La Habana Cuba
12-09-2005, 19:17
This was sent to me by a good friend of mine.
Subject : About Katrina.
Politics over duty
Th is is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter
who's
been
researching what went on before the storm hit
I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard
in the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming
to light.
On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National
Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco
personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO 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). Ju st 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 NO for
levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina
and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look
BR>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 NO 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
*****************************************************
In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American
sentiment and negativity about our government and its policies, we
should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words to his
own people.
During a recent interview, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great
Britain was asked by one of his parliament members as to why he believes so
much in America .....and does he think America is on the right track?
Blair's reply:
"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many
want in.....and how many want out."
Subject : About Katrina.
Politics over duty
Th is is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter
who's
been
researching what went on before the storm hit
I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard
in the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming
to light.
On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National
Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco
personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO 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). Ju st 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 NO for
levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina
and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look
BR>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 NO 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
*****************************************************
In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American
sentiment and negativity about our government and its policies, we
should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words to his
own people.
During a recent interview, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great
Britain was asked by one of his parliament members as to why he believes so
much in America .....and does he think America is on the right track?
Blair's reply:
"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many
want in.....and how many want out."