Firing 'Blancos' Part II

Blanco has finally completely lost it. The latest news from LA according to Fox News Channel's Major Garrett, as reported on Hugh Hewitt's show just moments ago on Radio Blogger

The Red Cross is confirming to Major Garrett today that it had prepositioned water, food, blankets and hygiene products for delivery to the Superdome and the Convention Center in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, but were blocked from delivering those supplies by orders of the Louisiana state government, which did not want to attract people to the Superdome and/or Convention Center. Garrett has no paper trail yet, but will follow up on his verbal confirmation from sources at the highest levels of the Red Cross."

O.K. so now she wants people hungry, thirsty and anxious TO to leave...

Garrett also brings to light (video), that FEMA couldn’t initially bring the National Guard into Louisiana because it is not their jurisdiction. Who has to give them jurisdiction? *Drumroll please* GOVERNOR KATHLEEN BLANCO.

From Instapundit:
"Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

More from Glenn Reynolds @ Instapundit:

Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"

As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta. .

The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for "austere conditions." Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives.

"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."

This does sound like a bureaucracy that doesn't understand the urgency of the situation, or a Blanco that has gone totally Blonco...

More from Jeff Goldstein over @ Protein Wisdom, my sanity barometer, not forgeting the excellent and constantly updated 'Katrina Response Timeline' from Rick Moran, and Michelle Malkin's latest on another Blanco Blunder....from Mark Moore, who has an incredible story to tell about 300 refugees, including  well to do  tourists, who went through a horrific ordeal trying to make it out on foot. O.K. so now she wants to keep them IN.  Mark are you as confused as I am?

Latest Udate from Hewitt on Radio Blogger : Major Garrett came back to give an encore appearance, and here is what he had to say:

"A couple of things. First of all, it established on tonight's Special Report, that it wasn't just the Red Cross. It was the Salvation Army. Both agencies, both organizations were ready, prepared pre-positioned, eager, but were thwarted in their efforts to bring supplies, basic supplies...not everything these people needed, but core supplies to the Superdome, and then eventually, the convention center. Why? Because the New Orleans Department of Homeland Security said look. Our plan is to evacuate these people. Marty Evans, the President and the CEO of the American Red Cross, said on camera...you don't have to believe me. Believe her. You can read her own eyes, saying look...  We were told if we came in, we would create an atmosphere that would lead people to stay, and give them the feeling that they should stay. And the state did not want that." More of the transcript on Radio Blogger.

Comments

[Lilly]

The bureaucrats have to be blamed, and especially Gov. Blanco. Somebody has to take responsibility, and she has a lot to answer for.