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| quote: | Originally posted by Sinatra
The President isn't to blame for what is going on in New Orleans. The state and local government should be held accountable. Is it not obvious to anyone? Why would you send 20,000 people to stadium that is within miles of the ocean and already under sea level? A fourth grader would know that flooding would take place, yet instead of sending those thousands of people inland to say, Baton Rougue you send them to a stadium without any security, food or water. The state of Louisiana is to blame for mainly everything that went wrong. You don't call for FEMA's help a day into a category 4 hurricane and expect eveythihg to turn out fine. This is an example of horrible planning by state of Louisiana and the city New Orleans. |
And how do you propose to send 30,000 people (including those at the Convention Center across the way) to Baton Rouge, sir? How many buses would that entail? Say 50 people on 1 bus, that would be roughly 600 buses. You know where New Orleans could find those buses that quickly?
And let's also talk about the drive - how on earth would you propose getting through the traffic on the weekend mandatory evacuation? Did you not see the line of cars trying to get out of NO? Just add 600 buses that somehow fall out of Candyland and appear for all these individuals who many of them have no mode of transportation to even get to a destination where these 600 or so buses magically appear in the first place.
Keep in mind - it wasn't until SATURDAY early morning that this storm was upgraded to a worrisome category 3 level:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/ka.../content.6.html
and not until SUNDAY early morning where it was subsequently upgraded to a Cat 4 and then Cat 5 (7AM Sun).
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/ka.../content.7.html
How fast do you honestly expect a city to move here, man? Gov. Blanco declared a State of Emergency after it was called a Cat 3 on Saturday:
http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Re...tail.asp?id=976
Prompting FEMA and the Dept. of Homeland Security to get moving (which it did oh so slowly).
And what's more - Bush, FEMA director Brown, and DHS Secretary Chertoff were warned by the National Hurricane Center Director of the Levee Failure Sunday Afternoon BEFORE it struck:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/e...t_id=1001054595
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/30/S...ing_chief.shtml
Did that stop Bush going to Arizona to fucking eat cake with McCain on Monday?:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/rele...-0125-515h.html
The levee was breached on Monday:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/k...tastrophic.html
Did that stop Bush from going to California to discuss his bullshit Medicare deal:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/rele...0050829-11.html
Did that stop Rumsfeld from attending a fucking baseball game on Monday?:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/e...t_id=1001055561
Did that stop Bush playing the fucking guitar on TUESDAY?:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...capm10208301856
And regardless of the inadequacies of the Superdome - which to a certain extent I agree more should have been done for these people from the getgo, you tell me, why the fuck did our fucking FEMA director NOT KNOW ABOUT THE DIRE SITUATION OF NO FUCKING FOOD OR WATER UNTIL THURSDAY?:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/ka...onse/index.html
The fucking director of our fucking FEMA didn't even know about these people after a natural disaster, and had to be told the situation by none other than a reporter.
Now does that sound like a well-rounded Federal response to you?
Who is to blame for this federal response? Where does the Buck stop? What does it say on the Department of Homeland Security website as a "primary responsibility"?:
| quote: | In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume rimary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The new Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp |
Keep in mind that FEMA was joined under the DHS as of 2003, so DHS is DIRECTLY responsible for FEMA.
What else does it say on that darn DHS site? Oh, how 'bout "strategic goals"?:
| quote: | Protection -- Safeguard our people and their freedoms, critical infrastructure, property and the economy of our Nation from acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.
Response -- Lead, manage and coordinate the national response to acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.
Recovery -- Lead national, state, local and private sector efforts to restore services and rebuild communities after acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/intera...torial_0413.xml |
That darn word "lead" seems to keep popping up right before "national", and "state", and "local". And those other 2 darn words "natural disasters" sure are getting in the way, aren't they?
Too vague? Well then let's look no further than the FEMA website itself, shall we? What's FEMA's "mission within the DHS?:
| quote: | FEMA's mission within the department is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all potential disasters and to manage the federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident — whether natural or man-made.
http://www.fema.gov/txt/library/thisisfema.txt |
Again, where does the buck stop? Why are so many calling for the heads of FEMA, including a healthy number of conservatives and their mouthpieces? Perhaps this is why - look who Bush hired for the job with such great experience in emergency disaster relief:
| quote: | The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows.
And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.
The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA.
The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster.
...Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures.
``He was asked to resign,'' Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night.
Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign.
http://business.bostonherald.com/bu...rticleid=100857 |
And look who works under Brown:
FEMA Chief of Staff Patrick Rhode. No emergency management experience whatsoever, but he does have this going for him:
| quote: | His first position with the Bush Administration was as special assistant to the President and deputy director of National Advance Operations, a position he assumed in January 2001. Previously, Mr. Rhode served as deputy director of National Advance Operations for the George W. Bush Presidential Campaign, in Austin, Texas.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/bios/biorhode.pdf |
and FEMA's Deputy Chief of Staff, Scott Morris. No emergency management experience either, but he's got this for himself
| quote: | Mr. Morris was also the marketing director for the world’s leading provider of e-business applications software in California, and worked for Maverick Media in Austin, Texas as a media strategist for the George W. Bush for President primary campaign and the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/bios/biomorris.pdf |
So you tell me sir, you think FEMA AND this president who sat on vacation while people were dying because of the biggest natural disaster in the history of our country should get a lovely free pass?
Or should there be some fucking accountability on this Administration for once in their fucking collective lives?
___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
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911/Katrina
Re: Re: Re: 911/Katrina
