They Really Dropped the Ball..

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Rumour has it and I do underscore rumour, that President Bush in a private meeting with Governor Blanco tried to get her to sign a document taking some of the responsiblity off of FEMA, Homeland Security and himself. Reportedly, she refused to sign. As soon as I have more concrete information on this, you can bet your bippy I will post it.

CONFIRMATION from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090301680.html

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.

"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."

Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.


Click the link for the full article.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Go to cnn.com for video of Sean Penn and Douglas Brinkley's take on what they saw:

I agree with them in the sense that if you have a shallow bottom boat and are willing and know what the hell you are doing go and volunteer.

Having said that, many have done just that and the autorities in the area like the Coast Guard are going a great job and are to be commended. There are just not enough of them and people are dying as a result.

Poor Sean Penn, the man means well and he's one helluva man, but he didn't plug his boat before he went on his rescue mission.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Goldie - is this what you were talking about? - from www.wdsu.com

Nearly 70 Percent of Gulf Oil Production Still Shut In

POSTED: 2:01 pm CDT September 5, 2005
UPDATED: 2:15 pm CDT September 5, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Nearly 70 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's normal daily oil production is still blocked from market Monday because of offshore platform evacuations forced by Hurricane Katrina.

The United States Minerals Management Service said that 228 of the 819 staffed production platforms in the Gulf are shut down, delaying production of one million barrels of oil, or 69.6 percent of the region's normal daily production of 1.5 million barrels.

On August 30, the day after Katrina hit, 95 percent of the Gulf's normal daily production was shut down. Since Katrina first threatened Gulf platforms, 12 million barrels of oil and 64.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas have been delayed from reaching market.

Katrina marks the fourth time that Gulf production has been interrupted since the hurricane season began.

No, I specifically heard missing. Appears to be just another rumour at this point.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Rumour has it and I do underscore rumour, that President Bush in a private meeting with Governor Blanco tried to get her to sign a document taking some of the responsiblity off of FEMA, Homeland Security and himself. Reportedly, she refused to sign. As soon as I have more concrete information on this, you can bet your bippy I will post it.

They've been supposedly trying to get her to sign such a document for days. They also wanted to her sign a document that would give total control to the federal government and allow them to declare marshal law, which she refused to sign.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

They've been supposedly trying to get her to sign such a document for days. They also wanted to her sign a document that would give total control to the federal government and allow them to declare marshal law, which she refused to sign.

It also gives them control over the oil in a roundabout way. Isn't it convenient of them always to wind up in control of oil. Think about it.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

. . .

"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana. . . ."

Then why bother to get her to sign the document?

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

Poor Sean Penn, the man means well and he's one helluva man, but he didn't plug his boat before he went on his rescue mission.

Bless his giving heart

that is why I mentioned that the people should volunteer only if they know a little bit about what the hell they are doing

[amber]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Then why bother to get her to sign the document?

You know the White House loves itself some Martial Law and total control...Maybe I'm paranoid, but I can only infer nefarious reasons for the gov't to want that signed.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Bless his giving heart

that is why I mentioned that the people should volunteer only if they know a little bit about what the hell they are doing

Macy Gray flew herself from LA to Houston to volunteer at the Astrodome. I thought that was lovely.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by amber

You know the White House loves itself some Martial Law and total control...Maybe I'm paranoid, but I can only infer nefarious reasons for the gov't to want that signed.

I remember hearing FEMA or some Fed. declared martial law. I specifically remember hearing that because they mentioned it was the first time since Pearl Harbor. But, maybe I am wrong as a whole bunch of stuff has been misreported in recent days.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by amber

You know the White House loves itself some Martial Law and total control...Maybe I'm paranoid, but I can only infer nefarious reasons for the gov't to want that signed.

Besides for oil reasons, I think they also wanted her to sign so that they could save face and protect their own asses. That way they could wave that document in front of the American public and say "This is why we weren't there earlier, she only just gave us control and now look at how lovely we are for getting these people out." Bastards.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

Besides for oil reasons, I think they also wanted her to sign so that they could save face and protect their own asses. That way they could wave that document in front of the American public and say "This is why we weren't there earlier, she only just gave us control and now look at how lovely we are for getting these people out." Bastards.

and she could wave the ones I posted before and can be found in those links I posted earlier. Plus, FEMA has been saying they were in charge and at the direction of the Pres. since like Tuesday and maybe before. So, good luck with this latest effort Rove.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

and she could wave the ones I posted before and can be found in those links I posted earlier. Plus, FEMA has been saying they were in charge and at the direction of the Pres. since like Tuesday and maybe before. So, good luck with this latest effort Rove.

Well, if the polls are any indication, Rove has a shot at succeeding with his latest dastardly maneuver.

[amber]

Originally Posted by dissention

Besides for oil reasons, I think they also wanted her to sign so that they could save face and protect their own asses. That way they could wave that document in front of the American public and say "This is why we weren't there earlier, she only just gave us control and now look at how lovely we are for getting these people out." Bastards.

Oh, good, I'm not paranoid. I thought of additional reasons as well. None of them good.
Good for her -

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by amber

Oh, good, I'm not paranoid. I thought of additional reasons as well. None of them good.
Good for her -

Do not let her meek appearance fool you. Her political career suggests she is one savy woman.