It's a Chick Thing

 

   Well, I now think I know why Louisiana Governess Kathleen Blanco was so dilatory in requesting federal aid for her citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It was a chick thing. Specifically, she was concerned that the guard troops might be of the wrong gender composition.

 

   The following is a true story, as reported to my dh "Joe" while in the war zone by a member of the Louisiana Guard unit in question.

 

   It seems that when Madame Governess Blanco was elected, this gentleman's guard unit offered to perform an F-15 flyover at her inaugural celebration. The officer in charge of this unit met with Governess-elect Blanco and the following conversation ensued. :

 

Guard Pilot: Ma'am. We are planning a four-plane formation flyover at your inaugural celebration.

 

Governess-elect Blanco:  That's wonderful. Thank you. I just have one question. Is a female pilot going to be flying the lead airplane?

 

Guard Pilot.: Er..no, Governor-elect Blanco.

 

Governess-elect: Well, you'd better fix that little problem if you want to fly over my inaugural celebration.

 

Guard Pilot: Er, Ma'am. I'm afraid we can't do that.

 

Governess-elect: Why not??

 

Guard Pilot: Ma'am. I'm afraid we don't have any female F-15 pilots in this unit.

 

Governess-elect: Well, you're just going to have to fix THAT little problem if you want to fly in my inaugural, aren't you?

 

   Well, I don't know what they eventually did, but Miz Blanco is remarkably ignorant of military culture and procedure ( well, we knew that didn't we? ) if she thinks a state guard unit can just borrow or press-gang a female F-15 pilot from another state or from the active duty forces for a flyover for a state politician. They'd have to find one first, get her CO's permission, overcome her own possible objections if she's a Republican ( which is more than likely) and justify the extra expenditure. etc. etc.

 

    OK. It sounds like an idiotic reason to delay requesting military aid for hurricane victims, but then, I think we are dealing with an idiot here.

Katrina Inside Update

Hi

Thanks for inquiring about my husband "Joe" ( Captain, USN). He is indeed gone, but right now, he is attached to FEMA in Atlanta, coordinating military assistance. I don't know when he'll be back, but right now he is pulling a 5pm to 9am shift. They called him in over a week ago, but with Katrina being a moving target, he didn't know exactly where they'd be using him until he actually arrived in Atlanta, so he drove down in the van with sleeping bag, water bottles, peanut butter and all the other sweet necessities of life.

In the past couple of days, he has been involved in getting federal emergency drug stockpiles released to Mississippi and other states. They were completely out, but due to the communications problems, were unaware of that fact. The feds can't legally release the stuff ( or other similar aid) until the state requests it, so that caused a delay. He has also been involved in renting three cruise ships from Carnival for 6 months for housing in New Orleans. I gather he spends a lot of time on the phone badgering state and local officials to request what they need so that they can legally send it to them.

Meanwhile, in Meridian, where they had prepositioned 300 trucks full of supplies and helpers two days before the hurricane, they have built two field hospitals in the hangars. I don't know when the 300 trucks got to their destinations further south, but the roads and interstates have been reduced to goat trails and as of Friday, much of Meridian itself was still without power. They've been fixing lines as fast as possible but Katrina was still a Cat 1 storm when it went through town ( even though Meridian is a 4 hour drive inland from New Orleans) and there are trees and debris everywhere. Biloxi and Gulfport, as you will have seen, have basically been reduced to a pile of mulch. Buoys and channel markers and navigation aids have been washed away making it very difficult for ships to land and ditto for a lot of aircraft radar and navigation aids. A lot of those aircraft you see down there are relying on handheld GPS systems...if they've got them. Meanwhile, the bed of the Mississippi Delta has been rearranged and will need to be recharted.

This has been a disaster of biblical proportions. The media are focusing on the horrors in New Orleans, and understandably so, but a lot of poeple have been and continue to work their butts off on this thing and it would be a morale booster if they would mention that once in a while. If you can help in any way ( I'm sure you already are) please do, and pass the word along. 1-800-help-now.

Daily Telegraph Response

I sent this to Gerard Baker of the London Daily Telegraph in response to his article on Katrina

"The tragedy has been visited disproportionately, indeed almost exclusively, on the city’s African-Americans" Opinion - Gerard Baker US Editor Times Online

Dear Mr. Baker,

You make some excellent points in your piece about Hurrican Katrina. I have one point of disagreement, however. Yes, most of the victims of the tragedy in New Orleans are black, but then 70% of the population of that extremely corrupt, 100% Democrat-run city are black. Most of the local politicians are also black. Under our federal system of government, it is the job of those local and state politicians ( Louisiana's Governor is also a Democrat) to request federal aid. It can't be imposed by fiat. As far as I know, every state and local request for aid from the U.S. government has been granted. My own husband got the call from the U.S. Navy early on Saturday last, 2+ days before Katrina hit, and is away working on the relief effort now. It did take a couple of days before they knew exactly where to send him, however, because we're talking about an area of destruction that covers thousands of debris-strewn square miles.

Having once been mugged in the French Quarter 20 yards away from from a New Orleans police cruiser, I know that NOLA is a crime-ridden cesspool on a good day, never mind during a disaster. The local culture of racial victimhood and left-wing indulgence of crime ( most of it black-on-black, by the way) perpetuates the poverty and lawlessness. Other areas with high black populations, like Mississippi, are not experiencing this level of ugliness, despite enormous destruction and death. But then, Mississippi is not a place where law-breaking is routinely winked at. The mayor of NOLA ordered an evacuation, but the monopolistic Democrat Party machine that has always been so efficient at getting the aged and infirm, non-citizens, felons, dead people and house pets to the polls on election day, was apparently well on its way to Baton Rouge when the storm hit. Patients in state-funded hopitals were left high and dry...or do I mean low and wet?

Left-wing politicians, most recently the Congressional Black Caucus, and local Louisiana officials are preemptively lashing out at the President because they know who is really at fault for this mess. They are. I'll be fascinated to learn how much federal aid has disappeared down the local political rathole over the years...aid that might have helped poor New Orleanians to get out of Dodge. I also wonder how many locals stayed behind on purpose in hope of rich pickings. They got a little more than they bargained for, I'll guess.