Katrina: My thoughts

To this point I have not posted anything on Katrina. There has been so much that has been written already from all sides of the spectrum that there was nothing new I felt I could add.

Now that time has past and there seems to be some semblance of operation pervailing I still do not have anything new to offer, only my thoughts in hindsight. These are my thoughts on things that I have heard on the MSM and read around the Blogdom. In that regard I won't clog this missive up with links. We have all heard the things I write about and if we haven't those item can be found on the Internet.

My heart does go out to these people in there time of grief, they do need to examine the actions of the leaders that they elected and take appropriate action at the ballot box to ensure that things work better the next time this happens.

It will happen again; 1)The Gulf Coast is noted for it's hurricanes 2) New Orleans Buloxi and Gulfport are on the coast 3) a large portion of that area is at or below Sea Level.

It seems that the President did in fact suggest that the area be evacuated at least 5 days prior to landfall. In addition he made millions of dollars available to the Governor by pre-emptively declaring New Orleans a disaster area.

That the Governor chose not to avail herself of this suggestion until two days before landfall is squarely on her shoulders. None of the natural disaster funds appear to be used to evacte the residents of the area.

That 500 and some busses were allowed to be destroyed by flooding when the Mayor and local leaders had 5 days notice is deplorable. Many are protesting that with; Where would they go anyway?

Well how about anywhere out of the area, after all the President had already freed up millions of dollars for use by the State and Local authorities.

It has been credibly reported that orders had been issued, contrary to local, state and federal law, to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens, leaving them defenseless. It has also been reported that this order was thankfully short lived.

Prior to the storm the Red Cross had staged semi-trailers loaded with neccessities. When the Red Cross approached Local leaders about disbursing these supplies to individuals in the shelters they were turned away.

Why? The explanation goes as such, We want these people moved out as soon as possible, if these things are provided they will want to stay in the shelters and many more will come.

A disaster of this magnatude has been in the making for more than 50 years; plenty of time for the local agencies to have developed a plan for such a storm. There are rumors that a plan was in place but either it was not followed or it was inadaquate.

As I see it there has been a lot warnings that something like this would eventually happen and an awfull lot of money has been previously spent on the subject. That the State and Local leaders took that money and failed to heed the warnings is an atrocity that needs to be addressed by the voting residents of those areas.

I find it abhorant that the Governor, the Mayor and the New Orleans Chief of Police put themselves whining and crying in the MSM demading the Federal Government (read President Bush) to do something they should have been responsible for and prepared to do for themselves.

It is not the job of those in service to the people at the Federal level to maintain a 24/7 watch on what could or might happen in New Orleans, or any other place for that matter. Those people did in fact warn at least 5 days prior that the state and local leaders needed to get on the ball and do something.

First and foremost it is the job of the local leaders, including the Mayor and Police Chief to anticipate and plan for things of this nature.

Above that it is the oversight of the State level personel that are in service to the people to assist the local authorities in the implimentation of the local disaster plan.

When it elevates to more than the State and local authorities can handle or have planned for, then aid and assistance from the Federal level becomes neccessary.

It is incumbant for the local leaders to have a plan and be prepared for a disaster that both the state and federal leaders can augement.

That the Local leaders in New Orleans Government either; did not have a plan, it was inadaquate, or it was not implimented is without question.

That the State Government either; did not have a plan, it was inadaquate, or it was not implimented is without question.

It is without question and painfully obvious that the Federal Government and the Red Cross clearly stood ready to assist days prior to the disaster.

Their warnings were not heeded, the money was not spent and in the immediate aftermath the supplies were REFUSED by the state and local authorities.

At some point it became clear that in order for something to get done Federal employees essentially with nothing to build on had to take over from scratch.

When you represent the Federal Government and have been given nothing to build on, had all of your previous attempts to help rebuffed, it takes time to get things back on track.

For decades Local and State Leaders in that area knew that someday Katrina (or some other named hurricane) would be a reality. It is painfully obvious that they never seriously planned for an event of this magnatude or availed themselves of the mantra that the Federal Government WOULD BAIL THEM OUT.

That last statement can be validated in that in the days following Katrina the Chief of Police was on the MSM screaming and hollering about where is the federal government and why aren't they doing anything.

Chief they were doing something. They at least had the right to expect a plan to build on rather than start from scratch. That you were on television crying for the federal government to "Come do it for me, oh woe is us, Come do it for us" is painfully obvious that you have risen above your level of competancy and are deserving of being tossed out on your ass.

As a side note there was alot going on, but the MSM, as they are doing in Iraq, were only focussing on the rebel rousers and not the dedicated hard working representitives of the people that were in fact doing things.

Am I the only one that thinks that Geraldo Rivera was diliberately trying to incite something in his coverage of Katrina from outside the Superdome?