The Inmates Have Taken Over the Asylum

Dick,

And here I was thinking some crazy lefty "preacher" was going to blame it on them for being in a red state.

Damn, they fooled me again!

Many have asked the source for the Astrodome relocated folks from N.O.

Hurricane Katrina Relief for Astrodome evacuees need to be sent to:

All monetary donations coming to St. Luke's will first go to help refugees from Katrina here in the Houston area. After initial emergency services are provided, further donations will be forwarded to UMCOR. Send donations to St. Luke's marked Disaster Response

Payable: St. Lukes United Methodist Church
PO Box 22013
Houston, Texas 77227-0103

memo line :Hurricane Relief
713-622-5710

Well, this is just perfect... I don't normally ever agree with Cal Thomas but boy, do I agree with him today...

Cal Thomas

Political preachers deliver misleading message

PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland — Word of Pat Robertson's outrageous remarks recommending the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has reached this small seacoast town. A local man asked me what I thought of his comments. "Not much," I replied with some embarrassment. I'm sure the non Christian world is having a fine time ridiculing this latest example of un-Christ-like behavior.

Robertson has made other remarks over the years about all sorts of things that have nothing to do with the gospel in which he says he believes. He is not alone. On the right and on the left, ordained and self-proclaimed "reverends" and honorary "doctors" appear to spend more time trying to reform a fallen and decaying world through politics and earthly power than they do promoting and proclaiming the ultimate answer to that fallenness.

While these apostles of political parties and personal agendas have every right to make fools of themselves, they are enabled in their foolishness by millions of people who blindly send them money. These money-senders are looking in the wrong place for their deliverance. While paying lip service to eternity, they seem to prefer immediate political gratification.

Few would pay attention to political preachers if these ministers did not have access to television and radio. And they would not have TV programs if people did not send them money which, in addition to buying TV time, is used to set most of them up in lifestyles that resemble the "rich young ruler."

Much of what is proclaimed as G-d's will on TV and in fundraising appeals is false religion. People who respond with checks are either ignorant or willfully disobedient to what their spiritual commander-in-chief and the early apostles taught and practiced.

Too many Christians think if they shout loud enough and gain political strength the world will be improved. That is a false doctrine. I have never seen anyone "converted" to a Christian's point of view (and those views are not uniform) through political power. I have frequently seen someone's views changed after they have experienced true conversion and then live by different standards and live for goals beyond which political party controls the government.

Repeatedly in the Scriptures, which TV ministers regularly and selectively quote, are teachings, admonitions and commands that are antithetical to the high-octane rhetoric spanning the ideological and theological spectrum — from Pat Robertson to Jesse Jackson.

Here is a partial list: G-d's strength is made perfect in human weakness; humble yourself and G-d will exalt you; he who would be a leader among you must first be your servant; love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you; pray in secret, not publicly; give to the poor; G-d has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; the last place at the table; the widow's mite (the message is that she gave all she had, not great wealth); the mustard seed (about the smallest amount of genuine faith); the washing of feet (as demonstrated by Jesus).
These virtues are virtually absent among the "resounding gongs and clanging cymbals" one sees on TV.

If people who bear the label "Christian" want to reduce these embarrassments, which interfere with the proclamation and the hearing of "true religion," they should refrain from sending money to TV preachers and contribute more to their local church.

Local giving not only would allow the giver to better monitor how the money is spent, but also, if the pastor occasionally says something he should not have said, the embarrassment will remain within the walls and not be a rhetorical shot heard around the world.

Pat Robertson eventually apologized for his remarks about assassinating Hugo Chavez. His penance should be to retire and to take his bombastic conservative and liberal colleagues with him.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas1.asp

Hey, if the Big Guy is trying to send a message via Mother Nature, I'd guess He's sending it to the country as a whole for what's been done in His name to further intolerance, greed, torture, etc.

But hey, I'm just a sinner like every other soul on Earth...

Ain't I special?

I always worry when I agree with Cal...doesn't happen often...........about 3 times I think...

They are also looking for folks that can spend 7-10 days in Baton Rouge to relieve First Responders.

Many in Crawford last week were asking what the Noble Cause is that we are fighting for. I think we have found it. Its just not in Iraq.

Hey -

OntoVictory4Dems is in Baton Rouge. We haven't heard from her here since the day the hurricane struck, but perhaps she can give us some leads as to where supplies are needed.

God willing.

K ..I just posted this at Reb

THERE ARE 1 MILLION HOMELESS WHO NEED HELP

The following local organization has been contacting local churches begging for immediate relief items. They have been 'Overwhelmed' by the crisis and are in desperate need of help.

WHAT THEY NEED..

Diapers
Babyfood
Formula
Canned milk
Cereal
Crackers
Jello
Shortning
ALL canned meats
ALL non-perishable canned food
Baby clothes

Who Needs It..

United Christians Assistance Program (UCAP)
204 Miller Street
Minden La.
71055

For those wishing to donate money, or inquire further about what is needed

Program Director Larry Rhodes
(318) 377-6804

He can give you further account information, or co-ordinate incoming supplies. As this is normally a local mercy station, they are not surprisingly overwhelmed, but trying their best.

Cyrano,

On plan B - I wondered when they delayed the decision, if that wasn't what had happened. I bet they were going to approve, and BushCo. said no.

MFers.

Christy - is the mail getting through?

Re: Operation Noble Cause

Right on, Ira. Keep up the great work...

My brother is en route to Baton Rouge at this very moment, left SoFla this morning. They are gonna need all the help they can get.

p.s. We are just getting to the height of hurricane season... what if we have a September like last year? Where will the resources come from?

Global Warm(onger)ing

And God destroyed all those Mississippi and Alabama towns because they voted so heavily for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Yes Carol..

We here were bracing for it ourselves but when she ducked east like that us here in Northwestern Louisiana got nothing more than a wild wind or two.

And God destroyed all those Mississipi and Alabama towns because they voted so heavily for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Posted by: Cyrano at August 31, 2005 04:44 PM

Hmmm, it coulda just been their history of racial intolerance.

Reparations... proverbally speaking.

Posted by: Carol at August 31, 2005 04:40 PM

Anybody notice the common themes here. Global warming, Plan B - Bush Administration overruling overwhelming scientific evidence.

I posted this earlier today:

You might be asking yourself how could nature do something like this? Read this:

Katrina's real name
By Ross Gelbspan | August 30, 2005
THE HURRICANE that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/30/katrinas_real_name

yeah, cyrano and oncall--it is indeed noticeable.

And Dick--inmates would treat the asylum better than these guys have been. After all, they are crazy, not mean.

3 days ater the disaster, finally a press conference with a request for dozens of helicopters, whoopie, and no questions were asked, none. Why not ask Haliburton and Conoco to sacrifice. Anything about a windfall profits tax and new CAFE Standards. Nope we will just relax EPA Standards and the oil crisis and suffering will just vanish.

NOTHING has created anger and rage in me like the photo on the front page of the NY Times this morning of the woman crying over her husband's body--he had cancer and was on oxygen and he died because he couldn't get the oxygen delivered.

And he couldn't get the oxygen delivered because the levees broke and the levees broke because--well, you all know why.

I am still shaking with anger.

Just listened to the jerk give his address. He was totally trying to get credit for all tehy are doing.

What a shmuck.

He actually said that he had his pilot fly over the area so he could see it for himself, and then said" The city of New Orleans..(pause).. is 80% under water". (like he was breaking the news to us. Or like we needed him to tell us in order for us to believe it)

Ummmmm - been on vacation or something?

my advice..

Bush is AVOIDING Louisiana..

ASK WHY

Loudly and often.

I sent out the linked story in Casey's blog header (the previous topic) to my mailing list today. I recommend that everyone do the same. That is a story that deserves to be told. Millions expended on repairs to the levees could have prevented tens of billions in damages, and the wreck of countless innocent lives.

We had money for a stupid war, and for tax cuts for people with more money than they could possibly spend in this lifetime, but not enough money to protect the people and culture of New Orleans.

If this lame duck gets ANY political benefit for doing NOTHING again, I'll have to figure out a way to blog from a real cell because I will absolutely go nuts...

(Sorry for posting the whole article...I couldn't decide what to leave out...)

Response to Katrina Poses Chances for Bush
By RON FOURNIER, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, who crafted a take-charge image from the Sept. 11 attacks, faces a stiff challenge in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Cutting short his vacation and marshaling the power of the federal government could help reverse his sliding job approval rating. But the president's hands-on approach looks a bit too political for some, and makes him an easy target should Katrina's victims start looking for somebody to blame during the long, costly road to recovery.

In purely political terms, the question is whether Bush can live up to the tough, can-do image he cultivated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Or whether he falls short of expectations and pays a political price, as his father did after Hurricane Andrew slammed Florida in 1992.

"There is a sense here that he's still the 9/11 president, and could bring the same magic here," said Elliott Stonecipher, an independent political consultant from Shreveport, La.

At the same time, Stonecipher and other political analysts said people are aware that Bush benefited politically from the Sept. 11 attacks, and they may be skeptical of his response to the natural disaster that has rocked the Gulf Coast.

"I can hear it already, `He's just doing it because his poll numbers are at bottom,"' Stonecipher said.

Rising gas prices and the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq have dropped Bush's job approval ratings to the lowest levels of his presidency, according to polls.

While few compare Hurricane Katrina to the Sept. 11 attacks - one a natural disaster, the other a man-made one - several Gulf Coast residents reflected on Bush's performances four years ago as they discussed how he should respond to this crisis.

"I would like to see him get in here and support these people like he did in New York," said Trichia Key, 60, a Democratic voter from Batesville, Miss., who has taken in family from hard-hit Biloxi, Miss. - about 275 miles southeast from her home. "He can do it. We've seen him do it."

Even so, Key bitterly noted that the federal response may be hurt by the Iraq war.

"If we didn't have all our National Guard troops in Iraq, we could probably do a lot more," she said.

That may not be the only line of criticism.

Bernie Pinsonat, a bipartisan pollster with Southern Media and Opinion Research in Baton Rouge, La., said the president - along with local political figures - may eventually be blamed for circumstances that led to the flooding of New Orleans.

"When the people of Louisiana quit being awed by the destruction, they're going to start asking questions. What happened to the water pumps? Why didn't the levees hold? I think there will be a lot of fingerpointing once political officials stop trying to get face time on TV and the public demands answers," Pinsonat said.

Some Democrats circulated an article on the Editor & Publisher Web site suggesting that spending pressures from the war in Iraq, homeland security and Bush's tax cuts drained money from New Orleans flood-control projects.

"As these facts get out, and American people learn that decisions were made not to fund improvements of the levees because of Iraq, they will not be happy," said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic consultant in Washington.

It wasn't just Democrats taking jabs at Bush. The Manchester Union-Leader, a consistently conservative voice in New Hampshire, took the president to task for not reacting quickly enough to Katrina.

"The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished," said Wednesday's editorial. "In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty."

Bush hoped to cast a decidedly different image Wednesday.

After sticking to his vacation plans amid rising bloodshed in Iraq, the president bolted Texas two days early to oversee recovery efforts from Washington. As Air Force One flew over the devastated Gulf Coast, Bush peered through a window, his fists clenched and face grim.

"It's totally wiped out," he told aides. Before he arrived, a bevy of Cabinet secretaries and agency heads trooped in front of television cameras to outline federal recovery efforts.

Bush doesn't want to make the same mistake his father did in 1992, when the White House was criticized for reacting too slowly after Hurricane Andrew and then was accused of pandering.

"Initially, this helps Bush because it has him taking charge, showing leadership, marshaling the power of his office," said John Green, director of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics.

"The downside is that if the recovery doesn't go quickly, despite what the president does to mobilize resources, people will view his involvement cynically," Green said. "In other words, `He's just doing this for show."'
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050831165309990012

well I just called and in this little ny state town, gas went up 40 cents today to 3.09....

In Brooklyn, as of Monday, high test was $2.95, regular $2.75. I'm so glad that we've got Dubya around to jawbone those Saudis.

snip
"It's totally wiped out," he told aides. Before he arrived, a bevy of Cabinet secretaries and agency heads trooped in front of television cameras to outline federal recovery efforts.

snip

Wow-d\guess the aides didn't know that before he told them....

reality check....reality check....

Gas is ALREADY over $3 a gallon here

as for the hurricanes... might want to moderate the line about it being directly related to global warming... they may be able to say something like that in 2105 but we can't say that yet...

Hurricanes of 2004
by Dr. Hugh E. Willoughby, of the International Hurricane Research Center in Miami

http://www.climate.org/topics/climate/hurricanes2004.shtml

~snip~

On the natural cycle side, meteorologists working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Colorado State University[iii] have shown that the number and intensities of hurricanes follow a 50-70 year cycle. This cycle, called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscil­lation (AMO), is controlled by gradual changes in the North Atlantic Ocean currents. The “thermohaline circulation,” as it is called, moves warm water northward in all latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean, even south of the equator. When seawater in high latitudes (near Greenland and Iceland) is warm and salty, the weight of the extra salt allows it to sink easily and the thermohaline circulation runs quickly. Warm water moves northward freely to replace the foundering surface water. When seawater in high latitudes is relatively fresh, it has to be colder in order to sink, and the circulation is more leisurely northward flow of not quite so warm water. Rainfall and evaporation throughout the world’s oceans set the tempo of the AMO.

Through a complicated chain of cause and effect, the faster oceanic circulation causes the mid-latitude westerlies (winds blowing from the west) to stay north of the tropical Atlantic. Then, deep tropical Trade Winds, which blow steadily from the east, produce conditions favorable for hurricane formation. That's the phase of the AMO that we are in now. When the thermohaline circulation is weaker, the west winds bend farther southward above the Trades at altitudes just below the stratosphere. This situation causes increased vertical wind shear that suppresses hurricane activity. That is the AMO phase we were in during the inactive 1970s through early 1990s.

There was a previous active phase of the AMO from the late 1920s through 1969. The current active AMO phase began in 1995. Even counting 1997 and 2002, when El NiZo kept hurricane formation in check, the years since 1995 have been the most active on record in terms of number and intensity of hurricanes. By these measures, 2004 has been typical of the non-El Nino years since 1995.

The difference this year is the greater fraction of hurricanes that hit Florida. During first nine years of the active AMO phase from 1995-2003, and also during the inactive phase from 1970-1994, very few of the hurricanes that formed made landfall anywhere in North America. A simple return to the long-term average ratio of landfalls to hurricanes would be a big change from experience during the last third of a century.

During the time when so few hurricanes hit North America, we as a society framed decisions about land use, construction standards, and other aspects of our lives around the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Built into these plans was the unstated assumption that hurricanes would continue to stay away from our shores as they had for the last third of a century.

~snip~
For now, the key questions are: Do Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, which made US landfall as garden-variety hurricanes, presage more frequent landfalls in the context of a not-too-different climate or will the incredibly good luck of the late 20th century hold for the foreseeable future? The consensus among hurricane researchers and forecasters is that the hurricane landfalls of 2004 resulted from the AMO, a natural cycle of hurricane activity, combined with a lapse in the incredibly good fortune of the previous 35 years. The effect of global warming was at most second-order, and probably not present at all.

------------

There is a less technical version of this information at this link:

http://www.floridagardener.com/monthly/hurricanes.htm

"There is a sense here that he's still the 9/11 president, and could bring the same magic here," said Elliott Stonecipher, an independent political consultant from Shreveport, La.

******

Yet another American caught up in the pseudofed to Crystal Meth scourge that is sweeping the nation...

bush will avoid Louisiana all he can

EVERY resident of New Orleans KNOWS bush cut the levee funding

Those levees were the Pride Of New Orleans..

Bush is avoiding us on purpose

His press conference just proved that.. he gave us the Iraq spin

A hurricane struck but LOOK AT MY BIG FLAG!!!!

The fight for levee funding was a VERY public and VERY intense thing in New Orleans

They know the score

And btw Remember we have a DEMOCRAT as Governor

And btw Remember we have a DEMOCRAT as Governor

Posted by: Christy at August 31, 2005 06:06 PM

Well then, she better grow a pair of stones and fire one or two at the president over the levee funding. That is THE story.

I mean, what's he gonna do, NOT send assistance?

On second thought...

Doesn't root cause mean ANYTHING????

i think yall should call my distinguished Gov'na Blanco

A really lovely little Democrat..

Let her know outside of Louisiana people want to know HER thoughts on bush cutting levee funding..

Trust me..SOMEONE is gonna take the blame

NEW ORLEANS is now the ocean...Armed Looters roaming the streets..1 million homeless

SOMEONE will wind up with blame

And we all know..it IS georgies fault for ALL he did to encourage the destruction of a MAJOR American city

A crown Jewel at that.

Posted by dickbell at August 31, 2005 02:51 PM

This is precisely why I now consider American Christianity to be no more than a hate-filled death cult. My view of God is NOT a mean, hatemongering male figure that the Christians want me to believe and fear. And it's the Christians that installed Bush twice, took us to the Iraqi war, encouraged buying those big SUVs to create this energy crisis, drove up the level of hate and distrust in our society, brought in even more hatemongers from the Third World when their own numbers fell short, etc.

I've had enough.

May the loving hand of Goddess be on the people of Louisiana and other stricken regions. And Christy, glad to know you are alive and kicking.

Stewarship of the U.S.A. isn't one of Bush's finest moments,and he will pay for this for sure! Just heard one of his "supporters" on Ed Schultz saying and complaing that :"he really doesn't care about us;how long a vacation does one need when the rest of us are living this hell? When the stores are looted it's NOT stealing..we're just trying to survive."
Bout time (in a week or two) for some real dem muscle and tounge action on this ADM energy policy!! Shock and awe has just begun on our own soil and Mother nature will get her revenge one way or another. If,if, if, only we had a different leader ..those folks would have all been moved when this threat became evident and no long "vacation" would have ever put this off! We simply are NOT ready for anything that may come our way!!!

Ally ..

Hubba Hubba Sexy Momma

If i couldn't kick i think id rather be dead..

Came in that way..its how i choose to leave TOO..

Two Ohio election officials indicted over 2004 recount
RAW STORY

Two Cuyahoga County elections officials were indicted Tuesday on charges of not handling ballots correctly during the recount of the 2004 presidential election, the (registration-restricted) Plain Dealer reports Wednesday. Excerpts follow -- caught by BradBlog.com.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Two_Ohio_election_officials_indicted_over_2004_reco_0831.html

Christy,

You've got email

Ally,

I grew up admiring "Christians" like Daniel and Philip Berrigan - two Catholic Priests who were tireless enemies of the Vietnam War, and crusaders for social justice. That's the Catholic Church that I grew up in, and fondly remember - as opposed to the reactionary institution that emerged during John Paul II tenure. The Berrigans had many Protestant clergy and laity who joined them in their struggles.

My thought is that the name "Christian" should be reserved for those who act in spirit of Jesus' core teachings. The others are simply pretenders.

About OHIO..just go after Blackwell!!

A bit about Philip Berrigan:

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1210-01.htm

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at August 31, 2005 06:45 PM

Unfortunately the Roman Catholic Church is completely hopeless, with the new pope and all (coming from the most Neanderthal part of Germany, at that!). The Vatican has reduced itself to the morality enforcement arm of the United States Government, with gay marriage ban at the top of its agenda.

I am starting to be more and more convinced that the patriarchal structure of traditional religions is what is causing so much trouble. :(

I am starting to be more and more convinced that the patriarchal structure of traditional religions is what is causing so much trouble. :(

Posted by: AllyMcLesbian at August 31, 2005 06:54 PM

You're probably on to something there!

Mayor of New Orleans is saying "hundreds, most likely thousands, dead".

And over 950 Iraqis dead today as well.

Dubya - doing for Planet Earth what he did for Harken and Arbusto.

Posted by: Cyrano at August 31, 2005 07:11 PM

I could only dream that things were as good as Harken & Arbusto... it'd be a major step up.

W: Dreamkiller

"I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions."
- Aug 13, 2005

Ya think 5 weeks (- 36 hours) vacation is long enough of a rest to make "good, crisp decisions"???

Katrina knows the answer...

Don't buy GAS on Sept. 1st

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE SEPTEMBER 1st HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED A DAY THAT THE PEOPLE OF THESE TWO NATIONS SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

! REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE

SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE! A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE SEPTEMBER 1ST A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

I agree...NO GAS TOMORROW!!

Found this on DU...The Patriot's Pledge (rough draft)... It's got lots of potential...

WHEREAS the George W. Bush administration failed to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, where the evidence suggests they could have handily done so, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration may have altered the facts and intelligence to further their agenda for war, punishing any patriotic public servant who disagreed with them, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has attacked the nation of Iraq without provocation, leading to a conflict that has killed thousands of brave American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has forever besmirched the moral authority of the United States by approving, justifying and/or carrying out torture, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has furthered the cause of terrorism by undermining the Middle East peace process and failing to effectively deal with North Korea, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has promoted economic policies that fail to create new jobs, fail to help small businesses, promote outsourcing, strip millions of overtime page, and has passed tax cuts heavily weighted to benefit the wealthy, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has undermined the cause of education in America by under-funding programs such as No Child Left Behind, and freezing funding for such things as quality teachers and after-school programs, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has under-funded health care for troops and veterans, dramatically cut Medicare, and placed restrictions on stem cell research while falsely claiming it would not hamper medical progress, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has weakened clean air and energy efficiency standards, and abandoned the Kyoto Treaty, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has allowed gas prices to soar to the extent that the average working America has much greater difficulty making ends meet, and

WHEREAS the Bush administration has underfunded FEMA, thus making rescue and rebuilding efforts exponentially greater in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, as well as engineering programs that could have prevented the levee breaches that has flooded New Orleans and left hundreds dead and tens of thousands homeless, and

WHEREAS these failures constitute a severe and growing weakening of the strength, integrity and global authority of the United States of America, and

WHEREAS there is no indication that the current administration, or any like-minded politician, is either capable or inclined to halt or reverse this trend,

NOW THEREFORE, I, the undersigned, counting myself a true and faithful patriot of the United States of America, do hereby declare my solemn oath that I will:

TAKE any and all action in my power, short of violating the just laws of the United States, to further the cause of immediately removing the Bush administration from office, and

TAKE any and all action in my power, short of violating the just laws of the United States, to further the cause of immediately removing any politician from office who is sympathetic to the goals and priorities of the Bush administration that have so weakened America,

TAKE any and all action in my power, short of violating the just laws of the United States, to further the cause of ensuring that no like-minded politician comes to power in the United States government,

SUPPORT the efforts of any holder of or candidate for public office to remove the Bush administation from office and/or to ensure that no like-minded politician comes to power in the United States government, and

REFRAIN from giving any aid and support to any candidate for public office, including but not limited to voting for, volunteering for or giving financial contributions to said candidate, who has not signed this pledge and may not be sympathetic to the cause thereof, except under the most dire circumstances, and

PROMOTE awareness of and support for the basic fundamental concepts upon which this country was founded.

TO THIS END, I hereby pledge my best efforts and my sacred honor.

Signed ___________________________ Date _______

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4536281

So, didn't this regime reorganize Homeland Security under one command to deal efficiently & effectively with natural & man-made disasters?

Katrina was predicted to hit New Orleans for almost three full days. There was time to prepare & to plan.

And now, three days later...

There's very little relief still on the scene.
The city has dissolved into civil disorder.
People are dying. They have no idea of the numbers.
People are still stranded.
Dead bodies are still floating in the water.
Food and water still isn't reaching the refugees.
There's still no plan on where to put everybody.

What if this had been a surprise terrorist attack....

So much for a new & improved Homeland Security...

According to Obermann, Iraqi insurgents describe Hurricane as "God's punishment on America". Who knew that "Repent America" was in bed with terrorists...

And my apologies to Ira for ranting about this regime's ineptness... I'm trying my best not to rage, but the more I read, the madder I get...

So I'll stop reading and go channel my anger towards productive plans to help the hurricane victims.

Just have to post this entire article....

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/083105B.shtml

The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi. Not Baghdad.
By Norman Solomon
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Wednesday 31 August 2005

The men and women of the National Guard shouldn't be killing in Iraq. They should be helping in New Orleans and Biloxi.

The catastrophic hurricane was an act of God. But the US war effort in Iraq is a continuing act of the president. And now, that effort is hampering the capacity of the National Guard to save lives at home.

Before the flooding of New Orleans drastically escalated on Tuesday, the White House tried to disarm questions that could be politically explosive. "To those of you who are concerned about whether or not we're prepared to help, don't be, we are," President Bush said. "We're in place, we've got equipment in place, supplies in place, and once the - once we're able to assess the damage, we'll be able to move in and help those good folks in the affected areas."

Echoing the official assurances, CBS News reported: "Even though more than a third of Mississippi's and Louisiana's National Guard troops are either in Iraq or supporting the war effort, the National Guard says there are more than enough at home to do the job."

But after New Orleans levees collapsed and the scope of the catastrophe became more clear, such reassuring claims lost credibility. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday: "With thousands of their citizen-soldiers away fighting in Iraq, states hit hard by Hurricane Katrina scrambled to muster forces for rescue and security missions yesterday - calling up Army bands and water-purification teams, among other units, and requesting help from distant states and the active-duty military."

The back-page Post story added: "National Guard officials in the states acknowledged that the scale of the destruction is stretching the limits of available manpower while placing another extraordinary demand on their troops - most of whom have already served tours in Iraq or Afghanistan or in homeland defense missions since 2001."

Speaking for the Mississippi National Guard, Lt. Andy Thaggard said: "Missing the personnel is the big thing in this particular event. We need our people." According to the Washington Post, the Mississippi National Guard "has a brigade of more than 4,000 troops in central Iraq" while "Louisiana also has about 3,000 Guard troops in Baghdad."

National Guard troops don't belong in Iraq. They should be rescuing and protecting in Louisiana and Mississippi, not patrolling and killing in a country that was invaded on the basis of presidential deception. They should be fighting the effects of flood waters at home - helping people in the communities they know best - not battling Iraqi people who want them to go away.

Let's use the Internet today to forward and post this demand so widely that the politicians in Washington can no longer ignore it:

Bring the National Guard home. Immediately.

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. For information, go to: WarMadeEasy.com.

that's ok defarge, go ahead and yell at Bush's ineptness, its better than crying. watching N.O. is emotionally draining and depressing, how the hell could we have come so far down in this country, looks like we are now living in a third world country. hopefully our state can show you defarge that we are better folks than you think.

where in the world is tutter defarge, anything to report?

We seem so helpless in the face of our dependence on gasoline. Do these one day boycotts help our cause? If so, how? If not, what else can we do?

BTW - Dang good post, Dick Bell.

We are witnessing a Federal Government effectively sitting on its thumbs during these most desperate times. The National Guard is nowhere in sight. Many are asking, "Where is the Guard? Where is the help?" We all know where the Guard is. We are now seeing the citizenry of this great country doing all that is humanly possible to help those in dire need of assistance. A cynic might say that these circumstances are the result of what the Federal Government has promoted for the last six years.The Federal Government's priorities are being manifest via this disaster. These priorites obviously are not for the citizens who are most injured, but rather for those with the least to lose (this includes big oil). People know that their government and President has failed them. The day has arrived when citizens will rise up in anger and demand change. Change is inevitable, but the anger is what I most fear. Anger left to its own devices could be potentially more destructive in terms of our national well being than what we are seeing now.

Posted by: Ira at August 31, 2005 09:29 PM

Ira, I lived in Texas for 7 yrs. and made some good friends (mostly from out of state, I have to admit) while there. However, in the 1 1/2 days I spent at Camp Casey, I met so many wonderful true Texans with hearts of gold. Believe me: it changed my attitude towards Texas. I saw the Texas & Texan spirit that was alive when Ann Richards was the governor. I saw proud, caring, kind, humorous souls who want a better world, who deserve a better world.

I'm living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks...

(But it will be a cold day in hell before I move back there; I enjoy the seasons too much and do dislike intense heat & humidity over long periods...)

Posted by: Ira at August 31, 2005 09:29 PM

And I haven't heard from tutter either... I'll follow up on that and let you know.

Senator Mary Landrieau, "The military is coming....get here fast." Unbelievable. Tragic.

RE: gas boycott tomorrow...I've been informed by a reliable source that it's an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp

Re: the boycott...I've gotten email from my fundie inlaws to boycott exxon and mobile. *the big two...*

Who wants to bet that Boy George will claim they're on the verge of capturing OBL...

"Watch, nothing up my sleeve, pull a [terrorist] out of my hat..."

Afghan, U.S. Forces Raid Taliban Hideout
Thursday September 1, 2005 2:46 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and U.S. ground troops, backed by attack helicopters, raided a Taliban camp in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, killing nine suspected militants, officials said Wednesday.

The camp in Uruzgan province had been used as a base by about 80 insurgents from where they launched guerrilla-style assaults on Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces in the area, said provincial Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan.

American helicopters pounded the site with rockets before ground forces moved in. Several AK-47 assault rifles, rockets, as well as tents, kettles and other camping equipment were scattered around the area, the governor said.

A U.S. military statement said nine suspected militants were killed. Khan said the rest of the rebels fled during Tuesday's attack on the camp, which had been set up in several adjoining mountain caves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5247165,00.html

Posted by: sparrow at August 31, 2005 10:08 PM

Good idea in general. Buy Citgo.

Almost spit at military Mary with her comment:"who would have guessed we'd be w/o ALL power." Sorry Senator,that's what happens in a disaster and we should be prepared on all fronts at any cost...we saw this coming and Bush did NOTHING!!

Just home from work.

Good to see we are hooked up with Christy.

Reading the blog topic - about "blame" being placed on New Orleans for being decadent - how about "our leader" not acknowledging global warming and doing something about it, not funding bolstering of the levees, & not leaving sufficient National Guard home for the job they're intended for?

On another topic - peace / religion / bicycles:

I was listening to community radio on way to work this AM. Once a week the local commentator communicates with the guys who have been riding across the US for peace. They are now in Minnesota and on track to arrive in Washington DC on Sept. 22.

When they were near Miller, SD and needed to stop, they had no sponsor so no place to stay. They called a Lutheran minister out of the blue, and he put them up, then invited them to church the next day. He had them up at the pulpit with him & he told their story. Most of the Congregation in this conservative town shook their hands afterward and also signed their banner.

This is from an area of South Dakota where I once saved a band from being scalped by cowboys by driving around to pick them up in a vehicle even though I didn't really know how to drive and didn't have a license! So this is especially good news. I just signed up for Univ. of South Dakota alumni cruise on Puget Sound here in Seattle & am hoping the "refugees" from there have all seen the light!

Whiskey Bar is soooo good today & see the photos:

http://billmon.org/

(thanx to Bert in MN)

Dianne,what a terrific site and good article. Rather than MSM giving all the gore prior to the event,reporters going in/with the wind,we the people need to ask for specifics,ie. how,what,where to go,what to do. It's time to plan more for these "events" like providing transitor radios,batteries and other necessary supplies at check points.
We just reviewed our own disaster plan today at work....much to do as the gov't is clueless..esp this one!

NYT Op-ed for tomorrow...

September 1, 2005
Waiting for a Leader

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported.

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/opinion/01thu1.html

Got a VCR for taping this in the middle of the night when everyone is distracted?
 
04:16 AM EDT C SPAN 2
3:32 (est.) Forum
September 11 Commission Report Results, Pt. 1
U.S. House of Representatives, McKinney, C. (D-GA)
Rebecca Daugherty , Freedom of Info. Service Center
Wayne Smith , Center for International Policy

(courtesy Harrcopter)

Matthew, I grew up in an ecumenical Catholic Church too. My father was a professor at a Catholic university, and I grew up with many brilliant Catholic minds around me - priests, nuns, laiety, teachers of philosophy, environmental sciences, comparative literature, world religions.

It's mind-boggling and frightening how things have changed.

{{{ One of the other WaPo headlines says "Bush Mobilizes a Huge Recovery Effort." Bull$h*t!!! He hasn't mobilized anything! He supposedly flew over the site in AF1 (or so film footage on MSM said) after he cut a measley two days off of his vacation AFTER the hurricane hit - he was strumming a guitar at a naval base when it actually hit - ordinary people, law enforcement, emergency responders, the National Guard, the Red Cross, and a VERY long list of other ordinary everyday heroes are the ones who have done all the organizing - and all of the helping!!! There were at least two days to organize BEFORE the hurricane hit that were totally ignored by Nitwit... he was working hard biking (and ignoring Cindy Sheehan and others) on his vacation in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina.... Some "leadership"... oh, yeah, right; I forgot... he wants to be known as a "war president" - not someone who helped out the citizens of this country!!!}}}

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102257.html
Katrina's Lesson in Readiness
Even as the Gulf Coast states battle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, Washington should take heed of the chaos surrounding the early relief effort. If this is what happens when the nation has two days of advance warning, imagine the aftermath of a surprise attack using a chemical, biological or nuclear device.

There will be plenty of stories of heroism in coming months as thousands of volunteers descend on the disaster zone. But the hubris is already showing. Thousands of residents ignored the evacuation warnings; many relief agencies waited until the hurricane had passed to start sending supplies and volunteers to jumping-off points in surrounding states; and the president was heading to California as the hurricane moved in. Although the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency are moving at near-light speed to coordinate an unprecedented relief effort built around DHS's National Response Plan, the nation must get even faster in the future.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9151629/
Katrina could tip U.S. toward recession

So, didn't this regime reorganize Homeland Security under one command to deal efficiently & effectively with natural & man-made disasters?

Katrina was predicted to hit New Orleans for almost three full days. There was time to prepare & to plan.

And now, three days later...

There's very little relief still on the scene.
The city has dissolved into civil disorder.
People are dying. They have no idea of the numbers.
People are still stranded.
Dead bodies are still floating in the water.
Food and water still isn't reaching the refugees.
There's still no plan on where to put everybody.

What if this had been a surprise terrorist attack....

So much for a new & improved Homeland Security...

Posted by: madame defarge at August 31, 2005 08:50 PM
*********
Madame, please don't knock us. Coast Guard (part of DHS) and other federal agencies are doing the best they can to sort this out. I have been sucked into high-level conferences including ones with the Commandant of the CG and I can say that with certainty. It is impossible to "beam in" logistical supplies or to solve the problems instantly in the affected area but we are moving as fast as we can and we continue to put into place our disaster support plans, which for the most part are working just as designed. We are all working 24/7 and for most of us we are stopping only to sleep for a few hours and going at it again (I think I've gotten about 10 hours sleep in the past week since Katrina first hit in Miami).
The best thing I can tell you is, a lot LOT LOT more is going on behind the scenes than what the lame-brained media is reporting. I can't even stand to turn on the TV and listen to all the lies about the storm response. We just really don't have time to devote large sections of our staff to fighting with the media to ensure the accurate story is being told. The media for the most part just sees what is happening on the outside and not everything behind the scenes.
For once the gov't is working as it should, the only hiccup is that we are waiting for presidential authorization on some things and for some reason that is not coming out of DC and is slowing us down. But we're working around it.
Well back to work, I'll continue to be working these 15+ hour days and taking calls in the middle of the night for the next two weeks at least, according to my command.
Take care all.

For once the gov't is working as it should, the only hiccup is that we are waiting for presidential authorization on some things and for some reason that is not coming out of DC and is slowing us down.

Posted by: Veritas at September 1, 2005 06:37 AM

Mr. Decisive holding things up?

I'm stunned I tell you.

The Oval: Was Bush prepared for Katrina?

Hurricane Politics
As Katrina forced President Bush to cut short his vacation, the White House is facing a perfect storm of trouble at home and abroad.

By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 10:54 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2005

Aug. 31, 2005 - On Tuesday, President Bush called an abrupt end to his five-week “working vacation” at his Texas ranch and announced he would return to the White House two days early to oversee federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. “These are trying times for the people of these communities,” Bush said Tuesday during a visit to a naval base in San Diego. “We have a lot of work to do.”

For the White House, it was interesting timing. Over the last month, administration officials have deflected criticism of Bush’s monthlong stay at his Texas ranch by making the case that technology has made it possible for Bush to run the country from anywhere, even the so-called Western White House. Indeed, the Bush ranch is equipped with highly secure videoconferencing equipment and phones, and, according to White House officials, Bush has made use of them just about every day this month to talk to senior aides back in Washington and other administration officials scattered throughout the country.

Yet Bush usually hasn’t had to go far to reach his top aides. For the last month, Karl Rove, his closest political adviser, and Joe Hagin, Bush’s deputy chief of staff, have alternated turns living in a trailer just down the driveway from Bush’s main ranch house. Other officials have come to the ranch to meet with Bush face to face, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney. All three visited Crawford to discuss war strategy with Bush earlier this month. In other words, Bush’s days in Texas aren’t all that different from his time in the Oval Office, top aides say. Vacation or not, Bush is always running the country no matter where he is. “When you’re president, you’re president 24/7,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Wednesday.

So why is Bush going back to Washington now? When asked yesterday what Bush could do in Washington for hurricane relief that he couldn’t do from his Texas ranch, McClellan told reporters no less than five times that it was the president’s “preference” to return to the White House. Asked if the decision was more “symbolic” than logistical, McClellan said, “I disagree with the characterization.”

more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9148526/site/newsweek/

Posted by: Veritas at September 1, 2005 06:37 AM

Thank you for your info & your efforts. I had no doubt that people were working 24/7 to rescue & recover people. Let us know how we can help you.

But your comment that you "are waiting for presidential authorization on some things and for some reason that is not coming out of DC and is slowing us down" proves that this regime & its fearless leader are irrelevant.

This is an honest question.

But I'm hearing that the 'Bush haters' are blaming BUSH for a natural disaster that was out of his control.

And that nbc had army engineers who said the wall was fine. It was built for an f-3 4 and that it was simply a bigger storm than they ever could have expected. We blame bush for everything.

So...how do we know what is completely the truth? Are we 'blaming' bush when we shouldn't be? Can Clinton or every President since the levey was built be blamed?

I don't blame bush for the natural disaster. I blame bush for not acting like a leader and for only playing one on tv when it's convenient for him.

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org

(Warning: May cause reflux)

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 08:08 AM

Army engineers, by definition, work for the Commander-in-Chief.

Richard Myers continues to insist that the United States had sufficient troop strength in Iraq at the time of the invasion, even though we lacked the ability to guard the border of that nation - and hence keep the foreign insurgents from coming in.

Colin Powell continued to defend the Commander-in-Chief long after the General's own counsel had been publicly repudiated by men who never served a day in combat.

Some military types just defend the Commander-in-Chief, and the chain of command, at all costs.

I respect their loyalty, but challenge their judgment.

Posted by: Cyrano at September 1, 2005 08:49 AM

SNAP!

(that's the new lingo for "right on" according to my 10 yr old daughter)

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 08:08 AM

Clinton didn't cut the funding for the levee repair.

I sometimes feel that I am a participant in a piece of live theatre, entitled "Saving Airman Bush".

People go out of their way, time and again, to keep this sad excuse for a President from ever taking responsibility for his mistakes. Nothing is ever his fault.

Cut the funding for the levee repair, and then get hit by a monster hurricane - not his fault.

Launch a completely optional war in Iraq based on faulty information, at a time when the weapons inspectors are telling you that Saddam is cooperating - not his fault.

Invade a country, and two years later, have quality of life in it in measurably worse shape than when Saddam was in power - not his fault.

In Dubya's life, failure is never his fault. How far has this nation fallen from the days of Harry Truman's "The Buck Stops Here"?

Sent from the south:

READ THE BOTTOM ESPECIALLY THAT IS WHERE HE BLAMES THE POOR

I was watching CNN this morning and couldn't believe my ears. I actually backed up my DVR so I could get every word. As Chertoff sat on live television in his several hundred dollar suite and blamed the poor for not leaving; just where did he think they would go and how exactly would they get there? Most of the people that remained in the city were poor without transportation or funds to evacuate. Will this Administration ever take responsibility for their actions?

Part of Soledad O'Brien's conversation with Michael Chertoff (Secretary Homeland Security)
CNN: Why the response has not been better, why this disaster started in the first place and why wasn't their enough of assistance and a better plan?

Chertoff: We have had a hurricane and a flood this creates real physical restraints; we have to deal with road conditions and other obstacles. It's not a question of not having of not having enough assistance there ... It's a question of dealing with a very real natural disaster.

CNN: But both of these things (the hurricane and the levy problems) were predicted. We knew 48 hours before that the hurricane was growing stronger and people had been writing about the levy system for years and years and years. There is a sense that everyone knew a disaster could happen and no one was really prepared?

Chertoff: "I don't think that is correct Soledad. I think people were prepared but I think a natural disaster has curtain physical realities to it. The critical thing was to get people out of there before the disaster. QUITE RIGHTLY THE STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS CALLED FOR A MANDATORY EVACUATION AND SOME PEOPLE CHOSE NOT TO OBEY THAT ORDER AND THAT WAS A MISTAKE ON THEIR PART."

from AZ:

In 2002, "Now with Bill Moyers" aired a show about what would happen to New Orleans if it was hit by a category 5 hurricane.

A brief excerpt: "The American Red Cross lists the worst natural disasters that might strike America. They worry about earthquakes in California, and tropical storms in Florida. But they say the biggest catastrophe could be a hurricane hitting New Orleans. ...

"We've tried to find scientists who'd say that these predictions of doom could never really come true and we haven't been able to find them. The main debate seems to be, when the country is facing different kinds of threats, which ones should get the most attention? The federal government has been cutting money from hurricane protection projects. Partly to pay for the war against terrorists."

The entire transcript can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_neworleans.html

First Condoleeza Rice asked "who could have known that Al Qaeda would think to fly airplanes into buildings", and we found out that, in fact, our government should have known, would have known if they'd read their mail.
When President Bush shows up in Louisiana for his photo op tomorrow, he'll talk about what a dreadful, tragic shock Katrina was. And what journalist will have the brashness to ask about budget and tax cuts and global climate tipping points while the President's and Senators' tear ducts are brimming? Will anyone be there to ask if Mr. Bush ever watched PBS?
It isn't just that the war against Iraq and Afghanistan is likely creating more bin Ladens. It's that it leaves us less able to meet any other unexpected challenges. We have spent nearly $200 billion on this war, and these are just two of the immediate consequences: 40% of Louisiana's and Mississippi's National Guard troops are oversees, and hurricane preparation funds have been slashed in recent budgets (let no one lay the blame only at the door of the White House, but also at the doorsteps of the Senate, especially the supposed opposition party whose members have traded national security for job security). It's one thing to respond to an emergency -- and bless the volunteers and big-hearted bureaucrats (not necessarily an oxymoron) who will spend sleepless nights away from their own families, trying to get a place to sleep and a drink of water for strangers. It's another thing to heed warnings in such a way that the impact is minimized if it can't be prevented.
No one can prevent a hurricane. But we had enough warning to enable us to save hundreds of lives, and maybe a city called New Orleans. New Orleans was allowed to take its chances in a game of Russian Roulette.
Give credit where it's due: the early call to evacuate the city and the President's early declaration of a state of emergency before Katrina arrived probably both saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Give thanks to the Guard, the Red Cross, and everyone else lending a hand or opening a door.
Now ask why early warnings were not heeded. Again.

from SF:

When The Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin 1971



If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
mean old levee taught me to weep and moan
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

It's Bolton warning the world that the US can do what it wants to do. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102309.html

from Hal in Heidelberg:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"
---------------------------------------------------------------------

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of
the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush
administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to
pay for the Iraq war.

By Sidney Blumenthal (who is an awesome ex Clinton advisor who also writes frequently for The Guardian)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,372455,00.html

That's another piece that will make my mailing list today. With the MSM doing their usual "Saving Airman Bush" routine, we definitely have to become the media for this story.

Clinton from 1997, speaking to Army Corps of Engineers: (I miss him!!)

President Clinton also took the opportunity to thank the Corps for the levee restoration work after the January 1997 storms which destroyed California's levee system. "I want to say a word of thanks to the Corps of Engineers and others who have done all the work in rebuilding after the floods," said Clinton. "Within the next few weeks, the Corps will finish all remaining repairs. It's the most extensive flood restoration ever done in this short amount of time. It's another reason we should thank the Corps of Engineers for what they've done here."

In closing, the President took the opportunity to mention other nationally important restoration projects. "We're working hard across America on projects like this," said Clinton. "We're making progress in reclaiming the Florida Everglades, in restoring Lake Tahoe, and in saving Yellowstone. I've seen the wetlands here today, and some of you may have seen more than you wanted to see. But I'll tell you what else I've seen. I've seen a glimpse of America's future, and I like it."

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 08:08 AM

Sparrow,

I don't know anybody that can give President Bush credit or discredit for the weather, but he should take blame for cutting funds:

SLASH SPENDING ON HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN NEW ORLEANS: Two months ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped New Orleans prepare for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million" reduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001 levels. Reports at the time said that thanks to the cuts, "major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. ... Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now." (Too bad Louisiana isn't a swing state. In the aftermath of Hurricane Frances -- and the run-up to the 2004 election -- the Bush administration awarded $31 million in disaster relief to Florida residents who didn't even experience hurricane damage.)

Center for American Progress report for today

Posted by: not my president at August 30, 2005 10:49 PM

And that nbc had army engineers who said the wall was fine.

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 08:08 AM

I am not surprised that a branch of the military would say something to deflect criticism from the President. They have been given their orders as well.

What's wrong with this picture? What are we teaching our children? Read this story from Rawstory but then also see what this woman did to reach out to those who need support.

Teacher and war mom fired for discussing protest crusades for vets
by Jennifer Van Bergen

RAW STORY caught up with Deb Mayer at Cindy Sheehan’s anti-war protest in Crawford. Mayer was fired for being outspoken about Iraq in the classroom. Her son is a nuclear engineer in the Navy.

Deb Mayer was fired when one of her fourth grade students told a parent Mayer was encouraging students to protest the pending invasion of Iraq. Mayer says she was discussing a current events reading assignment from a Time Magazine issue for children on Iraq, including a section on antiwar demonstrations; a child asked her if she would march in a protest, and Mayer replied by discussing peaceful alternatives to war.

The parent—who Mayer asserts was a postal worker-literally “went postal” at a subsequent meeting with the principal, demanding that Mayer never mention peace in class again. The principal, rather than protecting Mayer’s rights, expressed her expectation that Mayer would comply with the parent’s demand.
~snip~

Read more:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Teacher_and_war_mom_fired_for_discussing_protest_crusades_f_0831.html

The organization that Deb Mayer started is here:

http://www.sharethesacrifice.org/

This TV Station, WWL Channel 4 in New Orleans, has set up a special forum for people looking for friends/relatives to post and for those people to post "here I am". The home page of the TV station website also has a lot of good info for people trying to figure out what's going on locally.

http://www.wwltv.com/

Their forum:

http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=28245b14c7727df3df4bd2e188d4f473

The TV station has temporarily relocated:

"WWL is broadcasting from the transmitter and facilities have been set-up at the PBS station, KLPB, in Baton Rouge to produce and broadcast news coverage. Except for a few hours on Monday and Tuesday night, WWL has provided continuous coverage of Katrina -- something no other New Orleans station has been able to achieve."

You could not be more correct about our miserable weather defarge, I was born here and have endured it since being a child. Hopefully I will retire in a blue state, but you should admit that there are plenty of Texans (even Repubs) here who have a big heart and will be seen as truly showing our humanity towards the poor Louisiana victims. Even Ed Schultz admitted that he was treated graciously by the folks in Crawford and even conservative Waco and Temple where he broadcast from.

The Astrodome is set up with food(thankfully it is Astrodome and Reliant Stadium food delivery services not the famed Haliburton, showers, welcome packages,doctors, clinics, psychologists, a huge day care and library are being set up all in the Astrodome and our mayor is seeking vacant apts and motels to transition these folks to live in and plans to enroll theese kids in our schools(unfortunately our idiot governor Good Hair, who presided over 2 failed special sessions to reduce property taxes and give our teachers desperately raises, is bragging to the media that there is no economic problem with our schools).Our local community colleges and TSU University are waiving enrollment fees and enrollment record requirements,our local ASPCA took in hundreds of N.O. caged animals and our zoo has taken in a large portion of the N.O zoo animals. I belive our comnmunity is doing everything we can perhaps b/c of our 36 inch Allison storm and our history of hurricanes and hurricane Carla, but also b/c Houston truly has a good heart.
"(But it will be a cold day in hell before I move back there; I enjoy the seasons too much and do dislike intense heat & humidity over long periods....

In one night our local NBC station raised $10 million dollars to help these folks, so money and resorces are forthcoming from our community; fortunately much faster than our feeble FEMA.

Molly Ivins always says it so well...

New Orleans: It's about us
09.01.05 - AUSTIN, Texas -- Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner, glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.

To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.

This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies.

This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."

Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the NRA would argue, "Government policies don't kill people, hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people.

One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault." Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's great delta.

But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God, there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies -- ordering federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.

Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to drain thousands of acres of wetlands.

Does this mean we should blame Bush for the fact that New Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Class 3 or Class 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).

Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what h