A few points to be considered

"Martial Law"

According to the Louisiana Attorney General no such term ("martial law") exists in Louisiana state law. (more here, and here- includes comments on WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan continuing to erroneously use the term)


State of Emergency

On Friday, August 26th (BEFORE the hurricane hit), Governor Blanco declared a state of emergency.

On August 27th, Governor Blanco requested that Bush declare a federal emergency for the State of Louisiana. About the only prompt thing he did in all of this - he did, applying it retroactively to the 26th.

Yet on Saturday, September 4th, a "senior Bush official" is telling the press that "Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency."

Clueless? Trying to smear the governor? Both?

(The Post printed a correction to the false information from the White House: A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.)

Additional FYI: Once a Federal state of emergency is declared, Federal agencies are responsible for coordinating all emergency efforts. The WH's continued attempts to shift blame to the locals shows only that they either don't understand the concept of responsibility, or they simply don't have a clue what they're doing.


Control of the Louisiana National Guard
From the Washington Post on September 4th:

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

FEMA

The LA Times has a good article explaining how and when FEMA in in charge of a situation. Former FEMA managers comment on what's happening this time.


When did the levees fail
From the Washington Post (italics mine):

This is the epicenter of one of the biggest natural disasters in U.S. history -- an ordinary middle-class New Orleans neighborhood framed by Lake Pontchartrain and the 17th Street Canal, whose levee was breached Monday morning when Katrina's storm surge pushed the lake into the canal until the floodwall gave way.

The Army Corps of Engineers learned that the levee had broken early Monday even as the storm hit, but it was impossible to do anything about it before lake water cascaded unimpeded into the below-sea-level city for 36 hours, turning a really bad storm into an unimaginable abomination. There was no public announcement that the levee had broken until late Monday.
...
Col. Richard P. Wagenaar, the Corps' New Orleans District commander who is the on-site commander at 17th Street, said a police officer called him Monday morning to tell him about the break, but he could not drive there. On Tuesday, the Corps tried to drop some sandbags into the breach, but "it didn't work real well," Wagenaar said. "They were too small, and the water velocity carried them away."

Political spin

On September 5th, the New York Times reports White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage

Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.

(For an administration that talks so much about the importance of "taking responsibility", they sure seem to be going out of their way to avoid doing so!)

Don't forget the pets

Everybody knows about the need for donations to the Red Cross, America's Second Harvest, Mennonite Disaster Service, United Way, and so many more.


A lady in Florida is running a site called KatrinaFoundPets.com, to help try to reunite pets and their owners who were separated buy the hurricane. They're also trying to arrange for foster homes for pets, donations of money and goods to help with the rescue, recovery, and survival work.

Other organizations helping rescue and house pets, and reunite them with their owners:
Pet Finder
Noah's Wish
and of course, The Humane Society of the United States

PetFinder has a long list of links to other groups also working to rescue animals across the Gulf Coast.


If you are putting together items to donate to survivors, please remember that many of them have pets, and consider things you have that could help the animal survivors, too.

The pet rescue organizations need things such as: food and water dishes, collars, harnesses, leashes, crates, toys, pretty much anything that a pet needs, please check these sites to see where to donate. If you or anyone you know can donate pet food, it is greatly needed.

They also need things like disposable cameras and polaroid film, to help get pictures of the pets out into the temporary housing and other shelters so people have a chance to find out if their pets are okay.

Remember that it's not just dogs and cats- shelter and care items are needed for hamsters, gerbils, ferrets, and other rodent/small mammal pets; birds; snakes and lizards; horses, goats, and other farm-type animals; etc.


If you live in the region (or even outside of it) and can foster a pet for a while, please contact these organizations. Your home might be too small to offer housing to any of the people who are currently homeless, but if you can take care of a cat or dog or a caged pet for a while, please consider doing so.

Many of the people who escaped with their pets are having a hard time finding a place to stay where they can keep their pets with them - knowing their pets are fostered in a safe home while they are getting back on their feet again would be a huge relief.

"Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater"

Chertoff's declaration that "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater" spurs some devastating commentary from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

(cheers to curmudgeon for the link)