Katrina Coverage

On Saturday, Lisa Myers had a segment on NBC News discussing Kathleen Blanco's various mistakes. A transcript is here:
Myers: "Though experts had warned it would take 48 hours to evacuate New Orleans, Blanco did not order a mandatory evacuation that Saturday."
…Myers: "She and the mayor waited until Sunday [Aug. 28] , only 20 hours before […]

Your eyes might feel slimy after reading this report, but this bit needs some research:
On August 30, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff labeled Katrina "an incident of national significance." In doing so, he set into action the National Response Plan (NRP). Secrecy News, published by the Federation of American Scientists, points out that […]

The mystery of the missing parishes deepens with today's Congressional testimony from former FEMA head Mike Brown.
From the transcript
[REP. STEPHEN BUYER (R-IN)]: …I'd like to know why did the president's federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines?
BROWN: Under the law, the governor makes the request for […]

As previously discussed in "Some LA counties missing from White House emergency declaration" and the later "The strange incident of the missing parishes", the various press releases and emergency declarations from various agencies seem to be missing some of the affected parishes.
For instance, a White House emergency declaration listed the parishes in the north of […]

You're going to need a map and a large sheet of paper to follow the article "Conflicting accounts from top on Katrina response", which tries to figure out who exactly dropped the ball (if any), and whether it was DHS head Chertoff.
Apparently it happened like this:

On the night of Aug. 27, the White House issued […]

From "The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos" comes this Sunday, August 28 news that should give some slight pause to the race-baiters:
Minutes earlier, Blanco had been pulled out to take a call from the president, pressed into service by FEMA's Brown to urge a mandatory evacuation. Blanco told him that's just what the mayor […]

Paul Craig Roberts offers "From Federal Failure Arises More Federal Power", which makes the following claims:
- funding for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) was cut…
- likewise with the work of the US Corps of Engineers on the New Orleans levees
- FEMA didn't undertake "normal advance preparations"
- "FEMA took no action until 3 […]

The DUmmies try to sort out the missing parishes first discussed here in Some Louisiana parishes missing from White House emergency declaration. They point to this LA press release, saying in their charming way:
Governor Blanco has to issue a second letter, explicitly listing the Parishes for George.
But, there's no parishes listed at the link. Google's […]

Snopes says this is false:
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco refused President Bush's pleas to declare an emergency in Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina struck.
The timeline they provide… isn't in temporal order, so I've corrected the below (assuming they have their facts correct that is):
- On Friday (26 August), Governor Blanco did […]

On August 26, the White House issued a "Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana", which is provided below. That statement contains a list of parishes.
Oddly enough, only 39 parishes are listed, yet Louisiana has 64 parishes. One of those that's not on the WH list is… Orleans. Here's the full list of the ones […]