How local officials prepared for Katrina (Part 1 of 2) -

[Roland99]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050914/14whitelaw.htm

As Hurricane Katrina barreled through Florida and turned northwest toward Louisiana, state and local officials revved up their preparations. A timeline of events begins four days before the storm struck the state:

Appears to be Part 1 of a two-parter with the 2nd part coming tomorrow?

Looks like the locals did about all they could. Could this with Brownie's "heck of a job" and the Knight-Ridder uncovering of the Chertoff memo and it's clear who fucked it up. The same people who've been fucking this country (and others) since Jan. 2001.

[Roland99]

1. Kick

[Nat-X]

5. What does "kick" signify

Sorry, new to blog lingo. What does this mean?

[Coexist]

2. kick

[Nat-X]

3. Good thought provoking article

This article evokes many questions.

Excerpts from article follow. Questions/comments in brackets {} are mine.

(One quirk: The state cannot order an evacuation; each parish must issue its own order. "We recommend, we strongly advise, hell, we even beg" parishes to evacuate, says Smith.) {So state officials had to beg local officials to issue evacuation orders?}

On Sunday {the day before landfall}, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for a mandatory evacuation. {Maybe alittle too late?}

On Blanco's request, President Bush declares a state of emergency, freeing up desperately needed federal resources. {Should Bush have stepped in and declared a federal state of emergency before the governor requested it? Should he have sent in the military prior to the governor's request? Does U.S. law allow him to do so?}

"Unless someone is willing to spend $1 billion before the storm and have it possibly miss, I don't think that we could have done better," says Doran. {State officials did a cost/benefit analysis of the lives of its residents?}

Still, not everyone has the means to leave the city. Thibodeaux estimates that as many as 100,000 to 150,000 people in New Orleans failed to heed the evacuation call. {Why were 2000+/- city and school busses sitting idle, in contradiction to New Orleans' written evacuation plan?}

(End of excerpts)

I'd also like to know why Bush appointed a man whose most impressive credential is that the headed the Arabian Horse Association, and who had very little emergency management experience?

Why did most of our senators, including Ted Kennedy, vote against the Kyoto treaty?

Why didn't the sons and daughters go get their mommas and daddies out of the nursing homes?

[goclark]

4. kick