Brown Blames La. Governor, N.O. Mayor By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Former FEMA director Michael Brown aggressively defended his role in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday and put much of the blame for coordination failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. "I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences, and work together," he told a congressional panel. "I just couldn't pull that off." Brown, who for many became a symbol of government failures in the natural disaster that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, rejected accusations that he was too inexperienced for the job. "I've overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it," Brown said. Brown testified before a special congressional committee set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the government's handling of one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the Gulf Coast. Democrats, who want an independent investigation not under the control of majority Republicans, largely boycotted the hearing. "At the end of the day, I suspect that we'll find that government at all levels failed the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and the Gulf Coast," said committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va. Brown resigned as the head of FEMA earlier this month after being removed by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff from responsibility in the stricken areas. "The people of FEMA are being tired of being beat up, and they don't deserve it," he said. In part of his testimony, Brown pumped his hand up and down for emphasis. "My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," he said. The storm plowed into the Gulf Coast on Monday morning. Davis pushed Brown on what he and the agency he led should have done to evacuate New Orleans, restore order in the city and improve communication among law enforcement agencies. Brown said: "Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn't evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications."
Brown is correct. The LA Governor and NO Mayor are the ones largely responsible for the events that transpired down there and should be held accountable.
Personaly I figure the folks who refused to take care of thier own shiet and make at least basic preperations like haveing a little food and water on hand along with any needed medicationsare most responsible, but thats just me. I figure the government is already to involved in every bodys lives, the folks had advanced warning and opritunity to take care of themselves, those who did (which was advised by the government) may have lost thier homes and belongings but had no drama from the way the government handled things was realy suffered, the only ones impacted by it (until the gun grabs started) were those who refused to do what was sugested in advance includeing the plan B that if they could not or would not leave as sugested ahead of time then stock up on the things they would need to provide for themselves. Just my take on it.
Finger pointing is an ugly thing..... Each person, agency or branch of local, state and federal government within their area of responsibility to repond to that disaster before, during and after the storms has to answer for what they did and did not do as far as I'm concerned..... but they won't... they'll point the finger the other way..... hope they get through this quickly and find better solutions before the next storm hits....
It's as simple as the Mayor and the Governor never forsaw the fact that the lake levy would break and flood the city. The leavy broke on the north side of town because a hurricane turns counter clockwise, so since the hurricane passed east, that means the wind came from the north. The reason the mayor sent everyone to the superdome and parked the buses a few blocks away is because he thought that as soon as the hurricane was over, he was going to use those same buses to ship everyone back home and quickly claim victory over the hurricane. Ooops, God had other plans and they were all caught with their pants down!
Makes sense, from watching the thing unfold, he looked indecisive. Turns out, his one decision was a horrible blunder, and he couldn't adapt to the changing situation.
Snipper, I have a good friend who was a Judge in NOLA for 20 some years. Before Katrina hit, he was telling me about some of the things a friend on the Levy Board shared with him. They knew that it was only a matter of time and hadn't done a whole hell of a lot about it. I agree Bear, The finger pointing and political Hot Potato game has just begun. The sued will countersue, etc
I can't really point to many fingers at the levy system of NO, we have a levy here that the pumps haven't been maintained for 40 years. After the last flood, they decided to panic and our water bills jumped almost double. No explaination, just doubled. So, when everyone was outraged and demanded an answer, Here is what they said. Now, you are responsibile for storm water drain off. They calculate the square footage of concrete on your property and then they calculate the amount of rain we get a year and now you pay a fee for that amount of water. Don't even throw up the issue that they then suck the water back out of the river to make our drinking water! Now we pay the city for the water that I provide them so they can sell it back to me as drinking water!!!!!! I hate $&%@&)% politicians, they always have an answer to squeeze money out of you~
Problem with that.... in Washington State.... they tax you if you have a catchment system.... can you believe that.... They found a way to tax rain... sheesh! This whole thing stinks to me.... I have a little one and we watch PBSkids at times during the day and evening... all of a sudden there's this message that at 6pm Sept 30.... there will be no more programming.... heard some Senator say as part of the cuts they could cut the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.... anyone one here like PBS.... well its going going gone.... my daughter's take on it.... "why do they have to affect the kids... why don't they pick on the grown ups first".... sheeesh.... that was a little hard to explain without using "colorful" language.... Hope they move as fast on other budget cuts as well..... my little girl is right..... pick on the grown ups first!!!!!.... oh wait... their are no grown ups in government.... this fingerpointing is going to cost more money... waste more time... Someone screws up.... you fire them.... you don't ask them why do they think they screwed up.... duh.... of course their going to point fingers.... Don't talk about it.... Just fix it.... just do it.... or get the hell out the way and let someone else fix it.... oh by the way.... 90% of you are fired for screwing up so bad.... Phew!..... sorry.... just needed to get that off my back.... tired of these incompetent bureaucrats huffing and puffing and blowing smoke and mirrors up our anal pores..... Rant off.....
That just ain't right, but then has the guberment done anything right recently? MLGW (Memphis Light, Gas and Water) has annouced a 70% increase in nat gas cost, oh joy. Funny thing is that in Jan of this past year I went on a their "smart pay" system. Where they took and averaged out my last 12 months of bills and then I pay one flat rate each month. Funny thing, just BEFORE they annouced the NG increase my "smart pay" jumped almost $50.00 a month. Hmmm, I smells a rat some where. Oh yeah, and I do believe that MLGW is not a private company, but owned by the city, run by the city. So we know that works. Mayor Slick Willie (MSW) "Our budget is a bit tight, better increase some rates at MLGW so we can get more drug, er budget money" I can't wait to move out of this God foresaken city and county. Ryan
It doesn't matter, you are taxed no matter if you catch every last drop or if you let it all go into the street. They don't care, it is just a way to get money out of you for years of neglect on the ejector pumps.
