No, I'm NOT joking.

[dolari]

I propose that we name the new water body created by the levee breaches in New Orleans "Lake George W. Bush" so that we NEVER forget whose shoulders this fiasco rests on.

Lake Michael D. Brown would also be acceptable.

Comments

[andi8.livejournal.com]

OK I know that the evac not going down like it should have is the governments fault, but I'd place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the governor of Louisianna. Bush deserves some scorn for still being on vacation 2 days after the hurricane hit. But I'm not so sure that it's his fault. The state is required to ask for the help of the National Gaurd and the milirary. So name it aftert the butt monkey who was responsible for that and didin't.

Andi

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Governor Blanco sent as many National Guard troops as Louisiana could afford to the Superdome before the storm hit. It was not enough. She knew it was not enough, and tried to get more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard


Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.


My blame squarely sits on Michael Brown, and Bush. I also have issues with Nagin not using the busses to evacuate the folks who couldn't afford to get out, but his actions in getting SOMETHING going in the days after were still faster than FEMA's response.

[hockeyfag.livejournal.com]

Remember, each state is responsible for their own troops so, as far as I understand, bush couldn't have ordered one state to send troops in. They had to agree with each other to do it, then send the paperwork to ok the move to cross state lines.

Its an odd deal.. feds can call up state troops at any time, but each state is still responsible for its own troops..

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

She obviously did remember that.

Reread the comment you were responding to.

"They had to agree with each other to do it, then send the paperwork to ok the move to cross state lines."

They did agree with each other, and it still took DC, in a national emergency, almost a week to get the paperwork out.

[hockeyfag.livejournal.com]

Considering the levy had been built for how many years for a level 3 hurricane.. You can't blame this on bush, as far as the levy. Plus people didn't expect everyone to turn to lawlessness so quickly. It was amazing..

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

The amount of disinformation out there is truly mind blowing. Louisiana, and the SELA Army Corps of Engineers, have been trying to tell DC that the levees weren't up to the job for years. The funding for this project had to come from the federal government for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is that the CoE was supposed to be doing the work). Without the funding, no work could be done, and the money that was coming in slowly dried up for more important tasks, like blowing all hell out of a city half a world away.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-levee4sep04,1,989132.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

[iqtech.livejournal.com]

And what about the Mayor of New Orleans? Why did he not use the fleet of school buses at his disposal to transport people who had no transportation? Why was the only evacuation center the Superdome? Why was there no food, water, medicine or blankets for the few refuges who got into the Superdome? Shouldn't some of this be on his shoulders as well?

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

No.

Funny thing that. Mayors are responsible for a lot of stuff, but when it comes to their city getting laid waste, they sort of lose their job. Without the appropriate authorization and logistical support, moving those people out on school buses would have been illegal, dangerous, and basically impossible.

You see, as much as they had nowhere to go, he had nowhere to send them.

This is a national crisis that called for a national response. That people at lower levels might have been able to do something really means nothing when we can see that the people whose job descriptions say they should have done something didn't.

[iqtech.livejournal.com]

I agree - in order for him to be able to move the people, he needed a destination - like maybe some of those closed military bases in his area. But he would need federal approval for that.
I'm getting mighty sick of these people who argue that the city should not have waited for federal relief and should have planned ahead to help itself. If this is the case, why do we need to fund FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security?

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

This is gonna surprise you, but YES. Nagin failed to implement his own cities evacuation plan. But when the local government fails, the federal government needs to pick up. And Nagin's actions immediately after in browbeating the Feds to do SOMETHING are to be applauded.

I'm critical of him, too. But not nearly as much as FEMA and Bush. FEMA's whole EXISTENCE is "Emergency Management Administration." Bush played a guitar in San Diego while people were dying....

I stand by my naming.

[iqtech.livejournal.com]

I agree with your naming, Jenn. Bush knew this storm would hit - it was only a question of when and where, not if. He could have started diaster relief rolling before the storm hit - or at least had it on standby. He is a callous, ugly man who has absolutely no compassion or concern for anyone outside the circle of his wealthy, elite cronies.
My punishment for him? To be haunted by every single man, woman and child who has died in the disaster areas due to his inaction.
And as Zaecus pointed out - even if the mayor had started the buses rolling - where would they have gone?
Course, that didn't stop this enterprising teen (http://crookedtimber.org/2005/09/03/jabbor-gibson/) from boarding an abandoned bus and taking 100 people to safety after it was announced that the Astrodome had started taking in NO refugees. He got there before the first official buses arrived. Pin a medal on that young mans chest!

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

Brown Bush Lake

[http://users.livejournal.com/strangelv__/]

How about Lake Chertoff.

http://w115.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46154


If our government is this helpful in a case with this much warning, how much moer helpful can we expect when, say, three or more US cities are the sites of nuclear detonations, where trapid response will be utterly critical?


SL, who needs to buy more liquid iodine