More Katrina lies

K5WAS · Sep 6, 2005

Closer Scrutiny Reveals the Lies Surrounding Katrina Evacuation and Recovery www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0905/0905evac.htm <snip> (T)he almost immediate response from Bush Bashers (is) to blame everything that happened, from the actual hurricane itself, to the anarchy that quickly erupted, on the President and his administration. When they do so, they not only distort the truth, they outright lie to the public, and they are doing so daily through any media venue that will give them the opportunity. Lie #1: President Bush doesn't care about the people of New Orleans. This outrageous lie is thoroughly debunked by the fact that it was President Bush who pushed for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.(1) Governor Blanco issued only a voluntary evacuation order, but admitted that she received a call from the President on August 27, 2005, urging her to make it a mandatory one. He wanted as many people as possible out of the path of the storm. So much for the President not caring. According to a Washington Post report on Sunday, September 4, "Shortly before midnight Friday [August 26], the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday." Bush's offer to have the federal government aid in the evacuation was rejected. (2) Despite the fact that New Orlean's own Emergency Response Guidelines call for a mandatory evacuation of the City if a strike by a Category 3 Hurricane is projected, with 72 hours advance notice to all residents, Mayor Nagin didn't order a mandatory evaluation until Sunday. Further, he only did so after Max Maxfield, the National Hurricane Director, called Nagin at his home to plead that he empty the City. (3) Why did Nagin wait so long? He was worried about the legalities. If people want to affix blame, perhaps they can look at lawyers. How ironic, that The Drudge Report (4) and Free Republic (5) have pictures of dozens of New Orleans' submerged and now useless school buses, buses that could have been used to transport residents out of the City prior to the storm, bring in supplies after the storm, and help evacuees escape the flooding. Meanwhile, Governor Blanco issued a request to the State of Louisiana to provide her with buses from local school districts. Lie #2: The Bush Administration was slow in coordinating help. Mike Brown, Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for Emergency Response and Preparedness, received the order from President Bush on August 27, two full days before the storm hit the region, to prepare for Katrina disaster relief. (6) The President also declared the entire region under a State of Emergency, so that FEMA could coordinate efforts at the request of the Governors. (7) Under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, the Federal Government and FEMA are not allowed to interfere with local operations unless they are authorized by state and local leaders. Blanco did not authorize this until September 1, 2005. Further, according to an Association Press report on August 30, "The federal government began rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with doctors, nurses and first-aid su pplies. The U.S. Defense Department sent experts to help with search-and-rescue operations." (8) FEMA was there and helping, in the capacity that was allowed by local officials, but could not swing into full gear until after Blanco gave them permission. Lie #3: The Bush Administration did nothing to control the anarchy. The local and state governments have control over law enforcement activities in their state, and such activities could only be coordinated through the federal government with their permission. On August 26, the Bush Administration offered to do just that. "The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law." (9) It was not until terrible reports of rapes and violence, videos of looting, and reports of shoots being fired at rescue workers did Governor Blanco relinquish any claim of control on an out-of-control city. She did this on September 1, under Executive Order #KBB-2005-23. (10) Almost immediately thereafter, FEMA and the Bush Administration began to restore order. Lie #4: The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the flooding. Predictions of wide spread devastation have been known since Hurricane Camille in 1969. Despite these, it was local officials who reportedly appropriated funds designated for levee improvements towards such necessary purchases as a casino, hotel, and other projects. Amazing, isn't it? From the carnage inside the Superdome, to the massacre of the truth on television, this is a sad time for all of America. Just don't forget who helped all this to happen.because despite what the media wants you to believe, it wasn't President Bush.

rodbolt · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

we will see in the future who lied to whom, you can bet onthat. problem with a mandatory evac order is it has no teeth, it sounds good but very very difficult to actually force someone from there homes. my only beef was with the lagging response time to aid hospitals,known shelters and nursing homes on monday afternoon and tuesday morning. those that stay at home do so with the knowledge they are on their own for 3-5 days. no one can say they did not know, I will buy the excuse they did not care. fact is no one has heeded the lessons of past hurricanes in general. but lets put a twist on your 72 hour evac theory. say you went from LA to TX 2 days prior to landfall, oneday prior the storm track changed and the area in TX was now expecting a direct hit. what do ya do now. thats why most mandatory evacs are done 24 hours prior to expected landfall. 24 hour predictions are a bit more accurate than 72 hr ones. look at the storm track and predictions for hurricane felix in the 96 era. seems Duck NC, about 15 miles up the road, was scheduled for a hit by the eye. we battened down and got ready. 75 miles off the coast the storm reversed course and went north east to sea. we never even got a rain storm. whats funny was the howl from all the local busness's about how they evac order cost them so many millions and the storm never came. thats the other reason for delaying. what politician would want to evac 1.5 million people and then have those people get a hit in another location or the storm missed them. they cannot win, which is why evac orders should not come from politicians but meterologists and others trained in the study of windfields and wind events.

JB · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

There will come a time when more of the truth is known and many, including a few iboats members, will really be embarrassed to read what they said when they had only the grains of truth that the national media chose to feed them.

Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Blanco (Gov) now on Fox blaming Mayor - Mayor told her he would have busses with police escorts and bullhorns to get people out before the storm. Shed said the shelters in NO were "safe" She sidestepped question if Bush was the one who forced her to make the evacuation mandatory before the storm. She did admit head of National Weather service called her asking her to make it mandatory and she asked him to call the Mayor...

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Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Craig Martelle: FEMA is not a first responder Pittsburgh Post Gazette Tuesday, September 06, 2005 Don't be so quick to pillory the federal response in New Orleans. Immediate emergency management is primarily a local and state responsibility As one who has received training by FEMA in emergency management and also training by the Department of Defense in consequence management, I believe that the federal response in New Orleans needs clarification. The key to emergency management starts at the local level and expands to the state level. Emergency planning generally does not include any federal guarantees, as there can only be limited ones from the federal level for any local plan. FEMA provides free training, education, assistance and respond in case of an emergency, but the local and state officials run their own emergency management program. Prior development of an emergency plan, addressing all foreseeable contingencies, is the absolute requirement of the local government --and then they share that plan with the state emergency managers to ensure that the state authorities can provide necessary assets not available at the local level. Additionally, good planning will include applicable elements of the federal government (those located in the local area). These processes are well established, but are contingent upon the personal drive of both hired and elected officials at the local level. I've reviewed the New Orleans emergency management plan. Here is an important section in the first paragraph. "We coordinate all city departments and allied state and federal agencies which respond to citywide disasters and emergencies through the development and constant updating of an integrated multi-hazard plan. All requests for federal disaster assistance and federal funding subsequent to disaster declarations are also made through this office. Our authority is defined by the Louisiana Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act of 1993, Chapter 6 Section 709, Paragraph B, 'Each parish shall maintain a Disaster Agency which, except as otherwise provided under this act, has jurisdiction over and serves the entire parish.' " Check the plan -- the "we" in this case is the office of the mayor, Ray Nagin who was very quick and vocal about blaming everyone but his own office. A telling picture, at left, taken by The Associated Press on Sept. 1 and widely circulated on the Internet shows a school bus park, apparently filled to capacity with buses, under about four feet of water. If a mandatory evacuation was ordered, why weren't all the taxpayer-purchased buses used in the effort? Who could have predicted the anarchy resulting as a consequence? The individuals who devolved into lawless animals embarrass the entirety of America. (I worked in a U.S. Embassy overseas for a couple years and I can imagine what foreign diplomats are thinking.) What societal factors would ever lead people to believe that this behavior was even remotely acceptable? The folks in New Orleans who are perpetrating the violence and lawlessness are not that way because of low income or of race, but because they personally do not have any honor or commitment to higher ideals. The civil-rights leaders should be ashamed at playing the blame game. The blame is on the individuals. The blame is on the society that allowed these individuals to develop the ideal that the individual is greater than the national pride he is destroying. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very clear in her comments that she was offended at those who suggested the suffering in New Orleans was prolonged because of race. As a retired Marine, I hang my head in shame to see my fellow Americans degenerate so far. I spent so many years in the Corps helping the citizens of other countries rise to a higher level of personal responsibility to ensure that in case of emergency, anarchy did not necessarily follow. When people are held to a higher standard of personal responsibility and they accept that, then they will do the right thing when the time comes. It seems that the mayor of New Orleans is leading the effort in not taking responsibility for his actions. The emergency managers for the state of Louisiana do not have much to say either. The failure in the first 48 hours to provide direction for survivors is theirs to live with. When FEMA was able to take over, it started out behind and had to develop its plan on the fly. Now the federal government has established priorities -- rescue the stranded, evacuate the city, flow in resources and fix the levee. It appears that now there is a plan and it is being systematically executed. Hurricane Katrina was a national tragedy -- not just in the number of lives lost or the amount of physical damage, but also in the failure of people to do what is right when no one is looking. Craig Martelle, retired as a major in the U.S. Marine Corps, lives in North Huntingdon. He recently launched the Strategic Outlook Institute, a public-policy organization http://www.postgazette.com/pg/pp/05249/566101.stm

Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

From today's WSJ: As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?... Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin. The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center. The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved... MORE: A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan.... Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation.... And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.... But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.... Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done. The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid. -- Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash. "As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property."

Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Oh this is good, look at the date.... Mandatory evacuation ordered for New Orleans 8/28/2005, 10:48 a.m. CT The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin. Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome. The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. "There doesn't seem to be any relief in sight," Blanco said. She said Interstate 10, which was converted Saturday so that all lanes headed one-way out of town, was total gridlock. "We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," Nagin said. The storm surge most likely could topple the city's levee system, which protect it from surrounding waters of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes, the mayor said. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out during normal times, and the hurricane threatened pump power. Previous hurricanes evacuations in New Orleans were always voluntary, because so many people don't have the means of getting out. Some are too poor and there is always a French Quarter full of tourists who get caught. "This is a once in a lifetime event," the mayor said. "The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly," the mayor said. He told those who had to move to the Superdome to come with enough food for several days and with blankets. He said it will be a very uncomfortable place and encouraged everybody who could to get out. Nagin said police and firefighters would spread out throughout the city sounding sirens and using bullhorns to tell residents to get out. He also said police would have the authority to comandeer any vehicle or building that could be used for evacuation or shelter. The Superdome was already taking in people with special problems. It opened about 8 a.m. and people on walkers, some with oxygen tanks, began checking in. In a neighborhood in central city, a group of residents sat on a porch. It was almost a party atmosphere. "We're not evacuating," said Julie Paul, 57. "None of us have any place to go. We're counting on the Superdome. That's our lifesaver." She said they'd spent the last couple of hurricanes there. They would wait for a friend who has a van to take them, because none has cars. At a nearby gas station, Linda Young, 37, was tanking up her car. "I'm really scared. I've been through hurricanes, but this one scares me. I think everybody needs to get out," she said. She said they planned to leave Saturday but couldn't get gas, and didn't want to go without it, so got up early and got in a gas line. In the suburbs, evacuations were under way. "That sun is shining too bright for this to be happening," said Joyce Tillis, manager of the Holiday Inn Select at the airport in the suburbs as she called the more than 140 guests to tell them the hotel was under a mandatory evacuation. "It's too nice a day." Tillis lives inside the flood zone in the community of Avondale. She said she called her three daughters and told them to get out. "If I'm stuck, I'm stuck," Tillis said. "I'd rather save my second generation if I can." http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-18/1125239940201382.xml&storylist=louisiana

K5WAS · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

There are still people that are refusing to leave the devistation in N.O. I heard this morning that they will NOT be provided with food and water if they CHOOSE to stay. I suppose we will now hear shouts of racism for the refusal of authorities to provide them with "Room service".

KaGee · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Hurricane Katrina was a national tragedy -- not just in the number of lives lost or the amount of physical damage, but also in the failure of people to do what is right when no one is looking.

I've always been taught that "Character" is made up of what one does when no one is looking. It is obvious to me who has it and who lacks it. If we would consider that more when at the ballot box, we might just get better leadership. Instead some in society are more concerned that elected leaders "represent" America. As long as we continue to elect "leadership" based only upon their race or gender, then we can expect more of the same.

Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Oh you gotta watch this interview of the Gov on CNN http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1377394

jtexas · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Interesting audio ride-along on an airboat doing S&R... npr.org and click "Listen"

Boomyal · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Originally posted by KaGee: 

Hurricane Katrina was a national tragedy -- not just in the number of lives lost or the amount of physical damage, but also in the failure of people to do what is right when no one is looking. 

Click to expand...

I've always been taught that "Character" is made up of what one does when no one is looking. It is obvious to me who has it and who lacks it. If we would consider that more when at the ballot box, we might just get better leadership. Instead some in society are more concerned that elected leaders "represent" America. As long as we continue to elect "leadership" based only upon their race or gender, then we can expect more of the same.

Ooh, yer treadin on thin ice here KaGee. The PC Police are zeroing in on ya!

They're gonna send you back to Diversity Training. Now repeat after me; "Diversity trumps all"!

Elmer Fudge · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Originally posted by JB: There will come a time when more of the truth is known and many, including a few iboats members, will really be embarrassed to read what they said when they had only the grains of truth that the national media chose to feed them.

I quite agree, though i fear that some are simply too arrogant to be embarrassed.

jtexas · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Originally posted by JB: There will come a time when more of the truth is known and many, including a few iboats members, will really be embarrassed to read what they said when they had only the grains of truth that the national media chose to feed them.

luckily the rest of y'all have too much class to call attention to it.

Limited-Time · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Originally posted by JB: There will come a time when more of the truth is known and many, including a few iboats members, will really be embarrassed to read what they said when they had only the grains of truth that the national media chose to feed them.

Agreed JB, But as was stated before the deafest ears belong to those who choose not to hear. Or those defending their perception of reality so loudly that the only voice they can hear is their own.

imported_Curmudgeon · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

There will come a time when more of the truth is known .. Sadly, I think that's wishful thinking. Politics and racial agendas will preclude any meaningful and objective examination of the causes of the human devastation .. what we'll hear of more of the bovine fecal matter we're getting now, the only difference will be the channel it's on.

dogsdad · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

It's funny how the dividers (Kennedy and his Kommrades) did not swing into action after 9-11 for quite a few months, yet this time, they were at it before the break in the levy was even repaired...I think it's safe to say that when a certain party or individual begins to try to capitalize on death and tragedy in this manner---and nearly before the dead have even assumed room temperature, most, if not all they say can be discounted. What a bunch of WHACKOS!

-dd-

Ralph 123 · Sep 6, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Well they all knew were the total fault for this one was dogsdad and the media made going after Bush for it and protecting an incompetent Dem Mayor and Governor a layup for them.... This was/is also a concern this could hurt the whole idea of a woman president.

Ralph 123 · Sep 7, 2005

Re: More Katrina lies

Louisiana Officials Could Lose the Katrina Blame Game By Jeff Johnson CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer September 07, 2005 (CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration is being widely criticized for the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the allegedly inadequate protection for "the big one" that residents had long feared would hit New Orleans. But research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding. In December of 1995, the Orleans Levee Board, the local government entity that oversees the levees and floodgates designed to protect New Orleans and the surrounding areas from rising waters, bragged in a supplement to the Times-Picayune newspaper about federal money received to protect the region from hurricanes. "In the past four years, the Orleans Levee Board has built up its arsenal. The additional defenses are so critical that Levee Commissioners marched into Congress and brought back almost $60 million to help pay for protection," the pamphlet declared. "The most ambitious flood-fighting plan in generations was drafted. An unprecedented $140 million building campaign launched 41 projects." The levee board promised Times-Picayune readers that the "few manageable gaps" in the walls protecting the city from Mother Nature's waters "will be sealed within four years (1999) completing our circle of protection." But less than a year later, that same levee board was denied the authority to refinance its debts. Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle "repeatedly faulted the Levee Board for the way it awards contracts, spends money and ignores public bid laws," according to the Times-Picayune. The newspaper quoted Kyle as saying that the board was near bankruptcy and should not be allowed to refinance any bonds, or issue new ones, until it submitted an acceptable plan to achieve solvency. Blocked from financing the local portion of the flood fighting efforts, the levee board was unable to spend the federal matching funds that had been designated for the project. By 1998, Louisiana's state government had a $2 billion construction budget, but less than one tenth of one percent of that -- $1.98 million -- was dedicated to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. State appropriators were able to find $22 million that year to renovate a new home for the Louisiana Supreme Court and $35 million for one phase of an expansion to the New Orleans convention center. The following year, the state legislature did appropriate $49.5 million for levee improvements, but the proposed spending had to be allocated by the State Bond Commission before the projects could receive financing. The commission placed the levee improvements in the "Priority 5" category, among the projects least likely to receive full or immediate funding. The Orleans Levee Board was also forced to defer $3.7 million in capital improvement projects in its 2001 budget after residents of the area rejected a proposed tax increase to fund its expanding operations. Long term deferments to nearly 60 projects, based on the revenue shortfall, totaled $47 million worth of work, including projects to shore up the floodwalls. No new state money had been allocated to the area's hurricane protection projects as of October of 2002, leaving the available 65 percent federal matching funds for such construction untouched. "The problem is money is real tight in Baton Rouge right now," state Sen. Francis Heitmeier (D-Algiers) told the Times-Picayune. "We have to do with what we can get." Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Mark Drennen told local officials that, if they reduced their requests for state funding in other, less critical areas, they would have a better chance of getting the requested funds for levee improvements. The newspaper reported that in 2000 and 2001, "the Bond Commission has approved or pledged millions of dollars for projects in Jefferson Parish, including construction of the Tournament Players Club golf course near Westwego, the relocation of Hickory Avenue in Jefferson (Parish) and historic district development in Westwego." There is no record of such discretionary funding requests being reduced or withdrawn, but in October of 2003, nearby St. Charles Parish did receive a federal grant for $475,000 to build bike paths on top of its levees. Earlier this year, the levee board did complete a $2.5 million restoration project. After months of delays, officials rolled away fencing to reveal the restored 1962 Mardi Gras fountain in a four-acre park featuring a new 600-foot plaza between famous Lakeshore Drive and the sea wall. Financing for the renovation came from a property tax passed by New Orleans voters in 1983. The tax, which generates more than $6 million each year for the levee board, is dedicated to capital projects. Levee board officials defended more than $600,000 in cost overruns for the Mardi Gras fountain project, according to the Times-Picayune, "citing their responsibility to maintain the vast green space they have jurisdiction over along the lakefront." Democrats blame Bush administration Congressional Democrats have been quick to blame the White House for poor preparation and then a weak response related to Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, joined two of his colleagues from the Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees Tuesday in a letter requesting hearings into what the trio called a "woefully inadequate" federal response. "Hurricane Katrina was an unstoppable force of nature," Waxman wrote along with Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). "But it is plain that the federal government could have done more, sooner, to respond to the immediate survival needs of the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi. "In fact, different choices for funding and planning to protect New Orleans may even have mitigated the flooding of the city," the Democrats added. But Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) suggested that Waxman "overlooks many other questions that need to be asked, and prematurely faults the federal government for all governmental shortcomings; in fact, local and state government failures are not mentioned at all in [Waxman's] letter." Davis wrote that Waxman's questions about issues such as the lack of federal plans for evacuating residents without access to vehicles and the alleged failure of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure basic communications capacity for first responders might "prematurely paint the picture that these are solely, or even primarily, federal government responsibilities. "This is not the time to attack or defend government entities for political purposes. Rather, this is a time to do the oversight we're charged with doing," Davis continued. "Our Committee will aggressively investigate what went wrong and what went right. We'll do it by the book, and let the chips fall where they may." The House Government Reform Committee will begin hearings on federal disaster preparations and the response to Hurricane Katrina the week of Sept. 12. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is schedule to hold hearings on the economic recovery from Katrina beginning Wednesday morning.

More Katrina lies

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