> Underscoring the strain of the disaster, Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record), D-La., lashed out at federal officials who she said have denigrated local efforts to deal with the catastrophe. “If one person criticizes them or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me,” she said on the ABC’s “This Week.” “One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally.”
Right on! Finally, someone is saying what I’ve been thinking. From what I’ve seen on the news, most local agencies would be overwhelmed by the devestating consquences of the hurricane. Why wouldn’t the local agencies do everything they could with the means available? I’m sure New Orleans, Lousiana, and the rest of the South have been hit by budget constraints. Whose city or state hasn’t? Again, what is the Dept. of Homeland Security preparing for? Are they ready to act should a terrorist act create devastation of this magnitude in another US city?
Also, how come the White House can get to a foreign country half way around the world in four days, but can’t seem to help their own citizens more quickly than that! These are quotes from the White House’s own website regarding the tsunami:
When the earthquake hit, USAID immediately worked to mobilize staff to respond to the humanitarian needs in the affected countries.
The Defense Department brought into action military assets to support relief operations in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The Defense Department has been providing vital supplies and logistics to the humanitarian effort since December 30.
The feds had TWO DAYS BEFORE the hurricane hit to mobilize help for their own people.
The governors of Mississippi and Lousiana declared a state of emergency on Friday, August 26th. George Bush declared states of emergency for Lousiana on August 27th and for Mississippi on August 28th. That’s when the federal government should have jumped into action. They should have positioned armed forces/medical personnel to rescue/aid people on that SAME DAY.
But, I guess the problem is the no one in the Bush Administration has a CLUE! Read these quotes from the linked article. If your blood doesn’t boil at the sheer cluelessness and stupidity rampant within the federal government, you must be employed by them:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.
Jesus Christ! National Geographic did an article about New Orleans last year and cited FEMA (which is part of the Homeland Security Department) as having a list of dire threats to the nation and a hurricane hitting that city is on that list!
Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans.
Speaking to “Larry King Live” on August 31, in the wake of Katrina, Brown said, “That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we’re implementing it.”
Brown suggested FEMA — part of the Department of Homeland Security — was carrying out a prepared plan, rather than having to suddenly create a new one.
So the plan they had in place was to wait and see, stick their thumbs up their asses until the cry for help became so loud you couldn’t ignore it? How hard is it to commandeer every commercial airliner within the area as well as every bus within 200-300 miles? Get those people on planes/buses and out of the affected areas! The Louis Armstrong Airport was open and operational on August 31st. On September 3rd, there were still people trying to get out of the city!
>An excellent post. Lots of good questions. But this president isn’t interested in answering questions. He’s interested in taking credit when things go well, and assigning blame when things go wrong.
Yeharr
>Thanks. I’m really riled up about the federal response to this disaster. It’s shameful and I think most of the rest of the world feels the same way.
If the American people don’t rise up and impeach Bush as well as remove most of his cabinet, they are under some sort of mind control. Or just stupider than I give them credit for.