HEY! Anybody know about this blunder on Bush's part?

[complain jane]

Saturday, August 27, Governor Blanco asked George Bush to declare a Federal State of Emergency for the state of Louisiana.

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

(By the way- she did this a day earlier than her Republican counterparts in Mississippi and Alabama did, despite right-wing claptrap to the contrary)


President Bush complies with her request - but, strangely, his declaration for State of Emergency omits the Parishes on the Gulf Coast, which are going to be hit the hardest by the storm and flooding, and require the most help fastest. The following is an excerpt from the White House website:

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, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe 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.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...20050827-1.html



Governor Blanco has to issue a second letter, explicitly listing the Parishes for George.

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=973



So basically when Blanco requested that he declare the federal State of Emergency, he declared it for all the Parishes except for those who would actually need the most help and need it quickest.

http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/637/1

Ah, George. It's all such darn hard work.

Could it be that he's really this stupid?

[Jim Sagle]

1. Of course he's not THAT stupid. He's a bloodcrazy ghoul who saw his

chance to kill Democrats, and seized the opportunity.

[Guaranteed]

2. LOL yeah I saw that a few days ago.

None of us could figure what the hell happened with that first letter. But when I realized that he actually made TWO declarations, it kind of came together.

Just more fucking incompetence.

[flyarm]

3. been all over du days ago!! but good to know!! ..keep it n/t

[kestrel91316]

4. NOT a blunder: SABOTAGE, TREASON, MURDER

[applegrove]

5. I think it has been debunked. Other documents exist or something.

[JanusAscending]

7. Hi Applegrove!

Yeah, you told me that yesterday, and I checked into it,via SEARCH ,Parishes, and I came up with nothing that would "debunk it"!! Unless I missed something, but I read them all very carefully.:hi:

[applegrove]

8. Well I didn't read them but I understood it was debunked.

[shraby]

9. Not debunked...here it is

on the whitehouse site

<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html>

[applegrove]

10. Don't ya think there was another document that included NO? I mean -

it was announced. And this really doesn't mean anything. Except that the regular secretary was on vacation or Brown wrote it himself.

Why harp? It has no meaning.

[shraby]

13. It does have meaning, it was an official document.

Official documents are just that..the modus operandi until they are superceded by another.

[AuntieM1957]

6. it's hard werk, at least when a moron pronounces it nt

[autorank]

11. You are one hell of a DUser. This is great. **RECOMMEND IT**

Shocking, even to me. What a total asshole he is. I find it immpossible to write about him without using profanity.

This is very good analysis, simple and devastating.

[RallyInDC]

12. why would he omit only those parishes?

and not all the central quarters or the french quarter.....thats what is odd.

[belle]

14. Even simpler explanation, I think (as does the recent Newsweek article):

He didn't know about it, because he doesn't follow the news himself, and he doesn't hear anything he doesn't want to hear. The aides that haven't been fired for being too alert or quit already in disgust, were all too cowed to say anything to him that didn't fit in with the plans he'd already made. Voila. Cake-cuttin' time.

Ever seen that old Twilight Zone episode, "It's a *Good* Life?"....