Euphoria

Yes this is a fact... the Feds can not take military action in a US-state unless the Governer of that state signs off on the act. If Blanco signed the deal before the President asked a lot when have been in motion days... the feds where concern and even the President stepped in to call her and pleaded withher to sign off on it. It is a fact. This broke days ago as early as Wednesday. You can go back and read this theard I believe there was an article even about it and it was in all of the media markets. Not to say there isn't blame to go around across the board but you have to weigh most of it on her. From the local level to the top, but the real even is sleeping in her plush bed this morning getting up soon to have her hot cup of coffee and 7 course breakfast, reading a newspaper on how she devastated a city Baton Rouge thinks so little of -New Orleans. A quick reaction to the levee break is on the responsiblity of the city and state... if they don't handle it they have to "CALL" in the feds... (army corps of engineers). THe law preventing the Feds from steping in... is to let the State govern themselves, I mean that is what we have state governments for. If the Feds took care of such things then we can get rid of local governments as well. In such desasters the feds come in and run the show they take everying they need and do the job the state government couldn't. Maybe she wanted to handle this herself to make a name for herself -well she has made a name for herself I will tell you that.

I am telling you I think the appropriate action is for the people in Louisiana is to take back the government starting from the top and that is the governor... people need to march down to the capital and protest and call for her to resign if not an old fashion take her out and force her out band hand if have to. This is almost the same level as the conlonial times -Taxation without representation- Colonies taxed and didn't have a voice or got back any of the money they sent to England recall that from your history books boys and girls. That is what she has been doing in reguards to the Saints. Tax New Orleans hotels, resturants, tickets, luxury taxes... to pay for the Saints, set up slot machines 'around NO' not not around the state mind you. Where was the people and money to fix the levee as soon as it happened??? Where was the money rushing food/water to the dome and civic center? Where was the money keeping state officers even at the dome. New Orleans police where overwhelmed. UGh the list goes on... There needs to be a activist group that gets together and take back Baton Rouge.

BrooksMustGo

First, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss Euph.

I'm not clear exactly on the procedure that the feds are using to deflect responsibility for anything. Did Mississippi and Alabama not fill out the right paperwork either? If not, I guess that explains why FEMA didn't show up for the better part of a week either.

Where I get confused is here.
In Louisiana, the governor declares an emergency on the Friday before the storm hit.
http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Rel...ail.asp?id=973

General Honore talks about requests from all four state govs for federal help on Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th.
http://www.dod.gov/transcripts/2005/...843.html<br />

On Saturday the 27th, the white house declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and authorizes FEMA to do it's thing to provide all possible help.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0050827-1.html

Then on Saturday the 27th, Louisiana asks the white house to declare an emergency.
http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Rel...ail.asp?id=976

If both the state and the feds are declaring an emergency and calling for FEMA to head up the operation, it seems like the ball is in FEMA's court?

I'm not sure I understand the procedure?

BrooksMustGo

This time limit on editing is really unhandy........

Anyway, I figure that the big mistake the state made was continuing to wait for the feds to show up. After the levee broke, I think the state should have grabbed every school bus and bass boat in the state and gone into the flooded areas.

saintz08

BrooksMustGo

Here is what FEMA says on th 27th.

Emergency Aid Authorized For Hurricane Katrina Emergency Response In Louisiana


Release Date: August 27, 2005
Release Number: HQ-05-169

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, today announced that Federal resources are being allocated to support emergency protective response efforts response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina.

Brown said President Bush authorized the aid under an emergency disaster declaration issued following a review of FEMA's analysis of the state's request for federal assistance. FEMA will mobilize equipment and resources necessary to protect public health and safety by assisting law enforcement with evacuations, establishing shelters, supporting emergency medical needs, meeting immediate lifesaving and life-sustaining human needs and protecting property, in addition to other emergency protective measures.

The parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn were designated eligible for assistance. In addition, federal funds will be available for public safety debris removal and emergency protective measures at 75 percent of approved costs.

Brown named William Lokey of FEMA to coordinate the federal relief effort. FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

saintz08

"I need everything you have got," Ms. Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Monday, after the storm hit.

In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. "Nobody told me that I had to request that," Ms. Blanco said. "I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then."

By Wednesday, she had asked for 40,000 soldiers.


WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor.

For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and the Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effort. Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's control.

The debate began after officials realized that Hurricane Katrina had exposed a critical flaw in the national disaster response plans created after the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the administration's senior domestic security officials, the plan failed to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated.

As criticism of the response to Hurricane Katrina has mounted, one of the most pointed questions has been why more troops were not available more quickly to restore order and offer aid. Interviews with officials in Washington and Louisiana show that as the situation grew worse, they were wrangling with questions of federal/state authority, weighing the realities of military logistics and perhaps talking past each other in the crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/na...gewanted=print

This smells alot like FEMA .

Euphoria

See here this is what doesn't add up... there are recorded phone calls from the White House to the Governor about this and during the investigation this will come out even more. Its all going to come down to the timeline of all this. Monday the reports were... New Orleans dodged the big one. Everything seemed to stand still if you will assessing the damage... then Bam Tuesday Morning the levee breaks. That is when response was needed the most. The local and state levee repair team need to act and plans activated and they were not.

Of course the fix here from the political side is ok lets fix it but damn it there should have been a better plan and it activated no questions asked. US citizens... we pay there salaries and for this kind of thing. Fire everyone. Get someone in there to do the damn job.

saintz08

Announcement Follows Barrage of Criticism; New Chief Is Named
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:54 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being relieved of his command of the Bush administration's Hurricane Katrina onsite relief efforts, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Friday.

He will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts, Chertoff said.

Earlier, Brown confirmed the switch. Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort that has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: ''By the press, yes. By the president, No.''

''Michael Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge,'' Chertoff told reporters in Baton Rouge, La. Chertoff sidestepped a question on whether the move was the first step toward Brown's leaving FEMA.

But a source close to Brown, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FEMA director had been considering leaving after the hurricane season ended in November and that Friday's action virtually assures his departure.

Brown has been under fire because of the administration's slow response to the magnitude of the hurricane. On Thursday, questions were raised about whether he padded his resume to exaggerate his previous emergency management background.

Less than an hour before Brown's removal came to light, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Brown had not resigned and the president had not asked for his resignation.

Chertoff suggested the shift came as the Gulf Coast efforts were entering ''a new phase of the recovery operation.'' He said Brown would return to Washington to oversee the government's response to other potential disasters.

''I appreciate his work, as does everybody here,'' Chertoff said.

''I'm anxious to get back to D.C. to correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said,'' Brown said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Asked if the move was a demotion, Brown said: ''No. No. I'm still the director of FEMA.''

He said Chertoff made the decision to move him out of Louisiana. It was not his own decision, Brown said.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...gewanted=print

Euphoria

yeah... sounds like he's a paper pusher now.

saintz08

Hopefully , toilet paper pusher


In a letter to President Bush, Democratic Senate leaders said that the removal of Brown from Hurricane relief efforts was not enough.

"It is not enough to remove Mr. Brown from the disaster scene as Secretary Chertoff announced today. The individual in charge of FEMA must inspire confidence and be able to coordinate hundreds of federal, state and local resources. Mr. Brown simply doesn't have the ability or the experience to oversee a coordinated federal response of this magnitude," the letter said. It was signed by Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Chuck Schumer of New York.

Critics of Brown point to an extensive list of FEMA's failures since the hurricane struck Aug. 29. Topping the list was what happened at the convention center in New Orleans. There, 25,000 people were essentially stranded for four days.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1111074

Euphoria

Yeah right now on fox news some people doing a round table news thing... and they are calling the mayor and Governor incompetent. They brought up some points...