Legal Expert-Blanco was legally in charge of Disaster Relief

Fox News | Sat 9-10-05 | ME

[MNJohnnie]

Just watched a legal expert on Fox go thru the disaster event by event. Based on the Law Gov Blanco is legally liable. If lawsuits are filed, there is no way she can duck it. In addition, when Bush went went down there, he offered her immediate deployment of Reg Army troops, she told both him and Nagel that she "needed 24 hours" to decide. This is DC politics. As everyone from Bush to Clinton to Carter learned, Washington Politics are a whole lot tougher then local politics. Blanco is toast. EVEN if the National Dems get the "Independent Commission" there is no way to rescue her based on the Law. I suspect that is why Mayor Nagel has been so quiet. He found out last Fri just who was holding the knife in his back, and it wasn't Bush

[xsmommy]

yeah Julian in particular was consternated as was Mike.

[MNJohnnie]

Glad to see you here again. Had not seen Word of the Day for awhile as was worried since I have no idea if you lived in a Gulf State.

[Nita Nupress]

That's fine to hold both local and state officials legally responsible for their irresponsible handling of Katrina, but at what point should the voter be held responsible? THEY'RE the ones who voted them into office.

Maybe we, the taxpayers, need to file a class action suit against the New Orleans and Louisiana voters. ;-)

[aspiring.hillbilly]

Now that the dark side of NOLA was exposed to the nation tourism will be in the toilet for a generation...

[xsmommy]

oh WFTD has been steadily posted, are you on the ping list or do you want to be? thanks for thinking of me, but i live in VA : )

[SW6906]

There is a timeline over at Rightwing Nuthouse, but I have not completely examined it for accuracy or slant. If you do a Google on Katrina timeline, there are other timelines out there that are clearly slanted to make Blanco and Nagin look good and Bush look bad.

Warning: Rightwing Nuthouse is run by the brother of White House reporter Terry Moran, but then they may have polar opposite politics like my brother and I...........

[xsmommy]

did you see Eleanor Clift last night saying that there are incompetent mayors and governors, and that's why the fed needs to step in?? funny they all seem to be DEM incompetents, what's with that?

[Anita1]

Here are some timelines that I found with direct sources:

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:hEP6_KL2CP0J:www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline+katrina+timeline+&hl=en

Which is a liberal site (anti-Bush) - Let's see the difference between what they post and the other site.

Here is the other site:

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:yrY9Jo9XnwgJ:www.ojr.org/ojr/wiki/Katrina_Timeline/+katrina+timeline+&hl=en

This organization is part of the University of Southern California - which was founded by Walter Annenberg, Philanthropist and Publisher who was appointed ambassador to Great Britain by Richard Nixon for his anti-communism and pro-Vietnam-War views.

I don't know if this site would be a conservative site because it says it is neither liberal nor conservative.

[WHBates]

"I doubt Blanco, Nagin or any other LA state official will be held personally *legally or criminally* accountable...."

You're probably correct about Nagin and Blanco but there is a whole lot of people who work for these bozo's that will not be so protected. It depends how the rest of the State of LA reacts to this situation. It also depends how the Justice Department reacts. They are not going to be very happy how these people have made DHS look in this situation. There has been a serious amount of money spent on disaster preparedness and the GAO and the IG of DHS is going to need to find out what has happened. GAO and the IG are pretty independent and can make criminal referrals that the JD must act on one way or the other.

[SW6906]

See Post #86.

[Nita Nupress]

did you see Eleanor Clift last night saying that there are incompetent mayors and governors, and that's why the fed needs to step in?? funny they all seem to be DEM incompetents, what's with that?

No, I missed that. Seeing Eleanor Clift admit that Dems may actually be incompetent would have been a sight to behold!

[SW6906]

I looked at that ThinkProgress timeline and website and it is so biased it is worthless. No mention of buses......

[spanalot]

"There is a timeline over at Rightwing Nuthouse, "

Its pretty good - and notice that at least one federal military arm did'nt wait for no stinkin permission - the flyboys at the coast guard started rescues on day one with up to 2000 per day.

Homeland and FEMA did drop the ball - had they acted as swiftly as the United States Coast Guard, we would not have any problem.

[MNJohnnie]

you on the ping list or do you want to be?

Yes PLEASE!

thanks for thinking of me, but i live in VA : )

No wonder I like you:-} About 80% of my time at work evolves working with one of employer's Warehouses in Mechanicsville VA. GREAT place. I got to go out there last summer for about 10 days when some operations were centralized at our Corp HQ here in Minnesota.

[Overtaxed]

Those were HIS buses sitting there.

But he would need a place outside the city to bus them to. 'Course I'm assuming that The Plan would have provided for inland shelters to be set up (probably at public schools.)

[infocats]

"Just watched a legal expert on Fox go thru the disaster event by event. Based on the Law Gov Blanco is legally liable."

The applicable laws were violated every step of the way from top to bottom. In the first instance, FEMA is charged with "before the fact" disaster mitigation by ensuring that effective disaster relief plans were in place at the local level, that exercises were periodically conducted to ensure an appropriate local response, and to contact other federal agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure that the levees were constructed to current standards (withstanding a category 5 hurricane) CFR TITLE 44 with the absolute minimization of loss of life and property.

[MNJohnnie]

'Course I'm assuming that The Plan would have provided for inland shelters to be set up (probably at public schools.)

Yes, I have heard that. Why would the City of NO have plans in place for evacuation and NOT have any idea where to evacuate TO?

[gitmo]

CANCUN, Mexico - A massive evacuation of tourists in one of the world's largest resorts began Sunday, as hundreds of buses were dispatched to move tens of thousands of tourists away from Hurricane Emily, heading toward a direct hit on the coast. The very size of the task was daunting: about 500 buses were ordered to move 30,000 tourists in Cancun — part of a total of 70,000 to 80,000 mostly foreign tourists to be evacuated statewide to temporary shelters in ballrooms and convention centers.

Not a fair comparison. After all, that is a 2nd world nation, less affluent than the States. And they only had hundreds of buses. You cannot expect a wealthy nation with thousands of buses at their disposal to be able to proactively evacuate people from a known impending disaster. Get real, man.

[MNJohnnie]

the first instance, FEMA is charged with "before the fact" disaster mitigation by ensuring that effective

Which FEMA met by deploying assets and FEMA teams IN State PRIOR to the disaster. HOWEVER, the FEMA teams work UNDER THE DIRECTION of the Gov of the State. In Louisiana, that is Blanco. FEMA ADVISE, they are NOT in control. Gov Blanco was, and is, in control of operations.,

[CajunConservative]

"""So, how do we educate them any differently?"""

We scatter them out and across the nation where they can see things from a different perspective. Many of those people had never been out of NO.