There is tragedy in the air on the United States Gulf Coast. The local, state, and federal governments have all horribly dropped the ball on helping out our own citizens! Kanye West had some things right in his speech but I do disagree that the tone was One-sidedly racial (in how they set up relief, since Mississippi's Gulf Coast is predominantly white and they have gotten little to no help with the devastation and it is just as bad as New Orleans; how they have portrayed it in the media is racial as they have shown pictures of blacks in a poor light as they aren't the only racial group looting in New Orleans or anywhere else affected by Katrina) and that George Bush is solely culpable. We'll take a look at Congress, George W. Bush, FEMA head Mike Brown, Former President Bill Clinton (and what I will say is true and is a shocker), Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin. They all share culpablity along with the Louisiana State Legislature and the Pentagon.

Congress failed by not voting in 1998 for the contingent from the Army Corps of Engineers (and concerned citizens and engineers who looked at the possibility of a Katrina type scenario at the time since they had Category 3 storm type levee protection and feared a Category 4 or 5 storm putting New Orleans under water) to get $14 Billion that they needed to upgrade the water pumps and levee system years before it happened (Clinton was president at this time too lest we forget) as they didn't see it as a possible scenario. They failed those citizens by not putting the package into committee for a vote or even consider it for discussion. The problems may not have been avoided but the impact would have been lessened if they got even half of the money they wanted at the time to upgrade the levee and pump systems.

George W. Bush failed by not making sure that the Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi clearly understood that they had his authority to get Guard units into place for recovery efforts after Katrina hit (don't blame the recovery effort on how long it took the military to move, Iraq has 150,000 or so troops and we have 1.4 million troops active duty Guard, Reserve, and Individual Ready Reserve so we have more than enough personnel to cover relief efforts). He also should have put a boot into FEMA head Mike Brown and the Pentagon's butts for the knuckle dragging they did to get the relief effort going. He should have hired a LOGISTICIAN (for those who don't know it's a person who coordinates supplies and transportation assets for relief and everyday efforts so they can be maximized for the tasks set forth by politicians and in the military, commanders) as the FEMA head. Mike Brown is now obviously a poor choice as I am sure he has no logistics experience and if he does he hasn't shown it which is pitiful.

FEMA head Mike Brown failed by not doing his job of coordinating the recovery and relief effort. He had authority to get the assets into place and failed to do that. He also didn't coordinate with the mayor of New Orleans or the Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi to get them what they needed to begin helping their citizens in the aftermath. The man apparently has no Logistics experience. He should have had the Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Georgia Guard units on standby (as well as air, military police, and naval units) to help with relief, recovery, and security. He along with everybody else is equally responsible for the deaths that could have been avoided after the storm passed through.

Former President Bill Clinton is culpable in that he didn't make any effort to press Congress on passing and committee voting on the $14 Billion package that Louisiana wanted for the New Orleans levee and water pump systems. He neglected those Americans then (on a side note he had Bin Laden presented to him for assassination in 1998 also and refused it since he didn't consider Bin Laden a threat at the time, a bad choice in hindsight) and should focus on helping them and not laying blame. Blame isn't helping those people get what they need to see another day.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco failed by not activating the National Guard units in her state immediately before and after Katrina hit. What was she doing? Sitting on her hands? She had authority as a state Governor to activate her own state Guard units in case of an emergency! Why did she not do it? The politicians need to stop blaming the other party as they are both equally responsible!! She failed to move her Guard units which is appalling considering she needs no one's permission to activate them!! I ask again: Why didn't she activate them before and after the fact? Shame politicians can't lose their jobs like normal working folks, she should be fired for her mismanagement of her Guard assets and her poor spin job after the fact. Point Blank: She failed her citizens by NOT activating the Guard units in her state!!! No excuses!!

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin failed by not coordinating with the Governor's office first and then the federal government to get relief assets into place and then aid distributed to his own citizens. How the heck did he not take every bus asset in New Orleans, gas them up, and use the bus drivers and police to get the frail, elderly, and poor who couldn't get out on those assets and out of New Orleans before Katrina hit? He had the gall to get 400 tourists out of the city (confirmed by Bill O'Reilly, and others from Fox News on air the 3rd of September) who he sheltered in the Hyatt, while his own citizens are dying and passing out in various locations around the city (while also living in squalor and filth) with no help from him unless he was spinning on television. He was right to crticize the federal response which was atrocious, but please practice what you preach! You shamed all your citizens by letting them fend like animals the way they have while you bent over backwards to help non-citizens (not that they shouldn't be helped out as we should help them for visiting the city and country and Americans are a helpful people) and not your own unless it was in the voice of the complaint department (which they didn't need they needed your help which you failed to give until you started to spin your biased rhetoric). The man should lose his job as he failed the people of New Orleans with his lack of preparation in advance of Katrina hitting and her aftermath. The man is a disgrace!!! Those deaths are on your hands as well as the other federal and state offices that took so long to help. Ordinary Americans are more reliable than their own local, state, and federal governments which is atrocious, appalling, and disgraceful! We helped our own better than our government which makes me proud to see that we can come together without the politico of our government who can't seem to be trusted with our lives (thank God our military can and they have performed admirably during the relief and recovery efforts) which sickens me.

The Louisiana State Legislature for not pressing harder to get the $14 Billion that the Army Corps of Engineers needed to upgrade the levees! Hindsight is not the way to do things! When are politicians going to realize that! There was no reason that they couldn't have at the very least sent a team to look at what Denmark has done with their levee system to withstand the storms from the North Sea area (and they have had LOTS of experience with storms and storm surges which their levees have successfully kept from flooding the cities and the country) and taking engineering cues from them. There is no reason they couldn't have helped to continue pushing for that money. Funny they gave the Saints money to stay in New Orleans and it would have been better spent on upgrading those levees. Now what is going to happen to the Superdome and the Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern? I always try to watch that game as it is the Historical Black colleges equivalent to the National Championship game for the BCS. That game will not feel the same in a different stadium. Shame on them for not pressing for that money and having the citizens pay for the Saints instead of getting the levees and pumps upgraded!

The Pentagon failed by not getting units pre-positioned to help with recovery and relief. They also should have expedited the paperwork to release the Guard units needed for the recovery and relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. They also should have gotten more units into the state of Mississippi which everyone seems to forget about! They have had their tourism and military industries on the Gulf Coast devastated and have gotten no help! Casinos are thrown onto the other side of Highway 90 (the road is the main artery for transportation and material goods traffic through Mississippi into New Orleans) and they are pretty much destroyed (you're talking about $1B of revenue a year just wiped out completely) with no hope of recovery. The people of Mississippi need our help too and the Pentagon has sent no one (FEMA also has sent no one) to help them recover and give them relief supplies!! Those people are being forgotten and that is inexcusable and deplorable! They need the help of the military and FEMA too! Don't forget about them!!

The above people are ALL culpable!! They share equal responsibility for failing their citizens in their dire hour of need and failed those they allowed to die and suffer before they started the relief and recovery effort. Remember that the funding cuts are the fault of Congress (since only they can make and vote on the country's budget and what is and isn't funded, the President can ONLY make recommendations for what he wants to see funded in the budget) and they are responsible and culpable.

On a final note, I am glad to see the violent looters and criminals who believe they can intimidate and bully those poor folks get what they deserve. They should be shot and killed, a trial is just a waste of money. I'll catch flak for some of the stuff said if not all but what I've said has truth in it, I just have the gall to say it and you can agree to disagree but I keep on top of any news I can since both sides (left and right equally) spin it to their beliefs and I love to pick out the truth from all the statements. To those cops that quit shame on you since your city needs you. Pay and losing everything isn't an excuse. Our military is underpaid too and like you they chose their jobs. They would never walk off or quit and neither should you. You are all a disgrace to all who died wearing that unifrom. Never walk off the job when others need you! It is inexcusable. Yes some situations you find yourself in suck (and I feel for you losing everything as that is very horrible and I hope that the government helps you get back on your feet) but there are people who have it worse and they are depending on you. Don't turn your back on those you swore to protect or let run around lawlessly those you swore to protect them from.

Random Factoid:

There have been 16 Chief Justices in the history of the United States. They are in order: John Jay, John Rutledge (who served the shortest term; he didn't die he left due to health reasons and Congress never confirmed him for his health reasons), Oliver Ellsworth, John Marshall (who served the longest tenure at 34 years), Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Morrison R. Waite, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White (a card carrying Klansman nonetheless!), William H. Taft (the only President to serve as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court), Charles E. Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Frederick M. Vinson, Earl Warren (who headed the infamous [or famous depending on who you talk too] Warren Commission that looked into John F. Kennedy's assassination), Warren E. Burger, and William H. Rehnquist who passed away a few days ago. That encompasses from the Court's inception in 1789 until today. Footnote: John Roberts as of today (March 10, 2006) is our 17th Chief Justice.