Sorry to come in so late on this once lively debate

But, I have to ask, since no one else did:

WHAT ABOUT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS????

* Responsibility to evacuate before Nagin gave “permission.”

* Responsibility to prepare for a disaster (food, water, etc.)

* Responsibility to not live in “bowl” in NO

* Responsibility to elect competent leaders

* Responsibility to educate oneself (to be able to do the above)

Etc, etc, etc, ….

“In the end, what is the real value of journalism?” - JJ

Lately? Not much, it’d seem.

“I’ll hold all their damned feet to the fire.” - JJ

With what? Facts and data, or “a Higher Truth” than mere information?

And are you going to light the fire with what’s left of your credibility after this is all done?

You’ve been around long enough that I shouldn’t have to remind you of the First Rule of Holes, but scanning through the comments here, looks like you need a refresher course: “when you’re in one, stop digging.”

As far as lessons go: You ain’t a teacher, and I don’t need any lessons you have to teach. Have a bigger shovel - it’ll help you dig faster.

You will probably be strung up for even the suggestion but that is exactly what I was saying several days ago. Everyone was giving those crying reporters pats on the back when I was on here rating them as F-. Media touted Police Compass and Broussard. I never believed a word of it because I saw a disaster that was hit with another diaster……..the first responders in NO……and then the second responders in Baton Rouge. Then the third responders looked to be dragging tail by 24 hours. If you can get pass all that the media fed us, you can go looking for facts and what actually happened.

I stand by my comments I made on this blog the week after Katrina. I think FED gov was the shining star compared to the local government and the state government. I think the people of the US are incredibly generous and TX state gov was inspirational with shelter and real help. Mistakes…many…4 states, 90,000sq mile natural disaster. We had laws, politicians and media that made this diaster worse than it needed to be.

To this day, you still can NOT find a state governor that thinks the FEDS should have come in and took state control. They all know what happened. The question is……..will the media continue to mis-stake the facts. One of those facts is thousands of people were rescued. I call that a pretty good response in the face of state incompetence.

In Houston, 17 out of 31 recorded deaths … resulted from heat-related illnesses during the mass evacuation…none of the deaths occurred during the storm itself.

One could argue persuasively that there was planning failure in Houston, the contra flow didn’t occur soon enough, gasoline tankers were not pre-position along the evacuation route, the overblown Katrina/Rita coverage compelled far greater number of voluntary evacuees to join in the exodus with the mandatory evacuees, rather than 1M on the road, they had 2.5M on the road. (Notice with Rita there is less emphasis on whether it was FEMA or the federal government that failed in ensuring a safe evacuation of a heavily populated area.)

My concern about the Katrina coverage is that individuals in other urban areas may not seek shelter in public facilities in the event of a natural disaster. If you were visiting Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and were compelled to seek shelter in their respective convention centers, would you take your family there or would you try to ride it out in your hotel?

The image that stays with me from Katrina is the interview with the 12-year old girl screaming into the microphone, “we’re going to die in here.” She should have been (metaphorically) slapped and told, “no, you’re going to be absolutely miserable but you’re going to live.”

Journos also don’t want to be relegated to the role of being fact-collectors for the blogosphere, because the opining is way more fun. It could be that the driving force behind The Great New Orleans Media Riot of 2005 was the desire of the MSM not to be slave to the blogs.

There is not one single level of government from the Parish administrators to City and State officials to the Federal government (including Congresses past and present) that did not make mistakes, did not miscalculate, did not mis-communicate, and did not fail to do things that should have been done to protect the populace both before and during the hurricane. That is a fact. It is undeniable. No one deserves a “pass”. As a society we absolutely must evaluate all those points of response and responsibility in a clear -headed way, learn from the mistakes and failures, replace officials where warranted, redraw disaster plans, and try to do a much, much better job next time. (All the while knowing that circumstances will be different “next time” and things WILL still go wrong next time.)

But, in all fairness, every one of those governmental entities mentioned above also planned things, and did things, and ordered things, and appropriated things and arranged things that certainly saved lives and helped prevent an even worse catastrophe from materializing. Add to that the work of the private disaster response organizations. Maybe what they all did in concert was a large part of the difference between 10,000 and 1000 deaths? Can we accept or even entertain that possibility? Maybe the whole disaster reponse to Katrina was actually better than we have been able to admit. Can we try to at least test that out as a frame for the story?

I just received this:

We are very pleased to announce that Governor Pataki has announced the removal of the International Freedom Center (IFC) from Ground Zero. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/28/AR2005092801849.html for details.

No one manages to do everything right, but with Bush I do think the intent is there byond most politicians. Hopefully, some of the money kept out of the La corruption machine will find it’s way back to the more deserving Vets.

Did FEMA fail? - Brown has been fired

Is this correct? I don’t know…but I’d like to.

Please do (and thanks). I sent mine off about 10 minutes ago.

Better, perhaps those who think Blanco ought not to get away with this, could use those paragraphs as well and send in as many as we can.

It bodes well to find out if Blanco is simply dense as some say, or if her motives were to extort. Either way, she should not remain Gov.

She had a similiar delay with Ivan. It would have gone much worse, had Ivan behaved like Katrina. Blanco should have been dealt with last year, and perhaps this year some lives and suffering would have been spared.

http://www.cornpone.net/2004/09/big_easy_escape.html
From 2004 In the meantime, a one-finger salute to our government officials here in Louisiana for the horrible effort at evacuation. Had Ivan taken a western turn, this would have been not only a major blow to New Orleans but a major loss of life.

And Broussard, IMHO he definitely needs some sort of legal action.

I read the piece you sent a cite for: am curious:
“There were DMAT teams inside the Super Dome before the levee broke. Never before had so many FEMA teams and personnel been sent into a disaster.

One thing you must understand: the DMAT, VMAT, and DMORT teams that make up the National Disaster Medical System are NOT “first responders.” Our job is to supplement overwhelmed communities if needed. The initial responsibility lies with the state. If they become overwhelmed in the aftermath of a disaster where their local hospitals, medical, veterinary, and mortuary assets cannot handle the magnitude of the disaster, we come in and augment their resources. It takes 24 to 48 hours to mobilize the federal assets in normal circumstances. We come from every state in the United States, leaving our jobs and families behind at the drop of a hat to help where ever it is needed. Our cache of equipment and medical supplies must either be moved from our home base or from the federal warehouses in Maryland by truck or plane. This takes time. But we were there before Katrina hit and many more arrived immediately after even before knowing the full scope of this disaster. ”

Why, then, is Brown declaring that FEMA is small in force and has the job only of ‘coordinating other relief agencies’? Curiouser and curiouser.

God bless how goes about quietly ignoring the fools who so unspeakably attack him. I cannot believe the grace he has shown under all this.”

Can I sue Ravo and/or Buzz Machine? I totally gagged on a wheat thin and almost choked when I was reading that.

He is not honest. He is a politician. Unpopular but necessary things? Like cutting the Vets budget?

It might be interesting to pose a few queries to the U.S. Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov/

There are plenty of examples of Federal indictments against former governors. As to sitting governors? I don’t know.

A few questions might include:

1. It is my understanding that the state of LA prevented the Red Cross from entering New Orleans to provide emergency relief, including food and water, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. That fact is clearly stated at the Red Cross web site. Is there any consideration for indicting Kathleen Blanco for deaths which resulted from her decision to prevent aid from reaching folks at the Superdome and Convention Center?

2. It is my understanding from a televised interview of Mayor Nagin that there were “turf wars” between Governor Blanco and President Bush related to “money” at a time when she was continuing to deny Federal offers of assistance to coordinate the evacuation of New Orleans. Was Blanco attempting to extort money from the federal government in exchange for local cooperation? Is this a matter of investigation at the DOJ?