DEFENDING BLANCO and the Mayor: A Katrina Timeline

[Nikki Stone 1]

This should be the NEXT DU activist action:

The Democratic governor and the mayor are being prepared as scapegoats for the Katrina debacle, and I am just livid. Junior's failures will be heaped on them in this faux Congressional hearings.

To help and defend them, I suggest the creation of a Katrina timeline on DU. We can start with the pre-Katrina requests for troops, document Gov. Blanco's request for troops after the storm, document when the levees broke (MONDAY NIGHT), and the arrival of the forms (forms!) from Washington to request the National Guard (THURSDAY!).

We need posts with each event and a link to the article or DU thread (in the case of TV/radio reports) that documents it.

Once the timeline is properly made WITH documentation, we can email it to EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS--especially those on this committee.

We can also email it to newspapers, media outlets, and to the Governor and Mayor themselves as they prepare to defend themselves in front of the Neocon onslaught.

It's a big project, but we could actually affect the outcome of this thing and make sure that our elected reps. can't--in good conscience--ignore the truth.

Nikki

[blitzburgh55]

1. Blanco's Request for Disaster Relief

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

and

Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

[gemlake]

2. six weeks ago

Six weeks ago the London-based Benfield Hazard Research Centre told the US to expect 200 per cent more hurricane activity this summer and demanded 'vigilance on the part of the government'.

Precisely a month ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told US authorities that the Atlantic coast should be braced for one of the most ferocious hurricane seasons on record. Meteorologists briefed government officials that it was imperative 'hurricane-vulnerable communities have a hurricane preparedness plan in place'.

They predicted a 100 per cent chance of above-normal hurricane activity. Scientists had noticed something unusual in the distant waters off the west coast of Africa. Sea temperatures off Ghana were at an historical high, significantly above the 27C required to form a hurricane.

two weeks ago Katrina forms

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1562298,00.html

[Blue Dawg]

3. Agree about Blanco…

She’s been doing the best she can in a terrible situation and Mary Landrieu has been excellent (Vitter? Who the hell?)… both have been doing everything they can and articulating a similar message that all about getting help to the area and conveying just how terrible the situation is. Kudos to both… excellent all round, especially Landrieu.

As for Mayor Nagin, he’s been far from effective; he seems to just be interesting in blaming others while he himself let nearly 2-300 school busses as well as other public transport vehicles that could have been used to get the poor out of the city simply stay parked up and rust, what’s more his direction of the manning and maintenance of the flood defences, entirely the Mayor’s responsibility, was lacklusta to say the best.

Overall I think the federal government could have done more, much more, in that we could have been prepared for this, but on top of this failure at the national level was the failure of Nagin at the local level, both have been lacklusta and ineffective, what I will say for the Federal government is at least they seem to be getting their act together now, all Nagin seems to be doing to blaming anyone but himself.

As I’ve said Landrieu has been superb, and despite not having any liking for him poltically Barbour has done nearly as well and the same goes for Blanco who between the failure of the Department for Homeland Security and the Mayor of New Orleans is doing pretty well.

I’d also like to say that this is not a political issues… it is not about people with D next to their name being better than those with R, its about people actually helping other people…

I’ll say this though the Department for Homeland Security under a Republican Administration has been found wanting as has the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans, at the same time the Democratic senior Senator and the Democratic Governor of Louisiana have done all they can and in the case of Landrieu more and the same goes for Barbour who’s a lousy governor, but is for once doing the right thing and that is the only thing that matters at times like this doing the right thing (!)

[snot]

4. Here's some info I preserved:

Bush Admin Sought Control Over Nat’l Guard, Normally Under Control of Governor:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1750979
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html
WP, A01: White House Shifts Blame
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. 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 had sought control over National Guard units, normally under control of the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request, noting that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. State authorities 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 is an adviser and does not have the authority to speak publicly.

Links to posts to the effect that numerous states had offered their N.G. before Katrina hit and Blanco had accepted, but that no one could move until the feds had provided the required paperwork or order, which in at least some cases did not materialize until Thursday; see, e.g., http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1749337
See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2057771 ; http://news..yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard> ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4610280 ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2058654 ; http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4605183&mesg_id=4605183

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard..php?az=view_all&address=104x4628409 <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4628409>
FEMA crippling communications???

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16475033%255E2703,00.html

Inside Sheriff Lee, of Jefferson parish in New Orleans, is sitting at a table, fuming. He is doing his best to alleviate the biggest catastrophe he will ever witness, but lacks even the most basic of resources. He cannot communicate with his own officers -- his officers can barely communicate with each other -- because the overloaded radio frequency keeps jamming.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m15382&l=i&size=1&hd=0

"We can now report that the jamming of New Orleans' communications is emanating from a pirate radio station in the Caribbean," explains Madsen. "The noise is continuous and it is jamming frequencies, including emergency high frequency (HF) radios, in the New Orleans area. The radio frequency jammers were heard last night, stopped for a while, and are active again today.... However, we now have a new unconfirmed report that the culprit may be the Pentagon itself. The emitter is an IF (Intermediate Frequency) jammer that is operating south southwest of New Orleans on board a U.S. Navy ship, according to an anonymous source. The jamming is cross-spectrum and interfering with superheterodyne receiver components, including the emergency radios being used in New Orleans relief efforts.... A Vancouver, British Columbia Urban Search & Rescue Team deployed to New Orleans reported that their satellite phones were not working and they had to obtain other satellite phones to keep in touch with their headquarters and other emergency agencies in British Columbia." There are also rumors spreading on forums and blogs that troops are confiscating and destroying civilian cameras. Graphic photos are however surfacing on the internet, once again trumping the corporate media, handmaiden to Bushian crimes and cover-ups.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790 /

The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

Suspension of posse comatatus???: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4628627 ; see also info in thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4624810

[Shadder]

5. Already started

http://www.savinggraves.org/notimeline/

[Shadder]

6. Timeline website moved

The new address is http://katrinatimeline.org