The New York Times—amid re-“reporting” some already discredited boilerplate that blames a shortage of LA Guard troops in NO on Iraq deployment, and blames FEMA for not sending in more personnel before the hurricane hit (so that presumably they, too, could find their resources under 15 feet of water)—does let slip this interesting tidbit:
When the water rose, the state began scrambling to find buses. Officials pleaded with various parishes across the state for school buses. But by Tuesday, Aug. 30, as news reports of looting and violence appeared, local officials began resisting.
Governor Blanco said the bus drivers, many of them women, “got afraid to drive. So then we looked for somebody of authority to drive the school buses.”
FEMA offered to help, the governor said, by requisitioning buses. Greyhound Lines began sending buses into New Orleans within two hours of getting FEMA approval on Wednesday, Aug. 31, said Anna Folmnsbee, a Greyhound spokeswoman.
Two hours? I’m OUTRAGED!
Then there’s this:
At midafternoon on that Monday, a few hours after Katrina made landfall, state and federal leaders appeared together at a press conference in Baton Rouge in a display of solidarity.
Governor Blanco lavished her gratitude on Mr. Brown, the FEMA chief.
“Director Brown,” she said, “I hope you will tell President Bush how much we appreciated – these are the times that really count – to know that our federal government will step in and give us the kind of assistance that we need.” Senator Mary L. Landrieu pitched in: “We are indeed fortunate to have an able and experienced director of FEMA who has been with us on the ground for some time.”
Mr. Brown replied in the same spirit: “What I’ve seen here today is a team that is very tight-knit, working closely together, being very professional doing it, and in my humble opinion, making the right calls.”
At that point, New Orleans seemed to have been spared the worst of the storm, although some areas were already being flooded through breaches in levees. But when widespread flooding forced the city into crisis, Monday’s confidence crumbled, exposing serious weaknesses in the machinery of emergency services.
[…]
[…] the prospect of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was a FEMA priority. Numerous drills and studies had been undertaken to prepare a response. In 2002, Joe M. Allbaugh, then the FEMA director, said: “Catastrophic disasters are best defined in that they totally outstrip local and state resources, which is why the federal government needs to play a role. There are a half-dozen or so contingencies around the nation that cause me great concern, and one of them is right there in your backyard.”
Federal officials vowed to work with local authorities to improve the hurricane response, but the plan for Louisiana was not finished when Katrina hit. State officials said it did not yet address transportation or crime control, two issues which proved crucial. Col. Terry J. Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans since 2003, said he never spoke with FEMA about the state disaster blueprint. New Orleans had its own plan.
At first glance, Annex I of the “City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan” is reassuring. Forty-one pages of matter-of fact prose outline a seemingly exhaustive list of hurricane evacuation procedures, including a “mobile command center” that could replace a disabled city hall and schools designated as shelters.
New Orleans had used $18 million in federal funding since 2002 to stage exercises, train for emergencies and build relay towers to improve emergency communications. After years of delay, a new $16 million command center was to be completed by 2007. There was talk of upgrading emergency power and water supplies at the Superdome, the city’s emergency shelter of “last resort,” as part of a new deal with the tenants, the New Orleans Saints.
But the city’s plan says that about 100,000 residents “do not have means of personal transportation” to evacuate, and there are few details on how they would be sheltered.
Although the Department of Homeland Security has encouraged states and cities to file emergency preparedness strategies it has not set strict standards for evacuation plans.
There is a very loose requirement in terms of when it gets done and what the quality is,” said Michael Greenberger, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security. “There is not a lot of urgency.”
Well, not on the part of the feds, there isn’t—because they presume, and in the case of Louisiana wrongly, that the local government is capable of drawing up its own evacuation plan—and that it is in their interests to do so. The idea being, of course, that they have a better idea of how their localities function than do the feds.
So, while the tenor of this piece is very obviously advocating for a larger federal role in disaster relief and for increased, hands on federal oversight of state governments, it is important to keep in mind that further centralizing the response to local disasters will create greater federal dependence, which will likely do nothing to speed up response times, and everything to weaken state governments and make them feckless, figure-head stepchildren to an every-growing centralized government.
Which, perhaps this is precisely what Democrats and progressives want — but it is not something the Constitution itself smiles upon.
****
(h/t John Cole)
Um, I’m still confused. For almost five years now, the Bushitler, upon awaking every morning, has pissed all over the Constitution. Has the acidity washed away the parts of the Constitution that the democrats currently find inconvenient? Is this what is meant when they talk about “The Living Constitution”?
Sw: morning. Bush pisses on the Constitution every morning. Did I already say that?
We should just cede all our emergency response plans to Uncle Fidel. He comes highly recommended!
Yes, my hero Castro knows how to handle hurricanes—never a fatality under his watch. He also knows how to handle discontented refugees—never a surviving discontent under his watch.
Viva Castro.
ummm… the central failure of the NO plan is that all decisions are vested in the Mayor. Who, had he been mildly familiar with his own plan, would have prevented most of the casualties by following the plan.
The only way the Feds can make this work is to either make a determination whether the local government is capable of implementing a plan and have that determination part of the Federal response (Nagin? He’s incompetent, we’re taking over now.) or simply say “We’re divvying up the country into ‘Response Zones’ – your Response Zone Director of Emergency Operations will be responsible for the plan.
Instapundit had something about Postal Workers being part of the Federal Disaster plan because of the post offices organization, familiarity with local issues, and equipment. That might be useful to keep in mind for future slow-moving natural disasters, unlike part time school bus drivers, postal workers are union employees so they might show up to drive evacuees.
Whatever happened to the Civil Defense? I know I’m dating myself by asking this question, but is it gone?
tw:leaders, as in “Are there any?
Thanks for reading it so I don’t.I started reading it but almost barfed and clicked backwards after reading the 1st sentence…
“…The governor of Louisiana was “blistering mad.” It was the third night after Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans, and Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco needed buses to rescue thousands of people from the fetid Superdome and convention center. But only a fraction of the 500 vehicles promised by federal authorities had arrived.
Ms. Blanco burst into the state’s emergency center in Baton Rouge. “Does anybody in this building know anything about buses?” she recalled crying out.
“You mean the 250 under 6 feet of water?”
Damge control for the blistering imcompetent Blanco, I couldn’t go on
mph –
What they really mean when they talk about “the Living Constitution” is that the Constitution is “dead”, except when it happens to suit their purpose. Judging by the moonbat Bulldog (see the “Impeach Bush” post), I don’t actually think many of them have read it.
Leftist Dictionary-
Constitution: A really old written thing that you use to get your way when you aren’t in the majority so screaming “democracy” don’t work. It’s kinda hard to understand and nobody reads it anyway so you can use it for anything and yell alot and sometimes it works and you get what you want and stuff.
Hey guys, I’ve been over at John Cole’s place slumming through the comments. I’ve been doing yoeman’s work. Where’s TallDave when you need him?
They hav turned that place into a cess pool.
“Ms. Blanco burst into the state’s emergency center in Baton Rouge. “Does anybody in this building know anything about buses?†she recalled crying out.”
I’ve been casting the movie in my mind, but Stephen Stucker is dead.
What kind of an idiot would actually vote for the incompetent governess Blanco? Maybe they thought the position of governor was a mere figurehead, with no real responsibility. If real competence were ever called for, they could always call on the feds, right? There’s just that little problem of response time. Locals are already there. If the locals were competent, a lot of time could be saved. A novel thought, no?
Maybe we’re being too harsh on Blanco. Her organization has been excellent at the whole response thing.
Within days of the disaster, she had hired a shill consultant, silenced Nagin, and spun the whole MSM off onto Bush.
Not bad, if you can forget the snafu regarding the whole “people” component.
If you go to Church tomorrow to pray for the victims of Katrina, say a few words on behalf of John Cole.
His comments section has unleashed the hounds of hell upon the world.
As Colonel Kurtz would say, “Oh the horror, the horror.”
SMG
Jeff,
Off topic (sort of) I just wanted to say how , in a sea of Bush Derangement Syndrome, your blog has been a pinnacle of common sense and perspective – depsite all the left-wing wankers trying to drag it down.
Thank you very, very much.
I am amused by all the nonsensical reasoning that is deployed at this site in service of the pretense that the New Orleans (and Mississippi) catastrophe are somehow the exclusive responsibility of the state and local government. This was a failure at all levels. And yes, in the face of such total failure, in anticipation, planning and execution, the blame game is quite appropriate. And let Nagin, the faux Democrat,and Blanco AND Bush take their lumps. They all deserve the public’s scorn at this point, and an honest observer would say so. Here, instead, we get the strong statements holding Nagin and Blanco responsible. Fair enough. But then we get the exoneration of Bush because the federal government is subordinate to state government. (Obviously the last 200 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence haven’t reached the brethern here)Which is ridiculous. Or we have the pretense of open-mindedness, even though everyhting that is said in that line is rejected by implication of the totality of the comments.
You know, folks, none of Bush’s politial enemies told him to wander to San Diego, and hang out with a musician, and strum the guitar while New Orleans was drowning. That was his decision. And it won’t be erased, because it is axiomatic that spin (read:lies) falters when 80 % of the public becomes aware of the reality. George Bush’s reality, and his lack of interest in the welfare of his fellow citizens was on stark display. This is why we are seeing PhotoOp 3.0 tomorrow and Sunday.
And it mirrored his still poorly explained conduct on 9/11/01 when he raced about the country like a frightened child. Very strange.
This concern for mostly fictional legal nicities is touching. Except Abraham Lincoln, a pretty good lawyer in his day, famously stated that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. He specifically and frankly was referring to the many objections, from Copperheads and cement heads to his suspension of habeous corpus in the middle of the gravest crisis this country has ever faced.
But then again he was a leader.
Let me be the 1349th person to say that you’re a idiot Ken.
Thumbnail of a Leader
•Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor [Nagin] 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.
•Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, said, “Hindsight is 20/20,” but added that Mrs. Blanco was too slow in calling out the National Guard to keep order in New Orleans and save lives.
“We needed to make this a full-scale military operation starting with the National Guard immediately,” Mr. Vitter said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Paul Simpson, a political blogger who lives in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, La., said he and other locals are puzzled by the governor’s refusal to let the federal government temporarily command the state’s National Guard.
“I thought it was as standard as sunshine in California that the governor would tell the president, ‘You have the Guard.’ I thought that was a given,” Mr. Simpson said. “She absolutely has no clue.”
•”Nobody told me that I had to request that.”
•”Does anybody in this building know anything about buses?†she recalled crying out.
Hey “me”:
Let me be, I don’t know, one of the uncounted thousands who have probably noted that you have the argumentation skills of a child. A very slow child. I assume Karl Rove coyld help you.
Your complete silence on the substance tells is all.
You’ve got us nailed, Kenny. Of course, we’re STILL holding out for facts showing that FEMA was derelict, whereas YOU seem to be creeping closer to OUR point of view; all that’s left, now that you’re willing to place blame at the local level, is to—like us, wait to see what blame belongs at the federal level, if any.
See? You CAN learn something here!
Oh, but that bit about 200 years of jurisprudence that gives the feds authority of the state government? You’re probably a bit confused about that because you’re confusing the COURTS with the federal govt.
Easy mistake to make.
But keep on keepin’ on! You’re one small step away from being fully converted!
How would you like to have this “Ken” person for a neighbor or coworker?
Always hanging in the background waiting for that sweet moment when he gets to drop a huge blob of insufferable bullshit onto the table in front of the grownups . “Notice me! Acknowledge my specialness! Mom said I was special!”.
When I picture that guy, I see Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
TW: “clearly”, as in a closet case.
Did I do that right?
LOL @ rickinstl.
LMFAO @ Ken.
Sorry but this nonsense is insufferable. Your patience is God like, Jeff.
No, Jeff, you are confusing the constitution with a suicide pact. And none of the rubbish being spewed conceals the fact that Bush fell flat on his face.
Bush fired Brownie. Tells you all need to know about FEMA’s response.
I’m not coming closer to “your” position. I have always stated their was massive amounts of blame to go around. Too many selective readers around here. Because I’m not carrying any crummy pol’s water I don’t feel the need to defend the indefensible. You, for reasons known only to yourself, are engaged in a futile effort to exonerate Bush from his all too public failures.It’s your life and your credibility. Use it any way you chose.
Hey, if you can pull it off maybe Rove will hire you.
Off to bed now. Had a busy day moving furniture.
I guess you either didn’t attend or were asleep during your Federalism classes. You do realize that this is a Federal Union, don’t you. That each of the 50 states are soveriegn and has a Chief Executive. The Constitution places restraints upon the Federal Government, if you would care to read it.
You, and your ilk, want the President to toss the Constitution out of the window when it suits your purpose, yet you cry and moan when the Senate declares that it intends to change some fraternal rule. Is that because of the HYPOCRISY!!!
You have tried to pass this off on FEMA several times, yet you have not listed one thing that they either did do that they should not have or one thing that they didn’t do that they should have.
That may be your opinion, but absence factual data, it is simply your opinion. And we all know what weight your opinion carries.
I simply cannot follow your logic, Ken. The Constitution is a suicide pact because one sovereign Chief Executive—Governor Blanco—can’t do her job? This is your excuse for granting Soviet-like centralized power to Comrade Bush?
Well, howsabout rather than scrapping the whole Constitution (which has served us well lo these many years), we simply use the check of local elections (or, in more pressing instances, a recall) to replace an incompetent Governor?
As for the rest of your argument, you seem to be confusing the incidental result of what an exoneration of FEMA might do (defend the federal government, and so George Bush) with the desire to give an airing to the facts before passing judgment.
My conscience is clear. And my credibility is a good deal stronger than yours, I should think, given that I’m not the one looking to do away with the Constitution.
It’s unfair, and petty of me, I know, but I somehow don’t place much confidence in the legal wizardry of someone who adopts the spelling “habeous corpus.”
It’s the same reaction, I suppose, that I would have if a physician gravely informed me that I have some ailment of the “prostrate.”
Ken’s flatulance disguised as legal opinions have been quite hilarious. Not a word of actual rebuttal, not a word of contrary analysis, not a coherent sentence of coherent proposal.
Just bile, confusion and the repetition that the President’s error was in actually conforming to the statutes adopted by Congress and centuries of constitutional practice.
Troll, troll, troll your boat…
Uh, rls, you have no idea what my opinion on doing away with the filibuster was and is.Maybe I’ll share it with you some day. Hint: My opinion is honest and consistent.
As for my “Federalism” courses. Of course, I assume you mean the classes we called “Constitutional Law”.
Your opinion about the federal state relationships is really quite antiquated and was put in the crapper by the surrender at Appomatox. And that particular toilet was finally flushed in 1937, when the out of touch Supreme Court majority read the tea leaves and started upholding New Deal legislation. The anti New Dealers were eased out with nice pensions.
I await your learned discourse in response. But then again, while you are very demanding that others produce facts, you offer little except personal abuse.
New Orleans speaks for itself. The lies being told by this Adminstration starting with Bush (“nobody” anticipated the levees would fail. In fact, everyone who seriouslt examined the problem, including FEMA, knew the levees would fail) speak for themselves. The dead speak for themselves. The Navy chopper pilots who where reprimanded for showing initiative and saving over 100 people speak for themselves. The foreign volunteers who are sitting idle because FEMA still hasn’t got its act togather speaks for itself. The dead, hopefully only hundreds and not thousands speak for themselves. The fact that FEMA’s highly regarded professional staff, assembled under the reviled Clinton, was dismantled and replaced by risible political hacks like Allbaugh and Brownie speaks for itself.
You don’t know me, so you don’t know what weight my opinion carries in real life where I have to get up in crowded rooms and make arguments. I’d love to argue, in real life, against you. You remind me of the very first time I argued a case in front of our Supreme Court. My opponent was a complete dufuss pro se litigant. Couldn’t lose, and I didn’t.
See you at the “Federalism” course…
The phrase “yellow dog Democrat” comes to mind.
1350.
Anticipating the levee failure—a primer.
Anybody else think that we’re getting a glimpse into how ol’ Kenny practices law? Everything seems to “speak for itself”—from New Orleans, to the dead, to the foreign volunteers “sitting idle.”
Which is convenient, because if they are speaking for themselves, Kenny doesn’t have to advocate for them
Probably a good thing, come to think of it.
I’d love to argue, in real life, against you. You remind me of the very first time I argued a case in front of our Supreme Court. My opponent was a complete dufuss pro se litigant. Couldn’t lose, and I didn’t.
Translation: I’m the shit. I know shit. The other dude didn’t know shit, but I sure showed him. Cuz I know shit, and I’m DA MAN!
Not only that Jeff, but Kennie has argued cases before the SUPREME COURT.
We have with us, the greatness of KENNIE!!
Not only that Jeff, but Kennie has argued cases before the SUPREME COURT.
We have with us, the greatness of KENNIE!!
Not to take away from Kennie’s greatness, but I think he was referring to his state’s supreme court. Which I’m betting is close to Quahog…
Yeah, here’s the case. Rhode Island Supreme Court. Looks like Kenny and the plaintiffs won when improperly served defense witnesses didn’t show up for the appeal hearings in a case involving the plaintiffs’ rights to walk across the defendant’s property.
A staggering defeat for federalism.
This was a great post in the Comments over at CQ regarding the wasted energy of attempting to debate the likes of Kennie, ghandi and waddard.
Attributed to commenter: DFEyres
OH the smugness of a lawyer! How could we not be impressed?
Easy.
Admitting your a snake doesn’t impress us. Even a snake who’s argued in front of the Supreme Court.
It is sad to me that someone so “educated” would be so full of bitter hatred toward someone he doesn’t even know. It is sad to me that a professional would not be able to look at the Presidency in an objective manner, but just spew back every nit picking talking point of leftwing blogs.
It is scary to me that such a man is actually arguing cases anywhere, much less the highest court of our land.
You can’t buy class and you can’t educated yourself out of stupid.
RE above post. I dropped a line.
“They are like little kittens.” should have been above.
This…. this has the aura of precedent about it!
Con-Law classes of the future shall treat with the greats: Learned Hand, Frankfurter, Ken…
oh this is rich…
“Florida emergency planners criticized and even rebuked their counterparts—or what passes for emergency planners—in those states for their handling of Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Jeb Bush, the head of Florida AHCA and the head of Florida wildlife (which is responsible for all search and rescue) all said they made offers of aid to Mississippi and Louisiana the day before Katrina hit but were rebuffed. After the storm, they said they’ve had to not only help provide people to those states but also have had to develop search and rescue plans for them. “They were completely unprepared—as bad off as we were before Andrew,” one Florida official said.
Louisiana also lacked an adequate plan to evacuate New Orleans, despite years of research that predicted a disaster equal to or worse than Katrina. Even after a disaster test run last year exposed weaknesses in evacuation and recovery, officials failed to come up with solutions.
“They’re where we were in 1992, exactly,” said Col. Julie Jones, director of law enforcement for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission”
the rest of the sad state of the state
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/state/epaper/2005/09/10/m1a_response_0910.html#
so know I will proceed with always referring to a total fuck-up a “Blanco”
well, of course FLORIDA would say that. who’s brother is running the place?
Ken’s a Partnership Collective attorney drone?
OT, but can anybody make any sense out of this?
I think this guy is trying to tell me something, but I can’t quite pick it out of the heady prose….
Jeff,
I think he’s trying to say “Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah! Blah?” or something. But I could be wrong.
Can’t wait to hear someone yell “Oh my god! They’ve killed Kenny!”
Jeff,
I think in some polite way he is suggesting that you have a rectal-cranial inversion.
They being his clients?
Ken lectures us on constitutional law? Astonishing.
Actually, Ken, you blithering moron, the case of U.S. v. Lopez is ten years old now. Surely its appeared in at least one report in Rhode Island by now.
Check your unopened mail.
Actually, Ken keeps claiming not merely that the constitution is meaningless with respect to Federal/State relations but that Federal law doesn’t bind the President either.
That would have been a quick way to end the Iran-Contra hearings wouldn’t it? So much for all the whining about Hamdi, Padilla, the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay – the President can do whatever he thinks expedient according to Ken. And should be blamed for everything that happens when he doesn’t.
Ken, are you sure you want your stupidity available for the entire world to enjoy in perpetuity?
Kenny : 1351
Kenny: 1352
1353
1354
And Jeff, your work here is appreciated. Great stuff. I’m continually amazed at the quality of the free ice cream you can find on the internets.
And the pie is good, too.
You know, I want so DESPERATELY to agree with Ken Because it seems that so many people do. My problem is that I STILL HAVEN’T SEEN ONE FACT to back up anything he is saying. The fact that Bush strummed a guitar does not seem especially damning to me. In fact, in my book, it’s a non-sequeter(?) And I love the fact that Bush’s vacations are portrayed as if he were turning off everything in the White House, locking the door, and leaving with just a shaving kit. “Tell Reid and Pelosi that I am not taking ANY calls for the next 5 weeks. There will be no talking shop until then”. I guess he has Condi pick up the mail while he’s gone. I dunno. I almost feel guilty that I am demanding facts on this one. No one else (present company excluded) seems to be doing so. Have I become a fossil? I guess it’s just the luck of the draw. If I had been born ten years later, I’m sure I would have been educated to accept moonbatism, and this wouldn’t even be an issue.
Has the jury reached a verdict?
It has your honor.
What say you …
1366
I won’t join the list of people calling Ken an idiot.
Idiots might hire Ken to sue me for defamation if I compared them with Ken.
1390
Why is it whenever there’s sense being spoken, Robin Roberts and SPQR are at hand?
Eight years, is it?