<p>Whatever the Gov of LA did or didn’t do, does not explain away the Presiden’ts lies, nor Browns,</p>
<p>Nor the President staying on vacation when it was fairly obvious that at least two, if not four states would be in serious trouble from this storm</p>
<p>PH, I agree with your last paragraph. However, the issue of the unknown people was not at the Dome, but at the convention center. According to the timeline, that Driver posted, this wasn’t even opened up until Tuesday. I’ll wait for the investigation to know “what [FEMA] knew and when they knew it”. But certainly the city/state was remiss in not informing FEMA that they were deviating from the plan that presumably all three parties had agreed to in advance.</p>
<p>As someome implied before–maybe monitoring TV reports should be a designated job for someone in FEMA. It is also true that TV focuses on what it can get to and what looks interesting while there may be more dire things going on elsewhere–like Miss. which seems to have had better response time and fewer problems despite worse initial damage. Do we really want TV to become the dictator of emergency response? The fact is that despite nasty conditions in the Superdome and Convention Center, 99.9 percent of those that entered came out alive and were basically OK after a shower and some food.</p>
<p>Whether or not that “99.9 percent” of folk sheltered at the Superdome and Convention center came out alive, and “basically OK after a shower and some food” is somthing yet to be determined. Many of the nasty diseases incubated under such desperate and overcrowded conditions are yet to be manifested, especially in people whose immune systems were already compromised prior to arriving at the above mentioned sites. According to a report I heard, some of the more devastating illnesses have a 2-3 week incubation period. And the fact still remains that those conditions were dangerous and unsanitary, not to mention frightening and demoralizing. Had a member of your family been stranded at either The Superdome, or The Convention Center, I’m sure you wouldn’t be so cavalier about the greatly delayed FEMA response.</p>
<p>And ff, it was also widely known that evacuees were sheltered at The Convention Center. After two days of countless television reports, specifically mentioning evacuees being housed at that site, not to mention the direct pleas of the Mayor of N.O., begging for food and water sustainance for these evacuees, FEMA simply cannot claim to have been ignorant to the plight of those at the Convention Center.</p>
<p>Citygirlsmom, haven’t you any other songs in your repetoire?</p>
<p>“Dark Side of the Moon”</p>
<p>We knew it but Brown, who knew what he knew</p>
<p>Interesting that no one wants to defend Bush’s and Browns lies?</p>
<p>Well, if the TV folk could get in there, and FEMA was invovled, why weren’t FEMA there and if so why not talk to WashDC…and please don’t blame the phones, that is jsut silly</p>
<p>Spinning fits so well though</p>
<p>How about Lies…you know the one</p>
<p>Guess not.</p>
<p>and avoid the question of the lies again</p>
<p>you have no answer for Bush’s lies, do you?</p>
<p>CGM, I don’t think the president has lied. And, once again, I don’t think you are a serious person. And I think you clutter these threads with undigested nonsense. Which I admit makes me part of the Karl Rove attack machine, so please spare us all that particular post.</p>
<p>
Gee, last time I checked, Texas is a hell of a lot closer to Louisiana than Washington is. With the modern communications that travel with the president (I know, I helped design them), the White House is wherever the president is standing.</p>
<p>What exactly is the published FEMA response time?? Everyone seems to think it is somewhere between 1 and 24 hours. Has FEMA ever agreed to such a time? What is reasonable? What was the Governor doing to improve the situation–we know she kept control of the State Guard units and State Police which are closest to the event. Why were they not sent in with supplies?? What about independent groups like Red Cross and Salvation Army–were they kept out or just getting organized too? I don’t know–just asking.</p>
<p>Supporting one’s cronies at all costs is poor leadership. Accountability is not. Bush should accept what responsibility the federal govt. bears for this national debacle. The he should fire Brown, a guy who clearly lacks the instincts and vision needed for the position he holds.</p>
<p>Barrons,
Here is your answer to the RedCross:<a href=“http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524[/url]”>http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524</a></p>
<p>Apparently, the mayor of NOLA and the governor still can’t get their acts together regarding the final, really, for sure, “mandatory” evacuation, even now:
<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168644,00.html[/url]”>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168644,00.html</a></p>
<p>And regarding the Red Cross In NOLA, something’s brewing…you’ll want to read this transcript from Hugh Hewitt’s radio interview with FOX News’ Major Garrett.
<a href=“http://www.radioblogger.com/#000967[/url]”>http://www.radioblogger.com/#000967</a></p>
<p>Radioblogger was just linked (with a red highlight) on drudgereport, so you won’t be able to access it for a while. It’s not a bad link, just another small blog getting its first megahit.</p>
<p>I just have to correct a reference I made above in post#411 to tpm.com - that is incorrect. The link is talkingpointsmemo.com</p>
<p>So, based on the Red Cross report as told by Major Garrett (and verified in their web site) it appears that the suffering at the Dome and the CC could have been alleviated if the governor had allowed it, but she didn’t want peole to get cozy there??? If the Red Cross has that right, that is simply incredible. </p>
<p>So, what about FEMA? Did they have legal jurisdiction to ignore the state and provide help that the Red Cross was forbidden to provide? Did they have resources to do it if they were allowed to? (It was claimed on the news last night that they are primarily a coordinator for aid - not the actual provider of it. I don’t know if this is actually true.) Does anyone have any actual facts on this (i.e., not just charter statements)?</p>
<p>On the news this morning Gov. Blanco said that although Mayor Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation of NO yesterday, the state was not ordering it and that it was not to occur. She said that she wants to wait until the environmental study is done to determine if it is unsafe for people to be living in water with feces and decomposing dead bodies. My guess is…Yeah, it is unsafe. More waiting. I think she has a problem with making unequivicol decisions. The waiting, hemming and hawing by the Gov.'s office before making a decision seems to be at the root of all the problems.</p>
<p>Just as I thought. While the US FEMA response may have been a day slow at most, the designated FIRST responders blew it. And continue their total lack of control and clarity.</p>