Mickey

I will blow my own horn here and say that I started a thread making the point that we were going to come out throwing the ball since with all the power running talk in pre-season, we could catch them off guard. As big as that 42 yarder was, it still didn't back the safety off the line. Their SS, Chad Brown, pretty much played linebacker almost all day. He had 6 tackles and 5 of them were McGahee. Totally agree on Milloy and Vincent. Safety is one position where experience is likely even more valuable than athletic talent. Coverage like that means lots of sacks and that means turnovers.

Every generation has made its mark on the language. If language never changed, we would all be using "thee" and "thou" and in general talking like we were appearing in a dinner theatre version of Hamlet. In their day, "23 skidoo" and "groovy" were just as deplored by older generations as butchery of the King's English. I think all Kanye is saying is that when a white person uses slang that is developed by black culture, whatever that might be, they sound just like your parents do when they try to sound cool. They can go ahead and do that, there is not rule against it. He is just saying, I think, that they sound kind of silly and out of place using that kind of language.

Yeah what a creep. Giving 50 grand away one year, 30 some odd grand another, flying 270 hospital patients and doctors out of a ruined city but oooooooo back in 1998 he only gave away three hundred to charity. Lets stone him.

We need to stop saying that the state had no plan. They actually had a plan. It may not have been a good one nor one that was executed properly but they had one. I believe also that there plan was submitted for approval/review to the feds. If you would like to review and offere criticisms of that plan, here they are: State Emergency Operations Plan We will have to see where the facts lead but at this point, I think it is a reasonable concern that what happened was that the first responders were themselves incapacitated by the storm. I highly doubt that on their own they could have evacuated that many people that quickly even if they hadn't but add in their own loss of capabilities due to the storm with the unprecedented task of having to evacuate a megatropolis on the eve of a cat 5 hurricane and it is easy to see things going to hell. The forces at the disposal of the feds of course were not located, for the most part, in the effected zone and thus, in theory, should have had their capabilities intact as the storm hit.

I suspect there was some attractive young poodle somewhere in heat.

Al Gore and pizza man Larry Flax paid for two flights of Katrina survivors from Charity Hospital in New Orleans to Tennesee and rounded up some doctors to take care of them upon their arrival. He also used his political clout to get landing rights in NO for the flights. Airline procedures were expedited, no contracts or other paper work, because a promise from Al Gore was all they needed. Gore has declined to be interviewed about the mercy flights. It started when he got a call from an old friend, a doctor who was stranded at the hospital which was without food, water and power, was surrouned by 4 feet of water and floating corpses. The doc had treated Gore's son years ago when he nearly died in a car accident. Gore immedieatly agreed to set up and underwrite the flights. Later, the owner of California Pizza asked to help and he underwrote one of the flights. All in all, 270 people from that hospital were evacuated. See Gore I suppose there are those here who just won't be able to refrain from making some sort of Coulteresque sophmoric slam against Gore but that would be their shame and I welcome them to publicly parade their lack of decency here if they must. Otherwise, I hope we can at least agree that whatever one might think of his politics, he is a good man who here did a very good thing. Many others have as well, in their own way, in this tragedy and I hope their stories of courage and kindness all come out in the end.

You need to read the rest of the act and the authority once an expected "major disaster" declared. All sorts of authority for the President and the feds is triggered once that declaration is made. To insure that the feds don't use a hyped impending disaster as a pretext to start trampling all over the state, only the governor can get a major disaster declared by asking the President to do so. Which she did. From that point on, I think the feds had just about all the authority they needed to kick some butt.

I was lighting candles in church before that draft hoping we would get Ben Watson. He is going to be a great player. Runs a 4.4 40 and actually drew applause for his blocks from NFL coaches for some blocks he threw in practice for one of those all star games. Everyone was focused on Winslow that year and a few other TE prospects with gaudy numbers from teams that threw more often than Georgia did. A TE like that can give a defense fits. You can't cover him with a LB but if you play nickle too much, his blocking will kill you in the run game.

I read some stories today that indicated that he pulled a George O'Leary style resume stuffing move when he was hired as a deputy at FEMA. Apparently he filled his resume with a bunch of lies. He may have finally reached the point where they just can't keep him on without him being a continuing source of embarassment.

Why don't you check and see when that disaster was declared and then compare it with how long it took for then for FEMA etc, to use the authority thereby conferred. She made the appropriate declaration on the 26th and the next day asked the President to as well. Bush acted in response and made his own declaration thereby activating all the authority etc, that is contained in the Stafford Act, etc. Now, if your point is that she should have made that declaration and request sooner, fine but the fact is she made the declaration and request long before people started dying at the convention center. I left out that paragraph for that reason, it's not an issue in the "did Bush have any or enough authority?" question. The act was satisfied on the 26th at the earliest or the morning of the 27th at the latest. Strangely, the White House press release is dated 8/27 but says it is declaring an emergency beginning on 8/26 ?@@?.

I don't think that is a fair reading of the word "coordinate" in the context of that sentence. It refers not just to state and locals but also to federal agencies. If you interpret "coordinate" in your limited sense then you would be saying that the President can only coordinate, not direct, his own federal agencies. These same terms are used in other legal contexts and frankly, the authority to coordinate can be more powerful than directing other entities. Coordinating means getting them to work together which you can't do if you don't have the power to direct them. This happens all the time in constructin cases. I would recommend you to the Federal Response Plan, the Disaster Mitigation Act and the entire Stafford Act to get a clearer picture of the, in some cases, plenary authority the federal government can have in a natural disaster. That doesn't mean that the states aren't on the front line, it just means that it isn't a defense for the governor to blame the feds nor for the Bush people to be blaming the governor. One example is federal control over the property and facilities of the federal government in an emergency. Certainly, I would imagine there was plenty of federal property in the afflicted areas. As to them, Bush would have needed no authority from anybody to act. I have no idea if he did or not or to what extent that might have helped anything but it certainly conflicts with the emerging defense that the poor powerless president wanted to swoop in but those idiot local yokels never asked.

Yeah, that works if you stop reading after paragraph 1 but unfortunately for you point, there in fact is a pragraph 2. I invite you to read the entire act along with the FRP (Federal Response Plan). Then come and tell me that the President just didn't have authority to so much as trim a toe nail without an okay from little governor Blanco. Here is just one example: EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS Sec. 418. The President is authorized during, or in anticipation of, an emergency or major disaster to establish temporary communications systems and to make such communications available to State and local government officials and other persons as he deems appropriate. At some point I trust that whatever investigation is done will look at the role played by inadequate communications and what might have been done to prevent any such problems "in anticipation of" the pending disaster. I am not at all saying that the state and local authorities aren't involved here or that they have no responsibility to get the feds involved by making the appropriate declarations and requests. What I am saying is the notion that the poor Prez was chomping at the bit to get out of Crawford and leap into action but had his feet nailed to the floor by tardy locals is just plain wrong. Understand that I am slowly coming to the opinion that lots and lots of people from Brown to Bush and Blano to Nagin screwed up and need to spend their fair share of time in the public stocks. Not just George, all of these f**kers.

What I would expect is that if CNN and every other network is showing a thousands of people without food and water at the convention center that FEMA would know that and respond with something along the lines of "holy cow, we need to check that out immediately" as opposed to what acutally happened which was along the lines of "golly Mr. Koppel, nobody told us". Mind you that the appropriate procedures under the Stafford Act (see the section of it I pasted in the FactCheck thread) authorizing the feds to direct all relief efforts including state and local authorities had been completed. The notion that first responders might be overwhelmed or incapacitated by the same emergency they are being relied upon to mitigate has actually been a major issue and led to the Disaster Mitigation Act. That was essentially and amendment to the Stafford Act to increase federal capability to help in disasters before they occur rather than to simply come in after and help. Of course, to increase that capability, federal authority had to be increased as well. The model most people are using here is one that, I believe based on my research so far, no longer applies. The changes are due to the recognition that relying on first responders is not sufficient and thus the feds need to get involved as soon as it is known that a disaster is on the way. As stated in the Federal Response Plan: "The Federal Response Plan (FRP) outlines how the Federal Government implements the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, to assist State and local governments when a major disaster or emergency overwhelms their ability to respond effectively to save lives; protect public health, safety, and property; and restore their communities. The FRP describes the policies, planning assumptions, concept of operations, response and recovery actions, and responsibilities of 25 Federal departments and agencies and the American Red Cross, that guide Federal operations following a Presidential declaration of a major disaster or emergency." For a look at the entire plan, see Federal Response Plan Here is an interesting passage with regard to authority to act as between state, local and federal officials: "A. Authorities 1. Under the Stafford Act, a Governor may request the President to declare a major disaster or an emergency if an event is beyond the combined response capabilities of the State and affected local governments. Based on the findings of a joint Federal-State-local Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) indicating the damages are of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant assistance under the Act, the President may grant a major disaster or emergency declaration. (Note: In a particularly fast-moving or clearly devastating disaster, the PDA process may be deferred until after the declaration.) 2. If an emergency involves an area or facility for which the Federal Government exer-cises exclusive or primary responsibility and authority, the President may unilaterally direct the provision of emergency assistance under the Stafford Act. The Governor of the affected State will be consulted if possible. 3. No direct Federal assistance is authorized prior to a Presidential declaration. However, DHS can use limited predeclaration authorities to move Initial Response Resources (IRR) (critical goods typically needed in the immediate aftermath of a disaster (e.g., food, water, emergency generators) and emergency teams closer to potentially affected areas. DHS also can activate essential command and control structures to lessen or avert the effects of a disaster and to improve the timeliness of disaster operations. Additionally, when an incident poses a threat to life and property that cannot be effectively dealt with by the State or local governments, DHS may request the Department of Defense (DOD) to use its resources prior to a declaration to perform any emergency work “essential for the preservation of life and property” under the Stafford Act. 4. Following a declaration, the President may direct any Federal agency to use its authorities and resources in support of State and local assistance efforts to the extent that provision of the support does not conflict with other agency emergency missions. This authority has been further delegated to the Secretary of DHS; the DHS Regional Director; and the Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO). 5. The Secretary of DHS, on behalf of the President, appoints an FCO, who is responsible for coordinating the timely delivery of Federal disaster assistance to the affected State, local governments, and disaster victims. In many cases, the FCO also serves as the Disaster Recovery Manager (DRM) to administer the financial aspects of assistance authorized under the Stafford Act. The FCO works closely with the State Coordinating Officer (SCO), appointed by the Governor to oversee disaster operations for the State, and the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR), empowered by the Governor to execute all necessary documents for disaster assistance on behalf of the State. 6. The State must commit to pay a share of the cost to receive certain types of Federal assistance under the Stafford Act. In extraordinary cases, the President may choose to adjust the cost share or waive it for a specified time period. The Presidential declaration notes any cost-share waiver, and a DHS-State Agreement is signed further stipulating the division of costs among Federal, State, and local governments and other conditions for receiving assistance. 7. While performing a function under the authority of the Stafford Act, a Federal agency or designated employee of a Federal agency is not liable for any claim based on the exercise or performance of or the failure to exercise or perform that function. 8. In addition to a Presidential disaster declaration, several Federal agencies have inde-pendent authorities to declare disasters. For example, the Secretary of Agriculture may declare a disaster in certain situations in which a county has sustained production losses of 30 percent or greater in a single major enterprise, authorizing emergency loans for physical damages and crop losses. The Secretary of Commerce may make a determination of a commercial fishery failure or fishery resource disaster. The Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) may make a disaster declaration based on physical damage to buildings, machinery, equipment, inventory, homes, and other property as well as economic injury. 9. Response by agencies to lifesaving and life-protecting requirements under the FRP has precedence over other Federal response activities, except where national security implications are determined to be of a higher priority. If a disaster or emergency affects the national security of the United States, appropriate national security authorities, plans, and procedures will be used. I am still looking at all this info when I have the chance and I would be interested in your view if you get a chance to at least browse through the FRP, Stafford Act and such. One last thing on the buses under water. I am looking at that as well. Funny, the authority problem that conservatives are using to shield the administration from blame and liberals are pooh-poohing may have been at play with the buses which apparently were from a school district out side the city of NO such that the mayor would not have been able to commandeer them even if he had thought of it which he pretty clearly did not. You may see a flip-flop on the authority issue when it comes to the buses with liberals arguing that it shields the mayor and conservatives pooh-poohing it. Safe to say there will be plenty of pooh-pooh to go around.

From the Stafford Act: § 5170a. GENERAL FEDERAL ASSISTANCE {Sec. 402} In any major disaster, the President may-- 1. direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to utilize its authorities and the resources granted to it under Federal law (including personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, and managerial, technical, and advisory services) in support of State and local assistance efforts; 2. coordinate all disaster relief assistance (including voluntary assistance) provided by Federal agencies, private organizations, and State and local governments; 3. provide technical and advisory assistance to affected State and local governments for-- A. the performance of essential community services; B. issuance of warnings of risks and hazards; C. public health and safety information, including dissemination of such information; D. provision of health and safety measures; and E. management, control, and reduction of immediate threats to public health and safety; and 4. assist State and local governments in the distribution of medicine, food, and other consumable supplies, and emergency assistance.

Daily show

Here is a link to the press release from 8/27, a day after the Governor declared a state of emergency in La., where the President declared La. to be a disaster area as well and which states: "...The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety..." And further: "Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." See White House Press Release I am no expert on the Stafford Act but this seems clear enough that as of 8/27, because the President declared a state of emergency, albeit the day after the governor did, FEMA had all the authority it needed.

I don't really know the legal ins and outs of this but I believe that the feds can have all the power they want when a threat like this occurs. Its not like Katrina respected any political boundry. It hit across several states and uncounted towns, villages, counties, etc. I can't imagine that FEMA can't come in until every constable, mayor, governor, etc in the effected areas fills out some forms in triplicate. I suspect this angle is part of the spin trying to combat the spin to blame Bush.

Houston allowed 32 TD passes last year but only 4 rushing TD's. They were in the top 15 in run defense but in the bottom half against the pass. Despite all this talk about run, run, run, run, run, run. I'm thinking there is a surprise waiting for the fans and the Texans. I think we are going to put it in the air. Just when they finally start playing the pass, then we'll send McGahee at 'em. It would be a very...dare I say it.... a very Bill Belichek thing to do.

That only works if you gain yards. Running often doesn't gain respect or TOP, running well does.

My fiendish plan for our first possession is so clever, so diabolical, so deceptively simple that our enemies will never expect it: we should score. Heckuva plan aint it?

Regardless of whether the feds were never told, it was no secret to anyone watching the news. I get this kind of thing all the time in my cases. A guy will say "there was no warning telling me not to stick my hand in the sausage dicer". I'll ask, "depite the lack of a warning, didn't you already know that sticking your hand in the sausage dicer was a very, very, very bad idea?" Just because the people who should be telling this info to the feds didn't, doesn't mean that they shouldn't have known about it anyway. I am wondering what quality of response can be expected from the locals when they are getting hit with the same problems as the people they are trying to help. How do you get a helo pilot to fly a chopper when he is stuck on his own roof surrounded by water awaiting rescue himself?

The question is an inevitable one. As the whole terrible event is analyzed, mistakes by whoever will certainly be uncovered and then the question will be asked as to whether the mistake was one that cost lives. Guessing, I would say that for most blunders we will never really know what might have been. We will likely be haunted by that thought for many years. Here is a thought. During all the endless discussions and debates had on this board during the run up to the election last year, how often do you think FEMA or hurricane preparedness came up?

Excellent questions all, I would loved to have heard them when every other day I could read posts about how Bill Clinton "gutted" the CIA.

I can understand the urge to defend him against criticism that is felt to be unfair but the fact is, they defend him from all criticism no matter what, period. On the Daily show last night that had a mock piece from Ed Helms where he said something like: "...all the power of the federal government and every administration resource is being brought to bear in an emergency effort to try and save this much beloved yet beleaguered....President." If FEMA had moved 1/2 as fast in saving NO as the rest of the government moved to defend the Prez and blaming others, I have to wonder how many lives might have been saved. I think in the end there will have been many, many screw ups by lord knows how many people from right to left but the mayor of NO doesn't have an unlimited goon squad leaping to his defense.

How surprising, not a sinle solitary criticism of the administration. Once again, they were absolutely prefect, how uncanny. I have no problem considering that many people screwed up here from top to bottom including local officials in addition to FEMA and the administration. Do you have even the slightest concern over the administration's actions here at all? This may seem like a shocking revelation but the whole reason we have FEMA and the feds involved in disaster relief is because of the screechingly obvious point that in the event of a major disaster, local resources are not sufficient to adequately respond to the need for emergency services. Further, the local authorities are usually terribly disrupted because their people, equipment and other resources are in fact local and so have had to endure the catastrophe as well. Certainly, their abilities are diminished since they got flooded just as bad as the people they are trying to help. That is why outside help is so important and why the vital federal role is so crucial in the event of a catastrophe. Blaming the little, comparatively powerless mayor of New Orleans, and ignoring even the possibility of screw ups at the federal level is simply a blatant attempt to give your own guy a pass. I think they should all answer for their mistakes, from the mayor to the President.