Jackson Free Press

Don't we know it. AP is reporting:

A Senate inquiry into the government's Hurricane Katrina failures ripped the Bush administration anew Thursday and urged the scrapping of the nation's disaster response agency. But with a new hurricane season just weeks away, senators conceded that few if any of their proposals could become reality in time. The bipartisan investigation into one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history singled out President Bush and the White House as appearing indifferent to the devastation until two days after the storm hit.

It said the Homeland Security Department either misunderstood federal disaster plans or refused to follow them. And it said New Orleans for years had neglected to prepare for large-scale emergencies.
"The suffering that continued in the days and weeks after the storm passed did not happen in a vacuum; instead, it continued longer that it should have because of - and was in some cases exacerbated by - the failure of government at all levels to plan, prepare for and respond aggressively to the storm," concluded the report.

It was titled "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared," sober words for the future.
The Senate inquiry is the third major federal report on the government failures exposed by the Aug. 29 storm, which killed more than 1,300 people and which the Senate Budget Committee says has so far cost the federal government $103 billion.

Previous Comments

ID

134768

Comment

Come on Ms. Ladd, be honest. The Katrina failure goes to all levels. Appointing a lawyer to run HS was a joke of course. Should've been a law enforcement or military person who was an expert in planning operations and familiar with operating a department in that field, not a lawyer who looks at everything 5 different ways. And make no mistake, Bush DID drop the ball on Katrina. Blanco deserves blame and alot of it as well. So does Nagin. The levee boards were a joke. They blew money on marinas and airports and had no expertise at all and bear responsibility. The Corps of engineers was told by the Vicskburg branch that the levees had problems but did nothing. To say the report rips Bush and no one else in your headline is a little misleading and shows a bias towards slamming Bush and not fixing the problems exposed by Katrina. and for the record, if a WMD was used in this country, I do not think our response is any better prepared than it was before Katrina.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-06-04T20:34:12-06:00

ID

134769

Comment

Come on Ms. Ladd, be honest. The Katrina failure goes to all levels. I didn't say it didn't ... but there was a level of failure on the federal level that was denied by Bush apologists in a way that was near unconscionable. And if you don't like blog headlines, I suggest starting your own threads and naming them yourself. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-06-04T20:46:27-06:00

ID

134770

Comment

By the way, to show no good deed goes unpunished, Alario is working in the La Legislature to undo the levee board reforms. He wants to pack the Levee board with his area with Jeff Parish folks who will outnumber the professionals and experts who will sit on the board. I guess he learned nothing from Katrina. TP last week has several stories and editorials on it.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-06-11T23:00:18-06:00

ID

134771

Comment

If George Bush Sr. had been missing in the lower 9th ward, how long would it have taken to rescue him?

Author

Sherman Lee

Date

2006-06-13T00:13:52-06:00

ID

134772

Comment

But on the practical level, Who finally made the decision to send in the National Guard? Was that a state or federal decision?

Author

Sherman Lee

Date

2006-06-13T19:50:26-06:00

ID

134773

Comment

Sherman, it was a state decision. The Governor has to request that they be sent. This was one of the areas where Blanco really fell down. Nagin did delay ordering evacuation but Blanco did drop the ball as well. Thing is, you really can't position the troops/support for something like this in the area. If you do, then they are affected by storm damage and are limited in their ability to help others. I hate to say it, but if you stay in such an area, you need to be able to get by for 24-48 hours before help can arrive if the devastation is big enough. Now in Houston, the astrodome was built to also double as an evacuation center. But expecting such common sense during the construction of the superdome under Edwin Edwards was probably a bit much.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-06-17T20:56:15-06:00

ID

134774

Comment

The habit of politicians to remove themselves from responsibility to often removes them from the situation entirely. This unfortunately places them no where near where they need to be. Regardless of what hardballs he may have had to take, Bush should have been front and center making sure the citizens of this country were recieving the aid they need. He is the "Leader of the Free World" afterall. Do you think Melton would have waited for Nagin to request the National Gaurd? I don't particularly like his tactics, but i think that illustrates a point in this matter. If the people needed help why wasn't there some voice on the issue from the leader of our country? Using Melton as an example also foreshadows a comment on states rights and the need to not have a federal gov't to step in all over your toes...but come on. If the whole state had suddenly crubled into the ocean instead of a small piece, it would have been harder to argue that the Governor should have called for National Gaurd. Regardless of how many mistakes were made, President Bush is our President and that is where the buck stops when it comes to the protection of our people.

Author

daniel johnson

Date

2006-07-15T17:15:16-06:00

ID

134775

Comment

Daniel, the law is the law and it states that for the troops to be sent in by Bush that Blanco has to request them. Bush dropped the ball but Blanco on down did as well. Blanco and Nagin did not do like Barbour and say get out now. They simply crumbled during the crisis. There is more than enough blame to go around on this one. The fact is the state did not crumble in to the sea and Blanco was still the governor and delayed asking for help. Same Blanco that did not push hard for levee reforms until forced to do so, has not really done much since Katrina, has fueded publicly with the mayor, and didn't mind at all the state overriding state laws saying that no one without experience could get a license to sell mobile homes but relaxed them for her buddies so they could make a lot of money selling them to FEMA. Bush f'ed up, Nagin f'ed up, and Blanco f'ed up. The blame is not on Bush intitially because the first responders are the state and local authorities.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-07-15T19:35:23-06:00