Hmmmm
If any percentage of this is true, and I believe that some of it is, well, thinking folks need to think.
Received this in an email.
On Friday night before the storm hit, Max Mayfield of the
National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of
calling Nagin and Blanco (governor and mayor) personally to plead with them to begin
MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans and they said they'd take it
under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south
had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.
President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings
with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the
paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and
not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact
the Insurgency Act). Just before midnight Friday evening the
President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the
request papers so the federal government and the military could
legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they
didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be
involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor
she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political
ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if
they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they
had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be
invited in.
Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco
and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal
assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and
begin mandatory evacuation. After a personal plea from the
President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not
be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused
to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In
frustration the President declared the area a national disaster
area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin
some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's
legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using
the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that
a state request federal aid before the federal government can move
into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906
and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use
before the disaster.
Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New
Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was
diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in
the investigation that will look into why the emergency
preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding
and published on the city's website was never implemented and in
fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional
federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified
in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning
- though the document implies that they were.
The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard
questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco
refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation
documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal
deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask
why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have
commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to
his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500
busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses
and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger
to prepare them or activate them.
This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has
all but been destroyed and thousands of people have died with
hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a
time for people to be pointing fingers and trying to find a
bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray
to God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as
fast as possible and we learn from all the mistakes to avoid them
in the future.
Received this in an email.
National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of
calling Nagin and Blanco (governor and mayor) personally to plead with them to begin
MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans and they said they'd take it
under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south
had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.
President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings
with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the
paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and
not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact
the Insurgency Act). Just before midnight Friday evening the
President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the
request papers so the federal government and the military could
legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they
didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be
involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor
she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political
ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if
they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they
had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be
invited in.
Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco
and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal
assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and
begin mandatory evacuation. After a personal plea from the
President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not
be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused
to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In
frustration the President declared the area a national disaster
area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin
some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's
legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using
the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that
a state request federal aid before the federal government can move
into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906
and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use
before the disaster.
Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New
Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was
diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in
the investigation that will look into why the emergency
preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding
and published on the city's website was never implemented and in
fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional
federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified
in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning
- though the document implies that they were.
The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard
questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco
refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation
documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal
deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask
why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have
commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to
his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500
busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses
and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger
to prepare them or activate them.
This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has
all but been destroyed and thousands of people have died with
hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a
time for people to be pointing fingers and trying to find a
bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray
to God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as
fast as possible and we learn from all the mistakes to avoid them
in the future.
posted by Sharon @ 1:24 PM
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