LA Turned Down Feds' Help, Documents Show

[Shady]

La. Turned Down Feds' Help, Documents Show

A ranking Louisiana health official turned down federal offers to help move or evacuate patients as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, a newly released document shows.

But the state's top medical officer said Louisiana coordinated with the federal Health and Human Services Department in evacuating hospitals and nursing homes after Katrina hit.

Two days before the Aug. 29 storm, HHS was told by the state's health emergency preparedness director that the help was not needed, according to an e-mail released Monday by a Senate panel investigating the government's response to Katrina.

The state official, identified in the Aug. 27 e-mail as Dr. Roseanne Pratts, "responded no, that they do not require anything at this time and they would be in touch if and when they needed assistance," wrote HHS senior policy analyst Erin Fowler.

Link

Some of you owe President Bush a great big apology. And it isn't the first time.

[moderateamericain]

ive known that the Louisiana government and Governer Blanco stalled on this for a long time.

[Black Dog]

GAO Faults Federal Government for Katrina Response

Despite plenty of advance disaster warning and decade-old recommendations on preparedness, the federal government failed to exercise adequate leadership in response to Hurricane Katrina and was slow to determine the scope of the catastrophe, the Government Accountability Office reported today.

In a preliminary report submitted to a House committee investigating the hurricane response, Comptroller General David M. Walker pointed to a failure of federal leadership as Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast last year, with neither Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff nor any of his deputies stepping in to lead the relief effort.

Also: number of times Bush mentioned Katrina in last night SOTU address? Zero.

[Argus]

La. Turned Down Feds' Help, Documents Show

A ranking Louisiana health official turned down federal offers to help move or evacuate patients as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, a newly released document shows.

But the state's top medical officer said Louisiana coordinated with the federal Health and Human Services Department in evacuating hospitals and nursing homes after Katrina hit.

Two days before the Aug. 29 storm, HHS was told by the state's health emergency preparedness director that the help was not needed, according to an e-mail released Monday by a Senate panel investigating the government's response to Katrina.

The state official, identified in the Aug. 27 e-mail as Dr. Roseanne Pratts, "responded no, that they do not require anything at this time and they would be in touch if and when they needed assistance," wrote HHS senior policy analyst Erin Fowler.

Link

Some of you owe President Bush a great big apology. And it isn't the first time.

Why? Bush was not condemned for not helping to evacuate Louisiana. Bush was condemned for ignoring repeated warnings on the need to strengthen flood protection around Louisiana, for actually slashing the money aimed at flood protection instead of increasing it, and for appointing an incompetent idiot to head FEMA, which then went on to totally screw up its responsibilties to the relief operation. I owe Bush no apology. He owes an apology to everyone he helped kill in the aftermath of Katrina.

[tml12]

I fault everyone involved in the process, including Bush.

Louisiana was not ready.

Nagin and Blanco dithered.

FEMA and Michael Brown were not ready and Brown's leadership skills were flawed (he shouldn't have been there from day one).

Bush let Brown (who was unqualified) handle the dirty work.

[Shady]

Also: number of times Bush mentioned Katrina in last night SOTU address? Zero

You're about as disingenuous as they come. President Bush talked about New Orleans, as well as the other gulf state communites affected by the disaster. Did he mention the name of the hurricane? No. Is that relevant? No. Are you a complete moron and obsessive Bush hater? Yes, but that's obvious.

[YankAbroad]

You silly conservatives and liberals arguing over whether it was the federal government's fault or the state government's fault never cease to crack me up.

To conservatives who support president Bush: If Dubya couldn't save New Orleans with five days' notice of the impending disaster, what the hell makes you think he can "protect" you from a terrorist attack? Get real.

To lefties who think the whole disaster is Bush's fault: You're 1/3 right. The whole thing is government's fault -- if the bureaucrats had gotten out of the way and allowed the private sector access to the city, charities and volunteers would have had the entire place evacuated. Instead, government decided it knew best, closed all the access roads, and restricted exit so thousands were trapped.

Of course, both conservatives and lefties want to flush tens of billions of dollars down the toilet to rebuild a city which never should have existed in its present form, and which will just be destroyed again in another 20 years by another hurricane.

[geoffrey]

Of course, both conservatives and lefties want to flush tens of billions of dollars down the toilet to rebuild a city which never should have existed in its present form, and which will just be destroyed again in another 20 years by another hurricane.

Miami?

[newbie]

Some of you owe President Bush a great big apology.

I'm with Argus on this one. Bush is clearly to blame.