[quote=“cake”]New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms[…]
Wonder what the pro gun Bush supporters think of this total shit on the 2nd amendment.[/quote] I read one report, can’t find the link right now, that said the police were not confiscating weapons from private security guards nor from wealthy landowners. Maybe that last bit will sooth things over at the NRA?
Powell’s breaking his silence and if he keeps doing so things could be interesting… maybe he wants to have some influence in the next Republican leadership race? [quote=“Powell, selection from BBC online”]There were “a lot of failures at a lot of levels - local, state and federal”, Mr Powell told ABC.
“There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans - not enough was done,” he said.
Mr Powell’s views will be heard with particular interest as he is a highly respected figure and a prominent black American, the BBC’s Justin Webb reports from Washington.
The Pew Research Center, which ran the new opinion poll, also indicated that two-thirds of the African-Americans questioned believed the government reaction would have been faster if most of those affected had been white.
But Mr Powell said so many African-Americans were left unprotected be cause they were poor, rather than because they were black.
It “should have been a blinding flash of the obvious… that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can’t expect everybody to evacuate on their own”, he said. [/quote]
In related news, the head of FEMA has been recalled to Washington, apparently to deal with a pressing political emergency. [quote=“BBC online”]Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is being sent back to Washington from Louisiana where he has been overseeing aid work.
He is being replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm Thad W Allen.
Announcing the reshuffle, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff said Mr Brown would remain head of Fema.
“I have directed Mike Brown to return to administering Fema nationally,” he said at a news conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Vice Adm Allen has been overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
[…]
Allegations were raised that he had padded his resume to exaggerate his previous experience in emergency management.
As news broke of his transfer back to Washington, Michael Brown told AP news agency in an interview that he was keen to return there to “correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said”.
“I’m still the director of Fema,” he said in the telephone interview.
“I’m going to go right back to Fema and continue to do all I can to help these [hurricane] victims.” .
The “story”, he said, was not his own career but “the worst disaster in US history”. [/quote] Well, for now, I have to agree with that last bit. But if it turns out that he padded his resume and was grossly unqualified for the position, he and whoever gave him this job, should have their asses handed to them.