Katrina, misgovernance, etc.

20 thoughts on “Katrina, misgovernance, etc.”

1. Over at Lenin’s Tomb, China Mi

2. ‎“We’re going to have to ask why it took almost two days of people being without ‎food, shelter and water for Mr. Bush to get back to Washington.”‎
   ‎ ‎NYT Op-Ed‎
   No one tell us where is the Vice President Dick Cheney what

3. Helena,
   Without being shrill, and having consulted your own guidelines, under point number 2, I’d like to request some information.
   You maintain that the story you link from the Guardian “turns on its head all the ugly anti-Black racism that has marked some of the commentary about the people who did not evacuate New orleans before the levees broke….”
   Could you please share with us exactly what “anti-Black” (or any other) racism there has been in this regard?
   Another point that perhaps someone here could clarify has to do with the levels of responsibility of the various governmental institutions involved.
   As has been pointed out in yesterday’s Washington Post, as of Friday night the Governor of Luisiana was refusing to hand over authority to the Federal Government as requested. Further, in what is developing as the story of the “Nagin Memorial Motor Pool”, there were apparently enough municipal buses abandoned (and now mostly under water) in New Orleans to have easily removed some 20,000 people from the city.
   Perhaps there is someone here who can give an actual legal opinion as to the legal requirements and preconditions for Federal intervention. We can all speculate, but there are laws, and it is not just “the government”, rather governemnts that are involved here.
   Thank you. I anxiously await some answers.

4. Keyfacts
   Hurricane Katrina caused destruction over an area of 233,000 square kilometres.
   –
   Before the hurricane there were 1.4 million people living in the New Orleans area. Around 60,000 people were unable to escape in time.
   –
   More than one million people were made homeless by the storm.
   –
   Around 350,000 houses were destroyed.
   In Brief
   More than 50 countries, including Switzerland, have offered the US assistance.

5. JES,
   The Stafford Act (USC Title 42, Ch 68,

6. Wind,
   Thanks for the illuminating answer. I dare say that we need to consider one major difference between what happened in Florida in 2004 and the current situation. That is that Governor Bush requested Federal assistance before any of the storms hit. There was no breakdown in law and order and whatever evacuations were necessary were carried out.
   In contrast, the Washington Post article refers to Friday night, four days after the storm hit. In other words, Governor Blanco apparently did not request Federal assistance in effecting the evacuation ordered by both the state and municipal government, and the situation had already degenerated into three days of progressive anarchy and she was still playing politics with handing over what can reasonably be seen as control required to effectively handle a situation that got out of control while being “handled” by her own administration.
   One other thing of note. FEMA, under Mr. Brown, appears to have functioned as required a year.
   Well, I’ll sit back now so as not to hog the blog and await Helena’s answer to my second question: What anti-Black racism is she refering to (because the article she cites doesn’t talk about that)?
   Thanks again.

7. JES —
   In contrast, the Washington Post article refers to Friday night, four days after the storm hit.
   The Post printed a correction yesterday, since that claim was demonstrably false. Refer also to this
   letter dated August 28th (day before) from Blanco to the President.
   The notion that it took Blanco days to declare an emergency somehow (!!) seems to be coming from the Administration — at least, the media that report it without questioning it (like the WaPo and Newsweek) are listing Administration officials as sources.
   Hmmmmmm….Wonder why all this effort is going into pointing fingers?
   Seems to me it would benefit everyone to step back, have a complete investigation, and then make sure heads roll. Sort of like the 9/11 Commission, except for the heads rolling part.
   Too bad we have a President who seems to find himself in situations that constantly require investigations like this.

8. Thanks vv for that additional clarification.

9. The link to the Time Picayune Letter is the same link as the one to CNN on traumatized police.

10. Oops, thanks for pointing that out, Chas. I fixed it– along with some other typos/infelicities in the text.
    Btw, I found my final posted time for the Four-Miler in the paper today. It was 40m13s. Five seconds faster than my posted time last year. But I am still eager to bust that 40 minute level…

11. Of course if you are going to compare the Florida hurricanes (and the federal response) with the one last week don’t forget to mention a minor detail;
    The hurricanes in Florida hit during a Presidential election year in a state critical to the encumbents chances. Add to that the Govenor was the encumbents BROTHER (and a family’s ‘future Presidential hopeful’) and a Republican himself and you can see the administration would be more anxious to help. There was NO way Federal response would be lacking for Florida. Even today Florida would get a better response, simply because Florida has a Republican governor and Lousiana has a Democrat. In todays society, political affiliation means all, when it comes to tax dollar distribution.
    The L.A. Times has a good article on FEMA;
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fema5sep05,0,685581.story?coll=la-home-headlines
    Pretty darn good post windinthewhistle.
    .

12. ‎Look‎ to this ridicules claims by some Israeli extremist
    Katrina and Gaza: is God speaking
    in New Orleans? – Avner Bosky

13. Oops, this is correct link‎
    ‎ ‎Avner Bosky‎
    Katrina and Gaza: is God speaking
    in New Orleans?

14. Laurie Garrett, a science writer I admire who

15. I heard on NPR today that Senator Collins is asking why our govenment did not respond faster. I heard Mr. Bush is going to start an investigation, with himself as the head. I heard that Collins and Leiberman will also chair the investigation.
    Collins and Lieberman are the ones who were/are responsible for Homeland Security, which FEMA is under.
    Anyone besides me see a problem with this?
    I bet that Chertoff and M. Brown end up getting medals and awards for this disaster they (mainly) created.
    I heard a Spanish MP was in the Superdome and she is all over European TV saying the US government is committing genocide.

16. Susan – no one in this miserable cast of characters makes me more furious than Joe Lieberman. I just froth at the mouth when he comes on TV. I know it’s not fair. He’s actually a pretty funny, self-deprecating kind of guy, and I’m sure he takes good care of his mother. But I simply can’t stand the sight of him. Collins is OK – she’s representing MAINE forgodsake. She has to be a little bit practical. Sometimes I wonder if she’s kind of . . . intellectually challenged.
    So yeah, the Dear Leader will lead an investigation of his own actions (or lack thereof) in response to this national disaster, supported by Droopy and Dopey. This should make the 9/11 commission look legitimate by comparison. Maybe that’s the idea . . .

17. Well, I never did get an answer to my question about what our hostess meant by “anti-Black racism” re. the victims of the New Orleans tragedy. Now I see that Spanish MPs are coming over and making crazy declarations. Here’s an interesting piece by Rich Lowry over at NRO that deals with the subject.
    This CNN interview with Ray Nagin is also interesting.

18. When did you stop beating your spouse, JES? Answer me quickly!
    The Spanish MP was Lourdes Mu

19. Dominic,
    I never did beat my wife.
    Now, can you please stop with the ad hominem attacks and the demagoguery.
    I aske a legitimate question. Helena made a charge that there is “ugly anti-Black racism that has marked some of the commentary about the people who did not evacuate New Orleans before the levees broke”. I asked for clarification as to what this referred to because, quite frankly, I have not seen any racism involved.
    Regarding Ms. Santamaria, according to the report related by a previous poster, this particular MP accused the US government of genocide “all over European TV”. That’s not “professional” spin; it’s a serious charge, and I’d like to see some substantiation.

20. Helena, with all the media buzzing about the political fallout from Katrina, and the “damage” supposedly done to Bush’s standing and the Republican agenda, it is worth reflecting on the total absence of any real substantive debate on the fundamental issues threatening our country’s survival. In fact, the “blame game” will be played by both Democrats and Republicans in such a way that the real issues will be kept completely out of sight and out of mind.
    In the midst of this charade, let us recall how differently the game was played 70 years ago by Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long. Following are a few exerpts from his “Every Man a King” speech of 2/23/34 (apologies for the long post):
    “We have trouble, my friends, in the country, because we have too much money owing, the greatest indebtedness that has ever been given to civilization, where it has been shown that we are incapable of distributing to the actual things that are here, because the people have not money enough to supply themselves with them, and because the greed of a few men is such that they think it is necessary that they own everything, and their pleasure consists in the starvation of the masses, and in their possessing things they cannot use, and their children cannot use, but who bask in the splendor of sunlight and wealth, casting darkness and despair and impressing it on everyone else.
    . . .
    “So, we have in America today, my friends, a condition by which about 10 men dominate the means of activity in at least 85 percent of the activities that you own. They either own directly everything or they have got some kind of mortgage on it, with a very small percentage to be excepted. They own the banks, they own the steel mills, they own the railroads, they own the bonds, they own the mortgages, they own the stores, and they have chained the country from one end to the other, until there is not any kind of business that a small, independent man could go into today and make a living, and there is not any kind of business that an independent man can go into and make any money to buy an automobile with; and they have finally and gradually and steadily eliminated everybody from the fields in which there is a living to be made, and still they have got little enough sense to think they ought to be able to get more business out of it anyway.
    . . .
    “We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more than $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans, that no man’s fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.
    . . .
    “We will limit hours of work. There is not any necessity of having over-production. I think all you have got to do, ladies and gentlemen, is just limit the hours of work to such an extent as people will work only so long as is necessary to produce enough for all of the people to have what they need. Why, ladies and gentleman, let us say that all of these labor-saving devices reduce hours down to where you do not have to work but 4 hours a day; that is enough for these people, and then praise be the name of the Lord, if it gets that good. Let it be good and not a curse, and then we will have 5 hours a day and 5 days a week, or even less that that, and we might give a man a whole month off during a year, or give him 2 months; and we might do what other countries have seen fit to do, and what I did in Louisiana, by having schools by which adults could go back and learn the things that have been discovered since they went to school.
    . . .
    “And we ought to take care of the veterans of the wars in this program. That is a small matter. Suppose it does cost a billion dollars a year — that means that the money will be scattered throughout this country. We ought to pay them a bonus. We can do it. We ought to take care of every single one of the sick and disabled veterans. I do not care whether a man got sick on the battlefield or did not; every man that wore the uniform of this country is entitled to be taken care of, and there is money enough to do it; and we need to spread the wealth of the country, which you did not do in what you call the N.R.A.”
    http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hueyplongking.htm
    It was sweet of Mary Landrieu to offer to punch W., but she’s no Huey Long.

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