You make up
your own mind.
In case you aren't familiar with how
our government is SUPPOSED to work:
The chain of responsibility for the
protection of the citizens in
New Orleans is:
1. The Mayor
2. The New Orleans director of
Homeland Security
(a political appointee of the
Governor who reports to the Governor)
3. The Governor
4. The Head of Homeland Security
5. The President
What did each do?
1. The mayor, with 5 days advance,
waited until 2 days before he
announced a mandatory evacuation (at
the behest of the President). The he
failed to provide transportation for
those without transport even though
he had hundreds of buses at his
disposal.
2. The New Orleans director of
Homeland Security failed to have any
plan for a contingency that has been
talked about for 50 years. Then he
blames the Feds for not doing what
he should have done. (So much for
political appointees)
3. The Governor, despite a
declaration of disaster by the
President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm
hit, failed to take advantage of the
offer of Federal troops and aid.
Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.
4. The Director of Homeland
Security positioned assets in the
area to be ready when the Governor
called for them.
5. The President urged a mandatory
evacuation, and even declared
a disaster State of Emergency,
freeing up millions of dollars of
federal assistance, should the
Governor decide to use it.
Oh and by the way, the levees that
broke were the responsibility of
the local landowners and the local
levee board to maintain, NOT THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The disaster in New Orleans is what
you get after decades of corrupt
government going all the way back to
Huey Long.
Funds for disaster protection and
relief have been flowing into this
city for decades, and where has it
gone, but into the pockets of the
politicos and their friends.
Decades of socialist government in
New Orleans has sapped all
self reliance from the community,
and made them dependent upon
government for every little thing.
Political correctness and a lack of
will to fight crime have created
the single most corrupt police force
in the country, and has permitted
gang violence to flourish.
The sad thing is that there are
many poor folks who have suffered
and died needlessly because those
that they voted into office failed
them.
For those who missed item 5 (where
the President's level of
accountability is discussed), it is
made more clear in a New Orleans
Times-Picayune article dated August
28:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - In the face of a
catastrophic Hurricane Katrina,
a mandatory evacuation was ordered
Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.
Acknowledging that large numbers of
people, many of them
stranded tourists, would be unable
to leave, the city set up 10 places
of last resort for people to go,
including the Superdome.
The mayor called the order
unprecedented and said anyone who
could leave the city should. He
exempted hotels from the evacuation
order because airlines had already
cancelled all flights.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing
beside the mayor at a news
conference, said President Bush
called and personally appealed
for a mandatory evacuation for the
low-lying city, which is prone to
flooding. (emphasis mine)
The ball was placed in Mayor
Nagin's court to carry out the
evacuation order. With a 5-day
heads-up, he had the authority to
use any and all services to evacuate
all residents from the city, as
documented in a city emergency
preparedness plan. By waiting until
the last minute, and failing to make
full use of resources available
within city limits, Nagin and
his administration fouled up.
Mayor Nagin and his emergency
sidekick Terry Ebbert have displayed
lethal, mind boggling incompetence
before, during and after Katrina.
As for Mayor Nagin, he and his
profile in pathetic leadership
police chief should resign as well.
That city's government is
incompetent from one end to the
other. The people of New Orleans
deserve better than this crowd
of clowns is capable of giving them.
If you're keeping track, these
boobs let 569 buses that could have
carried 33,350 people out of New
Orleans-in one trip-get ruined in
the floods. Whatever plan these guys
had, it was a dud. Or it probably
would have been if they'd bothered
to follow it.
As for all the race-baiting
rhetoric and Bush-bashing coming
from prominent blacks on the left,
don't expect Ray Nagin to be called
out on the carpet for falling short.
You want to know why? Here's why:
It's more convenient to blame a
white president for what went wrong
than to hold a black mayor and his
administration accountable for
gross negligence and failing to
fully carry out an established
emergency preparedness plan.
To hold Nagin and his
administration accountable for
dropping the ball amounts to letting
loose the shouts and cries of
"Racism!". It's sad, it's wrong, but
it's standard operating procedure
for the media and left-wing black
leadership.
Mark my words: you will not hear a
word of criticism from Jesse
Jackson Sr., Randall Robinson, the
Congressional Black Caucus, the
NAACP, or Kanye West being directed
toward Clarence Ray Nagin Jr. Why?
Because he is just another black
politician instead of a responsible
elected official who happens to be
black. In the mindset of
more-blacker-than-thou blacks, black
politicians who are on their side
can do no wrong.
