Refute the RW talking points with the law!

[progressive_realist]

I've been posting this everywhere in response to the stupid RW meme about state and local officials being responsible for disaster preparation and relief efforts. That's not true! Below is the section of the United States Code that authorizes FEMA. It clearly states their role in LEADING planning, response, and recovery to disasters, including evacuations. Feel free to post this everywhere in response to that idiotic claim which seems to be invading even DU. I'm having a hard time keeping up. :mad:

And no, despite my low post count, I'm not a freeper trying to mislead people. Check this law yourself (6USC317):

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/

**************************
TITLE 6--DOMESTIC SECURITY

CHAPTER 1--HOMELAND SECURITY ORGANIZATION

SUBCHAPTER V--EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

Sec. 317. Role of Federal Emergency Management Agency


(a) In general

The functions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency include the
following:
(1) All functions and authorities prescribed by the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5121 et seq.).
(2) Carrying out its mission to reduce the loss of life and
property and protect the Nation from all hazards by leading and
supporting the Nation in a comprehensive, risk-based emergency
management program--
(A) of mitigation, by taking sustained actions to reduce or
eliminate long-term risk to people and property from hazards and
their effects;
(B) of planning for building the emergency management
profession to prepare effectively for, mitigate against, respond
to, and recover from any hazard;
(C) of response, by conducting emergency operations to save
lives and property through positioning emergency equipment and
supplies, through evacuating potential victims, through
providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to those in
need, and through restoring critical public services;
(D) of recovery, by rebuilding communities so individuals,
businesses, and governments can function on their own, return to
normal life, and protect against future hazards; and
(E) of increased efficiencies, by coordinating efforts
relating to mitigation, planning, response, and recovery.

(b) Federal Response Plan

(1) Role of FEMA

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency shall remain the lead agency for the
Federal Response Plan established under Executive Order No. 12148
(44 Fed. Reg. 43239) and Executive Order No. 12656 (53 Fed. Reg.
47491).

(2) Revision of Response Plan

Not later than 60 days after November 25, 2002, the Director of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall revise the Federal
Response Plan to reflect the establishment of and incorporate the
Department.

[MadeinOhio]

1. Get this on national TV along with documents.

Do not waste any time, ever getting true information out.

http://www.fair.org/

Mail, harass, thank them repeat.

[itzamirakul]

8. It's too late...

Now that the excitement of watching people treated like animals for a week has died out, the time froame of their suffering has diminished in their minds and Bushco is making hay with this. The victims have been unaware of all the controversy going on about their rescue and now people like Diane Sawyer are ther, blonde hair pulled back in pnytail, boots over jeans, mike in hand, helping Rove convince victimes to blame Democratic Governor.

[Melodybe]

2. Vote this one greatest ya'll, people should really read it

this is vital info that the corporate media is forgetting to tell us.

[artemisia1]

3. Kicked and nominated. nt

[WePurrsevere]

4. Kick for Knowledge and TRUTH

Thanks for the info.

[Dunvegan]

5. The law and (even) Churchill...

Churchill, deeply troubled by England's lack of preparation for World War II, said, "The responsibility of ministers for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact the prime object for which governments come into existence."

[Pachamama]

6. You know, even I started to believe the RW Meme on this one...thx for info

This is so important to make sure we get out to the media and general public....I just heard Ray Talioferra ripping a caller about this!

PS: Don't worry about the low "post count"...there are plenty of "Old timers" here on DU that just don't post often and there are plenty of people who lurked here (like me) for a long time before joining. What you had to say was important... :hi:

[ananda]

7. Last night Scarborough actually said..

..that Nagin should have followed Bush's order to call for mandatory evacuation.

Not only is that a complete lie, but Scarborough should be trussed up and rode out on a rail for saying it.

As Huffington said on the first page here, why on earth does the press enable the bushrove slime machine???

Sue

[CrackpotAmerica]

9. Thanks!

Posted it to my site and mailed all over the place including Mr. Mehlman.

Nominated too!

[QuettaKid]

10. Kicked and nominated...

:kick:

[jzodda]

11. somebody post this at Feerepublic and see what they say

Interested to read their response-at least some will try to refute it with logic and then we can know what the next talking points will be in advance :)

[Spazito]

12. Kick, nominated and bookmarked!

Thanks for this, excellent data to keep!

[Verve]

13. PLEASE! Someone get this to the mayor of New Orleans!

He needs to prepare for the Bush admin. blaming him and he needs to be ready!

This morning he was interviewed by Katie Couric and she asked some question about why he didn't prepare more for this. I was waiting for him to say something about how a city (and state) is underfunded and understaffed to provide for a disaster of this type (or something similar to this point). He didn't!

The Rove machine will destroy him and other state and local officials if they aren't prepared. They need to constantly be reminding the media of what the Federal government's responsibilities are in a disaster of this nature!

BTW, Thank you and Welcome!:patriot:

[Catchawave]

14. "...evacuating potential victims..." The NG should have been there too.

Mayor Nagin is a hero, and saved alot of lives, with the resources he had at the time. Sending in help at that time would have saved even more, not to mention help provide security for an empty city.

Keep remembering what Rumsfeld told the troops in Iraq about going into war with what resources you have, as he deflected a soldier's concern about not having enough protection.

The true failure of the administration was help should have been sent for the evacuation, and help should have been there immediately after, flood waters or not, there was a helluva lot of hurricane damage and people had no homes to go back to.

As Keith Olbermann said last night, this administration can't protect us from standing water.

:cry:

[nicknameless]

15. Thank you for posting this

Another kick for the truth. :kick:
Recommended!

[M155Y_A1CH]

16. Great find!

Don't worry too much about your low post count.
It's mental illness and stupidity that identifies the freeps.

:hi: Welcome to DU :hi:

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. The law is very clear- in an emergency DHS/FEMA is to move without delay

Delays CANNOT be blamed on the local or state officials. The law clearly states that DHS is supposed to take the lead in the event of an emergency if necessary to avoid delay in emergency services. This vitally important point, which explicitly contradicts the way the Administration is trying to spin the catastrophic delays as the fault of the state and local officials, was pointed out in a reply by "Richard" to a post at Kevin Drum's Washington Monthly blog: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007054.php#695026

I checked this 114 page pdf document from Dec 2004 and found, as Richard said, that this crucial point of law is indeed on page 43 (the page number of the Plan, not of the PDF file)of the National Response Plan:
http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf
There it is under the heading

Proactive Federal Response to Catastrophic Events

The Guiding Principles for Proactive Federal Response include the following:

• The primary mission is to save lives; protect critical infrastructure, property, and the environment; contain the event; and preserve national security.
  
• STANDARD PROCEDURES REGARDING REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE MAY BE EXPEDITED OR, UNDER EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES, SUSPENDED IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF AN EVENT OF CATASTROPHIC MAGNITUDE.
  
• Identified Federal response resources will deploy and begin necessary operations as required to commence life-safety activities.
  
• Notification and full coordination with States will occur, BUT THE COORDINATION PROCESS MUST NOT DELAY OR IMPEDE THE RAPID DEPLOYMENT AND USE OF CRITICAL RESOURCES.
  
• State and local governments are encouraged to conduct collaborative planning with the Federal Government as a part of “steady-state” preparedness for catastrophic incidents.
  

It's as clear as can be. It's DHS's responsibility to make sure the "deployment and use of critical resources" is NOT impeded by the requirement for notification and full coordination with the States. When they claim the local officials got in the way, they are very obviously lying. In fact, from many eyewitness reports, it is FEMA who blocked aid convoys, prevented water or diesel fuel from reaching desperate people, delayed aid for day after day, cut emergency phone lines in Jefferson Parish and had to be prevented by armed guards from cutting them again after they were repaired.

And it is Bush who failed to give the orders.

Thus, Rove's new spin tactic, now being dutifully parroted by too many talking heads and pundits, is a lie from the start. Not only a lie but a BLATANT lie about the law itself, which said talking heads and pundits should check before they repeat that lie.

Rove and Bush and all the officials and their media and congressional toadies are following the concocted Rove spin of saying (a) we shouldn't talk about blame, but move forward, and (2) - which contradicts #1 - saying all the problems are the fault of the State and Local officials:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html

September 5, 2005

White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and ANNE E. KORNBLUT

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 -

(snip)

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.

(snip)

In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove's tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats.

"The way that emergency operations act under the law is the responsibility and the power, the authority, to order an evacuation rests with state and local officials," Mr. Chertoff said in his television interview. "The federal government comes in and supports those officials."

(snip)

I guess even smooth, habitual, one could say professional liars have it tough when the truth is so clearly opposite to what they say and readily available to their audience. Hey, it's hard work!

[Arkana]

18. What claim is invading DU?

I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just curious--I seem to miss a lot of things.

[progressive_realist]

19. Last night I found multiple posters

Repeating the meme about how state and local government were to blame for what happened. There has been a very aggressive effort to spread these talking points. I couldn't believe it when I saw DU'ers parroting the questions.

Regardless of whether Nagin, Blanco, or anyone else COULD have done more, it was very definitely the responsibility of the federal government to make sure everything possible was being done. Failure to manage this catastrophe appropriately is a FEDERAL failure, not a state or local one.