Re: Here's another take on things

Joe wrote:
"Michael Johnson, PE" <cds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:Y5udneNq6c-A_L7eRVn-jQ@xxxxxxxxxxxx: 


Joe wrote:

"Michael Johnson, PE" <cds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:nK2dnVjL8cht0L7eRVn-1Q@xxxxxxxxxxxx: 



WindsorFox[SS] wrote:


cprice@xxxxxxxx wrote:



Funny to see the buttmunch that heads FEMA recalled to
Washington. I wonder why that is? The Governor of LA ordered him there?
Hardly.



As reported on CNN and very accidetally seen by me real late
at night last week, it has been discovered that he lied on his
resume. Oops!!

I heard he "exaggerated". I wonder if the guy that OK'ed his credentials was the same one the gave Bernard Kerik a thumbs up for
Secretary of Homeland Security? ;)


I heard "lied" (one of the very few times I'll agree with WF). Didn't catch the details, but I believe it had something to do with
a position he held that was more like an internship as opposed to
some kind of person of authority, which was how he portrayed
himself.

Now why didn't Dubya check out these guys (Brown and Kerik) more thoroughly? There's your "Oops". ;)

I'm sure back ground checks are one of those things that are
delegated. If hiring people was a perfect process then no one would ever have
to be fired. ;) 


I sense backpedaling...


One thing I will give Bush some credit on is that he
will say he made a mistake if he really believes he or his
administration screwed up.


What?!?!?!? Michael, I'm going to call you to the carpet on this one. Bush is infamous for "never having made a mistake". Remember the debates with Kerry? Katrina is the _first_ time Bush has admitted to actually making some kind of mistake at all. And he didn't even call it a "mistake".

I said if he REALLY BELIEVES he made a mistake. The things you think are mistakes he may not believe them to be mistakes. Also, NOBODY will admit to a mistake in a debate. Remember Kerry dancing around about his stances on the Iraq war? He was all over the place on a daily basis. He took so many positions that one of them had to be a mistake but you never heard him admit to it. ;)

He hasn't tried to paint over the Feds
response to Katrina. I bet there was some major ass chewing going on in the background.


No, but he used every opportunity for spin with his photo ops.

All politicians use photo ops. Actually, I think Bush seeks them out far less than most politicians. Case in point is his numerous meetings with military casualties and their family members.

BTW, I read today (in one of those "suspect papers") that the National Guard's slow response in NO was due in part to all the Guard personnel deployed in Iraq. I'd still like to know why the National Guard (can someone plese define the term 'National'?) is in another country halfway around the world...

Here are a couple of links to the Army National Guard web site that talks about the function of the Guard:

http://www.arng.army.mil/About_Us/protecting_our_world.asp
http://www.arng.army.mil/About_Us/aiding_america.asp
http://www.arng.army.mil/About_Us/aiding_america.asp

The LA National Guard has about 11,500 members of which around 3,000 of them are in Iraq. They have over 8,000 members still in the state. I remember reading the Governor only had about 400 Guard members in New Orleans the day after the Hurricane. This isn't meant to be an excuse for the Feds but I think they thought LA and NO would respond more like Florida does during a hurricane on a state and local level. When they didn't it caught them off guard. I think no one fathomed the lack of preparedness on the part of the state and City. This disaster was like the perfect storm occurring. Also, I find it interesting that Mississippi seems to have had no major problems with their Guard units and the State's response seems to have been very good. One thing Barbour did right after the hurricane was to exert control over looting which I think helped stabilize things quickly there. Also, I think they took the brunt of the storm and have more damage than NO. NO biggest problem is the flooding from breached levies. Mississippi's coastline is just devastated. If you want to see some interesting satellite images go to Google Earth and look at the Gulf coast east of NO.

There are also major legal implications for Bush sending in the Feds (FEMA and the military) without Blanco's official permission. He would have had to use the "Insurrection Act" which was not intended for natural disasters. Plus, I would almost guarantee that if he had steam rolled Blanco the Democrats would have went nuts. IMO, the Feds and states need to rewrite the law to remedy the problem for the future natural disasters.

Also, Bush was hamstrung by the Posse Comitatus Act (Section 1385 of Title 18, United States Code (USC)). It states:

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Tell me the Dems wouldn't have loved to use this against Bush had he acted illegally. Here is another interesting link:
http://www.northcom.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.factsheets&factsheet=5

The fact is that FEMA doesn't have the manpower to respond to a large scale natural disaster on their own. They typically rely on the National Guard and local authorities for on-the-ground muscle. In LA that didn't exist and getting Federal military support was problematic. One good thing I'm hearing and reading is the loss of life won't be nearly as bad as the Mayor of NO predicted.
.