LA governor acted in a timely manner according to the House Judiciary

[Dark]

I don't know how many of you have seen this,

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/releases/katrinacrsreportpr91305.pdf

BUT SEND IT TO EVERY REPUBLICAN YOU KNOW WHO KEEPS TALKING ABOUT HOW THIS IS ALL THE GOVERNOR'S FAULT.

(sorry, can't copy and paste because it's PDF)

It clears the Governor of any mistakes or wrongdoing, according to the House Judiciary Committee.

[Helga Scow Stern]

1. Thanks! Recommended. We need to get the truth out there and keep it out.

[Dark]

2. More than happy to. n/t

[Dark]

3. Kick n/t

[Igel]

4. I read the report.

The findings are limited, more limited than usually billed.

The research unit concludes that Blanco did all she needed to, under law, to receive aid; and that * did all that he was required to, to make sure aid was provided.

In other words, they answered the question posed, wrt the information available.

[Dark]

5. This makes me want an investigation into what went wrong even more.

True. The mistake, obviously, was with FEMA. But who appointed the director of FEMA (and the head of Homeland Security who exacerbated the whole situation)?

Bush.

[I Have A Dream]

6. This information is still really useful when someone says...

that the Federal goverment couldn't do anything more because the governor didn't do what she needed to do to permit this.

[Igel]

10. The question was whether she did everything necessary to

receive aid. This is a matter of principle and law, not food and water.

The question wasn't whether she did everything necessary to receive 4000 of Michigan's NG troops by 5 pm after Katrina hit, or sufficient buses to evacuate the Superdome by the following day. On that kind of question, the report's silent, since it wasn't the question that was put to the research group.

As I said, the report says less than it's been billed as saying.

I, too, would like to see a truly independent investigation of what went wrong. I suspect lives will depend on it. But I have no expectations of actually seeing such a commission: neither side wants one, once you get beyond the bullet points. I'm not even sure who'd appoint such a commission. Dems only want Nagin and Blanco shielded, repubs only want * shielded.

[I Have A Dream]

12. However, it DOES take away the B* Administration's...

excuse that they COULDN'T legally do more before they did. Maybe they did as much as they were REQUIRED to do, but it wouldn't have stopped them from doing more if they had CHOSEN to do more. Correct?

[Igel]

13. This is an argument I've had questions about.

But I've gotten no direct answers from anybody, just competing citations from general purpose webpages.

Blanco's dead set convinced that she's in charge, and by state law she is. That means nothing sneezes without her permission; the Louisiana and other NGs report to her; she's to be in charge of what goes in and out of NOLA. She's defended this, and been applauded for it by DU. Under this view, FEMA does as she asks, preferably immediately upon being asked.

The federal disaster plan seems to say that * is in charge. He can send in NGs without even notifying Blanco, and she has no say over what goes into and out of NOLA. He wants to send in supplies, he does so, and maybe notifies her. He asked for this to be the case, and was roundly condemned for it by DU.

Now the twilight zone effect: Because * didn't do what we didn't want him to do, some of us nail him for it--it may strip Blanco of her authority, but it strips her of responsibility, and therefore blame; and when Blanco asserts her authority, we applaud her for it, ignoring the consequence that she's responsible. In most cases, we're talking about different sets of people holding complementary positions, but not always, and it makes my head spin.

I've finally come to the conclusion that Blanco's office and FEMA were in the same muddle: both, and therefore nobody, were in charge, in their own views, at various times. Instead of coordination, there was chaos. Until Witt, who know how the coordination was supposed to work, came along to work for Louisiana: by then things were settling down, anyway, but things went much better when he was there. But that's a guess. I really want a completely nonpartisan committee, people that don't care if 99% of the blame falls on either Blanco or *; staffed by, at best, centrist dems and repubs, with a majority of undecideds.

[I Have A Dream]

14. I honestly believe that a big part of the problem here is that Blanco...

didn't feel that she could trust the B* Administration. In my opinion, they've proven themselves to be untrustworthy in reference to dealing with Democrats. When there are feelings of mistrust, it's a no-win situation.

[Igel]

15. That could be.

I'm far from assigning blame: all I have are claims and counterclaims, with facts that don't clearly point to where the problem lies. Unless filtered through the right colored glasses, red or blue.

Mistrust works as well as most explanations for some of the problems.

[I Have A Dream]

16. It's nice to see that there are still some people who...

are able to be totally unbiased. You're one of a rare breed at this point. Kudos to you!

[chat_noir]

7. here's the text

Press Release
Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
Michigan, 14th District
Ranking Member,U.S. House Judiciary Committee
Dean, Congressional Black Caucus
www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/index.html
For Immediate Release: Contact: Dena Graziano
September 13, 2005 [phone]
Conyers Releases Non-Partisan
Congressional Research Service Report on Federal Response to
Hurricane Katrina:
Report Confirms that Louisiana Took Necessary and Timely Steps

Pursuant to a September 7 request by Representative John Conyers to review the law and legal accountability relating to Federal action in response to Hurricane Katrina, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report today about whether the Governor of Louisiana took the necessary and timely steps needed to secure disaster relief from the federal government. The report unequivocally concludes that she did.

Congressman Conyers issued the following statement:

“This report closes the book on the Bush Administration’s attempts to evade accountability by shifting the blame to the Governor of Louisiana for the Administration’s tragically sluggish response to Katrina. It confirms that the Governor did everything she could to secure relief for the people of Louisiana and the Bush Administration was caught napping at a critical time.”

In addition to finding that “...it would appear that the Governor did take the steps necessary to request emergency and major disaster declarations for the State of Louisiana in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina. (p.11)” The report found that:

• All necessary conditions for federal relief were met on August 28. Pursuant to Section 502 of the Stafford Act, “he declaration of an emergency by the President makes Federal emergency assistance available,” and the President made such a declaration on August 28. The public record indicates that several additional days passed before such assistance was actually made available to the
State;

• The Governor must make a timely request for such assistance, which meets the requirements of federal law. The report states that “xcept to the extent that an emergency involves primarily Federal interests, both declarations of major disaster and declarations of emergency must be triggered by a request to the President from the Governor of the affected state”;

• The Governor did indeed make such a request, which was both timely and in compliance with federal law. The report finds that “Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco requested by letter dated August 27, 2005...that the President declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period from August 26, 2005 and continuing pursuant to ” and “Governor Blanco’s August 27, 2005 request for an emergency declaration also included her determination...that ‘the incident is of such severity
and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of disaster.”

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Conyers ROCKS! n/t

[Window]

9. Kicked and

recommended.

Thank you for sharing.

Peace

[KittyWampus]

11. thanks.she did everything possible.