PERSON OF THE WEEK - Sep. 4-10, 2005

I really hate to start Person of the Week off on a sour note, but I said that I wouldn't pull any punches. I was absolutely appalled this week when I heard that, when Katrina was about to hit, this woman had to be ordered by the President to evacuate New Orleans. She knew full well what kind of damage that a Category 5 hurricane would do to that city, but she did nothing to get the people out of harm's way. Then, on Thursday, I found out that she had not activated Louisiana's emergency plan, which had been designed for the exact set of circumstances that took place. Then, I find out that the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security had disallowed the Red Cross from bringing food and blankets to the Superdome and Convention Center the day after Katrina hit - BEFORE the levee broke. Apparently, they wanted to make these places of refuge as uncomfortable as possible so as to deter more people from coming. While the Governor cannot technically be held accountable for the conduct of a state agency, she is at the top of that department's chain of command.

For endangering citizens by not evacuating New Orleans, for not ordering that food be allowed into shelters, and for then having the nerve to allow Mayor Nagin to complain about the lack of food in those same shelters, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco is ConservaGlobe's Person of the Week.

Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions: Ray Nagin, Gen. Russell Honore, Viktor Yushchenko, Hosni Mubarak, Ayman Nour, Robert Mugabe.

Technorati Tags: News, Politics, Current Affairs, Current Events,Person of the Week