| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
09 Sep 2005 11:56:34 AM |
| Object: |
OT: [ Katrina] Blame Game, set and match |
http://www.thismodernworld.com/
September 06, 2005
Tom Tomorrow:
Blame game, set and match
Chris Floyd settles the matter:
Look, it's really very simple. On Saturday, August 27, 2005 -- two
days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall -- President George W.
Bush assumed responsibility for the coordination of "all disaster
relief efforts" in the State of Louisiana. This is the specific,
undisputed language of Bush's declaration of a State of Emergency,
issued that day by the White House, and still available for viewing on
the White House website. The responsibility for coordinating all
disaster relief efforts in New Orleans clearly rested with the White
House. Despite all the post-disaster spin by the Bush Faction and its
sycophants, despite all the earnest media analyses, the lines of
authority are clear and indisputable. Here is the voice of George W.
Bush himself, in the proclamation issued in his name, over his
signature on Saturday, August 27, 2005:
"The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of
Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local
response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane
Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing. The President's
action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief
efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and
suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to
provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures"
Bush goes on to say: "Specifically, FEMA is authorized to
identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and
resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."
(Here's the White House link.)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
....or maybe not. Reader Brian L., among others, notices an oddity:
Note the salient text:
"The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland
Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate
all disaster relief efforts...in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles,
Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula,
Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana,
Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston,
Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides,
Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas,
Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn."
Conspicuous by their absence are Orleans, St. Bernard, St.
Tammany, Plaquemines, Jefferson and basically every coastal parish,
and the next parishes closest to the coast. So then, let me understand
this: Team Bush saw by 26 August that Katrina would be sufficiently
dangerous to warrant a preemptive disaster declaration for what looks
like about 65-70% of the land area of Lousiana, and he declares it for
the _landlocked_ parishes?
....Chris follows up here. [1]
posted by Tom Tomorrow at 08:01 PM
[1]
http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=1
A Curious Lacuna PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Reader Brian L. at This Modern World (which linked to my "Blame Game,
Set and Match" post today) notes a curious lacuna in Bush's
declaration of a national emergency in Louisiana prior to Hurricane
Katrina. While giving FEMA full responsibility for coordinating all
disaster relief efforts in "those parishes in the path of the storm,"
the Aug. 27 declaration leaves out the specific parishes in and around
New Orleans and along the coast -- the very areas mostly likely to
sustain the most catastrophic damage. I must admit that my rage-dimm'd
eyes failed to pick up on this strange omission when I was writing the
post last night.
What does this mean? I'm not sure. Was it some kind of conscious
subterfuge to skirt responsibility for what everyone knew would be the
worst-hit areas? Was it some kind of bureaucratic snafu or arcane
matter of procedure? (Either of which could have been overridden by
direct presidential intervention at any time.) As with so many of the
disasters under Bush's rule, we are left with the same old question:
Was it deliberate malevolence or just criminal incompetence?
Bush himself was touting his Aug. 27 declaration
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828-1.html
the very next day, at a press appearance at his fake ranch in
Crawford, saying, "Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the
state of Louisiana, and this morning I signed a disaster declaration
for the state of Mississippi. These declarations will allow federal
agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and
local officials. We will do everything in our power to help the people
in the communities affected by this storm."
Now that seems a pretty broad brush -- broader than the narrow gauge
used in the actual declaration. In his public statement -- again,
before the storm hit -- Bush is clearly giving the impression that
"federal agencies" will "coordinate all disaster relief efforts with
state and local officials" in "the communities affected by this
storm."
On Monday, Aug 29, Bush issued another declaration,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050829-2.html
which again declares "a major disaster in the State of Louisiana," and
this time does include all the coastal and NO-area parishes. But the
specifics of this declaration deals only with making federal relief
funds available to individuals and state and local governments, not
coordinating relief efforts.
Incidentally, according to the White House website, on the same day,
Monday, Aug. 29, Bush told an audience in Arizona that he had been on
the telephone that very day to "Mike Chertoff, the head of the
Department of Homeland Security." The matter was so urgent that he had
called Chertoff from Air Force One, while flying to the meeting in
Arizona. And what was the urgent matter that Bush and Chertoff
discussed -- while the 17th Street Canal and Industrial Canal levees
were breaking and floodwater was filling up New Orleans?
"I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.
That's the most effective way to do things, is to work with the state
and local authorities. There are more resources that will be
available."
And resources for what exactly? "We'll have more folks on the border;
there will be more detention space to make sure that those who are
stopped trying to illegally enter our country are able to be
detained."
That's right. While the levees were breaking, Bush was calling
Chertoff to make sure there were more hoosegows for Mexicans trying to
cross the border. Priorities, priorities -- ya gotta stay focused on
the priorities! That's leadership.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050829-5.html
By Wednesday, Aug. 31, the White House was clearly saying that the
federal government was in charge of the disaster response:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050831-4.html
"The President Has Given The Department Of Homeland Security (DHS)
Authority To Coordinate The Response. The President announced that
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff will chair the
interagency task force while Michael Brown, DHS Undersecretary for
Emergency Preparedness and Response, is serving as the
Administration's lead on the ground."
Again, this seems unambiguous. The federal government is taking
responsibility for leading the relief effort, in New Orleans and
throughout the Gulf Coast. Now, if the Bushists want to quibble and
shuffle and dance on the head of a pin, saying, "The Aug. 27
declaration didn't include New Orleans! So the Leader's not
responsible for anything that happened before Aug. 31!" that's OK. I
don't think that's true -- but even if you grant that premise, we know
that those days now indisputably under the federal umbrella --
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -- were some of the most horrific of
the entire week, when countless lives were needlessly lost, and tens
of thousands of people languished without food, water, shelter or any
other aid which could have easily been provided by that time.
But now let's address a larger issue beyond the technical question of
the lines of official bureaucratic responsibility. After all, our
concern here -- and in my original post -- is not making a legal case,
but a moral one. The President of the United States has broad, almost
unlimited powers, in a national emergency. At any time, at any point
in the proceedings, Bush could have officially federalized the entire
relief effort. He could have brought the full powers of his office to
bear, sent in troops to secure the city -- sent in the Navy hospital
ship that he kept lurking off-shore for a week -- opened up military
bases as shelters, even temporarily commandeered private resources to
help with the relief effort.
This is a president who has acted time and again to stretch the limits
of presidential power beyond the bounds of the Constitution into the
area of outright tyranny. He has declared that he has the right to
imprison anyone, indefinitely, on his own authority, if he decides,
arbitrarily, that they are an "enemy combatant" or "terrorist." He's
given himself the power to order "extrajudicial killings," anywhere in
the world, of anyone he deems -- again, arbitrarily -- a "terrorist."
He has launched a war of aggression against another nation in flagrant
breach of the United Nations charter. His legal minions have declared
that he is "above the law" when it comes to ordering torture in the
worldwide gulag of prisons he has set up for the captives of his "war
on terror."
This is a president who obviously feels no restraints whatsoever on
his executive power in pursuit of his priorities. But when it came to
the destruction of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, when it came
to the fate of the thousands of victims who were abandoned to flood,
fear, chaos and needless death for days on end, we are now supposed to
believe that Bush was a helpless giant, his hands tied by red tape,
that he could do nothing, that someone else -- anyone else -- was
responsible for the sickening, shameful incompetence displayed in the
response to the storm. We are supposed to believe that a president who
could go to war against the will of the entire world could not impose
his authority on government agencies in his own country.
Well, I don't believe it. I think the facts clearly show that the
ultimate responsibility for the shambolic relief effort lies with the
federal government. Now, it turns out that the August 27 declaration
itself was not as unambiguous as I first believed, and I apologize for
saying otherwise. But the main point -- not just of my original post,
but of all the criticism of the relief effort -- still holds true, and
in fact is bolstered by new evidence all the time, as we've seen
above. And that point is: countless people died unnecessary deaths,
tens of thousands suffered unnecessary degrees of torment, because
Bush and his Faction failed miserably in their responsibility for the
common good. And Bush failed because his priorities were clearly
elsewhere -- in waging aggressive war, in stomping desperately poor
Mexicans, in getting in a little more "me time" on his vacation. He
simply did not care enough to exert the necessary energy and authority
to save these people's lives. You can dance on the head of a pin
forever, and nothing will change that damning fact.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: OT: [ Katrina] Blame Game, set and match |
09 Sep 2005 02:24:41 PM |
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In <r8f3i19ah2qg86grmf2b1lcqbfg8bi819k@4ax.com>, stoney <stoney@the.net>
wrote:
This is a president who has acted time and again to stretch the limits of
presidential power beyond the bounds of the Constitution into the area of
outright tyranny. He has declared that he has the right to imprison
anyone, indefinitely, on his own authority, if he decides, arbitrarily,
that they are an "enemy combatant" or "terrorist." He's given himself the
power to order "extrajudicial killings," anywhere in the world, of anyone
he deems -- again, arbitrarily -- a "terrorist." He has launched a war of
aggression against another nation in flagrant breach of the United Nations
charter. His legal minions have declared that he is "above the law" when
it comes to ordering torture in the worldwide gulag of prisons he has set
up for the captives of his "war on terror."
This is a president who obviously feels no restraints whatsoever on his
executive power in pursuit of his priorities. But when it came to the
destruction of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, when it came to the
fate of the thousands of victims who were abandoned to flood, fear, chaos
and needless death for days on end, we are now supposed to believe that
Bush was a helpless giant, his hands tied by red tape, that he could do
nothing, that someone else -- anyone else -- was responsible for the
sickening, shameful incompetence displayed in the response to the storm.
We are supposed to believe that a president who could go to war against
the will of the entire world could not impose his authority on government
agencies in his own country.
This part bears repeating.
(More than once)
--
Mark K. Bilbo
--------------------------------------------------
"We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long
after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have
been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing.
Many who could have been were not. That's to the
government's shame."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2D511CBB
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: OT: [ Katrina] Blame Game, set and match |
10 Sep 2005 02:49:24 AM |
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In article <OJidnVLMepPzfLzeRVn-qg@megapath.net>,
"Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:
In <r8f3i19ah2qg86grmf2b1lcqbfg8bi819k@4ax.com>, stoney <stoney@the.net>
wrote:
This is a president who has acted time and again to stretch the limits of
presidential power beyond the bounds of the Constitution into the area of
outright tyranny. He has declared that he has the right to imprison
anyone, indefinitely, on his own authority, if he decides, arbitrarily,
that they are an "enemy combatant" or "terrorist." He's given himself the
power to order "extrajudicial killings," anywhere in the world, of anyone
he deems -- again, arbitrarily -- a "terrorist." He has launched a war of
aggression against another nation in flagrant breach of the United Nations
charter. His legal minions have declared that he is "above the law" when
it comes to ordering torture in the worldwide gulag of prisons he has set
up for the captives of his "war on terror."
This is a president who obviously feels no restraints whatsoever on his
executive power in pursuit of his priorities. But when it came to the
destruction of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, when it came to the
fate of the thousands of victims who were abandoned to flood, fear, chaos
and needless death for days on end, we are now supposed to believe that
Bush was a helpless giant, his hands tied by red tape, that he could do
nothing, that someone else -- anyone else -- was responsible for the
sickening, shameful incompetence displayed in the response to the storm.
We are supposed to believe that a president who could go to war against
the will of the entire world could not impose his authority on government
agencies in his own country.
This part bears repeating.
(More than once)
No kidding. I think that those who say that he has lost touch with
reality are right. And whenever reality intrudes into his sheltered
little world, he freezes. IMO that's why he flew back to Washington
rather than stop in New Orleans last Wednesday. He needed Rove et al. to
tell him what to do and what to say.
Some leader.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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