These first responder jobs are the responsibility of local and state
government -- city police and firemen, city transportation and emergency
services personnel, state police, and ultimately the state National
Guard.
FEMA has always been primarily a Federal financing agency, providing
funding to the locals after the crisis hits to help them respond and
rebuild. That is why FEMA's website baldly states don't expect them to
show up with their aid until 3 or 4 days after the disaster strikes.
Moreover, the National Guard is under the command of the Governor of
each state, not the President. The President can Federalize control over
a state's guard on his own order, but doing so without a Governor's
consent to deal with an in state natural disaster would be a supreme
insult to the Governor and the state. In addition, using Federal troops for
local police actions is against the law and has been since the Posse
Comitatus Act of 1878.
With this background, let's examine who did what in response to
Katrina. President Bush declared the entire Gulf Coast, including New Orleans
and Louisiana, a Federal disaster area days before the hurricane hit,
to enable Federal aid to get there sooner.
The disaster that struck New Orleans did not become apparent until the
morning of Tuesday, August 29, as the levees broke after the brunt of
the storm had passed. But that very day, the Army Corps of Engineers
was already working on levee repair. And the Coast Guard was already in
the air with helicopters rescuing people from rooftops, ultimately
employing 300 choppers. These are both Federal agencies under Bush's
command.
In addition, before the end of that week, Bush had already pushed
through Congress and signed an emergency aid package of $10.5 billion for
the Gulf Coast region.
Now what about Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin? President Bush had to get on the phone two days before the hurricane
to plead with the Governor to order a mandatory evacuation. In
response, she dithered and delayed. Mayor Nagin also had full authority, and
responsibility, to order an evacuation. He dithered and delayed as
well.
The city's own written evacuation plan requires the city to provide
transportation for the evacuation of those without access to vehicles or
with disabilities. But Nagin did absolutely nothing to carry out this
responsibility.
Instead, hundreds of city metro and school buses were ruined in the
flood, as Nagin left them in low lying areas. Jesse Jackson and Kanye
West, do you think Nagin cares about poor blacks in New Orleans?
Nagin asked residents who couldn't get out to go to the Superdome. It
was his responsibility to then provide water, food, portable bathrooms,
and security for them. But, again, Nagin did nothing to carry out this
responsibility in service to the poor blacks who primarily exercised
this option.
Incredibly, we now know that even though the Red Cross was ready to
bring food and water to the Superdome the day after the storm, Governor
Blanco actually barred them from doing so! She didn't want to encourage
the survivors to stay at the Superdome due to such relief, but somehow
thought they should disperse back into the flooded city once the
hurricane passed.
President Bush pleaded with Governor Blanco that same day after the
storm to get the National Guard into New Orleans. Not much happened.
Seeing this, he asked her to give him Federal authority over the state's
Guard. She refused. As a result, the Guard didn't show up in force in
the city until near the end of the week.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans police department, under the authority of
Mayor Nagin, collapsed, with hundreds of officers walking off the job,
and others involved in the looting themselves. As a result, gangs of
criminals took over parts of the city, robbing, raping, and even murdering
survivors, looting stores and restaurants, and absurdly shooting at
relief workers and vehicles. Blanco failed to use the state police or
National Guard to maintain law and order as well.
But this mayhem in the poor, black neighborhoods is not unique to the
hurricane aftermath. With only 1500 officers in the city police force
at full strength, the residents of these heavily crime ridden
neighborhoods have been regularly left to fend for themselves for security as a
matter of city policy. The city basically has just enough police to
secure the tourist and downtown business districts. Again, who is it that
doesn't care for poor, black people?
President Bush finally had to order in 7,000 Federal troops, including
the 82nd Airborne, on Friday to get stranded residents out of the
Superdome, and the Convention Center, where Nagin had also completely
abdicated responsibility. These troops led the way to restoring law and
order. This was of dubious legal authority, but with the total collapse of
the state and local governments in dealing with the crisis, what choice
did he have?
Then there was Aaron Broussard, head of Jefferson Parish just outside
New Orleans. He broke down bawling on national television over the
deaths of nursing home residents in his jurisdiction on Friday, blaming
President Bush and a slow Federal response. But it was Broussard, with
authority over the parish's police, fire, ambulance and other emergency
services, who had failed them. When asked why he had done nothing to
help them, he lamely said he had been told the Calvary was coming from
Washington.
Again, however, FEMA is not a first responder agency. The first
responders are Broussard's local bureaucracy. It is not the U.S. Calvary's
job to bring bottles of fresh water from Washington to nursing home
residents in Jefferson parish, Louisiana.
Finally, we have not seen public officials in Mississippi, which was
hit even harder by the hurricane itself, or Alabama, crying on television
or complaining about the lack of Federal aid. They properly mobilized
their local police, fire, transportation, ambulance and emergency
services, and the state National Guard, to serve their roles as first
responders. Unlike Blanco in Louisiana, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour,
Republican, announced looters would be shot on sight. That maintained
law and order, without Federal troops.
Let's shortcircuit the sickening and dopey political posturing now just
beginning in Washington. President Bush organized the largest and
quickest Federal mobilization in response to a natural disaster in U.S.
history. Blanco, Nagin, and Broussard just need to resign in disgrace, as
thousands of their own constituents died because of their misconduct.
Website www.socialistmorons.com
Socialistmorons.com is obviously not a real website. Try going to it yourself. It can't be found. I didn't have much luck with Google. Anyone else know where this might have come from?
One of the most outrageous responses from the wingnuts. It's clever: looks and sounds rational, but it's stuffed with lie after lie and myth after myth.
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