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These people have no shame. It's disgusting how they are now trying to pin the blame on the local authorities' inability to handle the crises, as if the entire fiasco was due to the some forms not being filled out correctly.

Josh Marshall has a great post outlining the exact requests by the state of Lousiania to the federal government on the Saturday before Katrina.

And Kevin Drum has the administration caught in an out-and-out lie, where they're claiming that Lousiana still hadn't declared a state of emergency by Saturday, Sept. 3rd.

For instance, this is a copy of a passage of the request sent by Louisiana to the feds on August 26th (the Friday before the storm hit on Monday)! :

Under the provisions of [the relevant federal law], I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing ... In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan ... Pursuant to 44 CFR ß 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster ...

Yes, mistakes were made on the local level, but being overwhelmed by the calamity is to be expected, and why the federal government, on behalf of ALL of its citizens, would step in to provide the resources necessary.

Beware of Bush and his cronies trying to dodge blame on this one, yet again.

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