Saturday, September 03, 2005

Taking Out the Laundry

Here's a laundry list of the wonderful things the administration and military are doing in New Orleans.

National Guard not allowing aid into the city
9:30PM Thurs Sept 1. Update: Please help spread this message:
There are supplies sitting in Baton Rouge for the folks in New Orleans, but the National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out. They are turning away people with s[QUOTE]upplies, claiming it is too dangerous. If we have planes that can drop bombs on people in Iraq, certianly we can air drop supplies into the city. Our goverment is KILLING the people of New Orleans. This is the message I am now sending to all major media sources, national and worldwide, as well as posting to email lists, blogs, etc. The story is getting out that the people there are not getting supplies, but the truth of WHY is not. Please help spread the word, we must get this story out. Please so not let any more of my friends die.

FEMA "turned away Police and Doctors" at the stateline
Loudoun deputies can´t reach FEMA, Louisiana officials
September 2, 2005 12:00 am

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) - A group of Loudoun County sheriff´s deputies heading to Louisiana to help maintain order among hurricane refugees had to turn around at the Virginia border when they couldn´t get confirmation from emergency management officials, the Loudoun County sheriff said.

After attempting for 12 hours to reach officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Louisiana Emergency Operations Center, the deputies were told to head home. The group of 22 officers and six emergency medical technicians was expected to arrive back in Leesburg by 2 a.m. Friday, according to a statement from the sheriff´s office.

"How many people have to die in the interim while they try to make this happen?" Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson told WRC-TV.

The deputies were to be sworn in locally as law enforcement officers in Jefferson Parish, La. near New Orleans. Their assistance had been requested by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff´s Department through the National Sheriff´s Association in an Aug. 31 letter, said Sheriff´s spokesman Kraig Troxell.

A three-week schedule was planned to rotate deputies from Loudoun County to areas of Louisiana that needed help, Troxell said. The deputies were carrying extra guns, ammunition and supplies to make them self-sufficient for seven to 14 days.

The group waited in Harrisonburg, Va. for several hours Thursday night until they were told that officials from FEMA and the state of Louisiana couldn´t confirm the request from Jefferson Parish.

The CNO directed US naval ships to gulf coast - ON HIS OWN INITIATIVE

CNN reported that Brown from FEMA is mobilizing the Boy Scouts (no online source for this, but caught it on TV).

Planes did NOT report being shot at.

Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Washington, said she had no such report.

"We're controlling every single aircraft in that airspace and none of them reported being fired on," she said, adding that the FAA was in contact with the military as well as civilian aircraft.


FEMA to Russia: Don't send aid!

MOSCOW (AP) The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected a Russian offer to send rescue teams and other aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a Russian emergency official said Thursday.

Russia offered to send two transport planes with rescue teams, helicopters and other equipment to help deal with Katrina's aftermath.

A "flotilla of aid" TURNED BACK from New Orleans

A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette this morning (Weds.) and headed to New Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department. The "flotillia" of trucks pulling boats stretched over five miles. This citizen rescue group was organized by La. State Senator, Gautreaux from Vermilion Parish. The group was comprised of experienced boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana.

The State Police waved the flotillia of trucks/boats through the barricades in LaPlace and we sped into New Orleans via I-10 until past the airport and near the Clearview exit. At that time we were stopped by agents of the La. Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries. A young DWF agent strolled through the boats and told approximately half of the citizens that their boats were "too large" because the water had "dropped during the night" and that they should turn around and go home.

We were pulling a large (24ft) shallow draft aluminum boat that can safely carry 12 passengers and had ramp access which would allow the elderly and infirm to have easier access to the boat. We politely informed the DWF agent that the local and national media had consistently reported that the water level had "risen" during the night which contradicted his statement to us that the water "was dropping" and no boat over 16ft. in length would be allowed to participate in rescue operations.

We then specifically asked the DWF agent that we (and other citizens in the flotillia) be allowed to go to the hospitals and help evacuate the sick and the doctors and nurses stranded there. We offered to bring these people back to Lafayette, in our own vehicles, in order to ensure that they received proper and prompt medical care.

The DWF agent did not want to hear this and ordered us home. We complied with the DWF agent's orders, turned around and headed back to Lafayette along with half of the flotillia. However, two of my friends were pulling my other boat, a smaller 15ft alumaweld with a 25 hp. The DWF agents let them through to proceed to the rescue operation launch site.


What is the government playing at here? Because it sure as hell doesn't look like a rescue operation.

Posted by crimnos @ 3:01 PM