How Government Works... or doesn't...

[2257-Ben]

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE

Pass it on, so that those using this an opportunity to bash our President will know.

In case you aren't familiar with how our government is SUPPOSED to work:

The chain of responsibility for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is:

1. The Mayor

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security (a political appointee of the Governor who reports to the Governor)

3. The Governor

4. The Head of Homeland Security

5. The President

What did each do?

1. The mayor, with 5 days advance notice, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). Then he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much! for political appointees)

3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.

4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them

5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.

Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

The levee board had extra money so they bought a casino and a jet airplane to travel around in.

The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long.

[junction]

Can you provide me with links to support the information in your post? Thanks.

[Fletch XXX]

Well, under normal circumstances, you could possibly be correct.

But you are incorrect with a fewq assumptions regarding the Mayor, or this disaster.

The ball was passed to Feds 2 days BEFORE KATRINA even hit. So you cant place blame on local or state.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakin...09.html#077587

Clinton also said she believes the bulk of the investigation should be on the federal level because of the presidential declaration signed two days before Katrina struck.

That declaration put the federal government in the lead to coordinate the response to the disaster.

"I'm primarily interested why the federal government was not more ready, not more able, not more willing" to handle the response to the disaster, she said.

This presidential declaration placed the Feds in the lead for disaster efforts.

And the president did not deploy troops until when, Sept 3?

The feds dropped the ball and no matter how much spin you put on it, you cannot change SIGNATURES that gave certain people the responsibility.

[Fletch XXX]

Originally Posted by 2257-Ben

1. The mayor, with 5 days advance notice, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). Then he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much! for political appointees)

3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.

4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them

5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.

You are spreading so many INNACCURACIES its not even funny.

?I asked him to send me everything he's got,? Blanco said she told Bush in their first conversation,. In their second conversation, Blanco was more specific, saying the state needed 40,000 troops to restore order and complete the search and rescue mission.

But state officials acknowledge that the governor never directly asked for active-duty troops in her phone conversations with Bush. Bottcher said the governor was prepared to accept any combination of Guardsmen and regular Army troops, as long as there were enough numbers to calm the city and complete the rescue effort.

The subject of active-duty troops did not come up until a face-to-face meeting on Air Force One on Sept. 2, when Blanco and Bush spent about 45 minutes meeting behind closed doors. But the president's order to deploy was not made until the following day, and in the meantime the White House and the Blanco administration tussled over who would ultimately be in charge of the rescue effort.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakin...09.html#078245

[Fletch XXX]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin...ricane_Katrina

* August 25 - The storm is upgraded to become the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season.
* August 25 6:30PM - Katrina makes its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. At least 11 deaths in Florida are attributed to the storm.

* August 26 - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco declares state of emergency.

* August 27 - Katrina is upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane.
* August 27 - President Bush declares a state of emergency in Louisiana

* August 28 12:40AM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 4 hurricane.
* August 28 10AM CDT - National Weather Service issues a bulletin predicting "devastating" damage.[1]
* August 28 10AM CDT - Mandatory evacuation is ordered for New Orleans City.
* August 28 1PM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 5 hurricane with a highest sustained wind speed of 175 mph and gusts up to 215 mph.

* August 29 6:10AM CDT - Katrina makes second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph
* August 29 - Katrina makes third landfall near Louisiana/Mississippi border.

* August 30 1:30AM CDT - CNN reports that a levee on the 17th Street Canal, which connects into Lake Pontchartrain, suffered a two city-block wide breach. It is later reported that a total of three levees are breached.
* August 30 10PM CDT - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street levee breach has failed.
* August 30 - 80 percent of New Orleans is underwater.
* August 30 - Many instances of looting reported in the city of New Orleans.

* August 31 - The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
* August 31 - President Bush heads back to Washington from vacationing in Crawford, TX. Though he does not stop in Louisiana, Air Force One flies over the Gulf Coast so that he can view the devastation. [2]
* August 31 - The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
* August 31 - President Bush declares Gulf Coast a Public Health Emergency. [3]
* August 31 - Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana orders that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated.
* August 31 - New Orleans's 1,500 member police force is ordered to abandon search and rescue missions and turn their attention toward controlling the widespread looting and a curfew is placed in effect. Mayor Ray Nagin calls for increased federal assistance
* August 31 11PM EDT - U.S. government weather officials announce that the center of the remnant low of what was Katrina has been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary in southeastern Canada, with no discernible circulation.

* September 1 - Governor Blanco says that the death toll may be "in the thousands".
* September 1 - The shelter in Houston's Astrodome is ruled full and could not accept any more people.
* September 1 - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announces that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police will be deployed to New Orleans over the next three days. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco requests the mobilization of 40,000 National Guard troops.

* September 4 - The Superdome is completely evacuated.

* September 5 - The 17th Street Canal levee breach is plugged with 3,000 pound sandbags and truckloads of rock.

* September 6 - Forced evacuation of New Orleans ordered by mayor.

[Fletch XXX]

Originally Posted by 2257-Ben

Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

The levee board had extra money so they bought a casino and a jet airplane to travel around in.

The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long.

Again, more inaccuracies and spin.

The fact you have no clue about the way levee funds are even raised.

Levee runs are raised by a local state tax on "outboard motors" - them people have been paying taxes for levee funds for years and not getting the funds appropriated at FEDERAL level.


Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

One project that a contractor had been racing to finish this summer: a bridge and levee job right at the 17th Street Canal, site of the main breach on Monday.

[BigFish]

isn't hindsight greeeeeaaaat?!! if you think you're so fucking smart, then why are you sitting at home arguing on an adult webmaster board?

[TheSenator]

Originally Posted by 2257-Ben

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE

Pass it on, so that those using this an opportunity to bash our President will know.

In case you aren't familiar with how our government is SUPPOSED to work:

The chain of responsibility for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is:

1. The Mayor

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security (a political appointee of the Governor who reports to the Governor)

3. The Governor

4. The Head of Homeland Security

5. The President

What did each do?

1. The mayor, with 5 days advance notice, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). Then he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.

2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much! for political appointees)

3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.

4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them

5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.

Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

The levee board had extra money so they bought a casino and a jet airplane to travel around in.

The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long.

Has been debunked by Fletch XXX

thank you

[citizen tower]

I don't care what yall say, the Mayor of New Orleans should have put down the bong and gotten his people out.

[mrthumbs]

Originally Posted by BigFish

isn't hindsight greeeeeaaaat?!! if you think you're so fucking smart, then why are you sitting at home arguing on an adult webmaster board?

haha you could post this message in every gfy thread and get away with it.