"Don't Get Stuck on Stupid!"

[Yonivore]

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a press conference yesterday, and started losing control to a media pool assembled that was showing signs of panic, due to the previous incompetence in the region by the local and state government. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped in and literally took over. Here's what he had to say:

AUDIO VIDEO

General Honore: And Mr. Mayor, let's go back, because I can see right now, we're setting this up as he said, he said, we said. All right? We are not going to go, by order of the mayor and the governor, and open the convention center for people to come in. There are buses there. Is that clear to you? Buses parked. There are 4,000 troops there. People come, they get on a bus, they get on a truck, they move on. Is that clear? Is that clear to the public?

Reporter: Where do they move on...

General Honore: That's not your business.

Reporter: But General, that didn't work the first time...

General Honore: Wait a minute. It didn't work the first time. This ain't the first time. Okay? If...we don't control Rita, you understand? So there are a lot of pieces of it that's going to be worked out. You got good public servants working through it. Let's get a little trust here, because you're starting to act like this is your problem. You are carrying the message, okay? What we're going to do is have the buses staged. The initial place is at the convention center. We're not going to announce other places at this time, until we get a plan set, and we'll let people know where those locations are, through the government, and through public announcements. Right now, to handle the number of people that want to leave, we've got the capacity. You will come to the convention center. There are soldiers there from the 82nd Airborne, and from the Louisiana National Guard. People will be told to get on the bus, and we will take care of them. And where they go will be dependent on the capacity in this state. We've got our communications up. And we'll tell them where to go. And when they get there, they'll be able to get a chance, an opportunity to get registered, and so they can let their families know where they are. But don't start panic here. Okay? We've got a location. It is in the front of the convention center, and that's where we will use to migrate people from it, into the system.

Reporter: General Honore, we were told that Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another staging area...

General Honore: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place, I just told you one time, is the convention center. Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is approved by the governor, then we'll start that in the next 12-24 hours. And we understand that there's a problem in getting communications out. That's where we need your help. But let's not confuse the questions with the answers. Buses at the convention center will move our citizens, for whom we have sworn that we will support and defend...and we'll move them on. Let's not get stuck on the last storm. You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why we like follow-up questions. But right now, it's the convention center, and move on.

Reporter: General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

General Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we've got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.

You gotta love this guy!

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a press conference yesterday, and started losing control to a media pool assembled that was showing signs of panic, due to the previous incompetence in the region by the local and state government. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped in and literally took over. Here's what he had to say:

AUDIO VIDEO



You gotta love this guy!

I didn't listen (just read the transcripts), but I totally agree.

I didn't mind the reporter asking about the other staging area, but the follow-up to that was unnecessary at this time.

[Jelly]

love the way he says "hooah" to the reporters. lol

[Dos]

love the way he says "hooah" to the reporters. lol

he shouldn't confuse the stupid media with that... lol

[Hook Dem]

Honore = An in charge guy! Any questions? (only intellegent ones please )

[Nbadan]

If only the Bush Administration had the foresight to appoint a National Coordinator like Honore before Katrina hit think of the lives that would have been saved.

[boutons]

Exactly. Honore and Allen are the kinds experienced professionals, and there are 1000s of them all over the country, that should be in critical positions.

Seeing them in take-charge action now only emphasizes, in great relief, how the Repubs ed up with their crony incompetents.

But then dubya, congenitally, eternally "stuck on stupid", puts Karl ing Rove in charge of the Gulf Coast reconstruction project. Same ol' inexperienced crony .

[Dos]

so you want US Military Officers superceding Local and State Official Authority?

WAR! Patriot Act...

[boutons]

"US Military Officers superceding Local and State"

damn, the lying fog just keeps billowing out of your head.

LA, MS, AL declared states of emergency 2 or 3 days before the hurricane hit, opening the door for federal intervention, as defined by the DHS/FEMA National Response Plan.

A right-wing SCOTUS may eventually rule the NRP "uncons utional" and "activist", so that "states rights" lets the states struggle and die while the feds hide behind their lawyers, but we're along way from that ruling.

[SpursWoman]

But then dubya, congenitally, eternally "stuck on stupid", puts Karl ing Rove in charge of the Gulf Coast reconstruction project. Same ol' inexperienced crony .

I hate to spoil your fun, but putting old "cronies" in positions of authority is most certainly not exclusive to the Republican party.

[Dos]

boutons lesson history #1

Posse Comitatus laws passed after the American Civil War, which forbid the use of the military in domestic police enforcement. The military has no place acting as police in domestic law enforcement. Its only role domestically should be that of the national guard under control of the state governors during times of disaster and other official states of emergencies when their use is legally sanctioned.

Exactly. Honore and Allen are the kinds experienced professionals, and there are 1000s of them all over the country, that should be in critical positions.

[Hook Dem]

boutons lesson history #1

Posse Comitatus laws passed after the American Civil War, which forbid the use of the military in domestic police enforcement. The military has no place acting as police in domestic law enforcement. Its only role domestically should be that of the national guard under control of the state governors during times of disaster and other official states of emergencies when their use is legally sanctioned.

Boutons does not care about history or laws. He just takes every opportunity to bash Bush. In other words, he's a moron!!!!!

[boutons]

SW, cronyism is rampant in both parties, but there's huge difference between:

a) Clinton putting a bouncer in WH staff position, or either party selling ambassadorships to Andorra, or Madagascar, etc, to campaign contributors, and

b) the Repubs filling critical operational positions with inexperienced, unprofessional cronies, or not appointing ANYBODY to many positions (eg, HUD, obviously a department the Repugs want to cripple). Katrina has exposed DHS/FEMA as totally ed up, and even "awakened", they aren't running the post-Katrina cleanup and logistics even passably well. Even a power guy like Trent Lott can't get FEMA to do stuff for MS.

[boutons]

The right-wing ploy so many of you keep hammering on is that DHS/FEMA were legally castrated, the NRP was dead in the water and useless, and they couldn't do their jobs, hiding behind Posse Com, etc.

Why bring up the US military doing police work on domestic soil? Who's asking the military to do police work, or do any ing thing? straw man.

[SpursWoman]

n/m

[boutons]

Exposed once as frauds and incompetents, NOW the DHS/FEMA gets their asses in gear, and the Posse Com and the lawyers don't see to be an impediment (helps that its dubya's home state and several oil companies are headquartered in TX, of course).

========================

September 21, 2005

Feds Order Aid to Texas As Rita Threatens
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:24 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government rushed hospital beds, rescue teams and evacuation buses to Texas on Wednesday in an urgent effort to brace for Hurricane Rita and prevent a replay of the missteps from Katrina.

President Bush, pledging to be ''ready for the worst,'' declared a state of emergency in Texas and Louisiana. He pleaded with people to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued in New Orleans and Galveston, Texas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent nearly 1,200 medical and rescue personnel into Texas as Rita grew to a Category 5 storm -- the highest level -- in its sweep across the Gulf of Mexico.

The agency asked the Pentagon to send 2,500 hospital beds to potential disaster zones in Louisiana and Texas, and was directing 200 buses to Texas to move residents out of harm's way.

Representatives from at least 19 state and federal agencies discussed concerns during conference calls throughout the day.

Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said the calls are used to ''ask for clarification, or perhaps alternate scenarios or interpretations. We speak the some of the same language but want to make sure everybody's on the same page.''

It was clear that the Bush administration wanted to act quickly to get supplies and reinforcements into the region.

''We want to make sure we're ready,'' FEMA's acting director, R. David Paulison, told reporters in Washington. ''We'd rather preposition more assets than we need than not have enough.''

Officials said rescue teams and supplies already in Louisiana to deal with Katrina would remain to respond to Rita.

''I urge the citizens to listen carefully to the instructions provided by state and local authorities and follow them,'' President Bush said in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. ''We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm, but we got to be ready for the worst.''

Coast Guard Adm. Larry Hereth was overseeing the federal preparedness and response efforts in the region. The military was expected to take an expanded role in this hurricane.

In a sign of how the Pentagon was trying to move quickly, Lt. Gen. Robert Clark, commander of the Texas-based 5th Army, was told to be prepared to assume control of a joint military task force for Hurricane Rita, 5th Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Jane Crichton said Wednesday.

In Katrina's case, the military's commander was not designated until after the storm struck.

The Pentagon prepared to send five communications teams and 20 active-duty helicopters, some to transport rescue teams, Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek said. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has activated some 5,000 National Guard troops.

Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said an additional 1,300 National Guardsmen from Texas are returning from Louisiana. He said some active duty troops are involved in preparations.

Naval bases in southern Texas are being evacuated. Several military ships stationed in the region after Katrina's impact are being repositioned so they can help after Rita strikes.

In New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers began closing two damaged canals near Lake Pontchartrain with steel sheet piling to prevent a replay of the flooding that devastated the city in Katrina's wake. Additionally, more than 800 filled sandbags were prepared, and an additional 2,500 were ordered.

Other efforts to prepare for Rita included:

--Readying to ship medical supplies from the National Strategic Stockpile. That includes antibiotics to fight off infections and medications for chronic diseases. The Health and Human Services Department had medical staff set to head out along with Band-Aids, blankets, sterile gloves, portable oxygen tanks an other supplies.

--The Energy Department put its four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites on the Gulf Coast on alert and was ready to consider additional requests for loans of oil should Texas refineries need crude. Two of the four sites are on the Texas coast northeast and southwest of Galveston where the storm was expected to slam into the mainland. The other two are in Louisiana. The underground caverns hold nearly 700 million barrels of oil.

--The American Red Cross worked to line up volunteers and food and helping to move people out of Rita's path, spokeswoman Carrie Martin said. The charity was preparing to serve 750,000 meals a day to Rita's victims.

------

Associated Press Writers Lolita C. Baldor, Robert Burns, Pauline Jelinek, Jennifer Loven, H. Josef Hebert, Terence Hunt and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

[SpursWoman]

Exposed once as frauds and incompetents, NOW the DHS/FEMA gets their asses in gear, and the Posse Com and the lawyers don't see to be an impediment (helps that its dubya's home state and several oil companies are headquartered in TX, of course).

You are out of your damn mind. Have you gotten gas lately? Do you know what'll happen if the 3rd largest refinery in the US gets destroyed? WGAF if it were in Upper-Oshkosh, Wisconsin...that's a huge deal TO EVERYONE.

And so they were exposed. Would you rather they have their together now, or continue the trend? Would it really make you that happy to have something ELSE to about to keep you occupied well into your retirement? You can't change the past, man, no matter how much you , you can only hope they learned from their mistakes so it doesn't happen again.

[Yonivore]

Seems to me it's the State that's doing all the preparation. As it should be. I haven't heard of any violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or of any different response from any Fed agency.

Maybe Louisiana could watch and learn a lesson. We taught them how to take care of evacuees...now we'll show them how to prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from a major disaster.