Brownie, In Congressional testimony, mays the blame for the multi-state federal response squarely at the feet of Blanco and Nagin. Quoteth Brownie:
[ VA-R Tom] Davis pushed Brown on what he and the agency he led should have done to evacuate New Orleans, restore order in the city and improve communication among law enforcement agencies. Brown said: "Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn't evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications."
Well dipshit, you are supposed to coordinate all the federal resources needed in a multi-state emergency. And Blanco STILL declared a state of emergency on Aug 26th, couple of days before Katrina hit. You had plenty of time to move resources and help evac.
Life does not stop and start at your convenience you miserable piece of shit.
Here is what LA-D Rep. Jefferson thought of Brownie's opening statement:
"I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."
Damn skippy.
Brownie Working For FEMA As Consultant
His job? Review How FEMA fucked up the Katrina response. My God, are we THAT stupid? Are THEY that stupid?!?!
Links
here(Kos),
here(CBS-Bob Schieffer),
here(Olbermann),
here(AP) and
here(NBC).
About a quarter of the US refining capacity is in the Texas gulf coast...and the platforms in the Gulf have to be evacuated...again.
Rita is now spinning at about 165 MPH. Here come $4 per gallon gas prices!!!
Senator Reid is not (thankfully), but
Max Baucus and
Patrick Leahy are...I mean, jeez, come on guys!
He didn't say a blinking thing in the hearings! NOTHING!
And Sen. Leahy, you KNOW that!I just wish that Reid kept the caucus together on this one.
30-40 'no' votes would have been good. Cause the next one (Janice Brown? Gonzo?) will be nearly as silly as Roberts is. Or worse - Brown is a
supercalafragalistic right-winger...
I was going to grab this referenced Bryan Williams blog post myself, but MaJo beat me to it:
Even more impressively, as NBC news anchor Bryan Williams reported at his blog, they managed to get the lights turned on along the President's route into Jackson Square "no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through," so that looted mini-malls and abandoned gas pumps leapt into sight. Of course, an hour after he was done and gone -- rescues of this sort being limited affairs -- the area was "plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans." (As Williams concluded, "It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.") Now, combine this with the latest
SUSA tracking poll (thanks myDD), entitled
"The Hurrieder President Bush Goes, The Behinder He Gets" which started
AFTER he gave the speech is showing his -10 balance to now be a -16 balance between approve and disapprove...I actually figured that the speech would stop the bleeding, but it has not. Probably the post-speech commentary from him and other GoOPers that they will not rescind the tax cuts for the rich and will continue to push for a repeal of the estate tax is contributing to their falling poll numbers.
There is a reason for the
Posse Comitatus Act - and it's still relevant. To
quote a JAG from a position paper on the act:
The original 1878 Posse Comitatus Act was indeed passed with the intent of removing the Army from domestic law enforcement. Posse comitatus means “the power of the county,” reflecting the inherent power of the old West county sheriff to call upon a posse of able-bodied men to supplement law enforcement assets and thereby maintain the peace. Following the Civil War, the Army had been used extensively throughout the South to maintain civil order, to enforce the policies of the Reconstruction era, and to ensure that any lingering sentiments of rebellion were crushed. However, in reaching those goals, the Army necessarily became involved in traditional police roles and in enforcing politically volatile Reconstruction-era policies. The stationing of federal troops at political events and polling places under the justification of maintaining domestic order became of increasing concern to Congress, which felt that the Army was becoming politicized and straying from its original national defense mission. The Posse Comitatus Act was passed to remove the Army from civilian law enforcement and to return it to its role of defending the borders of the United States.
Thanks to
myDD for bringing this back into the light - it will get lost, and along with radical energy cost increases and post-secondary education costs, health care costs are a significant, and ever increasing, burden to the average Joe. Insurance profits are skyrocketing along with the premiums paid for health insurance...check the links above...
Two quick quotes...one from New York Newsday (via MyDD):
Premiums have soared 73 percent since 2000, far outpacing the rate of inflation and wage growth, which grew at 3.5 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, according to the 2005 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey, released yesterday.
Next, from the Globe (via the Think Progress link):Meanwhile, malpractice insurance premiums for internists, general surgeons, and obstetricians have skyrocketed since 2000, jumping 20 to 25 percent in 2002 alone…
''It's not payments that's causing this," Chandra said. ''The simple explanation that comes to mind is the underwriting cycle. If they're making less money from the investment side of things, it's going to cause [insurance companies] to raise rates."
I hope you brought your longjohns...it's gonna be rough up this-a-way...
The higher fuel prices pose a severe threat to low-income households from the Midwest to the Northeast, said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association. "A few years ago, you could heat a home for $500. Now it takes $1,500," said Wolfe, whose association represents state residential heating assistance programs. "Energy has become a lot less affordable for low-income families," and they will face painful spending choices this winter, he said.
Nordquist Drowning In His Words?
Let's hope so...
Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.
Click on the title for the link. And, this image tells 1,000 words (captured off of Irish television):
They are starting to see infectious disease starting to peek out - and thet'd better watch out. they're talking TB and gastrointeritis in kids at the Astrodome, and
Vibrio vulnificus in Biloxi (I've never heard of it). Apparently it's a bacterium carried in seawater, and this virulent form is
20% fatal.
And, this little tidbit struck me:
Death Toll Mounts
Dennis PowellRich EspositoSept. 5, 2005
Two senior-level state and federal sources say that the death toll could top 6,000. Both believe that the majority of deaths — 80 to 90 percent — were caused by a slow response from FEMA and Department of Homeland Security.
Worcester To Host 1,000 Katrina Refugees
Got a local source telling me that there will be a clothing drive for the refugees on Friday Sept 9th from 9-3 at Bob Spellane's office on Mill St. in Worcester. Christ the King Church and the Boy Scouts will be helping out. Check out
HERE or
HERE or more info as it becomes available.
This guy is a fucking idiot. There's no other way around it. He is a fucking idiot.
Calling for the resignation of FEMA head Brown, amongst others.
New Tales of Katrina [bumped]
[Update Sep 4th - new article from CNN (rapidly becoming better in my eyes the more they keep Wolf Blitzer outa my hair) showing the outright lies HSD Secy' Chertoff and the rest of the Bushies are pedaling around. He is blatantly saying that the Katrina nightmare scenario did not exist. Apparently everybody else was talking about it, tho]Two articles - first from
CNN.com. HSD Sec'y Chertaw says that there will be 1400 US National Guard on the streets PER DAY for the next three days, starting Thursday, Sep 1st. His quote:
"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.
The truth comes from a CNN source in the Pentagon:
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.
And then, this sad bit from the New Orleans PD:
Police were reduced to looting ammunition from stores themselves, to keep it off the streets.
Now, to a
Yahoo! article talking about the world response to the inaction of the federal government in dealing with the aftermath:
The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.
World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern United States whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.
But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world -- looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people weathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.
Let us hope so...I thought the author's quote here was quite a shot of realism when talking about Wall Street:
Wall Street, ever on the hunt for profit opportunities amid human suffering, also snapped up shares of a host of companies whose products or services could be in great demand as the Gulf Coast's recovery proceeds. The list included makers of manufactured housing, engineering companies, cement producers and timber suppliers — all of which also could benefit from a renewed focus on the national infrastructure.
Speaking of infrasctucture, this is what the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) says about our infrastructure in its
2005 report card:
With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades.
[Update Sep 4th - graphic from LA Times on Sep 3rd showing what they're doing to halt the flow of water into NOLA and seal the breach]Listen to the audio (from NPR, click on the title for the link) from Pam Fessler's report on why the levees failed. Basically, according to the
Army Corps of Engineers, the levees were correctly designed and worked appropriately...for a cat 3 hurricaine. And they are most likely right. I have no reason to doubt that statement. Every engineer goes through this situation - a business or political decision is made which does not allow you to create something that is appropriate for all situations. Engineers HATE going back and doing something a second time.
Bottom line is that they were TOLD to do something that was not even being planned for. And they did it. And they probably told everybody that exact statement, that they'd be in trouble, that the levees provided a false sense of security. And even with the scenario planning of worst-case showing that you needed stronger levee systems, Bushie took money away from that work to pay for Iraq. And, BTW, some estimates are that, on average, 40% of all National Guard troops and equipment are not prepositioned in the US. They're in Iraq.
100th Post: NO Hyatt Guests Moved to Front of Superdome Evac Line
Holy shit that was stupid...friggin stupid:
At one point, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the evacuation line — much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome since Sunday.
"How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.
The 700 had been trapped in the hotel, next to the Superdome, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome. The Hyatt was severely damaged by the storm. Every pane of glass on the riverside wall was blown out.
Mayor Ray Nagin has used the hotel as a base since it is across the street from city hall, and there were reports the hotel was cleared with priority to make room for police, firefighters and other officials.
National Guard Capt. John Pollard called the decision to move the Hyatt people to the head of the line "very poor."
Mayor Nagin Interview
From Thursday night on WWL radio...this is how I've been getting my best Katrina news, BTW (www.wwltv.com).
New article from cnn.com discussing the complete disconnect between HSD and FEMA and the reality on the ground in NO. This disaster is EXACTLY what HSD was supposed to deal with immediately and it did not happen. Utterly sick.
