There is NO conspiracy regarding the disaster declarations

[Horse with no Name]

Please can we put this to rest. The disaster declarations were done CORRECTLY and there weren’t ANY parishes left out of the loop. To keep this in perspective, you must first look at the initial letter provided by Gov. Blanco
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf
It is a PDF file so I cannot cut and paste it. If someone can do that I would be grateful.

Then the Presidents response:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana
The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing. These are the primary counties that Gov. Blanco named as parishes to receive major damage and significant damage.
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. these are the counties that are listed to be secondarily affected.
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.
Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA [phone].

Then FEMA’s response: http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4786
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, today announced that Federal resources are being allocated to support emergency protective response efforts response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina.These are the parishes in the path of the hurricane.
Brown said President Bush authorized the aid under an emergency disaster declaration issued following a review of FEMA's analysis of the state's request for federal assistance. FEMA will mobilize equipment and resources necessary to protect public health and safety by assisting law enforcement with evacuations, establishing shelters, supporting emergency medical needs, meeting immediate lifesaving and life-sustaining human needs and protecting property, in addition to other emergency protective measures.
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 were designated eligible for assistance. In addition, federal funds will be available for public safety debris removal and emergency protective measures at 75 percent of approved costs.These are the secondarily affected parishes.
Brown named William Lokey of FEMA to coordinate the federal relief effort. FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

It is clearly indicated that the FIRST set (She actually names the parishes that will be directly affected, but the FEMA and Bush’s response refer to these as parishes in the path of the hurricane). In all three documents however, the secondary counties are listed specifically. All three documents follow the same format.
This isn’t a conspiracy. There weren’t any parishes left out—they were just referred to differently. The Stafford Act demands that these parishes be listed to be eligible for aid, even though they may or may not be damaged.
http://www.ohioema.org/robertt.htm

[Dogmudgeon]

1. The PDF isn't editable

In other words, you can't cut and paste it.

Why not? It's simply the scanned copies that have been turned into graphics and stuck in a PDF "container", like pasting copies into a scrapbook. There has been no conversion to text. It will have to be done by hand by a quick typist with an hour or two to spare.

They are public documents, and therefore may be freely copied without modification (modification may constitute fraud depending on the use the copies are put to).

Sorry 'bout that.

--p!

[Horse with no Name]

2. In other words

if it is possible..I don't know how to do it.;)

[Dogmudgeon]

4. If it was possible

I would have extracted the text and posted it within five minutes.

:)

--p!

[Land Shark]

6. if you have the full version of adobe acrobat (professional)

you should be able to convert it to processable format, unless it is affirmatively locked

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Conversion issues

1. Ghostscript and many other third-party and GPL programs ignore most or all of the locking features on PDF files. Converting locked files can occasionally be an annoyance, but can still usually be done. In a few cases, high-quality locking can't be undone, but those documents are rare. Even breast- and penis-enhancement documents aren't locked that tight. :)



2. You can process a document that, as I explained, is simply a series of graphics from scanned originals, but you need OCR (optical character recognition) software, and then you usually have to clean up the output anyway.
   
   PDFs of scanned images are the usual way that quickie documents are made, especially for people copying books and any document that predates the digital age.



3. The PDF has become the de facto standard for government documents (which is strange since PDF is proprietary). ODF -- Open Document Format -- is the up-and-coming standard, based on XML. ODF is currently used for OpenOffice documents.

--p!

[Beaver Tail]

24. It's not locked

It is a TIFF Image in a PDF Wrapper. You can tell by how blurred the image is that the document was actually scanned. YOu can run it through an OCR engine to get the text, which is what I am doing now.

[KerryOn]

23. The best I can do page 1- Give it time to load. n/t

[Beaver Tail]

25. PDF Text OCRed

Under the provisions of Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § § 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206-36, I request that you declare an expedited major disaster for the State of Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina, a Category V Hurricane approaches our coast south of New Orleans; beginning on August 28, 2005 and continuing. The affected areas include all the southeast parishes including the City of New Orleans directly impacted by the brunt of the storm and the mid state and northern parishes accepting the thousands of citizens forced to evacuate from the impacted areas directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Parishes expected to receive major damage based on the anticipated track of Hurricane Katrina are: Ascension. Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St Charles, St. James. St John, St Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonee, and Washington.

In addition we are expecting that the following parishes to suffer significant damage as tropical storm force wind and heavy rainfall occur in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall! Acadia, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St Helena, St. Mary, St. Martin, Vermilion, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.

Parishes that are affected by the evacuation of persons from the southeastern parishes of the state as we implement the Louisiana Shelter Operations Plan are: Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, Desoto, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle. Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, and Winn

In response to the situation, I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005, in accordance with Section 401 of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the costal areas and the remainder of the state to support the State Evacuation and Sheltering Plan.

A Preliminary Damage Assessment will be conducted as soon as possible after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Based on the predictions we have received from the National Weather Service and other sources. I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the State and the affected local governments`-and that supplementary Federal assistance will be necessary.

l arm specifically requesting:

Individual Assistance, including the Individual and Household Program (IHF), Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Crisis Counseling, Public Assistance (Category A -G funding at 100%), Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans and Direct Federal Assistance (DFA) funding at 100% for the following parishes: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.

To support the evacuation/sheltering effort, I am also requesting: Individual Assistance, including the Individual and Household Program (IHP), Crisis Counseling, and Public Assistance (Category B) for the following perishes: Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, Desoto, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, and Winn.

The State Hazard Mitigation Plan (SHMP) was approved by FEMA on April 15, 2005. We are requesting Hazard Mitigation for eligible applicants that have a FEMA Approved Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and the parishes that are approved within the application period for this disaster.

The following information is furnished on the nature and amount of State and local resources that have been or will be used to alleviate the conditions of this disaster

- Ten Special Needs and six General Population shelters have been opened in the affected parishes on 8/28/2005.

- Ascension and St, James Parishes have instituted precautionary evacuations.

- St. Charles, Jefferson (Grand Isle and Lafitte), Lafourche (outside of flood gates), Plaquemines, Orleans (portions) and Assumption Parishes have instituted mandatory evacuations.

- St. Bernard, Terrebonne (south of the Intracoastal Waterway), Orleans and St. John the Baptist Parishes have recommended evacuations

- Louisiana began contra-flowing traffic an I-10, I-55, I-59 and portions of I-20. Contra-flow will cease six hours prior to landfall

- Bridges, ferries and airports are expected to close when maximum sustained winds reach 39 mph.

- Department of Social Services (DSS) / ARC / Local: Open (48) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby

- Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH)/(DSS):Opening(8) Special Needs Shelters (SNS) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby

- LANG and the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters and field personnel and equipment.

- Louisiana State Police (LSP): Costs to support evacuations.

- Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Casts to support evacuations,

- Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD): Costs to support evacuations

Due to the extraordinary nature of this catastrophic hurricane and based on the anticipated damages in the impacted areas including the New Orleans Metropolitan region, I am requesting an increase of the Federal cost share from 75% to 100% for Individual Assistance, Public Assistance (All Categories} and Direct Federal Assistance. I certify that for this major disaster, the State and local governments will assume the applicable non-Federal share of costs required by the Stafford Act

I request direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and protect property.

(a) We do not anticipate State and local government resources to be able to accomplish the volume of debris removal anticipated for this disaster.
(b) We are requesting a direct debris removal mission assignment for Hurricane Katrina_

In accordance with 44 CFR § 206.208, the State of Louisiana agrees that it will with respect to direct Federal assistance:

1. Provide without cost to the United States all lands, easements and rights-of-ways necessary to accomplish the approved work;
2. Hold and save the United States free from damages due to the requested work, and shall indemnify the Federal Government against any claims arising from such work;
3. Provide reimbursement to FEMA for the non-Federal share of the cost of such work in accordance with the provisions of the FEMA-State Agreement; and
4, Assist the performing Federal agency in all support and local jurisdictional matters.

In addition, I anticipate the need for debris removal, which poses an immediate threat to lives, public health, and safety.
Pursuant to Sections 403 and 407 of flee Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5170b & 5173, the State agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the United States of America for any claims arising from the removal of debris or wreckage for this disaster. The State agrees that debris removal from public and private property will not occur until the landowner signs unconditional authorization for the removal of debris.

I have designated Mr. Arthur G. Jones as the State Coordinating Officer fur this request. He will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in damage assessment and may provide further information or justification on my behalf

[Beaver Tail]

26. DUPE

[Beaver Tail]

27. DUPE

[Horse with no Name]

3. I guess everyone wants to continue sending this misinformation

out there instead of acknowledging that they misread it.:shrug:

[Land Shark]

5. Nothing intentional. If in fact the * response is that ALL parishes were

part of the August 27 declaration of emergency by the White House, then it shows that the feds were in charge of ALL even before the hurricane hit. Doesn't it?

[Igel]

7. Which means nobody else was in charge of anything.

If you meant that "the feds were **solely** in charge of ALL ...", it's a false claim.

If you meant that "the feds were **among others** in charge of ALL ..." it's true enough, but it makes assigning blame a bear.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. The Feds are the RESPONSIBLE party

The way FEMA and Homeland Security are organized -- and under a series of public laws -- the responsibility lies with the Federal organizations. This means that pResident Bush was responsible for their oversight.

Assigning blame is simple. George W. Bush is the chief executive, and is therefore responsible, both implicitly (under the Constitution) and explicitly (under the public laws establishing Federal emergency intervention).

They won't quibble over this too much, because any Federal action at law would jeopardize their power. I am convinced this is why they are putting so much effort into the public relations campaign. They need to win before it becomes a dispute at law.

--p!

[mod mom]

19. Is that your legal interpretation? BTW, Landshark did you get a chance to

read that EXCELLENT post "The Buck Stops Here" by Georgia10 on the US National Disaster Plan? If not, I highly suggest it. Search is down or else I'd link it to you.

Sorry, rushing has caused me to spell like a freeper.

[onenote]

8. problem with your analysis

The "initial letter" from Gov. Blanco that you cite is actually her second letter. Its dated Aug 28. Her first letter was dated Aug 27. That letter didn't list specific parishes. The White House declaration which followed did list Parishes, and got them wrong. Also your use of highlighting is (unintentionally I assume) very misleading. In your restatement of the FEMA release, the statement at the top of the release in red is from the release and the words that follow in blue are your editorial comment. But later in the release you put the words of the release (the list of parishes) in blue and use red for your editorial comment.

In any event, I don't see any conspiracy on the administration's part. I do see more evidence of incompetence.

onenote

[Horse with no Name]

12. It doesn't matter if it was the first or 2nd

It clearly states what the deal is--as far as the blue/red...didn't realize it, sorry.
This is just getting blown wayyyyyyyyyyyy out of proportion in this forum because people are reading it incorrectly.

[applegrove]

11. At this point the Repukes are desperate for us to pick up conspiracy

theories. To their chagrin, we were not traumatized so we can think on our feet and be discerning. We have no excuse for buying a conspiracy theory. The horror is out there and laid bare.

Will not work Mr. Rove.

Only the traumatized (like 9/11, Kerry loss) search for some alternate reality in the denial phase.

We are not traumatized. It is the people of NO & area that are. We will not fall for it. We are not in a grieving & shock process. You'll have to find victims elsewhere to exploit & isolate.

Back to the facts on Katrina & Federal response.

[Land Shark]

13. exactly, no reason to speculate as to the WHY of gross failure

it only invites FEMA to prove the particular WHY wrong or unproven as a way to claim that the entire critique of FEMA is incorrect.

why shift the burden of proof to yourself by speculating on the why?

that being said, I've re-read Horse with no names post and I see how she gets the primary/secondary distinction but it doesn't seem to be a clearly necessary reading of the text of the Aug 27 White House emergency document nor is it the most plausible reading of the same. It is POSSIBLE, however, to interpret it that way by assuming some definitional items.

However, just because it's POSSIBLE to construe the Aug 27 document so as to save the president embarrassment or more, doesn't mean that it IS or MUST BE that way, IMO.

[Land Shark]

14. Note how a FEMA person could read the decl of emergency and

easily conclude that they are NOT authorized to assist in a parish NOT listed in the declaration of emergency.

this is a legal document, and is supposed to be carefully drafted. why is it so ambiguous? i don't know.

[Horse with no Name]

17. You need to read

The Stafford Act Title V. to put it all together.
(this is from an Ohio website but it is a federal law--so there aren't any changes.)
http://www.ohioema.org/robertt.htm

[Land Shark]

21. Like I said, a COURT OF LAW could construe the docs as you say

but these emergency declarations are used ON THE FLY using short term quick decisions, and if a FEMA official "misinterprets" the document by relying on its PLAIN MEANING on the surface and fails to incorporate the Stafford Title V context you advocate, it sure would be UNDERSTANDABLE, wouldn't it?

Like I said, it is at least VERY POOR drafting. Several possible meanings. Not good in emergency situations to have ambiguity requiring reference to a law library or the internet.

[Horse with no Name]

22. That I will agree with

These could have been drafted more clearly, especially since they had incompetents running the show.

[incapsulated]

15. Kick because these threads are always ignored

For more sensationalist theories.

There is plenty of blame to lay at their feet without that.

[goodhue]

16. kick

Because the message still hasn't gotten thru to all.

[goodhue]

18. again

[goodhue]

20. again