It has been fascinating to watch/hear/read the New York Times, CNN, NPR, and the rest of the "Major Media Sources" trying their hardest to pin the brunt of the Hurricane Katrina failures on the President!
(He is not without fault, but his mistakes have been relatively minor.)
And I have an insiders knowledge of how all this vomit is gonna eventually blow back in their faces!
Let me explain.
You may remember in an earlier post, my story of first being a dogcatcher and ending up being the Assistant Coordinator of the County Health Dept. after the County Executive decided he wanted to save me from becoming an alcoholic?
Well there is more to that story:
Part of the reason he wanted me aboard was that in 1975 a mutual friend, working as a Deputy Sheriff, had bought two surplus Bell 47 helicopters for the County from the U.S. Government. By bringing me aboard as a County employee he could Deputize me, and I could also fly for the Sheriff's Department.
But going through the process of buying the helicopters, ($1.00 each at the time.....how many would you like?), he found that his Civil Defense Director was failing in his job.
My friend the County Executive was apparently impressed with my performance as the Chief Dogcatcher, and came one day with another offer:
"I need someone to take over the job of Director of Civil Defense. The present Director was supposed to have written the County's Emergency Operations Plan a year ago, and he hasn't even gotten started on it."
The Director of what is now called "Emergency Management" in the County was an older man, and writing the "E.O.P.", an all-encompassing document, was simply more than he wanted to tackle!
I felt an obligation to show my thanks for my Co. Exec. friend, so I took the job and started writing the emergency plan immediately.
And boy, is it inclusive!
Our county was bordered by two MAJOR rivers, so interestingly, flooding was our most important threat to cover, but there were other considerations..........tornados, major fires, and of course, at the time, the nuclear threat from the U.S.S.R..
To make a long story short, from that experience I knew where the ball had been dropped when I saw how many folks remained behind in New Orleans, and the fact that they were stuck there, starving and thirsty after the wind and rain had stopped and the water started to rise.
Have you seen the pictures of the Municipal and School buses underwater in New Orleans?
Have you heard the excuse the Mayor is giving as to why he didn't use them to get his population to safety?
(He didn't want them traveling in such Spartan accomodations.........he had asked Greyhound to send buses to move his constituents!)
This is criminal!
And please watch as this unfolds.........watch to see who continues to dig themselves a hole, even though they have reached bottom.
Senator Landrieu continues to dig..........she is in HUGE political trouble, as is the Mayor and the Governor, (and I'm ashamed to have to call Ms. Blanco that!)
As another buddy would say........."watch out for the assplosion"!
It's gonna be interesting!
2 comments:
It is interesting to me that while New Orleans is being described as a third world county in the media, no one has concentrated on the fact that Missippi and Alabama fared very well thank you. Why did all the so called racism exist only in Louisiana - where the majority of the population is black as is the government? Why are the the people we see coming forth to help are all races?
I am a Texan. George Bush was my governor for 8 years prior to becoming President. This man is a Christian first, a politician second. I realize many have preformed opinions of him. He is not articulate - but is that really important? (We had a very articulate President for 8 years and he was not what one would call honest or honerable.) However, President Bush is kind, forthright, honest, not always a great politician, but a man who genuinely cares for his country and it's people. The local government in Louisiana can point their fingers all they want - but any thinking person can see that the ball was dropped early on. When the President of the U.S. asks the Governor of Louisiana to allow the military to begin the evacuation process two days before the storm hits and she is too proud to accept that is disaster in the making. They can blame Bush, FEMA and whoever they want until the moon falls in the ocean -an intellectually honest person must realize this is a disaster with many players - not just the federal government.
My little town is one of many that has taken in evacuees. It is extremely difficult to imagine being in their position. I get whiny because I take care of my husbands mother who has Alzheimers. Poor me. How small a person am I? How dare I even raise one word of complaint when I have a home, food, clothing and my family around me?
Maybe the disaster named Katrina is just another one of God's reminders that HE is in control, that what we think is important is not, and maybe we STILL do not have the BIG picture.
Good night and God Bless.
Christian first, politician second. Skull and Bones, Bohemian Grove, ...Satanist third?
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