The culpability at the state and federal levels in the New Orleans assistance debacle (cont.)
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Monday, January 27, 2025 15:27
VIEWED: 13072
PAGE 1 of 11
Just a link for any who are interested:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02TEXT-NAGI
N.html?pagewanted=1
Chrisisall
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Here's another:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/opinion/05krugman.html?incamp=articl
e_popular
Like embers said, contact senators and congressmen.
Donate what you're able.
Chrisisall
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Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) gave the following speech today on the House floor during a special session to provide relief money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina:
“This amount of money is only a fraction of what is needed and everyone here knows it. Let it go forward quickly with heart-felt thanks to those who are helping to save lives with necessary food, water, shelter, medical care and security. Congress must also demand accountability with the appropriations. Because until there are basic changes in the direction of this government, this tragedy will multiply to apocalyptic proportions.
“The Administration yesterday said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees. Did the Administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA warning about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of New Orleans? Did it not know or care that civil and army engineers were warning for years about the consequences of failure to strengthen the flood control system? Was it aware or did it care that the very same Administration which decries the plight of the people today, cut from the budget tens of millions needed for Gulf-area flood control projects?
“Countless lives have been lost throughout the South with a cost of hundreds of billions in ruined homes, businesses, and the destruction of an entire physical and social infrastructure.
video clip - Broussard, says he still doesn't have the resources needed to save the lives
www.ameratsu.com/media/vid/nbc/nbc_mtp_aaron_broussard_jefferson_parri
sh_050904a.wmv
Aaron Broussard tells a heart wrenching story
http://www.justgiving.com/pfp/NEBHurricaneRelief
Relief Fund
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Sadly, Kucinich twists and distorts what the President said. But it doesn't matter. This problem has been overlooked by the local officials for 30+ years, and everyone knows it. $$ sent to Louisiana and N.O. to keep up and strengthen the levee system has been pissed away through graft, corruption and colossal mismanagement.
The very things which allowed this tragedy to occur are being repeated by those MOST ( but not totally ) responsible for such poor planning. The finger pointing at a time when serious work needs to be done....NOW. This petty sqwabbling is exactly what is not needed, but it seems that's what the Democrats/Left wingers are best at doing.
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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FEMA says thew victims are responsible, The old democrat fart Bobby said it was the fault of Bush, Chertoff continued to lie to Tim Russert, ORielly conservative GOP blames it on Al-Gore, other crackpot Republicans are trying to blame Clinton
Meanhwile children have been without food, some drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage, old people are dying in the street while a kid had to go steal a bus and drive 100 victims to Texas, many Refugees are running and fleeing to Texas. Craig Vanderwagen, rear admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service, said one morgue alone, at a St. Gabriel prison, expected 1,000 to 2,000 bodies.
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Quote:Seems to me you're pointing your finger right now. But that's okay, squabbling and finger pointing can be done simultaniously with the real work of assistance.
Originally posted by AURaptor:
This petty sqwabbling is exactly what is not needed, but it seems that's what the Democrats/Left wingers are best at doing.
The number of ads I've seen from families across the country willing to take in victims of the disaster for free is amazing. Whatever my political views, there are a lot of big-hearted folks in this country...
Chrisisall
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From the "Violence and Looting..." thread
Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
They should have made mandatory evacuation actually possible by commandeering buses, trains and planes and doing a house to house evacuation.
So the government should be able to violate peoples' rights, such as their right of privacy and freedom from search, seizure, and arrest without a warrant, in response to what it considers a threat to their safety? That the government should be able to commandeer private property without due process because they think there's an emergency? Can we drop back to the liberalism of the Patriot Act from this?
Besides, imagine the resources needed to do a "house to house" search and evacuation of an area of several thousand square miles consisting of everything from bayou to apartment blocks, with a population of several million.
Response could always be better, but what you're asking above would not be possible no matter who was in charge, or what plans had been made.
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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Quote:House to house would have been impossible, but driving down streets w/announcements would have done something.
Originally posted by Geezer:
That the government should be able to commandeer private property without due process because they think there's an emergency?
Besides, imagine the resources needed to do a "house to house" search and evacuation of an area of several thousand square miles consisting of everything from bayou to apartment blocks, with a population of several million.
And commandeering busses and planes, etc. isn't exactly taking 'private' property, it's more like 'corporate' property, isn't it? There must be a legal loophole for that under some law, I mean they can take your home under Eminent Domain, right?
Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:Seems to me you're pointing your finger right now. But that's okay, squabbling and finger pointing can be done simultaniously with the real work of assistance.
Originally posted by AURaptor:
This petty sqwabbling is exactly what is not needed, but it seems that's what the Democrats/Left wingers are best at doing.
The number of ads I've seen from families across the country willing to take in victims of the disaster for free is amazing. Whatever my political views, there are a lot of big-hearted folks in this country...
Chrisisall
No Chris, I'm RESPONDING to the idiotic comments from the likes of N.O.'s Mayor to RFK Jr. to Jessie Jackson. All ignoring the facts, all politicizing the event and all trying to blame Bush.
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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THE SPIN CYCLE
The Federal government spent plenty to protect the city:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657
367 Construction (levees and channels) generally has been on the decline for several years and focus has been on other projects in the Corps.
(Thanks SignyM for the source.)
It was everybody, not just Bush:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02krugman.html
In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending. After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees.
They didn't know the city could flood from a hurricane:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/01/BL2005090
100915.html
"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees," Bush said. And the corollary (Chertoff DHS) It was two disasters, completely unforeseen, who would' a thunk? http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/katrina.doomsday/ "Some 25 feet of standing water was expected in many parts of the city -- almost twice the height of the average home -- and computer models suggest that more than 80 percent of buildings would be badly damaged or destroyed." That farce has been well covered (and MacBaker, this is for you and your idiotic mantra).
Blanco and Nagin did too little, too late:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&
Date=20050905&ID=5086147
In the case of Katrina, Louisiana had the foresight to ask the president for a disaster declaration even before the hurricane hit ground. This was signed on August 27, at which time federal resources should have been deployed en masse. (And the booby prize again goes to MacBaker for making up 'facts'.)
"Federal resources were pre-deployed but not nearly enough," says Jane Bullock, former chief of staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in the 1990s. She believes the poor response was primarily due to reorganisation of the disaster response infrastructure under the administration of President George W. Bush.
In case you doubt that it happened (it's a small news-source) MIAMI, Aug. 27 (UPI) President Bush late Saturday declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declared emergencies Friday, and mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for some of Louisiana's low-lying areas, CNN reported.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2005/2005-08-29-02.asp
Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Interstate 10, which was converted Saturday so that all lanes headed one-way out of town, was gridlocked.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2005/2005-08-29-02.asp
New Orleans Evacuates Before the Menace of Hurricane Katrina
MIAMI, Florida, August 29, 2005 (ENS) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a State of Emergency on Friday and issued a mandatory evacuation order to all residents of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area. He said police and firefighters would fan out throughout the city telling residents to get out and that police would have the authority to commandeer any vehicle or building that could be used for evacuation or shelter. Hotels were exempted from the evacuation order because airlines had already canceled all flights out. (The Mayor also acknowledged that many would be unable to leave and that the city did not have the manpower to go door to door and force an evacuation to shelter.)
Gobs and gobs of help Federal was pre-deployed:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2005/2005-08-29-02.asp
At least 1,500 (!) National Guard troops are available, to deploy and assist with cleanup efforts after the storm moves through the area.
It's just cheap political shots, don't focus on Bush, and the "President" really cares:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050831-3.html
August 31, 2005 5:11 P.M. EDT "As we flew here today, I also asked the pilot to fly over the Gulf Coast region so I could see firsthand the scope and magni
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