Clearing up a misconception

The other night someone called The Majority Report and told Sam Seder that the governor of Louisiana is to blame for the lack of response, because it's the governor's responsibility to call in the National Guard.

That's all well and good, and that's what was done, except that 35% of Louisiana's National Guard is off in Iraq. That left 3500 Guard members who were activated as of 7 AM on Monday -- just after the storm made landfall to handle EVERYTHING.

Kathleen Blanco cannot call in the Guard from other states. As AP reports today:

Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the disaster area himself, as he did after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks . But the troops four years ago were deployed for national security protection, and presidents of both parties traditionally defer to governors to deploy their own National Guardsmen and request help from other states when it comes to natural disasters.

Though slow at the beginning, out-of-state Guard help was markedly increasing by the start of the weekend. As of Friday, nearly half the states had Guard members in Louisiana, boosting the total to at least 5,600 from out of state. Hundreds more were on the way.

Michigan, which was ready to help before the storm began, was sending 500 National Guard troops Friday and Saturday to help with water purification in Mississippi and police duty in New Orleans.

Arizona didn't get a request for military police until Thursday, when it received an urgent message sent to all state National Guards by the National Guard Bureau at the request of Louisiana, said Capt. Paul Aguirre. He said the unit cannot leave Phoenix until Sunday because arriving units must arrive at a pace the receiving end can handle.

Among those headed in were several hundred from Wisconsin, where the governor took the unusual step of declaring a disaster outside his state to activate his Guard.

"This was the first time a governor ever declared a natural disaster in another state and activated to that other state," said Gov. Jim Doyle, who issued his order Wednesday. "We were ready to be deployed within 24 hours of that order."

In addition to Guard help, the federal government could have activated, but did not, a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract with airlines. The program, called Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, lets the government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin predicted on Sunday that the levees wouldn't hold:

A grim Mayor C. Ray Nagin conceded Katrina's storm surge pushing up the Mississippi River would swamp New Orleans' system of levees, flooding the bowl-shaped city and causing potentially months of misery.

"We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

He ordered a mandatory evacuation, but:

As many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave, and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport. The city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome.

Nagin also dispatched police and firefighters to rouse people out with sirens and bullhorns, and even gave them the authority to commandeer vehicles to aid in the evacuation.

Are there things local officials could have done differently? Probably. But the fact that there are still hundreds of thousands of people still living in unimaginable conditions six days later is a FEDERAL, not a local shame. And the American people are going to hold this government responsible. Their tactic of pointing the finger at the other guy isn't going to work this time.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Daily Kos links to a letter that Governor Kathleen Blanco sent to the President via FEMA on August 28 -- the day BEFORE the storm -- requesting relief in the storm's aftermath. Excerpt:

I am specifically requesting:

Individual Assistance, including the Individual Assistance and Household Program (IHP), Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Crisis Counseling, Public Assistance (Category A-G funding at 100%), Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster loans and Direct Federal Assistance (DFA) funding at 100% for the following parishes:

The list of parishes follows, then:

To support the evacuation/sheltering effort, I am also requesting: Individual Assistance, including the Individual Assistance and Household Program (IHP), Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Crisis Counseling, Public Assistance for the following parishes:

...followed by the list of parishes.

So any conservative who tries to tell you that the states Democratic Governor and the city's Democratic Mayor did nothing are LYING to protect their cult leader, who was eating birthday cake, yukking up a friendly, hand-selected audience in California, and attempting to play a guitar, while people were dying. He was asked for help, and provided NOTHING until his hand was forced.

It's that simple.