If Louisiana’s Democratic Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco could grant New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin’s (also a Democrat) request to send in the National Guard to respond to a crime wave in the Big Easy, why didn’t the Mayor didn’t file a similar request for the Guard’s assistance in evacuating the city last summer as Hurricane Katrina approached?
UPDATE: Michelle finds “interesting . . . the total silence of civil liberties Chicken Littles” while in comment #6 Vera Charles asks:
Is this a war zone with semi automatic weapons? A quagmire?
Isn’t the left concerned the National Guard is being spread too thin?
Because at that time Ray Nagin was unaware of Protocol?
What is wrong with the NOLA police? They are operating at pre-Katrina levels with only half the population back in the city. And they can’t handle the crime?
Old saying: the fish rots from the head down. Guess who the (bald)head is…
Regards,
Peter H.
One car-load of gangbangers eliminates another car-load at 4:00am in NOLA, and they call in the National Guard? Why not the State Police? Or, just declare free-fire zones?
The funny-part is Nagin et al complaining about there no jobs available for the “disadvantaged youths” of NOLA; while the local construction trades are forced to hire skilled and unskilled Hispanic workers from out of town to get NOLA’s reconstruction back on-schedule.
That is because the word “job” means different things.
To most of the world, it means working in exchange for pay.
For Democrats like Nagin, it means receiving welfare checks.
Obviously, these construction jobs are not fit for disadvantaged youth, because they actually involve work.
Might it be because he was, is, and will always be a friggin’ idiot?
And yet not a peep from the ACLU or from civil rights groups claiming NO is a police state?
Is this a war zone with semi automatic weapons? A quagmire?
Isn’t the left concerned the National Guard is being spread too thin?
Won’t this encourage looting? Or should we wait for the World Cup to end and then start looting?
Shouldn’t someone be blaming the NRA for all the death and destruction going on in NO?
Did the left suddenly come down with laryngitis? Alzheimer’s?
Where’s the outcry?
Apparently, being Mayor of chocolate city means never having to say you’re not competent…
Paul at Wizbang offers a good explanation why Nagin won again. The other guy really was worse.
As a New Orleans resident, I guess I should respond to what people have said. Some of what you said is absolutely correct, some is complete bullshit that only people who don’t live here would think because the national media is crap.
The National Guard is being asked in because Nagin, the City Council, and the citizens of New Orleans don’t want crime to return to the levels it was before, not because the New Orleans police is overwhelmed. Also note the places that the guard is patrolling – they are going to patrol the areas of the city that are pretty much abandoned or now are only sparsely populated because of the destruction in order to allow the police to focus attention on populated areas and the crime occuring there and not using valuable resources patrolling areas with little or no population.
That said, the New Orleans police department has never been particularly good with dealing with crime. Its only been recently that the department has been relatively free of corruption – – a move lead, by the way, by Democratic mayors (not that I agree with Democrats very often, but they get credit where credit is due…)
The police department isn’t running at pre-katrina levels by the way. The department has lost many officers. The department is however now running at a ratio of officers to population that is in line with national averages. Prior to Katrina, the ratio of officers to population was significantly below national averages. One difference between New Orleans and any other city is that while the population has shrunk, and the ratio of officers to population has improved, the total physical area of the city has remained the same.
Nagin probably didn’t call for the National Guard to help pre-storm because people at all levels of government (both Democrat and Republican) had faith that the levees would hold back the water of Lake Pontchatrain, the Mississippi River, and the hurricane’s storm surge and that the drainage pumps in the city would keep the water from building up inside the levees during the storm. Recall that the city survived the hurricane winds and rain alright – – it was the failure of the levees that caused the severe destruction and made search and rescue extraordinarily difficult. That the guard wasn’t prepared in general and prepared for the “worst case scenario” specifically is a failing of the Blanco administration.
The fact that there are lots of jobs here that hispanics are taking and that african-americans are not does say alot about the effects of the welfare state on people’s work ethic. No doubt about it.
I would challenge anyone, Republican or Democrat, to try and solve all the long entrenched problems of this city and all the new problems caused by Katrina.
By the way…. One reason why the citizens of New Orleans voted Nagin back into office is because he was not part of the old “establishment” which Landrieu is. The old establishment held power in this city for decades and in many peoples eyes (and both Democrats and Republicans agree on this) the old establishment, by its corruption and cronyism, has been destroying New Orleans from within during those decades. Nagin was the first candidate to win election here who was not part of the corrupt, incompetent old establishment order.
NDT: For Democrats like Nagin, it means receiving welfare checks.
Obviously, these construction jobs are not fit for disadvantaged youth, because they actually involve work.
Disadvantaged youth DO want to work. They may not have the same level of education or opportunities as others but they do want to work given the chance. And not all disadvantaged youth receive welfare. I didn’t when I was kid. My mother heldd two or three jobs sometimes instead of receiving government assistance.
From the post
If Louisiana’s Democratic Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco could grant New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin’s (also a Democrat) request to send in the National Guard to respond to a crime wave in the Big Easy, why didn’t the Mayor didn’t file a similar request for the Guard’s assistance in evacuating the city last summer as Hurricane Katrina approached?
Interesting question. And I’m sure that you will email both Nagin and Blanko and ask them. (/sarcasm)
Apparently, you are unfamiliar with the concept of “federalism.” The federal government hesitates to send in federal agents into a state unless it has been requested by the state. (I recognize that that “hesitation” is honored more in the breach than in reality, but there is a hesitation). Why? Because the federal government is a creature of the states.
On the other hand, cities, towns and other municipalities are creatures of the states. Accordingly, the state government can dispatch troops to the cities, towns, etc, without having to wait for requests from the officials there.
Federalism, you know? Or maybe you don’t know.
Learn how to read, Raj.
What GPW is saying is twofold:
— Why didn’t Nagin request the Guard when the hurricane was coming?
— Why didn’t Blanco send the Guard when the hurricane was coming?
Raj, federalism is exactly the point of my question. I did’t mention the federal government in the post, suggesting that Nagin and Blanco were responsible for the evacuation of the city.
Glad to know you’re so big on federalism, hope you’ll be joining those of us taking these two officials to task for their failure to respond to Katrina.
Raj baby, you’ve spending too much time in the Peoples’ Republic Of Brown Shirt Misfits… I encourage you, come into the light. Although your points are correct in their spirit, the governing concept has nothing –not one thing– to do with federalism.
The historic and CONSTITUTIONAL authority to “call out” the state NG rests with the governor, raj baby. That’s reinforced in Title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 93-288)… it’s been stated to excess by no less an authority than the National Governors Conference in her policy statement of HHS-13 Sec 2.
Further, your artifical construct to demean the concept of “federalism” falls short, woefully so. Federalism, as practiced under Ford-Reagan-Bush-Bush is an appropriate mechanism for returning and protecting certain state powers that were/have been seized by liberal, activist federal legislators and bureaucrats.
I think the NGA Policy Statement adopted at the last Winter Meeting says what the Governors intoto think about NG action:
“Governors have direct constitutional and legal responsibility for the protection and safety of their citizens. Governors oppose the federal government preempting their authority in these emergencies or disasters. The appropriate role for the federal government, especially in using the active military to provide assistance to states, is through each state’s National Guard. The Governor is Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard.”
Not a lot of wiggle room there. But, of course, you’ll try to find it.
“Because the federal government is a creature of the states.”
Raj, raj, raj….why do you even bother to get out of bed in the morning?
Federalism is a system of government “in which power is constitutionally divided between a central government and state or local governments” (per the dictionary).
Each level of government receives its power from the Constitution, and each has powers that are independent of the other. The statement you made above is WRONG. The federal government is NOT a creature of the states.
Alexander Hamilton summed it up best in the Federalist Papers: He believed that the national government was supreme because it represented the people of the entire nation, not the states. The national government was responsible for protecting and preserving the nation.
What you are citing is considered “state-centered federalism” and is not compatible with Hamilton’s position. Under your view, any attempt by the national government to go beyond the powers explicitly granted in the Constitution is a violation of state authority.
So, based upon your (inaccurate) worldview, the federal government did not have a right to go into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina because they would have overstepped their bounds.
Go WAY in the back and sit down, raj.
Regards,
Peter H.
raj, seems like Peter, NDXXX and GPW have nailed your coffin shut once again. I really think that lust to be a German citizen and renounce America has spoiled your world view. Have you checked on whether or not the Germans will let you in via a dual citizenship with one of the former imperial colonies? It might be worth some wiki work.
#15 – He won’t answer; raj is too busy watching the World Cup and fantasizing about his exhalted presence in his own mind…
Regards,
Peter H.
#11 North Dallas Thirty — June 22, 2006 @ 12:09 pm – June 22, 2006
What GPW is saying is twofold:
– Why didn’t Nagin request the Guard when the hurricane was coming?
– Why didn’t Blanco send the Guard when the hurricane was coming?
And my question is and remains, why don’t you email them and ask them? The fact that you don’t, indicates that you aren’t really interested in the answer–you just want to bloviate.
#12 GayPatriotWest — June 22, 2006 @ 12:36 pm – June 22, 2006
I did’t mention the federal government in the post, suggesting that Nagin and Blanco were responsible for the evacuation of the city.
Maybe they were, and maybe they weren’t, solely responsible for evacuating the city. You seem to have ignored the presumed role of FEMA–you know, the Federal Emergency Management Agency–in this. Did FEMA also have a role in evacuating the city? Apparently, at least some FEMA officials believed that they did..
Can we upload files with a post??