Riverkid
09-09-2005, 05:06 PM
Subject: FW: Truth and Leadership in Time of Crisis
WELL, THIS SAYS IT ALL, FINALLY THE TRUTH, UNBELIEVABLE.
GEORGE
Friends:
Some of the uninformed commentary relative to the disaster in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana is appalling.
Our founding fathers established a Republic Republic and wisely left all powers in the individual States except where expressly delegated to the federal government.
Hurricane Katrina devastated Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
In Alabama and Mississippi leaders led and people helped each other as they always have in the United States of America.
Somehow in Louisiana, State and Local officials who refused to heed the warnings and delayed asking for outside assistance now whine that the federal government did not save them from the results of their own inaction and the lawlessness of their local citizenry who loot and shoot at brave rescuers.
Attached is some most interesting on-the-scene-information relative to the decisions made with respect to
the response to hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, from a source I have found trustworthy in the past.
On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented
action of calling Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and Governor Blanco of Louisiana personally to plead with them
to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans (N.O.) and they said they'd take it under consideration.
This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.
President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting
all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance and not be in violation of the
Posse Comitatus Act (U.S. military prohibited from police powers in the states) or having to declare a State of Insurgency under the Insurgency Act.
Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign
the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up.
He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet.
After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political
ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it
would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.
Saturday before the storm hit the President again called governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin requesting they please sign the required papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.
After a personal plea from the President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full
mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal
action.
In frustration the President, on his own, before the hurricane struck, declared the area a national disaster area even before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations.
Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency
act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal
government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster.
Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.
The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard questions as do we all, but they better start with why Governor Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states.
Or maybe ask why Mayor Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered
500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.
This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been destroyed and thousands of
people have died with hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to
be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray to
God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the
mistakes to avoid them in the future.
Further, reference has been made (but I have not had the time to verify personally) to applicable Louisiana law which apparently provided all the authority the Governor needed if she had acted:
West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated Currentness; Louisiana Revised Statutes; Title 29. Military, Naval, and Veterans' Affairs; Chapter 1. Military Forces of the State; Part I. General Provisions for Military Forces of the State.
Section 2:<BR
"The governor of the state, by virtue of her office, shall be the commander in chief of the militia of the state."
Section 7: Calling militia for active service by governor; homeland security and emergency preparedness; public emergency
A. The governor may order into the active service of the state any part of the militia that is necessary to provide for homeland security or emergency preparedness or in the event of insurrection, invasion, or riot, or imminent danger thereof, or in the event of public disaster or danger from flood, fire, storm, earthquake, civil disturbances, terrorist events, or in order to detect, prevent, prepare for, investigate, respond to, or recover from any of the foregoing, or to assist the civil authorities in guarding prisoners, or in response to a national or state emergency or a congressional authorization or presidential declaration pursuant to the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.).
B. When called to state service by the governor as provided in Subsection A, members of the Louisiana National Guard and military police shall, unless otherwise restricted by the executive orders, proclamations, or regulations or the orders of their commander, have all of the powers and authority of peace officers, including but not limited to the powers to make arrests, to perform searches and seizures, to execute criminal warrants, and to exercise such other powers and duties of a peace officer as are reasonably necessary to preserve the lives, property, and security of persons in the subject civil jurisdiction, all in accordance with the laws and constitutions of Louisiana and the United States of America.
Leadership in time of crisis mandates:
LEAD,
Follow,
or get out of the way.
WELL, THIS SAYS IT ALL, FINALLY THE TRUTH, UNBELIEVABLE.
GEORGE
Friends:
Some of the uninformed commentary relative to the disaster in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana is appalling.
Our founding fathers established a Republic Republic and wisely left all powers in the individual States except where expressly delegated to the federal government.
Hurricane Katrina devastated Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
In Alabama and Mississippi leaders led and people helped each other as they always have in the United States of America.
Somehow in Louisiana, State and Local officials who refused to heed the warnings and delayed asking for outside assistance now whine that the federal government did not save them from the results of their own inaction and the lawlessness of their local citizenry who loot and shoot at brave rescuers.
Attached is some most interesting on-the-scene-information relative to the decisions made with respect to
the response to hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, from a source I have found trustworthy in the past.
On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented
action of calling Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and Governor Blanco of Louisiana personally to plead with them
to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans (N.O.) and they said they'd take it under consideration.
This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.
President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting
all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance and not be in violation of the
Posse Comitatus Act (U.S. military prohibited from police powers in the states) or having to declare a State of Insurgency under the Insurgency Act.
Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign
the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up.
He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet.
After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political
ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it
would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.
Saturday before the storm hit the President again called governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin requesting they please sign the required papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.
After a personal plea from the President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full
mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal
action.
In frustration the President, on his own, before the hurricane struck, declared the area a national disaster area even before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations.
Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency
act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal
government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster.
Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.
The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard questions as do we all, but they better start with why Governor Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states.
Or maybe ask why Mayor Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered
500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.
This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been destroyed and thousands of
people have died with hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to
be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray to
God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the
mistakes to avoid them in the future.
Further, reference has been made (but I have not had the time to verify personally) to applicable Louisiana law which apparently provided all the authority the Governor needed if she had acted:
West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated Currentness; Louisiana Revised Statutes; Title 29. Military, Naval, and Veterans' Affairs; Chapter 1. Military Forces of the State; Part I. General Provisions for Military Forces of the State.
Section 2:<BR
"The governor of the state, by virtue of her office, shall be the commander in chief of the militia of the state."
Section 7: Calling militia for active service by governor; homeland security and emergency preparedness; public emergency
A. The governor may order into the active service of the state any part of the militia that is necessary to provide for homeland security or emergency preparedness or in the event of insurrection, invasion, or riot, or imminent danger thereof, or in the event of public disaster or danger from flood, fire, storm, earthquake, civil disturbances, terrorist events, or in order to detect, prevent, prepare for, investigate, respond to, or recover from any of the foregoing, or to assist the civil authorities in guarding prisoners, or in response to a national or state emergency or a congressional authorization or presidential declaration pursuant to the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.).
B. When called to state service by the governor as provided in Subsection A, members of the Louisiana National Guard and military police shall, unless otherwise restricted by the executive orders, proclamations, or regulations or the orders of their commander, have all of the powers and authority of peace officers, including but not limited to the powers to make arrests, to perform searches and seizures, to execute criminal warrants, and to exercise such other powers and duties of a peace officer as are reasonably necessary to preserve the lives, property, and security of persons in the subject civil jurisdiction, all in accordance with the laws and constitutions of Louisiana and the United States of America.
Leadership in time of crisis mandates:
LEAD,
Follow,
or get out of the way.