Text 14923, 82 rader
Skriven 2005-09-04 20:10:45 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: A Different Take on Media Accusations
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Don't let yourself be duped into thinking Sakowski and the other liberals are
the only ones who have information OR answers.


http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/malven/



 Saturday, September 03, 2005
Hurricane Katrina: Don't Blame Bush for Local Corruption and Democrat
Incompetence

There has been a lot of criticism of President Bush for the handling of the New
Orleans disaster and the alleged diversion of funds from the work on the levee,
to the Iraq war. There's only one problem with this argument, two actually. The
representative of the Army Corps of Engineers has stated that the critical
Levee work was completed, that it was up to designed specs. The problem is,
those specs were for a class three hurricane, not a four or five. Secondly of
the funds that were transferred to New Orleans over the last decades, were
diverted by the local levee boards to buy a Gambling Casino and a private
marina. It would appear that the "Big Easy's" reputation for inept governance
and corruption is well deserved. President Bush has done everything within his
power to take care of the disaster area. When he saw that Democrat incompetence
was unable to deal with the crisis, he went down to shake things up and get
people moving. Within a very few hours of his visit, massive truck convoys
began entering the city carrying water and food to those in need. This morning,
less than 24 hours after his visit, the buses were flowing into the city to
carry people to safety. President Bush had to go down to Louisiana to do the
jobs of the Mayor's and Governor's jobs. Okay, I know that the massive response
was mostly coincidental, but if this had occurred during Clinton's watch, the
MSM would have been saying that very thing.

The President called on Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Babineaux Blanco to order a mandatory evacuation on Saturday, 36-48 hours prior
to the storm's arrival. Nagin expressing concern about the legality of ordering
people out of the city when New Orleans had some safe hurricane shelters to
which they could evacuate, failed to act. National Hurricane Center Director
Max Mayfield in Miami called Nagin at home Saturday night and told him: "Get
people out of New Orleans." Two days before the hurricane made landfall,
President Bush declared the area a federal disaster area, giving the Governors
of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama all of the resources they needed to
prepare for this chaos, all of the troops, all of the supplies, all of the
transportation, all were available to the Democrat Governor, the Democrat
Mayor, Democrat City Council, Democrat Levee Board in Louisiana. The problems
arose because Governor Blanco couldn't make up her mind to "pull the trigger"
and begin mobilizing until two days after the storm hit. That means she lost
four days before acting to begin the rescue of the people in New Orleans. It is
readily apparent that Governor Blanco was incapable of doing her job. It is
also apparent that Mayor Nagin was neglectful in doing his job. New Orleans had
a plan for this contingency:

    "The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an
approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The
Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or
part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if
he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster
mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation
conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of
the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected
official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of
the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane."

    "The person responsible for recognition of hurricane related preparation
needs and for the issuance of an evacuation order is the Mayor of the City of
New Orleans. Concerning preparation needs and the issuance of an evacuation
order, The Office of Emergency Preparedness should keep the Mayor advised."

    "...Evacuation notices or orders will be issued during three stages prior
to gale force winds making landfall.

    > Precautionary Evacuation Notice: 72 hours or less

    > Special Needs Evacuation Order: 8-12 hours after Precautionary Evacuation
Notice issued

    > General Evacuation Notice: 48 hours or less"

    The entire plan is here: City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency
Management Plan [link].

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