Reuters posted an article about the out-of-control murder rate in New Orleans.  The city has already recorded 27 violent deaths this year.  I was a bit confused by the way the article ended:

A recent murder encapsulated the difficulties. After a 17-year-old was beaten up, his mother gave him a gun and told him to get revenge, and he killed the boy he fought with.

When police went to his home to investigate, they found the mother with cocaine and a family photo on display of the son with a gun in one hand and a fistful of cash in the other.

“For us to correct this, we have to look at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our education system,” Police Superintendent Warren Riley said in an interview.

I don’t know.  I am reluctant to believe that poor schooling was the primary cause of this particular shooting.  I’ll list the following reasons ahead of an undoubtedly horrible school system:

1. The shooter’s mother is a druggie.

2. There is no mention of a father.

3. Guns and wads of cash are seen as accessories that bring tears of pride to a druggie mother’s eyes.

The root of the problem was a breakdown in the value of family and a sense of responsibilty.  That root took hold years before this revenge shooting ever took place.

The public school system is certainly broken, especially in urban areas that primarily serve minority students.  Having a school that provides a safe and challenging learning environment for its students will make a difference in turning the violent tide.  However, these changes will be essentially negated if mama pleads with you to pose for just one more picture holding your piece and money earned from illegal activity.

Nonexistent children, phantom motel guests, mythical meals, multiple social security numbers, and free government checks, all brought to you by the disaster response to Katrina.

I’m glad that the FEMA debit cards are being used for the essentials such as food, clothing and temporary shelter.  Ummm … wait … what’s that you say?  There is evidence of Katrina “victims” using the card to pay for divorces, season tickets for a favorite football team and a tropical vacation?

Referring to the payment for divorce,

The $1,000 payment was just one example cited in an audit that concluded that up to $1.4 billion - perhaps as much as 16 percent of the billions of dollars in assistance expended after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - was spent for bogus reasons.

The estimate is that there are around 1500 instances of fraud.  So, the scam is not limited to a few dishonest individuals.

This ridiculous spending goes back to the notion by some people that the government owes them something.  They are going to get what’s coming to them!  When you base your life on being a victim who needs compensation, then I suppose you feel justified.

Combine this story with the complaint by some “victims” that they were told to leave free hotel rooms after six months (six months! … you can find a job and some type of housing in a lot less time than that) and calls for even more taxpayer money are insulting.

Apparently, Bush knew that Katrina was a hurricane, and that hurricanes do terrible damage (especially to cities lying below sea level). The scandal - the scandal! This truly was a mystery to all beforehand, as indicated by all those who decided to stay behind. My information though is that Louis Farrakhan hasn’t yet made his victory lap celebrating the foreknowledge of the levee breaches.

But seriously. I don’t think anyone countered otherwise. There was sufficient information out there that even I knew what a hurricane on a particular trajectory could do to the City of New Orleans. Further apparent, and I think truly scandalous, is that New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin had no idea as to any of this. FEMA’s reaction was slow and cumbersome, and no one apologizes for it. But let’s remember the elected officials closest to the disaster who could have done the most to prevent the loss of life failed miserably. Doubtlessly FEMA needs to be cleaned out, but so does the Louisiana’s goveror’s office and Nagin’s desk. Doing a quick comparative fault analysis, I’d attribute to the federal government 20% responsibility for the flopped disaster recovery, and to the local and state government 80% fault, and I think that’s being generous to the local and state governments.

Have Pat Robertson and Ray Nagin being smoking from the same pipe?

Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that “God is mad at America” and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

“Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves.”

I find it fascinating that God has chosen such interesting men to share His intentions. First, hurricanes were supposed to hit Orlando because Disney World had a “gay day” and then hurricanes actually hit New Orleans because we invaded Iraq? At least we now know that God’s preferred natural disaster is a nice Category 5 with a side of weak levees and a target population of minorities.

I’m watching a replay of hearings concerning Hurricane Katrina on C-Span 2 (held on December 6). I’m stunned because Rep. Cynthia McKinney actually sounds somewhat reasonable. She ignored one woman’s claims (a woman who is a “community leader” and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, she kindly reminds the committee several times) that the levees were bombed on purpose. I would think such conspiracy would be right up McKinney’s alley.

The “bombing” woman is now fighting with Rep. Shays and saying, “Let’s be honest, baby! Who are you, Shays? What have you done for me? I heard “boom, boom” and that could only be a bomb.”

Now everyone is getting angry and interrupting one another … I love C-Span!

Did you know that even during slavery times that blacks comprised 90% of skilled labor in the entire United States? I’m not sure what that has to do with the hurricane, but it’s an interesting statistic.

Did you know that residents of New Orleans were threatened with germ warfare and radiation guns that would cause skin cancer?

Did you know that the military bragged on CNN about how many residents of New Orleans they killed every day?

Did you know that other “ethnics” continue to come to America and get respect while seventh-generation African Americans are treated badly? Hmm … perhaps the person making this assertion should tune into the Phil Valentine show and listen to the remarks about “the Mexicans”.

I think I may need to change the channel for a few minutes. I need a break from the ridiculous conspiracy theories. Hurricane Katrina was horrible and there is plenty of blame to go around concerning the response. However, the Bush administration did not use Mother Nature to inflict genocide on the black population of New Orleans. Despite what is being said by the speakers, it isn’t always about race.

A new study by LSU finds that residents of Louisiana are much happier with the response provided by churches and synagogues in the wake of Katrina and Rita than they are with any level of government. The levels of satisfaction are as follows (on a scale of one to ten):

Religious groups — 8.1

Federal Government — 5.1

New Orleans Government — 4.6

A specific figure was not provided for the state government, but the article stated that the satisfaction level was lower than that for the federal government. The study did find that only 19% of Louisiana voters favor reelection for Governor Blanco, and that number falls to 10% among New Orleans voters.

Those who continue to frown upon faith-based initiatives should see this study as an example of the great effects to be had when religious organizations are allowed to get involved. Without the corruption and red tape that is chronic in the government (not to say that religious groups are free of such problems), people are served and progress is made. And … taxpayer money is not wasted (can you account for it all, Mayor Nagin?!

The worst of the natural disaster may be over, but the human tragedy continues. Here we have organized pickpocketing and theft on the US government’s dime, and then there is the coverup by New Orleans’ authorities regarding the jail break during the Katrina evacuation. It is of concern that any inmates escaped, especially murder suspects, during the disorganized and ill-fated evacuation of New Orleans. It is more disconcerting that the Orleans Parish sheriff’s office lied about it for many, many weeks

Despite assurances from Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman in the days after Hurricane Katrina that no inmates escaped during a tumultuous three-day evacuation of Parish Prison, fugitive arrest warrants were issued for 14 inmates who were in the jail at the time of the storm, records show.

They include a murder defendant who recently was captured and booked with a fresh murder in Mississippi.

The story doesn’t say when the 14 fugitive warrants were issued. I do hope there was little delay, at least in that. The insinuation from the New Orleans Times-Picayune story is that the warrants were issued almost immediately.

Time has a recent article on the current sorry state of New Orleans as well

They’re still finding bodies down here 13 weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit—30 in the past month—raising the death toll to 1,053 in Louisiana. The looters are still working too, brazenly taking their haul in daylight. But at night darkness falls, and it’s quiet. “It’s spooky out there. There’s no life,” says cardiologist Pat Breaux, who lives near Pontchartrain with only a handful of neighbors. The destruction, says Breaux, head of the Orleans Parish Medical Society, depresses people. Suicides are up citywide, he says, although no one has a handle on the exact number. Murders, on the other hand, have dropped to almost none.

Well, at least there is some good news. Those most likely to commit murders (i.e. gang members, those involved in the illegal drug business and generally, thugs) were eventually evacuated and will likely not have the means to get back to New Orleans. With only 60,000 people in the city on a nightly basis, many of the bad elements will be less pronounced.

But the overall theme of the Time article is that somehow the New Orleans disaster is the shame of the entire nation. This is unsupported by the facts, which are well-known by now. The local failings to lead, and the nearly systemic corruption that drained the city and state of the will to contribute to levy improvements are the roots of the problem. The contention that the federal government has caused the problems that now beset the city is oh-so-typical of a mindset that believes the federal government holds in its bureaucratic bowels an elixir to all society’s ills. This is simply not the case. A paralysis analysis governor and a boob of a mayor ensured not only that damage and human suffering would not be mitigated in the face of the storm, but also that the recovery effort would be that much more difficult.

The unfortunate lesson is that one should not depend on the federal government to fix problems, whether it be hurricane damage or poverty. The evidence mounts, yet there are some who keep looking to Washington to make things better. What evidence is there, anywhere, to support that view? I believe I understand the psychology behind it as a sort of security mechanism. It is more comforting to look to one constant source as the solution rather than to rely on oneself, or to expect the least-cost risk avoiders who have better knowledge to look out for themselves.

But in short, that Washington-centric view is wrong. Those interested in the rebuilding of New Orleans would do well to abandon it.

(Courtesies to Michelle Malkin for many of the links above).

FURTHER UPDATE While we’re on New Orleans, Paul over Wizbang who is a local to New Orleans has a lengthy and detail-filled post on the what’s really going on, and the real value of that 60 Minutes segment tonight.

This entire transcript is worth reading. The parts where Nagin is hopelessly confused are left out. The parts where General Hornore takes control are included. The best parts are italicized

Male reporter: General Honore, we were told that Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another staging area…

Honore: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place, I just told you one time, is the convention center. Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is approved by the governor, then we’ll start that in the next 12-24 hours. And we understand that there’s a problem in getting communications out. That’s where we need your help. But let’s not confuse the questions with the answers. Buses at the convention center will move our citizens, for whom we have sworn that we will support and defend…and we’ll move them on. Let’s not get stuck on the last storm. You’re asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don’t get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don’t confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don’t understand, maybe you’ll confuse it to the people. That’s why we like follow-up questions. But right now, it’s the convention center, and move on.

and then

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why that’s happening this time, though, and did not have that last time…

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I’m not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we’ve got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let’s talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.

Awesome.

The latest projection map . Tropical Storm Rita is expected to reach hurricane strength by this evening.

Operatively speaking

Rita is expected to continue on a westward course into the Gulf of Mexico, quite likely powering up into a very dangerous major hurricane (winds over 110 mph) by midweek. All residents along the western Gulf from extreme northern Mexico to Louisiana should pay close attention to the future of Rita.

Whatever the reason, Bush’s initial hesitation and disinclination to repopulate New Orleans appears to be rather prescient.

Bush said there is “deep concern” about the possibility that Tropical Storm Rita, which was headed toward the Florida Keys, could head into the Gulf of Mexico and drop more rain on New Orleans. If that happened, he said he has been warned that the city’s levees could not hold and would be breached again.

In addition, Bush said there are significant environmental concerns. New Orleans still lacks drinkable water, and there are fears about the contamination levels in the remaining floodwaters and the muck left behind in drained areas of the city.

“We have made our position loud and clear,” Bush said. “The mayor is working hard. The mayor _ you know, he’s got this dream about having a city up and running, and we share that dream. But we also want to be realistic about some of the hurdles and obstacles that we all confront in repopulating New Orleans.”

In this author’s well-informed and unbiased opinion, Mayor Nagin is a fool. His hurry for the reopening of the city is not responsible governance - there is nothing to truly gain, outside of the child-like utility of immediate gratification.

The people elected him - I just hope that once New Orleans is restarted that the electorate makes better future decisions.

to go back on hurricane watch, but no one can like this even being close.

There is talk in Tennesssee that many relocating evacuees from the Gulf Coast will end up staying. From Southern Standard

“Tennessee is a state with a low unemployment rate compared to other states in the region,” said Peter Rousseau, Vanderbilt University economics professor. “Evacuees would be in good position to find jobs because there’s a lot of slack in the market here. Nashville is one of the best-kept secrets in the country in terms of places to live and work. You wouldn’t find a big climate difference here (for evacuees). You’re in a place that doesn’t carry an income tax and which pays reasonable wages by regional standards.”

You’re kidding - Bruce Barry didn’t say that??

That’s the number of bodybags requested for New Orleans.

Howard Dean continues to show that acid dropping can in fact make one sane on a relative scale

Dean, chairman of the Democratic party, made the comments to the Baptists’ Political and Social Justice Commission. The Baptist Convention, with an estimated 3.5 million members, is one of the largest black religious groups in the country.

“We must … come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a deadly role in who survived and who did not,” Dean said.

Yes. You are more likely to drown because you are black. Geeze. Who takes this party seriously?

I’m growing tired of the overwrought blaming of the federal government for the response to Katrina. So has most of the American public. Others with sufficient standing think so as well.

What is all this nonsense about the insufficient federal response? Do these people even know how disaster response is supposed to work?

Do none of these partisan hacks remember September 11, 2001?

Let me refresh some memories. It seems painfully necessary to educate the uneducatable.

On September 11, 2001, 343 firemen and 32 policemen lost their lives responding to two airliners that toppled two towers in New York.

Note that these were not federal troops, FEMA troops, or National Guard. They were local NYPD and FDNY. They were competent, the mayor of New York was exemplary, and the governor ensured adequate logistical support. Nearly 20,000 people were saved by the actions of these heroes - these local heroes.

Contrast this to New Orleans. Superimpose Rudy and Pataki - tell me how different the response would have been.

Contrast a corrupt, horrifically inept local police force in New Orleans to the NYPD. Tell me that would have made no difference.

Contrast again the whining of Nagin with the fortitude of Giuliani, with the emotional paralysis of Blanco to the steadfastness of Pataki. The federal authorities had not gotten involved, and the crisis on the ground was controlled on September 11, 2001. On August 29, 2005, local leadership collapsed into the moor of victimhood. We cannot ignore the incompetence of those who knew and had to live with the consequences of what was coming. They have failed in their purpose to the people of Louisiana. They continue to fail.

Pataki requested air support - Blanco dithered while thousands died. Nagin grew a beard, while Giuliana dug his way out of a collapsed building. Command and control cause Nagin to convulse in a neurotic fit - necessity brought out the best in Giuliani.

Don’t tell me that local government lives blameless. Local government lies soaked with the blood of innocents only they could have saved.

UPDATE ABC News has a good article on what is expected of local officials during disasters. For starters

New Orleans’ own comprehensive emergency plan raises the specter of “having large numbers of people … stranded” and promises “the city … will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas.”

“Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves,” the plan states.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, however, that plan was not followed completely.

Instead of sending city buses to evacuate those who could not make it out on their own, people in New Orleans were told to go to the Superdome and the Convention Center, where no one provided sufficient sustenance or security.

Right. And it’s George W. Bush’s fault.

Maxine Waters, just now speaking in the House live, damned the federal government for not opening England Air Force for refugees….hmm, here’s why

Contaminants: Household and industrial waste, spent solvents, fuels, waste oil, paints, pesticides, alkali, low-level radioactive waste, chlorine gas, PCBs and medical waste

Media Affected: Soil

Funding to Date: $15.6 million

CLEANUP BACKGROUND

In July 1991, the BRAC Commission recommended closure of England Air Force Base, the deactivation of one squadron, and transfer of the 23rd Wing along with two fighter squadrons to Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina.

Environmental studies ongoing since FY82 identified 42 sites including: landfills; Underground Storage Tanks (UST); aboveground storage tanks; fire training areas; fuel storage tanks; a JP-4 refueling system; oil-water separators; a sewage treatment pond; radioactive instrument dials; and gas training kit burial sites. Petroleum by-products, pesticides, and herbicides are the primary contaminants affecting soil.

These people suck. Race baiting beyond belief, to higher levels - complete immorality in the face of tragedy.

Incompetence knows no color.

Date: August 27, 2005 — Mayor Nagin has demanded that all residents evacuate New Orleans, by force if necessary

Hmmm … there’s something wrong with the above statement. Is it the spelling of the mayor’s name? No. Is Mayor Nagin requesting politely? No, that’s not it. What could it be? I’ve got it! The date is wrong! The mayor is requiring residents to leave New Orleans on September 6, 2005 … more than a week after the storm hit. If only he had a Delorean and 1.21 gigowatts of plutonium-supplied energy to go back in time and make this proclamation at a more helpful time.

Just watched a story on Channel 4 News about a shelter that will be opened in Franklin for 500 people who had to leave New Orleans. Apparently, some selfish residents of poor character in that town called and emailed the mayor to protest. I loved the response by Mayor Tom Miller. To paraphrase,

“If you oppose this move, don’t email me. Don’t call me. If you don’t agree with what this town is doing to help the evacuees, you can move.”

Perfect! People who would turn away our fellow Americans who are escaping disaster should be ashamed of themselves. No wonder Channel 4 wasn’t able to find any such unfortunate losers to interview on camera.

Here are some lovely entries on Democratic Underground today:

If the news out of NO continues to get worse, I suspect Shrub & the Pubs will suffer greatly!

If this hurricane had to happen at all why, oh why, couldn’t it have happened next year, right before the ‘06 elections? I wouldn’t put it past these clowns to rebound by next year and keep their majorities.

Ah, the compassion. It makes your heart melt, doesn’t it? Let’s hope that more people die so that the Democrats can win next year! Has the campaign strategy come to that?

I kept scanning through the discussion boards to find some thoughts on the lack of response by the state and local government. If the members of Democratic Underground care about the people, surely they would wonder why evacuation plans weren’t carried out and a state of emergency was declared late. So, I guess it shouldn’t be a