Bush Issues Emergency Declaration for Louisiana, Texas

[JonLP24]

Source: Washington Post

President Bush today declared a state of emergency for Louisiana and Texas, as former tropical storm Gustav strengthened to become a hurricane and continued on a collision course with the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The president's declaration came three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi, overwhelming levees designed to protect New Orleans and inflicting record damage on the region.

The U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami said that as of mid-afternoon, Gustav had top sustained winds of about 75 miles per hour and was on course to move to the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Nearly 70 people have died from the storm in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

By Tuesday, projections show, the storm could be a powerful Category 3 storm, with winds above 111 mph, and will be on track to strike Louisiana and parts of Texas.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902373.html?hpid=topnews

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. He has the White House kitchen...

baking a cake as we speak. A real man of action, that Dear Leader.

And I am sure he has emergency funds ready to be transferred to the poor, suffering, devistated energy companies, drillers and refiners.

[Faygo Kid]

2. And his putative successor likes cake, too.

[Dem2theMax]

3. "and continued on a collision course with the"

RNC. Which is the ONLY reason * declared an emergency. He's got to take the attention away from all the attention that won't be going to the RNC. LOL.

[stillcool]

4. A hurricane will surely keep the focus...

on the GOP. They got smacked up one side of the head from Obama, and any hurricane will smack them upside the other.

[redirish28]

5. Oh Goody... Does this mean he will act even worse for those people

who end up effected by yet another Hurricane...


All my thoughts and good wishes to those in the path. May it weaken to a kitten's roar.

[Uben]

6. Brownie, where are ya?

Need anotha helluva job done!

[santamargarita]

7. Blackwater needs the money - read this:

Blackwater Issues Mercenary Call For Hurricane Gustav --Blackwater Worldwide: Security for Hurricane Gustav 29 Aug 2008 Blackwater is compiling a list of qualified security personnel for possible deployment into areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. Applicants must meet all items listed under the respective Officer posting and be US citizens. Contract length is TBD.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Get the link to the source of that...

Off to KO with great speed and alacrity. Post the link here for more dissemination as well. Please.

[SpiralHawk]

10. Profit-making Republicon corporate troops to invade New Orleans

How Homelanderish. How Republicon.

Woe is America, when the Homelander's Private Profit-Making Army takes control.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. While you were sleeping...

Congress snuck a law past us that gives the president near-dictatorial powers during a self-declared emergency. Bush signed it the same day as the The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, when everyone's attention was focused on "torture" and not this egregious power grab. Here's some info:

Governors lose in power struggle over National Guard

A little-noticed change in federal law packs an important change in who is in charge the next time a state is devastated by a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina.

To the dismay of the nation’s governors, the White House now will be empowered to go over a governor’s head and call up National Guard troops to aid a state in time of natural disasters or other public emergencies. Up to now, governors were the sole commanders in chief of citizen soldiers in local Guard units during emergencies within the state.

A conflict over who should control Guard units arose in the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Bush sought to federalize control of Guardsmen in Louisiana in the chaos after the hurricane, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) refused to relinquish command.

Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October tweaked the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies.

more: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=170453

More on the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act of 2007:

§ 333. Major public emergencies; interference with State and
Federal law

(a) USE OF ARMED FORCES IN MAJOR PUBLIC EMERGENCIES.—

(1) The President may employ the armed forces, including the
National Guard in Federal service, to—

(A) restore public order and enforce the laws of the United
States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or
other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or
incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the
United States, the President determines that

(i) domestic violence has occurred to such an extent
that the constituted authorities of the State or possession
are incapable of maintaining public order; and

(ii) such violence results in a condition described in
paragraph (2); or

(B) suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic
violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy if such insurrection,
violation, combination, or conspiracy results in a condition
described in paragraph (2).

link: http://www.wesawthat.blogspot.com/2006/11/hr-5122-john-warner-national-defense.html

Note that the decision whether to invoke the unprecedented powers in the act rests solely with the president.

If Gustav hits N.O., it should be interesting to see how this plays out.

[SpiralHawk]

11. "Smirk." - Commander AWOL & Cabal O' Republicon Cronies

"Don't forget, I am now the Decider with the good old National Guard. Who'd a thunk it? Smirk. Sneer. Smirk."

- Commander AWOL

[Doctor_J]

12. Our Dem Congress needs to repeal this

since the rightwing courts won't do anything about it

[Igel]

13. It was a big deal.

It took days to get non-LA National Guard troops into Louisiana. Katrina hit on Monday, and it wasn't until Thursday or Friday that they were finally called up--and a day or two later before they arrived. Governors had their troops called up, waiting. But the request just didn't get passed along.

People were furious. It was pointless to say that Blanco was, by law, in charge of arranging for them, and hadn't started until days after Katrina made landfall, and the feds could do nothing. They wanted * to usurp extra-legal powers.

They were also furious that, in order of responsibility, were Nagin, Blanco, and Bush/Brown, and that FEMA was responsbible for fielding and coordinating requests from the lower two authorities, that Nagin and Blanco were to be implementing city and state plans. People couldn't accept it. Of course, it was possible to override Blanco, but attempts to do so triggered more outrage--FEMA was responsible, how dare they assume responsibility. Blanco fought having all the responsibilities she apparently didn't have taken away from her. The logic was quite insane after the torture it received.

People wanted the feds to easily coordinate NG forces; they wanted FEMA to easily override the locls. Of course, they didn't actually *want* those things. Mostly they believed they should have just happened. They couldn't admit that Nagin and Blanco had any responsibility or fault.