Well, here's the other side of the political argument: A forward from my dearest Daddy, siding on the right as always.
Anyone who has information refuting these arguments is more than welcome to share. They raise some interesting points but they don't back them up with much more than rhetoric, in most cases. The last paragraph is, um, priceless. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall, really.
As I research and confirm or deny facts, I will add the correct information in bold, with a link.
For those that live inside and outside the US that can't comprehend what is going on in the Gulf Coast states.
1. It is up to the city to declare an emergency and evacuate the poor.
2 If for some ungodly reason the city can't do it then it becomes a State responsibility.
3. If all else fails the Federal Government is asked for help and the President normally takes the lead in dire situations even though he has cabinet members responsible for all emergencies..
But if you listen to the Newscast and Jesse Jackson you would think the President is suppose to be the first responder which he is not!! You want to blame someone go after the City Manager of the cities affected for leaving hundreds of buses parked like you will see farther down.. Sorry the President doesn't own a bus to send them! Also did anyone hear Jesse Jackson offer any of the money he blackmailed corporations out of to help his own people..No and you won't either..he showed up to pad his on pockets as usual!
This needs to be broadcast far and wide:
1. It was President BUSH who initiated the evacuation orders and fed. disaster declaration, not the other way around-- Governor Bianco herself admitted this! MIXED, mostly false: Bianco declared a state of emergency on Friday August 26 (http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf ). As did the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html). It was Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, who ordered the evacuation (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/08/mayor-orders-new-orleans-evacuated.php), not Bush. It is true that the White House was the final signature on the Federal Disaster Declaration, but that's because that's how the process works; a state or city cannot declare a FEDERAL disaster. The declaration, backdated August 29 but not signed until Sept. 3: http://www.fema.gov/news/eventdfrns.fema?id=4808
2. The city didn't even attempt to offer transportation for their poor during their initial evac process. Check out: http://www.junkyardblog.net/images/NO-buses.jpg Edit:link broken
MOSTLY TRUE: If you visit the NO evacuation plan here and search for "Regional Transit Authority" or bus or somesuch in the page, you'll find that it was part of the evacuation plan... yet didn't happen. SOMEONE at the local level dropped the ball.
3. The FEMA response has been drastically slowed because of the violence which was due to the fact that over 50% of the New Orleans police walked away from their duties!! FALSE: The current percentage which have resigned, committed suicide, or are missing in action is only 13%.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/national/nationalspecial/04police.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1125839324-Gx/WKaOOvv/dZllBg1criA
4. All the stupid uproar about money for the levee and the Army Corp. of Engineers is moot, as the levee failed at a POINT that WAS ALREADY UPGRADED!! UNVERIFIABLE: Information on the exact status of the levees and location of the breach is sparse. However, the levees may be affected by nearby sections as well, so even if the section in question was upgraded, if nearby sections were not, that could still lead to the breach. More information is required to confirm or deny this statement.
Start getting some facts out there, since the media, as usual, is only marginally interested in presenting them.
Check out the New Orleans emergency plan at:
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26
It is clearly the Governor and by delegation, the Mayor who are charged with ordering evacuation. This is to be done for a cat 3 storm. There is supposed to be an official in charge of planning emergency shelters (including 6 enumerated public schools). Nowhere is the Federal Govt mentioned.
In the plans, they mention evacuation zones, locations to be studied later. Apparently, it was never done. I agree with the comments above. Every time someone farts and craps their pants, everybody wants to blame Bush. The Mayor of New Orleans on radio the other night was a great example. Had he, the Parish and the State of Louisiana done their job, things would have be different. New Orleans is well renown for it's corruption in both the local government and the police department. If a rating were to be given for the execution of their emergency plans, I would rate them a PPP, which is an old Air Force acronym for, Piss Poor Planning" not to mention "Execution." Too bad for the innocent people in N.O. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for them to purge and elect a government that has the citizens interests at heart rather than their own selfish greed.....Charlie Stauffer
I will add this. Since our govt., or President, or anyone else for that matter, not even global warming, are responsible for Hurricanes, or where they are directed, not even good old Mother Nature, but One who controls the whole Universe, God, to be specific, then how do we know He hasn't puposely directed this storm to expose and destroy a corrupt city? Who are we to cast blame? Wasn't it God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? If that happened today, the bleeding heart Liberals would want to build it back up again to what it was, and spend our money doing it.
Just a thought!
The forward also included the text of this article:
An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare Stateby Robert Tracinski
Sep 02, 2005
www.tiadaily.com
It looks like a supposed newspaper which is published, edited, and written by one man. Hardly a reliable source, but nonetheless perhaps he has something worth saying. And, even if he doesn't, you must know your enemy to defeat him.
EditWell, I've skimmed the TIA article. The thing is a tautology. It doesn't really support anything with outside sources and includes intuitive wisdom from the author's wife. Um, yes. Whatever you say. *pats the right-wing zealot* That's right. Humans who have never been exposed to a welfare state would NEVER loot, pillage, and rape in a disastrous situation, and certainly, normal AMERICANS would NEVER do that! It must be the welfare state, which, as we all know, was in full force in Socialist Louisiana.
The one set of links he does provide are links which are intended to prove the corruption of the NO police force. The first link shows that the police who had headed to the Wal Mart to get supplies for their division (dog food, probably for search and rescue dogs, food for humans such as chili and spaghetti-os, t-shirts, probably necessary because many of them may not have changes of clothing and they are rescuing people who may only have soaked clothing (soaked in toxic sewage, from what I hear about the water in NO by now) and yes, admittedly, one DVD) did not stop the mob of looters who had descended upon the walmart. Yes, well. First of all, in an emergency, people need to get food somewhere, and if all the stores are closed, they aren't expected to starve. Second of all, for the majority of the "looters" who were actually looting valuable luxuries rather than disaster necessities, I'm sure there were just too many of them for the police to do anything. Stopping looting is not a priority. Rescuing people who are stranded without food or water is the priority, and these police officers probably had a mission: Get food and supplies, and get them back to the station/staging area. Do not get distracted by lower priority missions.
The second link is much more informative... apparently 200 of the 1500 officers in the NO police force resigned or never showed up, after a week of working around the clock (some never showed up, and some stopped showing up partway through, or resigned). Two committed suicide. If you read the article, it's a matter of humans getting overwhelmed, and not being able to "take it anymore." I'm not sure how I feel about those who resigned, but this does show that the police were understaffed as of Sept. 3, and possibly earlier.
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