Hildabeast has already called for a "9/11 commission" type fed investigation.

Which is to say - a total whitewash and coverup.

But goddamnit, how the fuck is that Bush's fault then?

Don't be fatuous. The answer is obvious: Enron! with a side of Halliburton!

Thank you for the link. I could not agree more that the blame game should be somewhat muted, but those who actually know the law are far outweighed by those wanting to say the federal government is the one with deaths on their hands. Both the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans shoulder much of the blame, yet the MSM is running around forgetting how this country was even set up.

We didn't have our helmet on because all of us 'chickenhawks' were busy trying to help people instead of looking to be the sound bite of the day.

There's a saying that goes "A lie can circle the world before the truth has a chance to put its shoes on." Man is that ever true.

But I cannot figure out the thinking behind this phrase:

--------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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I don't get it. If the state had abdicated its authority to the feds, how in god's name could they think the feds would have blamed the state for any the fuck-ups? And why did they even think that way, if it was true? Did they actually sit around and say "Well, it's inevitible this will be an unbelievable goat rope from start to finish and that heads will roll no matter what happens. So let's stay in charge, so the feds won't be able to lay the blame on us."

HUH? Am I reading this wrong, or am I not familiar enough with how the bureaucratic mind works to understand their thinking?

One thing I keep seeing (and it's in the piece cited above) is people calling the Superdome a "shelter."

It wasn't. It was, according to the plan, a "refuge of last resort." Shelters are stocked and supplied, and ready to take in people. There were very, very few shelter spaces in New Orleans.

"The plan" in New Orleans and the rest of that part of Louisiana was that all of the people would evacuate. Everyone. The few who couldn't leave would go to the refuge, sit there until the storm passed, then leave immediately.

Yeah, that'll work.

Near as I can tell, the real source of pretty much all of last week's problems was that Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin are both incompetent morons.

Problem with that little excerpt is that Bush started leaning on Blanco on Friday night--as in Friday Sept. 2nd. It was apparent to everyone long before then that she and Nagin had completely screwed the pooch and the big boys needed to take over. They should have had this conversation as soon as the levy broke, not Friday night.

That's no excuse for Blanco to politicize the decision like that, and I'm certainly not defending the massive incompetence shown by state and local officials here, but it does suggest that the feds were unwilling to step up when they needed to--until the pressure turned on.

I believe the Friday referred to in the quote is Friday, August 26th.

i just saw this link, and i thought it was really funny

http://media.putfile.com/Kanye79

The media has desperately wanted to rip W- to limit his effectiveness, policies etc.
This was a pathetic reach but they knew all their usual MSM friends would be in sync, and it was perfect because it affected poor blacks and fed the meme of racist republicans to these uneducated ,poor folk.
I will say that W's christian attitude veers too often into weekness- he should have lit into the Guv and Mayor publicly after it became obvious the DEM/MSM machine would pin this on him.
He's too soft in alot of area's where he need's to lay it out in a tough way.

Lyle--I don't think so. The story was filed Saturday evening, Sept. 3, and published yesterday, the 4th. So when they say things like

About 42,000 people had been evacuated from the city by Saturday afternoon, with roughly the same number remaining, city officials said.

I think they are referring to Saturday the third, and when they say Friday they mean the second.

If you're right and it was the 26th of course I withdraw what I said, and double-dog-darn the NO/LA bureaucracy.

The funny thing is, this seems to be what all the lefty losers wanted him to do. I've been up to my ass in moonbats over on RWS and Iraqnow - and they cannot grasp that it was Blanco's job to deploy the Louisiana Gaurd (10,00 + troops including sappers and MPs - exactly what you want in this situation). They just keep screaming that Bush is the big kahuna so it's all his fault and we're all mean for picking on the widdle mayor and da weepy governor. They keep screaming that they pay taxes to the Federal Government and they demand action LAST WEEK, though how much tax you pay working at a hippie cafe selling tie-dyed T-shirts I don't know. I'm on track to pay over $50k to the Feds alone this year, and I just try to fantasize that it all goes to JDAMs.

The thing of which Friday they mean is kind of difficult, but then consider the other side of the point: if this really meant Friday 2 September, then it means that Blanco was still resisting letting the Feds take over two days after Nagin was swearing at Bush on TV for not having taken over.

Cirby, but that's the problem as you hit upon. Both the Superdome and the N.O. Civic Centers were designated as areas where those who did not evacuate or hear or see Nagin's press conference to convene and ride out the storm. Despite there being evidence such a hurricane could have destroyed the levees, those two places were still called upon to be centers for refugees.

The City of New Orleans did nothing that is proposed in their manual for a disaster. No food, water or medical supplies were in either place, yet they encouraged citizens to travel to both venues. No forceful evacuation was called for, again though there is no statute of law which would have made that possible, and there were people left by New Orleans and Louisiana to die in two areas designated as a temporary holding facility.

The incompetence of the planning both local and statewide far outweigh the federal response, regardless of what anyone sees the federal response as being. We will learn a great deal after this is all dealt with, but perhaps the greatest lesson is to have some sort of authority to supercede an acting mayor or governor. Doing either though will be against the Constitution so I do not know what the best solution is.

My understanding from the coverage at the time, was that Bush freed up federal funds for the Katrina devastation two days before landfall.

But Blanco's office apparently thought they had things well in hand. She did not avail herself of the blank check before her, which has to be some kind of incredible singularity.

After the shit hit the fan- Tuesday, I think? The Mayor of NO made his bullshit pleading begging speech on TV. The next image I saw was Blanco talking about how well things were going and that the people were being taken care of.

Then back to Shep Smith showing people stranded on a piece of highway with no food or water.

After that Blanco was incommunicado for a day or two. She just fucking disappeared.

It's unclear to me (and damn them for it) whether they mean the 26th of August or the 2nd of September.

I'm withholding judgment.

Nobody could have fully prepared for a storm like Katrina; this bitch was nature's Fat Man and Little Boy. But what these lib idiots can't seem to grasp is the simple fact that in a disaster, the local and state governments have to respond in SOME way until the feds can help. It seems that the city and state had very little in the way of any kind of plan, and after the worst damage hit, the Mayor showed no leadership of any kind. Bush is being blamed for the lack of any local response and for a failure of leadership on the state and city levels. That's dishonest and unfair.

One "leader" on television is calling for all of the displaced people to be given settlements similar to the 9-11 families. Although I put the blame squarely on the mayor and gov for the people in the shelter, and also for the infirm people unable to get out of their homes, I feel that a lot of the people now being saved by the helos are putting the Army in danger and should not be rewarded.Un fortunately I doubt if any one in NO will ever put any blame on their own government. Once again I think Bush is waiting too long to get the true message out.

Charlie and LauraW's points are good ones--if it was the 2nd, then Blanco was shoving federal help away at the same time everyone was bitching about it not being offered, including Naggin'.

Imago write a post about this at the Jawa Report.

You know what's odd?

The Houston Astrodome was ready to begin accepting evacuees on Wednesday.

Granted, we weren't lacking the electricity and water that the Superdome did.

But if - as it seems was decided - that NO intended to keep people locked up in the Superdome on a long-term basis (like, 3+ days), why didn't they have at least drinking water and MREs stashed away in safe places? Why not position at least one generator at higher ground? Why not have a couple of high-water vehicles on site for just such an occurence?

Houston had plans to use the Astrodome as an evacuation point. When that plan made its typical first contact with reality, it was obviously impacted. So the state and city thought on its feet and made allowances, for example, sending people to the GR Brown Convention Center, several miles away.

The reason they were able to was because they had the foundation of a followable plan. They didn't freeze up, like NO did. They had plenty of law enforcement on the job immediately, which NO lost when half its police force - the famous first responders - bugged out.

I see no evidence of such planning at the Superdome and their next-door Convention Center. This despite knowing well in advance (at least 25 years) that the flooding of the city was a likelihood.

It's becoming clear to me that if you want to get something done these days, you rely on Texas, the military, or Rudy Giuliani.

they then could have blamed everything on the locals

I think it's more likely that Blanco knew that, should the feds come in, they would have rightfully pointed out all of the fuck-ups made by state and local officials.

I think she turned down the offer hoping that things wouldn't get worse. If this is the case, it's the equivalent of a cover-up.

Steve in Houston:

The entire New Orleans "plan" relied on people leaving, with a few stragglers staying at the Superdome and a couple of other places until the storm passed, then those people would leave.

Of course, other than "get out," there was no apparent coordination wither *where* they should go, other than "not here."

I don't know how well my memory serves the chronology, but these are my recollections:

The state of emergency was declared by Bush well in advance of landfall, while Katrina was a cat3. I think that was 2 days prior, when it was just spotty national news.

It seems intuitive in hindsight that she'd get stronger out there on that warm water. But at that point (Friday or Saturday), only one weather service had predicted that she'd go to cat5.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, she had gone from cat3 to cat5 overnight; still swirling in the Gulf, but slowly moving approximately NNE and getting stronger all day long.

There were some National Guard troops and provisions stationed all around New Orleans.

Voluntary evacuation was well underway, but tourists were stranded because the airports were closed and all the rental cars were gone. People were partying like it was 1999.

There did not seem to be any concerted effort by the local authorities to assist those who had no means to travel, no buses, etc. assisting in evacuation.
It just seemed like everybody was hoping it wouldn't be so bad. The media kept showing all these completely unprepared people. People were told to go to the Super Dome. Illegal paraphernalia and weapons were seized before entry into the stadium, and filled up all the buckets, there was so much.
At the time it was assumed that the Super Dome had been provisioned; of course now we know it was not.

That was the extent of the municipal planning as it was reported that day. Go to the Super Dome.

I watched the coverage all day long and into the night; was exhausted on Monday morning at work.

Monday after Katrina passed, things seemed OK; looting had started. Then it was reported that the levee had broken and they were expecting the city to flood badly.

Again there was no apparent effort by the local authorities to get people out on a mass scale, and the lawlessness and growing violence may have been part of the reason why.

Here's my post on that "which Friday" thing.

OregonMuse:

It's a good thing "Sleepy" Tax-and-Gouge-Me wasn't there to run the show. Of course, being another Dem, he would have blamed GW and the feds, too.

I'm absolutely amazed "Sleepy Ted" hasn't been more of a disaster to Oregon than he has. But just wait till the new emission standards are in effect. Then we'll really have a disaster on our hands.

The mayor is sending the city officials (police, fire fighters, emergency workers) on vacation to Las Vegas.

If I remember correctly, I believe Giuliani sent his city officials on a cruise around the Greek Islands. And gambling money for Monte Carlo. After all, they were tired and needed a vacation. They had worked real, real hard for 6 days.

UN- FING- BELIEVABLE

OREGONMUSE: Incompetent, yes. Morons no. These are typical patronage lefties with no experience beyond buying the votes of the majority with the money taxed away from the wealthier minority. They are very good at doing what they do best. Raising taxes and buying votes.

Nobody seems to have mentioned it yet...but there are *5* rail lines intersecting in NOLA.

Amtrak DID get something going AFTER the storm hit, but did bupkis BEFORE the storm hit.

Mayor Moonbat should have been able to comandeer some local switching engines (every posrt city will have a switch yard somewhere nearby) and empty flatbeds or boxcars and have the local yard authority put together some evac trains.

CNN:

"Bush has put the black people in boxcars and is sending them to relocation camps!"

laura,

You're kidding, right?

Please tell me you're kidding.

What moron said that?

NO!! No, no. Just riffing off Tony's post above mine.

Oh, thank goodness.

Ah, I see now...

That's what they'd say, all right.

WARNING! BLATANT O/T ATTEMPT TO HIJACK A THREAD.

Y'know, I'm just getting sick of this shit.

Does anybody else out there ride a motorcycle? I ride a 1998 Yamaha Royal Star Tour Classic with about 11,000 miles on it, most of which I did in the Texas Hill Country. (Which I miss, because their you can ride a bike in cowboy boots and not feel funny.) Today I cruised along some rivers here in Central Ohio, and had a great time. I like my shaft drive, the enginineering bias towards low RPM torque, the attention to details like engine pulse and sound.

On my last vacation (in Aruba), I rented a Harley to get around. Same old air-cooled V-twin technology, but the sound was right for showing up at a chi-chi restaurant in shorts and fliplops. I loved it.

Are there any of you D&D dorks who get this?

Harley? That's that dude on "Lost", right?

Otherwise, since it doesn't involve a Vorpal Sword, I don't know what the hell you are talking about.

Michael--If I paid part of your life insurance, would you increase your coverage? I think your heirs and I could make a killing.

Michael--If I paid part of your life insurance, would you increase your coverage? I think your heirs and I could make a killing.

Well, no. I figured out a long time ago that my untimely demise would be a financial windfall for my family. So, I stopped wearing a helmut and just let the wind run through my hair.

Anybody got a problem with that?

Michael-- It's very unfeeling of you to mention the hair thing. The only way I could have the wind run through my hair would be to take off my shirt.

I almost bought a mint cherry red 1986 Fat Boy (no, not Oliver Willis, a Harley) for $6K about 12 years ago.

"I almost bought a mint cherry red 1986 Fat Boy..."

The Harley, or the dinette set.
The Harley, or the dinette set.

Damn, that is a toughie.

I was almost born a 6 foot blonde with huge knockers. So close, man.

I can't believe the simplicity of thought that people express by blaming the President, whether it had been Bush, Kerry, or even Gore, for even 10% of the preventable suffering that occurred as a result of Katrina.

Here is the order of blame that I see based on nothing but logic, common sense, and a general understanding of the basics of our system of federal, state, and local governments here in America...

(and many of these are not to say that anyone should have known better at the time, we're not clairvoyant us humans)

1. Building a city below sea level that borders the ocean in the first place.

2. Building a levee system to withstand only up to a cat 3 hurricane.

3. Louisiana legislative sessions repeatedly appropriating funds away from upgrading the levee systems, considered by many legislators to be "pork".

4. The city or New Orleans lacking an effective hurricane evacuation plan.

5. The Mayor of New Orleans not using the hundreds of city buses and school buses to bus out people for FREE. (this is why the issue of being poor is moot point) Those buses just sat there and got swallowed up by the water.

6. The Governor of Louisiana refusing the President's midnight request to federalize the National Guard on Friday.

Now there are other bits that fit in there somewhere, like the sheer bureaucracy involved at all levels of government... it's just the world we live in. And here are some other facts to think about. The National Guard, no matter who they're controlled by, have to wait for requests for help before going into action. This tradition may be revised in the wake of this new level of disaster, but that will take a LOT of new legislation... and it will be fought over by the states. You have to appreciate the importance of state's rights in America. People fought and died over state's rights. It's why the Governor of Louisiana didn't want to give up control of the National Guard initially. In a sense, as per my disclaimer above, she can't really be blamed for her reaction. Only now, after the fact, will we be re-evaluating how the government responds to disasters of this magnitude. But I'm sure that will be argued wildly by those opposed to too much government authority, such as those who oppose the Patriot Act. Such is our system, and yes, it's still the best there is.

Finally, though I could go on about more, FEMA's mandate, and you can look this up, is to ASSIST state and local governments. It was never designed, back in 1979, or even after 9/11, to TAKE OVER and be ultimately RESPONSIBLE FOR disaster relief. Throughout our short history, it's been the first responders that have been expected to provide the initial relief people need in disasters, such as the relief in the first few days of Katrina's aftermath that everyone is complaining about. Well guess where the first responder's are situated? In the middle of the city and outlying areas where the disaster occurs. So you see, the first responders were surrounded by water, without communications, having lost even their own homes and families. This is perhaps the ultimate reason that people are looking for, the place where the rubber meets the road.

Unfortunately, this was one of those disasters so large that even those who knew what COULD happen, couldn't do anything to prevent it. Just like if people knew that those planes would be hijacked and flown into the Towers and the Pentagon, there's nothing anyone really could have done. Or if someone knew that Oswald was sitting in that 6th floor window, or if someone knew an actor was going to shoot Lincoln in the balcony, and so on and so forth...

Knowing what COULD happen, the best we could have done was to evacuate, and the order was given, and 80% did. And even now, many of the rest still refuse to leave a city in ruins...