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2005-09-03 Home Front: Economy
New Orleans Mayor Calm After Talk With Bush
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Posted by Steve White 2005-09-03 00:30|| || Front Page|| [11133 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 This guy is on par with the incompetent governor (we're doomed, doomed) and the loser chief of police. Each has brains the size of a walnut.
Posted by Captain America 2005-09-03 00:38||   2005-09-03 00:38|| Front Page Top

#2 If this is the best and brightest of the black community of New Orleans they are screwed. My state has been blessed by it's Black mayors, police chiefs and elected officals. When I compare Nagin to the least of them this smuck comes up wanting in every way.

The "problems" started with his weak response and spun out of control from there. The Failure to establish strict order made this situation much worse than it need to be. The Buck stop with you Mister Mayor.
Posted by Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-03 00:56||   2005-09-03 00:56|| Front Page Top

#3 I'm going to be a bit more charitable, though I think the NO officials and the LA governor were not up to the challenge. I think they just got overwhelmed and locked up mentally. I've seen it happen elsewhere.

I have to say, if you're going to be a governor or big-city mayor in a southern state, you have to know how to handle the aftermath of a hurricane. You have to know the steps, what to do, what to say, how to react. If you don't you shouldn't be in office. It's like being a California official and understanding that someday you may be called on to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake.
Posted by Steve White">Steve White  2005-09-03 00:57||   2005-09-03 00:57|| Front Page Top

#4 SPOD --

Nagin has been cannonized by the NY Slimes

Newcomer Is Struggling to Lead a City in Ruins
Posted by Captain America 2005-09-03 01:08||   2005-09-03 01:08|| Front Page Top

#5 Struggling and failing. Just like the NYT Captian.
Posted by Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-03 01:25||   2005-09-03 01:25|| Front Page Top

#6 Be Black.
Never incriminate your own incompetence.
Aim for the highest ranking Whitey (Bush).
Get off scott free with the liberal whiners, most of the time.

I've seen clips of news tours of the Astrodome; the blame for inability to cope with the size of the influx can be laid directly on the relief personnel. They're incompetent. Crowds of blueshirts stood around and talked, discussed, or philosophised, while surrounded by piles of garbage, cardboard boxes, and human refuse, and in plain sight of the camera were brooms, shovels, and the appropriate receptacles for all the trash.

These idiots couldn't find their asses with both hands.
Posted by Omolusing Glurong4284 2005-09-03 01:26||   2005-09-03 01:26|| Front Page Top

#7 My first observation, in preparing for the aftermath of the hurricane, I would have made sure there was a supply of body bags available. If the bodies can't be picked up right away, then at least they're not rotting in plain sight. Personally I thought the death toll would have been much higher than it apparently is.

Secondly, everyone knew that the Superdome would basically become an island. They had to have planned for the evacuation of the people inside there and in other areas. Then you have to think of a place to put those people. These things alone should be the responsibility of the mayor and governor. The rest, like food, water, medecine, shelter, security, aid, reconstruction, can be left for other organizations.

It seems the mayor issued an evacuation order, and that's it. His plans stopped there. Nagin and the governor f'd up. Simple as that.
Posted by Rafael 2005-09-03 01:58||   2005-09-03 01:58|| Front Page Top

#8 Bush and Tom Ridge put together a plan for this type of thing. Local initial response was critical while Federal help would arrive in a few days.

Disaster Base Plan

Clearly, the locals in New Orleans decided not to read this nor participate. Sounds like if they heard of this plan, which is an excellent plan, that they decided not to have anything to do with it.
Posted by RG 2005-09-03 01:59||   2005-09-03 01:59|| Front Page Top

#9 Betcha Bush showed him the photos of those sumberged buses, police looting, pointed out that NO had designated the Dome as a shelter point but NEVER stocked it with food water or any sort of a plan...

and asked him if he ready for all this to go out full bore in a lot of places where the MSM wouldnt be abel to ignore it...

Posted by Oldspook 2005-09-03 02:23||   2005-09-03 02:23|| Front Page Top

#10 ``My philosophy is never get too high..."
nuff said in that regard. I feel bad partaking in all of this hindsight, however (but) I do think buses should have been used to evacuate the rest of the folks that didn't have cars or the ability to get out before the storm hit. I am a bit surprised that the superdome was the designated safe haven being itself below sea level. Especially based on the satellite photo they had to know that this was the big one.
Capt. America, don't you need 2 events to be cannonized? What's the second
Posted by Jan 2005-09-03 02:46||   2005-09-03 02:46|| Front Page Top

#11 I can't blame the Mayor for his eruption. They didn't tell him that the people held back in the Superdome and the Convention Center has been "tagged" with a secretly administered health quarantine! They won't be taken out until physicians can 'screen' them, after Guard placements. The media is not being told this to avoid 'leakage' resulting in eventual rioting! This from my inside source.
Posted by smn 2005-09-03 06:13||   2005-09-03 06:13|| Front Page Top

#12 Mmm! I'm sceptical. What exactly are they being screened for and what is the health risk?
Posted by phil_b 2005-09-03 06:20||   2005-09-03 06:20|| Front Page Top

#13 Gov. William J. LePetomaine, Nagin's role model:

"We've gotta protect our phoney-baloney jobs, gentlemen, we must do something about this immediately!"
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-09-03 07:18||   2005-09-03 07:18|| Front Page Top

#14 Did Mayor Ray increase his medication?
Posted by John Q. Citizen 2005-09-03 08:59||   2005-09-03 08:59|| Front Page Top

#15 *Snif**Snort*
Why yes, thank you for asking.
Posted by Mayor Ray Nagin 2005-09-03 09:32||   2005-09-03 09:32|| Front Page Top

#16 LOL SMN! Good 'un.
Posted by Mona Gorilla 2005-09-03 10:02||   2005-09-03 10:02|| Front Page Top

#17 Rudy G he ain't
Posted by DMFD 2005-09-03 10:03||   2005-09-03 10:03|| Front Page Top

#18 How Bush could have prevented this:

Federalize the Louisiana National Guard, declare martial law in the hurricane's path; arrest Nagin, Blanco, and their moronic accomplices; move into NOLA to secure low-lying areas and set up shelters, and do all this on SATURDAY while there was still time.

Hindsight is 20/20.
The Dem-ogogues are demanding not only that we have it, but that we use it to foresee their malfeasance and depravity.

We'll do better next time.

Primary lesson: Only Republican administered cities should be left under local control if a disaster is anticipated. Dem-infested municipalities should be seized and occupied at the first sign of impending trouble.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-03 10:10||   2005-09-03 10:10|| Front Page Top

#19 While Rome burned, Nero fiddled
While NOLA flooded, Nagin diddled.
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-03 10:14||   2005-09-03 10:14|| Front Page Top

#20 "Dem-infested municipalities should be seized and occupied at the first sign of impending trouble."

Heh, AC. And then, well, then nothing. Never give 'em back. The mental picture of the typical Moonbats and Lefty Loons as "insurgents" is a scream, lol. Do this for any sort of warning or alert: wind, snow, thunderboomers, UV, smog, the lot. Then start deporting 'em to Kanada or somewhere. Hell, they said they were going last November. Make it so.
Posted by .com 2005-09-03 10:18||   2005-09-03 10:18|| Front Page Top

#21 Many thanks, .com. BTW, a hat-tip for the Nero-Nagin doggerel should go to Village Idiot's Apprentice at LGF
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-03 10:26||   2005-09-03 10:26|| Front Page Top

#22 It's a simply beautiful idea, lol. *wipes tear* Bush gets roundly blamed for all sorts of things, mebbe it's time to go ahead and do the ones that are good for the country, heh. ;-)
Posted by .com 2005-09-03 10:31||   2005-09-03 10:31|| Front Page Top

#23 Interesting debate on Fox right now - "Rebuild? Or Not?"... The issue of the Netherlands keeps resurfacing when intelligent and honest people talk about this disaster. It's pretty clear that, if the politics could be flushed, then indeed, perhaps there are ideas that could be adapted. Major rivers are very different critters than ocean shorelines, of course, but there might be a there there. Of course you'd have to get competent engineers who actually give a shit involved, for a change.
Posted by .com 2005-09-03 10:38||   2005-09-03 10:38|| Front Page Top

#24 Netherlands cannot face a hurricane, either - water's too cold
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2005-09-03 11:40||   2005-09-03 11:40|| Front Page Top

#25 declare martial law in the hurricane's path;

Let's see if there's a groundswell of support for the President declaring martial law without Congressional action first ... and in the absence of a military attack on us.

I'm not saying it wasn't needed. I'm saying that is a huge step and might well have caused some generals to refuse the order.
Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-03 12:08||   2005-09-03 12:08|| Front Page Top

#26  Of course you'd have to get competent engineers who actually give a shit involved, for a change.

And taxpayers willing to pay for it.
Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-03 12:10||   2005-09-03 12:10|| Front Page Top

#27 There may be another difference between the Netherlands case and New Orleans case: I am not positive, but I believe the levees (dikes) in the Netherlands are built on fairly compacted soil, with actual rock not too far below, so they don't 'sink.' In New Orleans, as you build the levees higher they begin to sink into the mucky soil under their own weight.
Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore  2005-09-03 12:24||   2005-09-03 12:24|| Front Page Top

#28 #25 Omerens, I am aware that this is basically an impossible scenario.
It is a response to the deafening chorus of those who assume that Bush acting alone should have been able to prevent this disaster. In particular, this is the only way he could have prevented the delays caused by inaction and poor preparation at the local level.
This is what would have been required to meet the critics' retro-active demands, but I won't hold my breath waiting for any left-liar to acknowledge it.
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-03 12:28||   2005-09-03 12:28|| Front Page Top

#29 A first-rate, though not exceptional, city administration would have kept the Super-Dome stocked with food, water, emergency generators and fuel, and they would have had a plan in place to provide security.
At the very least, there would have been a plan in place to get all this stuff at short notice and move it in, and technical provisions for plugging it in.
They had 4 days warning of the hurricane, but this kind of preparation should have been routine for years. They have always known that they were below sea-level and that levees break.
The lack of foresight is just amazing.
I was mayor of a little community (1800 residents) that was not susceptible to hurricanes. Yet we had shelters picked out and a plan for stocking and supervising them in the event of a disaster. There were provisions for keeping the water and electricity going in the if the utilities were lost and the cost of all this was trivial.
For instance, you don't have to buy a generator beforehand and have it sitting around idle if you always know where you can rent, borrow, or commandeer one in an emergency. You also have to know how to plug it in. Ideally, the wiring would include a built-in provision for this. You can at least keep toilets working if you know how to connect a hose to the pipes and have a pump and a water source, clean or dirty, outside. Part of maintaining the plan was keeping up with this stuff and knowing how to use it. It's Admin 101.
Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-09-03 12:47||   2005-09-03 12:47|| Front Page Top

#30 You just have to wonder, how frustrated Bush must really be. Some of us remember, he was a governor of a Gulf Coast hurricane alley state. He knows disaster planning.

Plus, he has some pretty close contact with the state of Florida, that is still digging out of the results of 4 hurricanes.

As he watched Jeb bring in trucks of water, ice and food before Katrina hit his state, well, I think my frustration level with these LA folks would probably erupt big time!

There are reports, published, about his calling the governor and good mayor on Sat, in a restaurant, pleading to evacuate.

And, I remember the major on Sunday saying, "He got my cell phone number and gave me numbers to reach him if we need anything," That's on news footage.

So now, Bush has declared the state of Texas a disaster area, so the fed dollars and support can flow in to us.

Yes, I think he could probably calm that major down. Just let him know, "Hey guy, I've been the governor of hurricane state, and I know the drill. Don't pull any punches with me."
Posted by Sherry 2005-09-03 13:10||   2005-09-03 13:10|| Front Page Top

#31 Yep AC, once the toilets failed civilization ceased.
Posted by Mona Gorilla 2005-09-03 16:52||   2005-09-03 16:52|| Front Page Top

#32 "How Bush could have prevented this: Federalize the Louisiana National Guard, declare martial law in the hurricane's path;"

Sorry cannot do. Posse Comitatus, and the Stafford Act both constrain the president from doing ANYTHING until a governor asks, as long as that governor is in existence (i.e if the capital is hit the feds can step in).

Thanks to an email from a firend, I heard (online streams are great for finding stuff liek this!) a wonderful interview with the Colorado Governor ("The Fox" radio, Guys named Lewis and Floorwax?). He basicly called "bullshit" on the bitching aboutthe Fed response - and spelled out step by step how the La gov is an idiot and pointed out the many mistakes made, and the large amounts of powers to act any Gov has under federal law.

I betcha those morons now are sorry they didnt vote Jindal in. The ones that didnt die, that is. The very constituency that put the Gov Blanco in office is the one that died in the largest numbers. Unthinking bloc-voters on the Dem side of the divide.

Nature punishes stupidity without mercy. And its so sad that these folks are hung by the vey rope they put around their own necks by electing incompetents, and by staying put instead of leaving.
Posted by Oldspook 2005-09-03 17:53||   2005-09-03 17:53|| Front Page Top

#33 Yup. But what a high level of collateral damage along the way.
Posted by Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-03 20:46||   2005-09-03 20:46|| Front Page Top

#34 If Bush called the mayor and governor of NOLA, asking them to declare an evacuation, then he should hand all records of the phone call -- including a transcript, if he has one -- over to a competent and honest prosecutor in Louisiana. That prosecutor should file negligent homicide charges against the mayor and governor.

If there are any applicable federal charges, then a federal prosecutor should get into it, too.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-09-03 21:50|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-09-03 21:50|| Front Page Top

#35 Having spend two terms as Texas governor, President Bush knows full well how the state officals screwed up, costing many lives. But he needs them now to do the right thing for the people of LA rather than go defensive in a "everyone for themselves" mode.

The truth will eventually seep out, but it won't be Bush that spells it out. It probably will be VP Cheney, given that Landeau is trying to dictate terms to the president.
Posted by Captain America 2005-09-03 23:28||   2005-09-03 23:28|| Front Page Top

23:44 Atomic Conspiracy
23:42 Soliderwife Robin
23:37 macofromoc
23:36 Bomb-a-rama
23:29 Bomb-a-rama
23:28 Captain America
23:27 Charles
23:26 ed
23:22 Robert Crawford
23:19 Robert Crawford
23:12 Robert Crawford
23:10 bgrebel9
22:53 Captain America
22:37 Silentbrick
22:35 Captain America
22:34 Bobby
22:31 Bobby
22:21 PlanetDan
22:19 Jan
21:58 Tony (UK)
21:57 Robert Crawford
21:56 Robert Crawford
21:54 Robert Crawford
21:50 Robert Crawford









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