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.

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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.

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 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.

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?!

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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.

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??

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.

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I think that all members of the Bush family should refrain from speaking about Katrina from this point forward. My opinion was cemented by Barbara Bush’s comment that:

“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this –this is working very well for them.”

Insulting? Yep. Condescending? Uhh … just a bit.

Mayor Ray Nagin, erstwhile operator of hundreds of now dysfunctional buses, goes on the attack against the governor of Louisiana

Nagin singled out Gov. Kathleen Blanco for criticism, saying that the governor had asked for 24 hours to think over a decision when time was a luxury that no one, especially refugees, had.

“When the president and the governor got here, I said, ‘Mr. President, Madame Governor, you two have to get in synch. If you don’t, more people are going to die.”

Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full day to decide.

“It would have been great if we could have walked off Air Force One and told the world we had it all worked out,” Nagin said. “It didn’t happen, and more people died.”

Yes, more people did die – as Tim Blair notes in his post, it takes an immense amount of government and bureaucracy to fail this spectacularly.

I found this surprising, via Donald Sensing

“The Gulf emirate of Qatar announced it will donate 100 million dollars to relief efforts for the US victims of Hurricane Katrina.”

A rather significant amount – count me as pleasantly surprised. Found (not looted) by Chuck Simmons.

Junkyard blog has a great series of links and commentary, as well as a higher resolution picture of the bus site.

Via Glenn Reynolds.

Some offer free Bibles to the victims of Hurricane Katrina – others offer morning after pills.

Closeup pictures from the fire seen in New Orleans downtown yesterday are here.

Those making political hay of Katrina here.

It seems that RFK, Jr., the namesake of his father, has no natural limits when it comes to besmurching his dad’s legacy.

We need more of this - a lot more.

Evacuation efforts had to be suspended after shots were fired at rescue boats and a military helicopter. A National Guardsman was shot. Gunfire rattled through the city. Ambulances were hijacked or tipped on their sides, and one fully functioning hospital asked to be evacuated after a supply truck carrying medical supplies was held up at gunpoint. Staff at another hospital came under sniper fire as they tried to evacuate patients.

As New Orleans was engulfed by lawlessness, President Bush dispatched 10,000 more troops to the city to try to regain order. Kathleen Blanco, the Governor of Louisiana, appealed last night for 40,000 uniformed troops. Ray Nagin, the city mayor, ordered almost his entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue duties to fight the armed gangs looting, seizing vehicles and setting fire to buildings.

As stated previously and repeatedly, we cannot save the city and the people left in it without restoring order.

So says Sgt. Jason Defess

“To tell you the truth, I’d rather be in Iraq,” said Sgt. Jason Defess, 27, a National Guardsman who spend 14 months there, and after three days in the Superdome, it ready to go back.

Courtesy of Brendan.