Why the Navy Isn't There... Yet

From NewsMax:

Miles O’Brien interviewing Alabama Governor, Hadley Barbour:

"O'Brien: But I'm talking about assets, like, you know, amphibious vehicles that the Navy has. It has helicopter support, hospital support, the ability to generate power, that sort of thing. We haven't seen that kind of thing, the kind of thing we saw, incidentally, in the wake of the tsunami."

Uhm, Mr. O’Brien—I’d like to point out that the Navy steamed in after the tsunami hit. Just as the Navy is sending ships like the hospital ship, USNS Comfort, after Katrina had passed and died down. A competent captain does not knowingly send his ship into a storm. Especially a ship that is not built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. What good would a Navy ship do stranded upon the shoreline? Remember, Katrina began in Florida, before gathering force and hitting the Gulf Coast. That’s most of the distance the ships would have had to travel to get there.

As has been pointed out in Michelle Malkin’s blog and at The Anchoress, the U.S. Military does not rush in to a domestic situation until it has been requested. They can be prepared and ready to go, but they cannot come until asked. Should they have been asked earlier? When devastation is this total, should the Federal Government, i.e., the President, be able to send troops in without the approval of the state and local government? Or would that consolidate too much power into the hands of the Federal Government, leading us into a Centralized Authority that the Liberals have been worried about for so long?

Remember, too, New Orleans—which seems to be operating on the squeaky wheel theory—was considered “spared.” Efforts originally were concentrated in Mississipi and Alabama. It was when the levees broke and New Orleans became inundated with water that the situation in that city went from bad to catastrophic.

Every family, every community, every school, every church, every hospital, every workplace should have a disaster plan, along with food, water, and blankets. I hadn’t considered sanitation until Katrina. I have to consider more than toilet paper and the fact we won’t be able to flush after use.

What’s your plan?

(H/T: Neal Boortz's Reading Assignments)