Declare the State of Louisiana a military protectorate and take federal control of all State resources for use in the recovery.
The people cry for bread and Washington gives them words! Hope not!
Will he use the Insurrection Act...that is the question!
President: Millions of tons of food and water on its way to the Gulf and NO. Medicine being sent.
Working with Governor to deploy 600 of the newly arrived MP's to secure the site so food and medicine can get in there.
People working hard to help those who were affected. Thanking people for their help. Results not acceptable.
Looking forward to talking with people on the ground.
We'll deploy the assets necessary to get situation under control and get help for affected people and begin long term plan.
Long term plan to rebuild affected communities. Looking forward to my trip and thanking people on the ground. We're on top of the situation to help people who need help.
That was flat out embarrassing. What the hell was that?
Thats a leader , the way he carries himself , the way he speaks, He is the last hope of those poor folks in nola.
Is it going to be another fluff speech or is actually going to announce that we're sending in the 101st to clean house?
Does congress have to declare Marshall law before active duty Military is deployed to a region like NO?
I hope he comes out and says"With this pen i put on hold all federal gas tax until this crisis is over."
But hey i can dream right?
Thus I can't help but compare President Bush's reaction to 9/11 vs his reaction to Katrina.
I wonder what is causing the difference?
I read somewhere (I've read so much I can't remember where) that Nagin commented that Bush should send in some John Wayne guy because he already had and when that John Wayne guy started cussin things started to happen.
A lot of people on this thread expect the impossible. You are the first people to scream about small government and getting the government out of our lives, and the first people to scream that the federal government needs to solve disasters *immediately.*
This is a failure of *LOCAL* government. It is a failure of *STATE* government. Once the federal government got involved, things stopped FAILING and are getting on the right track. When you have a city's police force walking off the job, like NO's did, what do you do if you are the federal government to PREPARE for that???????
The heads that should roll should be those of New Orleans government officials. It was their responsibility to set a tone of law and order but instead allowed a "Lord of the Flies" atmosphere to prevail. Blame them, not President Bush.
You are a bunch of crybaby whiners on this thread!
All major news media links are posted on one site:
C-SPAN, FOX News, ABC, BBC, SKY News,
CNN, MSNBC and even lousy CBS:
I may have missed the report but has the mayor or Gov of LA made a trip to NO as of yet?
Disasters happen.
Bad disasters happen.
We are going to lose Americans when they happen.
But we will survive disasters (unless Yellowstone really does blow up for real ;-) and in this case, the right thing to do is to continue to work to fix the disaster we are currently faced with.
Has the municipality done a bad job? Yes, an extraordinarily bad one. And it won't probably improve in its execution.
Has the state done a bad job? Yes, a remarkably bad one, and it won't probably won't improve in its execution.
Will we come out of this unscathed? Nope. It's clear that this is going to be painful. Guess what? We can take it. We can take pain that I don't want to even imagine, and we can lick it.
Sorry for the preaching to the choir; I know some of you probably feel exactly the same way or close enough. But I hope that we can calm down and move forward.
Thank you for your attention.
[And to add a little historical perspective, there is nothing wrong with all of the carping about how things are being handled --- it's a free country, we are an ornery lot with a lot of strong-held opinions. But let's also take historical perspective on our other great disasters -- the Johnstown Flood, the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire, Galveston -- and realize we can and will overcome other disasters, including Katrina.]
Things I think didn't need to be said are struck out and my added comments in non-italics [].
[snip]
And finally, we're moving forward with a comprehensive recovery strategy. We're working hard to restore electric power, repair transportation infrastructure, restart energy production, and of course, strategize as to how to provide housing for these folks. I met with Chairman Greenspan at lunch, as well as the economic team, to evaluate the impact of Hurricane Katrina. We particularly spent a lot of time talking about the damage done to our energy infrastructure and its effect on the availability and price of gasoline.
In our judgment, we view this storm as a temporary disruption that is being addressed by the government and by the private sector. We've taken immediate steps to address the issue. The Secretary of Energy is approving loans of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The EPA has provided a temporary nationwide waiver for fuel requirements so supplies of gasoline can move more easily within our country and so that we can attract more gasoline from overseas.
We're also working with energy companies to repair and reactivate major refineries and pipelines. The good folks must understand that major refineries have been shut down, which means it's going to be hard to get gasoline to some markets. We're working to help these pipelines get up and running. [get any damaged pipelines up to full capacity as soon as possible.] Pipelines carry refined product.
And so we're working with the majors -- major oil companies to get the -- with Colonial Pipeline so they can carry the products of the major oil companies, the refined products. Right now, the Colonial Pipeline, which is a major pipeline serving the East Coast, is back in operation, but only at 50 percent capacity. We anticipate that as the days go by, more and more of that capacity will be restored. Other major pipelines are coming back online. But as I said, we're going to have a temporary disruption of gasoline product.
Another challenge we face is that the downed pipelines [, some due to the lack to power at pumping stations which will be up and running after power gets restored,] are causing the need to transport gasoline to needed markets by ship. Under current law, shipping between American ports can only take place on American ships, and there are currently not enough American ships to move the oil and gasoline to where it's needed. So today I've instructed Secretary of Homeland Security Chairman Chertoff to temporarily waive this requirement, so foreign ships can also help distribute oil and gasoline to where it's needed. Today's action will further help us move gasoline to accommodate the demands of the American citizens.
Steps we're taking will help address the problem of availability [and the problems will be fixed as soon as possible]. but it's not going to solve it. [But while repairs are ongoing] Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks. Don't buy gas if you don't need it. [Be conservative in your driving, car pool if you can. Go to the web site fueleconomy.gov to find tips on how to get the most mileage out of your cars.]
"My beloved American people.........I have to inform you that as of 9.00am this morning, we are now officially at war with New Orleans......."
I presume that was 9:00 am Eastern Time. That would be 6:00 Pacific. If so it is now 6:54 Pacific. Did I miss him?
President Bush should appoint Rudy Guiliani to be in charge...to "get the ball rolling" ... better late than never.