Let’s review some facts – just the facts. (all relevant links will be listed at the bottom of this post in addition to other pertinent data)

It is relevant to note that some have already brought up the issue of who has what responsibility. Blanco as governor made her request for state of emergency under the Stafford Act on August 26, 2005 – which tells me she knew that there was going to be a need for federal assistance in the aftermath relief efforts. Why was there no mandatory evacuation order given SIMULTANEOUSLY to that request?

State autonomy of governance. No state in this country is federalized, for good reason. Which means, that state’s are in complete control of their own needs PRIOR to, let’s say, a hurricane coming ashore. The city of NO and the state have detailed evacuation plans, but they were not used. Of course, it’s sort of hard to use them effectively if you fail to issue a mandatory evacuation order until 20 hours before the storm hits.

In an interview with Tim Russert, Nagin was questioned about the lack of using that plan. Nagin hemmed and hawed around, but basically said that he didn’t think he had the resources to do it.

Well, Mr. Nagin, asked Mr. Russert, what became of the $18 million from FEMA to your city for preparing for just such a disater, monies given since 2002 (same year he was elected). Mr. Nagin again fidgeted and his response was inane about how he hasn’t been Mayor very long (NOTE: elected in 2002, received $18 million since he took office and he says he hasn’t been mayor very long? Simple math an issue here?) and he “thinks” the money went to levee funding. Oh contraire, Mr. Nagin. Links below show separate funding for such work.

Now, there is currently an ongoing probe by the FBI that has been years in the making. In March of 2005 three state officials were indicted for misuse of FEMA monies given the state for flood mitigation and disaster preparedness. They are from the LA. State Dept of Homeland Security and emergency prepardness. But the probe has spread to 20 parishes and the FBI office was so overwhelmed trying to chase down the $60 million, they asked for more staff to be sent to the Baton Rouge office.

That probe is still ongoing. Will Mr. Nagin be one facing a future indictment for misappropriating federal funds that could have saved 736 lives? Time will tell.

The levee’s projects as funded by the feds were finished according to Strock, the director of the projects in NO. And indeed, it has been noted in many articles since this storm hit, that no lack of fed monies from this current administration would have had any impact on stopping what happened. The levees were never meant for more than a CAT 3 storm, ever. That goes back to 1965 congressional funding to rebuild after the massive flooding that took place then from Hurricane Betsy.

Blanco and Nagin are implicit in their failure to evacuate those who could not mobilize themselves. This is not an arguable point. All factual data proves this. In fact, for anyone to suggest that the feds had primary responsibility for evacuation BEFORE a storm is totally ignorant of our U. S. Constitution. And please, do not bring up the topic of DHS being responsible either, they are not. They are not first responders in hurricanes or other natural disasters. That is not their role at all. Nor is it FEMA’s. Federal agencies do not take pre-emptive action in states facing a hurricane, never have and never will. That is and always has been state responsibility.

Now, a serious of links and what they apply to:

STATE EMERGENCY PLAN

CITY EMERGENCY PLAN

BLANCO DOES NOT CALL UP NATIONAL GUARD IN TIME

BLANCO REFUSES FEDERAL AID/DOES NOT ACCESS MULTI STATE AID COMPACT

LOUSIANA STATE DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY TURNS AWAY THE RED CROSS ON WEDNESDAY AFTER THE STORM

EXAMPLE OF HOW NORTH CAROLINA USES IT’S EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FORMAT FOR HURRICANES

NAGIN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT FROM MEET THE PRESS

AMTRAK OFFERED/REJECTED BY THE CITY OF NO

ADEQUATE FED FUNDING FOR LEVEE PROJECT

CHURCHES TRIED TO ADDRESS LACK OF CITY PLANNING

HISTORY OF LEVEE MISMANAGEMENT

ORLEANS LEVEE BOARD ABUSE

NAGIN’S RESPONSE TO HURRICANE IVAN 2004

CITY OF NEW ORLEANS MURDER RATE

THREE INDICTMENTS SO FAR MISUSE OF FEMA MONEY

WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO REBUILD, PERSPECTIVE

THE CHANNEL THAT FED THE FLOOD

“CIA WILL WIPE ME OUT” NAGIN QUOTED

MONEY EARMARKED FOR EVACUATIONS MISSPENT

BLANCO’S DISASTER RELIEF REQUEST

BUSH’S RESPONSE TO HER REQUEST

LEVEE BOARD INVESTIGATED BY NBC

Ummm, who’s spinning NDT? You appear to be nothing but a shill for this inept, incompetant administration! The truth hurts, I know, but the Federal response both before and afterthe hurricane was abysmal. You can blame Democrats like you always do-the “blame game” as your stupid talking points call it- but Americans know that and they will soon be finding out about “Brownie” doing “a heck of a job”. Even Robert Novak and the NH Union Leader (the most Conservative paper in America) are coming down hard on this administration’s handling of the crisis.

As far as helping people. . . Sean Penn has actually been saving people. Mr Bush hasa been more concerned with photo ops with Country Stars and then with firefighters, FEMA, and the National Guard. He’s even rolling up his shirt sleeves for the camera!!! The fact is that he wouldn’t have done anything had his image not been tanking due to NO FEDERAL RESPONSE!

Brownie said “We are doing everything in order to prepare for the worst case scenario” then four days later “We only found out about those people (at the Convention Center) today!” The news media had been covering it for a couple of days by then!!! WTF!!! FEMA doesn’t even have a fricking TV?!?!?!

I, along with 63% of Americans, am outraged about this! 80% think the Federal Government was slow in responding to this disaster which they said they were prepared for in advance! WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!

You blind partisan shills with your “talking points” can try to spin this one all you want, but even honest conservatives think the Feds botched this one. You can try to make it a partisan issue and blame in on Dems (the mayor, BTW, was Republican until 3 years ago and the Governor has been Republican for most of the past 25 years), but this is not partisan at all! It’s strictly about results, about performance and accountability. This administration talks about accountability a lot when it comes to public school teachers, but they reward partisan hacks who perform so poorly it would be laughable if it weren’t deadly!

You Republican talking points action figures are a waste of time! You defend the indefensible- you are apparently brainwashed by the staged photo-ops and administration talking heads or just plain stupid!

However, the fact that that has been known for so long and in a city run by Democrats does not spin well for Reader or Bush Rulez, and what’s worse, they can’t argue about it being “too poor” to do that when their liberal city government has embezzled literally MILLIONS of dollars to fatten liberal politicians’ and workers’ pockets at the expense of the “poor” they are exploiting.

If we’re giving out credit for showing up and making an effort (wasn’t that YOUR point in asking the question??) then they certainly qualify.

I’m intrigued. You completely skipped Haley Barbour and Bob Riley. Could it be you don’t know who they are, or have sufficient interest to use Google?

Also… would it be too much trouble for you to remind yourself what the question you asked was before you respond to my answer?

I agree that, for example, Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin come out of this looking fairly incompetent. But you must grant that they are indeed on the ground trying to help — and

…has anyone else noticed that Reader seems to believe that making up names for those he disagrees with passes for clever?

A little ironic.

Hiring an inept and unqualified head of FEMA, doing no advance planning during an unusually long vacation, and pretending to play country music star doesn’t count as helping.

Donald Rumsfeld

At least he didn’t say “stuff happens” and “freedom is messy” during the looting this time, so I guess he’s helping in his own way.

Jeb Bush.

How’s he helping?

George H.W. Bush.

Isn’t he working with Clinton to fundraise for the relief effort? I thought Clinton (who appointed a much better qualified FEMA director, made it a cabanet level position, and increased funding for the organization during his presidency) wasn’t helping.

At least George HW Bush didn’t say “These people were underprivelaged to begin with, so this is working out rather well for them” like his wife Barbara.

To be fair, though you didn’t ask it, a few directly-involved Democrats of varying prominence:
Bill Clinton.
Kathleen Blanco.
Ray Nagin.

Again, Clinton is working with George HW Bush in the exact same capacity. Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin are guilty of the same lack of preparation as FEMA, Bush, and Homeland Security. They are all doing more than Pres. Bush who seems more concerned with photo ops with national guard troops, FEMA, and victims of the storm in an attempt to salvage his image (what’s left of it, anyway).

This inept incompetant performance just goes to cement Bush’s position as the Worst President Ever!!!!!!

“Notice that Sean Penn is personally assisting search and rescue missions. Are you going to praise him for this?”

Done that.

“Kindly point out some prominent Republicans who are, like Sean Penn, personally assisting with the rescue efforts.”

George W. Bush.
Donald Rumsfeld.
Haley Barbour.
Bob Riley.
Jeb Bush.
George H.W. Bush.

Also, given that the overwhelming majority of military officers are Republicans, it’s likely that most of the prominent military figures on the ground are GOP as well. (Anyone else think Lt. Gen. Honore — a native of Louisiana — might be the next Governor of Louisiana in 2007??)

To be fair, though you didn’t ask it, a few directly-involved Democrats of varying prominence:
Bill Clinton.
Kathleen Blanco.
Ray Nagin.

…has anyone else noticed that Reader seems to believe that making up names for those he disagrees with passes for clever? I’m pretty sure that stopped being the hallmark of a sharp wit ’round about 4th grade.

No, since it’s not clear if he’s actually rescued ANYONE, since his boat was too full of photographers to actually have room for any refugees.

Also, he took precious time away from rescue efforts when it became necessary to rescue HIS boat, since he didn’t even bother to inspect his boat to see if it was actually seaworthy before he set off on his “mission”.

Say, did Chief Patsy insert a comment at the end of your post?

They’re getting a mite touchy here.

I rely on this blog to give me the most naked snapshot of Whitehouse spin. (And if they don’t have a spin, there’s nothing here. Like in the first days of Katrina) For me, that’s this blog’s main value.

It will interesting to find out whether the water-carrying is a volunteer effort or not. I’m reminded of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and “idea epidemics.”

If you’re looking for White House spin, anon, you’re reading the wrong blog –Ed.

Notice that Sean Penn is personally assisting search and rescue missions. Are you going to praise him for this? Also note that Moveon.org was amongst the first to set up a site to find private housing for hurrican victims (www.hurricanehousing.org). Will you now acknowledge their efforts as well?

Kindly point out some prominent Republicans who are, like Sean Penn, personally assisting with the rescue efforts. Is Rush Limbaugh down there (actually, he mocked the victims recently by incredulously saying ‘Why don’t these people have cars?), Sean Hannity, that hack screenwriter of ‘the Devil’s Math’ or whatever it was, are there any of them who are down there?

I know many loyal Republicans and they, like Pres. Bush AND former Pres Clinton, agree that the Federal Government failed the people BIG time.

“The story I read in one of the MSM papers is that Brown’s post is a “political appointee” post in every Administration – including, say, Clinton’s – with FEMA staff expected to provide expertise. So I don’t think Bush did anything specially different with Brown.”

#22, use your Google every once in a while and you’ll be a little more up-to-date on these things. You’d learn Bush did indeed do something different with Brown, appointing a hack just relieved of his duty in the Arabian Horse Association to replace a professional (James Lee Witt) as the head of FEMA. I’m catching you guys trying to drop the idea everywhere here that Brown was no different than Witt. If you’re not informed, that’s called being uninformed and it’s really sad for someone who posts almost every hour of the day; if you know better, that’s called spreading a lie. Since both result in the sharing of mis-information, I’m not sure which is worse.

Here are the differences between the two FEMA directors:

(Under Bush) Mike Brown — party hack, former college chum of Joe Albaugh (Bush’s first FEMA head) no disaster experience at all before coming to FEMA. 100% patronage appointee.

(Under Clinton) James Lee Witt:

–25 years of disaster management experience, culminating in his appointment as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he served from 1993-2001.

–Credited with turning FEMA from an unsuccessful bureaucratic agency to an internationally lauded all-hazards disaster management agency.

–Coordinated federal disaster relief, including the response and recovery activities of 28 federal agencies and departments, the American Red Cross and other voluntary agencies. He also oversaw the National Flood Insurance Program, the U.S. Fire Administration and other pro-active mitigation activities that reduce loss of life and property from all types of hazards.

–Directed 2,500 employees located in Washington, DC and 10 regional offices.

–From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Witt oversaw more than 350 disasters. More importantly, he was responsible for response and recovery operations for six of the ten most devastating disasters of all time, including the most costly flood disaster in the nation’s history, the most costly earthquake, and a dozen damaging hurricanes.

#17 – No John – We just want criticisms based on reason and logic, not irrational expectations, or political and personal hatreds that the speakers were already nursing before the hurricane. The U.S. is not a dictatorship. State and local government are the first line of defense, with FEMA in a helping role. The facts coming out now show FEMA and Bush tried to help and to get more action on these things – before, during and after. Were they perfect? No, and government should learn here, as after Hurricane Andrew and every other.