Issue Date: 10/3/05
John Asbury doesn't see the big picture on Hurricane Katrina
By Victor Chabala, Administration of Justice
- Page 1 of 1
In response to John Asbury's Sept 19 article on Hurricane Katrina criticizing Bush, here's a few facts for him: 1) New Orleans had been begging for money to fix the levees since about 1998 or 1999. Bill Clinton was president then. As for the criticism of Bush going on vacation, notice the term "working vacation." Furthermore, Clinton spent more abroad than in the U.S. during his second term.
2) Bush could not legally send in federal aid until the Louisiana governor and/or the New Orleans mayor requested aid-and Bush was practically begging them to sign the required paperwork before Katrina landed. Does Asbury think Bush should have stood in front of the hurricane and said, "I command you to stop?"
2) There was a mandatory evacuation order before Katrina hit.
3) There were plenty of school buses that could have been used to evacuate those without personal vehicles. That was art of Louisiana's disaster plan.
4) Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans didn't use the school buses because they weren't good enough. He was holding out for Greyhound buses (refer to http://tinyurl.com/c6ase).
Here's a direct quote from Mayor Nagin from the above Web site: "I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
Hint: the Greyhound buses first had to get to New Orleans while the school buses were already there.
5) At http://tinyurl.com/bq48l, we see that the Red Cross was ready to go with all the supplies and Gov. Kathleen Blanco's bureaucrats blocked aid supplies from going in.
I really shouldn't be surprised at liberals blaming Bush for the disaster. After all, liberals would blame Bush if they so much as stubbed their toe.
2) Bush could not legally send in federal aid until the Louisiana governor and/or the New Orleans mayor requested aid-and Bush was practically begging them to sign the required paperwork before Katrina landed. Does Asbury think Bush should have stood in front of the hurricane and said, "I command you to stop?"
2) There was a mandatory evacuation order before Katrina hit.
3) There were plenty of school buses that could have been used to evacuate those without personal vehicles. That was art of Louisiana's disaster plan.
4) Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans didn't use the school buses because they weren't good enough. He was holding out for Greyhound buses (refer to http://tinyurl.com/c6ase).
Here's a direct quote from Mayor Nagin from the above Web site: "I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
Hint: the Greyhound buses first had to get to New Orleans while the school buses were already there.
5) At http://tinyurl.com/bq48l, we see that the Red Cross was ready to go with all the supplies and Gov. Kathleen Blanco's bureaucrats blocked aid supplies from going in.
I really shouldn't be surprised at liberals blaming Bush for the disaster. After all, liberals would blame Bush if they so much as stubbed their toe.