Mayor Nagin: too many cooks in the kitchen/disorg. feds make sit. worse

[redacted]

Did you just hear that on WDSU?

Something abt the blackhawk helicopters not arriving to drop the 3K pound sand bags to fix the levee -- therefore causing more and more flooding.

Soemthign abt a "bowl effect" that I do not understand.

Sounds like a man utterly fed up.

Will try to get a link.


On edit: Can't find a link -- but I swear that's what he said -- he was so angry he actually said "frickin" on air. Sounds like the feds failed him.

[shraby]

1. The bowl effect is about New Orleans being

lower than the Mississippi and the Lake. When the Lake goes down into New Orleans it sort of "fills a bowl".

[redacted]

2. Kicking: I think the feds failing here is a big story

[12345]

7. yup.

you've got to wonder.

[Lindsay]

3. Fed up, indeed.

And who can blame him? He's trying to save his city, and the feds appear to be screwing around, trying to decide what to do.

The "bowl effect," BTW, has to do with the city being below the level of the surrounding water, which is held back by levees. When a levee breaks, as one or more have, the water flows in from above. Like pushing a bowl down in a sinkful of water.

And damn Bush anyway!!!

[redacted]

4. " Lack of cohesion of those in charge has kept the levy broken"

http://www.wdsu.com

click on the live coverage link in the center of the page

it's just getting worse and worse

"someone failed to deliver sand bags to pumping station"

[redacted]

5. Adds 1 month to time of getting water out. NT

[expatriot]

6. Disorganized federal agencies? Sounds like what we need is... um a....

FUCKING PRESIDENT, MAYBE! Calling Mr. Bush. Calling Mr. Bush. The 35th largest metro area in the country you claim to preside over just got FUCKING WIPED OUT! HELLO?!?

[redacted]

8. I know this is really pissing me off! Where is the nat'l guard -- Iraq?

[Aviation Pro]

9. Ah, Grasshopper....

...you forget that the Bush Whitehouse is politically not policy based. Therefore, Rove has to craft a message first before the Commander in Illiteracy screws up his lines.

[redacted]

10. Now I've lost my feed and that is pissing me off too.

[redacted]

11. Kicking -- I still think this is a genuinely important topic to follow

[redacted]

12. Will add at least 3 feet of water to entire city -- this mean many places

will be under at least nine feet.

[redacted]

13. Also is creating the demise of the last working pump.

All because some guys couldn't coordinate the bags and the copters.

Someone needs to pay.

[redacted]

14. PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECT

****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****


Alert from WWLTV

[redacted]

15. Why doesn't anyone want to discuss this? I give up.

But I still think it's significant.

[Erika]

16. very emotional subject n/t

[redacted]

17. I know it's just makes me want to scream.

and I live 3K miles away.

But of it were and earthquake and the Feds were failing. I would be devasted.

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP.

This attitude that it's NOT MY PROBLEM - -that've been hearing form $$#!!! all day makes me scream.

It is all our problems -- a national disaster could happen ANYWHERE at ANYTIME.

[Kool Kitty]

19. The Feds failing here is a HUGE story.

Notice how no one in the MSM is questioning the handling of this, no one is asking about why nothing is getting done. The city is to be evacuated. How are they going to do this? Are there no military ships that can go there? Why are there almost no small boats going through the flooded area to pick people up? Where are the supplies of food and water that these people so desparately need? Bush said in his blowhard speech today that all the plans have been put in motion, all the resources have been gathered and they are going to the devastated areas. Unless I'm missing something, seems like there is much left undone.

[Beam Me Up]

20. I for one am in shock and have nothing to say.

This situation is turning very very ugly. People's lives are at stake, here, and this is no 'terror' attack. I'm absolutely appalled at what appears to be happening.

I don't know about other people, but I'm having to read other threads just to begin to grasp the details of the picture. I don't watch TV. DU and the internet are my only news source.

The CHIMPEROR either has no idea what is going on OR genuinely doesn't give a shit. Possibly both! How are the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama going to feel when they realize the government upon which they rely to protect them really isn't doing a very good job?

[Maple]

18. They couldn't fix the levee

because the choppers that were supposed to bring in the sandbags were diverted for search and rescue.

Search and rescue is important, but if the levees were fixed, they wouldn't need to evacuate everyone.

A classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

[redacted]

21. Thanks for the addt'l info. But why are there not more choppers.

I mean for christ sake -- you are telling met here were not a few more chopper someplace.

More people could die now. 9ft of water can easily kill people.

(confrontational language not directed at Maple personally)

[Horse with no Name]

25. My comment was that I wonder why they don't commandeer

the DEA helicopters?
Lord knows with the billions that have been spent on the war on drugs--there would be plenty.
The rest of our helis are in Iraq.

[redacted]

26. Thanks HWNN. Why don't we just comandeer a real president.

While we are at it. Any canine could do better.

I nominate my dog Baxter. (See pic)

Baxter for President.

Baxter at least knows that when the water bowl tips over -- it's best to call for help-- like someone with the right tools -- maybe a person with opposable thumbs who can correct the situation.

Oh wait -- do chimps have opposable thumbs?

But I digress. . .

[Maple]

27. Because again

the left hand doesn't know....

It's a lack of planning and coordination

Americans seem to regard central planning as some form of creeping communism....however, as it turned out, local, state and federal people didn't even have the same radio equipment. So communication was lost right there. So were lives.

And none of the 3 levels of govt seem to have communicated on anything else either, as far as I can tell.

Organization and training save lives. New Orleans has neither, and they aren't the only ones to blame. Local levels can only do so much.

Bush cut the funding after all. Foreign wars cost a lot these days.

[redacted]

29. Thank Maple -- you seem to have a good understanding of the situation.

The same kind of crap happened around 911, and I thought Homeland Sec was suppose to fix this. But alas.

I also heard that there was federal funding to fix these levees in 2001 and that they were ready to go with the Army Corp of engineers -- bu Shrub cut the funding.

Cut the funding for what -- for Iraq?

[Endangered Specie]

22. I wonder if the sandbags would have fixed the thing anyways?

seems like it would take a helluva lot of them :shrug:

In any event, major fuck up, someone needs to be punished.

[sunnystarr]

23. Here's a link that's being updated regularly

and has the Mayor's comments.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

[redacted]

24. Here is the info from SunnyStar -- Thanks Sunny.

This is a much cleaned up version of what I heard the Mayor say:

8:04 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Unhappy that the helicopters slated to drop 3,000-pound bags into the levee never showed up to stop the flow of water. Too many chiefs calling shots he says.
7:59 P.M. - Mayor Nagin: Pumps at 17th street canal has failed and water will continue pouring into the city. Nine feet of water is expected on St. Charles Avenue that will be nine feet high. Water is expected to spread throughout the east bank of Orleans and possibly Jefferson Parish.

[Joyce78]

28. Tasers

I heard on cnn this afternoon that roughly 10,000 National Guards were being sent to NOLA (didn't know that we had that many still here!). Are they being deployed to LA to help evacuate or to quell "looters"? I've been hearing a lot of nonsense lately about police and military training with tasers ... higher intensity electric shots.

[redacted]

31. Yeah Joyce if you do a search for tasers -- there are tons of disc here on

DU abt them.

Not sure you can use a taser with all that water around though.

[Webster Green]

30. Profound lack of leadership at the highest level....

But, we knew that.

In the good 'ol days of the "can do", "greatest generation" United States, you know...the one we like to brag about so much, the one that built the Saturn 5,......Sikorski Sky-crane helicopters would have been standing by to fix that breach in the levee. We would be looking at a different outcome for New Orleans right now.

We might have had a leader who wasn't fucking around in southern California acting like nothing was happening.

[redacted]

36. yup

[magellan]

32. I think the Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the levee repairs

If I'm mistaken, apologies. But I believe that's what I heard on CNN an hour ago.

That would be the same Army Corps of Engineers that just fired Bunnatine Greenhouse for being a whistleblower (WH language: obstacle) on the no-bid Iraq reconstruction contract to Halliburton.

But I'm sure this is only a short delay and they'll have the private contracts for the NOLA levee systems sorted out any day/week now....

[redacted]

34. Really truly we need a company like Halliburton to come in and fix this

situation.

(this is facetious, of course)

[mountainvue]

33. Link to Harry Shearer on Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/this-really-just-in_b_6473.html

[redacted]

35. Thanks. Shearer articulates this very well. NT