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Monday, August 28, 2006
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Nagin, Brownie & Katrina
by Rich Galen
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Will Congress pass Obamacare by the end of the year?

Note: Before we begin, I want to note the release of Fox News reporter Steve Centanni by some religious zealots in Gaza. I have known Steve for a number of years. He has made a career of going to dangerous places to try and get to the heart of the crucial stories of our age.

We should all say a prayer of thanks that Steve and his cameraman were released unharmed.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is a goofball. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco is incompetent. Former FEMA director Michael Brown has an ego the size of a category 5 hurricane.

In a nutshell (emphasis on the first syllable) you have the leaders on the ground of the three levels of government who were involved in the preparations for, and the actions following, the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.

As it turned out there was not a competent person among the three of them.

You may remember that I went down to the region shortly after the hurricane hit, after the levies failed and after it became clear it was going to be a horror.

It is in the nature of the news business - and in the nature of human beings - that we love to hear bad news about other people. In real live we call this: Gossip.

Don't believe me? Why do you think 30-second negative political ads are so effective? They move votes because we love gossip. Oh. YOU don't love gossip, but everyone else in your office does.

The good guys in all this were the rank-and-file FEMA guys (see "Marty and Joe" from September, 2005), the National Health Service folks, and the Coast Guard.

One Guardian told me that in a "normal" disaster you show up with trucks loaded with food and supplies, and you show up with buses to take the stranded to safety - 30 to 45 at a time.

But in this case, because the city was under water, it became an air-sea rescue operation. Instead of moving 45 people at time, the Coast Guard helicopters could airlift two or three. "In the best of circumstances," I was told, "we're six percent - SIX percent - as efficient as we would be if we could get land vehicles in there."

When reporters wanted to hitch rides on Coast Guard helicopters (one of the The Lad's responsibilities, by the way) only one TV crew could go. The Coast Guard insisted that space be reserved in case they found someone stranded on a roof top. Continued...
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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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(49 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Aug 29, 2006 - 11:56 AM EST
and as one late night wag put it
nagin couldnt find buses to get his folks out of town before katrina, but found plenty to haul 'em back into town from all over the country, come election time
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Reply # 2
Date: Aug 29, 2006 - 11:54 AM EST
katrina
in the aftermath of katrina I was interested to see if there was in fact a plan for the evacuation of NO in place. at the citys website a very detailed plan was posted, including such information as what neighborhoods would require public transportation to move how many thousands of residents, what forms of public transportation ( school buses primarily) would be used, and what shelters the people would be taken to. Interestingly enough the superdome was not listed as a shelter, mostly those locales listed were public schools. Also the anouncment schedule was listed, stating information such as "do not take evacuees to shelters until informed that the shelter was made ready by volunteers, and what supplies ( water, food, medical supplies, cots, etc) were available at each shelter, how long it was expected to take to make said shelters ready.
Why was this plan not implememnted? I assume the buses were those shown flooded on the news, but the fact is the shelters should have been full long before the waters reached the parking lots where the buses were parked. Perhaps most interestingly of all, aprox 4 days after I viewed this site, the "hurricane evacuation plan" section of the NOLA website was no longer available ( on My last three attempts to view that section of the site, I was given a "not authorized to view" message.)
Talk about a cover up! The plans were laid, they just werent used, ( and No where did I see in that plan that GW Bush, condi or dick cheney were supposed to drive down and pick up every citizen of the city.
Its the state and local govts responsibility to deal with the evacuation of its citizens, and the first 48 to 72 hour aftermath of any hurricane.
So sick of hearing about "lessons from katrina" when the ONLY lesson that should be learned is "there is a population who will sit and drown rather than lift a finger to help themselves or their neighbors, waiting on "Big Uncle", who has fed, clothed, housed and medicated at others expense for the past 40 years.
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