keep DHS apprised, through the HSOC, of their ongoing status and location until the JFO is established. Upon arrival at the scene, Federal assets will coordinate with the Unified Command, the SFLEO, and the JFO (or its forward elements) when established. Demobilization processes, including full coordination with the JFO Coordination Group, are initiated either when the mission is completed or when it is determined the magnitude of the event does not warrant continued use of the asset.

While the Bush Administration is to be commended for coming up with a plan for dealing with terrorism and large scale disasters, it must be condemned for its abject failure to implement the NRP. And, specific heads must roll starting with Michael Chertoff and the head of FEMA.

  • renato_

    “…specific heads must roll starting with Michael Chertoff and the head of FEMA.”

    Oh Larry, where have you been the last 4 and a half years, living under a rock? The Bush regime always rewards the grossest examples of incompetence!

    Medals of Freedom for Chertoff and FEMA Director Brown!!!!

  • Toby V

    I think “Negligent Homocide” should be the charge against Chertoff, Brown and every worthless piece of shit who fucked this thing up. Arrest them and toss them in the Superdome for a week with no food or water surrounded by dead bodies and human waste. Then take them to GITMO for a year of torture. We torture cab drivers for no reason so why not these guys.

  • J

    Larry,

    ‘Every’ head of every agency who signed the NRP, also need to be held ‘criminally liable’. While Mr. Ridge may have boot scooted out of office ahead of Katrina, he is still a part of the federal blundering where all parties must be held ‘criminally accountable’ for the deaths of innocent Americans who depended upon them and their actions for their very lives. Bush and his department heads let the people down, in a criminal way!

  • Mr.Murder

    Larry, agreed.

    Make them face financial suits as well. So the lobby they got to deny such a project goes back to the collateral victims.

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  • J

    Larry,

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/

    MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, “The cavalry’s coming,” on a federal level, “The cavalry’s coming, the cavalry’s coming, the cavalry’s coming.” I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry’s still not here yet, but I’ve begun to hear the hoofs, and we’re almost a week out.

    Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA–we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, “Come get the fuel right away.” When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. “FEMA says don’t give you the fuel.” Yesterday–yesterday–FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, “No one is getting near these lines.” Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America–American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn’t be in this crisis.

    But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she’s done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street canal that the secretary didn’t foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.

    MR. RUSSERT: All right.

    MR. BROUSSARD: I’m telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees…

    MR. RUSSERT: All right.

    MR. BROUSSARD: …that have worked 24/7. They’re burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I’m in, emergency management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?” And he said, “Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you. Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday.” And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

    MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President…

    MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

    MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. While you gather yourself in your very emotional times, I understand, let me go to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

  • J

    Larry,

    With the large amount of loss of life, one would ‘think’ anyways that the Congress would ‘put off’ the Robertson hearings until New Orleans has had a chance to bury their dead. It’s the least the Congress could do, would you not think?

    Has Bush put the U.S. flag at half-staff yet to honor our fallen fellow citizens in New Orleans and the entire gulf coast? Will Bush declare a national day of mourning once the dead are buried?

  • lint

    Firing Chertoff and Brown will satisfy many people, but as long as the person who hired them in the first place (despite he perfectly knew that Brown had absolutely zero disaster relief experience) remains in office. The fact that Mr. Bush stalwartly and explicitly rejected foreign material aid which had been on offer for over 24 hours on Wednesday (e.g. medevac helicopters from Canada) speaks volumes. Most persons who died due to insufficient medevac capacities before Friday are victims not of Brown’s or Chertoff’s, but of Bushs incompetence.
    Of course, such aid would have to be handled by the State Department, whose head was busy playing tennis vs. Monica Seles on seid Wednesday, and found time to spend 3000$ on shoes before finally breaking off her holiday on Thursday (at which time Mr. Bush is believed to have relaxed playing golf).

    There is no law which forbids the President to play golf in a time of national crisis, but a president who does has to be impeached and punished with the full force of all applicable laws, lest such a disaster repeats itself in one or two years’ time. Crucial parts of the Bush administration, including Mr. Bush and “Condorella” Rice, are not fit to hold public office, and if this problem is not taken care of, the Katrina disaster will repeat itself over and over again. This country is at the mercy of a man of questionable sanity.

  • http://gadflying.blog.com xristim

    I’ve dubbed Mr. Bush “Chief of the Compassionate Conservative And Oh Yeah By The Way Conspicuously Caucasian Caucus”. Not even to augment the alliterative pattern could I bring myself to include that other “C” – “Competent”. But I would certainly be willing to add “Criminal” to the list.

  • beverins

    Yes, I think there should be criminal negligence charged against everyone involved. Start with Bush, work down to Chertoff and then to Brown. Fines for Blanco and Nagin.

  • beverins

    Sorry – I was mistaken. Criminal negligence for Bush, Chertoff and Brown is too good for them. They need to be charged with High Treason.

  • karin

    these people need the same financial aid that the government gave the rich white folk after 911-and they on top of that need to sue this administration for the deaths and the pain and suffering. periof. we also need to bloodlessly overthrow these people from govenment. people are dying here and are dying overseas. read on buzzflash how the government would not let walmart’s water into nola. that is disgusting.

  • delphine

    Not only did they not implement the plan, but those agencies who offered assistance (knowing they were part of the plan, like the Northern Command) were turned away. We responded with $200 million in the first 4 days, the Red Cross was there at the ready, everything these folks needed showed up in time. And they were turned away. Victims were suddenly perceived as a threat, and locked down, and when the “cavalry” came it was in the form of Nat’l Guard troops who expected riots and found only victims – but they were sent in carrying only rifles, no food or water.

    What is it about “people die when they don’t get water for four days” that these aholes didn’t understand.

    Chertoff finds out the latest update in his morning paper? Brown and Chertoff should have been awake for a week now, asking for 15 minute updates. Not sleeping, nor saying “we didn’t know”. It’s your job to know, f*ckwit.

    Step out of the way.

    James Lee Witt will likely save the day, without federal assistance.

    The worst is the photo op preznit’s visit suspended heli flights, Mrs. Shrub’s visit to the relo center resulted in 8 hours where the women’s showers were off limits, as well as the communications center. Phony rescue efforts, phony food/water assistance, and all of it disappears when they leave.

    Disgusting.

    Criminal not only negligence. They interfered with others who were trying to do the right thing. They continue to do so.

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  • http://aplantsman.blogspot.com plantsman

    Dear Larry,
    Thanks once again for staying on the case so doggedly, and bringing this exquistely pertinent document to light. I have observed your work gaining more currency in the world of those who follow winds of American politics, and I must say such acclaim is well deserved. I never voted for the plutocracy of depravedly indifferent dunces who currently control this country, and a part of me wants to howl and write at length of my dismay, but I am not eloquent or intelligent enough to touch the clarity of your dispatches.
    I will simply say that everything George Bush touches turns to (insert Anglo-Saxon expletive for feces). Everything. And five years of it is more than enough.

  • http://icantbelieveitsnotademocracy.blogs.com gmb

    The better punishment for these miscreants: give them a toothbrush and a rag and tell them to clean the superdome bathrooms and to not stop until they are sparkling.

  • John Kanca

    Larry

    Would you mind checking on that thing called the Constitution? Bush cannot send anything without being asked for aid by the Governor of a state. Should he simply do so without permission, he would be in violation of the Constitution. That might be a little thing, but some people think it is kind of important. Bush did ask to have permission to send aid on Friday, but was refused by Gov. Blanco.

  • John Kanca

    And one more thing. Wasn’t there a Mayor in New Orleans and wasn’t there a Governor in Louisiana? Didn’t they have an Emergency Plan? Didn’t that call for an evacuation in the event of a “catastrophic” hurricane (Level 3 or above)? Didn’t they have 96 hours of advance notice to enact it? Didn’t the Mayor have 600 buses which are now under water to evacuate people? Why didn’t the Governor mobilize the National Guard ahead of time? Why did it take pleading from Bush to evacuate the city?
    Inquiring minds want to know.
    Thanks!

  • John Kanca

    Please excuse my last comment, it was borne of pure knee jerk apologist idiocy. It has since come to my attention that Blanco and the local authorities in Louisiana have been begging the Bush administration for preventative measures and to not cut funding for levee and gulf coast infrastructure projects for several years. In addition, Blanco made no such refusal of FEMA or federal assistance (politicians never refuse assistance) and the Bush administration had made no such offer. I humbly apologize and promise to get my facts straight on occasion.

  • Gypsy

    I find that the more I hear about the incompetence demonstrated in the disaster response by the Bush administration, the madder I get. I feel as if I could explode and the reason is there are still so many people who refuse to admit that this administration is the worst in history. They have proved over and over that they do not care about the lives of our soldiers as demonstrated by the lack of planning in Iraq and now they don’t even value the lives and property of our citizens. They willfully gambled with their lives when they cut the funding for the levees in spite of being repeatedly warned of the urgency. Then even tho they knew last Saturday that this was a Class 5 storm, they did not order assets ready and to be headed for the area. Help did not really get there until yesterday and today in any significant amount. Many people died because of this ineptitude. I can not forgive that. We need the rest of the country to start being American’s first and Republicans second and wake up to facts. I can not handle any more people like Grover Norquist being apologist for the President. The Emperor has no clothes people.
    Thank you Larry Johnson for your courage to stand up to people who always try to destroy the messenger instead of telling the truth. Thank you for speaking for Valerie Plame and not letting that story die. Thank you for the courage to speak truth to power. Now we have got to force the people that we all know to confront the truth of this before we allow people who are delusional to destroy this country. And just in case you are tempted to forgive this, it has not only cost many unnecessary lives but the price tag will far exceed the money that was needed to protect the city with the levees. How do you square that with the Conservative Philosophy?
    There was certainly enough pork in the last appropriations bill. Why are we letting them spend our money that way? They are spending millions on bridges in Alaska, where there is a Republican senator, for a bridge that will benefit only 50 people. That is just one example of the 6,000 earmarks. And finally does anyone believe that these people were ignored because there was a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Mayor and a Democratic Senator and a lot of poor black people? Because it seems that way to me. It seems that Haley Barber is either snowing us to the job Bush has done for Mississippi or he got better service. I will let you decide what you think.
    I even heard Wolf Blitzer and John Breaux try to blame this on Clinton today. How can Clinton let them use him for political cover as they blame him for everything that has gone wrong in this administration? Come on Clinton, I need you to stand up for American’s, I have been standing up for the things you did right for years. And if the Democrats can’t get there stuff together then just give me General Clark on an independent ticket with someone like Russ Feingold because there sure aren’t too many who haven’t sold out to the Corporations with the Republicans. I am sick of voting for the lesser of two evils. Give us a Patriot and we would follow him. We need someone to bring this country together before this great experiment called democracy fails.

  • Libby

    Mr. Kanca,

    Maybe you missed this:

    Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana

    Office of the Press Secretary

    August 27, 2005

    The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

    The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

    Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

    Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-4600.

  • Tyrant

    Bush is only competent in filling his coffers and dismissing anyone who isn’t advantageous to him. So if the goal is to make a pay for play government, he’s been the most successful in history. What’s more shocking are the fools faced with a constant influx of facts, science, reasoning, spreadsheets, indictments, convictions, and blatant quid pro quo, that somehow still worship the man unquestioningly. I hereby dub them LEMMINGS.

  • http://www.reeglebeegle.com/ Dan Wright

    Chertoff is stating that the storm only gave them a day, perhaps a day and half’s notice, the National Weather Service indicated would hit New Orleans or the Gulf Coast and it would be a Category 4 or 5 – 3 full days beforehand.

    One of the things that keeps crossing my mind is the “unprecedented” tag of a federal disaster area before the storm’s winds were even hitting land. I’ve read up on it and it seems to me that the purpose of that tag is to give the local governments (state, county/parish, city ) the grounds to request federal aid – which they did and have been doing. Now Bush has the balls to blame them for his ineptitude. As Bill Maher said, “I wish for the quaint days of only 7 minutes of indecision”.

  • lint

    beverins: I’d rather have it the other way around. Mr. Bush is the one who cut the funding, therefore had NoLa waiting for disaster to happen. Brown and Chertoff were just following orders (in the time before Katrina). If the Bush problem is not being taken of, what on Earth could prevent him from appointing another close partisan friend who has not an ounce of experience in the field, just as Brown had, in Brown’s stead? The Bolton nomination shows that against all better advice, if Mr. Bush is willing to get his candidate the post, he will get his candidate the post. The Bush presidency is disaster waiting to happen. And we’re only hald through the hurricane season yet; current odds for another Katrina are placed at 42%!

    John Kanca: True, but it does not forbid the President from consulting with the head of FEMA and the MoD and whom else it may concern and set everything in motion so that it need not be driven all the way down from Wisconsin when the Governor’s request arrives. There’s no need to get governor approval for pre-positioning. And as for Mr. Bush being out of the picture due to Blanco’s appalling stubbornness to admit defeat my natural forces: he only would have needed to turn on CNN or FOX for half an hour. That’s how most of us here found out about the situation.
    The HomelandSec mobile hospital for 300 (IIRC) patients was turned back at the I-10 refugee camp. The stockpiles of firefighting equipment, generators, firefighter supply pods etc which were put into place for exactly such a situation remain untouched as far as I know. Especially the generators could have made a real change. But what caused probably the most unneccessary deaths were two things: one, there was no attempt to muster as many helicopters from the US, Canada and Mexico to airdrop food, water and first aid, insulin… kits. Two, the police were not ordered to try and confiscate as many weapons from stores as possible before the looting got fully underway. The Federal government is guilty of having botched the first thing, the State one is the party ultimately responsible for the second.

    The reports of aid shipments being turned back, sometimes at gunpoint, at the I-10 camp and the airport checkpoints/camps (where the people you hear about being ‘evacuated’ from NoLa are really dropped off in most cases, there to wait for unlabeled buses taking them to destinations that are only later revealed to them, or just to wait) and the reports of people fleeing on foot being turned back into the city at these checkpoints are too frequent to suggest merely isolated incidents. It is clear that the National Guardsmen nd police would not act like this if they had no orders to act like this. Thus, there is someone, somewhere, higher up on the chain of command and ‘control’ who wants every tidbit of the rescue/relief effort to be tightly controlled, despite all available evidence that this is causing considerable loss of life. My money is on the HomelandSec guys (including FEMA) who are a bit prone to control fetishism (it’s their job to be a bit paranoid after all).

  • Denise

    Shamed to tears. What the F..K were they thinking?

  • lint

    And if you have not already read it, check out Scientific American of Oct., 2001: “Drowning New Orleans” by Mark Fischetti. It is available (sans pictures) here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000. The most interesting image (which is not in the HTML version) shows the estimated damage by a Cat 4 hurricane which would push against the delta from the SW. As far as NoLa is concerned, it looks exactly like it does now, only there’s a bit more damage in the SW of course. And this was published about 4 years ago.

    But as we all know, in October 2001, this Government was busy watching Afghanistan’s women being liberated from wearing the burqa (which they incidentially still are being forced to do) and presuming to be after Mr. Bin Laden (of whom we have not heard for months, but should have after the London bombings according to his SOP. I guess he’s dead; at any rate, Washington seems to have given up all interest in him. When was the last time the guy behind 9-11 was even mentioned by Mr. Bush?)

  • Gypsy

    I find that the more I hear about the incompetence demonstrated in the disaster response by the Bush administration, the madder I get. I feel as if I could explode and the reason is there are still so many people who refuse to admit that this administration is the worst in history. They have proved over and over that they do not care about the lives of our soldiers as demonstrated by the lack of planning in Iraq and now they don’t even value the lives and property of our citizens. They willfully gambled with their lives when they cut the funding for the levees in spite of being repeatedly warned of the urgency. Then even tho they knew last Saturday that this was a Class 5 storm, they did not order assets ready and to be headed for the area. Help did not really get there until yesterday and today in any significant amount. Many people died because of this ineptitude. I can not forgive that. We need the rest of the country to start being American’s first and Republicans second and wake up to facts. I can not handle any more people like Grover Norquist being apologist for the President. The Emperor has no clothes people.
    Thank you Larry Johnson for your courage to stand up to people who always try to destroy the messenger instead of telling the truth. Thank you for speaking for Valerie Plame and not letting that story die. Thank you for the courage to speak truth to power. Now we have got to force the people that we all know to confront the truth of this before we allow people who are delusional to destroy this country. And just in case you are tempted to forgive this, it has not only cost many unnecessary lives but the price tag will far exceed the money that was needed to protect the city with the levees. How do you square that with the Conservative Philosophy?
    There was certainly enough pork in the last appropriations bill. Why are we letting them spend our money that way? They are spending millions on bridges in Alaska, where there is a Republican senator, for a bridge that will benefit only 50 people. That is just one example of the 6,000 earmarks. And finally does anyone believe that these people were ignored because there was a Democratic Governor, a Democratic Mayor and a Democratic Senator and a lot of poor black people? Because it seems that way to me. It seems that Haley Barber is either snowing us to the job Bush has done for Mississippi or he got better service. I will let you decide what you think.
    I even heard Wolf Blitzer and John Breaux try to blame this on Clinton today. How can Clinton let them use him for political cover as they blame him for everything that has gone wrong in this administration? Come on Clinton, I need you to stand up for American, I have been standing up for the things you did right for years. And if the Democrats can’t get there stuff together then just give me General Clark on an independent ticket with someone like Russ Feingold because there sure aren’t too many who haven’t sold out to the Corporations with the Republicans. I am sick of voting for the lesser of two evils. Give us a Patriot and we would follow him. We need someone to bring this country together.

  • Madrino

    Incompetence is not an excuse, nor should it be used to wait.
    No more spin, pleading ignorance or stupidity. This was an act of willfull neglegence of a well known action plan that has been completely documented and practiced as a catastrophy of a catagory 5 hurricane as late as last year. There is no time to waste as people’s memories fade. This must be persued as fast as possible. The guilty can be traced from the top down as there is already enough of a paper trail from the President receiving notice on August 28 from the Governor of Louisiana, to the State of Emergency declared by the President and the acknowledgement of FEMA before the hurricane struck that the worst case scenario was about to happen within 12 hours before the hurricane hit land. This is a criminal act from President, Chertoff and Brown and others associated with the decision making.

    Immediately afterwards, proceed with Impeachment proceedings, removal and criminal sentencing. It’s about time the people get tough on crime in high places.

  • RR

    Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for speaking truth to power once again.

    I’m so angry right now I can hardly see straight. My godfather lives in Gulfport, MS and I have no idea whether he is alive or not. This administration has failed us once again.

    Please, please, what can we do to make sure that this administration doesn’t shimmy out of taking responsibility for this?

  • zeus

    libby: I noticed orleans, jefferson and st.bernard parrishes weren’t on that fema list why?

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  • http://profile.typekey.com/brassylady/ brassylady

    All of the above is true including the anger and frustration that I, too, am feeling at the moment. We also need to address the fact the the winds weren’t even in full fury before a wallstreet frenzy raised the cost of oil to new heights. The New Orleans looters were pennyante compared to the wallstreet looters. How can you compare pairs of shoes and flat screen Tvs to billions of dollars stuffed into our president’s pocket along with all his billionaire friends? In addition to the misery lamented in prior blogs, we now have gas lines miles long, gas shortages and NO gas. Is this to keep the evacuees out of New Orleans? Many have lost everything and now they cannot even pay the cost of the gas to get home. What is the hidden agenda here with the turning away of precious water, the turning back of evacuees (we are not refugees after all–I do believe we are still in the United States although I am beginning to wonder if the US Bush led government is aware of that!)Unlike Wal-mart, Canada, Cuba and other governments as well as our own compassionate citizens who have responded with aid that never reached New Orleans, the corporate “cockroaches” upped the ante on misery instead of sending in gas and generators and lowering prices so that hundreds of thousands of evacuees could return to check on houses located in the dry areas of New Orleans. I think it is imperitive that a civilian citizen presence be kept in New Orleans via the French Quarter, Marigny and Bywater as well as the dry areas around St. Charles and Jackson. They have earned the right to stay if they want to. They should be supported, encouraged and enabled to stay and protect their houses and belongings. They should be encouraged and enabled to be participants in the rebuilding efforts of New Orleans. I fully agree that the electrical grid that makes up the Fr. Quarter could be repaired immediately and amenities restored with the exception of clean water. That is easily solvable by allowing any party with a load of water to enter and disperse it to the citizen residents.
    Why and what are FEMA and other members of the federal government afraid of by letting Quarterites and other residents stay in areas unaffected by the contaminated flood waters?
    Why the added burden of rising gas prices? Nothing that has been done in the aftermath of Katrina for the citizens of New Orleans makes sense.
    Everyone who knows anything about the ecology of South Louisiana knows that the pulling off of the oil and natural gas beneath the marshes have caused subsidence to the point that some of our levees were down to 4 feet below their normal levels–that New Orleans has subsided from about 3 feet below sea level to 5 to 8 feet in some areas. Is the corporate oil world trying to empty New Orleans so that it can be declared unhabitable and so have a free go at the reserves beneath these lands? How absurd! But I am almost paranoid enough to believe this considering the exhibited unusual behavior in the way this disaster has been treated starting with axing of funds set aside for the explicit purpose of increasing levee maintainence and repair. Funny–happened during an oil baron’s tenure as president! Have these corporations failed to understand the importance of New Orleans as a hub of commerce directly related to the well being of the entire United States? Or do they think that New Orleans with its “huddled masses” is expendable for a greater vision of their larceny? So many questions–

  • Wilson

    NORAD “stood down” on 9/11.

    FEMA “stood down” on Katrina.

    This was intentional.

    Yet another excuse to (a) “Blame The Bureaucracy” / to create momentum to “gut-like-a-fish” government checks-&-balances? (b) destroy government’s role [and expectations of New Deal government help]? (c) divide and conquer the civic body by reinforcing the worst images of the poorest?

    And don’t forget (d) profiteering? Halliburton just got another fat no-bid contract?

    America deserves Bush. Because Americans refuse to recognize the radical agenda of Neocons.

    Why do you hate America?

  • Rick

    We are so pitiful for sitting around blaming Bush. After all it’s our fault, not his. We can go through all the tragic effects of the Bush administrations policies, but that too now is a waste of time. It’s our fault because we allow it to continue. People seem to forget where we are and the rights we have. Our mission now is to help every person effected by this storm, make sure they are safe and healthy, and then it’s really time to go to work. I’m so frustrated that we have not begun to take this nation back. Is it such an impossible idea? Do we really feel that we need to wait for some legal process to ‘maybe’ remove the people now in charge? Does it seem barbaric or uncivilized to remove the cancer that’s infected us? Our numbers alone would deflate any need for violence because we ARE the majority. Remember that our country was designed in a way so that we could do just that. It’s easy to say that yet again Bush has failed us, but WE have failed ourselves. Afraid to stand up, shout loud, fill the entire area of Washington D.C. and march in step together to replace this administration with a more accurate description of how we want to be….because after all, we are represented now by an accurate description of how we are. The truth hurts and you may not want to believe it, because like myself you say …no, not me, I’m different…if that’s true, then it’s time to make it a reality.

  • max

    Larry,you should run for office.I don’t care which party,you would have my vote.

  • cranston snord

    You people make me sick with your disgusting hatred and vile. Call your proctologists… he just located your heads. Get a life already.

    TO CRANSTONSNORD:
    Let me see if I understand what passes for thought by you. Telling the truth and highlighting documents on the public record constitutes hatred and vile? Man, no wonder Bush loves guys like you.

  • http://www.Takeoverworld.info Gary

    STAND DOWN.
    Wilson is ABSOLUTELY right, I sent out an email about that as soon as I started reading about the disaster online.

    Worse, getyouracton.com has info about FEMA/Nat Guard not only standing down but BLOCKING aid from individuals, Coast Guard, Walmart, blocking people from going in with cars and trucks to rescue people, rescue boats being told to stop, etc.

    getyouracton.com collected money and got a $2600 van down to $1000 and then it was donated to them, to go in there to help people. They said that NOTHING is allowed in by official channels and that 40,000 to 50,000 may be dead according to unofficial estimates. TV news said over 10,000.

    The response will be the Hegelian Problem-Reaction-Solution ramp up of funding and power for FEMA, and Martial Law provisions, as if that was what was holding back help. The News is already trying to spin that. It’s not racism, it’s conditioning the public.

  • The Dude

    Criminal negligence should have been a word used by the 9/11 commission.

    Here is footage of 9/11 Commissioner Kerrey six days after the election, explaining that the commission agreed to silence itself:

    http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/impeach [quicktime]

    Mr. Johnson, I urge you to watch this and pay attention to the comments of Mr. Kerrey regarding the “oath” he took not to discuss the negligence of the President before November 2nd.

    The 9/11 Commission Capitulated.

  • Mr.Murder

    Kind of like the air war simulations of 9-11. Just procedural coincidence…

    Drink that kool aid!

    Err on the side of err!

    Looking at today (4.50 / 2) (#22)
    by MrMurder on Sep 02, 2005 — 01:44:05 PM EST

    George Bush was on his mountain bike, but he’s never been to the mountaintop(/Sharpton).The demand that people come to middle ground is not one to be made of Democrats. They’ve been there. Until you get a paper trail ballot and notarize each vote copy so cast to ensure valid recounts can be verified we’re all blowing smoke.

    Democrats have been on the middle ground. George Bush has neglected the wall to keep that ground safe from floodwaters. Others note that this week’s response shows how poorly FEMA and Homeland Security are being run by Republicans and the Bush/Cheney White House.

    Part of this reference includes how poorly things would go if the threat of a dirty bomb or nuke was enacted. George Bush also neglected the wall that could protect in the outing of Valerie Plame and the failure of his White House to limit the damage done to the CIA’s field assets.

    GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE NOW. He ignored 9-11 warnings, let Ashcroft cut terror funding in the runup. He repeats this method with levee maintenance and the FEMA assessments.

    We don’t have room for a ‘three strikes- yer out’ treatment of the smirky Ivy league Privilege. The third strike could very well be what ‘Ms.Yellowcake/Shopping spree/Failure of Imagination’ Condi used to make us fight the wrong war/place/time.

    People gave him a blank check after 9-11 and he bounced it. People gave him full support for hunting Osama and he went after a broken war-ravaged third world ghost of a threat sitting on an ocean of oil. People gave him carte blanche leniency setting up Homeland Security and reorganizing domestic crisis response the same way they let him overhaul INTEL after 9-11 that led to the Plame outing.

    He didn’t respect the wall for Lake Pontchartrain water just like he had no respect for the wall of Identity within the Intelligence Community once given the Patriot act powers to see through them.
    The remaining wall is the one holding up the enactment of martial law and a radioactive hue on some major American destination city’s fragments. There is no room for error here. Why err on the side of incompetence?

    George Bush has done so every stumbling step of the way.

    (originally posted @ TPM Cafe on a Wes Clark thread from his Table for One conversation on the 26th)

  • max

    You know what makes me sick Cranston.A bunch of dead bloated bodies of Americans floating in flood water.And knowing it could have been prevented makes me even sicker.

  • Rick

    For cranston-
    I’m currently searching for the disguting hatred and vile….I only see people stating the obvious to those who do not operate on blind faith. The disgust I have is for what I see as imcompetent actions that are negatively affecting the population. Try if you will to gleam this all over as simply hatred for a person or politics, but it’s much more complicated than you allow yourself to realize. ‘You people’ is an interesting way to address us though….considering the fact that this largely liberal area has the support of a conservative like myself.

  • J

    Larry,

    the june 3 2004 press release from IEM Inc where it stated it received a FEMA contract for developing catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for n.o. and sela. the IEM press release stated that among its team partners was Witt the former FEMA head. IEM Inc. apparently used Witt’s good name as a ‘buy in’ ploy to lock in the FEMA contract. it’s is very fishy that IEM Inc. press release was sent out ‘before’ the FEMA contract was actually awarded. also something even more fishy — once IEM Inc began the contract, they stopped using Witt’s name, and it appears that IEM Inc didn’t pay Witt any thing.

    Witt is now acting as ‘pro bono’ advisor for LA Gov. Blanco. Witt is doing a public service for the citizens of LA on his own dime!

  • mark

    cheney–where the hell is he? major disaster and he’s simply absent? makes no sense. no curiosity in the press…. shades of the politburo…

  • Mr.Murder

    RR my nephew’s guard unit is posted there.

    They’re at Long Beach Middle School distributing food and water.

    He called out but trying to call in is very difficult.
    His dad lives in the area, works there, but his number for call ins can’t even get an open line right now(he’s called out).

    Steve came up here for the storm, it wiped out what he had, his boss called back and had set up cots, think they’re doing some work with FEMA in addition to their job before.

    If I hear from him or can call in perhaps he can get me more information for you. His sister couldn’t call in today but talked to him the day previous.

    If you can call the middle school you may reach at least one level of authority that can help coordinate contact.

  • plunger

    Who does Chertoff really work for and what is the ultimate agenda?

    http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/02/310503.shtml

  • John Kanca

    Before you all have an opinion, would you please read this, and then remember that Bush offered a federal takeover of the hurricane relief efforts on Friday before the hurricane made landfall again and then once more on Tuesday. Gov. Blanco refused both times.

    This is federal law:

    Ҥ 5170. PROCEDURE FOR DECLARATION {Sec. 401}

    All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State. Such a request shall be based on a finding that the disaster is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments and that Federal assistance is necessary. As part of such request, and as a prerequisite to major disaster assistance under this Act, the Governor shall take appropriate response action under State law and direct execution of the State’s emergency plan. The Governor shall furnish information on the nature and amount of State and local resources which have been or will be committed to alleviating the results of the disaster, and shall certify that, for the current disaster, State and local government obligations and expenditures (of which State commitments must be a significant proportion) will comply with all applicable cost-sharing requirements of this Act. Based on the request of a Governor under this section, the President may declare under this Act that a major disaster or emergency exists.”

  • John Kanca

    Bush cannot send the military or FEMA into the US anywhere without the permission of the Governor of the state. He did not get that permission until Wednesday, and relief arrived on Friday. That’s a prety snappy response for the feds.
    And I ask- what would any of you have done differently as President, keeping in mind that you cannot fabricate law? Moving quicker is not an answer- you have to be specific.

  • John Kanca

    How many of you know what the Emergency Operations Plan for New Oleans is, and how many of you know that neither Nagin nor Blanco followed it at all? If you want a link for it (them) I have them.
    New Orleans was supposed to be evacuated as soon as the Category 3 hurricane formed in the Gulf. That’s what the plan says. That was on the Friday before it struck. Blanco was supposed to mobilize the LA. Guard. She did not.

    Nagin has at least 600 buses in New Orleans that could have been used to evacuate the poor under water right now. Neither Nagin nor Blanco was asking for an evacuation until Bush pleaded with them to do so on Saturday. All of this is a matter of recond.

  • Pingback: CatchingFlies

  • plunger

    John:

    The President cannot fabricate law?

    The President already DID fabricate law…it’s called the Patriot Act, and it provides for the President to do whatever the hell he wants to do whenever the hell he wants to, especially when a state of emergency has been declared.

    The President knew damn well that the National Guard was not up to the task, since he sent them and their equipment to fight an ILLEGAL war.

    The ONLY way that this emergency could possibly be responded to is by the activation of the efforts of the PENTAGON, with all of its considerable resources…which is what finally did occur on SATURDAY, after Jeraldo Rivera shamed the President into it on FOX News.

    Did the Mayor or the Governor have the authority to activate the US Military? Bush had that authority. Did he have to wait for someone to give him permission to send in the PENTAGON to solve the problem? NO!

    There is no “National Guard”

    That point has been proven.

  • John Kanca

    Excuse me, but I think that Congress was involved in the Patriot Act. it’s one thing to get all fired up, but do please argue from a factual basis. It is difficult to discuss a topic with someone who makes a confluence of several issues. Please again read the law as it is written.

    No National Guard? Please.

  • plunger

    A “confluence of several issues” defines the circumstances surrounding Bush’s failure, precisely.

    When one connects ALL of the dots, it becomes very clear that the resources which should have been employed to prevent this disaster to the extent possible, were unavailable.

    The levees failed due to Army Corps of Engineers funding being slashed, and repurposed to Iraq. The War in Iraq has had a direct impact on this disaster.

    To be specific, did the President not enjoy the full authority to send in the US military at any point he chose? You implied that it was not within his authority to activate the Pentagon. Do you still stand by that claim?

  • John Kanca

    “The levees failed due to Army Corps of Engineers funding being slashed, and repurposed to Iraq. The War in Iraq has had a direct impact on this disaster.”

    This is categorically false. Those levees were designed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, and this was a 5. The 17th st canal, which was one point of failure, had been recently upgraded.

    “To be specific, did the President not enjoy the full authority to send in the US military at any point he chose? You implied that it was not within his authority to activate the Pentagon. Do you still stand by that claim?”

    He can activate all he wants, but he cannot deploy the military to the United States without specific request from the Governor. It’s the law, and it’s right there for you. Twice he tried, and twice she refused.

  • John Kanca

    “When one connects ALL of the dots, it becomes very clear that the resources which should have been employed to prevent this disaster to the extent possible, were unavailable.”

    This is quite true. You really ought to spend just a little time readin the EOP as it exists and you’ll see that the local authorities fell flat on their faces. What can you tell me of what the Mayor and the Governor did right or wrong? Nothing, I’ll wager. You cannot let your hatred interfere with the facts. You’re free to hate Bush all you want, but this one is not going to stick.

    The city of San Francisco is prepared to fend for itself for the three days it would take the feds to arrive and begin their efforts in the event of an earthquake. That’s a plan.

  • plunger

    The President of the United States had the full authority to send in the military at any moment he chose. The Patriot Act provides for it. The President’s authority is clear.

    Martial Law was declared in portions of New Orleans on Tuesday.

    The Patriot Act provides for the President to do whatever he wants.

  • John Kanca

    That’s silly. It does not. The Patriot Act still requires judicial consent for about anything.

    Prove your contention. I have given you federal law, now it’s your turn. Let us all see where the Patriot Act gives the President all this freeom in a natural disaster.

  • plunger

    Judicial consent? For the President to send in the troops to save lives?

    Considering the stacked nature of the courts, and the scope of the disaster, how long do you think it would have taken for President Bush to get judicial consent to send in the troops five days ago?

    Get Real. Of course Bush had the authority to send in the troops whenever he gave the word. The entire nation was begging him to, praying for him to.

    Get real.

  • John Kanca

    “Judicial consent? For the President to send in the troops to save lives?”

    >> No, for action under the Patriot Act.

    “Considering the stacked nature of the courts, and the scope of the disaster, how long do you think it would have taken for President Bush to get judicial consent to send in the troops five days ago?”

    I don’t think they could have changed federal law in 5 days, of course not.

    “Get Real. Of course Bush had the authority to send in the troops whenever he gave the word. The entire nation was begging him to, praying for him to.”

    PROVE THIS. The President cannot send troops in without gubernatorial request any more than he could send troops to your house because you hate him. Hey, that gives me an idea… :-)

  • plunger

    This disaster represents a National Emergency. More than one state was devestated. A significant portion of our nation’s energy supply has been cut off. This is a Federal matter.

    It was not the National Guard that sent in the massive air lift operation. It was the Pentagon. No governor needed to approve that – and it didn’t need to take five days to start.

  • danoaudio

    here u go john……The Department of Homeland Security website sheds some light:

    “In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.”

  • True Patriot

    How about a nice wrongful death suit coming out of all this? Like, maybe, a jillion of them? This looks like the beginning of some massive legal action. Heh. Welcome to the court of public opinion, Bush Leaguers.

  • John Kanca

    “This disaster represents a National Emergency. More than one state was devestated. A significant portion of our nation’s energy supply has been cut off. This is a Federal matter.”

    The region was indeed declared a disaster area on Friday. That was done to facilitate the deployment of aid. It still has to be requested by the Governor.

    “It was not the National Guard that sent in the massive air lift operation. It was the Pentagon. No governor needed to approve that – and it didn’t need to take five days to start.”

    Right. It happened in two days- two days after Blanco approved it. You keep asserting things that are not based in fact. If you believe you are right, then please post the law citation for us.

  • danoaudio

    u can get the rest here…face it bushand his boys fuckedup and heads are gonna roll on this onehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/dhs-answers-the-question_b_6773.html

  • John Kanca

    “In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.”

    That’s fine, but show me where it says that the President can do this without state approval.

  • plunger

    On BBC: Northern Command was in position, before the hurricane hit, waiting for Presidential orders, that didn’t come, apparently until he returned to the WH on Thursday evening .It seems he only began to act on Thursday, after he got back from his fund-raising,cake-eating, guitar playing trip to California on Thursday. PAPERWORK NEEDED TO GET THE TROOPS EN ROUTE DIDN’T COME FROM WASHINGTON UNTIL LATE THURSDAY.

    NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you’ll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it’s search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×2059354

    (September 05, 2005 — 01:17 AM EDT // link // print)

    As noted, the Washington Post got burned today by a “senior Bush official” who told them that Gov. Blanco of Louisiana had never declared a state of emergency in the site — a claim the Post printed as fact. Yet the claim was demonstrably false and by late afternoon the Post had been compelled to print a correction.

    Monday’s Times, not surprisingly, confirms that the White House damage control operation is being run by Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett.

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006416

    In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove’s tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats.

    “The way that emergency operations act under the law is the responsibility and the power, the authority, to order an evacuation rests with state and local officials,” Mr. Chertoff said in his television interview. “The federal government comes in and supports those officials.”

    That line of argument was echoed throughout the day, in harsher language, by Republicans reflecting the White House line.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html

  • John Kanca

    “The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.”

    YES, and those same laws say that the President cannot act until he receives a request.

  • plunger

    So John, who do you work for?

    Contrary to the Rovian spin, Governor Blanco declared a state of emergency prior to Katrina making landfall.

    WaPo has run a correction,

    A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nellie-b/proclaiming-the-truth-abo_b_6854.html

  • Monica Crane

    Thank you for this info. I found this link at http://alternateworlds.blogspot.com/.
    Parents who do not provide the necessities of life are given jail time if found guilty. The government is the parent in disasters. Government officials who did not provide the necessities of life are criminally negligent and guilty of murder. As President Broussard said, Katrina caused damage and destruction but government officials caused murder.

  • John Kanca

    The commander of NorthCom is holding a briefing and he did say that the it was the consitutional prerogative of the Governors as to disposition of the aid.

    I think that everyone in Washington is sheltering the overt misconduct of the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of LA.

  • John Kanca

    “As President Broussard said, Katrina caused damage and destruction but government officials caused murder.”

    This is astounding. Do any of you at all think that local authorities had anything to do here in the face of a hurricane? Do any of you read the law? If a truck was bearing down on your child, would you rescue your child or would you scream for Washington and then blame them afterward?

    Nevermind, I know the answer.

    Ignorance is not knowing the laws. Resisting education is something else.

    KANCA.
    The difference between you and me is that I acknowledge that local and State authorities dropped the ball. You refuse to acknowledge or admit that Bush dropped the ball. However, as outlined in the National Response Plan there is a specific, proactive role for the Federal Government. They should not be sitting around with their thumb up their ass waiting for a Governor’s request. Bush not only ignored the NRP as did Chertoff and Brown, but he devoted his energies to traveling to California to make speeches and have his vacation.

  • John Kanca

    “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. Some officials in the state 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 does not have the authority to speak publicly.

    A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

    Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html

  • plunger

    “Ignorance is not knowing the laws. Resisting education is something else.”

    Actually, what we are resisting is re-education.

    For you to claim that laws prevented the President of the United States from saving lives is patently absurd.

    No governor needs to provide a request to activate the Pentagon. Only one man, the President, needs to do that, and no governor needs to request it.

    I suspect you’ll be in here promoting the party line all day, since you’re obviously on message and on the payroll.

  • John Kanca

    “KANCA.
    The difference between you and me is that I acknowledge that local and State authorities dropped the ball. You refuse to acknowledge or admit that Bush dropped the ball. However, as outlined in the National Response Plan there is a specific, proactive role for the Federal Government. They should not be sitting around with their thumb up their ass waiting for a Governor’s request. Bush not only ignored the NRP as did Chertoff and Brown, but he devoted his energies to traveling to California to make speeches and have his vacation. ”

    Please show us how it could have been done differently, within existing law. The aid was ready to go, but again, no troops can be sent in without state approval. The NRP says that assets shoudl be ready, and they were. It does not say that they can be deployed in violation of federal law at the whim of the President.

    KANCA:
    The Governor asked for help on Saturday, Bush declared a State of Emergency on Sunday, which was supposed to kick off the relief effort. It didn’t happen until four days later.
    Try these dates on for size:

    August 26, 2005
    Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today issued Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, declaring a state of emergency for the state Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat, carrying severe storms, high winds, and torrential rain that may cause flooding and damage to private property and public facilities, and threaten the safety and security of the citizens of the state of Louisiana The state of emergency extends from Friday, August 26, 2005, through Sunday, September 25, 2005, unless terminated sooner.

    August 27, 2005
    Today Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina.

    August 28, 2005
    President Bush has declared a state of emergency for the Gulf Coast state of Louisiana, as it braces for the expected onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, set to make landfall on Monday.

    Saturday’s emergency declaration authorizes federal officials to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and provide appropriate assistance in several Louisiana parishes.

    Hours earlier, Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi declared their own states of emergency in preparation for the storm, and evacuations of low-lying areas began.

  • John Kanca

    No amount of wishing it so makes anything so. The President does not activate the Pentagon. It is constantly actvated.

    Note: I give credit to Mr. Johnson for not editing the comments here as they do at the Huffington site.

  • plunger

    John:

    Apparently you missed my prior post about the lie published in the washington Post article, which you have just republished.

    Please acknowledge the false statement you just posted:

    WaPo has run a correction,

    A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.

    What is the law that prevented the Pentagon’s massive airlift operation from commencing at any time of the President’s choosing?

  • John Kanca

    I missed nothing. Earlier, I also noted that the President had declared the region a disaster area to facilitate delivery of federal aid.

    “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.”

    “Louisiana officials rejected the request”

    That has never changed.

  • John Kanca

    “What is the law that prevented the Pentagon’s massive airlift operation from commencing at any time of the President’s choosing?”

    Ҥ 5170. PROCEDURE FOR DECLARATION {Sec. 401}

    All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State. Such a request shall be based on a finding that the disaster is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments and that Federal assistance is necessary. As part of such request, and as a prerequisite to major disaster assistance under this Act, the Governor shall take appropriate response action under State law and direct execution of the State’s emergency plan. The Governor shall furnish information on the nature and amount of State and local resources which have been or will be committed to alleviating the results of the disaster, and shall certify that, for the current disaster, State and local government obligations and expenditures (of which State commitments must be a significant proportion) will comply with all applicable cost-sharing requirements of this Act. Based on the request of a Governor under this section, the President may declare under this Act that a major disaster or emergency exists.”

    “All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State.”

    Want the link?

  • Larry Dunbar

    Warfare in America
    So what is the bet going around that when you hear about gunfire and rescue efforts, what we really are talking about is warfare in America?
    Couldn’t some of the bad guys watch how America acts during a national disaster and wage a war appropriately. If you made an administration look bad enough, couldn’t you produce a change in that administration? The army of Jihad could infiltrate in just a few hours before a hurricane, find a secure zone and wait for the hurricane to hit. After the hurricane and under the camouflage of debris they could strike almost at will. They wouldn’t use their kinetic energy to create damage; they would use their resources to hinder the kinetic energy pouring in. The longer they delay the arrival of kinetic energy, help, the worst it would look for the administration that they want to dispose. Of course like the administration likes to say, who could imagine this happening? Let us hope our enemies couldn’t and our military can.
    Unless you didn’t want to change this administration, in that case they will find no terrorist in New Orleans. Sadly, it will also mean we are not winning in the Middle East, as if the price of gas wasn’t a good enough indication. It is the Middle East that our president final said was the reason we went to war, wasn’t it?

  • plunger

    So you do acknowledge that the washington post article you cited above contains a major factual inaccuracy (which you reposted despite knowing that it was false), and that the Governor actually did declare a State of Emergency on the Friday preceeding the arrival of Kristina – right?

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  • John Kanca

    I never argued that Blanco did or did not declare an emergency and I will not allow you to steer this discussion into that. I maintain that Blanco should have allowed the Feds to take over the effort on Friday as was offered by Bush. She should have accepted the federal offer on Tuesday when it was offered again. Even Nagin criticized her for waiting one more day to accept the aid.
    You cannot handcuff someone for days and then complain that they did not do something with their hands.

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  • John Kanca

    It is interesting that so many of you want the President to act in violation of the law and then at the same time you complain about the Patriot Act.

    Which way do you want it?

  • plunger

    Did the Governor of the state of Lousiana ever prevent the President from initiating the massive airlift of stranded individuals from the Convention Center or the Superdome?

    Be specific about this Pentagon airlift, as that is the only issue I’m talking about.

    What is the law that prevent the Pentagon from inititing this action?

  • John Kanca

    Nagin said slow response cost livesSunday, Sept. 4, 2005 7:57 p.m.
    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 you don’t, more people are going to die.”
    Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin
    said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he
    had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full
    day to decide.
    “It would have been great if we could have walked off
    Air Force One and told the world we had it all worked
    out,” Nagin said. “It didn’t happen, and more people
    died.”

    http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/

  • danoaudio

    come on john enough with the long lawyer talk cut and paste crap….if this administration cared…if they had their finger on the pulse…if they read a news paper or how about just watch the weather channel…we knew the storm was coming…we knew the situation with new orleans…something better could have been done…do you have a clue about new orleans…have you ever visited? do you know how poor this city is? this state? i guess all i want to wish, is that our government could have done a better job….just some better planning from a concerned administration…i guess they were just too busy too get around to it

  • plunger

    “It is interesting that so many of you want the President to act in violation of the law and then at the same time you complain about the Patriot Act.”

    Is this your acknowledgement that the Patriot Act does provide for the President to direct the Pentagon to act at his sole discretion, without the request of the Governor?

  • John Kanca

    Did you see the Governor worrying about it? Those levees were designed for a Category 3 storm for economic reasons. There was time for any number of people to make it better, but no one did and one cannot assign blame to any one person or administration. It was a collective effort. New Orleans had ducked many bullets in the past, but everyone knew this could happen, and no one wanted to fix it.

  • John Kanca

    “It is interesting that so many of you want the President to act in violation of the law and then at the same time you complain about the Patriot Act.”

    Is this your acknowledgement that the Patriot Act does provide for the President to direct the Pentagon to act at his sole discretion, without the request of the Governor?”

    Not a chance. I just note that you complain about it.

    BTW, I am not a lawyer and I am not a Republican. I am an independent.

  • plunger

    I’m an independent too, and I’m thinking independently.

    That’s why I ask questions that the Bush administration would rather avoid answering.

    explain this:

    http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/02/310503.shtml

    Whatever happened to the Carl Cameron four part series on Fox? Why was it pulled from their website?

    You seem to have the answers…let’s hear it.

    Tell us about the USS Liberty incident while you’re at it.

  • John Kanca

    Nice segue. I accept that diversion as a capitulation. ;-)

  • danoaudio

    yes…i saw MY governor near the breaking point with worry and concern…while i saw your president having to cut his 5 week vacation a little short to handle what i guess he thought was a inconvenience…come on..get passed the b.s. he should have done more….it’s his job…this has been a crime…homeland security doesn’t work…fema should not be lumped in with it

  • John Kanca

    OK, once more, Dan. Why didn’t the Governor let the Feds take over the efforts on Friday?

  • danoaudio

    ok, once more, john. your argueing paper work and b.s. this is not canned goods or tractor parts…these are people that need to be evacuated…to save their lives…paperwork can be by-passed…get the job done…this city and state did not have the resources to move that amount of people…so get the feds in there to help…if he can take our guard to send to iraq…he can get someone here to help us…and don’t tell me he doesn’t have proper request…

  • John Kanca

    Dan

    There were 600 buses to take the poor out of the city. That’s about 30,000 people on one run. Nagin was supposed to evcauate as soon as the hurricane formed and took aim at New Orleans. That’s in the EOP.

  • John Kanca

    And you didn’t answer my question! Why didn’t she let the feds take over on Friday?

  • John Kanca

    And Iraw is not a state of the US.

    Not yet. ;-)

  • John Kanca

    Iraq. I don’t type well.

  • lint

    All the above does not even touch the following:
    1) Simply contacting the governors in question on the phone with a formal follow-up would have been enough to pre-deploy relief technology.

    2) The levees were designed to withstand a Cat 3 only because the funding which was to upgrade them to withstand a Cat 5 had been slashed by Bush, with Chertoff and Brown consenting.

    3) It would have entirely been Federal resonsibility to notify the Army to hold back and prepare SAR helicopters. The Army deployed materiel out of the hurricane’s path without State consent being necessary, so they could have deployed helicopters from as far as California to the lee side of Katrina.

    4) SAR helicopters from Canada were on offer and could have been in the area by Wednesday at the very latest. But they were specifically rejected by Mr. Bush, and at any rate, Condorella went on holiday AFTER the levees broke and thus the State Department was de facto incapable of acting like it should have acted.

    5) FEMA’s job had been changed by Bush to be subordinated to Homeland Security. This detracted them from disaster relief work.

    6) The information presented in “Drowning New Orleans” and Times-Picayune’s “The Big One”, to name only the most well-known of the dire predictions that were circulated over and over again in 2001/2002, was technically available (or should have been) to everyone in the Federal government.

    danoaudio: Of course heads are gonna roll for this one. But I fear as long as Bush remains in office, we’re not gonna see those fired to be replaced with more capable individuals, nor the callous policy of shifting everything that even remotely fits the bill under the umbrella of “War Against Terror” (which has been quite a failure til now anyway, with the battallions of militant Islamists enjoying a popularity never seen before for the last 20 years) changed to something more sensible.

    Bush is hell-bent to pull his own personal pipedream through, and he’s willing to risk the lives of tens of thousands for it – and he has not even made any real progress towards his utopia.

    The USA has turned into a humbled, sick man to its friends, and into laughing stock to its enemies. And the next time Mr. Bolton wants to play hardball with Iran, you can be sure that President Ahmadinejad will rub his face in the Katrina failures – Iran does not care about Trent Lott or Pat Robertson considering criticism of the Federal government un-American; the Mullahs are very pleased to see the sorry state the Bush administration has bestowed upon this country. America is at its weakest position since 1812, and this time, the vultures are waiting to close in. No matter how one’s partisan preferences or political stance may be: to be bested by the Axis of Evil is not something that should be taken lightly, but we are closer to it than ever. Tehran is laughing at this country, and with all the troops (read: targets) barely holding Iraq together, there’s no way to show them into their place.

  • danoaudio

    come on down john…i don’t know here you got those numbers, but i guarantee there were not 600 hundred buses….i live off hwy. 90 and watched the caravan rolling thru…if the care or concern were there from this administation…i guess its my mistake thinking i had a government that would help at all cost, that would anticipate problems and needs and respond to them…..where the hell do i live?

  • John Kanca

    “2) The levees were designed to withstand a Cat 3 only because the funding which was to upgrade them to withstand a Cat 5 had been slashed by Bush, with Chertoff and Brown consenting.”

    So the risk only materialized when Bush became President? The levees were designed by Bush? Are you saying there was no risk of a Cat 3 or more hurricane striking New Orleans before 2005? Why were they built originally only to withstand a Cat 3? Bush?

    Good grief.

  • John Kanca

    come on down john…i don’t know here you got those numbers, but i guarantee there were not 600 hundred buses….

    NORTA had 364 and I can show a satellite image of 255 more schoolbuses right next to the highway.

  • John Kanca

    From a friend of mine who lives in Lafayette, LA.

    “Just a few facts for the federal government critics on this thread. Many many residents of New Orleans that had the means to evacuate simply DID NOT obey the mayor’s orders to evacuate and stayed. There were several faculty members from our dental school that certainly have the means of leaving but refused to do so. This combined with senseless crime in a city that is crime-ridden made the evacuation situation exponentially more difficult. In addition, many of us from Louisiana that were not afflicted by this storm were ready, willing and able to help out our New Orleans neighbors by bringing flat bottomed boats down I-10 to assist in rescue efforts as early as Tuesday, but the looting, shootings, rapes, and overall mayhem forced many many Louisiana citizens to abandon their good intentions. When those of you that continue to blame our federal government will STOP your analysis and listen to the facts for once……understand that the criminals that were running loose hampered rescue efforts in a HUGE WAY, PERIOD. Our local very capable ambulance service had vehicles and helicopters that were repeated fired upon by those “animals” in the streets of New Olreans. The city is full of lawlessness, drug addicts, criminals, and yes poverty. I’ve lived there and I’m guessing that many of you have not. These animals even fired shots at the Army Core of Engineer workers that were trying to fix the 17th Canal breech. Fortunately, the NOPD returned fire, killed 2, wounded 2 and captured one.

    So, if you must, go ahead and join the ranks of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, William Jefferson and that dumbass rapper in criticising our federal government. I wish that you’d leave and take Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Cher and all of those experts in Hollywood with you.”

  • John Kanca

    Hey, I gotta get some work done. See you later!

    Have a great day!

  • danoaudio

    very few school buses on the road…mostly tour buses from across the county, our school buses would not make the trip..believe me

  • danoaudio

    hey i’m just outside lafayette also

  • http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldoilboycott j

    This will be Bush’s downfall.

    The press will not let him get away with this. They will dog him until he is a neutered lame duck.

    But EVERY PERSON WHO THINKS BUSH SHOULD RESIGN NEEDS TO TELL HIM, AND EVERYONE ELSE, INCLUDING THEIR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS. WE MUST DO OUR PART – NOW.

  • Mr.Murder

    The combined three days before and fourd days after Bush did notta equals a week of negligence.

    Not a day, not a few hours, a week.

    What about the other States hit? Bush was specifically negligent in New Orlean’s instance and generally so overall.

    “The commander of NorthCom is holding a briefing and he did say that the it was the consitutional prerogative of the Governors as to disposition of the aid.

    I think that everyone in Washington is sheltering the overt misconduct of the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of LA.”

    Posted by: John Kanca | September 05, 2005

    Hey jackass JK where is the comparative discrepencies for different states?

    Bush didn’t act in Alabama or Mississippi either.

    The consistency of your claim is not showing when compared to other states.

  • Mr.Murder

    He had slow feet across the board, not just one instance, that America is currently aware of.

  • lint

    John Kanca re levees/Cat 3 vs Cat 5:

    You are correct. But it was in Bush’s presidency where the actual plan to do the strengthening of the levees was rejected by the Bush/Chertoffs precedessor/Browns precedessor (Brown was FEMA vice then) team.

    And the decade where hurricane seasons can be expected to arrive with record strength – the decade between 2000 and 2010, which can, due to the nice 30-or-so-years-cycle of hurricane season intensity, be calculated decades in advance – did fall in Bushs presidency.

    I don’t know; maybe somebody from NOAA didn’t tell FEMA and FEMA didn’t tell Bush, AND they didn’t read enough publicly available information. But that the odds of a Cat 5er striking NOLA were rather slim in the 1980s, and higher than ever before since Camille in the 2000s, had been known by thousands of people since the 1980s. any scientific paper wirtten on long-term developments of hurricane in the Gulf States used this periodicity.

    To have a single Cat 5 hurricane hit NOLA during the Reagan to Clinton eras would have been very improbable. To have one or more Cat 5s hit NOLA in the 2000s was virtually guaranteed. There is hardly any climate phenomenon that can be predicted with such a confidence as hurricane seasons.

    It can be predicted that the 2000s will see the most extreme hurricane seasons since Camille, and that the 2020s will probably – there might be a notable influence of global climate change by then – be nothing compared with it.

    Of course, one could roll up the whole climate change thing out again, but it is, intriguingly, not very appropriate here in fact: The periodic intensity fluctuations of the hurricane season have been one of the climate phenomenons that have been only affected very little.

    The point is that regardless who exactly would be POTUS in the 2000s, it would have been his task to see that these levees would be brought up to Cat 5 standards ASAP. The name of the president turned out to be George Walker Bush, and he failed in this task.

    (In fact, due to the continuing subsiding of NOLA, it would have been a waste of funds to strengthen the levees 10 years ago. Clinton may also be blamed, however, as he knew his GWB’s stance on environmental/climate issues and could in theory have allocated the needed funds just before leaving office. But he did provide funding for the studies that concluded that flood protection in the NOLA area had to be improved ASAP).

    re the Lafayette comment: Just applying the military SOP would have saved thousands:
    “If you can’t evacuate, resupply.”
    The number of people not having received supplies even as we speak may be several 10,000 – most of these, however, have died by now. Had every helicopter in the US that could have been spared, and any that were offered from abroads, been pressed into service for supply drops, most of them would still live. Bear in mind that a large part of NOLA is still not freely accessible.

    In such a situation, it is not people losing their heads who deserve the blame, but the decision makers. I can only explain it by an underestimation of the scope of the catastrophe that was only possible if one abstained from reading or watching the news, or ignored them. Every one of us could see that by Tuesday, tens of thousands would remain stranded til relief could actively advance to them, and by Wednesday, there was no possibility to do this because of widespread unrest.
    If the government has no possibility to calm down the situation, it has to make every effort to deal with it as it is, and that law and order would break down in the next 48 hours had to be assumed by Monday, when it was clear that the levees were failing: civil-war conditions always take 2 days to develop after such disasters, no matter where in the world (on day one, you hope for immediate rescue and have probably ample food and water. On day two, you see your stocks decline and realize that your survival is in your own hands, and it just lifts off from there).

    A policy of only providing care if the people comply with instructions of individuals who have not the faintest hint of an idea how conditions on the ground were is something we know of Mr. Kim Jong-il.
    I think those who foolishly stayed behind were punished sufficientlys by the events as they unfolded. To have them get stabbed in their backs by their own government is goes a bit too far – one should leave that to the armed thugs.

    And indeed – your Lafayette friend should go and tell his opinion to a person who is rescued from NOLA’s flooded areas e.g. tomorrow. His judgement is just as much based on third-hand testimony as ours. He may be right or we may be right, but ultimately it’s for NOLA’s survivors to decide.

    “We advise people that this city has been destroyed. It has been completely destroyed.” – NOPD Deputy Chief Riley, today

  • lint

    re the Lafayette comment: Just applying the military SOP would have saved thousands:
    “If you can’t evacuate, resupply.”
    The number of people not having received supplies even as we speak may be several 10,000 – most of these, however, have died by now. Had every helicopter in the US that could have been spared, and any that were offered from abroads, been pressed into service for supply drops, most of them would still live. Bear in mind that a large part of NOLA is still not freely accessible.

    In such a situation, it is not people losing their heads who deserve the blame, but the decision makers. I can only explain it by an underestimation of the scope of the catastrophe that was only possible if one abstained from reading or watching the news, or ignored them. Every one of us could see that by Tuesday, tens of thousands would remain stranded til relief could actively advance to them, and by Wednesday, there was no possibility to do this because of widespread unrest.
    If the government has no possibility to calm down the situation, it has to make every effort to deal with it as it is, and that law and order would break down in the next 48 hours had to be assumed by Monday, when it was clear that the levees were failing: civil-war conditions always take 2 days to develop after such disasters, no matter where in the world (on day one, you hope for immediate rescue and have probably ample food and water. On day two, you see your stocks decline and realize that your survival is in your own hands, and it just lifts off from there).

    A policy of only providing care if the people comply with instructions of individuals who have not the faintest hint of an idea how conditions on the ground were is something we know of Mr. Kim Jong-il.
    I think those who foolishly stayed behind were punished sufficientlys by the events as they unfolded. To have them get stabbed in their backs by their own government is goes a bit too far – one should leave that to the armed thugs.

    And indeed – your Lafayette friend should go and tell his opinion to a person who is rescued from NOLA’s flooded areas e.g. tomorrow. His judgement is just as much based on third-hand testimony as ours. He may be right or we may be right, but ultimately it’s for NOLA’s survivors to decide.

    “We advise people that this city has been destroyed. It has been completely destroyed.” – NOPD Deputy Chief Riley, today

  • plunger

    I see John never did accept the premise that NOBODY ever stood between President Bush and the ability to cave lives by sending in the resources of the Pentagon. There is no Governor in America who could prevent a President from using the military to save lives.

    There is no law that stood between the President and his trapped constituents who were drowning in their attics.

    D I S I N F O R M A T I O N

  • BroD

    I’d settle for for a criminal negligence plea bargain but I’m not sure there wasn’t calculated malice.

  • Mr.Murder

    Brod you’d surprised…

    Bush resorts to locker room talk all the time.

  • danoaudio

    thank you plunger…john just doesn’t seem to get it…

  • http://www.missionnotaccomplished.us understandinglife

    Yes, here is more than 70 comments and a call to action:

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104×4650516

    Specifically:

    Let me make this simple.

    I call on every Representative of us, the People of the United States of America, to demand Bush and Cheney resign on September 6, 2005.

    Any member of Congress not making that demand by tomorrow, irrespective of party, is a willful participant in aiding and abetting the two individuals who are responsible for the colossal destruction of the infrastructure of the United States of America.

    The culmination of their coordinated indifference and willful neglect of the protective infrastructure of New Orleans and the appropriate actions to protect the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, is now fully visible to all.

    The whole world is not merely watching, they’ve made it clear they know exactly who are responsible.

    We do not need to await leaked minutes or whistle blowers or any form of insider information. We have all the facts we need to demand the immediate resignation and subsequent retribution by Bush, Cheney and many of their minions.

    We The People … must demand our representatives act or they should resign, immediately as well.

    We The People … must insist ‘zero tolerance’ for any government official who does not meet their Constitutional duty to us, their employer. It is time to begin being citizens and hold those whom work for us fully accountable.

    I demand Bush and Cheney resign immediately. Who’s with me?

    Peace.

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  • Kanca Sore

    I swear to you that Bush got permission from the supreme court to torture “enemy combatants” from the Supreme court. The Patriot Act requires judicial consent to act, so it was perfectly legal whether or not they were guilty of any crime. Again I must apologize for my erroneous statement that Louisiana officials had rejected help from FEMA. Turns out the request is documented before the 26th.

  • lint

    At another note…

    Kofi Annan said on BBC now that ‘post-war’ Iraq has turned into a terrorist haven that makes Talibanistan looks tame.

    Also, the Iraqi Parliament is consulting on extending the death penalty to a number of offenses, some pretty vague. Civil rights in ‘liberated’ Iraq are almost down to the point at which they were under Saddam. Sure, everybody can start his own political party now, but a) most people are too busy simply surviving and b) most people who would do it regardless wouldn’t live too long to tell about it. It is depressing when Pat Robertson’s asinine assassination musings make more sense than official policy.

    The Air Force is pondering spraing NOLA with heavy-duty insecticides wo prevent a West Nile epidemic the likes of which the world has never seen before.

  • lint

    You want to know whose response has been exemplary?

    Rick Perry. I don’t agree at all with this man on politics, but as far as Katrina relief goes, I can only tip my hat to him. He acted quickly and thoroughly, and as his capacities are running out, he’s letting everyone know well in advance.

    Had every official acted like him, thousands and thousands would still be alive.
    Had Bush displayed this amount of foresight, NOLA would still be inhabitable.

  • lint

    Oh, just read on CNN that Rick Perry had been dispersing refugees from overstretched facilities to other States. Now FEMA has taken over, and guess what they did? They stopped the airlift to work out how they’re gonna deal with it. Talk about ‘seamless integration’; not even partisan politics apply, because politically, Perry and Brown are of one breed.

    It is noticeable that every time a federal agency takes over, progress grinds down to nothing for some time – time which we simply do not have.

    It’s easy to blame federal government per se, but it was not always like that. FEMA once was a capable agency, as far as these things go.

  • RickyDick

    There is an a message from a wacko named Tracinski going around. It blames our welfare state for everything.

    We’ve had a Repub Congress for 11 years, and Bush for five years. What have they contributed? The stifling of sex education and birth control.

    Wonder why we have so many poor on welfare? How about wide open borders that invite millions of poor illiterates, criminals and drugs for the poor – and TERRORISTS.

    That’s the direct fault of Bush and the Repug Congress, not anyone else. It’s treason.

    rdr

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  • TX2DTH

    Of all the disasters FEMA has handled why is NO the only area drawing controversy? New Orleans Emergency Preparedness should have been the first responders. They should have evacuated their citizens or provided safe shelter with ample sustenance. Under this plan, citizens should have been instructed to have 3-5 days of supplies per family member. The Fed’s handled this emergency OK considering the extent of the damage and number of states affected. Most of you people writng here just plain and simple hate Bush. This is the first natural disaster, ever, to be racist and blamed on a human.

    People want to blame Bush for cutting the budget for the Army Corps of Engineers claiming the cuts left New Orleans unprepared for a major storm. The Bush administration has granted the corps more funding than the previous administration over a similar period and Louisiana has received far more money for civil works projects than any other state. The funding was spent on pet construction projects, including a brand new $750 million canal lock in New Orleans unrelated to flood control.

    One reason anti-flooding measures failed to stop Katrina from inundating New Orleans is that some environmental groups successfully resisted new flood control projects. The Sierra Club and other groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi River levees because the plan would jeopardize Louisiana forests.

    “Save our Wetlands” successfully sued the corps of engineers three decades ago to stop construction on floodgates to block storm surges from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchatrain saying they were too damaging to the lake’s eco-system.

    It’s a natural disaster and no human is to blame, but it is worth investigating in an attempt to get a quicker more orderly response for future disasters/attacks. In the event of an attack or natural disaster, everyone has a responsibility. Local, state, federal governments, and individuals have a responsibility for to self. Monday night quaterbackers, I love you guys!

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  • http://www.franklet.com franklet

    I posted such an argument in my blog last week during the still ongoing lack of federal response.

    My question is this: you’re obviously in a position to do something about this. I mean this with all sincerity…

    Where is the suit? Where is the indictment? How much time do we need to file formal charges? Are you pursuing these possibilities into reality? I really respect and admire you for voicing the criminality of the administration’s snafu, now let’s all take the next step and make the case.

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  • Amanda

    I live in Alabama and I know our Governor spoke with the President and he had everything set up for us to have aid in case there was disaster from the hurricane. Louisiana’s Governor should have done the same thing, call the President and had everything set up. I do not completely understand why the President is to blame. Where was the Governor and what were they doing? If anyone knew how bad it could possibly be it was the Governor of that state not the president. Also there was talk about how bad it would be for years everyone in NO new about the levy situation. Also I do wonder where was FEMA since they were supposed to have been set up 3 days in advance. My biggest thing was how can you set up a mandatory evacuation but gave no way to get people out that did not have a way out. Like people without cars. Then they should pictures on the news of all the buses that could have been used to get people out of there. Anyway there were a few people who were asleep on the job but I do not think the majority of the blame should go to the President.

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