Who knew the levee would break?

I have a correction and some updates to the audio blog. Blame the mistakes on hearing the story in the car with Houston traffic distracting me. [should I admit that? Should it be reversed?].

The point of the blog is the same and I'm leaving it as it was originally recorded. It's not the federal government's job to fix problems at the state level. And before we talk about what the feds didn't do, let's look at the pork in Louisiana.

Correction: The person testifying was not the governor of LA, it was the Senior senator of same, Mary L. Landrieu (D).

Testimony: (mp3); text (I need to state here that the audio feed provided by the senator is significantly different from the Senate transcript. Take it for what it is worth.)
Mr. Bill skit referred to by Sen. Landrieu

WSJ: Blame Amid the Tragedy

My mother passed this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal on to me. While it specifically discusses the failures of local government during Katrina and the flooding that followed, it also speaks to the role of the federal government in situations like this.

Blame Amid the Tragedy by Bob Williams

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center. The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved. [more]

I'm a federalist at heart weighted towards the local levels. In fact, I think the feds should be as far away from my life as possible. It's job is to

". . . establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity. . ."

Government should work from the bottom up. It should start from my community association (rat bastards!), to mayor and city council, to Governor and state legislators, an THEN to the Federal government.
In fact, government should start at he family level . . . but then we'd have to define more than I want to define. (A co-dictatorship with my wife and I?)

Could FEMA have done better? Yes.
Should it have? Yes.
Do I have any faith that the Department of Homeland Security? No.
Is there enough blame to go around? Yes.
Will anything really change? That depends on how people vote at the local level and up from there.