The Charlie Foxtrot down South: Heads should roll

[DogYeller]

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.

President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act). Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.

Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.

After a personal plea from the President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster.

Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to NO for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look into why he emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.

The suffering people of NO need to be asking some hard questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at is disposal to use between the local school busses and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.

This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the mistakes to avoid them in the future.

If you want to balme The President for anything blame him for not placing the Gov. of LA and Mayor of NO. under arrest for gross negligence and placing the whole area under martial law.

[Rocky Raab]

Again, I'd like to put some perspective on certain things.

Leaving politics and blame completely aside for now, let's look at the situation immediately after the hurricane ended.

Not only New Orleans but a hundred miles of other cities along the Gulf coast are destroyed. There is no power, no water, no cell service, no road access to many places and no functioning emergency departments (fire or police).

There is no way to know how many people evacuated, or who, or where they went. There is no way way to know how many did NOT evacuate, or who, or what happened to them.

Given all that, your job (we'll assume YOU are the person in charge) is to:

Rescue the living
Search for hidden survivors
Provide food, water and shelter to evacuees
Restablish communications
Restablish power
Recover the dead
Clear roads
Remove debris
Evacuate the survivors
Call in reinforcements
Coordinate donations
Distribute supplies
Arrange massive transportation for people and supplies
Respond to thousands of media interview requests
Tour the scene personally

That's hardly all, but that's a good short list of "immediate" items.

Now, here's the $64 question: which one do you do first? Because at some point or other, EVERYBODY involved with the hurricane has been castigated and blamed for not doing ALL of those things first.

Start clearing roads in, and the media shows people screaming to be rescued.

Rescue people, and the media shows people bellowing for food at shelters.

Get everybody evacuated and the media moans that bodies are going untended.

Tour the area, and the media complains that it wasn't soon enough. Try to meet with your staff, and the media complains that you aren't doing enough interviews to keep people informed.

Try to do anything, and the media will complain about something else.

Get the picture?

Now imagine you are not only in charge of the disaster, but are also the President. The Chief Justice dies, the Senate holds up confirmation of the previous Court vacancy, there's an oil problem, there's a war going on - and oh by the way, there's another hurricane off the coast.

How would you do?

[TreeDoc]

That's easy, Rocky



I'd go fishing!



BTW, excellent perspective on the situation.

[BILLY D.]

i liked your response doc. like grandma always told me "never take anything in life too seriously."

one other thing, hows ol' jacks hoofy doing? hope he's getting along great.

[TreeDoc]

Thanks, Billy. My method works about 90% of the time!

As for Jack? He's sitting on the couch with me waiting for one of Ma's homemade chocolate chip cookie morsels to come his direction. I would rate his paw at about 95+% at this point. He acts as though it never happened but the kids that come around from the nieghborhood to play are dissapointed because he isn't allowed to play ball anymore. Jack just doesn't understand this! I've been swimming him and he did make it out on a quick Dove hunt the evening of our opener. He performed his usual flawless retrieves even though he hates dove!

Thanks for asking!

[BILLY D.]

one little comment about the michael brown fiasco.

fair haired boys always get promoted to a higher level of incompttence. seen too much of it in the military.

[BILLY D.]

Originally posted by TreeDoc
Thanks, Billy. My method works about 90% of the time!

As for Jack? He's sitting on the couch with me waiting for one of Ma's homemade chocolate chip cookie morsels to come his direction. I would rate his paw at about 95+% at this point. He acts as though it never happened but the kids that come around from the nieghborhood to play are dissapointed because he isn't allowed to play ball anymore. Jack just doesn't understand this! I've been swimming him and he did make it out on a quick Dove hunt the evening of our opener. He performed his usual flawless retrieves even though he hates dove!

Thanks for asking!

HEY, GREAT, GLAD TO HEAR HE IS DOING SO WELL.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WITH DOG WHO HATES THE TASTE OF SOME BIRDS.

MY LAB ABHORED THE TASTE OF SHOVELER DUCKS. HE USED TO GARGLE WITH LISTERENE AFTER HE FINISHED A RETRIEVE.

[fabsroman]

That one was pretty good too Billy. It got a laugh out of me and I am in a pretty crappy mood tonight for some reason.

[BILLY D.]

Originally posted by fabsroman
That one was pretty good too Billy. It got a laugh out of me and I am in a pretty crappy mood tonight for some reason.

PMS, SWEETIE?

[fabsroman]

That one was pretty good too.

Nah, it doesn't have to do with PMS. Mostly work related, but it includes my handgun jamming 5 times today at the range and me shooting like crap on top of that.

I probably just woke up in a bad mood because Nitro decided to relieve himself all over the bedroom floor. Nothing gets you up in the morning quicker than the smell of urine. Then again, smelling crap might have had me out of bed even quicker. The rest of the day went downhill from there.

[Mil Dot]

Tree Doc,

Don't fret about Jack not liking to retrieve doves, my Lab, and my buddies two labs hate 'em too! Those damn fine feathers make 'em feel like a cat choking up a hair ball. He probably wants to know what else you have in store for him ... pink toto ... come on Dad give me a break! I'm a Lab not a friggin' Poodle!

[TreeDoc]

Naw, I won't fret! In his early years he was fine with Doves. 2 weeks after moving in with us he was 15 weeks old and he went on his first real bird hunt for Doves. For his first couple years doves were no big deal just simply because of the excitement of the hunt for him. Now after 5 seasons under his belt with Duck/Goose, Pheasant, and Quail being the primary quarry in that order, holding a stinky little dove has become low on his list on "What I like to fetch for you" list though he still does it with great vigor!

Oh BTW, MilDot...had you ever seen his slipper modeling portfolio?

[Mil Dot]

The poor dog's going to need a therapist and not for failure to retrieve doves!

[skeeter@ccia.com]

treedoc......if he finds out you posted this picture, I think he would tell you to fetch your own birds....lmao

[gspsonny03]

TD, if I was him I'd bite you on the ankle for that one.