Let me add to that. I know of some republican's also blaming the administration but they are not saying it was a race thing and they are not getting a march together.

I agree. Some of these things wreak of political opportunism (is that a word).

I am white and was raised surrounded by racists. I taught myself not to be that way. I know that alot of people are racists, but I think this was more of a cluster**** than any concious effort to screw over black folks. (At least I hope.) People see it as a way to mobilize the black vote, since a small percentage of African Americans show up at the polls. (Probably because they are skeptical based on the past.)

Anyone familiar with the city knows that there is a poverty problem and an education problem. Alot of those issues, unfortunatley, have a black face to them in NO. New Orleans is like a one night stand to America. Everybody loves it while it's happening but they are always glad to get away. It's really sad and I don't see why it's so hard to build up the cummunity there. (I'm not that familiar with the local politics outside of corruption being touted at all levels.)

If you look closer, there are people on the right pointing fingers. There are those who get turned off by the far left and their accusations, but just because you are on one side or the other should not make you give people a pass for screwing up.

Partisan politics have taken over and it sucks. People get more caught up going against each other than what is right or wrong.

My point with the administration is that we have sunk a ton of money into homeland security to make us responsive to large acts against our people. Some experts think this was done at the expense of disaster recovery efforts. In my mind, alot of the actions you take after someone blows up a city are similar to the things you do when mother nature unleashes. The recovery efforts are similar in that there is mass confusion, loss of general services, and a need to settle things down in a hurry so that recovery can begin.

We, as a nation, should be better than this. That is all I'm saying. DHS is a big fat turd that sucks up money. Bureacracy is stiffling our country's efficiency....from both the left and the right.

Sure the local gov should bear some of the blame. But, is it a newsflash that LA is poor? Is it a newsflash that their economy has been on the decline since 9/11? Is it surprising that the city is below sea level? Does the local economy give them the means to handle these issues? Sounds like the levees needed attention a long time ago. That's a corps of engineers thing (supported by massive federal funding).

Keep in mind that the recent transportation bill alocated about as much money to build a bridge in Alaska for 50 people to drive on as they did the last time they threw money at the levees. (The bridge is in a state reps district and s named after him.) There is so much money being wasted that we should, as americans, be pissed off when the system fails like this. I mean we just allocated a billion dollars to research coal as an alternative energy source...yes, I said COAL. It's ridiculous and it's time to cut some of the pork out of our government and get to the true meaning of federal government. Good roads, military (depployed intelligently), civil defense, infrastructure, etc. Most of these things were missed during Katrina and I think the problem is too big for a state in dire straits to deal with on their own.

It seems that the Republicans are starting to find out what it was like for Clinton and the democrats for eight years.

The US Navy has a HUGE HOspital ship... the USNS Comfort it was docked at its homeport in Poutsmouth Va. I was navy and stationed in the area. It was in fact in port. There was a numerous ships and rescue capability in port. Everyone's favorite governor of Louisiana was asked/told to sign off on the emergency relief from the federal government by the President himself... and she said no!!! He called 3 times to get her off her ass and she refused. This was as early as Thursday and late as Friday. Her signing the papers would have sent these ships in route to the area and had them there roughly tuesday/wednesday (levee break tuesday). There would have been immediate response from the military. Not only not signing the papers she prevented the Federal government from going in and support the mayors mandatory evacuation... troops would have gone in and bussed/trucked people out of new orleans not use city buses to the dome. The lack of communication from the govenor to the mayor and refusing the presidents offer is criminal in my opinion. The mayor also has the blame for not having security at the shelters... sending people everywhere, not inforcing the evacuation plan. Not fixing the levee with supposedly a responce team. What people in the state needs to do is take over the damn captial in Baton Rouge and get the governor out. She needs to be impeached now not tomorrow. The mayor is now calling for mandatory evacuation and the governor isn't supporting his decision this is so wrong you always support the mayors. So his word is mute. There is ecoli and other virus/disease in that water they all need to get out of New Orleans until its safe. I keep saying it, and I know this was discussed here before with the Saints and Baton rouge... she isn't the govenor of the state but on a team in a sick game thats been going on in the state and that is Baton Rouge vs. New Orleans. She wanted New Orleans to pay that contract of Benson's taxing New Orleans and slot machings in New Orleans... mean while Baton Rouge/State gets all the taxes from tickets food hotels... we really need to TAKE BATON ROUGE!!!

I just found out I lost a great aunt in New Orleans... she was in an old-folks home and her son was out of town and called to get them out of the home before the hurricane hit... he called several times and they said they'll do what they can do... he insisted it was a mandatory evacuation... well it was on CNN her son Todd Rodrigue was just interviewd about it.

No kidding .

Republicans came out of the wood work on Clinton for a blow job , and want understanding for a department head who blew his job .

I can say this much , I myself have been a Republican for years and after seeing Bush circle the wagons to protect Brown , I hang my head in shame at this matter .

Bush Bashing the bigger fish to fry is in your own backyard... the govenor. She refused to let the feds in. The Federal Government by law can not impose military action/relief action unless the state asks for federal assistance this goes to Letting the States rule/govern themselves.

The state had a plan and the city had a plan and they failed to act on the plans... they failed. They failed calling in the feds early. I am not saying Brown is innocent... he needs his butt canned as well. Sending professional-lifesaving firemen and paramedics in teams of 2 to pass out fliers with FEMA phone number on it throughout the gulf area is total mismanagement.

I don't look at it as Republican - Demacrat issue its a damn shame when you are elected by the people and then fail your people. She had the oppitunitunity to get people out early and get them assistance getting them out early and faild.

Here is an interesting story , quite long so I am linking it .


Hurricane Katrina-Our Experiences

Larry Bradshaw
Lorrie Beth Slonsky

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store at
the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display
case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without
electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning
to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and managers had locked up the
food, water, pampers, and prescriptions and fled the City. Outside Walgreen's
windows, residents and tourists grew increasingly thirsty and hungry.

The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the
windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters. There was an alternative. The
cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices,
and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not.
Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the
looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home
yesterday (Saturday). We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a
newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or
front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreen's in
the French Quarter.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the
National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the "victims" of
the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed,were the real
heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New
Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift to carry the sick and
disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The
electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to
share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop
parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many
hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep
them alive. Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators. Refinery workers
who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their neighbors clinging
to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped hot-wire any car that
could be found to ferry people out of the City. And the food service workers who
scoured the commercial kitchens improvising communal meals for hundreds of
those stranded.

Most of these workers had lost their homes, and had not heard from members of
their families, yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the
20% of New Orleans that was not under water.

On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the French
Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees like
ourselves, and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and shelter from
Katrina. Some of us had cell phone contact with family and friends outside of New
Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of resources including the
National Guard and scores of buses were pouring in to the City. The buses and the
other resources must have been invisible because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with
$25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who did
not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have
extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12
hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and clothes we had. We
created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and new born babies. We
waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The
buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute the arrived to the City
limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was
dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as
water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors,
telling us that the "officials" told us to report to the convention center to
wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the City, we finally
encountered the National Guard.

The Guards told us we would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's
primary shelter had been descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole.
The guards further told us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention
Center, was also descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not
allowing anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the
only 2 shelters in the City, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that
that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us. This
would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile "law
enforcement".

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sfsocialists/3687.html

I think there were some misrepresentations... take the looting for instance, there was video coverage of police holding 3 black males. The shot was from a new chopper. THe officers were not aware it was on camera and after taling with the 3 black males the 3 white police officers turned and walked away and you could see that the 3 black men were carring food and water only. That shouldln't be classified as looting but survival. Citizend near thedome did try getting into a grocery store and the officers watched them and then went in with them people and made sure the food was being taken towards the dome. I do feel that with just reports or hearsay things may have gotton distored at times. I still have questions about some rapes of kids... but I only confirmed one and all I have heard was this dude was beatin to death.

If Blanco didn't want to agree to federal help beforehand (and this is the first I have heard reported of it), then it is as much her fault as FEMA and the Federal Goverment. Notice, I'm not fingerpointing to only one group, it is all of their fault. But I still say, to not be ready after the hurricane comes through was a joke. Are you going to tell me one piece of unsigned* paper can stop any type of rescue/relief effort, as we stand and watch our own people die? Seems like we need some reform if this is the case.