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Just How Hard Could It Be?
On Friday before the storm came ashore, a Presidential directive put Secretary Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security in charge of preparations and the recovery program. At least someone was supposedly in charge.
We expected that plans and supplies were in place to satisfy the basic needs.
Why did it take so long to satisfy these needs in New Orleans?
Were supplies not provided? Was money not available? Did leadership fail to act? Were there no plans?
Americans died because our government failed to do what it was obligated to do.
"Who are we if we can't take care of our own?" - Maureen Dowd.
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Jimbonita-
thanks for the quote without attribution.
The bigger issues here have been the movement on the Federal side to criminalize survival behavior during disasters. FEMA has been reduced to another police force, whose only intention is to protect property from those trying to survive.
This is the classic move of the right- gut the most visible agency and when it fails at it's task, blame "government" for not being the solution.
Like I commented to Ms. Kayyam's post about her approval of the "shoot to kill" orders in place-
Notrol
September 6, 2005 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with the word facist to describe our current government. The first time I heard it, I was marching against the war in Washington, DC around the same time Busch was on the carrier declaring victory. It was a small group, and no media coverage, so the police felt free to come out and club the students just for marching. I happened to walking with an elderly waman who was an attorney in Virginia. She told me at that time that our government was a facist government patterned after Mousallini's form of facism, which is a union of large government and large corporations.
Clubbing student protestors, torturing and murdering people in foreign wars that they started, and leaving poor black people to their own means in a disaster. Then Bush has the nerve to say "lets pray together".
Pat Foster
September 6, 2005 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Notrol,
Thanks for the inspiration. Sorry for the lack of attribution to your list. [I did add earthquakes! ;-) .] I thought your list was so good that I made it into this letter to the editor of the local paper.
I don't know that you aren't a rocket scientiist. I have some experience with those types.
And, yes, we were expecting the FEMA of Clinton and James Lee Witt. Rather we got a Brown and a Chertoff thrown into the result. This is not the time for just lawyers to be in charge of something as important as anIncident of National Significance.
September 6, 2005 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jimbonita-
No offense taken. I am honored that you included it in the letter to the editor. ;<)
I am not a rocket scientist, and have had to defend myself from being called an "egghead"!
To mpfoster: The lady was correct. The only reason that you have not heard the term more frequently as descriptor of what the Republicans have been doing to the government agencies is because of the connection with the term "Nazi" (implying holocaust).
When you look at Mussolini's treatise on the corporatization of the state, there were some valid points. Corporations could do things faster than many civil services at that point in time- they were not hampered with the appointment of incompetant people through political patronage- therefore they could make the trains run on time. The only problem with corporatization of the state is that the state then becomes the enforcer of corporate doctrine and corporate greed. The term "fascist" was coined to represent Mussolini's treatise, but there have been many countries that have experimented with it. Here is an excellent link that provides descriptors of Fascism in government and examples...see how many you think apply today....
In my view, FEMA's failure is not about New Orleans. It's all about us, and what we can and should be able to expect from our government. The outrage that is reverberating across the country is that finally the republican code words are being deciphered. That's why Bush seems at such a loss..he has a clear conscience - in his mind we all knew what we were getting, so what's the big deal?
September 6, 2005 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
As someone who has organized her share of horse shows I can tell you that I am really offended by the remarks about FEMA head, Brown. I'll just bet he never had anything to do with the work of organizing ANYTHING, and people who had been doing it for years just carried his water when he got THAT sinecure.
I would also bet you that any horse expert could have done a better job at helping those people out of harm's way than this guy! So please, if you want to put him down, just remember that before he fooled around with horses he was an estate lawyer (the kind job the Bush administration wants to make moot!)
September 6, 2005 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
CVille Dem,
You're probably right. Someone who could organize a horseshow probably could do a better job. I'm not sure he had much to do with organizing shows. Remember Brown was fired from that job.
I have thought for some time that Brown had become just a convenient scapegoat to be thrown to the wolves when the time got right. I've been trying to make sure that everyone knows that the National Response Plan clearly put Chertoff in charge.
The significance of this has largely been overlooked in the media. Tim Russert on Sunday waved a copy of one of the related directives. I found out on reviewing the transcript of MTP that he had introduced Chertoff as follows: MR. RUSSERT: "Now, let's turn to Hurricane Katrina. Joining us is the man in charge of the federal response to the disaster, the director of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff." [emphasis mine]
At least someone in Russert's staff had done some homework. The bureaucracy's procedures, directives, policies, and plans can always bring them to their knees. There's always something there they failed to do.
September 6, 2005 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You and I look for verbal cues and believe that they make a difference, as they should. Unfortunately, most people just gloss over all of that and listen out for an inkling they can hang their hats on to prove they were right in the first place.
OK, I may be guilty of that too, but dammmmmit, I AM right!
September 6, 2005 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink