THE FAILURES OF LOUISIANA OFFICIALS, PART DUH

THE FAILURES OF LOUISIANA OFFICIALS,
PART DUH

In my previous post THE FAILURES OF LOUISIANA OFFICIALS, I discussed how the governor and mayor were incompetent morons. Each day since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, more information is coming out supporting my view. We have people running around with the "Blame Bush" mentality who find it easier to “Blame Bush” than to actually understand the complexity of issues or spend a few minutes researching a particular topic.

Some people are yelling about “why wasn’t federal assistance and troops sent in the first day?” Well, it is because the federal government are not first responders, local and state authorities are. However, FEMA was outside the city, they could not go in because the primates were running around shooting each other and preventing any outside assistance. The American Red Cross and The Salvation Army were first responders with water, food, and other supplies, but the governor would not let them distribute at the Superdome. She wanted the people to leave the Superdome, and offering aid would only bring more people to the Superdome. Yes, she wanted them to leave, but they would not leave, so she thought if she starved them, then they would leave. How wonderfully compassionate of these democrats. Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He said the following:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

The more complex complaints that have come up are about the reduction in federal funding for levee improvements in New Orleans. I have found some very interesting articles regarding this federal funding.

The first article is from the L.A. Times

Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste, mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck.

And federal auditors are still trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998.
In March, FEMA demanded that Louisiana repay $30.4 million to the federal government.

The problems are particularly worrisome, federal officials said, because they involve the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the agency that will administer much of the billions in federal aid anticipated for victims of Katrina.

Earlier this week, federal Homeland Security officials announced they would send 30 investigators and auditors to the Gulf Coast to ensure relief funds were properly spent.

The second article is from the Associated Press

As far back as eight years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for evacuating New Orleans during a massive hurricane, but the money instead went to studying the causeway bridge that spans the city's Lake Pontchartrain, officials say.

The outcome provides one more example of the government's failure to prepare for a massive but foreseeable catastrophe, said the lawmaker who helped secure the money for FEMA to develop the evacuation plan.

"They never used it for the intended purpose," said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "The whole intent was to give them resources so they could plan an evacuation of New Orleans that anticipated that a very large number of people would never leave."

In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, attention has focused on the inability of local and federal officials to evacuate or prepare for the large number of poor people, many of them minorities, who had no access to transportation and remained behind.

That possibility was one of the concerns that led Congress in 1997 to set aside $500,000 for FEMA to create "a comprehensive analysis and plan of all evacuation alternatives for the New Orleans metropolitan area."

Frustrated two years later that nothing materialized, Congress strengthened its directive. This time it ordered "an evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm, a levee break, flood or other natural disaster for the New Orleans area."

The $500,000 that Congress appropriated for the evacuation plan went to a commission that studied future options for the 24-mile bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said.

It is so hard to believe that these compassionate, progressive democrats (the same “looking out for the little guy” and “caring about minorities” democrats) would allow such a thing to happen. Then again, what should be expected from a state that has had the most corrupt government for the past ten years?