[Rhodes22-list] Horse shit and drinking.

[brad haslett]

Bill,

You are dead wrong about that.  FEMA nor the National
Guard have the authority to intervene without State
permission.  Now if you're not happy with that, you
better lobby for a change in the constitution quickly
because hurricane season is not over yet.  NO had an
evacuation plan that they developed but did not
implement.  FEMA supplies funds for studies of proper
response of local authorities but they do not write
them, approve them, or implement them.  NO used their
FEMA funds for other purposes (I'm late for a class
and will supply the facts on that issue later).  Your
assessment on the Federal response to 9/11 is
essentially correct - the military launched fighters,
the FAA grounded airplanes, the Secret Service flew
the POTUS to a pre-determined and pre-planned location
(against the Presidents wishes), all actions within
the scope and authority of the federal government. 
The first responders on the scene was the NYPD and
NYFD under direct supervision from the Mayor of NYC,
also on the scene.  As it should be.  Here is an old
article that summarizes NOLA.

Brad

-------------------Don't Blame Bush for Katrina 
Christopher Ruddy
Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 
George Bush and the federal government are not to
blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster
response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin,
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local
officials.


Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major
media are clearly using this disaster for political
purposes and ignoring one obvious fact.


Story Continues Below



This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered
– is that in our country, state and local governments
have primary responsibility in dealing with local
disasters. 


The founding fathers devised a federal system of
government – one that has served us remarkably well
through great disasters that have befallen America
over more than two centuries.


But if we believe the major TV networks, George Bush,
FEMA and the Republicans in Congress are all to blame
for the current nightmare.


Let's remember that FEMA, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, was created only in 1979. It was
formed to coordinate and focus federal response to
major disasters – to "assist" local and state
governments.


Common sense suggests that local and state governments
are best able to prepare and plan for local disasters.


Is a Washington bureaucrat better suited to prepare
for an earthquake in San Francisco, a hurricane in
Florida, or a terrorist act in New York?


After the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade
Center, no one suggested that the Bush administration
should have been responsible for New York's disaster
response or that federal agents should have been
involved in the rescue of those trapped in the
buildings.


Last year, four major hurricanes slammed into Florida.
Governor Jeb Bush led the disaster response and did a
remarkable job, with nothing happening like what we
have seen in New Orleans.


The primary response in disasters has always come from
local communities and state governments. 


First responders and the manpower to deal with
emergencies come from local communities: police, fire
and medical. Under our federal system, these local
departments answer to local authorities, not those in
Washington. These first responders are not even under
federal control, nor do they have to follow federal
orders.


In addition to local responders, every state in the
Union has a National Guard. 


State National Guards answer first to the governor of
each state, not to the president. The National Guard
exists not to defend one state from an invasion by
another state, but primarily for emergencies like the
one we have witnessed in New Orleans and in other
areas impacted by Katrina. (See:
http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/organization/command_structure.asp)



Tim Russert and the Blame Game


The media would have you believe that this disaster
was worsened by a slow response from President Bush
and his administration, though the primary
responsibility for disaster response has always been
with local and state governments.


It is true that federal response was not as fast as it
could have been. The president himself has
acknowledged that fact. 


But the press has focused on the first 48 hours of
federal response, not uttering a word about the fact
that New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major
Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet
local officials apparently did little to prepare. 

Obviously, Gov. Blanco did not effectively deploy her
state's National Guard. 

And New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to
evacuate the portion of the population with no
transportation. In failing to follow their own
evacuation plan, these officials did little to
pre-position food, water and personnel to deal with
the aftermath.


I was surprised Sunday to watch Tim Russert, on his
show "Meet the Press," tear into Homeland Security
Chief Michael Chertoff. During his encounter with
Chertoff, Russert did not suggest once that local
government had any role in dealing with the disaster.
Russert also asked for Chertoff's resignation.


It wasn't until after the first 29 minutes of his show
– 29 minutes – that Russert raised the question of
local responsibility. And when he did so with
Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, he did so
in a passing way. Broussard brushed off his question
with a non-answer.


Broussard began his interview claiming that the nation
had "abandoned" New Orleans.


That is nonsense and a lie. 


Broussard, who was never identified by "Meet the
Press" as a Democrat, spent much of his time attacking
the Bush administration, as has Democratic New Orleans
Mayor Ray Nagin.


Broussard then ended his performance as he collapsed
in tears with a demand: "For God's sake, just shut up
and send us somebody!"


His tears didn't wash with me. My sympathies lie with
the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or
died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor
Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat,
failed monumentally at their jobs.


As former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told Russert,
the disaster in New Orleans was "foreseeable."


In fact, New Orleans has long known that such a
disaster could take place if a major hurricane hit the
city.


The municipality even prepared its own "City of New
Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan."


The plan makes it evident that New Orleans knew that
evacuation of the civilian population was the primary
responsibility of the city – not the federal
government.


The city plan acknowledges its responsibility in the
document:


As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the
government has jurisdiction and responsibility in
disaster response. City government shall coordinate
its efforts through the Office of Emergency
Preparedness.


The city document also makes clear that decisions
involving a proper and orderly evacuation lie with the
governor, mayor and local authorities. Nowhere is the
president or federal government even mentioned:



The authority to order the evacuation of residents
threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to
the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is
granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation
of all or part of the population from a stricken or
threatened area within the State, if he deems this
action necessary for the preservation of life or other
disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same
power to order an evacuation conferred upon the
Governor is also delegated to each political
subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This
authority empowers the chief elected official of New
Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the
evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an
approaching hurricane.



It is clear the city also recognized that it would
need to move large portions of its population, and it
would need to prepare for such an eventuality:


The City of New Orleans will utilize all available
resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened
areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary
sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When
specific routes of progress are required, evacuees
will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements
will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport
themselves or who require specific life saving
assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to
assist in evacuation procedures as needed. ... 

Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized
evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New
Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police
Department. However, due to the sheer size and number
of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical
weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or
impact the area, specifically directed long range
planning and coordination of resources and
responsibilities efforts must be undertaken. [You can
read New Orleans' Emergency Plan for hurricanes at its
Web site:
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26]


The city's plan also specifically called for the use
of city-owned buses and school buses to evacuate the
population. These were apparently never deployed,
though the Parish of Plaquemines just south of the
city evacuated its population using school buses.


The plan, written well before Katrina was even a
teardrop in God's eye, was obviously never heeded or
implemented by local leaders.


But why should the New Orleans mayor and Governor
Blanco take responsibility when they can blame George
Bush and the Republicans in Washington?


With congressional elections fast approaching,
Democrats who are out of power in every branch of the
federal government know they need to change the tide
quickly.


They have apparently seized on the Katrina disaster to
harm the president politically. 


Criticism of the federal government's response is fair
and warranted. But putting full responsibility for
this disaster on the Bush administration is way over
the top. 

Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with
local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President
Bush. 





--- Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:

> Hank,
> 
> In fact, the part about 9/11 was not cut and pasted
> from anywhere.  I 
> wrote it.  And thank you, I do consider myself a
> good source.
> 
> I am not absolving anyone of anything, I am only
> asking people to get 
> their facts right.  My facts are right about
> Katrina, too.
> 
> Neither the Federal Government nor FEMA needs the
> permission of local 
> governments to go into action.  People went to the
> Superdome because 
> that was part of the FEMA plan.  It was FEMA's
> responsibility to take 
> care of them inside the Superdome, and to evacuate
> them, as part of the 
> Federal Emergency Management Agency's mandate.  (I
> believe we spend 
> about $5 billion a year on FEMA--this is what it is
> supposed to do.)
> 
> I travel all over this country, and I fit in well
> everywhere.  Don't 
> turn George Bush's failed policies into a personal
> attack on me.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> 
> Hank wrote:
> 
> >Bill,
> > Your part about 9/11 was obviously cut and pasted
> from a good source. The 
> >rest of it is political diatribe aimed at putting
> the entire blame on the 
> >Federal Gov't. You've effectively absolved the
> state and local gov't in your 
> >opinion piece and it is obvious that your comments
> are overwhelmingly 
> >affected by your hatred for the federal gov't and
> George Bush. You should 
> >consider moving to Idaho, you'd fit in well there.
> > Hank
> >
> > On 9/20/05, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote: 
> >  
> >
> >>Herb,
> >>
> >>In early 2001 FEMA identified the 3 most
> catastrophic situations it
> >>might some day have to address. They were:
> >>
> >>1. A terrorist attack on NYC.
> >>2. A major earthquake in San Francisco.
> >>3. A levee break in New Orleans.
> >>
> >>On September 11, 2001, 37 minutes after the
> take-off of the first
> >>hijacked airplane, the FAA requested that military
> aircraft scramble to
> >>help deal with the known hijacking. Within 9
> minutes there were
> >>military aircraft in the sky. 4 minutes later, the
> military received
> >>notice that the airplane they were trying to find
> had just hit the World
> >>Trade Center. The President of the United States,
> on his way to a
> >>"Photo Op" in a school in Florida, was immediately
> informed. He told
> >>reporters before entering the school that he was
> aware of the fact that
> >>a plane had smashed into the World Trade Center. 3
> minutes later the
> >>FAA determined that a second aircraft had been
> hijacked, and immediately
> >>the FAA began contacting and diverting airplanes.
> 7 minutes later a
> >>different FAA flight controller called a different
> military installation
> >>to request help. A minute later, another FAA
> flight controller, in yet
> >>another part of the country called another
> military unit to request
> >>aircraft be scrambled. None of these flight
> controllers knew that the
> >>others had acted. The military did not know that
> it had received
> >>multiple requests. 8 minutes later there were
> multiple military fighter
> >>jets over Long Island. 5 minutes later the
> fighters were moved over
> >>Manhattan. A minute later jets were scrambled from
> Langly AFB in
> >>Virginia and sent up to NYC because the fighters
> over NYC were running
> >>low on fuel. 8 minutes later the FAA closed all
> NYC airports. 4
> >>minutes later the Port Authority of NYC closed all
> bridges and tunnels.
> >>1 minute later the FAA told Dulles air controllers
> to watch for incoming
> >>hijacked aircraft. 4 minutes later the military
> established a combat
> >>air patrol over Manhattan, and, at the same time,
> the FAA grounded all
> >>aircraft all over the country. 5 minutes later,
> the President of the
> >>United States went on National TV to announce that
> the country had
> >>suffered "an apparent terrorist attack". 15
> minutes later the White
> >>House was evacuated. 12 minutes later the
> President left Florida for an
> >>Air Force Base in Louisiana. 9 minutes later the
> South Tower of the
> >>World Trade Center collapsed. 5 minutes later part
> of the Pentagon
> >>collapsed. 9 minutes later the UN building was
> evacuated. 15 minutes
> >>later the North Tower of the World Trade Center
> collapsed. 17 minutes
> >>later all Federal buildings in Washington DC were
> evacuated. 7 minutes
> >>later, all DC area airports were closed. 10
> minutes later the Mayor of
> >>NYC ordered the evacuation of everyone south of
> the World Trade Center.
> >>2 hours and 2 minutes later, the President of the
> United States,
> >>speaking from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, said the
> US military has been
> >>put on high alert world wide. 44 minutes later the
> President of the
> >>United States flew to an Air Force base in
> Nebraska. 4 hours and 53
> >>minutes later, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld
> announced that the Pentagon
> >>had re-opened and was conducting business. 13
> minutes later the
> >>President returned to the White House from Omaha,
> Nebraska. By this
> >>time, FEMA was on the ground, inside both New York
> City and Washington
> >>DC coordinating the nation's response to the
> disaster.
> >>
> >>Now let's compare that response to the Federal
> Government's response to
> >>Hurricane Katrina.
> >>
> >>On Friday, August 26 the State of Louisiana
> declared a state of
> >>emergency because it was clear that hurricane
> Katrina was going to
> >>strike somewhere on the Louisiana coast. FEMA was
> automatically notified.
> >>
> >>On Saturday, August 27, FEMA took no action to
> mitigate what was sure to
> >>be a major disaster somewhere on the Gulf Coast.
> >>
> >>On Sunday, August 28, the National Weather Service
> posted this warning
> >>under the headline :
> >>
> >>''Hurricane Katrina. A most powerful hurricane
> with unprecedented
> >>strength.".
> >>
> >>"Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks,
> perhaps
> >>longer...Power outages will last for weeks...Water
> shortages will make
> >>human suffering incredible by modern standards.''
> >>
> >>The warning had been written years earlier. Only
> the name of the
> >>hurricane was inserted at the last minute. There
> was no question that
> >>the hurricane would strike somewhere along the
> Gulf Coast of the United
> >>States, resulting in massive loss of life.
> >>
> >>The President of the United States immediately
> issued a declaration of
> >>emergency for the Gulf Coast region. He also found
> time to cut a cake
> >>for John McCain, play a guitar for Mark Wills,
> deliver an address about
> >>V-J day, and stay at his ranch to continue his
> vacation.
> >>
> >>The Mayor of New Orleans issued a mandatory
> evacuation 
=== message truncated ===


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