FEMA and The DHS Missing in action...

[Nickdfresh]

September 5, 2005

Why FEMA Was Missing in Action
Most of the agency's preparedness budget and focus are related to terrorism, not disasters.

By Peter G. Gosselin and Alan C. Miller, Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fema5sep05,1,2869010,full.story) Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — While the federal government has spent much of the last quarter-century trimming the safety nets it provides Americans, it has dramatically expanded its promise of protection in one area — disaster.

Since the 1970s, Washington has emerged as the insurer of last resort against floods, fires, earthquakes and — after 2001 — terrorist attacks.

But the government's stumbling response to the storm that devastated the nation's Gulf Coast reveals that the federal agency singularly most responsible for making good on Washington's expanded promise has been hobbled by cutbacks and a bureaucratic downgrading.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency once speedily delivered food, water, shelter and medical care to disaster areas, and paid to quickly rebuild damaged roads and schools and get businesses and people back on their feet. Like a commercial insurance firm setting safety standards to prevent future problems, it also underwrote efforts to get cities and states to reduce risks ahead of time and plan for what they would do if calamity struck.

But in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, FEMA lost its Cabinet-level status as it was folded into the giant new Department of Homeland Security. And in recent years it has suffered budget cuts, the elimination or reduction of key programs and an exodus of experienced staffers.

The agency's core budget, which includes disaster preparedness and mitigation, has been cut each year since it was absorbed by the Homeland Security Department in 2003. Depending on what the final numbers end up being for next fiscal year, the cuts will have been between about 2% and 18%.

The agency's staff has been reduced by 500 positions to 4,735. Among the results, FEMA has had to cut one of its three emergency management teams, which are charged with overseeing relief efforts in a disaster. Where it once had "red," "white" and "blue" teams, it now has only red and white.

Three out of every four dollars the agency provides in local preparedness and first-responder grants go to terrorism-related activities, even though a recent Government Accountability Office report quotes local officials as saying what they really need is money to prepare for natural disasters and accidents.

"They've taken emergency management away from the emergency managers," complained Morrie Goodman, who was FEMA's chief spokesman during the Clinton administration. "These operations are being run by people who are amateurs at what they are doing."

Richard W. Krimm, a former senior FEMA official for several administrations, agreed. "It was a terrible mistake to take disaster response and recovery … and disaster preparedness and mitigation, and put them in Homeland Security," he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledged in interviews Sunday that Washington was insufficiently prepared for the hurricane that laid waste to New Orleans and surrounding areas. But he defended its performance by arguing that the size of the storm was beyond anything his department could have anticipated and that primary responsibility for handling emergencies rested with state and local, not federal, officials.

"Before this happened, I said … we need to build a preparedness capacity going forward," Chertoff told NBC's "Meet the Press." He added that that was something "we have not yet succeeded in doing."

Under the law, Chertoff said, state and local officials must direct initial emergency operations. "The federal government comes in and supports those officials," he said.

Chertoff's remarks, which echoed earlier statements by President Bush, prompted withering rebukes both from former senior FEMA staffers and outside experts.

"They can't do that," former agency chief of staff Jane Bullock said of Bush administration efforts to shift responsibility away from Washington. "The moment the president declared a federal disaster, it became a federal responsibility…. The federal government took ownership over the response," she said. Bush declared a disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi when the storm hit a week ago.

"What's awe-inspiring here is how many federal officials didn't issue any orders," said Paul C. Light, an authority on government operations at New York University.

Evidence of confusion extended beyond FEMA and the Homeland Security Department on Sunday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said that conditions in New Orleans and elsewhere could quickly escalate into a major public health crisis. But asked whether his agency had dispatched teams in advance of the storm and flooding, Leavitt answered, "No."

"None of these teams were pre-positioned," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "We're having to organize them … as we go."

Such an ad hoc approach might not have surprised Americans until recent decades because the federal government was thought to have few responsibilities for disaster relief, and what duties it did have were mostly delegated to the American Red Cross.

"A century ago, no one would have expected a massive federal response. Most people viewed natural disasters mainly as things to be endured on their own or with the help of their neighbors and communities," said Harvard University economic historian David A. Moss, whose recent book, "When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager," traces Washington's expanding duties in protecting Americans from all sorts of risks.

In 1927, President Coolidge described the federal role in aiding victims of a devastating flood of the lower Mississippi River this way: "To direct the sympathy of our people to the sad plight of thousands of their fellow citizens, and to urge that generous contributions be promptly forthcoming."

But starting with the New Deal of the 1930s and with increasing vigor in recent decades, Washington sought to prevent disasters, both natural and man-made, and to partially compensate state and local governments, companies and even individuals when calamities did strike.

The government reacted to Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 by providing victims with grants and low-cost loans. It responded to a flood of the upper Mississippi in 1993 by approving $6.3 billion in aid. Comparing the federal government's response in 1927 to its efforts in 1993, Moss concluded that Washington made up less than 4% of the estimated losses in the earlier flood, but more than 50% in the later one.

Within 10 days of the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress and Bush had OKd $40 billion in aid, including $15 billion in grants and loans for the staggering airline industry and $4.3 billion to compensate the families of victims.

"The federal government has dramatically increased its role in absorbing disaster losses after the fact," Moss said. "Until recently, many may have assumed we'd made similar strides in disaster prevention."

FEMA was created in 1979 in response to criticism about Washington's fragmented reaction to a series of disasters, including Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi coast 10 years earlier. The agency was rocked by scandal in the 1980s and turned in such a poor performance after Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida in 1992 that President George H.W. Bush is thought to have lost votes as a result.

But according to a variety of former officials and outside experts, the agency experienced a renaissance under President Clinton's director, James Lee Witt, speedily responding to the 1993 Mississippi flood, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and other disasters.

Witt's biggest change was to get FEMA to focus on reducing risks ahead of disasters and funding local prevention programs.

After the 1993 flood, for instance, Witt's agency bought homes and businesses nearest the water and moved their occupants to safer locations. The result in one Illinois town was that although more than 400 people applied for disaster aid after the flood, only 11 needed to apply two years later when the river again jumped its banks.

"He got communities to take practical steps like encouraging homeowners to bolt buildings to foundations in earthquake-prone areas and elevate living space in flood-prone ones," said Howard Kunreuther, co-director of the Wharton Risk Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

But with the change of administration in 2001, many of Witt's prevention programs were reduced or cut entirely. After Sept. 11, former FEMA officials and outside authorities said, Washington's attention turned to terrorism to the exclusion of almost anything else.

Times staff writer Judy Pasternak contributed to this report

[Nickdfresh]

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledged in interviews Sunday that Washington was insufficiently prepared for the hurricane that laid waste to New Orleans and surrounding areas. But he defended its performance by arguing that the size of the storm was beyond anything his department could have anticipated and that primary responsibility for handling emergencies rested with state and local, not federal, officials.

--The LATimes

So WTF would they have done if a nuclear device went off and killed between the est. 5000-40,000 people? Wouldn't that be a bit of a surprise? Would that be the primary responsibility of local officials? Fine, then send the $37billion-a-year we're wasting on these clowns to them!

[Warham]

Fire and forget!

What else.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Warham
Fire and forget!

What else.

What does that even mean?

[Warham]

Not up on lingo, huh?

Hit the red button and don't worry about the consequences.

Mutually-assured destruction.

[DrMaddVibe]

FEMA?

That the best shot you want to blurt?

What about the state's own evacuation plans?

A state's right to govern itself as a first responder has been documented time and again. FEMA steps in AFTER an emergency. They're not some liberal ambulance chasing agency.

Then compound the fact that the governor refused to sign emergency orders allowing federal help.

Once again, your futile attempts to politize events and twist it against the US fails because you don't know fact from fiction. Once again you've shown the entire board how you'll rant half-cocked with the slightest of information and grip the flimsy bits like its factual.

[Warham]

Remember, Madd, these are liberals we are talking about. They think the feds can solve any problem. It worked out great for New Orleans over the last fifty years, eh?

[Angel]

ALL levels of government failed your citizens, plain and simple. This blame shit is stupid and accomplishes NOTHING. You have citizens that need homes, jobs & a future...THAT should be THE ONLY CONCERN at this time.

Perhaps it's time to forget about the rest of the world, and concentrate on your own.

[DrMaddVibe]

We'll multi-task!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Warham
Remember, Madd, these are liberals we are talking about. They think the feds can solve any problem. It worked out great for New Orleans over the last fifty years, eh?

Oh, what happened to "there's plenty of blame to go around?"

Remember WARHAM, "thou shalt not lie.":rolleyes:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
FEMA?

That the best shot you want to blurt?

What about the state's own evacuation plans?

What about 'em. The Mayor ordered a complete evacuation...


A state's right to govern itself as a first responder has been documented time and again. FEMA steps in AFTER an emergency. They're not some liberal ambulance chasing agency.

Bullshit! First off, the levees (http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=686753#post686753) never should have broken to begin with. Numerous projects were underfunded due to the IRAQ war, you know, the one you mindlessly support and know nothing about? The one that was supposed to prevent "Weapons of Mass (Delusion)" from killing tens of thousands of US citizens. FEMA receives billions a year to perform a specific function. It's called disaster relief! WTF are we spending taxes for? Gee AssVibe, do without FEMA the next time a hurricane trashes Florida....


Then compound the fact that the governor refused to sign emergency orders allowing federal help.

They didn't need any "orders." FEMA was already supposed to be on station


Once again, your futile attempts to politize events and twist it against the US fails because you don't know fact from fiction. Once again you've shown the entire board how you'll rant half-cocked with the slightest of information and grip the flimsy bits like its factual. [/B]

Yeah right AssVibe, like you have a clue about anything. Once again you've shown the board what a mindless BUSHeep sycophant you are, suck that Republadick no matter how wrong they are. I'm the one that's saying ALL levels of gov't are to blame: local, state, and FEDERAL. You're the clueless one stating that it's only the city and the state. Well, fuck you and your state too the next time a hurricane comes through...FEMA is not your "liberal ambulance" idiot!

If your such a supa-patriot DouchVibe, then why do you support sending billions of our dollars to the middle east fuck wit while our own cities languish? I guess you love those "Iraqi terra-ists'" more than you love your own country, eh traitor?

[Warham]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Oh, what happened to "there's plenty of blame to go around?"

Remember WARHAM, "thou shalt not lie.":rolleyes:

I haven't lied. There is plenty of blame to go around.

New Orleans isn't considered one of the most corrupt cities in the country for giggles. Who's been running the show down there for the last few decades?

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
What about 'em. The Mayor ordered a complete evacuation.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL091304nagin.113d25cbd.html

Nagin calls for voluntary evacuation

06:47 PM CDT on Monday, September 13, 2004

WWLTV.com

Saying it would take "the perfect scenario" for powerful storm Hurricane Ivan to bypass New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin called for all citizens that can to seek higher ground and make their plans very soon.

He asked for a voluntary evacuation.

Nagin said all Orleans Public Schools would be closed beginning Tuesday and that City Hall would remain open for the time being.

"This is now scheduled to bypass New Orleans but it has to curve around a high (pressure system) and that system has to collapse," he said. "I am not confident that will happen."

Nagin is asking for preparations to begin now because he said the normal 72-hour lead time will not be available to New Orleanians this time around.

"This storm will not allow us that window."




Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Bullshit! First off, the levees (http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=686753#post686753) never should have broken to begin with. Numerous projects were underfunded due to the IRAQ war, you know, the one you mindlessly support and know nothing about? The one that was supposed to prevent "Weapons of Mass (Delusion)" from killing tens of thousands of US citizens. FEMA receives billions a year to perform a specific function. It's called disaster relief! WTF are we spending taxes for? Gee AssVibe, do without FEMA the next time a hurricane trashes Florida.

Are you done? Here...http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0902_050902_katrina_levees.html

"Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the Corps, dismissed suggestions that recent federal funding decreases or delayed contracts had any impact on levee performance in the face of Katrina's overwhelming force.

Instead he pointed to a danger that many public officials had warned about for years: The system was never designed to withstand a storm of Katrina's strength.

"It was fully recognized by officials that we had Category Three [hurricane] level of protection," Strock said. "As projections of Category Four and Five were made, [officials] began plans to evacuate the city.

"We were just caught by a storm whose intensity exceeded the protection that we had in place."

What Price Protection? "



Originally posted by Nickdfresh
They didn't need any "orders." FEMA was already supposed to be on station

This SHOULD be on your level...http://www.fema.gov/kids/about1.htm

"FEMA is in charge of helping people before and after a disaster. FEMA is called in to help when the President declares a disaster. Disasters are "declared" after hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes or other similar events strike a community. The Governor of the state must ask for help from the President before FEMA can respond."




Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Yeah right AssVibe, like you have a clue about anything. Once again you've shown the board what a mindless BUSHeep sycophant you are, suck that Republadick no matter how wrong they are. I'm the one that's saying ALL levels of gov't are to blame: local, state, and FEDERAL. You're the clueless one stating that it's only the city and the state. Well, fuck you and your state too the next time a hurricane comes through...FEMA is not your "liberal ambulance" idiot!

If your such a supa-patriot DouchVibe, then why do you support sending billions of our dollars to the middle east fuck wit while our own cities languish? I guess you love those "Iraqi terra-ists'" more than you love your own country, eh traitor?

I hope I have shown the board what a narrow-minded, anti-American bigot you really are. Now in hindsight you want to cry out that we should be helping our own at the expense of the war on terrorism? You've NEVER posted about what we should be doing here at home. You're talking out of your ass once again and here it is for everyone to see!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL091304nagin.113d25cbd.html

Nagin calls for voluntary evacuation

06:47 PM CDT on Monday, September 13, 2004

WWLTV.com

Saying it would take "the perfect scenario" for powerful storm Hurricane Ivan to bypass New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin called for all citizens that can to seek higher ground and make their plans very soon.

He asked for a voluntary evacuation.

Thank you for proving my point. As you usually do...:)

Even the Military will not, now even, enforce a mandatory evacuation....So what else was he to do?



Are you done? Here...http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0902_050902_katrina_levees.html

"Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the Corps, dismissed suggestions that recent federal funding decreases or delayed contracts had any impact on levee performance in the face of Katrina's overwhelming force.

Instead he pointed to a danger that many public officials had warned about for years: The system was never designed to withstand a storm of Katrina's strength.

"It was fully recognized by officials that we had Category Three [hurricane] level of protection," Strock said. "As projections of Category Four and Five were made, [officials] began plans to evacuate the city....

Oh, you mean a federal official actually admits that underfunding had nothing to do with the levees' collapse? Golly, who would ever seek to cover their ass in such a way? Well, what about the series of articles going on over years which say differently:



http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26808

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."

Yeah, I guess some LTC who probably had little to do with the actual project would sing a different tune now....


This SHOULD be on your level...http://www.fema.gov/kids/about1.htm

". FEMA is called in to help when the President declares a disaster. Disasters are "declared" after hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes or other similar events strike a community. The Governor of the state must ask for help from the President before FEMA can respond."

Again AssVibe. Thanks for making my point with your selective ignorance:

"FEMA is in charge of helping people before and after a disaster..."

Knuff' said, they weren't there beforehand even though they new this was coming...


Here, I guess you missed this form the childrens website you could actually semi-comprehend:


"Just as important, FEMA helps people BEFORE a disaster so they will be ready. FEMA teaches people how to prepare for a disaster and how to make their homes as safe as possible. FEMA works with communities to help them build safer, stronger buildings that are less likely to be damaged. FEMA also trains firefighters and emergency workers, and runs a flood insurance program. FEMA is part of the EXECUTIVE BRANCH, which means it reports to the President of the United States.


Do you actually read your own cut and paste?:confused:



I hope I have shown the board what a narrow-minded, anti-American bigot you really are.

You haven't. You just shown yourself to be a mindless partisan idiot that would blow BUSH if asked...Hardly "Pro-American." Stop cuntfusing partisanship with patriotism...


Now in hindsight you want to cry out that we should be helping our own at the expense of the war on terrorism?

Hindsight? I've always said the war was a bad idea...Especially when giving out tax cuts to the wealthy which leads to more deficit-spending and chronic underfunding of non-pork projects...


You've NEVER posted about what we should be doing here at home.

To borrow one of SESH's lines, am I a civil bureaucrat with a high ranking cabinet position?

Wow AssVibe, your third-grade level torts really hurts! I think I made it pretty clear that invading IRAQ was a bad idea, as do most ex-CIA officials BTW, because not only does it further inflame anti-American sentiment...It draws funds away from stateside projects. Your the idiot that wants to send our money abroad to "rebuild" foreign nations. But being a mindless BUSHeep sycophant, what else would you do?


You're talking out of your ass once again and here it is for everyone to see!

When don't you do this?

[blueturk]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/343813p-293471c.html

Disaster used as
political payoff

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has done it again.
Already under fire for its woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the federal disaster agency appears to have turned hurricane relief donations into a political payoff - until it was challenged.

All last week, FEMA bureaucrats gave prominent placement on the agency's Web site to Operation Blessing, the Virginia-based charity run by controversial right-wing evangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.

For anyone wishing to donate only cash, the agency's site listed the names and phone numbers of three groups: the Red Cross, Operation Blessing and America's Second Harvest, a national coalition of food banks.

That first list was followed by a second, longer list of several dozen religious and nonsectarian charities. This second list was for anyone who wanted to give either cash or noncash gifts.

Just as in an ordinary election, however, top ballot position makes it far more likely you'll get noticed and chosen.

The same FEMA list was then disseminated by state and local governments throughout the country. Both Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, for example, placed the same top three FEMA charities on their Hurricane Katrina press releases and Web sites last week.

Those familiar with Robertson and his charity were flabbergasted.

Operation Blessing, with a budget of $190 million, is an integral part of the Robertson empire. Not only is he the chairman of the board, his wife is listed on its latest financial report as its vice president, and one of his sons is on the board of directors.

Back in 1994, during the infamous Rwandan genocide, Robertson used his 700 Club's daily cable operation to appeal to the American public for donations to fly humanitarian supplies into Zaire to save the Rwandan refugees.

The planes purchased by Operation Blessing did a lot more than ferry relief supplies.

An investigation conducted by the Virginia attorney general's office concluded in 1999 that the planes were mostly used to transport mining equipment for a diamond operation run by a for-profit company called African Development Corp.

And who do you think was the principal executive and sole shareholder of the mining company?

You guessed it, Pat Robertson himself.

Robertson had landed the mining concession from his longtime friend Mobutu Sese Seko, then the dictator of Zaire.

Investigators concluded that Operation Blessing "willfully induced contributions from the public through the use of misleading statements ..."

After the investigation began, Robertson placated state regulators by personally reimbursing his own charity $400,000 and by agreeing to tighten its bookkeeping methods.

Separating Operation Blessing from Robertson's many politically oriented endeavors is not that easy, however.

The biggest single U.S. recipient of the charity's largess, according to its latest financial report, was Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. It received $885,000 in the fiscal year ended March 2004.

Robertson uses that Christian network for some markedly unchristian purposes.

A few years back, he repeatedly defended Charles Taylor, the former brutal dictator of Liberia who is under indictment by a UN tribunal for war crimes.

As with Mobutu in the Congo, Robertson had a personal stake in the matter: He had millions invested in a Liberian gold mine, thanks to Taylor, according to press reports.

Recently, Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Those who know Robertson's record raised such an uproar that on Sunday FEMA suddenly rearranged its entire Web site for hurricane donations.

Gone was Operation Blessing's name and choice location. Replacing it was an alphabetical list of nearly 50 national relief organizations.

At FEMA, they take a while to get things right.

[DrMaddVibe]

And because nickeroo can't read...

Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin garnered a ton of publicity with a profanity-laced interview he gave to WWL radio last Thursday, where he blasted President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for not coming to rescue his city in time.

However, Nagin's most newsworthy comments - where he explained why he didn't use hundreds of city school buses to evacuate his city's flood victims - went almost unnoticed.

Turns out, Nagin turned his nose up at the yellow buses, demanding more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.

"I need 500 buses, man," he told WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

Nagin described his response:

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

While Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, Katrina's floodwaters swamped his school buses, rendering them unusable.

[Northern Girl]

FEMA sux!

When my town had a flood in 1999, it took these bastards a month to come and assess my loss. A fucking month for just PART of a small town. And then I didn't get a dime in help!! Of course, all the lazy welfare bitches got a fat check. Go figure. :rolleyes:

I had to move in with my parents for 10 months until I could afford to completely start all over. Thank God I had them.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
And because nickeroo can't read...

Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin garnered a ton of publicity with a profanity-laced interview he gave to WWL radio last Thursday, where he blasted President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for not coming to rescue his city in time.

However, Nagin's most newsworthy comments - where he explained why he didn't use hundreds of city school buses to evacuate his city's flood victims - went almost unnoticed.

Turns out, Nagin turned his nose up at the yellow buses, demanding more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.

"I need 500 buses, man," he told WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

Nagin described his response:

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

While Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, Katrina's floodwaters swamped his school buses, rendering them unusable.

Why are you reposting the same stupid shit AssVibe?


You are out of material...

And you're missing the point.

If a nuke goes off in ANYTOWN, USA...

The local N.O. gov't isn't supposed to respond, the LOUISIANA State gov't isnt supposed to respond.

DHS/FEMA are...

I think we already have a thread on the NAGIN is incompetent my little spin lackey...

[Nickdfresh]

CBSNews Poll (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/08/opinion/polls/main824591.shtml) on KATRINA response.

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Why are you reposting the same stupid shit AssVibe?


You are out of material...

And you're missing the point.

If a nuke goes off in ANYTOWN, USA...

The local N.O. gov't isn't supposed to respond, the LOUISIANA State gov't isnt supposed to respond.

DHS/FEMA are...

I think we already have a thread on the NAGIN is incompetent my little spin lackey...

You really are a moron.

"If a nuke"? IF? If you used your fucking brain for something more than an earwax container you'd wake up and realize you're a jackass!

IF a bomb goes off? Yeah, let's just wait for it to blow...don't send in a local SWAT team or bomb disposal unit...NO says nickeroo...wait for Uncle Sam's FEMA miracle workers! Why, they'll wave their magic wands or tweak their noses and POOF! There will be no troubles!

"The local N.O. gov't isn't supposed to respond, the LOUISIANA State gov't isnt supposed to respond."...say that one in a whiny Denis Leary fashion...you fucking dolt.

Reality has to be a REAL motherfucker for someone like you.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
[B]You really are a moron.

Pot meet tea kettle pumpkin...


"If a nuke"? IF? If you used your fucking brain for something more than an earwax container you'd wake up and realize you're a jackass!

Now your just repeating yourself DickVibe...

Ouch, that really hurts! Your creativity is stunning, are you thinking of hiring a wriiter? You should, my 9-year-old nephew comes up with better shit...


IF a bomb goes off? Yeah, let's just wait for it to blow...don't send in a local SWAT team or bomb disposal unit...NO says nickeroo...wait for Uncle Sam's FEMA miracle workers! Why, they'll wave their magic wands or tweak their noses and POOF! There will be no troubles!

Wow, you must be drunk again, I have no idea what you're trying to say. I thought my example was a clear one, the bomb has gone off and FEMA is supposed to react in a timely fashion. I guess it was a little over your under-educated head.


The local N.O. gov't isn't supposed to respond, the LOUISIANA State gov't isnt supposed to respond."...say that one in a whiny Denis Leary fashion...you fucking dolt.

Reality has to be a REAL motherfucker for someone like you.

Well, again you shown what a generally useless idiot you are. Again, you can fathom an answer so you just hurl insults my little drunken chimp. Mission Accomplished.:)

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Again, you can fathom an answer so you just hurl insults my little drunken chimp. Mission Accomplished.:)

Okay...you're a little drunken chimp named Mission Accomplished!

Fathoming...its good.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Okay...you're a little drunken chimp named Mission Accomplished!

Fathoming...its good.

You're just embarrassing yourself now. Fuck, I'm embarrassed for you at this point.:)

[DrMaddVibe]

Whatever, try no to lose too much sleep over me.

You should be embarrased because you're a negative prick that loves to kick down the US. Its a role for the slimy fucks that never did anything useful with their lives except bitch,moan,gripe and complain.

THAT'S what you and Ford should be embarrased about, but you gloat in the role.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Whatever, try no to lose too much sleep over me.

You should be embarrased because you're a negative prick that loves to kick down the US. Its a role for the slimy fucks that never did anything useful with their lives except bitch,moan,gripe and complain.

THAT'S what you and Ford should be embarrased about, but you gloat in the role.


Okay, I'll try "no" to lose any sleep...


That gets the moronic post of the year award.

Yeah, AssVibe, not like I want things to work right or anything.

Nice job trying to cover for fearless leader though.

Maybe if we just ignore this problem, it will all go away.

And The Federal Gov't ALREADY HAS MADE US LOOK BAD. Idiot.

[Seshmeister]

After 11 days noone has even started to move the bodies rotting in the streets.

Third world shit, totally shocking.

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
And because nickeroo can't read...

Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin garnered a ton of publicity with a profanity-laced interview he gave to WWL radio last Thursday, where he blasted President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for not coming to rescue his city in time.

However, Nagin's most newsworthy comments - where he explained why he didn't use hundreds of city school buses to evacuate his city's flood victims - went almost unnoticed.

Turns out, Nagin turned his nose up at the yellow buses, demanding more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.

"I need 500 buses, man," he told WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

Nagin described his response:

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

While Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, Katrina's floodwaters swamped his school buses, rendering them unusable.

I didn't miss that nugget, and i see all but one bus was flooded. you know, except for the one some kid stole to save 70 people?

I also didn't miss the nugget about how Nagin refused to send the Red Cross in to avoid people flocking to the superdome in droves.
So, people were left to suffer as a direct result of his and the Governor's actions.
They withheld the halp and support, does that not register with some of you?
The problems began at the state and local level, regardless of how much y'all wish it was the other end, it wasn't.

And you Democrats better know that Americans are taking notes on the political attacks at the very beginning of the aftermath, which we have barely begun so far.
Oh yeah, you look real good putting the Administration on the dfensive when they should only be concerned with dealing withsaid aftermath.

There isn't a damn thing you can say to me or anyone I know personally that will justify the route Mrs. Pelosi and her ilk have taken so early on.
By the way, what did Peolosi do to help out down there?
Oh, she sent a check?
Well, being as rich as she is, she should have been seen on the ground somewhere helping people.
But no, her and her band of rebels were sitting in their nice dry offices putting together a partisan attack machine to distract people from what they should be really thinking about...helping people in the aftermath.

You know what, there is something seriously wrong with a system that puts me in agreement with Sean Penn....To my surprise, he backed off a chance to bash Bush because of the timing.

But that's cool, we Independant voters are taking notes, and lots of them.

I mean really, an entire fleet of buses never left their parking lot, people were locked into the City and those who tried walking out were turned back AWAY FROM HELP!
And you all want to pioneer the blame to Washington?

PEOPLE SUFFERED AND WERE LEFT TO CONTINUE SUFFERING BECAUSE THE MAYOR AND GOVERNOR TRIED TO AVOID WHAT HAD ALREADY HAPPENED AND DID NOT LET HELP INTO THE SUPERDOME AREA!!!

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!

The reason you guys have such difficulty hanging Bush is because you are so blinded to reality that every battle you wage before the voters is half cocked and mired in bullshit that cannot be proven...and if it can, FUCKING PROVE IT ALREADY!

Now, if you all are done playing Monday morning quaterback to a game you missed, please shut the fuck up and write a check or get on a bus and help out...anything would be better than watching you disprespect the victims of this storm by taking focus away from helping them.

I know that we aren't safe from anything, and after 9-11 this raises the question of "What has Bush been doing the last 5 years?"

But today, or even tomorrow, is not the time to be asking that.

You can't overlook one branches failures to get to the one you want because people died in mass numbers because of them all.
This was a breakdown in Government as a whole, not just on the Republicans end OR the Democrats end...It was a complete and total failure that spreads the blame out over them all, equally.

I have added a new reason to my list of why i'll never vote Democrat...The inability to take any responsibility for anything. if their is a lap to dump it on, you can guaren-damn-tee it will be dumped in that lap and THAT is pathetic.

Folks, my main point is that right now we cannot afford to take any focus off of what lies ahead for the cities destroyed and the lives it took with it.
Those who failed to do their jobs have no place to hide and will be brought to answer for their mistakes....But how about we wait until the bodies have been recovered and nobody else is still suffering or dead beneath their roofs.
Launching all this political shit within a week after the largest natural disaster of our time is nothing short of tasteless.

I can't wait for Nancy Pelosi to come up for re-election....I'd be willing to bet she's going to be gone and with any luck, those who are following her down this path will be gone with her.

If this country has an ounce of self respect left, they will be sent walking with their partisan bullshit in tow.

[Warham]

The Democrats think they are winning votes by bashing Bush.

It's been a massive failure.

[DrMaddVibe]

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3775536

Bush urges safety from Katrina

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush, as he readied the federal government for a massive relief effort, on Sunday urged people in the path of Hurricane Katrina to forget anything but their safety and move to higher ground as instructed.

"We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities," Bush said as the storm roared across the gulf toward New Orleans and other communities. "I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground."

With forecasters warning of a category five storm, the president made sure the federal response would not be delayed by already declaring emergencies in Mississippi and Florida just hours after a similar declaration for Louisiana. Such declarations make federal aid available to assist with disaster relief, but they are rarely made before a storm even hits.

Working from his Texas ranch, Bush participated via videoconference in a large meeting of federal, state and local disaster management officials preparing for the storm's onslaught. Separately, he spoke by phone with the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

"We will do everything in our power to help the people and the communities affected by this storm," the president said.

Winds reaching 175 mph and a potentially devastating storm surge were feared when Hurricane Katrina reached land early Monday. The 485,000 residents of New Orleans were ordered to evacuate the city.

In Washington, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was coordinating relief efforts sending water, food and other supplies to staging centers in the Southeast. FEMA was moving supplies from logistics centers in Atlanta and Denton, Texas, to areas closer to where authorities believe the storm will create a need, spokeswoman Nicol Andrews said.

"It's a very dangerous situation at this point," FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews said. "We're ready and awaiting landfall."

The American Red Cross was mobilizing volunteers from across the country for what one official called its largest response to a single disaster in many years.

"This is really an all-hands-on-deck scenario for the Red Cross right now," spokeswoman Carrie Martin said.

The Red Cross urged people, even those who think they are outside the storm's path, to prepare for an emergency.

"It could shift at any point. It's really a matter of not taking any chances, having the supplies in place," Martin said.

Andrews said that FEMA knows "from 30 years' experience that these hurricanes are still largely unpredictable and can turn at a moment's notice."

Officials anticipated a need for emergency shelters as people evacuate the areas expected to be hit hardest by the storm. "As far as people can get away from the storm there will be places for them to go," Andrews said.

The Red Cross encouraged people to turn to friends and family first rather than shelters because of the magnitude of the evacuation. Shelters should be for those who have nowhere else to go, Martin said.

Associated Press writers Tom Raum and Douglass K. Daniel in Washington contributed to this report.

___

[Nickdfresh]

Controversy over whether New Orleans Mayor failed to follow hurricane plan
From Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Controversy_over_whether_New_Orleans_Mayor_failed_ to_follow_hurricane_plan), the free news source you can write!

September 4, 2005
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Image:Bus_yard-rotate.jpg
Hundreds of buses sit damaged after the flood
Enlarge
Hundreds of buses sit damaged after the flood

New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin is facing criticism over the evacuation of citizens before Hurricane Katrina struck.

In the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of buses were sitting in bus yards, some less than a mile from the Superdome. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco commented, "The buses could have saved an estimated 20,000 people if they had been used for emergency evacuations which President Bush had declared two days before Katrina hit.", however the evacuation was ordered by Mayor Nagin, President Bush having no direct authority to order evacuations. Thursday, after the storm, Blanco by executive order used school buses for evacuation.

The 2000 edition of the southeast Louisiana evacuation plan on page 13, paragraph 5 states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

There were however alternative emergency plans, including ones held by state Homeland Security offices, and it is unclear which one was being operated to.

The Superdome had been opened shortly before the storm as a shelter of last resort for those who had not evacuated. As FEMA observed at that time: "Most residents have evacuated the city and those left behind do not have transportation or have special needs." Roughly 150,000 people were not evacuated from the city. During the Hurricane Ivan evacuation 600,000 people failed to evacute the city.

According to WWLTV, during a news conference on Sunday before the hurricane struck, Mayor Nagin claimed he "could and would commandeer any property or vehicle it deemed necessary to provide safe shelter or transport for those in need". However photos circulated appear to show unused school and privately owned busses left stranded in flood waters.

It is unclear whether Mayor Nagin knew these particular buses existed, since the Orleans Parish School Board is not under his jurisdiction and his office would not normally know the location of OPSB bus yards or be able to contact the drivers of those buses to place them into service. Normally it is the job of FEMA to coordinate between the various local jurisdictions such as the OPSB and the City of New Orleans in this case. That is, under the rules of prior hurricane responses, FEMA would ask all local jurisdictions for a list of resources under their control. Then FEMA would have taken a request from Nagin for buses, relayed it to the Orleans Parish School Board or other local jurisdictions which had buses, and at that point the OPSB would have provided the buses to Nagin. That coordination did not happen here, but it is unclear whether Nagin ever made such a request prior to the hurricane and after the hurricane they were underwater and useless.

However, if he had known about them, the declaration of a state of emergency on August 26 gave him the right under Louisiana law to commandeer them for the duration of the emergency. The failure to issue a timely evacuation order in effect made it physically impossible to evacuate the nursing homes, hospitals, and those without automobiles.
146 buses less than a mile from the Superdome
Enlarge
146 buses less than a mile from the Superdome

In a radio interview on WWL-AM shortly after the hurricane, Mayor Nagin said, "I need 500 buses, man."

Hmmmm...I guess maybe it's not ALL NAGIN'S fault?:confused: