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The hurricane states should demand that the Federal government re-start the draft whenever military operations require National Guard units be Federalized for more than six months. In addition, the Pentagon should be supplying the equipment for operations outside the US.

If there aren’t enough regular troops for a period that long, the regular military needs to be increased in size, and only a draft will ensure that the necessary increase will be achieved.

The coastal states should stop acting like a temp agency for Rumsfield.

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Remember Rumsfeld’s claim that his base closing plan would generate $50 billion in savings? He was a little off, about $30 billion high.

The BRAC commission reports that $30 billion of the claimed savings are based on a reduction of military personnel on closed facilities. However those people aren’t being eliminated, they are being moved to other bases.

Sixty percent of Rumsfield’s claim was BOGUS!

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The Otter, a doctor working in New Orleans, reports that the Army Chemical Corps has found Cholera, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B in the water. This is in addition to the fecal and lead contamination already reported.

Anything that was flooded by this mess is going to be next to impossible to disinfect. It’s about time that the debris was treated as hazardous waste, not construction waste. If they don’t keep it out of the ground, it will show up in the water.

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Another physician of note is: Ben Marble, MD, the individual who quoted Dick Cheney on live television.

If anyone wonders why he was perturbed, you can see Dr. Ben’s house, after Katrina’s extreme make-over.

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Regarding your road block on the bridge out of New Orleans:

United States Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 13 , Section 242

Deprivation of rights under color of law

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

You might want to get together with some lawyers that have been admitted to the Federal bar. People died because they could not get out of New Orleans.

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I have a separate page up on the FEMA disaster declarations with maps showing the winds from Katrina and the areas of the states that FEMA declared eligible for assistance. The maps are large to show the counties.

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State and local officials got about 90% of the people to evacuate, and had to deal with the 10% that couldn’t or wouldn’t leave. They didn’t have the resources or time to force people out.

The famous “200 school buses” didn’t belong to the mayor of New Orleans so he would have had to find 200 people who could hot-wire and drive a bus, fuel for the buses, and then travel around the city to transport another 15,000 people – if he had remembered they existed under the pressure of the approaching storm.

It might surprise some people, but bus drivers are not considered “first responders”, or “essential personnel”. The bus drivers evacuated with their families.

While there were about 4,000 Louisiana Guardsmen available, their equipment was in Iraq. Yes, the special equipment designed for use in the swamps of Louisiana was sitting in a desert. That equipment included their generators and communications gear.

At the heart of the problem was a total break down of communications. They were left with short-range radios that quickly failed as the batteries ran down. The vehicles with radios were lost in the flood. Without communications the police in New Orleans couldn’t be used effectively. Without communications, the state didn’t know what was available in the areas that were struck, or what was needed. Ninety thousand square miles of the United States was damaged by this storm. That’s a square 300 miles on a side.

In the aftermath of the hurricane and flood there was no way of coordinating efforts. There was almost no means of transport left in the city, and many of the first responders died in the storm.

As of today, the Federal government as still not delivered communications equipment requested by the governor. Local officials are talking to the media because that’s the only way they have of communicating and it’s one-way.

The bulk of the looting could have been eliminated with food and water airdrops. If food and water are available the majority of people aren’t going to break into stores and there are un-looted stores with food and water in them in the city of New Orleans. The looting started because the local public supplies were generally under water, and no outside supplies were sent in to replace what was ruined.

Along with food and water, it would have been nice if they had dropped a few thousand of these things: light & radio – crank, solar, and battery powered unit that retails for $30, weighs 2 pounds, and can receive AM, FM, & short-wave signals.

I would prefer a stripped down model, perhaps only a single band radio that could be readily available through local emergency management offices for $10, and handed out to food stamp recipients.

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