-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [IP] FEMA Had Authority to Act, even without Emergency Declaration Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:13:41 -0400 From: David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Ip Ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Begin forwarded message: From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: September 13, 2005 12:35:45 PM EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IP] FEMA Had Authority to Act, even without Emergency Declaration Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I would encourage all IPers to listen to the complete program that this snippet is from... the audio will go live this weekend on <http://thislife.org> or people can use the very helpful <http://www.publicradiofan.com/> to find a station that will air the program at a time they can listen (and in a format they can listen in). Lessig posted about this program and I have to agree that it is jaw-droppingly revealing (people trying to leave the city being shot at by crazed cops, etc.): <http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003124.shtml> > This American Life's episode this week, "After the Flood," is an > extraordinary collection of stories from New Orleans. Most > extraordinary among the lot was the clear picture it gave of the > work by some bit of government down there to forbid people from > leaving the city. The story is told by a group of paramedics at a > convention in New Orleans; it is about the force used to keep them > (and others) from leaving. > > However outrageous not being prepared was, however insane was the > delay in reaction, this, imho, is the worst. Listen. > -Joe On 9/13/05, David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > > From: John Lyon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: September 13, 2005 5:08:31 AM EDT > To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [For IP] FEMA Had Authority to Act, even without Emergency > Declaration > > > For IP, if appropriate. It's a transcript of the prologue from last > weekend's public radio program "This American Life." <http:// > thislife.org>. > > Ira Glass: OK, in the coming weeks and months we're all going to be > hearing > so much about hurricane Katrina, and why the government's response > was so > abysmal. And already the blame shifting is like this prize fight > that's > already in it's third or fourth round. > > Already we've heard officials try to shrug off any attempts of > accountability by saying it's too soon, by saying we're not going to > play > the "blame game." > > And before the million details, and arguments and counter arguments > start to > make all of our heads woozy, I would just like to repeat here, > something > that was talked about very briefly this week. > > One of those things that seems so fundamental, that seems to cut > through a > lot this supposed debate that's happening and end it definitively. So > much > so that when I would see people on TV posturing and trotting out the > talking > points, I kept wanting to go back and say "Nonononono, don't forget > this > thing." > > It has to do with the biggest argument out there right now. > > Whether the federal government was in fact supposed to be in charge of > rescuing people and getting food and water and all that to New > Orleans. It's > come up a lot, like when the head of Homeland Security Michael > Chertoff was > asked by Tim Russert on Meet the Press, "Since you knew the storm was > coming, why didn't you get buses and trains and planes and trucks in > there > to evacuate?" > > Chertoff...said it wasn't his job. > > Chertoff: Tim, the the way that, that that emergency operations act > under, > under the law is, the responsibility, and the, the uh power, the > authority > rests with the state and local officials. > > Glass: This idea, that it was state and local officials who were the > ones > who blew it, not the feds, this idea is all over place. > > From the talking heads on TV, to Rush Limbaugh: > > Limbaugh: What we had down there was eminent failure of state and > local > government. We had incompetence in the mayor's office, incompetence > in the > governor's office. > > Glass: And sure, it is clear, even this early, that there are > plenty of > things that state and local government did to screw things up. > > But here's this thing that I read this week, this thing that I kept > thinking > about all week. It really comes down to a couple of basic facts. > > The governor of Louisiana declares a state of emergency, the Friday > before > the storm hits, right? Calls on the federal government to step in. > > Then President Bush officially declares a state of emergency in > Louisiana, > the next day, Saturday before the storm, and authorizes the Federal > Emergency Management Agency to act. > > You can read the paper where he does this on the White House website. > > Basically, that should have settled who was in charge. > > Nicholson: After that happened, there was plenty of authority. There > was all > the authority in the world. > > Glass: We checked it out this idea that, from that point, the federal > government was in fact in charge. We checked it out with several > different > experts and consultants on these issues this week. > > And they all agree that the law is unambiguous. > > This particular guy is William Nicholson, author of the books > "Emergency > Response and Emergency Management Law" and "Homeland Security Law and > Policy." And if you're into Homeland Security policy, you might > want to > check those out. > > He says that once the governor asks for help, and the president > declares a > state of emergency, the feds basically have the broad powers to do > what's > necessary. > > And, he says, even if the President hadn't declared a state of > emergency, > the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Chertoff, could have > acted. > > There's this whole newfangled way for him to take emergency powers > under > something called the National Response Plan. > > Nicholson: Well, basically, the way it works is, the Secretary of > Homeland > security designates this as a catastrophic incident, and federal > resources > deploy to preset federal locations or staging areas, and, so they > don't even > have to have a local or state declaration in order to, uh, move > forward with > this. > > Glass: In other words, it doesn't matter what the governor says, it > doesn't > matter what the local people say, basically, once that happens, > they can > just go ahead and do, what needs to be done to fix the problem. > > Nicholson: That's correct. It's utterly clear that they had the > authority to > preposition assets and to significantly accelerate the federal > response. > > Glass: And they didn't need to wait for the state? > > Nicholson: They did *not* need to wait for the state. > > Glass: Remember, you heard it here first. > > Remember you heard it at all. > -- > John Lyon | http://surlyedition.com > > President Coolidge came down in a railroad train > With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand > The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame > What the river has done to this poor crackers land." > -- Randy Newman, "Louisiana, 1927" > > > > > ------------------------------------- > You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To manage your subscription, go to > http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip > > Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- > people/ > > > -- Joseph Lorenzo Hall UC Berkeley, SIMS PhD Student <http://josephhall.org/> blog: <http://josephhall.org/nqb2/> This email is written in [markdown] - an easily-readable and parseable text format. [markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
