Memo To My Father
ArchPundit
He lives about 6 blocks from the ocean in Cocoa Beach.
Dear Dad:
When they say get the hell out, GET THE HELL OUT FROM NOW ON!
2005
Let’s be Clear on Who Was Involved in the Emergency Planning in New Orleans
Jeff takes on Nagin trying to make it sound as if he deviated from the emergency plan in New Orleans. The problem is that no one is reading what I’ve already posted on this nor the Hurricane response plan. Jeff’s not the only one, but since he mentioned me, I’ll point out the problems with the arguments.
First, though, he ordered the mandatory evacuation late. He did it about 24 hours out when the plan called for 50 hours. Why? Some legal silliness concerning whether he could make exceptions. Tourists had flights cancelled and the hospitals couldn’t get out in time so he had some legal debate about whether he could order the evacuation and make exceptions. This was incredibly stupid. That said, almost all estimates indicate he improved the evacuation rate of any previous evacuation by 10-20%.
I’ve updated and made the posts on New Orleans Hurricane planning over at Kos for the full context of what I’ve said.
Join me after the jump…
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Obama’s Statement
Which brings me to the next point. Once the situation is stable, once families are settled – at least for the short term – once children are reunited with their parents and enrolled in schools and the wounds have healed, we’re gonna have to do some hard thinking about how we could have failed our fellow citizens so badly, and how we will prevent such a failure from ever occurring again.
It is not politics to insist that we have an independent commission to examine these issues. Indeed, one of the heartening things about this crisis has been the degree to which the outrage has come from across the political spectrum; across races; across incomes. The degree to which the American people sense that we can and must do better, and a recognition that if we cannot cope with a crisis that has been predicted for decades – a crisis in which we’re given four or five days notice – how can we ever hope to respond to a serious terrorist attack in a major American city in which there is no notice, and in which the death toll and panic and disruptions may be far greater?
Which brings me to my final point. There’s been much attention in the press about the fact that those who were left behind in New Orleans were disproportionately poor and African American. I’ve said publicly that I do not subscribe to the notion that the painfully slow response of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security was racially-based. The ineptitude was colorblind.
But what must be said is that whoever was in charge of planning and preparing for the worst case scenario appeared to assume that every American has the capacity to load up their family in an SUV, fill it up with $100 worth of gasoline, stick some bottled water in the trunk, and use a credit card to check in to a hotel on safe ground. I see no evidence of active malice, but I see a continuation of passive indifference on the part of our government towards the least of these.
And so I hope that out of this crisis we all begin to reflect – Democrat and Republican – on not only our individual responsibilities to ourselves and our families, but to our mutual responsibilities to our fellow Americans. I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren’t just abandoned during the Hurricane. They were abandoned long ago – to murder and mayhem in their streets; to substandard schools; to dilapidated housing; to inadequate health care; to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.
That is the deeper shame of this past week – that it has taken a crisis like this one to awaken us to the great divide that continues to fester in our midst. That’s what all Americans are truly ashamed about, and the fact that we’re ashamed about it is a good sign. The fact that all of us – black, white, rich, poor, Republican, Democrat – don’t like to see such a reflection of this country we love, tells me that the American people have better instincts and a broader heart than our current politics would indicate.
We had nothing before the Hurricane. Now we have even less.
I hope that we all take the time to ponder the truth of that message.
A Question that Keeps Bothering Me
Other than the Thursday interview, Nagin has pretty much treated the Governor and the Feds equally–with contempt for not making decisions–why are the most coherent critiques of Blanco not being pointed out by those defending the Administration?
I have a couple ideas–one that many people don’t like to make nuanced arguments. A second is doing that is admitting that virtually no one performed to expectations and many with a strong position don’t want to see broad incompetence being pointed out.
The Disconnect Between Pundits and The Reality of Poverty in New Orleans
Tierney’s column in the New York Times has several problems, but the biggest is the lack of understanding as to what concentrated poverty brings on a community. He compares New Orleans system of evacuation with that of the Hampton Roads area surrounding Newport News, Virginia.
From a small sampling of that area you have a poverty rate between 10-20% in the communities in that area. I’ll virtually guarantee the institutions even in the poor neighborhoods of that area are far stronger than those of inner-city New Orleans. The comparison is just silly. Perhaps you can make some reasonable comparisons to places like Jefferson Parish, but the type of debilitating concentrated poverty in New Orleans is nothing like the demographics in the area Tierney points out. It’d be fascinating to compare police protection per 1000 people and other numbers as well.
Furthermore, New Orleans didn’t have any fantasies about what would happen–they knew exactly the problem they had. They were attempting to mitigate that problem and frankly, were just starting some serious efforts when the hurricane hit. As a community that is apalling, but the treatment of the poor in that City has long been appalling. I’m somewhat relieved to know that someone was starting to pay attention. You certainly didn’t see that under former Mayor Morial.
And again, this isn’t to say that Ray Nagin did everything perfect, but this fantasy that New Orleans was blithely unaware and didn’t do anything is demonstrably false.
Senator Lott Meet Mayor Nagin, Mayor Nagin Meet Senator Lott
Trent Lott’s complaints sound oddly familiar:
Lott said he has been trying to get FEMA to send 20,000 trailers “sitting in Atlanta” to the Mississippi coast, and he urged President Bush during a meeting Monday to intervene. He said FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are secured.
“FEMA and MEMA need to be saying, ‘Yes’ to Mississippi’s needs, not, ‘No.,” the former majority leader said in a written statement.
“Mississippians are homeless, hungry and hurting.”
Similar stories of governmental red tape have been reported elsewhere, including a case of 100 surgeons and paramedics hindered from caring for hurricane victims in rural Mississippi.
But Mississippi isn’t having any problems with the Feds….
Had to Wait for State Requests
Perhaps the biggest pile of bullshit coming out of FEMA is that they had to defer to local officials. They don’t–and the National Response Plan points that out, but that isn’t even the worst of it. If they had simply not acted that would be bad.
If FEMA had only done exactly what the State of Louisiana had asked, that’s a bit bizarre and strange, but at least fits some sort of bureaucratic model of how things might work.
But FEMA did get involved when the State didn’t want FEMA to act
Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on “Meet the Press.”
When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water, FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish’s emergency communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.
It appears that the State and Feds were fighting over basic issues and both bear a lot of blame over that, but to try and claim that they didn’t have authority when they were actively blocking particular efforts is just stunning.
There’s a lot of blame to go around–Nagin dilly dallying about ordering a mandatory evacuation because of legal technicalities regarding whether he could allow some exceptions (people who had cancelled flights, etc–even with that there was the highest percent ever evacuated and the first ever mandatory evac), Blanco and the late push for National Guard in the City, but FEMA keeps making absurd claims about what it knew and what it could do that are so demonstratively false that one wonders not why such liars are allowed to continue in employment, but how did such bad liars ever seem credible to anyone?
Editorial: Not Acceptable
While it might be the last thing on their minds right now, it’ll be a tragedy if the Time-Picayune doesn’t get at least a couple of Pulitzers for it’s work on this tragedy.
A day after a normally easy-going Mayor Ray Nagin blasted federal officials’ seeming indifference to the plight of New Orleanians who are stranded and dying, President Bush stood on the lawn of the White House and conceded the point: The federal government did not move quickly enough or forcefully enough to help those people hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina. “The results are not acceptable,” the president said before boarding a helicopter to go survey the storm’s damage.
It’s good to hear the president admit his administration’s shortcomings, and it’s even better to hear his promise to help all of us who are in need. But the sad truth remains that the federal government’s slow start has already proved fatal to some of the most vulnerable people in the New Orleans area. Water has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people. A lack of water to drink is exacting its toll on others.
“I don’t want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences,” the mayor said during a WWL radio interview Thursday. “Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don’t do another press conference until the resources are in this city.”
The mayor had obviously become fed up with federal bureaucrats’ use of future tense verbs. “Don’t tell me 40,000 people are coming here,” he said. “They’re not here. It’s too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let’s fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.”
We applaud the mayor for giving voice to an entire city’s frustration. How could the most powerful and technologically advanced nation in the history of the world have responded so feebly to this crisis?
The president’s admission of his administration’s mistakes will mean nothing unless the promised help is deployed immediately. Each life is precious, and there isn’t a second chance to save a single one of them. No more talk of what’s going to happen. We only want to hear what is being done. The lives of our people depend on it.
Rising Together
The true test of the American ideal is whether we?re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life?s big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams.
… You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It?s primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it?s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.? — Senator Barack Obama, Knox College Commencement 2005
Amen. and thanks for the reminder out there.
Stepping Up to the Plate
Blagojevich’s Message Regarding Katrina–Please follow his advice. He’s done a great job in reaching out on this.
Special Message from the Governor
To the people of Illinois:
If there is ever a time for us to unite as a nation and help our fellow Americans, that time is now. Hurricane Katrina has devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I want to let you know about the steps Illinois has taken in the relief effort, and also let you know how you can help too.
As of today, I have authorized approximately 800 Illinois Guard Members and more than 40 vehicles from the 3637th Maintenance Company to Louisiana to help with the recovery and cleanup operations. I have also ordered the deployment of 50 medical response team members from the Illinois Emergency Response Team to set up field hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi. In addition, we have provided supplies ranging from blankets and cots to 256,000 half pints of water, as well as experts who will help process claims ranging from unemployment benefits to food stamps. We have also opened all Illinois public schools to any child displaced by Hurricane Katrina. College students from Illinois who attend school in the Gulf Coast can now continue their studies at any of the state?s community colleges and many of our four-year universities.
Yesterday, I sent an email to all state employees urging them to contribute to a collective fund that will be given directly to the American Red Cross. I am now encouraging you to get involved. To donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, please call 800-HELP-NOW, or visit their secure Internet site at www.redcross.org.
If you have any friends or relatives from the hurricane-stricken areas that are arriving in Illinois, you can direct them to the Hurricane Katrina Victim Assistance Hotline at 800-843-6154. This is a hotline for one-stop shopping of State services, including: health care, crisis counseling, temporary housing and food and clothing allotments. It will be operational between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:00 pm.
You can also donate items such as new or laundered clothing, towels and bedding (all items must be packaged), as well as non-perishable food items and school supplies by dropping them off at any of the Illinois Department of Human Services offices across the state. For further information, please visit www.illinois.gov/dropoff.cfm or call our hotline at 800-843-6154.
If we all work together, I know we can make a real difference in helping the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama recover from this tragedy. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,Rod R. Blagojevich
Governor
There is a petition for the Governor to donate a portion of his campaign fund to the Hurricane victims, while I’m uncomfortable with the tone, I expect there will be a significant contribution. Of all of my criticisms of the Governor, I think he’s a human being and trust him in a case like this.