To the President's credit,
unlike his enemies, he has chosen not to submit this data to the public at
this time and further fuel the political furor. Every concerned American
needs to see this message.

Here is something else that Tim Russert forgot.

On Friday night before the storm hit, Max Mayfield of the National
Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco
personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO and they
said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240
miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.

President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with
his advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required
for a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the
Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act). Just before
midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded
with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the
military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they
didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet.
After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her
staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It
was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as
if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited
in.

Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco and
Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance,
that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory
evacuation.

After a personal plea from the President, Nagin agreed to order an
evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the
governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing
federal action. In frustration the President declared the area a national
disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin
some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's legal
advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency act to
bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid
before the federal government can move into state with troops - but that had
not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into
question to use before the disaster.

Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to NO for
levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina
and support the gambling ships. Toss in the investigation that will look
into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government
for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in
fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal
funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were
never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document
implies that they were.

The suffering people of NO need to be asking some hard questions as
do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign the
multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday
which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining
states. Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have
commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own
emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his
disposal to use between the local school busses and the city transportation
busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.

This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been
destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of
thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be
pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local
corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can
start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the
mistakes to avoid them in the future.