Ya ready for diesel yet?

..
"Matt Macchiarolo" > wrote in message
...
> Cite?
>
> "L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
> ...
>> A beautiful new home Ray Nagin bought in Dallas, corruption must
>> pay well.
>> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
>> http://www.billhughes.com/

Nagin: Mistakes were made at all levels

His biggest frustration was slow pace of relief

By Gordon Russell
Staff writer

In a stark reminder of how drastically Hurricane Katrina has affected the
lives of New Orleanians, Mayor Ray Nagin has purchased a home in Dallas and
enrolled his young daughter in school there.

Nagin, who spoke with The Times-Picayune by telephone from Dallas, where he
has been since Wednesday, said he plans to return to New Orleans on
Saturday. He said he will remain in the Crescent City while his family lives
for the next six months in Dallas, making occasional visits to his family
when possible.

It's not clear where Nagin will be living: His home on Bayou St. John
suffered massive flooding, the mayor said, although he has not inspected it.

In a brief but wide-ranging interview, the mayor reflected on the tragedies
of the past two weeks. Acknowledging that he may have made some mistakes, he
said he hopes others in positions of authority - including President Bush
and Gov. Kathleen Blanco -- are scrutinized as closely as he and his staff
have been.

"I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone," Nagin said. "But I was in the
fire. I was down there. Where were they? I'm confident the truth is going to
come out. But I want everybody's record analyzed just as hard as mine.

"Listen, this was unprecedented. Nothing has ever happened like this. For
people to sit back and say, 'You should have done this, you should have done
that' it's Monday morning quarterbacking. They can shoot if they want, but I
was there, and I will have the facts."

Nagin's biggest frustration, and his biggest source of puzzlement, is the
slow pace of the relief efforts. He said state and federal officials made
repeated promises that weren't kept.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "I mean, this is America. How can we have a
state with an $18 billion budget and a federal government with an
I-don't-know-how-many trillion dollar budget, and they can't get a few
thousand people onto buses? I don't get that.

"All I saw was a huge two-step, if you will, between the federal government
and the state as far as who had the final authority. Promises made that
weren't really kept. It was frustrating. We'd analyze things, double-check
them, and then, later in the afternoon, we'd find out that someone was
changing the plan, moving resources around."

Where were the resources?

Some officials at the state and federal level have suggested that part of
the reason for the slow response was a lack of awareness about the level of
devastation the city had suffered. They have faulted city officials for not
sending out a stronger SOS.

While Nagin has said he didn't think the slow response was related to the
demographic of the overwhelmingly poor, African-American residents that
needed rescuing, his thinking has evolved.

"Definitely class and, the more I think about it, definitely race played
into this," he said. "How do you treat people that just want to walk across
the bridge and get out, and they're turned away, because you can't come to a
certain parish?

How do resources get stacked up outside the city of New Orleans and they
don't make their way in? How do you not bring one piece of ice?

"If it's race, fine, let's call a spade a spade, a diamond a diamond. We can
never let this happen again. Even if you hate black people and you are in a
leadership position, this did not help anybody."

As hearings on the Katrina response start to crank up in Washington, Nagin
said, those questions, among others, need to be asked.

"I think the government ought to be asking itself, 'What happened to the
resources?'

"Why were people promised resources and they didn't show up? Where were the
military resources? Where was the National Guard? Why were we left with a
city on the verge of collapse, fighting for the soul of the city, with 200
National Guardsmen and 1,200 police?

"It was a serious breakdown," the mayor continued. "Make sure that whether
it's Ray Nagin or the governor or the president, we take a serious look at
this and make the changes that need to be made. I'm afraid some of this was
a tug-of-war about who gets to spend the money at the end of the day. And I
don't appreciate that.

"I saw too many people die, and a lot of people didn't see any of that. They
had a press conference and left. I'm looking up, fighting this incredible
battle, and they're doing press conferences and lying to the people. They're
telling them 40,000 troops are in New Orleans. It was all bull."

Communications shut down

"Analyze my ass, analyze everyone's ass, man. Let's put the facts on the
table and talk turkey. Why was there a breakdown at the federal and state
level only in Louisiana? This didn't happen in Mississippi. That's the
question. That's the question of the day."

Nagin said the city's communications essentially shut down, but said that
state and federal officials were likewise at a loss. Within a few days, city
officials, including Chief Technology Officer Greg Meffert aided by a crew
from Unisys and other outside volunteers, were able to patch together a
rough network.

"All communications broke down," Nagin said. "I got cell phones from as high
up as the White House that didn't work. My Blackberry pin-to-pin was the
only thing that worked. I saw the military struggle with this, too. No one
had communications worth a damn."

Even if communications were challenging, Nagin noted that FEMA officials
were up in helicopters inspecting the damage from the storm within about 24
hours after it passed. So the message should have been clear, he said: Send
in the cavalry.

"I think they realized the magnitude of what was happening," he said.

The best-laid plans

Federal officials have faulted Nagin's administration for not marshaling its
Regional Transit Authority buses and those of the School Board to start
ferrying the tens of thousands of evacuees stranded at the Superdome and the
Convention Center out of town.

Nagin said perhaps some of the criticism is fair. But he said there were
various logistical hurdles that made it hard to use that equipment, and the
buses would have hardly created a dent in the size of the crowds anyway.

"It's up for analysis," he said. "But we didn't have enough buses. I don't
control the school buses, and the RTA buses as far as I know were positioned
high and dry. But 80 percent of the city was not high and dry. Where would
we have staged them? And who was going to drive them even if we commandeered
them? If I'd have marshaled 50 RTA buses, and a few school buses, it still
wouldn't have been nearly enough. We didn't get food, water and ice in this
place, and that's way above the local level.

"Our plan was always to use the buses to evacuate to the Dome as a shelter
of last resort, and from there, rely on state and federal resources."

Those resources took way too long to arrive, Nagin said - in fact, much of
the help didn't arrive until after the mass evacuations from the Dome and
the Convention Center had occurred. As a result, people suffered and died
needlessly, a truth that has been weighing heavily on his mind.

"I saw stuff that I never thought I would see in my lifetime," he said.
"People wanting to die. People trying to give me babies and things. It was a
helpless, helpless feeling.

"There was a lady waiting in line for bus who had a miscarriage. She was
cleaning herself off so she wouldn't lose her place in line. There were old
people saying, 'Just let me lie down and die.' It's bulls---, absolutely
bulls---. It's unbelievable that this would happen in America."

Answering criticism

While a number of people in the sea of refugees that packed the Dome and
Convention Center complained that Nagin had not come to address them, Nagin
said he did visit both facilities and speak with people.

"I went there," he said. "I went through the crowds and talked to people,
and they were not happy. They were panicked. After the shootings and the
looting got out of control, I did not go back in there. My security people
advised me not to go back" after Wednesday, he said.

By Thursday, crowds had gotten increasingly restless. At one point, a crowd
surged dangerously around Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, and a knot of
police officers had to help him to safety.

Part of the discomfort in the Dome and Convention Center was due to the lack
of toilet facilities after the city's water system went down late Wednesday.
The city's hurricane plan calls for portable toilets at shelters, but none
ever arrived. Nagin said his understanding was that the National Guard was
in charge of providing them.

Also, he added, "Our plan never assumed people being in the Dome more than
two or three days."

Nagin said he saw a few bright spots amid the rubble of the city. He said
the New Orleans Police Department - at least, the majority of it, given that
there were a number of desertions - should be hailed for fighting an almost
impossible fight, handling search-and-rescue missions while trying to keep
an increasingly lawless city in check.

"They were absolutely heroic," he said. "The stuff they were dealing with,
man. They spent the first two or three days pulling people out of the water.
When the looting started to get to the point that it was a real concern,
they had to get involved in serious firefights. I mean, we had radio chatter
where police were pinned down in firefights and ran out of ammunition.
That's never happened."

'A better city'

Nagin also expressed cautious optimism about the city's future.

"I think we'll be a better city," he said. "I think we're going to see an
unprecedented construction boom, and some better-paying jobs. Small
businesses will start thriving, and I think the tourist industry will bounce
back stronger than ever."


Many people who were stranded for days at the Dome and Convention Center
told reporters they were never coming back to their devastated city. The
mayor acknowledged that some of them probably meant it, including some of
the displaced New Orleanians he's met since arriving in Dallas.

"I think some people will probably not come back," he said. "You know, Texas
is treating people very well, probably much better than we treated people.

"But I think once people start to see the rebuilding, and that the culture
of the city will not be materially affected, they'll be back."

How things progress will depend largely on the level of federal aid, the
mayor said. And it's still unclear whether entire neighborhoods will have to
be razed - and whether some areas should be abandoned because of their
propensity to flood.

"The longer those neighborhoods stay under water, the harder it's going to
be to rebuild them," he said.

Meanwhile, there are going to have to be serious conversations about changes
to the housing codes and improvements to the levee system, whose
inadequacies were laid bare by Katrina.

"I've been talking to some people in Texas, and I think maybe some better
designs for housing that can handle some of this," Nagin said. "And the
levee system is designed only to withstand a Category 3 storm. Obviously, we
have to do better than that."


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Got it.

I should hope when the Big One hits San Diego, you will love your family
enough to set up a temporary home elsewhere until your houses and schools
can be rebuilt.

>
> "L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
> ...
>> A beautiful new home Ray Nagin bought in Dallas, corruption must
>> pay well.
>> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
>> http://www.billhughes.com/
>>
>> Matt Macchiarolo wrote:
>>>
>>> He was back in Baton Rouge last night and I would be surprised if he
>>> isn't
>>> at Bush's address in NO tonight.
>
>

About the only thing I know for sure is my home will catch fire and
burn to the ground.
I think everyone out here is prepare with a weeks worth of water
and groceries. And an out of state number to call. And of course I just
bought another thousand rounds, it's a great appreciating investment,
too.
God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
http://www.billhughes.com/

Matt Macchiarolo wrote:
>
> Got it.
>
> I should hope when the Big One hits San Diego, you will love your family
> enough to set up a temporary home elsewhere until your houses and schools
> can be rebuilt.

And I subscribe to:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/products/..._services.html To get a
feeling for when the big one will hit. Like I could tell the tidal wave
was going to happen about twenty four hours before with each increasing
earthquake and was positive about eight hours before it hit Indonesia
>
> About the only thing I know for sure is my home will catch fire and
> burn to the ground.
> I think everyone out here is prepare with a weeks worth of water
> and groceries. And an out of state number to call. And of course I just
> bought another thousand rounds, it's a great appreciating investment,
> too.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> http://www.billhughes.com/

I store a couple of five gallon gas cans in case if have to clear a
freeway crossing, too.

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:
>
> About the only thing I know for sure is my home will catch fire and
> burn to the ground.
> I think everyone out here is prepare with a weeks worth of water
> and groceries. And an out of state number to call. And of course I just
> bought another thousand rounds, it's a great appreciating investment,
> too.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> http://www.billhughes.com/

Things I have learned from watching the news about Hurricane Katrina on
TV

1. The hurricane only hit black family's property.

2. New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by
the hurricane.

3. Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down.

4. New Orleans has no white people.

5. The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama
resident.

6. When you are hungry after a hurricane steal a big screen TV.

7. The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements to New
Orleans: now the city is
welfare, looters and gang free and they are in your city.

8. White folks don't make good news stories.

9. Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help rescue you,
instead
bitch because the government hasn't given you a debit card yet.

10. Only black family members got separated in the hurricane rescue
efforts.

11. Ignore warnings to evacuate and the white folks will come get
you and give
you money for being stupid.

12. Damn, I feel so sorry for all those black folks.

13. Oh, and it is all George Bush's fault.

Have you ever been through one of these mass evacuation goatropes? I
mean down and dirty, get-the-hell-outta-Dodge melees. They are like a
battle and (to quote one old General) the first casualty of any war is
the battle plan. To be successful, you have to have two things above
all: reliable communications and a focus point. Next in line is a
willing population - and I also know enough holdouts to say that the
presence of this element is highly questionable even with the first
two iniatially in place. Yes, the histrionics started a bit late - but
I personally know too many people down there that were comfortable in
Memphis or Tyler or some other place well before the shouting started
because they made rational decisions early (in one case, a 70 year old
lady caring for her 88 year old mother - no car, living the the ninth
ward). If nothing else, Nagin stood there and made himself a target
while trying to get the last stragglers to leave and he did get a lot
of them to at least compromise and seek local shelter. His use of
staff and planning is another topic, but without his hammering there
would have been a lot more bodies floating around Tuesday morning.

We will probably never see it, but I suspect that a decent
after-action report would show that all the way up the line there were
good decisions and bad decisions - by everyone in the chain. I don't
subscribe to the black-and-white no-gray crap we are being fed in the
media soundbytes but I doubt we will ever see a truly analytical
report simply because of the politics.

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:09:24 UTC Brian > wrote:

> In article >,
> "Will Honea" > wrote:
>
> > He might as well move. Some pretty big guns are trained on the
> > bullseye he sits on about now.
> >
> > I still think he did one helluva job getting the evacuation
> > accomplished - but he won a battle at the cost of the war.
> >
>
> Will, you are being sarcastic, right? Mayor Nagin & his emergency chief,
> Ebbert, didn't even attempt to implement the evacuation plan. Did you
> see all those buses sitting flooded? They were supposed to take people
> out of the city, according to the city's official plan.
>
> B
>


--
Will Honea

Good for you, assuming the phones work. Think you'll be rebuilt in a week?

"L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> About the only thing I know for sure is my home will catch fire and
> burn to the ground.
> I think everyone out here is prepare with a weeks worth of water
> and groceries. And an out of state number to call. And of course I just
> bought another thousand rounds, it's a great appreciating investment,
> too.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> http://www.billhughes.com/
>
> Matt Macchiarolo wrote:
>>
>> Got it.
>>
>> I should hope when the Big One hits San Diego, you will love your family
>> enough to set up a temporary home elsewhere until your houses and schools
>> can be rebuilt.

You must have been listening to Rush complaining about CNN's coverage. Only
thing is, it doens't sound like either of you actually watched it.

"L.W. ("ßill") Hughes III" > wrote in message
...
> Things I have learned from watching the news about Hurricane Katrina on
> TV
>
> 1. The hurricane only hit black family's property.
>
> 2. New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by
> the hurricane.
>
> 3. Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down.
>
> 4. New Orleans has no white people.
>
> 5. The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama
> resident.
>
> 6. When you are hungry after a hurricane steal a big screen TV.
>
> 7. The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements to New
> Orleans: now the city is
> welfare, looters and gang free and they are in your city.
>
> 8. White folks don't make good news stories.
>
> 9. Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help rescue you,
> instead
> bitch because the government hasn't given you a debit card yet.
>
> 10. Only black family members got separated in the hurricane rescue
> efforts.
>
> 11. Ignore warnings to evacuate and the white folks will come get
> you and give
> you money for being stupid.
>
> 12. Damn, I feel so sorry for all those black folks.
>
> 13. Oh, and it is all George Bush's fault.

There is enough blame to go around, even at the federal level. Federal
response could have been immediate. They didn't need anyone to ask them for
help. Have you ever read the National Response Plan that was accepted and
implemented in December,2004? You can find it at the Department of Homeland
Security website.
Personally, I could care what they did or didn't do on the local level
before Katrina came ashore. After it came ashore there were people that
needed help, immediate help. Can you imagine if EMTs were to respond to an
accident and were more concerned about who caused it and who was driving
than saving the lives of the injured?
It's embarrassing. "Of the people, by the people, for the people" has
turned into "us against them". Both sides are equally to blame for this.
Most of us wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior from our children.

On page 43 of the plan is a section titled "Proactive Federal Response to
Catastrophic Events".

The NRP establishes policies, procedures, and mechanisms for proactive
Federal response to catastrophic events. A catastrophic event is any natural
or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary
levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the
population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or
government functions. A catastrophic event could result in sustained
national impacts over a prolonged period of time; almost immediately exceeds
resources normally available to State, local, tribal, and private-sector
authorities in the impacted area; and significantly interrupts governmental
operations and emergency services to such an extent that national security
could be threatened. All catastrophic events are Incidents of National
Significance.

Implementation of Proactive Federal Response Protocols

Protocols for proactive Federal response are most likely to be implemented
for catastrophic events involving chemical, biological, radiological,
nuclear, or high-yield explosive weapons of mass destruction, or large
magnitude earthquakes or other natural or technological disasters in or near
heavily populated areas.

Guiding Principles for Proactive Federal Response
Guiding principles for proactive Federal response include the following:
�¡ The primary mission is to save lives; protect critical infrastructure,
property, and the environment; contain the event; and preserve national
security.
�¡ Standard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited
or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an
event of
catastrophic magnitude.
�¡ Identified Federal response resources will deploy and begin necessary
operations as required to commence life-safety activities.
�¡ Notification and full coordination with States will occur, but the
coordination process must not delay or impede the rapid deployment and use
of critical resources. States are urged to notify and coordinate with local
governments regarding a proactive Federal response.
�¡ State and local governments are encouraged to conduct collaborative
planning with the Federal Government as a part of �gsteady-state�h
preparedness for catastrophic incidents.

Implementation Mechanisms for Proactive
Federal Response to Catastrophic Events
The NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement (described in the Catastrophic
Incident Annex) addresses resource and procedural implications of
catastrophic events to ensure the rapid and efficient delivery of resources
and assets, including special teams, equipment, and supplies that provide
critical lifesaving support and incident containment capabilities. These
assets may be so specialized or costly that they are either not available or
are in insufficient quantities in most localities.

The procedures outlined in the NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement are
based on the following:
�¡ The pre-identification of Federal assets and capabilities;
�¡ The strategic location of pre-identified assets for rapid deployment; and
�¡ The use of pre-scripted mission assignments for Stafford Act
declarations, or individual agency authority and funding, to expedite
deployment upon notification by DHS (in accordance with procedures
established in the NRP Catastrophic Incident Supplement) of a potential
catastrophic event.

Agencies responsible for these assets will keep DHS apprised, through the
HSOC, of their ongoing status and location until the JFO is established.
Upon arrival at the scene, Federal assets will coordinate with the Unified
Command, the SFLEO, and the JFO (or its forward elements) when established.
Demobilization processes, including full coordination with the JFO
Coordination Group, are initiated either when the mission is completed or
when it is determined the magnitude of the event does not warrant continued
use of the asset.




"Brian" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Will Honea" > wrote:
>
>> He might as well move. Some pretty big guns are trained on the
>> bullseye he sits on about now.
>>
>> I still think he did one helluva job getting the evacuation
>> accomplished - but he won a battle at the cost of the war.
>>
>
> Will, you are being sarcastic, right? Mayor Nagin & his emergency chief,
> Ebbert, didn't even attempt to implement the evacuation plan. Did you
> see all those buses sitting flooded? They were supposed to take people
> out of the city, according to the city's official plan.
>
> B
>
> --
> Brian Heller
>
> It is easier to tame wild beasts
> than to conquer the human mind.