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September 3, 2005 at 00:15:04
How Republican Philosophy and Bush Policy Killed Victims of the New Orleans Levee Flood by Rob Kall Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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One of the most core principles of Republican philosophy is to get rid of big government, and worse, to disparage all sorts of government. But emergency planning is a government job and function. FEMA is a government organization. Stockpiling of emergency resources is the responsibility of government.
The way Republicans not very subtly attempt to dismantle government and the agencies of government is to cut taxes and starve it. Republican philosopher Grover Norquist said he wanted to starve government so it was small enough to drown in a bathtub. Drown was a sadly ironic word. The fact is, the Republicans have, with majorities in the house and senate and with Bush in the Whitehouse, been very successful at cutting taxes and starving government. They’ve cut back on program after program, including FEMA.
Another corporation-friendly Republican policy is privatization—taking government programs and outsourcing them to private industry. Early in Bush’s first term, FEMA was designated as an agency that would be privatized.
To make matters worse, FEMA was downgraded and almost dismantled as it was nebulously assimilated by the Homeland Security Agency, with FEMA employees directed NOT to become involved in disaster preparedness functions. Supposedly, a new directorate of preparedness was supposed to be established. I guess they didn’t get THAT prepared in time for this disaster. But they did cut the funds to FEMA and massively reduced its effectiveness. A political appointee was chosen to head it and it has become clear that he is a total incompetent. But that’s Bush’s style, chosing politically loyal people over qualified, excellent candidates. We can expect an equally bad performance from his supreme court nominee.
In These Times reports, “In June 2004, FEMA privatized its hurricane disaster plan for New Orleans, contracting the work to the Baton Rouge, La., firm Innovative Emergency Management (IEM) whose motto is “Managing Risk in a Complex World.”
One blog reports that after Katrina hit, IEM removed the press release announcing their contract from their website. Privatization often means giving the job to the lowest bidder, not the best provider of services.
the Dallas Morning News reported, In a post-Sept. 11 reorganization, FEMA joined 21 other agencies in a new Homeland Security Department, stripped of the Cabinet rank that had allowed it to report directly to the president. And, in a further department shuffle in July, FEMA lost its historic mission of working with state and local governments on preparedness plans before disaster strikes.
"It was a very powerful organization, with very, very seasoned people - and then 9/11 came," said Bob Freitag, who spent 25 years at FEMA, rising to federal coordinating officer.
Freitag, who now teaches at the University of Washington, and other emergency management officials contend that with terrorism prevention identified as the top Homeland Security mission, natural disaster preparedness slipped in attention and resources.
Former FEMA Director James Lee Witt urged Congress last year to restore the agency's independence, saying he was "extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and to respond to disasters has been sharply eroded."
Homeland Security "has taken away people, has taken away money, has taken away power and authority," Freitag said.
The agency, which doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in preparedness grants to state and local responders, has lost that function to Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness.
The Bush administration also canceled other FEMA programs, including a Clinton administration-era disaster mitigation effort known as Project Impact.
The shift in the emphasis to terrorism is another Republican philophical approach, based on working on people’s fears about safety and security. This is a key element in the marketing of George Bush and the Republican values system.
GovExec.com is government's business news daily and the premier Web site for federal managers and executives. Subscribers are high-ranking civilian and military officials who are responsible for defending the nation and carrying out the many laws that define the government's role in our economy and society. In an article titled, Ex-Army Corps officials say budget cuts imperiled flood mitigation effortsAs levees burst and floods continued to spread across areas hit by Hurricane Katrina yesterday, a former chief of the Army Corps of Engineers disparaged senior White House officials for "not understanding" that key elements of the region's infrastructure needed repair and rebuilding.
Mike Parker, the former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, was forced to resign in 2002 over budget disagreements with the White House. He clashed with Mitch Daniels, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which sets the administration's annual budget goals.
"One time I took two pieces of steel into Mitch Daniels' office," Parker recalled. "They were exactly the same pieces of steel, except one had been under water in a Mississippi lock for 30 years, and the other was new. The first piece was completely corroded and falling apart because of a lack of funding. I said, 'Mitch, it doesn't matter if a terrorist blows the lock up or if it falls down because it disintegrates -- either way it's the same effect, and if we let it fall down, we have only ourselves to blame.' It made no impact on him whatsoever."
Republicans are pro-business. Another cause of the disaster in New Orleans was excessive development of land that had been acting as a protective barrier to the storm surges and flooding. Land development weakened this natural protection.
Republicans argue that supporting business leads to jobs. Sadly, now, there are no businesses in New Orleans. There are hundreds of thousands of unemployed people. Now, not only your gasoline prices will go up, but also all the things you buy that it takes trucks to deliver.
The Republicans backed Bush wholeheartedly on going into war. This took money and national guard resources that made it harder to both prepare and to react effectively and quickly. There are also far too many democrats who are still supporting keeping the troops in Iraq. They are misguided, feeling they have to stand behind the votes they cast supporting the war, even though they were lied to and told about threats that did not exist by Bush and his people.
What you can do: Vote republicans out of office and replace them with true independents, progressive democrats(not DLC centrists who are no different than Republicans) green candidates... Even if you like your congressman and senators, they have to go. The mindset in the Republican party is lockstep obedience to the leaders—Bush, Delay, Hastert, Frist—and even “independent” legislators are not independent enough. They toe the line too often on too many votes. The only way to rescue the USA is to clear out enough Republican congressmen and Senators so the Republicans are no longer the majority in the house and senate. At that point, Bush and Cheney can be impeached. With a democratic majority in the senate, a republican will no longer be in the Whitehouse.
It is important that Bush and Cheney are not only impeached but also tried, convicted and jailed for their crimes against the US and humanity, along with Tom DeLay and some of the perpetrators of vote theft, including Katherine Harris of the 2000 Florida election and Ken Blackwell of the 2004 Ohio murder of the democratic voting process.
We must reverse the process of privatization and destruction of government and rebuild the resources of FEMA and countless other Republican-gutted agencies that serve the public welfare. We must immediately fire the policital appointee flunky incompetents that Bush put into office. That’s the way we start healing the disease that is afflicting America, which the disaster in New Orleans is just a symptom of.
Bottom line—it’s not enough to blame Bush. He was inspired, directed, enabled and empowered by Republican philosophy and Republican legislators. 
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Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:55:02 PM  (0+)
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:55:56 PM (0+)
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:55:59 PM (0+)
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:56:04 PM (0+)
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:56:08 PM (0+)
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Add the legal grounds - Bush signed it himself !
Take a look at the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan (NRP). The NRP, signed by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, dictates the following: "ALL PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES UNDER THE STAFFORD ACT ARE CONSIDERED INCIDENTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE." (NRP, 7) At such point a disaster or emergency is declared, according to the NRP, the federal government can and has a duty to supercede protocol when it means preservation of life and assets: "Federal departments and agencies are EXPECTED to provide initial and/or ongoing response, when warranted, under their own authority and funding; alert, notification, pre-positioning and timely delivery of resources; proactive support for catastrophic or potentially catastrophic incidents using protocols for expedited delivery of resources. (NRP, 6) Further: 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." None of this was followed. As of Monday September 6, Mississippi mayors were calling CNN to state that they'd still received no help from FEMA because FEMA alleged paperwork wasn't turned it. Furthermore, the NRP covers responsibility for troop deployment, stating "The Secretary of Defense authorizes Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) for domestic incidents as directed by the President or when consistent with military readiness operations and appropriate under the circumstances and the law." And authorizes immediate action: " Imminently serious conditions resulting from any civil emergency may require immediate action to save lives, prevent human suffering, or to mitigate property damage." Finally, the NRP gives the President a fiduciary duty during said times of crisis:"The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance."(NRP, 15) This is not some archaic law, or theory. This was their written and signed Plan. What exactly do people not understand about the federal government's Constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense? by Anne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Thursday, Sep 8, 2005 at 5:56:11 PM (0+)
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