Gen. Honore rips media!

[LSU2001]

Here is the article:

Babcock Law Firm
2theadvocate > News > Blanco coolly greets Bush 09/06/05

Blanco coolly greets Bush

Friction between state, federal government shows in visit

By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON and MARK BALLARD
Capitol news bureau

Advocate staff photo by Patrick Dennis
President Bush, right, walks with Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, from right, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau at the state Office of Emergency Preparedness on Monday.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour got a hug. Gov. Kathleen Blanco was lucky to get a hello.

The friction between state and federal officials has been brewing for the past few days and bubbled to the surface with President Bush's visit to Baton Rouge on Monday.

In fact, Blanco did not learn Bush was coming to Louisiana for the second time in three days until informed by an Advocate reporter late Sunday night.

The news prompted Blanco to scrap her plans to visit Houston on Monday with former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, her spokeswoman, Denise Bottcher, said. Blanco asked three of her daughters to fill in for her.

Meanwhile, the governor's staff spent much of the early morning hours securing an invitation from the White House for Blanco to accompany the president and his wife, Bottcher said. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told The Associated Press that the White House reached out to Blanco's office Sunday, but didn't hear back, and White House staff in Louisiana spoke with Blanco early Monday.

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Blanco met the presidential party at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, carrying a letter to Bush which showed she's not budging on the issue of federalizing local law enforcement and the state's National Guard, which the president had attempted to do Friday.

"I write to ask you to work with me in developing a long-term plan for the rebuilding of the Louisiana economy," Blanco says in the letter.

From the airport, Bush and Blanco went to visit hurricane evacuees at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker, where the two leaders kept their distance.

Later that day, Bush flew to Mississippi, where he warmly greeted Barbour.

Waves of National Guard soldiers from other states help quell widespread looting in New Orleans and evacuate thousands stranded by rising flood waters. Their arrival also prompted debate over whether Bush or Blanco should coordinate their efforts, three elected officials said.

The Bush administration on Friday asked Blanco to give the president control of local law enforcement and the Louisiana National Guard that now answer to the governor. Blanco refused.

Blanco said, when asked about the issue of federalizing state troops, that the issue involves the hurricane recovery organizational structure, not how rescuers are deployed.

Blanco said she needs flexibility to run the Louisiana National Guard.

More National Guard soldiers are needed in "Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport ... all the parishes receiving people," she said.

U.S. Rep. Richard Baker said he didn't want to do any "Monday morning quarterbacking." That includes not weighing in on whether or not Blanco should relinquish more control to the federal government, he said.

Baker said the Bush administration's goal isn't malicious, but to facilitate a more immediate response on resources, such as getting planes loaded and landed.

State and local officials last week complained that the federal help didn't come fast enough, with bipartisan criticism leveled at Bush himself.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Metairie, said that during Bush's visit to New Orleans on Friday, Mayor Ray Nagin asked Bush and Blanco to hash out their differences. While on Air Force One, the president's plane, Bush and Blanco spoke privately.

"The rest of the delegation waited," Jindal said.

Later that day, Bush administration officials sent Blanco a legal memo seeking to federalize Louisiana law enforcement under the Insurrection Act, which is used to suppress civil disobedience that threatens to turn into anarchy. The act would clarify the chains of command of local, state and federal agencies with the president in charge.

Rather than cede control, Blanco on Saturday morning named James Lee Witt, who ran the Federal Emergency Management Agency under Clinton, to help run relief efforts.

In Bush's weekly radio address Saturday afternoon, he said the hurricane strained local and state capabilities, leading to people in New Orleans not getting the help they needed.

The next day, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened to get violent.

"If one person criticizes them (local and state government) or says one more thing -- including the president of the United States -- he will hear from me," Landrieu said on the ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."

After Bush's visit to Baton Rouge on Monday, Landrieu said that state, local and federal officials are now essentially on the same page, working as a team.

"The governor's leadership and the president's leadership, pulling these things together is excellent," Landrieu said.

Bottcher, Blanco's spokeswoman, refused to make a copy of the memo public. Blanco's team spent much of the day detailing the events that unfolded during the weekend, provided that their names were not used.

Asked directly and on the record, Bottcher refused comment.

After Monday's meeting, Blanco said Bush is satisfied with the organizational structure. "We are partners in this effort," the governor said. "We are a team. I want to say it again. We are a team."

[LSU2001]

Actually I read today in our local paper The Advocate that Gov. Blanco was still stubbornly resisting an effort to federalize law enforcement and National Guard. She still does not want to turn over the power to the feds. I cannot see what she thinks she is gaining from this bull headedness but thats what is being reported.
TIm

Ps. I will try and find the article online and post it.

[greeng13]

He has my vote for a 4th star!

agreed 110%

[karenfromheaven]

...And I fully expect they will be barred and repressed from reporting the truth if the military start hauling innocent people from their homes at gunpoint.

I think it's interesting that you think that people should not be compelled to leave their homes. As I understand it the authority to do so has been given just not exercised yet. As to the "barred and repressed" comment, on what basis do you figure that will happen or is it just a swipe at the military. Just curious.

I have in mind the way the media were herded into conference rooms and handed press briefings from military talking heads during Gulf War I, and the "embedded" concept used in Gulf War II to keep the media where they wanted them. I'm thinking about how the media are barred from taking pictures of returning military caskets. I'm thinking about how few media reports came out of Sanibel Island after hurricane Charley, or the paucity of media reports from Pensacola Beach after Ivan. I've talked to residents about how people were kept away until they got bodies down out of the trees. I don't recall hearing about that from the mainstream media.

The concept of compelling people to leave their homes is one I associate more with Soviet-Era communist governments, Nazi dictatorships, South African Apartheid, North Korea, Burma, etc., not constitutional American ideals. We cherish above all the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I think it is important to honor and respect the free choice of someone to stay in their home, even if it's not a choice I would make for myself given my understanding of the situation. It is not for me to judge another's motives or decisions.

Let it be said I am referring only to citizens who are not otherwise shooting at police or guarding a stash of stolen merchandise.

[MBismyPlayground]

...And I fully expect they will be barred and repressed from reporting the truth if the military start hauling innocent people from their homes at gunpoint.

I think it's interesting that you think that people should not be compelled to leave their homes. As I understand it the authority to do so has been given just not exercised yet. As to the "barred and repressed" comment, on what basis do you figure that will happen or is it just a swipe at the military. Just curious.

I have in mind the way the media were herded into conference rooms and handed press briefings from military talking heads during Gulf War I, and the "embedded" concept used in Gulf War II to keep the media where they wanted them. I'm thinking about how the media are barred from taking pictures of returning military caskets. I'm thinking about how few media reports came out of Sanibel Island after hurricane Charley, or the paucity of media reports from Pensacola Beach after Ivan. I've talked to residents about how people were kept away until they got bodies down out of the trees. I don't recall hearing about that from the mainstream media.

The concept of compelling people to leave their homes is one I associate more with Soviet-Era communist governments, Nazi dictatorships, South African Apartheid, North Korea, Burma, etc., not constitutional American ideals. We cherish above all the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I think it is important to honor and respect the free choice of someone to stay in their home, even if it's not a choice I would make for myself given my understanding of the situation. It is not for me to judge another's motives or decisions.

Let it be said I am referring only to citizens who are not otherwise shooting at police or guarding a stash of stolen merchandise.

Karen, seriously, you sound just a bit jaded. I went thru Gulf War 1, and somehow was invovled with the media....do not ask me how,lol, as it confuses me just thinking on it but.....
Also Have been invovled with parts of Gulf War 2. Again, somehow with media invovlement.
I can tell you from personal experience that no matter how much the government may WANT to keep people in check, with a good reporter, it just doesn't happen. Now, the reporter might chose to not publish something in the best interest of the public. But some have. It really is based on the reporter. As for residents being kept away while pulling bodies from the trees.......if you were in the position, would YOU have allowed the residents to see this?????Do you really think it was neccessary for the media to describe this grizzly scene???

Compelling people to leave their homes in this situation is something that has to be done. If not done, then the government would be accused of not protecting its citizens. This would be similar to an outbreak of any kind of contagious disease. (which we see may already be happening)
If these people, who want to stay, contract these diseases and THEN decide to seek help, they could infect other people, and this could spread into something bigger. This goes way beyond the right to life, liberty.....ect. Personally, I feel if there are families out there, with children, keeping children in this kind of squallor, they should be charged with child neglect. This is not a SAFE area. And there are some people that just do not have a lick of common sense!! And that is just the heath and enviromental effects. Imagine the pschological effects to children, keeping them in the 2nd story of a house that is flooded with no basic comforts. Its not like they can go outside and play. Well they could but how many of us are willing to allow our children to play in the toilet prior to flushing it??????????

[Terry]

If the authorites are not intending to blow up NO, then let the people who want to, stay. Keep a record of the attempts to get them out. But let them stay and suffer the consequences, if any.

I would have been outta there long before the evacuation was suggested by the Mayor. But if I decided to stay, it is my choice and my consequences.

Watching the authorities take senior citizens out of their homes at gun point is not something I care to see. Let them decide their own fate...but try hard and harder to get them out of there.

[aumoore]

People make strange decisions before, during and after a Hurricane. I have seen the faces of people evacuating and returning after a storm. It is almost like a mental illness. I left before Ivan and returned the next day and it is really weird how you feel seeing everything you know turned upside down. I actually missed the road to my subdivision because I did not recognize it. It has been 51 weeks since Ivan ravaged Pensacola and today people are still not over it. Katrina had our undivided attention.

Saying that I have watched people say I am staying at my home/business saying, “it is a strong building and it is safe”. There are no buildings that can withstand a major storm surge and many cannot withstand category two winds. We have all heard the Superdome was built for 150 MPH sustained winds and 200MPH gusts. Well the official reports say NO had category 1 winds on the west side of the storm. If that is true why did a well-engineered structure built for 150MPH sustained winds have failure in 80-90MPH winds?

The people that are refusing to leave are not thinking clearly just like they did not think clearly by staying. They need mental help.

[huricanwatcher]

Watching the General on FXNEWS ..... god i love this man.....


SHOOTS STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP ...... AND DONT GIVE A SH*T

GOOD FOR HIM... NEED MORE OF HIM.

[LSU2001]

Watching the General on FXNEWS ..... god i love this man.....


SHOOTS STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP ...... AND DONT GIVE A SH*T

GOOD FOR HIM... NEED MORE OF HIM.