Conservative Talking Points views the hurricane Katrina disaster as a model for the typical liberal utopia that becomes a nightmare when reality sets in. All three levels of government failed the people who also failed to ever help themselves.
An Entitlement Mecca
· With 30% of New Orleans under the poverty level and 67% being black, the liberal leadership enabled these people to stay poor and dependent on entitlements from all levels of government. (Source: US Census - 2005)
· In fiscal 2002, Louisiana State & local governments spent $27.7 billion which is more than $24,000 per family of four. (Source: Capitalist Magazine - Sep 2005)
· In 1995, New Orleans's murder rate was nearly 10 times the national average. (Source: MSNBC - Aug 2005)
Louisiana Democrat Corruption
· "Half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment." Congressman Billy Tauzin (Source: UK Telegraph – Sep 2005)
· Back in 1939, the "Louisiana Scandals" blew up when LSU President James Monroe Smith was charged with embezzling a half-million dollars. The resulting investigation led to at least 20 state officials being indicted. (Source: US News - Aug 2009)
· FBI statistics show that 171 people in New Orleans have been indicted on public corruption charges from 2003 through mid-September of 2007 and more than 80% were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges including bribery and fraud. (Source: Howard Schwartz FBI, USA Today - Oct 2007)
New Orleans City Government Ineptness
· We will never forget the aerial photos of the 200 flooded school buses that New Orleans (Democrat) Mayor Ray Nagin refused to use to evacuate 13,000 citizens before Katrina hit. (Source: NBC News - Sep 2005)
· Though he had plenty of warning, Nagin postponed the evacuation order, prepped no drivers to operate the idle school buses, did not stock the Superdome with food and water, and let the looters run wild for days. (Source: US News - Sep 2005)
· During the storm Nagin hid out in a Baton Rouge hotel, publicly over-estimated the deaths by a factor of 10 (10,000), and after the storm spent a considerable amount of time in Dallas with his evacuated family. (Source: US News - Sep 2005)
Worthless State Leadership
· Even though experts had advised Gov. Blanco (Democrat) and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that it would take at least 48 hours to safely evacuate the citizens of New Orleans, Blanco waited to order the mandatory evacuation only 20 hours before Katrina hit. (Source: NBC News - Oct 2005)
· Gov. Blanco (Democrat) was also slow (2 days) in requesting the initial 40,000 federal troops and then another long delay in positioning her own Louisiana National Guard to secure the streets. (Source: NBC News - Oct 2005)
Liberal New Orleans Officials Confiscated Home Owner's Firearms
· Soon after the Katrina flood waters retreated the anti-gun liberals jumped into action with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent P. Eddie Compass unleashing a wave of confiscations with these chilling words: "No one will be able to be armed. We will take all weapons. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." (Source: NRA - Dec 2005)
· Three years later U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Judge Barbier ruled that the firearm confiscations carried out by Nagin and Riley were unconstitutional and illegal. (Source: NRA - Oct 2008)
Lingering and Far Reaching Consequences
· National Guard and numerous law enforcement agencies were engaged in urban warfare with armed gangs for weeks in New Orleans after Katrina hit. (Source: CNN - Sep 2005)
· To halt the New Orleans anarchy it took about 20,000 active duty troops serving alongside 50,000 National Guard forces including the elite 82nd Airborne unit. (Source: USA Today - Sep 2005)
· Houston's crime rate soared by 70% in November and December of 2005 after 100,000 Katrina refugees sought refuge in the bayou city under the liberal Democrat Mayor Bill White. (Source: City Journal - Jan 2006)
· With New Orleans still the murder capital of the world, Mayor Nagin said just before his successful re-election in 2006, "I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day...This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be." (Source: CNN - Jan 2006)