"A great American city is fighting for its life"

Democratic leader asks GOP to drop estate tax push, focus on relief
RAW STORY

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) issued this letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) today, and copied it to RAW STORY.

#
Dear Senator Frist:

Hurricane Katrina has left a trail of death and destruction along America’s Gulf Coast. As I write, flood waters continue to pour into New Orleans, countless individuals are missing and thousands more are struggling to come to grips with the loss of loved ones and shattered dreams. It will be weeks before we know the full scope of the human and physical toll this storm has exacted on millions of Americans. The only thing we know for sure is that we’re facing a national tragedy and these people need and deserve our help.

http://rawstory.com

FEMA Directing Donations To Rev.
Pat Robertson
09/01/05 02:45 PM Eastern

SPLOID EXCLUSIVE: FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none other than the Rev. Pat Robertson …

Millions of Americans and people around the world have rushed to donate money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which is shaping up to be one of the worst U.S. disasters in history, if not the worst.

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the lead federal agency in the rescue & recovery operation at work in New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast.

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

“It’s an outrage,” said privacy watchdog Bill Scannell, who alerted Sploid to the FEMA / Robertson scam. “Operation f**cking Blessing? And it’s right underneath the Red Cross link!”

Scannell, currently campaigning against the Transportation Security Administration’s refusal to turn over personal information illegally collected from 100 million U.S. air passengers, noted that Operation Blessing’s board of directors is dominated by the televanglist and his family.

The chairman, “MG Robertson,” is none other than the Rev. Pat — Marion Gordon Robertson is his real name — while Pat’s wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the board.

The front operation for the radical, pro-assassination televangelist and Republican power broker is also based in the Rev. Pat’s headquarters, Virginia Beach.

Robertson’s shell organizations have already collected more than $25 million from the federal government under various “faith based” federal-handout programs. And with millions of distraught citizens looking to FEMA for help in finding reputable organizations to help Katrina survivors, Robertson stands to profit magnificently from the horror that has fallen on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/09/01/fema-directing-donations-to-rev-pat-robertson-123509.php

This operation looks like a FAILED national disaster dry run and everything is running amuk! How sad it is the "real deal",and so many have to suffer at the hands of the "values" crowd.!

sparrow -

Oh my God. I'm speechless.

Carol and Patty,

I'm sickened!

Look at what I just saw on D.U.

I don't know if it's true or not. (Yes, I've been a little out of touch!)

Here's what someone posted and I don't know if it's accurate.

A few hundred thousand would buy water and sandwiches to airdrop
But that's not glamorous enough.

People are DYING right now live on national TV because FEMA refuses to airdrop water and sandwiches.

Water and food (and medical supplies) could be airdropped for a few hundred thousand bucks to tide people over until they can be taken to shelters.

Ten billion dollars ain't gonna be much use to revive a bunch of corpses. The human body can't go many days without water.

But Bush has closed the airspace over NOLA and FEMA refuses to airdrop food and water. So people are dying.

This is murder, pure and simple. Thanks for the 10 billion dollars congress, but what we really need is water and sandwiches NOW. ANd it shouldn't take a ****ing Act of Congress to do that - FEMA should have been able to do it with our taxpayers' money Tuesday morning after the wind died down.

DC is killing us.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050901/pl_nm/weather_katrina_funding_dc_1

Sparrow,if that's true,just wait till that hits the air waves! Probably closed it down so Bush can have his photo op tomorrow.
I'm appalled,but that's not news!

On the Robertson thing, Casey called FEMA today and the Robertson listing is old. According to the person she spoke with, it will be gone by tomorrow.

FEMA is, no doubt, underfunded, like every other service agency in this government. The only feds gaining ground seem to be the agencies of subterfuge and profiteering.

And so, we all lose ground...

Just as soon as some DEM gets their voice they'll be accused of "posturing"...do ya think??

Karen,

Is this true?

But Bush has closed the airspace over NOLA and FEMA refuses to airdrop food and water. So people are dying.

This will bring a new budget proposal... their way!

Politicizing a Tragedy: FEMA Directs Donations To Pat Robertson

by Armando at http://www.kos.com

Unbelievable:

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm's hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list. The Rev. Pat Robertson's "Operation Blessing" is next on the list.

Shame and decency have disappeared.

By the way, gas up at CitGo, owned by the Bolivaran Republic of Venezuela.

Sorry to be redundant there.

For the full story on Pat Robertson's ethics, read the chapter where Greg Palast infiltrated his compound. Know that donations destined for poor in Africa are used to fly Pat over to check on his diamond mines.

& I can't say it enough - gas up at CitGo.

Just posted this on thedemocraticdaily blog...

If you haven’t seen it on MSNBC. Click on the video “Despair and Anger” on the right http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/
Olbermann and Matthews had a few clips from it on their shows. It shows the horrible situation of a large number of law abiding well behaved citizens, who followed the instructions to flee to the Convention Center. They have been abandoned by the government there since the hurricane struck and are in a desperate situation, older people and babies dieing. It is not easy to watch.

Of course when I got home I flipped on Faux to check their coverage. What I saw for the brief period I could was either: Showing black people still in the flooded city streets while talking about looters etc. Pictures of groups of people already evacuated showing nice food being cooked for them and happy children. Of course one “reporter” also asked another “reporter” something like “Some people saying the Bush admin is not doing enough”. Then the other reporter could repeat McClellan press BS from earlier today “This is no time for partisan politics etc we need to all pull together again. Later we can look back and determine how things can be handled ever better in the future” Translation, yeah of course the Bush admin failed again and is making excuses for their polices and incompetence. After this is over, we can as usual give Bush a pass and then blame Clinton, and of course Democrats and liberals in general.

I emailed the white house today asking where the hell the airdrops of food and water are.

I don't think they heard me....

DiAnne - gassed up at Citgo tonight - it was actually the cheapest gas in town - despite being a full service station!

Turn on Aaron Brown and the failed "test run" of homeland security. And to think they didn't believe us last year!

Bush just called this disaster a "temporary disruption."

In case folks didn't get the MoveOn.org email today, they are trying to get people who have spare rooms to sign up to take refugees.

I actually did watch tv tonight, which I don't.
I watched NBC and they had a photographer who had been to the convention and told the truth, showed the truth.

On the way home from work, I listened to "Marketplace" on American Public Radio, as usual.
Apparently, the federal money to pay for the disaster will have to be borrowed, adding to the deficit.

If the Senate goes ahead and permanently repeals estate taxes, it will be a damn shame. This is not a democracy when further tax cuts to the rich are given out, while the poor die in front of our eyes.

Even Fats Domino is missing, Alan Toussaint!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/1/211114/2959

FEMA asks rescue workers to pay for their own gas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1743791&mesg_id=1743791

DiAnne,

The link above has the whole video from the NBC reporter at the convention center. The reporter appeared to have trouble completing his report. I think he was about to start crying a times. He and said there were some things there he couldn't even show it was so bad there.

Fats Domino is found.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1745113

Hey guys,

While people are worried about Katrina's victims, Bush has made another recess appointment.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/01/national/w133320D81.DTL

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC just actually called it like it is - a terrible emergency response.

I can't believe it.

Excerpt from Sydney Blumenthal's excellent article in Der Spiegel:

The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.

In response to this potential crisis, four leading environmental groups conducted a joint expert study, concluding in 2004 that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary, much less a Category 4 or 5, hurricane. "There's no way to describe how mindless a policy that is when it comes to wetlands protection," said one of the report's authors. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality dismissed the study as "highly questionable," and boasted, "Everybody loves what we're doing."

"My administration's climate change policy will be science based," President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annualreport. The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulateimpressive data on the rising temperature of the oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes.

Many reporters have been awash with tears today..all of them... except FOX!! Isn't it interesting that after 9/11 Wall St opened up SIX days into the incident. It's FOUR days here and no food....GOT PRIORITIES REPS!!

IS IT TIME TO BRING THE NATIONAL GUARD HOME FROM IRAQ? (take action now)

After 5 years of laughing off or suppressing sound policy advice, the criminal neglect of our REAL homeland security by the Bush administration has now resulted in the total loss of a major American city. And where is our National Guard and all their equipment that are supposed to be here to protect and save us? They are being ground up in the sand half a planet away for absolutely nothing but the arrogant, uncaring and obstinate pride of our chief executive, who is mentally incapable of admitting or correcting any mistake ever. We must DEMAND that our national guard come home now.

http://www.usalone.net/nationalguard.htm

sparrow -

what is wrong with this man. (rhetorical)

TPM post about former GOP congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2001-2002, when he was fired for criticizing administration budget cuts. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_08_28.php#006377

Another about Clinton's qualified FEMA head and Bush's replacements http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_08_28.php#006374

Time for the "I" word for sure...IMPEACH the INCOMPETENT!!

And from Molly Ivins:

Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water
By Molly Ivins
Creators Syndicate

Thursday 01 September 2005

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 National Rifle Association 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 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 President Bush for the fact that New Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Category 3 or Category 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 happened in Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.

Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood 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."

The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.

Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as "Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and the Republican right, and gutted years ago.

In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans - it seems to consist of gutting the programs that do anything.

Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more short-handed.

The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad. (I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)

This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake and to rectify it by instituting a draft.

The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq."

This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies, not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about our lives.

Check this out:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1745189&mesg_id=1745333

Fema just learned about the situation at the convention center.

"FEMA director Michael Brown said the agency just learned
"about the situation" at the Convention Center.

The various reporters questioning him were incredulous. Everyone in the country and abroad knows about it. It's a separate story on BBC. How can that guy be running FEMA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1745104

CNN just announced ,tomorrrow will be a "shoot to kill day for any disorder." Now how cowboy is that???!!

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 10:15 PM

Yes, I did wonder a few days ago just what he'd be up to behind closed doors while everyone's attention was diverted on the hurricane.... He had to make that appointment before tonight when Congress was called back a few days early for an emergency session to approve the funds for disaster relief in the Gulf Coast. He seems to just slipped that one in hours before the senators came back.... I wonder what other damage he's been doing that we'll find out about later?

I was listening to ABC's live coverage a bit ago. Americans have raised 93 million all on their own to give to the hurricane disaster victims in just three days. When the tsunami hit overseas, Americans had raised 30 million in three days. I'd say whoever survives and gets help now after Katrina will have been helped in spite of this evil, evil corrupt administration, and certainly not because of it. I also heard Mary Landrieu thank Bu$h for help, even as she was calling for military assistance for New Orleans and help from fellow senators for aid - she said she's not leaving Louisiana... not good. She looks tired and worn out.

As some bumper sticker slogan said a while back:
God, if you've been blessing us since 9/11, please stop now...!

I agree with Ivin's article,however,we must always PLAN for the worst case scenario and if it turns out to be nothing.... sobeit. Where was the planning last weekend,the years before,the warnings were coming ?? I can't believe on our own soil we are watching this carnage.

A detachment of 300 Arkansas National Guard troops landed in anarchic New Orleans on Thursday, with the authorization to shoot and kill "hoodlums" Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said.

"Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans," said Blanco.

"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets," Blanco said.

"They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will," said Blanco.

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?are...

Karen
Thanks for posting Molly Ivins - hadn't had a chance to read it yet.

Sydney Blumenthal's fine piece in Der Spiegel is now in The Guardian as well:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1561356,00.html

(He was in the Clinton administration)

Patti
Yes, it's unbelievable - reminds me of Aceh, the tsunami. I'm glad to hear Seattle is planning for bird flu, no matter how remote. It is estimated that it would kill 5000 in King County and could disable 1/3 of the work force. It happened in 1918. & it's appearing in Russia & creeping into Europe.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/politics/...

Federal response called `a national disgrace'

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Rage and resentment reached a crescendo Thursday among victims of Hurricane Katrina who felt the federal government had abandoned them at their most desperate moment.

Bush administration officials acknowledged the anger but said they were moving as quickly as possible to mobilize thousands of troops and other personnel to the area.

Critics were in no mood for excuses, though, as New Orleans slid further into chaos - with people literally dying in the streets, snipers taking shots at relief workers and hunger spreading throughout the area.

Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans' emergency operations, called the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency "a national disgrace."
"FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert said. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

Patti,

Someone over on Josh Marshall asked where the plan was for the temporary housing.

Homeland Security - in it's planning for attacks, disasters, whatever, certainly must have had plans for temporary housing in case evacuations are needed. Or not...

What the hell is homeland security doing anyway? Spending all their time figuring out what color today is? I'd say RED.

Sparrow
Isn't that special? Makes me sick. Alot of these guys probably need PTTS therapy, not exposure to a situation that could cause flashbacks.

Where is the "compassion"?

I'm sure there's a DCP'er out there that can post the DEMS who voted with Bush on this funding project?? Would be intersesting to know...do ya think?? We want NO surprises in 08'.

I agree, not my president.

And Carol, remember during the election last year, Elizabeth asked pretty much the same question. Approximate quote, "As a mom, I have not been given any sort of advice what to do in a state of emergency. How will I protect my kids and myself?"

Well, it appears she didn't know then and they still have no plan now.

Now that I've had a few hours to investigate this I can not believe the ineptness, the absolute incompetence, and the complete disregard for lives! AND it's too damn similar to their war planning too.

They can't do anything right.

SO...now that this CRAP utter and complete incomopetence has occurred can we suddenly expect the complicite media to react 6 months too late to the stolen election and suddenly start reporting it?

Hmmm...what will it take for them to boot the pResiden out too?

Would Kerry have handled this better? Of course! Would people have died still? Of course!

BUT would people be waiting for food and water while he picks a guitar? HECK NO!!!

According to the homeland security funding and what the plan calls for is hospitals are supposed to have 3X the # of patients they can safely take and 5x the supplies for 5 days......oops!! So,where did that money go??

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/090105ccjrwwlthousandsdrowned.13bc8d1d.html

And more.. It just keeps on coming!

good stuff on abc news right now

Carol or anybody?

Is the media lamblasting bush?

We need an ad:Bush reading my "pet goat",contrasted with playing guitar on night of storm a coming with winds blowing! Too bad this didn't happen last year,but I wouldn't wish this on anyone, at anytime.

Posted by: Patti Ferschke at September 1, 2005 11:00 PM

Patti,
Bush isn't running again. IMO that doesn't mean much. What we need is IMPEACHMENT and we need the election fraud revealed and we need the biggest miracle of all: for Kerry to be installed by everyone saying, "YOu really did win..."

Oh well...dreams...better than reality!

sparrow,

ABC news just did a story interviewing several N.O. and former gov. officials telling the story of the funds being cut. And saying this could have been avoided.

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC - a notorius Bushie - saying the federal govt. has made a disaster out of this - all the way up the chain of command.

Questions are definitely being asked. People may have woken up (except on Fox, of course)

Will this be the fall of Bush? Will his incompetence over this create the havoc that is required to impeach him?

I just sent letters off to the unions to remind them to send school supplies to the astro dome for the kids. You remember the UNIONS.???....the ones that gave everyone a weekend off!!

Sparrow,maybe not too far from reality. My mom called this pm and reminded me many indictments coming in OH as MORE voter fraud revealed!!

Patti, Sparrow & of course CFK Marjorie G

For what it's worth - he isn't giving up his lawsuit. This is via Elizabeth via Bernie Ellis who organized the Nashville conference on voting reform:

Kerry stays in the Ohio Greens/Libertarians election theft lawsuit

This morning (at 4:30 am), I received an email that many of us have been hoping for. It was from someone near the Kerry camp, and the email said that John Kerry has decided to stay and fight the Ohio election theft as part of the Greens' and Libertarians' lawsuit.

While I have sent out several emails this morning to people who are at the center of this lawsuit for confirmation, I want to believe that what I have just been told is true. And on that basis, I wanted to share this with all of you.

For weeks, this forum has been occupied with "will he or won't he?" threads, starting with DemoDonkey's thread started at the Atlanta voting rights march. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of us wrote John Kerry (some of us multiple times) to ask him to stay the course in Ohio. Ten days ago, I got a chance to do a little more.

Through a contact made here on DU, I had an hour long conversation early on a Sunday morning with the person who wrote me the email this morning. She said that Kerry's attorneys were still not convinced that fraud had occurred in Ohio. After asking whether they had posed for this month's Harper's magazine cover (the "see no evil, hear no evil" chimps), I reviewed just a smidgeon of the overwhelming evidence that we have marinated in on the 2004 ERD forum for the past ten months. And then I helped organize a flood of audio tapes of Ohio election theft experts to be sent to Kerry's camp from the National Election Reform Conference in Nashville, from the Houston Election Assessment Hearing and from the BradBlog radio archives. Within six hours, we had over a dozen MP3s emailed to Washington with hard evidence of the Ohio election theft for Kerry's attorneys (who should have already known this information) to hear and review. Within a few days, I got word back that our audio tapes were having an effect and that John Kerry was going to meet with John Conyers to discuss what was known about fraud in Ohio.

And then yesterday came word that indictments had been handed down in Ohio against corrupt election officials there. It's my belief that Cuyahoga County is the first of many Ohio counties that will have their election officials brought before judges to answer for the felonious behavior that helped ignore the consent of the governed and steal our country's soul.

And then the email early this morning that Kerry is staying in the Greens/Libertarians Ohio lawsuit. Again, I am working to corroborate this story and I will post here as more confirmation arrives. If any of you folks have heard anything, post it here also. But for now, I want to thank DU once again for being the righteous spider's web that links us together so effectively, so powerfully and so purposefully. Without DU, we would all be on Bourbon Street without a paddle these days.

Late word: As I was getting ready to post this, I got this email from my Kerry camp "contact":
-------
"The information is good--you can rely on it--but I doubt there will be announcements--they just don't work like that. I could be wrong, but JK is pretty uncomfortable with calling attention to either changing his mind or to fighting the battles he fights. I wish he would be less self-effacing about these things, but it is part of his natural discomfort with horn-tooting.(Remember he fought Iran Contra AND BCCI and you never heard much about it). Anyway, please let people know you have it on good authority .... And thanks for all your care and time on this issue--it DID make a difference."
-------

Thank you, Gathering members and other election reformers.  We all are making a difference. Let's keep it up.

Hopefully the UNIONS will play a HUGE part in this mess as a reminder of how to get a job done!! Forget the FEDS!

Carol or anybody?

Is the media lamblasting bush?

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 10:59 PM

Yes, even Scarborough (sort of), not that he's 'media.' Check out my blog, there's a post about this being a tipping point for major corporate media.

http://niteswimming.blogspot.com/

Blanco demands immediate apology from Hastert.

I hate to say this but for those not directly involved I am seeing this as a Bush Administration exploitation of the disaster to derail growing dissent against the administration.

MY PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!

MY CITY IS DESTROYED!

And what is happeneing...

NOTHING!

Sparrow
At least John Kerry actually can play the guitar.

There's a really good post about the hurricane relief situation here:

http://bluegirlredstate.typepad.com/

Patty - great idea about involving unions.

cali dem -

I saw that piece when cafferty blew his fuse. I was amazed. Loved it!

Let us take care of our own!!!

All help is appreciated but dropping sandbags into a gaping hole in the levee is like sticking pins in an open wound.

My Uncle knows how to close the breach and has offered but Bush wants to grandstand on the limited national guard presence for photo ops of choppers dropping sandbags in a hole.

I AM GOING!

FIND US IN AUSTIN SOME AIRPLANES!!! PLEASE!!!

We have the local infrastructure to give REAL aid and help.

All we need is a lift...

Casual to the Point of Careless (re admin slow response, British press)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article309696.ece

"a pet goat moment?" my husband says

me many indictments coming in OH as MORE voter fraud revealed!!

Posted by: Patti Ferschke at September 1, 2005 11:11 PM
What kind Patti?

Indy,

Tell us how we can help from a distance - we are ready!

Popping in...the most frustrating part of this whole thing is I spend all day working my tail off, only to catch a few minutes of the media (TV, web, radio, newspaper, doesn't matter) hyping and mis-reporting everything.
Yes there is chaos. But you know what? These people are playing it up like reality TV because that sells. What they don't show is the people who put on an act get noticed by the media and then the media gives them food and water after they film their desperate pleas. And/or helps rescue them. So of course they're going to act up.
Also...the reason they have to keep shutting down rescue ops, closing airspace, etc, is because of the people down there dumb enough to start shooting at the rescuers. Or to start shooting at each other and raping each other. Now the media says well send in the rescuers anyway. But you know what, we are working with limited crews down there because of logistical issues and if they shoot down a helicopter or kill rescue personnel, think about how many other people couldn't be rescued because we'd lose a helicopter, lose personnel, and have to devote extra resources to aiding the shot person and then trying to get more personnel to replace them.
I'm sorry but I'm really ticked off and all I can say is that I have a lot of sympathy for those people who were unable to evacuate because they could not afford bus fare or whatever. I have absolutely NO sympathy for those who chose to stay behind when a CAT 4 hurricane was headed directly for their city which is below sea level. And I have even LESS sympathy for those who are (expletive deleted) shooting at our rescue personnel who are working in terrible conditions trying to save their butts. This of course has nothing to do with my feelings about a government that doesn't issue a mandatory evacuation order until 12-24 hours before the storm is due to hit. We got our people out of there at least three days prior.
Ok I've vented now. Sorry if it comes across mean, but 16+ hour days for over a week and being woken up all night to deal with issues trying to get rescue/rebuilding ops flowing makes me a little cranky after hours.
All those who wonder how to help, cash donations to the charity of your choice...that is the best way to go if you cannot help in an official capability. Items like clothing, canned food, etc. are NOT needed at this time and just cause logistical nightmares trying to deal with them.
This is indeed our tsunami in a sense and the way that federal agencies are handling it is basically like we are operating in a third world country.
Take care all, thanks for your prayers/good wishes.

This will only increase dissent, not derail it.

Now that the MSM is picking up the story of the Bush Administration cutting the funds for restoring/reinforcing the levee, Bush's reputation is heading towards its final destination, the toilet.

Indy,

What do you mean? He's trying to derail dessent? Is it really working?

AND a plane?

Don't you think home security will shoot down a plane?

Indy:

I am with you, my brother. I stayed in the French Quarter a few years ago, and had a chance to walk the city. I could feel its history, and felt my own people (Filipino) and their history that was part and parcel of the Creole culture that exists there.

New Orleans belongs to all of us now.

What Hastert said (for background):

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5592348.html

Indy -

When I watched that sand being dropped into the water, my first thought was why are they wasting that helicopter on that futile effort - go rescue someone!

Bsuh won't get any milage out of that. It looked as futile as it was.

This will only increase dissent, not derail it.

Now that the MSM is picking up the story of the Bush Administration cutting the funds for restoring/reinforcing the levee, Bush's reputation is heading towards its final destination, the toilet.

Posted by: Cyrano at September 1, 2005 11:24 PM

With everyone's links and the info I was able to finally gather tonight, I've spent the last two hours emailing the people who questioned me--and those who have been media-bots.

I hope it helps!

veritas:

My prayers to you and for you. Stay well.

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 11:24 PM

Suz,

My uncle is getting official authority to fly into Houma, Louisiana.

We just need the planes. We have the boats. We have the volunteers, we even have the ******.

I DARE THEM TO STOP US!

God bless you, Veritas. Stay safe.

Many may no understand the passion and emotion involved...

New Orleans is my home town...I was blessed to have grown up in a culture and a society that, though I did not always agree with, I have loved and cherished thoughout my life...

To see my city so desolate and desperate hurts me to my soul.

Leadership is returning to NOLA...

And WE will be leading the way.

And when New Orleans, though broken and wounded, is nursed back to life...America will feel the full force of our revolution.

Bush is done.

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 11:24 PM

Suz,

My uncle is getting official authority to fly into Houma, Louisiana.

We just need the planes. We have the boats. We have the volunteers, we even have the ******.

I DARE THEM TO STOP US!

Posted by: indy at September 1, 2005 11:28 PM

Indy with all due respect, I hope this really is going through official channels. Cowboy efforts at this point seem like a great idea but actually really screw up the response which - contrary to media reports - is proceeding apace. They are quickly flowing LE officers to protect our crews so they can resume/continue rescue efforts. If we could just get the d**n people to quit shooting at us, we'd be great.

Veritas is right,

no vigilanti stuff.

SPARROW,just what Dianne posted...shhhhhhhhhhh!!
CNN (A. Brown) asked a Bush minion aide:"Is this going to become political? Response:"Of course,esp when MSM has and reports only empathy for the victims and not the president and his staff." How unbeliveabely ARROGANT!

Sparrow,do you think Carl's s(H)itting on the pot tonight??

Yeah, I guess we should be feeling empathy for Bush because he had to end his five week vacation a couple of days early to deal with this annoying situation.

Posted by: Patti Ferschke at September 1, 2005 11:39 PM

Patti,

I will definately "shhhhhh" but I think I'm too tired to get your drift. So maybe you better pm me in the forum.

Too early to speak about rebuilding the big easy..let's just get "HELP on the way"...go Indy,gogogogogogogogogogogooooo!!
BTW,notice how Bush and cabinet have stolen our slogan from last year?? BE SAFE and God speed.

Excuse me...

The Second Amendment provides for all citizens the right to bear arms.

There is nothing in what I previously stated that can be possibly used against me as a US citizen (especially in Louisiana) when only attempting to provide humanitarian aid to my fellow Americans.

Thanks for your concern.

Have guns...WILL TRAVEL!

It very late for most of you. I am tired, and prehaps it is my weariness talking.. yesterday and today I ran around the building I work in getting donations for the Red Cross.. our local chapter is sending folks from here, and my pitch was "Lets see if we can come up with enough to pay for the gas." It worked too. All day I was so proud of my self.. When I got home tonight I turned on the tv. Watching it I'm wondering if I just wasted my time. It's not making sense. People are dying, no one is bringing in the supplies they need, and as I type the jerk from FEMA is talking about what a great job they're doing. Yes, there is chaos, which if real help had been there yesterday or better yet on Tuesday wouldn't be happening. Yes, it's already time to start the blame, it may also be time for private citizens to go down there
and do what the government can't seem to. What now?

Indy,

God speed. Go do the good things you do, but just don't get yourself shot (or shoot anyone), you big lug.

That won't make anything better.

BRITS' HELL INSIDE THE TERROR DOME

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/2527

Posted by: Patti Ferschke at September 1, 2005 11:41 PM

No.

He's pure evil.

He's too twisted.

He'll simply find a way to corruptly get what he wants.

Posted by: Indy at September 1, 2005 11:47 PM

Indy,

You ain't in America anymore!

CNN just reported Houston AstroDome turning away buses - not taking anyone else. Buses now arriving are being turned away and told to go someplace else.

Good LORD

You ain't in America anymore!

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 11:55 PM

The HELL I am NOT!!!

Not on my watch!

Never!

Indy.. guess great minds think alike.. Have you heard from your family? If I can come up with the funds to get to Austin.. can I go down with you?

Hey Ladie Techie...

My Aunt and Uncle have spoken with them...I cannot get through from here.

You are more than welcome to come help, but if we cannot get planes we are dead in the water.

I will know more tomorrow, please email me your info so I can call you and let you know. things are slow in materializing, but thy are materializing.

Cindy Sheehan's lawyers Annie and Buddy are from Houma and I have been in touch with them...they are headed there now and once they get their resources and my Uncle's resouces together...I think we will see the magic happen.

EMAIL ME HERE VVVV

Posted by: Carol at September 1, 2005 11:58 PM

Where are they putting them? Do you have a link?

wow...we have a heck of an incredible national security plan in effect. And it's only taken 4 years to see their job performance is more slow and inept compared to the first one!

Air America Phoenix will be broadcasting our request...and pass it along to Air America Nation Wide.

This is a cry from the wilderness that will not go unanswered!

Keep the faith...

Wow..even the NOLA police join the looting!

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp

Four days of HELL and then told:"find another place." Sounds like the night of the birth of the Christ child!

Just like Bush said of 9/11:"We will NEVER forget!!"

Poor Haley:"I'm tired and this is hard work." Heard that one b4!

I would like to know which hotels are opening their doors for refuges.

Maybe that is how we can help by calling these chains and asking that they donate their rooms for refuges.

Posted by: sparrow at September 2, 2005 12:16 AM

Interesting that you should mention that. Read this from the Miami Herald...

Hotels to evacuees: Go before big game

Many Tallahassee hotels have told hurricane evacuees they'll have to move by the day of the FSU-Miami football game so that fan bookings can be honored.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/12529728.htm
You have to register to get whole article.

Some of the hotels asking people to leave & links to their corporate headquarters:
Howard Johnson: owned by Cedant http://www.cendant.com/contact/
Marriott Courtyard: http://marriott.com/corporateinfo/default.mi
Doubletree & Homewood Suites: owned by Hilton http://hiltonworldwide.hilton.com/en/ww/press_media/corporate_facts.jhtml;jsessionid=SWRVYOM0GSO3ICSGBIU222QKIYFC3UUC

BTW, Astrodome turning people away. Only accepting 5000 people instead of the 25,000 promised. Cindy Sheehan has put out a request for anyone in the Houston area to adopt a family...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/

Posted by: Veritas at September 1, 2005 11:24 PM

Good advice, veritas about giving money, not things. From your perspective is there one charity or relief org that you'd recommend?

Many Tallahassee hotels have told hurricane evacuees they'll have to move by the day of the FSU-Miami football game so that fan bookings can be honored.

Posted by: madame defarge at September 2, 2005 12:23 AM

Could we do an email or phone campaign to have that trivial little game canceled...maybe the teams players could be mobilized in the relief effort????

My god ppl...were are the priorities????

Im as disappointed in the gready assed people of this country, as i was in them when they allowed the loss of America to the evil forces in 2000, and 2004. Someone...a spine please!:/

PS: keep your shit together indy...and good luck...doc

Posted by: madame defarge at September 2, 2005 12:23 AM

I saw one posting but I didn't know so many were involved.

Ok..WHY are they only being brought to Houston? We are the 50 states of the United States of America. It's time for us to pool our sources and help them.

Indy...not that it is EVER not together ;)

Du says no more at the Houston Astrodome due to the fire marshall.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1745607&mesg_id=1745607

Oh..and IF I were PRESIDENT, I would be calling EVERY HOTEL and saying, "LET THESE PEOPLE IN!!!!!"

(Rather Moses like...if our so called "Christian pResident would only do it! Don't you think?)

Wow! The Washington Post slams down the gauntlet!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

Planning, Response Are Faulted

By Josh White and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 2, 2005; Page A01

Tens of thousands of people remain stranded on the streets of New Orleans in desperate conditions because officials failed to plan for a serious levee breach and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was slow, according to disaster experts and Louisiana government officials.

Though experts had long predicted that the city -- which sits below sea level and is surrounded by water -- would face unprecedented devastation after an immense hurricane, they said problems were worsened by a late evacuation order and insufficient emergency shelter for as many as 100,000 people.

...

Rep. Charles W. Boustany Jr., (R-La.), said he spent the past 48 hours urging the Bush administration to send help. "I started making calls and trying to impress upon the White House and others that something needed to be done," he said. "The State resources were being overwhelmed, and we needed direct federal assistance, command and control, and security -- all three of which are lacking."

...

"How many people are going to die, per hour, before you get 40,000 troops in there?" Madden asked yesterday. "I think it has cost lives. . . . They can go into Iraq and do this and do that, but they can't drop some food on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling."

Posted by: pcdoc at September 2, 2005 12:32 AM

Makes sense to me to cancel the game...

Here's what FSU site has posted:
http://seminoles.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/fsu-m-footbl-body.html

Florida State University is rallying to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and is asking fans coming to Monday's football game against Miami to lend a hand.

With hotel space at a premium this weekend as hurricane refugees seek shelter, FSU is asking local FSU friends and families to open their doors to old friends from out of town. If you're coming to the game from out of town, FSU asks that you consider staying with FSU friends who live in or around Tallahassee. This could free up much-needed hotel space.

In addition, if your plans change, and you're not coming to the game or you're staying with friends, FSU asks that you cancel your hotel reservations immediately to ensure that your room is available for hurricane victims.

With your help, hotels will have additional rooms available for those who may be looking for a few nights of rest and a warm shower.

FSU is also encouraging generous donations to the American Red Cross. At the game itself, student volunteers will be at the gates collecting contributions for the American Red Cross. The university will also display phone numbers for phone-in contributions.

If you can't contribute at the game, you can give to the American Red Cross online through the everythingFSU Web site (www.fsu.com) or call 1-800-HELP-NOW.

FSU also urges all fans to conserve gasoline by sharing a ride to the game.

FSU President T.K. Wetherell says, "If fans join together, and use this game as an opportunity to mount a relief effort, the Florida State community can make a real difference in the lives of people who are truly suffering."

FSU President T.K. Wetherell says, "If fans join together, and use this game as an opportunity to mount a relief effort, the Florida State community can make a real difference in the lives of people who are truly suffering."

Posted by: madame defarge at September 2, 2005 12:42 AM

I hope they make that happen, not just lip service...and sry if i offended any stick and ball sports fans out there;)...i ride dirtbikes for fun :D

Some right wing nut on FOX:"God is punishing us for our sins and needs to be brought back into the equation." Insanity replies:"I agree,but things are going well now in N.O. as help is on the way." Don't think that's going to go down this go-round!

pcdoc...I detest sports for this reason..too much testerone going on!

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/2526#new

Requests for Resignation
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2005-09-02 00:10.
I have just sent the following civil, but pointed email to mr. bush via whitehouse.gov, may I suggest a those who feel similarly compose their own requests. p.s. a similar request was made to mr. cheney.

..
Request for Resignation

Mr. Bush,

As a loyal citizen of this country, and in the best interest of its future, I must ask you to resign your position.

You have repeatedly demonstrated an inability to effectively fulfill the duties of your office, and a serious lack of judgment. By stubbornly refusing to leave you will further tear this country apart by forcing the citizens to remove you.

Please have the courage to admit you've failed, and step down.

Sincerely,
[name removed for web post]

Posted by: Veritas at September 1, 2005 11:33 PM

Thank you for your concern.

I am not a cowboy...I am a coon ass...born and raised in Louisiana.

Nothing I do is anything but well thought out and planned...flawless I might add.

We are doing what our armed forces and government cannot...

Providing for the people.

We have done the same thing all of my life, only at a slightly lesser scale...

This time...

We mean business.

woke up out of bed - having flashbacks of New Orleans, had suppressed stuff.

Godspeed, Indy

GIVE TO THE RED CROSS!!!

As the home page states.

Please.

Pretty please.

Be your best friend...

I'll give you a hundren M&M's...

SWEET!

Hey a thread about CNN on D.U.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4569749

Seems CNN decided to tell the truth for the first time in 12 years.

Posted by: sparrow at September 2, 2005 12:50 AM

But that leave Dick the Dark Lord & Hasturd as replacements...

There are no good answers here...except the '06 elections...

Official Channels

Veri...Love you...

Lawyers, Guns and Money are for once on our side.

Peace.

(all leagal...cross my heart!)

Posted by: madame defarge at September 2, 2005 12:58 AM

True...so I guess we have to make sure people remember who supported this CRIMINAL administration for 6 years--without question!

Will they remember this a year from now?

Dallas to house 25,000 refugees (Reunion Arena and the convention center)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrin...

Dallas soon will be the temporary home for at least 25,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees from Louisiana, state and local officials confirmed on Thursday. City and county leaders scrambled to locate suitable shelter for such an influx of storm victims, who they expected to arrive primarily by bus and plane beginning Saturday.

Reunion Arena and a 200,000-square-foot portion of the Dallas Convention center, both downtown, could house as many as 12,000 people, City Manager Mary Suhm said.

The police department will provide around-the-clock coverage concentrated at Reunion, the West End and along Industrial Avenue, Chief Kunkle said. Other deployments will be made as necessary, he said. The chief and other top city officials will meet at 9 a.m. today to plan their next moves.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit will begin distributing 1,000 two-week system passes beginning today to the refugees. Dallas has also constructed a makeshift animal shelter in a Reunion parking garage, complete with food, water and veterinarian care, for dozens of displaced pets, said Ade Williams, assistant director of Dallas’ Department of Code Compliance

"I just can't imagine waving a sign that says `Come and get me now.'"

The Resident

sparrow, that's going to get you a call from the SS LOL

Watch Mr. Compassion do a photo op in New Orleans tomorrow.

Remember W ridiculing Karla Faye Tucker of Houston for an interview she did with CNN broadcaster Larry King shortly before she was executed last year. Just before her execution date, Tucker appealed for clemency on the grounds that she had become a born-again Christian.

"Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, `don't kill me'" Excerpted from The Houston Chronicle August 10, 1999 

Well surprisingly the national news people WERE actually asking Bush some somewhat tough questions. Geez is the light finally dawning with these folks? Rachel Maddow (sp?) had recordings of DiAnne Sawyer asking Bush some fairly tough questions which he never answered (why are we NOT surprised at that). I think it is because some of the people on Good Morning America had a bunch of relatives in the area plus some of the other people at that network like Robin who is on GMA, and Cokie Roberts. I saw this brief blurb with Cokie showing these houses that were just totally trashed and I think they belonged to most of Cokie's relatives.

Posted by: Ladytechie at September 2, 2005 01:08 AM

Well, Ladytechie, we live in the age of BushiCarthyism. You know the Peacemakers are watched by the SS and the Conmen committing crimes are hiding in plain view in office in Ohio.

Ed Schultz is trying to mount a campaign to bus people from New Orleans to communities all around the country and have people help them find a place to live and a job and get the kids into school.

Typhoon hits SE China,600,00 victims affected,(bottom ticker tape CNN)...WOW,mom nature is really angry!!

Bitch
The Rolling Stones

I'm feeling so tired, can't understand it
Just had a fortnights sleep
I'm feeling so tired, Ow!, so distracted
Ain't touched a thing all week

I'm feeling drunk, juiced up and sloppy
Ain't touched a drink all night
Feeling hungry, can't see the reason
Just had a horse meat pie

Yeah when you call my name
I salivate like a Pavlov dog Yeah when you lay me out
My heart starts beating like a big bass drum, alright

Yeah you got to mix it child
Ya got to fix it must be love
It's a bitch You got to mix it child
Ya got to fix it must be love It's a bitch allright

Sometimes I'm sexy, move like a stud
Kicking the stall all night
Sometimes I'm so shy, got to be worked on
Don't have no bark or bite

Yeah when you call my name
I salivate like a Pavlov dog Yeah when you lay me out
My heart starts beating like a big bass drum

Patti F
Sounds like evacuation went a bit smoother in China, eh?!

China evacuates 1.24 million as typhoon lands

BEIJING (Reuters) - Officials evacuated over 1.24 million people from the country's eastern coast after Typhoon Matsa began lashing the mainland with strong winds and heavy rain early on Saturday morning, state media reported.

Dianne, be careful with insomnia..that's how I got hurt..post election details.

Posted by: sparrow at September 1, 2005 09:36 PM

The death cultists have pushed my patience more than enough. FEMA's recommended charities are ALL Christian. There are plenty of non-Christian (secular and religious) charities doing work, and none of them show on the FEMA website.

Again, when I check into my hotel during all my future trips, my first act will be to throw out the Gideons Bible. This is WAR. The Christians asked for it, and even though I may be a pacifist, I am not gonna take it anymore.

Something to think about...

Katrina’s Refugees: “There’s Nowhere to Go and No Way to Get There”
September 1st, 2005
For those of us who are watching the horrors unfold there is disbelief, anger and frustration. We are appalled, we are stunned and so many of us have uttered that we never thought we would see this happen here in our beloved America. “Where are our leaders?” Where is the help for these people?” These questions have rung out loudly on the blogosphere and the even in MSM today.

Dateline NBC is reporting tonight…

MOBILE, Ala. - Hundreds of thousands of people from Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama are on the road or in crowded refugee centers. It’s the kind of mass migration we don’t expect to see in America. Some now estimate that three-quarters of a million Americans are on the move tonight.

Those lucky enough to have escaped Katrina are now finding that hotels are booked from Texas to Florida. Pick almost any hotel and you will find refugees inside, stuck between their ruined homes and their very uncertain futures.

More & Links - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=410

Last snip from post:
I was in a restaurant having dinner tonight and heard Sara McLachlan’s “Angel” on the radio there. I’m leaving you all tonight with the lyrics and asking the heavens to send New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and all of Katrina’s victims, ANGELS…

Angel

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there’s always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I’ll find some peace tonight

in the arms of an angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you’re in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort there

so tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there’s vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack
it don’t make no difference
escaping one last time
it’s easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

in the arms of an angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you’re in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort there
you’re in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

September 2, 2005

A Can't-Do Government
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.

First question: Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.

There will and should be many questions about the response of state and local governments; in particular, couldn't they have done more to help the poor and sick escape? But the evidence points, above all, to a stunning lack of both preparation and urgency in the federal government's response.

Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"

Maybe administration officials believed that the local National Guard could keep order and deliver relief. But many members of the National Guard and much of its equipment - including high-water vehicles - are in Iraq. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," a Louisiana Guard officer told reporters several weeks ago.

Second question: Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."

In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending.

Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.

Last year James Lee Witt, who won bipartisan praise for his leadership of the agency during the Clinton years, said at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as the Krugman piece indicates, this is one story that Dubya's native teflon has not been able to deflect.

Now, if we can only get a little traction here from traitor-gate, we could really see some interesting developments.

The larger moral is: you can't leave the People's House and the Senate in the hands of crazed ideologues or politicans who would sell out the good of this nation for the right campaign contribution.

Change begins with the mid-term elections of 2006. Send the crooks and crazies home.

Posted by: lest we forget at September 2, 2005 01:09 AM

Karla Faye Tucker was convicted of a terrible crime. But if she deserved the ultimate punishment, then what kind of punishment should we give a man who has the blood of tens of thousands of innocent civilians - in both Iraq and the United States - on his hands?

How many people will die this week in New Orleans that wouldn't have died had the current Administration funded levee repair and reinforcement at the same levels as the previous Administration.

Were those tax cuts for multi-millionaries and billionaires worth those lives?

Momentum is building. Here's a relevant thread from a basketball forum - where slam dunking the Bush Presidency has become a hot topic:

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=413158&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Speaking of denial...today's NY Times Editorial

September 2, 2005
Baghdad and Philadelphia
Iraq has provoked some pretty odd utterances from the Bush administration over the years. High among them are President Bush's tortured comparisons between the vigorous debates and political compromises that produced America's Constitution in 1787 and the stillborn constitutional discussions between representatives of Iraq's alienated Sunni Arab minority and the dominant majority coalition of Shiites and Kurds.

Lately, the president has excused the Iraqi leaders' inability to draft a truly democratic constitution by telling an audience in Idaho that Americans know that "the document our founders produced in Philadelphia was not the final word." Leave aside the fact that Mr. Bush and other like-minded Republicans have been hectoring Americans for years to view that text as the unevolved, binding and authoritative final word on all matters before the Supreme Court. The president also neglects some crucial differences between the two countries during their constitutional deliberations.

America in 1787 had serious governance issues. That's why the Constitutional Convention was called. But unlike Iraq, it was not torn by a raging insurgency. Its basic security did not depend on a huge foreign military force that set arbitrary deadlines for its constitutional debates. And its 13 states had already had some 11 years of experience of trying to work together as a single nation, including the successful conduct of a war for independence.

Most important, through those vigorous debates the delegates to America's Constitutional Convention rose to meet their historic responsibility for forming "a more perfect union." They produced a blueprint for a workable government, further improved by a continuing series of constitutional amendments, which began with the precious protections of liberty incorporated into the Bill of Rights.

Nothing like that has happened in Iraq. When constitutional talks began, Washington desperately hoped that they would help meld Iraq's centrifugal components into a self-governing nation. Instead, the process has driven Iraqis even further apart.

Some people, looking at the historical grievances and antipathies of Iraq's Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish communities, have argued that the loose federation of semi-autonomous regions envisioned in the draft constitution makes more sense than trying to force these groups together under one roof. That might be true in some alternative reality where borders could be clearly drawn, resources could be fairly apportioned and neighbors could be expected to look on benignly while Iraq broke up into its component communities.

But following that course in Iraq is a prescription for civil war and for regional war, with America's military forces inextricably caught up in both. Anything resembling an independent Kurdistan is likely to mean war with Turkey. A breakaway Shiite southeast would draw in a meddling Iran. A stranded Sunni Arab west would naturally look to Syria and radical Sunnis in other Arab lands. And as is almost always the case when nations fragment, the new borders are likely to be contested.

While some Iraqi provinces are clearly dominated by a single religious or ethnic group, many are not. Kirkuk, the northern oil-producing center, is fiercely disputed between Kurds and mostly Sunni Arabs. Baghdad, the ancient capital, has a Shiite majority, but it is also the home of many Sunnis and mixed-marriage families.

We hope, with Mr. Bush, that in the six weeks remaining until the constitutional referendum, Iraqis suddenly discover the sense of nationhood that has eluded them during the long months of constitutional deliberations. We hope that the majority Shiites and Kurds come to recognize that drawing Sunni Arabs back from the insurgency and into the constitutional process is their responsibility, not Washington's. We hope that the legal rights of Iraqi women are reinforced rather than eroded.

But unlike Mr. Bush, we are ready to acknowledge that it is dangerously late in the game and that the best chances for getting these things right have been squandered. There is no point pretending that this is Philadelphia in 1787. It is Baghdad in 2005.

if anyone is up....the mayor of new orleans was just on the radio, and feed through cnn....my god is all i can say...i hope they repeat that interview over and over, cause the mayor wasnt mincin no words...WOW

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, two divergent -- and incongruous -- views have emerged over more than three long days of misery.

In the hurricane-ravaged city, where people are thirsty and hungry, living in squalid conditions and in fear of armed bands of marauding looters, the response is seen as confused, ineffective and puzzlingly slow.

"Why is no one in charge?" asked one frustrated evacuee at the Ernest Morial Convention Center, where thousands have waited days for help. "I find it hard to believe."

Yet, 80 miles away at the Federal Emergency Management Agency command post in Baton Rouge, FEMA Director Michael Brown told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Thursday evening that "considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well."

His view was not shared by some of the local officials trying to cope at the scene of the disaster.

Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief, told WWL-TV that he thinks FEMA's response to the disaster has been an "embarrassment." Walter Maestri, the emergency management director in suburban Jefferson Parish, said FEMA and other federal agencies are not delivering help nearly as fast as it is needed.

Yet, back in Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told CNN Thursday that he believes he thinks FEMA and other federal agencies have done a "magnificent job" under difficult circumstances to deal with the unprecedented disaster, citing their "courage" and "ingenuity."

Insisting that aid is coming as fast as possible, Chertoff said, "You can't fly helicopters in a hurricane. You can't drive trucks in a hurricane."

Such explanations likely would have been of cold comfort to the crowd of hot, thirsty, bedraggled people outside the convention center, even if they could have heard them.

"We want help, we want help," they chanted for the television cameras, an impromptu SOS to the outside world.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin took the extraordinary step Thursday of sending a message through the media -- which he termed a "desperate SOS" -- advising the crowd at the convention center to march over the Crescent City Connection bridge to the west bank of the Mississippi River to find relief in neighboring Jefferson Parish.

"The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15- to 20,000 people," he said.

Yet, Brown told CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" Thursday evening that federal officials only found out about the unfolding humanitarian crisis at the convention center earlier in the day -- despite the fact that city officials had been telling people for days to take shelter there.

"We just learned about that today, and so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water, the medical care that they need," he said.

At a news conference in Baton Rouge Thursday, Brown bristled when reporters asked him about the criticism of FEMA's effort in general, and the criticism by Ebbert and Maestri in particular. He insisted his agency was "meeting the needs as they are communicated to us."

"I think everyone in the country needs to take a big, collective, deep breath and recognize that there are a lot of people in this state, in Mississippi and Alabama who are living under conditions that, quite frankly, I doubt any reporter in this room is living under -- no food, no water, it's hot, it's sticky, their homes have been destroyed, they don't know where they're going to go next."

But there was perhaps no clearer illustration of the disconnect between how emergency officials view the situation at a distance, and how it is viewed by those actually living it on the ground, than Brown's comments to CNN's Wolf Blitzer Thursday evening about the evacuation of hospitals in the city.

"I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well," he said.

Shortly after he made those comments, Dr. Michael Bellew, a resident at Charity Hospital, where more than 200 patients were still waiting to be evacuated, described desperate conditions. The hospital had no power, no water, food was running out and nurses were bagging patients by hand because ventilators didn't work.

Earlier in the day, the evacuation from Charity had to be suspended for a time after a sniper opened fire on rescuers.

At another local hospital, Memorial Medical Center, a small fleet of helicopters was brought in to evacuate patients and staff after hospital officials were told "by officials on the ground to take the matter into our own hands," said Trevor Fetter, president of Tenet HealthCare Corp., the hospital's owner.

Perhaps the biggest complaint about the federal response stems from the brazen lawlessness and looting in the city, punctuated with gunfire.

Chertoff said Thursday that 4,200 trained National Guard military police would be deployed in the city over the next three days, quadrupling the law enforcement presence in New Orleans.

"Fourteen hundred military police trained soldiers will be arriving every day --- 1,400 today, 1,400 tomorrow and 1,400 the next day," he said.

"Frankly, what we're doing is we are putting probably more than we need in order to send an unambiguous message that we will not tolerate lawlessness or violence or interference with the evacuation."

Yet, the first contingent of those promised military police were not scheduled to arrive until late Thursday night -- and only 100 Guard members would be in that first wave, according to Pentagon officials. Pressed about the other 1,300 promised troops, officials would only say that they were on the way.

New Orleans police officers told CNN that they needed the manpower earlier in the week to prevent the looting and violence now prevalent in the city. The situation is now much worse because among the first items taken from stores, according to the officers, were guns -- turning unarmed thieves into armed gangsters.

Police were reduced to looting ammunition from stores themselves, to keep it off the streets.

Just catching up and putting up a new thread. pcdoc--what did the mayor say?

If this thread is any indication, people are beginning to sense the groundswell of reaction to Bush et al.

Check the front page in a few minutes too.

Karen...he told the political ppl to STOP LYING about the relief efforts...and actually start providing the relief they are taking credit for aranging. He gave a BLISTERING commentary on how we (the federal government)were able to authorize billions for the iraq war, almost over night...but he cant get help for one of the most beloved cities in our country...and supposedly, its over a "technical request issue"...someone cant get the request paperwork right ugh!

He when on a major rip cause he was sincerly MAD about this situation...i hope to see it again so i can get more out of his statement...

I'm sure Chimpy will be on the ground shaking hands and passing out ice today in Biloxi... are they busing in supporters dressed as victims?

How come he won't go do that in Nawlin's? (rhetorical question)

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

Do you suppose George ever finished "My Pet Goat"???...cause he seems to be in the same state of mind with the disaster in the southeast as he was that morning....^_^

Posted by: pcdoc at September 2, 2005 08:14 AM

...but what a KILLER tan, huh?

LOL...indeed ;)

oy.

CNN interviewing reporter (John Mcquade) from Times-Picayune who predicted the catastrophe. Article was an award winning five part series. T.V. host asked why is anybody surprised by this? Our fearless President of course told us that nobody could have predicted this disaster. Somebody please stop me from hitting my head against a wall.

oncall,

There's no use in causing yourself any more of a headache than Dubya is causing us all.

Aaron Brown did a piece last night on CNN and spoke of the series the Times-Picayune did last year, and Brown said specifically that the Bush administration cut the funding beginning in 2003.

Even Mr. Bill Knew the Levees Wouldn't Hold:

In early 2004, lovable, crushable clay animated figure Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live starred in an ad to alert people to the problems with the wetlands in Louisiana.

On Good Morning, America yesterday, President Bush said, "I don't think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees." He was wrong. Mr. Bill already had. Here's a transcript of the stunningly prescient ad, from CNN on May 27, 2004:

MR. BILL: Gee, kids, I'm not sure we can do our show today because it looks like Hurricane Sluggo is headed right for us here in America's wetlands.

WALTER WILLIAMS, MR. BILL CREATOR: That's right, Mr. Bill. And since New Orleans is below sea level, if a hurricane hit us directly, it could push the water over the levees and fill it to the top.

BILL: Well then we'd better leave.

WILLIAMS: Well it's too late to evacuate since all the roads are jammed and under water.

BILL: Then where can we go that's safe?

WILLIAMS: Here this should work.

BILL: Gee, I hope it doesn't get much higher.

WILLIAMS: Well, Red, the alligator, doesn't seem too worried.

BILL: Yes, that's because he can swim. You know I don't do that too well.

WILLIAMS: Well in that case, Red says he'll have one of his buddies come and give you a lift.

BILL: That's OK. Maybe you could mind the water wings or something. Oh, get me out of here! No, wait, no, no, ohhh!

WILLIAMS: Let's act now before it's too late.

By the way, Williams pulled Mr. Bill out of the campaign in June of this year when he believed it was being used as a tool to cover up the misdeeds of Shell Oil.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/09/even-mr.html