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). The 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
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 politicos
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 cancelled 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.
The ball was placed in Mayor Nagin's court to carry out the evacuation
order. With a 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 fouled 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 as well. 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.
