An Open Letter

I am ashamed that you are my Representative in Congress. I am an independent, and there are a lot of things I disagree with the current Administration over. But, Hurricane Relief is not one of them. The efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democrat Party to spin relief efforts into political gain is deplorable.

Lets look at the facts and all possible relief senerios, shall we? There are only five possible ways for Federal intervention in a disaster.

1- The President could have walked out on the waters of the Gulf and commanded Hurricane Katrina to turn back into the open sea. If he had, the Democrat Party would have rushed to the microphones to accuse Bush of grandstanding for political gain! I guess we can scratch this one off the list.

2- The President could have just marched in and taken over. This is illegal and would have resulted in demands for his impeachment along with his head on a platter. Scratch two.

3- The President could have declared that the State and Local Governments no longer exist in any meaningful way and that FEMA had to take over in order to protect the citizens. Yeah, right. As if the Congressional Black Caucus would let him get away with that! Scratch three.

4- The President could have declared War on the State of Louisiana. This was tried once. A little over 140 years ago a Republican declared War on the Southern States. As I remember from school, a whole lot of folks got in a snit over that one. Scratch four.

5- The Mayor of New Orleans informs the Governor of Louisiana that aid is needed, and the Governor calls the President and asks for help. This finally happened four days after the fact.

Think about it. On Saturday, two days before the storm, The Director of the Hurricane Center called Mayer Nagin and Gov.. Blanco pleading with them to evacuate. Nothing. The President personally called and strongly urged Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco to order evacuations. Finally, on Sunday, less than one day before the storm hit, evacuations were called for.

However, The Mayor and the Governor failed to provide any form of transportation for the poor and the needy. There are hundreds of school buses in the New Orleans Metro area that could have been put into use. Instead those buses sit under water, destroyed. And the good citizens of New Orleans were left to fend for themselves while the Mayor hid in another city.

After the storm passed, Mayor Nagin was clueless as to what was happening in New Orleans. Why? Because he was sitting in Baton Rouge, not in New Orleans where he should have been. You cannot lead disaster recovery from out of town. From the time the storm left the area on Monday night until Thursday afternoon, Mayor Nagin stood in another City and complained that he was not getting any assistance when he never asked for it in the first place! Once Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco asked for Federal Assistance, that assistance was set in motion within an hour.

FEMA had pre-positioned equipment and personnel before the storm hit. FEMA could not legally act without being asked. The majority of the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Gulfport and Biloxi are cleaning up. Emergency Services are being restored. The difference between Gulfport and Biloxi and New Orleans is that the Mayors and the Governor of Mississippi reacted properly and asked for aid right away. In New Orleans, the elected Officials failed to act in the Public Interest, before, during, and after the storm.

You can't blame the Federal Government for the failures of the Local and State elected Officials. There is no excuse for Gov. Blanco not ordering the LA NG into the afflicted areas on Monday evening to provide aid and security. That responsibility falls on the Governor's shoulders and no where else. The failure to mobilize the school buses to evacuate those without transportation falls on Mayor Nagin and nowhere else.

Congressman Davis, it is not your fault that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Nor is it President Bush's fault. Storms happen. Cleanup, Rebuild, and move on. Don't whine and cry.

Perhaps I should blame you for the high price of gasoline. After all, you did not sponsor a Bill mandating that before a refinery can close, a new refinery with greater capacity must be built to replace it. If you had pushed through such a Bill we would not have shortages now.

Oh, so now you want to toss out the Constitution? The Posse Comitatus act.

You are advocating establishing a police state just because a big city mayor and a governor couldn't figure out how to make the system work. These were the duly elected leaders of their people, why shouldn't their decision making be respected and years of emergency management process be followed? I believe the last time that the Federal government used the military 'when lives were on the line' was at Waco.

To me it looks like President Bush did approach the limits of Federal power by declaring a disaster before the Governor (I remember wondering what was going on when he did that). The governor also admitted that Presdent Bush was imploring them to evacuate.

"5- The Mayor of New Orleans informs the Governor of Louisiana that aid is needed, and the Governor calls the President and asks for help. This finally happened four days after the fact."

I'm debating a liberal based on the information you gave, and he came up with a letter posted on the State of Louisina's website written by the governor requesting FEMA's help. It's dated August 28, well before the mayor had his breakdown. So I'm confused.

At the risk of sounding stupid, please clarify what kind of help was requested four days after the fact. And where is your source.

Thanks.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475411/posts

. . . and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear.

"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

There are other threads, search in the 9-11 dates, late afternoon. Before this time all the Gov. was doing is complain, not issue orders.

At the risk of sounding stupid, please clarify what kind of help was requested four days after the fact. And where is your source.

Source is FR threads.

LA NG is under the Governor's command. LA NG was not sent in until Thursday late afternoon. Before this point in the timeline all the Governor did was whine and complain. After this point on the timeline it was like flipping on a lightswitch. Suddenly the Guard was sent with orders to shoot.

And there are specific emergency planning actions that should have been taken by the mayor and the governor. And there are specific intra-governmental emergency procedures that have been followed during other natural disasters.

If its the Federal government's fault, why didn't the same failures appear last year when four hurricaned devastated Florida? -- Because local authorities did things right.

I think if you've followed my comments, I laid the blame for much of what has happened at all levels, local, state AND federal. The focus of this forum for the most part is to cover the Presidents butt, because he is one of us. I'm not taking sides. I'm speaking my mind.

There is a vast difference with New Orleans from Florida. While the devastation in FLA is great, it is paled to NO. While Miami Dade will feel the effects for months to come as other areas of the state still does from last years hurricanes, the infrastructure was able to return. It wasn't flooded out. Access wasn't totally cut off. People were not stranded without food, water or sanitation with no help in sight.

I won't make this a race issue, because it isn't. IT's a poor planning and implementation issue. And the blame needs to go around to all first, primary and extreme responders.

It didn't take the federal government that long to respond to NYC in 2001. So why did it take that long in NO?

Even the President is saying the response wasn't all it should be and will be. Why so long to realize that? Unless it's a sound bite and photo op.

You are speaking your mind but you are apparently uninformed about emergency response procedures, federal law regarding state's authority in emergencies and military logistics.

Don't feel bad. Frankly, we are all uninformed about the condition of the road network access to New Orleans. It is difficult to determine how many National Guard were mobilized for Mississipi and Alabama. Nor do we know what the state governement actually requested from the Feds AND WHEN. These would be key pieces of info to judge Federal resupply efforts on.

However, there is enough data to judge that local and state governmental actions were. When you compare the posted emergency plan of the city with their actual execution, you can see failures. Not calling for and enforcing mandatory evacuation, not securing transportation for those without it. Not following historical policing methods in the face of looting and mayhem.

You say you are being even handed blaming all levels, but haven't said what standard was violated in the case of the federal government. Local governments are supposed to handle 72 to 96 hours while federal support is requested and arranged. Its been this way for a long, long time. What part of this accepted arrangement don't you like?

If you can't envision why it takes 72 hours to move well over 10,000 National Guard soldiers and their equipment to another state, why don't you invite them all over for dinner this week?

My criticism is largely based on this was a category 5 storm 24-48 hours before landfall. Even if the local and state didn't request it, federal help should have been staged at the northern borders of likely states to be hit. The need was largely known before the problem occurred. Even Drudge had his web site devoted to New Orleans being likely lost in this storm.

Of course the media focus has been on New Orleans largely because it's the largest city and there is a large contingent of media there already. Plus add to the fact that while Mississippi was hit, possibly harder than New Orleans, it was spared the ravages of long term flooding and massive amounts of stranded people.

With regard to the evacuation, many were told to head to the dome and center. Why they weren't told to get out of town or transportation provided for those who couldn't, I don't know. Was that entirely a local or state issue, or was the evac plan a fed plan?

Even if the local and state didn't request it, federal help should have been staged at the northern borders of likely states to be hit.

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National Hurricane Director had to call Nagin at home Saturday night to plead: "Get people out..."
Knight Ridder Newspapers ^ | Sun, Aug. 28, 2005 | BY MARC CAPUTO, DAVID OVALLE AND ERIKA BOLSTAD

Posted on 09/03/2005 12:14:14 PM PDT by joinedafterattack

MAYOR CRITICIZED EVEN BEFORE LEVY BREAK. National Hurricane Center Director had to call Nagin at home Saturday night to plead: "Get people out of New Orleans." "The criticisms of Nagin came from above as well. Numerous officials urged him to evacuate the city, but he worried about the legality of ordering people out when New Orleans has few safe hurricane shelters. Also, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield in Miami called Nagin at home Saturday night and told him: Get people out of New Orleans.

''I could never sleep if I felt like I didn't do everything that I could to impress upon people the gravity of the situation,'' Mayfield said. ``New Orleans is never going to be the same.''

Have you considered that the hurricane continued north into Tennesee after striking the coast. Do you suppose that that continuous serious weather delayed the kind of build up you describe?

How do you think the governor of Tennesee would feel about staging national guard units for a city that wouldn't even declare an emergency?

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With regard to the evacuation, many were told to head to the dome and center. Why they weren't told to get out of town or transportation provided for those who couldn't, I don't know. Was that entirely a local or state issue, or was the evac plan a fed plan?

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There are dozens of postings on this website with links to the New Orleans City evacuation plan which stated that evacuation would include bus transportation.

This has been discussed ad nauseum. This website is one of the best sources on the web to uncover information. Why don't you read more and post less?

"The focus of this forum for the most part is to cover the Presidents butt, because he is one of us. "

Oh, Really? You think Bush Cares about a Little Guy like You? He's one of You, Huh? Well, just call him up on the Phone and Tell him all the Freepers are Supporting him. I'm SURE he'll be Suitably impressed. Just don't expect him to come to your Funeral.

And WHY would he NEED his Butt Covered if he did no wrong?

If its the Federal government's fault, why didn't the same failures appear last year when four hurricaned devastated Florida? -- Because local authorities did things right.

I guess things aren't going so well this time?

Gov. Bush Takes Blame for Slow Wilma Aid Email this Story Oct 26, 6:47 PM (ET)

By CURT ANDERSON

MIAMI (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush took the blame Wednesday for frustrating delays at centers distributing supplies to victims of Hurricane Wilma, saying criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was misdirected.

"Don't blame FEMA. This is our responsibility," Bush said at a news conference in Tallahassee with federal Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees the agency.

Many Floridians were still struggling to find food, water, ice and gas on the third day of recovery from Wilma, waiting in line for hours - sometimes in vain. Miami-Dade's mayor called the distribution system flawed and said at least one relief site of 11 in his county ran out of supplies.

So much for Florida being so much better prepared?

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