New Orleans, the Red Cross, ground rules and the other post

Ok folks, since I locked comments there, I'm going to make one posting here in the main blog and do something I don't usually do - explain the whys and wherefores of this, along with further documentation.

First, what should be obvious ground rules. Comments are just that - comments. If you resort to circular reasoning, or cite sources that end up contradicting your point and then go on a posting rant that is clearly designed to shout down rather than debate, I'm going to cut it off. Blogger permits everyone to start their own blog, so if you want to play the game of trying to obliterate by sheer volume - do it there and set your own rules.

Second, name-calling won't fly around here. I will be merciless about deleting name-calling. Commentary that offers open, thoughtful debate is fine. That which calls names is not.

Third, Blogger doesn't allow me to edit comments. I can allow or deny them, and I can remove them, but I can't edit for content. Therefore, my options for dealing with name-calling or other clear evidence of obstructionism are limited - but they're not non-existent, and I will use them.

Ok, now on to the substance of the complaints by one of the commentators on my original NO "starving" post...

1. "Fox isn't news - but CNN is (citing a CNN source)." Ignoring the obvious and blatent snobbery of such a position, there's a more poignant issue in this particular case. Major Garrett's resume includes investigative reporting as an employee of CNN (all the way to 2001 as a White House correspondant), and he was a senior editor for US News and World Report - both very much left-leaning news organizations. Therefore, if you wish to attach Major Garrett's reporting, you must first establish what makes it different now - since he has a long and distinguished resume, most of which comes in his work with liberal-slanting media!

2. "The Red Cross couldn't have done it - it wasn't safe." Uh, no. First, it was Marty Evans (the head of the American Red Cross) on Bill O'Reilly's show who first made the charge - live, on camera. She said in her introductory comments that they were ready and it was safe in her view at the time they made the requests, and the State refused to allow them access. I saw this interview LIVE, and no amount of bluster or bull changes the tone or words that she spoke. Major Garrett was handed a piece to go do the background work on by that interview, and he did. It is not relavent what Marty Evans said two days before, or three, or five. She is entitled to reassess given developments as they occur, and she did. I saw the actual interview, live. Apparently those who took cheap shots did not (since they don't consider anything on Fox to be "news", and thus won't watch it.)

3. "Local authorities does not (necessarily) refer to the Mayor and Governor's offices." Uh, yes it does, unless the guard have been federalized and/or the local authorities turn over coordination, command and control to the federal government. Absent use of an obscure law relating to insurrection (which has never been used in a disaster situation) the federal government cannot assume control unilaterally. The fact is that Lousiana refused multiple requests to hand over command and control authority to the federal government, and that SOLE control of state resources is under the control of the Governor unless he or she cedes it to the feds. The buck in this case stops at Governor Blanco's office. This has been widely reported - including by CNN.

4. President Bush did make a federal disaster declaration two days prior to landfall (Saturday.) This is historical fact. There are rumors that it was done because he could not get the Lousiana Governor's office nor the Mayor's office interested in activating their evacuation plans; pressure to do so was apparently applied starting on Friday. My original source for this? The Associated Press, Fox, CNN, and local news media (television) which I was watching at the time. Claims that he "did not" are false. Here's from the AP's newswire...

Posted on Sat, Aug. 27, 2005

Bush declares emergency in Louisiana

Associated Press

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on Saturday because of the approach of Hurricane Katrina and his spokesman urged residents along the coast to heed authorities' advice to evacuate.

5. Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center was calling everyone in both the city and state governments he had a phone number for on Saturday. This is also a historical fact. They STILL didn't take this storm seriously. As far as I know, Mr. Mayfield has never done this before - for any hurricane. He hasn't had to, as local officials have done their jobs in previous storms. This one was different. There are dozens of people who got those calls, some of whom have been talking on-camera to the media.

6. The storm was predicted to hit New Orleans as early as Friday. By 8:30 PM Friday every major computer model had bracketed New Orleans for a direct strike. I still have saved computer model graphics for anyone who claims otherwise. Katrina, while still not the monster that she would become, was in a rapidly-intensifying environment with a strong anyi-cyclone over her and was "exploding" in intensity, with pressure falls occuring at a near-record rate. I have a solid, indelible record on a local fishing forum that documents my thought process on where this beast was going - and more importantly, my wood went up Friday morning at my home. I don't board up for something "little" - its a fair bit of work. I was personally watching this storm literally on an hour-by-hour basis from all angles - the NHC advisories, a major MET blog that I follow closely during hurricane season, GOES satellite imagery in visible, IR and water vapor forms, and, when available, weather radar. This was NOT a storm that I had a "passing interest" in, as I was very concerned that it might come HERE, and had it done so, my home would have been destroyed with certainty. As such I was preparing to evacuate myself and my family if necessary! Armchair quarterbacking from halfway across the country by those who were tangentally watching reports on CNN simply doesn't cut it in terms of actual knowledge of what this storm was doing and when it was doing it.

7. New Orleans own disaster plans call for them to use the city buses to evacuate those residents who cannot do so on their own. Cite from their own disaster plan:

"The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed.

Slow developing weather conditions (primarily hurricane) will create increased readiness culminating in an evacuation order 24 hours (12 daylight hours) prior to predicted landfall. Disabled vehicles and debris will be removed from highways so as not to impede evacuation. In local evacuations involving more than fifty (50) families (i.e. 50 single dwelling units), staging areas may be established at the closest available public area outside the threatened area. Upon arrival at the staging area, evacuees will be directed to the appropriate shelter facility. Evacuees will be encouraged to stay with friends or relatives in non-threatened areas whenever possible. Security measures will be employed to protect the evacuated area(s) in accordance with established procedures and situations."
(Cite: City of New Orleans Emergency Preparedness)

Here are some of the buses they could have used to evacuate those people - the people their own plan said they would evacuate to beyond the threatened area:



They are all destroyed, of course. Over 500 of them, which, at a capacity of 60 persons per bus (approximately accurate) accounts for 30,000 persons - per run. It is without argument that they could have made ONE run inland, and, had evacuation been called on Friday instead of Sunday, they could have made three or more trips to Baton Rouge. That would have accounted for approximately 100,000 people - that is, all of those residents unable to evacuate themselves.

In addition, there were no additional personnel recruited, no special arrangements were made for those unable to self-evacuate using personal conveyances (including for those poor folks in that nursing home found dead post-storm), no staging areas were set up outside of the threatened area (the Superdome was INSIDE the threatened area and thus inelegible!) and next to ZERO security was provided for those people.

That is what the disaster plan called for, and what the Mayor refused to implement!

Finally, I live on the Gulf Coast. Those who wish to throw stones about what is going on with a particular hurricane that is forecasted to, or does, hit the Gulf Coast might want to consider that when they are commenting from Michigan they've got a small problem with their level of knowledge, compared to someone who actually had wood up and was watching the water rise in his back yard.

PS: I'm not going to say it again - off-topic or rhetorical attacks will simply be removed, since I can't edit comments for content. This means that if you do that, your comment will be poofed even if other material that is germane is contained within it. If you want to debate the points on the table, then do so. If you're looking to launch some "vast right-wing conspiracy" argument, blogspot is indeed the place - under your own identity. Thanks.