The Blame Game

[agogoboots]

Why people play the Blame Game I'll never understand.

Some blame poverty.
Some blame race.
Some blame the mayor or the local officials.
Some blame FEMA.
Some blame Homeland Security.
Some blame the president.
And I'm sure some blame God.

The truth is, unfortunately, natural disasters happen. The truth is, people are caught off guard by their unpredictability. The truth is the sky is always falling. Local officials are also victims. Nobody has enough power to move mountains including the President and the Director of FEMA, including Congress. The truth is, nobody is God.

How many times would the nation have been willing to completely evacuate New Orleans at their expense? Who would we blame if the event hadn't happened?

How many times could New Orleans have afforded to evacuate own it's own? 3? 4? times a year?

Should we have evacuted Mississippi and Alabama too? Should we evacuate Florida's poor everytime there's a hurricane threat? Are you going to pay for it?

Do we evacuate California when there's a tremor? Or Washington and New York when there's a terrorist threat?

At what number or predicted deaths do we draw the line? 20,000? 10,000? 5,000? 12? 3? I know I don't like sticking around when there's a predictable tornado outbreak.

And speaking of tornados (or whatever small predictable disaster, fire, flood, etc.), shouldn't we have government on alert at all times to come immediately to the rescue? How many times does some small town get wiped nearly off the map and is for the most part left to dig themselves out or be dug out by some other small neighboring town? Where are the funds to rebuild?

And how many people would have refused to leave New Orleans anyway had "somebody" funded a complete evacuation? Would it have been wrong to force people to leave against their will, say at gunpoint maybe?

So anyway. Could "we" have done better in this event? Perhaps. With what % of accuracy and within what time frame could "we" have predicted it? How many false alarms would you have funded with your tax dollars? At what number of "predicted" lives lost should we have drawn the line? Is this about Mississippi and Alabama too, or just about New Orleans? Are we discounting what WAS done by thousands who put themselves in harms way maybe?

Shit happens. Sometimes it's bigger than any of us. Learn. Try to do better. But stop the Blame Game.

[agogoboots]

Are you aware of this?
http://www.rednova.com/news/science/231050/oregon_scientists_monitor_bulging_ground/ (Possible Disaster)

Right near Bend, Oregon. Population 225,000.

[agogoboots]

Likely to happen again. (http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8CD5O900&apc=9009)

[Buffalo]

The house of cards has fallen in. A generation of conservative
thinking, combined with five years of neoconservative thrashing, has
finally come to an unavoidable head. The agencies tasked to protect
us - FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to name two - have
been proven to be utterly useless. The conservative movement has
failed spherically, from all sides and in all directions.

[mango man]

Shit happens. Sometimes it's bigger than any of us. Learn. Try to do better. But stop the Blame Game.


I dont see it as a "game "

I blame the bush adminstrations failure to act to save lives

I blame FEMA for not only not providing aid but for stoping those that could , would . FEMA kept rescuers and aid out of the city and peaple died

the blame has nothing to do with the fact the "nutrual diasters happen"

the blame is in the fact that reponse was totally botched by incopetent fucktard political appointies and all the leader can say is "good job brownie "
not much to console those who died waiting for help to come

[Powerhouse]

This whole administration from the N.O. mayor to Bush should get together and write a book and title it "How To Turn A Natural Disaster Into A Man-made One" .

[Buffalo]

how Richard M. Nixon must be spinning in his grave with jealousy at failing to name himself head investigator of the break-in at the Watergate Hotel.

A little "investigative" whitewash early on would have turned the trick and the whole thing would have been swept under the rug in a week, no need for Gerald Ford to embarrass himself issuing that pardon.

Poor old RMN's ghost must be insanely jealous of the "advisers" around G.aWol.B.

[rossshow]

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=33534

House cancels hearings on Katrina response

[Powerhouse]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219


...The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance....

[mango man]

I'll see your right bastion WSJ and raise you one NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/opinion/07wed1.html?hp=&pagewanted=print)

September 7, 2005
It's Not a 'Blame Game'

With the size and difficulty of the task of rescuing and rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas still unfolding, it seemed early to talk about investigating how this predicted cataclysm had been allowed to occur and why the government's response was so slow and inept. Until yesterday, that is, when President Bush blithely announced at a photo-op cabinet meeting that he, personally, was going to "find out what went right and what went wrong." We can't imagine a worse idea.

No administration could credibly investigate such an immense failure on its own watch. And we have learned through bitter experience - the Abu Ghraib nightmare is just one example - that when this administration begins an internal investigation, it means a whitewash in which no one important is held accountable and no real change occurs.

Mr. Bush signaled yesterday that we are in for more of the same when he sneered and said, "One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game." This is not a game. It is critical to know what "things went wrong," as Mr. Bush put it. But we also need to know which officials failed - not to humiliate them, but to replace them with competent people.

It's obvious, for instance, that Michael Brown has met the expectations of those who warned that he would be a terrible director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is no time to be engaging in a wholesale change of leadership, but in Mr. Brown's case there seems to be precious little leadership to lose. He should be replaced with someone who can do the huge job that remains to be done.

But the questions go way beyond Mr. Brown - starting with why federal officials ignored predictions of a disastrous flood in New Orleans - and the answers can come only from an independent commission. We agree with the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, Senator Hillary Clinton and others who say that such a panel should follow the successful formula of the 9/11 commission: bipartisan leadership and members chosen by the White House and both parties in Congress on the basis of real expertise. It should have subpoena power and a staff expert enough to find answers and offer remedies.

Mrs. Clinton has also proposed pulling FEMA out of the Homeland Security Department and restoring its cabinet-level status. That is premature. The current setup makes sense, at least in theory. The nation should not have to support two different bureaucracies for dealing with sudden disasters.

Before throwing the system into chaos again, an investigation should determine whether the problem lies in the structure or in execution. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal showed how the Bush administration had systematically stripped power and money from FEMA, which had been painfully rebuilt under President Bill Clinton but had long been a target of Republican "small government" ideologues. The Journal said state officials had been warning Washington - as recently as July 27 - that the homeland secretary, Michael Chertoff, was planning further disastrous cuts.

This page supported the creation of Mr. Chertoff's department. But it was poorly run by the first secretary, Tom Ridge, with his maddening color-wheel alerts.

It is clearly in need of a hard look and perhaps serious reorganization. Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, have plans for hearings, which is fine. But they created the department in the first place and may have more of a stake in the outcome than a panel of impartial experts.

The panel should also look at the shortcomings of local officials and governments. It was chilling, to put it mildly, to read Mayor Ray Nagin's comment in The Journal that New Orleans's hurricane plan was "get people to higher ground and have the feds and the state airlift supplies to them."

But disasters like this are not a city or a state issue. They concern the entire nation and demand a national response - certainly a better one than the White House comments that "tremendous progress" had been made in Louisiana. We're used to that dismissive formula when questions are raised about Iraq. Americans deserve better about a disaster of this magnitude in their own country.
:D

[Heartland]

Did you check out that source? It's a conservative policy pushing organization disguised as a think tank. They're entitled to their opinion, but they're hardly objective. They're also in Walmart's pocket.

http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/mediareleases/2004/pr04144.shtml

http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=106

http://www.waveflux.net/archives/001805.php

[Heartland]

I just want to clarify that I don't disagree with every single thing in their statement. I think there's plenty of blame to go around. The difference is, the mayor has said he will accept his share of the blame, while Bush pats his cronies on the back, praises the "great job" they're doing while people are dying in droves, and makes jokes about poor Trent Lott losing his home.

[sadie999]

Shit happens allright....

CHRONOLOGY....Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:

*

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

*

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

*

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

*

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy and former college roommate, Michael Brown, who has no previous experience in disaster management and was fired from his previous job for mismanagement.

*

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

*

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.

*

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

*

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

*

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

*

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

Source (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007023.php)

Shit happens allright and the biggest pile of it is that pointyheaded phony fetussucking pig in the white house. Ladies and gentleman - your presidunce.

No one's to blame. Shit happens. Good - then I want my friggin' taxes back 'cuz obviously nothing's being done with them except to give Bush's inept friends jobs on my nickel.

Duh on the whole notion that natural disasters happen. Horrifying when the head of FEMA can look into a camera three days into the disaster and stupidly admit to know less than anyone watching tv knew at that point.

No one's to blame. That's how Bush sleeps. That and the lack of synapses. No one's to blame. No wonder our culture is turning to dung - no one's ever to blame.

[rossshow]

Muck posts some blame:

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=33565


Surely Mr. Williams and the WSJ must be wrong!!! We all "know" it was Bush!!!!!



http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007219

Blame Amid the Tragedy
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.





A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.
The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.





The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.
In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected--and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash.

[rossshow]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509070003

Who is Bob Williams, and why is he on TV talking about Hurricane Katrina?

On September 6 and 7, numerous national media outlets featured G. Robert "Bob" Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, falsely criticizing Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin -- both Democrats -- for their handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. But none of these media outlets disclosed that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a conservative think tank that espouses "limited, accountable government" and receives funding from numerous conservative donors. Nor did they make clear how Williams, who was a Washington state legislator during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, is qualified to comment on hurricane disaster relief efforts.

Williams's media tour appears to have been launched by a September 6 Wall Street Journal op-ed. He also was featured on the September 6 editions of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, ABC's World News Tonight, and Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, as well as the September 7 edition of MSNBC's Connected: Coast to Coast.

On his guest appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and Connected: Coast to Coast, Williams claimed that Blanco was largely to blame for the slow government response to Katrina's devastation, because "the feds can't come in" to provide disaster relief unless requested by the governor. This is false; in fact, the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan clearly states that the federal government may take a "proactive" response to a catastrophe and bypass state requests for aid. Normally, it is a governor's responsibility to request federal aid in the event of an emergency. But under a "proactive" response, "[s]tandard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of catastrophic magnitude." Moreover, Blanco requested federal aid three days before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reprinted Blanco's August 27 request to Bush to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana and to provide "supplementary Federal assistance." Further, the White House had already authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist with the hurricane emergency. According to an August 26 White House statement, FEMA was authorized "to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."

In his Journal op-ed and his appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and Connected, Williams claimed that, "sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation." But news reports indicate that Bush -- in an effort to ensure such a precaution was being taken --called Blanco "shortly before" the press conference at which the evacuation was announced -- casting doubt on Williams's claim that Bush's phone call precipitated the announcement. Lou Dobbs Tonight and World News Tonight featured brief videotaped segments of Williams criticizing New Orleans' evacuation plans.

None of these media outlets noted that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which purports to "advance individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government," is a conservative group that receives funding from conservative grant-making organizations such as the Scaife Foundations and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Nor did they make clear exactly how Williams is qualified to comment on hurricane disaster relief. According to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation website: "Our primary research areas are budget and taxes, education, health care, welfare, and citizenship and governance." Williams's biography on the site states that he "is known as a budget and tax expert in the state and is frequently consulted for advice on fiscal and tax policies."

ABC News correspondent Dan Harris noted that Williams "dealt with emergency response issues after the eruption of Mount St. Helens," while Fox News identified Williams as a "Frmr. State Legislator in Mt. St. Helens Area." But the Mount St. Helens eruption (which occurred 25 years ago) and Hurricane Katrina are notably dissimilar -- specifically in their respective impacts and the amount of warning and preparation time preceding them. The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, killed 57 people and was foreshadowed by two months of unusual seismic activity and an emergency declaration on March 31. According to census figures, Skamania County, where the volcano is located, had a population of 7,919 in 1980. By contrast, Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26, noting that "Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat to the state of Louisiana." That same day, the National Weather Service predicted that there was a 17 percent chance Katrina would strike New Orleans by August 29. According to the most recent census figures, New Orleans' population in July 2004 was 462,269.

[Heartland]

Thanks for finding that, Ross.

It appears that Williams was put into service to keep the Bush spin moving forward. The desperation is showing.

[MaryNW]

News Home
Netscape


Ex-Secretary of State Powell slams storm effort


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Colin Powell, the former U.S. secretary of state seen as a potential leader for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, has joined the chorus of Americans criticizing the disaster response at all levels of government.

"There have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels -- local, state and federal," Powell said in an ABC interview for the "20/20" program to be broadcast on Friday evening.

American political figures from both major parties have assailed the slow response to the hurricane's assault last week on the U.S. Gulf Coast, which devastated New Orleans and killed hundreds, possibly thousands, in the region.

"There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done. I don't think advantage was taken of the time that was available to us, and I just don't know why," Powell said in excerpts on ABC's Web site.

He said he did not think that race was a factor in the slow response, but that many of those unable to leave New Orleans in time were trapped by poverty which disproportionately affects blacks.

Powell was the highest-ranking black official during U.S. President George W. Bush's first term and chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gulf War. He is among various names mentioned in Washington as a potential "hurricane czar" to take over the long-term recovery effort.

Two senators from Bush's Republican party on Thursday proposed that such a job be created. White House officials have not ruled out the option, saying it is among several being discussed.

Some black leaders, including Democrats in Congress, have charged that racism contributed to the misery of New Orleans' predominantly black storm victims.

"I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic," Powell said. "But poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor."
09/09/05 06:06

[Heartland]

And it happened because they were poor. No shit, Sherlock.

[chococake]

The blame starts with the people that voted for Bush in the first place. Funny Terri should start this thread.

[mango man]

The blame starts with the people that voted for Bush in the first place. Funny Terri should start this thread.

not at all , how many times did scotty use "thebuzz word blame Game " in the press confrence the other day ?

its the offcial white house defense , so all the bush supporting F.tards are spreading the word .

pointing the finger , spin the tale , lying, to take the attention away from the dismal failure in leadership again demonstrated by G.W. Bush .



.

[mewsicmama]

This whole administration from the N.O. mayor to Bush should get together and write a book and title it "How To Turn A Natural Disaster Into A Man-made One" .

I so agree Mike. It makes me sick to think of all the people and animals that have been lost.

Shari

[rossshow]

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=33565&page=5

Muck's still spewing blame!

[rossshow]

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=33661

[socrfan2]

The old Republican party of Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr., and Bob Taft, Sr., was the party of personal responsibility and the party that decried machine politics.

The new Newt Gingrich-Bob Walker-Tom DeLay-Bill Frist-Karl Rove GOP is the party of "blaming someone else." Their knee-jerk reaction to everything is to start spewing accusations and lies. Confuse the issue enough, put a few talking points out there (doesn't matter if they're plausible, just get them out there for Rush and O'Reilly and Hannity and the rest of those fools to pick up). Doesn't matter if it's blaming everything bad that's happened on Clinton or whether it's putting out lies about Senator McCain, Al Gore, Max Cleland, John Kerry, opponents of the war in Iraq, or local officials in NO, the playbook is the same: find someone to blame, bring lots of tar, and sling it like mad.

The city and state people hardly covered themselves in glory on this one. But the primary blame for this rests at the door of the Feds, who utterly fell down on the job. The fiasco started when they appointed a person who had graduated from an unaccredited law school, practiced law without any success, and failed miserably at business to lead the primary disaster assistance agency. Of course you have to figure that the President, with his consistent record of being bailed out of scrapes and business failures by courtiers of his father, might consider "Brownie" to be "his kinda guy."

[Kiheicat]

I am sick to nausea over the term "The Blame Game", particularly as sing-songed by Gump and his daddy. If he were able to stop glossing over everything, get dirty and at throng level perhaps he would actually be able to feel instead of just soundbiting.

[mango man]

I expect it to be a theme of his thursday speech