A friend who respects Pres Bush like I do shared this with me

Ozzieman

New member
I wish I could say I wrote it, and I wish I knew who did, but there good words with a lot of truth in them.

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


Funds for disaster protection and relief have been flowing into this city
for decades, and where has it gone, but into the pockets of the politicians
and their friends.


Decades of socialist government in New Orleans has sapped all self reliance
from the community, and made them dependent upon government for every
little thing.


Political correctness and a lack of will to fight crime have created the
single most corrupt police force in the country, and has permitted gang
violence to flourish.


The sad thing is that there are many poor folks who have suffered and died
needlessly because those that they voted into office failed them.


For those who missed item 5 (where the President's level of accountability
is discussed), it is made more clear in a New Orleans Times-Picayune
article dated August 28:


NEW ORLEANS (AP) - In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a
mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.


Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists,
would be unable to leave, The City set up 10 places of last resort for
people to go, including the Superdome.


The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave
the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because
airlines had already canceled all flights.


Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said
President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation
for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. (emphasis mine)


The ball was placed in Mayor Nagin's court to carry out the evacuation
order. With 5-day heads-up, he had the authority to use any and all
services to evacuate all residents from the city, as documented in a city
emergency preparedness plan. By waiting until the last minute, and failing
to make full use of resources available within city limits, Nagin and his
administration screwed up.


Mayor Nagin and his emergency sidekick Terry Ebbert have displayed lethal,
mind boggling incompetence before, during and after Katrina.


As for Mayor Nagin, he and his profile in pathetic leadership police chief
should resign. That city's government is incompetent from one end to the
other. The people of New Orleans deserve better than this crowd of clowns
is capable of giving them.


If you're keeping track, these boobs let 569 buses that could have carried
33,350 people out of New Orleans-in one trip-get ruined in the floods.
Whatever plan these guys had, it was a dud. Or it probably would have been
if they'd bothered to follow it.


As for all the race-baiting rhetoric and Bush-bashing coming from prominent
blacks on the left, don't expect Ray Nagin to be called out on the carpet
for falling short. You want to know why? Here's why:


It's more convenient to blame a white president for what went wrong than to
hold a black mayor and his administration accountable for gross negligence
and failing to fully carry out an established emergency preparedness plan.


To hold Nagin and his administration accountable for dropping the ball
amounts to letting loose the shouts and cries of "Racism!". It's sad, it's
wrong, but it's standard operating procedure for the media and left-wing
black leadership.


Mark my words: you will not hear a word of criticism from Jesse Jackson
Sr., Randall Robinson, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, or Kanye
West being directed toward Clarence Ray Nagin Jr. Why? Because he is just
another black politician instead of a responsible elected official who
happens to be black. In the mindset of more-blacker-than-thou blacks, black
politicians who are on their side can do no wrong.
 
As I see it, the "Chain of Command" is thus:

1. Mayor Nagin
2. Governor Blanco
3. President Bush.

The other two in the above post's list work for one of the above. They are staff, not in "Command" positions.

The first two failed miserably. The third link in the chain, Mr Bush, appears to have acted timely and within the law. He even appears to have properly advised the Mayor and Gov and provided assets for their use PRIOR to the storm.

Nagin and Blanco are just plain incompetent.
 
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 levees are the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers.
 
"the levees are the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers."

It's my understanding that the levees were built by the Army Corps of Engineers, but were maintained (and the responsibility of) Levee Boards appointed by the Governor of LA.
 
Looks like the local levee boards could have fixed them if they had wanted to raise the money. But they didn't. JT

_______________

Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."

The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.
 
Don't think you're going to see any mainline media reporting this any time soon... They seem to avoid the truth nowadays. :rolleyes:
 
If people insist on building and living below sea level on dry marshland...

...they should pay for it themselves! :p

It is appropriate they pay higher property taxes to live in lower places. :D
 
Looks like the local levee boards could have fixed them if they had wanted to raise the money. But they didn't. JT
They were given millions of dollars over the last two decades to maintain and improve the system. The money was squandered on other "items of need," perhaps beads and condoms for Mardi Gras.

Rick
 
the levees are the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers.


You sir, are incorrect.

They are the responsibility of the individual levee board. Each levee has it's own board. That is per the LA constitution.

Charles
 
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