That's it? Adjourned? No more FEMA hearings??????

[Stinky The Clown]

Holy Joe just banged the gavel and called it adjourned. We heard from Michael of Arabia, and two former generals who now work for DHS. Michael of Arabia gave some good slams to Chertoff and, by extension, the illegal cabal.

The generals felated the boss in public and tried to de-nut Brownie.

And that's it?

This is the same format the media use. No matter what you have to say, so long as there is a harpie or shrew to rebut you, its fair and balanced.

Fuck this!

What a sham.

[Greeby]

1. Two more on the subject next week

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/b_three_sections_with_teasers/committee_hearings.htm

Monday, Feb. 13, 2006
10 a.m.
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
To resume hearings to examine Hurricane Katrina
response issues, focusing on waste, fraud, and
abuse during the disaster.
SD-342

Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006

10 a.m.
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
To continue hearings to examine Hurricane Katrina
response issues, focusing on the Homeland
Security Department's preparation and response.
SD-342

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Oh .... okay ..... whew!

I would have been VERY pissed if todays is all there was gunna be.

[reformedrepub]

3. Watch Brown

Brown is being set up as fall guy here, look at the line of Coleman's questioning. Brown came off today as a sympathetic figure. I have worked in Emergency Management for a looooong time, the most telling part of this hearing for me today is when Brown said he was ORDERED by Chertoff to stay in Baton Rouge, and not travel into the field in order to figure out what the situation is. The first rule of emergency management, besides keep your decision makers safe, is know what is going on and where it is going on. If Brown was stuck in Baton Rouge, instead being able to travel to NO and find out what was up there, that is HUGE reason why things went the way they did. You have to remember there was very little official communications coming out of New Orleans. The police force had been decimated with desertions, the Fire Dept had to evac out of their houses, Nagin and Blanco apparently were overwhelmed. You cant get things were you need them, if you dont know where you need them. FEMA had one guy on the ground in NO, and he was at the Superdome. The convention center was NOT designated as a shelter and people went there anyway, no one knew they were there until the news media got there. There were reports of gun battles, looting etc..If I am an EMS supervisor, Im not sending my people in there and getting more casualties out of first responders. This was a compete breakdown on all levels, local, state and federal. This was an absolute disgrace. The buck stops with Chertoff and Bush.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Coleman .........

I was thinking exactly that. Why was Norm-The-Cabal-Water-Boy carrying on so hard against Brownie? Every other Senator was, at the very least, civil. Coleman is their Senatorial Luca Brazza. A big, dumb-fuck attack dog. An empty suit with a loud bark. I just KNEW when he went after Brown as hard as he did, that was the plan. I had speculated they would throw Brown over the side. Coleman's performance today confirmed it.

[sandnsea]

5. The reformation ain't complete

Wowser. Just completely ignore the fact that Bush was trying to take over the state in order to embarrass the Democrats, just buy right into that Nagin & Blanco being overwhelmed bullshit. If FEMA had done what they asked and put politics aside, none of the rest of your post would have happened. Specifically the lies about gun fire and chaos. If they'd sent in National Guard from various states immediately, the way Blanco asked for, we'd have had an entirely different outcome. Bottom line, the Bushies were more interested in partisan politics and the politics of charity and privatization. They don't believe in government responding to local "social" problems so there was no government response. That's what happened. The buck stops with Bush, and his failed Republican policies.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Self delete

..... never mind ... I misuderstanded yoo.

[reformedrepub]

7. There is plenty of blame here....

Bush has the majority of it, but you cannot completely give Nagin and Blanco a pass. In any major disaster, the first critical hours are the responsibility of the state/local authorities. Nagin and Blanco were in a bad spot, not really of their own doing. There were almost no law enforcement officers on the ground, due to the desertions. The NOFD had to relocate outside of the city, which meant no immediate rescues could take place, and the Guard was not there, probably most of them were in Iraq, (where they dont belong). Unless you had all the resources in place before the storm, (and remember the media were doing stories from the French quarter showing people drinking and partying, because the thought Katrina had missed New Orleans) the first few days were going to be bad no matter what. Roads and bridges leading into the city were flooded or destroyed, meaning no outside help could get in there until some of the water had receded. The airport was damaged and air assets need someplace to land and some sort of air traffic control, without it, it will make matters worse. There was very little official comms coming out of NO due to the reasons stated above. Simply put, it was a total breakdown of government in all areas not just FEMA. That said Bush should have done alot more to make sure it didnt turn out the way it did....