What you say is true. Why do I have the sinking feeling that Congress will try to “solve” the problem by removing FEMA from DHS and making it bigger than ever?

Every military base is a model for such a camp.

This type of hand-up welfare is the best type of welfare. But it does require motivation and a desire to take your fate into your own hands. It would work for those who praise God that they are alive. It would not work for the losers who got all fussy when the AC in the public housing went out and nobody did enough for them in a timely fashion.

Of course, the ACLU would be right there protecting the rights and needs of child molesters, alcoholics and the drug addicted.

Last night I saw something on TV where one of the people testifying before the 9-11 commission said that it was a failure of imagination above all else. Isn’t that precisely what THIS was too? Chertoff said that no one saw it coming, well no one saw 9-11 coming either. Why do we pay for these imaginationless incompetent bureaucrats?

Here’s another thot that points to the true culprits what don’t value the lives of the poor, be they black, yellow, white or purple and certainly less important than the creepy crawlies and flora that live in the surrounding wetlands. Yes, I’m talking about the Greenies that filed suit back in the late 70’s to prevent NO from implementing Force 5 protection.

Michael P. Tremoglie has written a series called “Compassionate Liberalism – Environmentalists Partly Responsible for Flood”.

Certainly puts lie to the notion that it’s all POTUS’ fault (be it Clinton or Bush), but definitely from unelected lobbyist who presume to know better than us lowly unedumacated peopjns.

Start with this link:
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/t/tremoglie/2005/tremoglie090805.htm

I see now that estimates for NO have shot up to 300 billion USD. Seems to me that simply giving every adult $50K (50K X 1 million people = 50 Billion) to rebuild their lives would go a lot farther than throwing good money after bad.

To wit, I saw John Edwards, aka ‘BreckBoy’ solemnly declaring yesterday that Bush’s decision to suspend Davis-Bacon act was a serious mistake! What? So unions and other high-priced vultures can get a piece of the action and shorten our tax-dollars’ reach?

Anyhoo, I’m out. Til next time. Cheers.

The AP Wire reports that Michael Brown, whom Dubya needlessly praised several days ago, has now been more appropriately given the sack for his failures in dealing with hurricane Katrina

You have a basic misunderstanding of federalism. The governor asked the president to declare the area a disaster zone, which he did well before the hurricane hit. And, the President contacted the governor to have her take that action.

Both the governor and the President acted appropriately. The governor requested that federal help be made available. The President authorized it. That is what the letter you have linked to is all about. Nothing more. The governor did not cede any of her authority to the federal government.

However, under federalism, the governor remained in total control (except for the coast which is under the control of the Coast Guard.) It was up to the governor to make specific requests. When she wanted national guard, she got them immediately. When she authorized FEMA and the Red Cross to distribute aid, it was immediately delivered. However, she blocked distribution of water, food and hygiene kits because she did not want the Convention Center, the interstate overpass and the Superdome to become magnets where more desperate people would be drawn. That is a judgment call that bears scrutiny.

Governor Blanco dawdled twice for 24 hours while help sat idle waiting for her to make decisions. This did not occur in Mississippi and Alabama where the governors were not fighting with their mayors and protecting their turf. Unfortunately, all this took place on national TV because the media has pretty much ignored the less famous places where the devastation was much worse.

Somehow, now, people seem to believe that FEMA is supposed to be a “first responder.” Under our federal system of government, that isn’t how it works. First local, then the state are responders. FEMA isn’t supposed to get there until later 72 to 96 hours later and sometimes even much later.

Many people seem to believe that Blanco’s letter absolves her of all responsibility and meant that she and local authorities could just sit back and watch the Federal government take care of everything and then criticize whatever they disapproved of.

She was indecisive with the resources she did have at her disposal and her indecision cost lives. Not only that, people under her command prevented the Red Cross and Salvation Army from delivering food, water and other supplies to the people in the Superdome and convention center.

No one denies that they deserve help. But I and others are well within our rights to disgree on HOW that help is delivered.

They DID call the feds. On AUGUST 26.

This was the memo sent to the White House.

Those “refugees”? Were ALSO taxpayers.

It is AMAZING how sanctimonius and self-righteous people are. Not surprising, though.

However, if any president, in this case Bush, decided the mayor or the governor was incompetent and came rolling in over their authority to govern, we would call it a coup.

Maybe that is an unnecessary nicety to the uninitiated, but is should be no mystery to an elected official.

The fact is that local politics shunned Federal help when it was appropriate and needed. Now there is a great blame game afoot and only the ignorant can not see and understand the purpose. Are you hearing protestations from the national government? No! It is the Mayor and the Governor who are casting aspersions to cover their sorry administrative behinds.

And just why are you NOT hearing Mississippi and Alabama echoing the complaints of New Orleans? Remember that Katrina hit other areas with a more deadly force and that it devastated an area the size of England. Unfortunately, the Press is stuck on New Orleans.

Here is a great timeline of the events as they occured complete with irrefutable evidence of the federal govt. dropping the ball. (the evidence is links to The White House, DOD and Office of the Governor websites that show the original memorandums)

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

You can see where the Governor requested Federal assistance on August 27, two days before the hurricane made landfall.

Here is an excerpt from the letter to President Bush from Kathleen Blanco. You can read the whole request here:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

“I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster.”

Here is an excerpt of the President’s response:
You can read the complete memorandum here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

“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.”

Now here’s my question: If the president knew the gravity of the situation and ordered federal assistance, why, when it was known by Tuesday FEMA was not responding the way they had been ordered, did he not mobilize another course of action by the military or Homeland Security? Our military is trained to be extremely efficient in the event of disaster. The U.S.S. Bataan was even waiting off the coast with doctors, a full shelter, food, and water, yet they waited for the president to give the order to assist. Did Fema drop the ball? Yes. Did Homeland Security drop the ball? Yes. Did the president drop the ball? Yes.
Should all of these people be held accountable for the lack of assistance Louisiana received that was requested?
Definitely.

If nothing else the president is guilty of resting on his laurels and inattentiveness. Whatever happened to “The buck stops here?”