Katrina reveals other Louisiana disaster (numbskulls, showboats, shills, scalawags and scam artists)

The Daily Sentinel ^ | September 28, 2005 | Gary Harmon

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Strangely enough, it no longer appears that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been headed of late by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.

Sherman, y’all might recall, burned Atlanta, and his razing of the South in general earned the long-term ill will of Southerners before Gen. Robert E. Lee determined that he no longer could prevent the Yankees from prevailing in the War of Northern Aggression, as some folk still lovingly refer to those days more than 140 years ago.

No one, for instance, fled the ravages of Katrina or Rita on the Wm. T. Sherman Parkway, Union Boulevard, Appomattax Avenue or the U.S. Grant Memorial Highway.

Still, given all the hard feelings that won’t go away, you could be forgiven for believing that Thaddeus Stevens and his Radical Republicans had been in charge of the modern deconstruction of New Orleans, what with all the wild-eyed reports coming out of the Big DisEase-y.

There were supposed to be 25,000 dead. So far, not even 1,000.

The New Orleans Superdome was supposed to be Thunderdome with bodies draped from the cheap seats and filled with marauding gangs.

“We have individuals who are getting raped; we have individuals who are getting beaten,” Police Chief Eddie Compass told a rapt “Oprah!”

Not to be outdone, Mayor Ray Nagin said people were trapped in the Superdome for five days “watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people.”

The New Orleans newspaper quoted a soldier with the Arkansas National Guard as saying 30 to 40 bodies were stuffed into the freezer at the convention center.

When the convention center was swept, however, no such pile of bodies was found.

Ultimately, in a rare burst of understatement and honesty, Lt. Col. Jacques Thibodeaux of the Louisiana National Guard commented that, “The incidents were highly exaggerated.”

Well, not all of them.

There were, still, plenty of school buses left to the ravages of Katrina, then Rita, that could have been used to take to safety the people of New Orleans who couldn’t otherwise get out themselves.

Now it turns out that Eddie Compass no longer wants to be in charge of the Big Easy’s police department. Might that have to do with documented examples of boys in blue joining in the looting? How about all the ones who simply failed to show up for duty? Now there’s some question about whether some of those cops even existed at all.

On top of it all, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who bears perhaps the most inadvertently accurate surname of any American politician past or present, now wants billions of federal dollars pumped into Louisiana, no comment on what the state commitment, if any, might be.

What stands out as starkly true is that Louisiana remains strongly in the grip of a confederacy of numbskulls, showboats, shills, scalawags and scam artists, most of whom hold some sort of elected or appointed post.

Any idea that money should be handed over to them, even with strong federal oversight, is one that should be pretty much like New Orleans is today after the hurricanes:

Gone with the wind.

Gary Harmon can be reached via e-mail at gharmon@gjds.com.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Corruption Charges Beginning To Surface In New Orleans Police Department***...."It's pretty much always been known, but never openly acknowledged, that NOPD's actual numbers were far below the "official" figure of 1500 - 1700," says the Fox News source.

The number of officers that actually are employed by the department are around 900 to 1,000. The question now remains...where was all of that salary money going to?

The FBI began investigating the New Orleans police who had abandoned their post during Katrina and of the more than 500 screened so far, 84-percent don't exist. ...***

New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, right, turns away from the microphones as Mayor Ray Nagin, left, looks on after Compass announced his retirement in New Orleans, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is greeted by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco as he arrives for a news conference Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

_______________________________________________________________

...It's easy to dismiss Brown's statement ... as an attempt to deflect blame for his agency's bureaucratic blunders and snafus on others — in this case Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. But ... the failure of [LA] officials to adequately address the levee situation over decades is well-documented.

....Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of indicted officials per capita. ... the past generation has seen a governor, an attorney general, a federal judge, a state Senate president and a swarm of local officials convicted of assorted crimes.

Police Superintendent Eddie Compass didn't say why he suddenly resigned. But it comes after his department announced that about 250 New Orleans police officers — 15% of the force — could face punishment for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina.

Before Katrina, New Orleans was ..crime-ridden .. a murder rate 10 times the national average. ..one in four murders result in a conviction, largely because retaliation against potential witnesses is common. Yet New Orleans had only three cops per 1,000 residents, a ratio less than half that of Washington, D.C.

....Why weren't there any FEMA horror stories after Hurricane Rita slammed into Texas? Some would argue that the agency had learned the lessons of Katrina.

But then how do we explain the fact that there were no horror stories after Florida was hit with four hurricanes — Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne — last year? In fact, President Bush was criticized for responding too fast in order to help his re-election chances.

Mike Brown may deserve criticism for his performance. But given the corruption and malfeasance in the Pelican State, and the lack of preparedness and chaotic response of local officials, his observation that "Louisiana was dysfunctional" may not be far off the mark. - Investor's Business Daily

[pcottraux]

"Katrina reveals other Louisiana disaster (numbskulls, showboats, shills, scalawags and scam artists)"

Yes, we all know about Sean Penn and his leaky boat.

[ncountylee]

Kathleen and Ray - Cindy and Jesse, the hot couples on the scene.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I guess some scalawags saw Penn coming.

US actor Sean Penn paddles a boat after the motor failed to start as he made an attempt to rescue stranded people in New Orleans. Penn rescued several people from flooded houses in the city on September 4, before his boat sprang a leak.(AFP/File/Nicholas Kamm)

US actor Sean Penn bales water out of a boat with a plastic cup as he and members of his entourage make an attempt to rescue stranded people in New Orleans. Efforts by Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly Sunday, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak. Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina's flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch(AFP/Nicholas Kamm)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cindy and Jesse

That would be the numbskull and showboat categories.

[pcottraux]

No, Sean, Johnny Depp is still going to be in the "Pirates of the Carribean" sequels. No point in auditioning. The role is taken.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Privately, some police officers said that Mr. Compass may have considered resigning even before Hurricane Katrina struck. Earlier this month, while in New York, Mr. Compass sought a book deal detailing his hurricane experience, said two publishing officials who asked not to be identified because a confidentiality agreement had been signed.

Several high-ranking police officers said, however, that they did not know what was behind his departure.

"We don't know why, whether it's a personal decision or whether there's anything operating in the background," said Capt. Michael Pfeiffer, a top police operations official.

Yet, morale was known to be low among many officers, some of whom grumbled privately on Tuesday that they were not receiving overtime pay. CNN also reported new accusations last week of police looting in the wake of the storm, which the department denied.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/national/nationalspecial/28storm.html

[pcottraux]

What a mess.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***The women were on the roof of the hotel, calling for help as floodwaters rose. Then a motorboat full of policemen came by. “Can you help us?” the women cried. The policemen replied, “Show us what you’ve got!” and motioned for them to lift their T-shirts.

The women said no. The policemen left them there.

I figured that story for an urban legend when one of my students wrote about it in a class I teach. Too crazy to be true, I thought.

But the tale turns out to be an eyewitness account from one Ged Scott, a bus driver from suburban Liverpool, England, who, with his wife and son, was on vacation in New Orleans when that city was swamped by Hurricane Katrina. Scott’s story has received considerable play in British newspapers; as near as I can tell, it has not been picked up stateside.

....Show us your breasts and we’ll get you out of here?

You’ll have to go some to find a better illustration of the utter banality of evil.

I’m reminded of a piece of wisdom picked up somewhere along the way: Crises, it said, do not so much build character as reveal it. Calamity, in other words, has this way of knocking down artifice and pretension; the devices people construct to keep other people from seeing who they really are. In a very real sense, you become yourself when things are disintegrating all around you.

Let’s face it, more than levees broke in New Orleans. Social order broke. Police authority broke. Chain of command broke. Communications broke. All the structures we build to restrain the floodwaters of human behavior broke....***

http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2005/09/29/opinion/opinion/doc433b648f82e9e731012202.txt

[konaice]

Kathleen Blanco, who bears perhaps the most inadvertently accurate surname of any American politician past or present.,

I love it! ;-P

[backhoe]

a confederacy of numbskulls

Says it all.

Anyone who thinks corruption is a laughing matter needs to read, very carefully, "The Fall of South Vietnam."

They had legions of "Phantom Soldiers," too-- collecting paychecks, equipment, and benefits that went to their commanders.

When the North marched, SV fell like a house of cards.

The "leaders" absconded- with our money in their pockets...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This web of deceit is beginning to unravel.

[freedomfiter2]

....Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of indicted officials per capita. ... the past generation has seen a governor, an attorney general, a federal judge, a state Senate president and a swarm of local officials convicted of assorted crimes.

Wow, do you think the prosecuter could come to PA next. I'm sure we could beat that.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of indicted officials per capita

I wonder what states are one, two, four and five.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***.......Even before Katrina, both Nagin and Compass had come under pressure, dealing with controversies over alleged underreporting of crime statistics in the 1st District, the enforcement of the residency rule for officers, and Compass' hiring of members of the Nation of Islam to do sensitivity training for the Police Department. The city also had seen a substantial rise in the murder rate in 2005.*** Source

[Recon Dad]

It's remarkable to me that they are #3. I also think they are so stupid that within 30 days this whole thing will unravel and the Dems and Libs will be no where to be seen as defenders of this crowd of dunces.
My only caveat is that you will not go broke under estimating President Bush's response to going after Dems. Republicans have never played hardball.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Republicans have never played hardball.

Perhaps elected officials are reluctant becauce the msm will go after them like the pack of partisan dogs they are, but the new media and conservatives aren't so reluctant to get in their faces.

[wolfcreek]

Bottom line: GODS RATH

[Ellesu]

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09_29.html#083577

Nagin forced Compass out

Chief fired after heated confrontation

'He had tears in his eyes. He didn't want to go.'


By Trymaine D. Lee
And Walt Philbin
Staff writers


After announcing his retirement Tuesday, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass told several high-ranking officers that he had been forced out by Mayor Ray Nagin, the officers said Wednesday.


They said Compass told them the decision came on the heels of a heated confrontation with the mayor. The officers spoke only on condition that they not be named.

Reached Wednesday by e-mail, Nagin said that those accounts were "inaccurate."

Compass could not be reached for comment.

At a hastily called news conference Tuesday with Nagin in attendance, Compass announced that he was retiring. When asked by a reporter whether Compass was being forced out, Nagin said no.

But after the announcement, Compass returned to a cruise ship where he and other displaced officers had been living, where they say he told them he had been forced to resign.

"He was going around telling officers, including myself, it wasn't his doing, that he would've never quit," said a high-ranking officer who asked not to be named. "He had tears in his eyes. He didn't want to go."

Another officer said Compass told him, "You work at the pleasure of the mayor. This was not my decision."

Nagin later named Assistant Superintendent Warren Riley as acting superintendent.

Officers said Compass told them that he and Nagin had an angry confrontation Tuesday morning, hours before Compass announced his retirement, which he said would begin after a transition period of up to 45 days.

Compass has come under increasing fire because of the Police Department's response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in which some officers were seen looting a store and 249 officers left their posts.

At the news conference, the two men were amicable, with Nagin calling Compass' retirement, after 26 years on the force, good for his family and bad for the city.

Nagin wished Compass well, calling him a hero and saying that he hoped Compass would at least send him a Christmas card during the holidays.

Compass seemed to fight back tears. Handlers shuffled Nagin off in one direction, Compass in another.

Even before Katrina, both Nagin and Compass had come under pressure, dealing with controversies over alleged underreporting of crime statistics in the 1st District, the enforcement of the residency rule for officers, and Compass' hiring of members of the Nation of Islam to do sensitivity training for the Police Department. The city also had seen a substantial rise in the murder rate in 2005.


Reporters Martha Carr and David Meeks contributed to this report.

[Doc Savage]

So who is going to tell Nagin that he's a moron with the IQ of a turnip?