my move in the blame game

first of all, there's plenty of blame to go round—more than enough.

the fact that national geographic 11 months ago predicted the new orleans disaster—almost exactly as it happened!—is all the proof needed that everybody—residents and federal, state, and local governments—could have been prepared.

that window of opportunity closed, of course.

a day or so before katrina hit, tv weather forecasters showed a map of the storm making a beeline for the city, but it was only the most likely path: the map had a probability zone that allowed for the possibility the path would change—as in fact it did, but far from harmlessly.

the mayor called for evacuation before the storm hit, but too late to arrange transport for folk lacking means.

i'm not sure what the governor did. she couldn't call up all of louisiana's national guard, because the majority are in iraq, but she could have asked other states to send theirs.

the president declared an emergency before the storm hit, but his agencies still weren't ready to move in when the flood began.

the governor said when fema (fed emergency mgt agcy) finally arrived they turned away some water and fuel shipments and cut off some emergency communications which she then had reconnected and protected by guards with shoot-to-kill discretion.

the mayor publicly attacked the governor for telling the prez she needed 24 hours to decide about an offer he made, but the mayor wasn't at the meeting where it allegedly happened. he said bush told him.

the prez said he'd personally lead an investigation of what went wrong and americans shouldn't be called "refugees."

folk all over the country attacked bush. his defenders attacked the governor and mayor.

in the last day or so ex-senator john breaux (d-la) said congress never gave him a big enough share of the federal budget for adequate flood prevention.

the army is on the scene and reportedly doing a great job—the national guard's job.

the latest is that a lot of gops in the US capitol just voted against emergency funds.

my contribution to the tower of babel aims at national issues. i don't live in louisiana: it's not up to me to advise state and local folk about their politicos.

all i have to say is

1) the refugee/american issue is obviously a red herring meant to divert attention and media time into debating the meaning of "is" yet again;

2) the port of south louisiana is way too vital to the country to delay a federal response pending a state request;

3) devastation crossed state lines, so it's a federal issue that shouldn't have needed a state request;

4) the prez had already declared an emergency, so the normal need to wait for a governor's request did not exist; and

5) the investigation can wait till all is done that can be done to end the emergency.