AMERICA'S MAYORS YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

By: Devvy
September 6, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

As someone who works at home, I have the advantage of being able to monitor cable's 24/7 programming. I have watched every disaster, child abductions that end in horror (Jessie Lunsford), and events like Ruby Ridge, Waco, TWA Flight 800, OKC, 9/11 and Katrina unfold to their end and into the future. Most Americans work outside the home and don't have the opportunity to get the full story on many events; they get bits and pieces on the local nightly news and the drivel from ABC, NBC and CBS.
The Katrina story will be written about for a long time to come. The images blasted around the world by cable TV have been beyond words at times and impossible for most people to reconcile with 'life in the United States of America.' In New Orleans (NO) tens of thousands of humans crushed into the convention center and Superdome which turned into a staging area for murders (6), rapes (12), mountains of garbage, fecal matter, stench and rage born of hunger, thirst and despair. Katrina hit the morning of August 29th. Within 48 hours in NO there was violence, looting, people dying from hunger, heat and lack of medical attention. Americans were trapped like animals and the predators came out in force. Hospitals were operating under the most deplorable conditions imaginable; words are simply inadequate. By Saturday, September 3rd, 200 NO police officers had quit, two had committed suicide from the stress; by Monday, September 5, 2005, the force was missing almost 500 of them, gone for whatever reason. Every major news web site has been putting out coverage non stop and the stories range from heart breaking to pathetic behavior by politicians.
There has been some extremely ugly rhetoric since Katrina hit. Opportunist race mongers have come out with their usual drivel that the poor of New Orleans didn't get the help they deserved because they are black Americans. What bilge. I have seen countless "white" people in the same squalid conditions in the convention center and the Superdome. It wasn't just "blacks." The Katrina story as it relates to NO is due to many failures, not the least comes from the stupidity and ineptness of an unprepared mayor, who happens to be black. There was no leadership on the ground, absolutely no communications coordination or even a headquarters for that crucial tool, only panic by city fathers and an overwhelmed police force. A week down the road clearly shows that not as many people as thought evacuated before the storm hit. A few hundred thousand stayed behind to "ride it out." I watched one couple on the tube who happen to be black, who did survive, say they are angry at themselves for not leaving because they should have listened to the warning to get out.
For Heaven's sake, of course America is seeing a lot of black Americans suffering in New Orleans on the tube. According to the statistics I could find, 72% of the population pre-Katrina just happens to be a different skin color than white. If the television coverage shows mostly black people doing the looting and committing violence, does that make everyone racists? I think that Mr. Leighton Levy, a black man himself, wrote about the robbing and looting in the most honest column I've seen on the subject; read here. As a matter of fact, if you click here, you can see a film clip from MSNBC with a shocked reporter watching New Orleans police looting a Wal Mart. Yes, all America can watch police officers stealing and they are black. Does this make me racist for making this fact known?
Let me give you some facts here that you may or may not be aware of to help understand this human tragedy. Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on Florida August 24th as a category one; it hit on Thursday and dropped as much as 20" of rain as it passed over the state. The state was put on alert beforehand:
"We expect the impacts to South Florida to begin late [Thursday] afternoon with squalls and surge," Nelson said during a briefing in Tallahassee. A 3- to 5-foot storm surge is predicted, said Ben Nelson, state meteorologist. "Now is the time to prepare," urged Mike DeLorenzo, chief of Florida's Emergency Response Team. "Make sure your individual family preparedness plan is up to date."
Florida gets lots of hurricanes. They are right in the path of hurricanes. Everyone who lives there knows that hurricanes are dangerous and you have to take them seriously. Most residents seem to take the warnings seriously, those who do not usually end up in dire straits or dead. I think too many people got too "used to" the warnings and simply didn't calculate the strength of a cat four hurricane. In the case of New Orleans and the coastline clear to Mobile, Alabama, people living in that region also know that they live in harm's way every hurricane season and that they will take the brunt of the storm and ocean surges. They choose to live and work there anyway hoping "the big one" will never hit during their life time. Russian Roulette.
After Katrina hit Florida, meteorologists on every cable channel began warning that Katrina could head for the gulf area and that it was gaining in strength; those warnings began as early as Friday, August 26th. These experts weren't mincing words in their warnings. By Saturday the 27th these meteorologists were on every cable network telling people that Katrina would come on shore as a cat five with New Orleans right in the cross hairs. If NO got lucky they said, the storm might veer slightly to the east. I watched Joe Bastardi on FOX explain that this was the big one and people had better get out of its way. When Katrina made land, it was reduced to a cat four - deadly.
A few days before Katrina hit, the cable airwaves were full of interviews with Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and other gas bags. On August 28th NO Mayor C. Ray Nagin was on the tube, "We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event." Nagin was asking everyone to evacuate; the population of NO and surrounding parishes was estimated at 1.2 million. By Sunday, with the realization that Katrina was going to hit NO either directly or just to the East, caused Blanco and Nagin to get back on the air waves begging people to leave and those who couldn't leave, get to the Superdome to stay over night and ride out the hurricane. Early Monday evening some of the first pictures came in that simply took your breath away. From New Orleans to Mobile, nothing but destruction and death. Then came the levee breaks Tuesday morning and New Orleans simply drowned as everyone knew someday would happen.
Just consider these three e-mails below sent by a friend to him from those in the affected areas:
"Christie and I spoke with our son just a couple of hours ago. He is in the LA National Guard and is in New Orleans. We were elated to hear his voice, but distressed by the news he related. He has been in the CBD since getting to NO. Wednesday night his squad was holding in the NO Convention Center when they were attacked by a large group carrying AK-47s. They had to fire fight their way out and made it to the Superdome. He said they have been receiving fire the entire time he has been in the CBD. This morning as they made their way from the Superdome to Bourbon/Canal area, he spent 6 clips of ammo protecting himself.
"Once reaching the area, they realized that the Riverwalk was ablaze. He says that there are bodies everywhere and most have died from gunfire, not the storm. Those of us who know this element of NO have ignored it in the past and stayed away from the areas they frequent, but now they are trying to kill our young men and women who are making an effort to save those need help.
"Please keep these young people in your thoughts and prayers! And let's question politicians why they think that is necessary to keep us in the dark about what is going on in NO. Their denials make me want to puke! Our son said that although he was trained to do what he is now doing, he would have never believed that he would be doing it in LA. It is very perplexing for him and all those in his squad. Thanks for listening."
Next:
Just an update. The National Guard is in New Orleans, as are several hundred SWAT teams including ours. I was there today at Touro Hospital rescuing patients, nurses, and doctors. We got shot at from the time we got off the GNO until the time we got across the bridge. These pictures that the news is putting out are nothing. There aren't words to describe the chaos over there. We came in through Westwego and there were nothing but Wildlife and Fisheries trucks at Bayou Signette. As we crossed the Harvey canal, we saw what must have been hundreds of SWAT trucks and teams. The mall on the westbank had police in the parking lot using it as a staging area. When we returned the mall was on fire and a riot had broken out in the parking lot.
"We would have helped but we were escorting critical patients to Alexandria. It's ten times worse than what the TV is showing. There are several guys on the SWAT team with me that were in Iraq during the initial invasion and all the mayhem that ensued afterwards. They said that what we saw in N.O. today was ten times worse than anything they had ever seen in Iraq. It's scary to see all of this. Just to let you know, the military is on the way BIG TIME. I've been told that even the LAPD SWAT teams are on the way with their helicopters. I hope that everyone is safe and look forward to seeing everyone again."
And, finally:
"Do not send "stuff". Donate money. We just got power back. I'm in Baton Rouge. If you are not here, you are not getting a picture of the true situation. The national news is not reporting the reality. We are fine. Minimal damage to our house other than one hell of a mess with trees down. We just found out that all of Pat's family in Gulfport survived. Houses torn up. Can't get to them, but they're damned tough country folk and will make it. We have friends coming who lost everything who will be staying with us for an indeterminate time. We're gonna leave the light on for them. We expect the house to be OVER-FULL by nightfall. Many wonderful things have happened. People are stepping up to help.
"No one who used to live in N.O. has a job or a home. Freezer trucks are being brought in to stack the dead in. An extra 100,000 people are now in Baton Rouge. It is expected to double in size in a month. That is a problem. I was told by the police yesterday that you should not move around town without a gun to protect yourself. Some of the NO gangs have come here. They are out of drugs and maniacal. Thankfully, the local police are taking a HARD-LINE stand against this. There are some serious problems from the low-lifes. Baton Rouge is ARMED and it is dangerous. Drug-crazed lowlifes attacked a hospital to steal drugs. The situation is deteriorating rapidly.
"No one who lived on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain has a job right now. A few still have homes but the roads are impassable. The FAA has made the whole area a no-fly zone so we can't even go evacuate people we know can get to a GA airport. This makes 9-11 and the Tsunami look like Romper Room.
"The lowlife scum in N.O. are shooting at the rescue choppers and shooting the good blacks. Rescue operations have been suspended as a result. I see no way to stop the rioters without killing 'em. That means an awful lot of good black citizens will die when they otherwise could be rescued. I see no resolution. I suspect 50-100,000 deaths--maybe more if they keep shooting at the helicopters. I suspect N.O. will not be rebuilt. Few are yet willing to admit it.

"We are fine but my income has just gone to zero. It took 6 months to recover from Andrew in 1992. This will be MUCH worse. The good news is that we are all alive and well and my airplanes are undamaged... if only we could use them to go help folks. I'm really busy and probably will not be back on-line for a while."

A few minutes ago, I watched live coverage of a woman crying her eyes out. She's walking out of the city with her dog and they refuse to allow her to take her beloved pet with her. The trauma isn't bad enough, now the "law enforcement" is refusing to allow people to keep their pets with them? In a time of deep stress, dogs and cats and let's face it, they become part of our families - our little friends help to take away life's woes. They give us unconditional love and in such horrible times, not only is that woman's dog her dear friend, he is big enough to help protect her. I don't blame that women and if it were me, I would keep walking and tell them to go ahead and shoot me. Think I'm kidding? Treating suffering Americans like criminals when they've lost everything except their beloved pet is beyond the pale.

Never have I watched such a mess unfold. Never have I seen such stupidity by city fathers. Every mayor of NO and every governor of the gulf states have known for decades that a Katrina strength would eventually hit. Every single mayor from NO to Mobile, along with every single person who lives along that coast - they all know that they live right where hurricanes come ashore. It's a decision they have made - a risky decision. Within twenty four hours, mayors in three states, Governor Blanco and a million people began screaming for help from FEMA and the federal government. FEMA is an evil, evil organization and I will never have anything to do with them. Besides, it's not your responsibility to rebuild my house should I have chosen to build it within a mile of the water in Gulfport or any other city along the gulf coast. It's called personal responsibility.
The response to Katrina by the insidious Department of Homeland Security headed up by another inept public servant, Michael Chertoff, has been nothing short of gross incompetence. Forget Homeland Security, it's a waste of time and money and must be abolished because America doesn't need it. While all the bickering and finger pointing was going on, the violence, starvation and conditions in NO escalated along with the deaths. News anchors interviewed the ravaged areas of Gulfport and Biloxi with shell shocked residents crying for water and help from FEMA and the feds. FEMA is not a search and rescue operation. They are there to arrive after the fact, help people assess damage and apply for low cost loans to rebuild homes. Then people started screaming for the military. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a shortage of National Guard because a large number of them are deployed in that unconstitutional quagmire called "nation building" over in Iraq. The politicians stumbled all over themselves on that issue, but people saw through it and were enraged. Finally, people were beginning to see part of the bigger picture.
While I have my problems with some of the programming on FOX, CNN and MSNBC, in the case of Katrina, all I can say is thank you to all the reporters and news anchors for their tireless help for the victims of Katrina. I sincerely believe that if these cable networks had not been on the ground from the git-go reporting the horrors unfolding in three states, more people would have died and chaos would still be going on whole scale. Because of their relentless coverage and exposure of the horror going on in NO, by Thursday morning, September 1st, in came our military (all branches) in full force; National Guard coming home from Iraq were diverted to the storm ravaged areas. It was impressive, they got the job done and are still on the job. Truly, all these reporters and big name anchors for the cable networks have really done a terrific job under the worst of circumstances.
To say there was a breakdown in communications from hour one after Katrina hit is a gross understatement. On Friday, September 2nd, the Mayor of NO, who was clearly out of his league before Katrina even hit, blew a gasket on CNN that night when he screamed that the federal response was too little, too late: "Now get off your asses and let's do something and fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country." Mayor Nagin was in panic mode as soon as Katrina hit and he has remained clueless ever since.
Beginning on Thursday, September 1st, the military began evacuating the Superdome and convention center. People who have lost everything have now been forcibly sent to Houston, Lubbock, some to Arizona and even as far away as Massachusetts! For the love of God, talk about uprooting and destroying people's families and shoving them into cities and towns where they have absolutely no family. This is what happens when there is no plan in place. Many have questioned why the people herded into the middle of the flooded area weren't removed by the military right away to dry ground using available resources? For the love of God, there are nearby military bases and air national guard locations where tent cities could have been set up right away, get people taken care of and go from there.
I know for a fact that many who had boats and other floating devices were there the day after the levee breaks who wanted to help move people out of the flooded area onto dry ground, but were barred from entering the city! Many of these rescuers are ex military, yet they were treated with contempt and turned away. My husband spent 27 years in the Army - all 27 years in the Corps of Engineers. He has been simply astonished at the chaos due to lack of planning, the stupidity in not beginning an immediate evacuation to outlying areas; he also said the destruction should not come as a surprise because of those levees.
Officials at all levels of government have known for years that New Orleans was basically a sitting duck just waiting for "the big one" to hit. They were warned repeatedly. Congress after Congress for more than three decades has continued to cut the budget for the Corps of Engineers to build up those levees. That is a fact. The budget cuts year after year by Congress with the approval of each sitting president. It was just a matter of time and now the results of not taking mother nature seriously are almost beyond comprehension. The long term consequences are going to be horrendous. That's just New Orleans. How about all those parishes and major towns, Biloxi and Gulfport - gone, destroyed, no longer there? The ravages of Katrina are far, far worse than the people who live in hurricane country could ever imagine, even in their worst nightmares. However, they all knew it could happen during any hurricane season, yet many chose to build homes, businesses and big casinos right on the water anyway.
I have been to NO several times and it was a beautiful city. There is a great deal of talk about rebuilding NO, but I hope to God the city fathers and the residents re-think that whole proposition. NO can get hit again next week by another cat four hurricane or next year when the first one of the season hits. Are you really going to rebuild just as the city was before and set up an entire population for the same end results? The same applies to Gulfport, Biloxi and all the parishes in between. Should you rebuild houses, businesses and huge casinos within one mile of the water of the Gulf of Mexico and hope you don't get hit again by anything other than a pesky tropical storm?
There is no money in the U.S. Treasury, so Congress just borrowed another $10.5 billion (first installment) for Katrina; the amount will probably go close to $100 billion dollars of borrowed debt. Does it make any sense to rebuild right in the path of the same kind of monster that can hit at the beginning of the hurricane season next year or two times next season? I know we're talking about people's homes, their lives and my heart has been heavy watching Katrina and it's destruction. I've seen all the interviews of victims on the tube and watched the nightmare probably more than most because I work at home. These are decisions that the folks in those areas need to consider in the weeks and months ahead. What about the rest of the country and natural disasters?
Mayors of every city and town in America have been warned: you had better get your act together and prepare your populations for an event as crippling as Katrina because many of you live on borrowed time.
New Orleans' population was estimated at 1.2 million. In the end, we may see more than 10,000 fatalities and thousands of dead cats, dogs, birds and other little animals floating in the water. How about Los Angeles? A whopping 14 million people live in that basin which sits on earth quake faults. I have been to LA many, many times and every time I'm there, I pray the 9.0 or 10.1 quake doesn't hit. Those who live in hurricane belts have days of warning, earthquakes give none until the second they hit.
How about the San Francisco Bay Area with 8 million people packed in as densely as LA? I used to live in the Bay Area and have been through a number of earthquakes, it's pretty scary. Remember the large one that hit in 1989? The damage in human life and infrastructure was horrific, but the "big one" is coming and when it hits - unless those mayors all around the Bay Area get together and plan - the destruction will be beyond words.
Just imagine trying to evacuate LA tomorrow if a 9.5 earthquake hit? I guarantee you, the aftermath of that would make Katrina look mild. There are earth quake faults all over this country. There have been dam breaks, i.e. the St. Francis Dam, nicknamed "Mullholland Dam," which broke in 1928 in LA killing more than 500 people. That was about 13.5 million inhabitants ago. What would happen if the Hoover Dam went for whatever reason, terror or natural? Can't happen? Check this site. Let's not forget the Northridge quake of 1989 in the LA area. Let me repeat myself: Tragedy happens in a heart beat and it can happen anywhere, anytime.
Is your city or town ready for disaster? I submit to you that America is as unprepared as was New Orleans when Katrina hit. Those folks who live in the area between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama would have fared much, much better had they had the organized militia step right in the minute the rain stopped from Katrina. The Kidd household is prepared for the worst. Having lived in Colorado where you wake up one morning with six feet of snow on your front porch and the city virtually shut down by a blizzard, one learns the value of being prepared. We keep food and bottled water to last at least two weeks. It's a drag, but I keep the process up even though I live in a huge, upscale planned development in Sacramento, California. Even though we are prepared, I can tell you, probably less than one in 25,000 in this area is prepared for anything but withdrawals if the local McDonald's closes down.
I hope everyone will contact their mayor and ask them what are the contingency plans for any kind of mass disaster and then demand that the states revitalize their militia. I urge you to become part of the process in reinstituting constitutional government with the organized militia. Dr. Vieira goes into it in great detail here. Americans need to get on the same sheet of music, i.e. United we stand. However, that isn't going to happen until people are fully educated about government. Recently, a column appeared on the militia and I asked Dr. Vieira to comment on it as he is the foremost expert on constitutional militia in this country besides the central bank. Edwin's comment about that column is as follows:
"Thanks, Devvy. I have seen this. Unfortunately, these people have not done their historical homework. For example, there is NO example in pre-constitutional Colonial or State laws where the Militia was subordinate or reported to or worked through sheriffs. The office of "sheriff" is NOT a constitutional office. The word does not even appear in the Constitution,. NO sheriff is above the laws of the State in which he holds office. And as far as I can tell, the office of sheriff can be abolished in any State with no constitutional consequence. This is why sometimes I almost despair of accomplishing anything in this country. These people's hearts are in the right place...but they operate on the principle that they can simply make up the law to fit some romantic, historical notions that suit their fancy. Another example: the suggestion that the Militia could be used "worldwide". Where is that authority in the Constitution? Then, "the Militia's General Staff would report to Congress." Does not the Constitution make the president the commander in chief of the militia? Unless these people intend a comprehensive amendment of the Constitution (which I doubt) these suggestions are worse than hopeless."

I cannot stress strongly enough to every American how important it is to get the organized militia back up and running in all 50 states. Dr. Edwin Vieira is spear heading this crucial and vital effort. We can all see what happens when people depend on big government to save their bacon. We can all see that our best hope for survival in any disaster is we the people and the organized militia is an absolute integral part of the plan. No way would I allow myself to be herded into some sports facility, then routed on a bus hundreds of miles away from my home area and transferred again to a state a thousand miles away from where I called home. What madness! Had the organized militias been in place in New Orleans and in every parish and town along the gulf coast, I guarantee you, we would have not seen the horror that has unfolded. Our fellow countrymen and women who live along the gulf coast would not have gone without food or water for almost a week. Do you want to be forced to leave your home area and bussed around the country and dropped a thousand miles from family? Think about it and please act now. Just take a look at the Mayor of New Orleans. If the results of Katrina in NO is Nagin's definition of planning ahead and being prepared, God help us all.