Subj : Re: Ok, NOW Brownie resigns To : alt.tv.farscape From : TNW7Z7Z7Z12345 Date : Tue Sep 13 2005 17:48:11 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Nick wrote: > > Ken McElhaney wrote: > > Nick wrote: > >> Ken McElhaney wrote: > >>> Nick wrote: > >>>> http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/12/katrina.impact/index.html > >>> > >>> Well, at least the Mayor is safe from recall since there are no > >>> longer any New Orleans' residents to kick him out of office. > >>> > >>> But as for the incompetent gov.... > >> > >> I am sure she wasn't perfect but she wasn't as bad as some reports I > >> have seen on the news. > > > > The Washington Post had an interesting article on her last thursday. > > In particular, she (or to be technical, her state homeland security > > office) prevented both the Red Cross & the Salvation Army from going > > to the Superdome & Convention Center during that week. The reason? > > They were going to evacuate and didn't want either organization > > there. The problem? The Gov didn't order her National Guard to > > commandeer the buses required until WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. By then, > > the buses in New Orleans were up to their hubcaps in water. > > > > Basically, if "Brownie" should've been kicked out, the Gov certainly > > should be in the same boat. > > > > Ken - someday, someone will realize that FEMA is not a first > > responder organization and is subject to decisions (however stupid > > and incompetent) from state & local officials. > FEMA should be trained to handle situations like this. A governor does > not have training in this type of situation and will never get any until > this situation actually occurs. Therefore, I would expect the experts to > be advising the non-experts on what they should be doing. If they don't > do that what do we even have them for? > > I just typed FEMA into google. Here is the first hit: > "Federal Emergency Management Agency > Agency of the US government tasked with Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, > Response & Recovery planning. > www.fema.gov/ - 7k - Sep 11, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages > FEMA Flood Map Store - Kids > 2005 Federally Declared Disasters - US Fire Admin > More results from www.fema.gov" > > Governors are elected, they answer to the people. > BTW, I am down here an hour from New Orleans. I see the stuff that is > happening. You aren't going to convince of anything. I'm with Nick. When revamped under Clinton, FEMA had disaster experts who immediately explained all options/procedures to state and local officials, who can't possibly know every detail of how to get help from the federal bureaucracy. And yes, state and local officials screwed things up (and that will come out in an investigation), but the instant FEMA understood the situation (no power, *NO COMMUNICATION* between first responders, etc.), they should've stepped in and helped rather than hinder the situation. Brown didn't have the faintest idea what to do. Suppose terrorists bombs had wiped out all the local officials. Would FEMA not act because there were no state officials telling them what to do? What has Bush and homeland security been doing since 2001? The big issue in NYC was communication failures. Blanco begged FEMA for phones and didn't get them for days. The *media* had satellite phones. I guess next time state officials should ask CNN, Fox and MSNBC for help, since Homeland Security can't handle it. Ken, in your other post you objected to the Salon article I cited describing the decimation of FEMA. Did you also dismiss John's article on the same topic (written a year *before* Katrina)? Here's another account from the LA Times (although it is not nearly as detailed). or More important here's a very long and detailed chronology of events that spares no one. or - TNW [To e-mail me, remove 12345 from my address.] .