Nico Johnson Arrested

source? show me one scientist who says this and also has a degree form somewhere other than a THEOLOGY school….

I just found the comment dismissive.

There was an issue with the disastor response plan:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?pagewanted=print

To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established.

Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers.

Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored.

She didn’t want to give up control – which, under normal circumstances I agree with as I believe the constitution desires more power to state and local rather than federal government. But if you need help…you need help.

More:
http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/09/insurrection-act.html
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/09/26/050926ta_talk_lemann

The last one is a pretty unbiased look at the situation. Regardless, I don’t see how anyone can “blame Bush for Katrina” without looking at the faults of the disaster plans and local officials

Gotta go get another drink first.

three years before Katrina, then the federal government offered no major help until three days after the storm broke the levees. Those who didn’t leave during the mandatory evacuation didn’t stay (and suffer, and sometimes die) because they were "complacent" or "ignorant." They stayed because they were too poor to leave. Many didn’t have cars or credit cards or anything. Those buses were too late, and there weren’t nearly enough of them.

Bush cut FEMA funding to aid the war in Iraq, yes, but the levee project that was cut in 2004 due to lack of funds would not have been completed until 2015 anyway. Chances of any significant improvement being done in time for Katrina was none.

 http://www.factcheck.org/bush/is_bush_to_blame_for_new_orleans.html

Some further highlights:

The levee upgrade project around Lake Pontchartrain was only 60 to 90 percent complete across most areas of New Orleans as of the end of May, according to the Corps’ May 23 fact sheet. Still, even if it had been completed, the project’s goal was protecting New Orleans from storm surges up to "a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane," according to the fact sheet….

In an interview on ABC’s "Good Morning America" on September 1, President Bush said:

Bush: I don’t think anyone anticipated breach of the levees …Now we’re having to deal with it, and will.

Bush is technically correct that a “breach” wasn’t anticipated by the Corps, but that’s doesn’t mean the flooding wasn’t forseen. It was. But the Corps thought it would happen differently, from water washing over the levees, rather than cutting wide breaks in them.

Why didn’t the Mayor or Governor provide bused transportation? I fail to see how the stranding of local residents can be solely cast on the administration rather than local officials who had the resources to carry out some sort of an evactuation beyond simply telling people to leave. Is the Mayor not responsible for his city? You could address the governor not accepting non-active duty guard help or further aid due to the insurrection act.

As for the free market, ask the Chileans how they liked it when Augusto Pinochet (with help from Milton Friedman) implemented a pure free market in Chile and unemployment went up from 3% to 30%, until years later, in 1982, when Pinochet was forced by Chile’s economic collapse to nationalize many companies, which saved the economy. Also, I think a lack of regulation was a major cause in creating our current crisis.

I agree that a lack of regulation in the financial and mortgage sectors contributed greatly to the economic crisis. However, I don’t know that providing federal funding/loans/stimulus options to many of these corporations is healthy in the long term. It may seem like a quick fix, and really that’s all it is. Continuing to support these rather than letting nature take its course is a bad idea, it inhibits competitiveness which breeds a healthy economy.

I don’t blame the Bush administration for "everything under the sun," and I’m not lazy or ignorant. I do, however, blame the Bush administration for incompetence in this case and for FEMA’s lack of funding. And quite a few other things. When you’re the most powerful group in the world, you should expect to be held accountable.

Yes, but in government there is a system of checks and balances that keeps an administration from becoming a dictatorship. Blame is spread throughout. Take the war; we could have not gone to war without approval from Congress, including libs such as Kerry and Clinton who supported the war until it wasn’t “cool”.

I don’t like MSNBC or CNN. I personally think almost all of the press should be replaced by more serious journalists. Keith Olbermann is a hack, and it annoys me when he condescends toward average citizens who hold conservative views. However, I’m amazed that you won’t include Fox News as being a conservative network. It’s owned by Rupert Murdoch, and it’s main pundits are Sean Hannity (sickening and misleading hack), Glenn Beck (ditto), Laura Ingraham (ditto), Neil Cavuto (ditto), and Bill O’Reilly (most entertaining of the five). These are all conservatives, and most importantly they have a conservative editor.

Kudos on not being an Olberman supporter. However I don’t recall ever denying FOX was conservative; all I stated was that along with talk radio it is about the only media that represents that frame of view. Per your opinion of the pundits, I understand it doesn’t represent your view. And I don’t have a problem with having left wing outlets nor right wing ones; I get annoyed, however, when they veil themselves as unbiased when that clearly isn’t the case. At least FOX makes no bones about their position or stance.

I believe that Bush was elected twice, in very general terms (I’m about ready to go to sleep), because of the so-called liberal media’s willingness to spread Republican misinformation about Gore and Kerry.

I digress. I think you are patrionizing the average voter by claiming they can be swayed by this “misinformation”. I think the average voter is smarter than you give them credit for.

And I’m not a "leftist," I’m a liberal. However, I have no problem with conservatism – real conservatism, which has been warped by the Republican party.

I won’t disagree. This is one issue I have with the 2-party system. I prefer the terms liberal and conservative, as it is more indicative of one’s true affiliation rather than Dem and GOP. The Republican party has had some issues staying right consistently since the days of Bush Sr.

Great post BTW.

looks more like an intellectually honest answer. the position the ACLU took in that case was that basically you shouldn’t get arrested for making foot signals… this is actually a great case to demonstrate my point because A, they were defending an anti-human rights right wing BIGOT in larry craig showing they will defend anyone based on their principled view of the constitution, and 2 it demonstrates that they dont file cases for, or NOT file cases to avoid, publicity. they do it because they feel it’s a civil liberties issue.

…and Auburn sucks.

duh. once august 1st rolls around we have real issues to discuss.

speaking of which. va tech sucks.

…Nico. :)