And then there are the president's standard lines: "It's not the government's money; it's your money," and, "One of the last things that we need to do to this economy is to take money out of your pocket and fuel government." Maybe Mr. Bush will now also tell us: "It's not the government's hurricane - it's your hurricane."
Besides ripping away the roofs of New Orleans, Katrina ripped away the argument that we can cut taxes, properly educate our kids, compete with India and China, succeed in Iraq, keep improving the U.S. infrastructure, and take care of a catastrophic emergency - without putting ourselves totally into the debt of Beijing.
So many of the things the Bush team has ignored or distorted under the guise of fighting Osama were exposed by Katrina: its refusal to impose a gasoline tax after 9/11, which would have begun to shift our economy much sooner to more fuel-efficient cars, helped raise money for a rainy day and eased our dependence on the world's worst regimes for energy; its refusal to develop some form of national health care to cover the 40 million uninsured; and its insistence on cutting more taxes, even when that has contributed to incomplete levees and too small an Army to deal with Katrina, Osama and Saddam at the same time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/opinion/07friedman.html?th&emc=th
9.07.2005
Dowd: "And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens."
Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.
Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.
Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.
Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.
In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.
Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html?th&emc=th
Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.
Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.
Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.
In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.
Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html?th&emc=th
9.06.2005
Go Sen. Hansen! - Employee Free Choice Act
Sen. Hansen: Announces Introduction of Employee Free Choice Act
9/6/2005
Contact: Sen. Hansen
608-266-5670
(Green Bay)—Today Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) announced the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will allow certain employees not covered by the National Labor Relations Act to choose to join a union if a majority of their workforce signs authorization cards. Similar legislation already exists in California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey.
“As a former union member, I know firsthand the impact that unions have had on improving the standard of living for working families and retirees,” said Hansen. “I am introducing this legislation, because unions are good for families and good for our economy, and I believe more Wisconsin workers should be given the opportunity to join them if they want to.”
According to recent research, over 57 million Americans would like to join a union and would do so if given the opportunity. Research has also shown the benefits of union membership to be substantial in terms of the better wages, health insurance, pensions and vacation offered to union members. Organized labor is responsible for among other things the forty-hour work week, child labor laws and improving wages and the health and safety of all workers.
“This past weekend, many of us took some time to celebrate the achievements of organized labor,” said Hansen. “I am hopeful that this legislation will help strengthen the voice of Wisconsin’s workers. There are many future battles to fight for working people, and I believe this bill will help to ensure that organized labor will continue to play the leading role in this fight.”
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=43773
9/6/2005
Contact: Sen. Hansen
608-266-5670
(Green Bay)—Today Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) announced the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will allow certain employees not covered by the National Labor Relations Act to choose to join a union if a majority of their workforce signs authorization cards. Similar legislation already exists in California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey.
“As a former union member, I know firsthand the impact that unions have had on improving the standard of living for working families and retirees,” said Hansen. “I am introducing this legislation, because unions are good for families and good for our economy, and I believe more Wisconsin workers should be given the opportunity to join them if they want to.”
According to recent research, over 57 million Americans would like to join a union and would do so if given the opportunity. Research has also shown the benefits of union membership to be substantial in terms of the better wages, health insurance, pensions and vacation offered to union members. Organized labor is responsible for among other things the forty-hour work week, child labor laws and improving wages and the health and safety of all workers.
“This past weekend, many of us took some time to celebrate the achievements of organized labor,” said Hansen. “I am hopeful that this legislation will help strengthen the voice of Wisconsin’s workers. There are many future battles to fight for working people, and I believe this bill will help to ensure that organized labor will continue to play the leading role in this fight.”
http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=43773
Halliburton all tangled up in it again...
Halliburton's KBR to do Katrina cleanup
11:06 AM on September 3, 2005.
And you won't believe who's lobbying for them.
Thanks, Halliburton!For its ineptitude and dishonest business practices, Halliburton's contracts ought to have been cancelled not extended, as they were in 2004. And although it falls under a contract already in place, it's nonetheless disturbing that administration cronies will profit from this catastrophe in any way -- direct or indirect. On your dime no less.
"The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi."
Here's the kicker:
"In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration."
Allbaugh also happens to be a former Bush campaign manager and chief of staff.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/25017/
11:06 AM on September 3, 2005.
And you won't believe who's lobbying for them.
Thanks, Halliburton!For its ineptitude and dishonest business practices, Halliburton's contracts ought to have been cancelled not extended, as they were in 2004. And although it falls under a contract already in place, it's nonetheless disturbing that administration cronies will profit from this catastrophe in any way -- direct or indirect. On your dime no less.
"The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi."
Here's the kicker:
"In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration."
Allbaugh also happens to be a former Bush campaign manager and chief of staff.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/25017/
9.05.2005
We are making an impact in Winnebago County...
Fron the July Winnebago GOP Newsletter:
The democrats had their state convention in Oshkosh last month just to make their point known. They want the 54th Assembly district, and they want Winnebago County. Our area is not the bastion of Republican voters it once was. President Bush won our county with 52% of the vote, those are not strong numbers. We must do more to make our presence known in the community, work, churches, schools, and everywhere.
http://www.winnebagogop.org/newsletter/2005JULY.pdf
The democrats had their state convention in Oshkosh last month just to make their point known. They want the 54th Assembly district, and they want Winnebago County. Our area is not the bastion of Republican voters it once was. President Bush won our county with 52% of the vote, those are not strong numbers. We must do more to make our presence known in the community, work, churches, schools, and everywhere.
http://www.winnebagogop.org/newsletter/2005JULY.pdf
9.04.2005
I don't think we can imagine what they are going through in New Orleans...
In addition to civilian deaths, New Orleans’ police department has had to deal with suicides in its ranks. Two officers took their lives, including the department spokesman, Paul Accardo, who died Saturday, according to Riley. Both shot themselves in the head, he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/page/2/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/page/2/
Click here for the MSNBC video Meet the Press with Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish
javascript:oMvsLink('00','31261c04-42a8-47fe-980b-40ec861b85bb','','','','','',false,false,'Source_Meet the Press')
Why do people forget that we are a community?
This is a good example of what i was talking about - compassion ending at the end of your driveway:
Richard Gibbs was disgusted by reports of looting in New Orleans and upset at the lack of attention hurricane victims in his state were getting.
“I say burn the bridges and let ’em all rot there,” he said. “We’re suffering over here too, but we’re not killing each other. We’ve got to help each other. We need gas and food and water and medical supplies.”
Gibbs and his wife, Holly, have been stuck at their flooded home in Gulfport just off the Biloxi River. Water comes up to the second floor, they are out of gasoline, and food supplies are running perilously low.
Until recently, they also had Holly’s 75-year-old father, who has a pacemaker and severe diabetes, with them. Finally they got an ambulance to take him to the airport so he could be airlifted to Lafayette, La., for medical help.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9190498/
So, he says that because he needs something, they should let everyone in Louisianna rot? Yet, louisianna is caring for his father!
This is crazy. We should not let arbitrary political borders interfere with out goodwill.
What are we coming to?
Richard Gibbs was disgusted by reports of looting in New Orleans and upset at the lack of attention hurricane victims in his state were getting.
“I say burn the bridges and let ’em all rot there,” he said. “We’re suffering over here too, but we’re not killing each other. We’ve got to help each other. We need gas and food and water and medical supplies.”
Gibbs and his wife, Holly, have been stuck at their flooded home in Gulfport just off the Biloxi River. Water comes up to the second floor, they are out of gasoline, and food supplies are running perilously low.
Until recently, they also had Holly’s 75-year-old father, who has a pacemaker and severe diabetes, with them. Finally they got an ambulance to take him to the airport so he could be airlifted to Lafayette, La., for medical help.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9190498/
So, he says that because he needs something, they should let everyone in Louisianna rot? Yet, louisianna is caring for his father!
This is crazy. We should not let arbitrary political borders interfere with out goodwill.
What are we coming to?
Watch the re-broadacst of Meet the Press
Tonight at 9:00 pm on MSNBC - channel 46 in the Oshkosh area on Time-Warner cable.
"We have been abandoned by our own country."
Here is a link to the Meet the Press transcipt:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/
MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.
After this moment of true feeling, Gov Barbour followed with this:
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R-MS): But my experience is very different from Louisiana, apparently. I don't know anything about Louisiana. Over here, we had the Coast Guard in Monday night. They took 1,700 people off the roofs of houses with guys hanging off of helicopters to get them. They sent us a million meals last night because we'd eaten everything through. Everything hasn't been perfect here, by any stretch of the imagination, Tim. But the federal government has been good partners to us. They've tried hard. Our people have tried hard. Firemen and policemen and emergency medical people, National Guard, highway patrolmen working virtually around the clock, sleeping in their cars when they could sleep. And we've made progress every day.
They then went into a discussion of how the casino boats would be rebuilt.
Sickening.
I imagine they will have the video online tomorrow - I will link to it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/
MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.
After this moment of true feeling, Gov Barbour followed with this:
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R-MS): But my experience is very different from Louisiana, apparently. I don't know anything about Louisiana. Over here, we had the Coast Guard in Monday night. They took 1,700 people off the roofs of houses with guys hanging off of helicopters to get them. They sent us a million meals last night because we'd eaten everything through. Everything hasn't been perfect here, by any stretch of the imagination, Tim. But the federal government has been good partners to us. They've tried hard. Our people have tried hard. Firemen and policemen and emergency medical people, National Guard, highway patrolmen working virtually around the clock, sleeping in their cars when they could sleep. And we've made progress every day.
They then went into a discussion of how the casino boats would be rebuilt.
Sickening.
I imagine they will have the video online tomorrow - I will link to it.
I just had my heart broken by Meet the Press...
The president of Jefferson Parish was being interviewed by Russert. After he answered the questions, he said that he had one more thing to say. He then told the story of a colleague who's mother was in a nursing home in the disaster area.
As he began crying, he said that the mother would call every day and ask when she was going the be evacuated. He told her that she would be out Tuesday, he told there she would be out Wednesday, he told her they would have her out Thursday, he told her that they would have her out Friday.
She drowned in her nursing home on Friday.
This is what those that want to cut government to the bone do not understand. One of government's major responsibility is to protect the people when they cannot protect themselves.
When government is cut in the way we have seen in the past years, we are unable to protect our citizens. As we have seen, when we cannot protect and support our citizens, people die.
But who dies? Is it the comfortable few who call for these tax cuts? Are the confortable the stranded, the miserable or the dead? No, those greed filled Americans with an inability to extend compassion past their own driveway were safe and evacuated. They loaded up their cars and left the poor the infirm and the indigent behind.
Those with out resources and transportation were herded into inadequate shelter and treated like the animals those in the upper class think they are. Where is the compassionate conservatism now?
If you are not now angry, you are truly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
This was apparent within 10 seconds of the gentleman finishing his statements. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour started statements to the effect of "Hey, we are just fine here in Mississippi."
Barbour said that he could only control Mississippi, and they were getting enough food, the Coast Guard was saving people, and in essence they were just fine.
It made me sick. The whole "me and mine are fine, that's all I care about" it exactly what is wrong with America now. I hope Americans are watching, and learning from this. We are a society, and until we recognize all of our rights to be members of this society, we are lost as a society.
As quoted by Theodore Roosevelt: "This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
I will link to the MSNBC video of the Meet the Press episode when it is available online.
As he began crying, he said that the mother would call every day and ask when she was going the be evacuated. He told her that she would be out Tuesday, he told there she would be out Wednesday, he told her they would have her out Thursday, he told her that they would have her out Friday.
She drowned in her nursing home on Friday.
This is what those that want to cut government to the bone do not understand. One of government's major responsibility is to protect the people when they cannot protect themselves.
When government is cut in the way we have seen in the past years, we are unable to protect our citizens. As we have seen, when we cannot protect and support our citizens, people die.
But who dies? Is it the comfortable few who call for these tax cuts? Are the confortable the stranded, the miserable or the dead? No, those greed filled Americans with an inability to extend compassion past their own driveway were safe and evacuated. They loaded up their cars and left the poor the infirm and the indigent behind.
Those with out resources and transportation were herded into inadequate shelter and treated like the animals those in the upper class think they are. Where is the compassionate conservatism now?
If you are not now angry, you are truly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
This was apparent within 10 seconds of the gentleman finishing his statements. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour started statements to the effect of "Hey, we are just fine here in Mississippi."
Barbour said that he could only control Mississippi, and they were getting enough food, the Coast Guard was saving people, and in essence they were just fine.
It made me sick. The whole "me and mine are fine, that's all I care about" it exactly what is wrong with America now. I hope Americans are watching, and learning from this. We are a society, and until we recognize all of our rights to be members of this society, we are lost as a society.
As quoted by Theodore Roosevelt: "This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
I will link to the MSNBC video of the Meet the Press episode when it is available online.
Kanye West Censored on the West Coast...
Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."
The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored.
There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize (West) had gone off-script," said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050903/D8CCNBNO0.html
The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored.
There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize (West) had gone off-script," said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050903/D8CCNBNO0.html
9.03.2005
"George Bush doesn't care about black people"
Kanye West on live TV (from MSNBC):
5:41: Mike Myers and Kanye West are on now, talking about the homeless situation. Kanye brings up an important point, talking about how the media portrays white people as seeking food and blacks as looters. He goes into an impassioned speech about the difficulties blacks are having during the Katrina fallout and in the country in general. Mike Myers is with him at the start.
About 10 seconds in, it's clear he's not reading from the prompter. He stumbles a bit on his points, but most of them get across. The basic message to the government? Stop dragging your feet and help the people down there. Myers gives him a couple "oh my God" looks, and then another when Kanye says "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."
Myers, clearly stressed, goes into another point about the hurricane and how New Orleans is forever changed. Then Kanye drops the biggest bomb.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said. Myers turns to him and clearly has no idea what to say. Then they go to a flabbergasted Chris Tucker.
Kanye was one frustrated man on TV. (And really, I can't do it justice here. Watch the video.)
Not sure what kind of flack Kanye's gonna catch for that last bit, but I'm sure he doesn't care.
And good for him to bring up a point on the media's portrayal of blacks that can't be said enough. Not sure if I agree, but it's always good to have someone out there, challenging the media to be as fair as possible.
5:41: Mike Myers and Kanye West are on now, talking about the homeless situation. Kanye brings up an important point, talking about how the media portrays white people as seeking food and blacks as looters. He goes into an impassioned speech about the difficulties blacks are having during the Katrina fallout and in the country in general. Mike Myers is with him at the start.
About 10 seconds in, it's clear he's not reading from the prompter. He stumbles a bit on his points, but most of them get across. The basic message to the government? Stop dragging your feet and help the people down there. Myers gives him a couple "oh my God" looks, and then another when Kanye says "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."
Myers, clearly stressed, goes into another point about the hurricane and how New Orleans is forever changed. Then Kanye drops the biggest bomb.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said. Myers turns to him and clearly has no idea what to say. Then they go to a flabbergasted Chris Tucker.
Kanye was one frustrated man on TV. (And really, I can't do it justice here. Watch the video.)
Not sure what kind of flack Kanye's gonna catch for that last bit, but I'm sure he doesn't care.
And good for him to bring up a point on the media's portrayal of blacks that can't be said enough. Not sure if I agree, but it's always good to have someone out there, challenging the media to be as fair as possible.
9.02.2005
It makes the mainstream media..
Budget cuts delayed New Orleans flood control work
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration funding cuts forced federal engineers to delay improvements on the levees, floodgates and pumping stations that failed to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters, agency documents showed on Thursday.
The former head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that handles the infrastructure of the nation's waterways, said the damage in New Orleans probably would have been much less extensive had flood-control efforts been fully funded over the years.
"Levees would have been higher, levees would have been bigger, there would have been other pumps put in," said Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who headed the engineering agency from 2001 to 2002.
"I'm not saying it would have been totally alleviated but it would have been less than the damage that we have got now."
Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water after Katrina blew through with much of the flooding coming after two levees broke.
A May 2005 Corps memo said that funding levels for fiscal years 2005 and 2006 would not be enough to pay for new construction on the levees.
Agency officials said on Thursday in a conference call that delayed work was not related to the breakdown in the levee system and Parker told Reuters the funding problems could not be blamed on the Bush administration alone.
Parker said a project dating to 1965 remains unfinished and that any recent projects would not have been in place by the time the hurricane struck even if they had been fully funded.
"If we do stuff now it's not going to have an effect tomorrow," Parker said. "These projects are huge, they're expensive and they're not sexy."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration had funded flood control efforts adequately.
Tensions over funding for the New Orleans levees emerged more than a year ago when a local official asserted money had been diverted to pay for the Iraq war. In early 2002, Parker told the U.S. Congress that the war on terrorism required spending cuts elsewhere in government.
Situated below sea level, New Orleans relied on a 300-mile network of levees, floodgates and pumps to hold back the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
Levees were fortified after floods in 1927 and 1965, and Congress approved another ambitious upgrade after a 1995 flood killed six people.
Since 2001, the Army Corps has requested $496 million for that project but the Bush administration only budgeted $166 million, according to figures provided by the office of Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu Congress ultimately approved $250 million for the project during that time period.
Another project designed to shore up defenses along Lake Pontchartrain was similarly underfunded, as the administration budgeted $22 million of the $99 million requested by the
Corps between 2001 and 2005. Congress boosted spending on that project to $42.5 million, according to Landrieu's office.
"It's clear that we didn't do everything we could to safeguard ourselves from this hurricane or from a natural disaster such as Katrina but hopefully we will learn and be more prepared next time," said Landrieu spokesman Brian Richardson.
The levee defenses had been designed to withstand a milder Category Three hurricane and simply were overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina, said senior project manager Al Naomi.
"The design was not adequate to protect against a storm of this nature because we were not authorized to provide a Category Four or Five protection design," he said.
A study examining a possible upgrade is under way, he said
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/weather_katrina_funding_dc
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration funding cuts forced federal engineers to delay improvements on the levees, floodgates and pumping stations that failed to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters, agency documents showed on Thursday.
The former head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that handles the infrastructure of the nation's waterways, said the damage in New Orleans probably would have been much less extensive had flood-control efforts been fully funded over the years.
"Levees would have been higher, levees would have been bigger, there would have been other pumps put in," said Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who headed the engineering agency from 2001 to 2002.
"I'm not saying it would have been totally alleviated but it would have been less than the damage that we have got now."
Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water after Katrina blew through with much of the flooding coming after two levees broke.
A May 2005 Corps memo said that funding levels for fiscal years 2005 and 2006 would not be enough to pay for new construction on the levees.
Agency officials said on Thursday in a conference call that delayed work was not related to the breakdown in the levee system and Parker told Reuters the funding problems could not be blamed on the Bush administration alone.
Parker said a project dating to 1965 remains unfinished and that any recent projects would not have been in place by the time the hurricane struck even if they had been fully funded.
"If we do stuff now it's not going to have an effect tomorrow," Parker said. "These projects are huge, they're expensive and they're not sexy."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration had funded flood control efforts adequately.
Tensions over funding for the New Orleans levees emerged more than a year ago when a local official asserted money had been diverted to pay for the Iraq war. In early 2002, Parker told the U.S. Congress that the war on terrorism required spending cuts elsewhere in government.
Situated below sea level, New Orleans relied on a 300-mile network of levees, floodgates and pumps to hold back the waters of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
Levees were fortified after floods in 1927 and 1965, and Congress approved another ambitious upgrade after a 1995 flood killed six people.
Since 2001, the Army Corps has requested $496 million for that project but the Bush administration only budgeted $166 million, according to figures provided by the office of Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu Congress ultimately approved $250 million for the project during that time period.
Another project designed to shore up defenses along Lake Pontchartrain was similarly underfunded, as the administration budgeted $22 million of the $99 million requested by the
Corps between 2001 and 2005. Congress boosted spending on that project to $42.5 million, according to Landrieu's office.
"It's clear that we didn't do everything we could to safeguard ourselves from this hurricane or from a natural disaster such as Katrina but hopefully we will learn and be more prepared next time," said Landrieu spokesman Brian Richardson.
The levee defenses had been designed to withstand a milder Category Three hurricane and simply were overwhelmed by Hurricane Katrina, said senior project manager Al Naomi.
"The design was not adequate to protect against a storm of this nature because we were not authorized to provide a Category Four or Five protection design," he said.
A study examining a possible upgrade is under way, he said
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/weather_katrina_funding_dc
What the Heck?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=1&u=/050901/480/gagb10409010035
Sure am glad my current methods of transport get 35 & 55 miles per gallon.
Sure am glad my current methods of transport get 35 & 55 miles per gallon.
Gov. Doyle's Statement on New Orleans
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Dear Friend:
Yesterday, I called elements of the Wisconsin National Guard to active duty to help in the tremendous rescue and relief efforts now underway in Louisiana and Mississippi. Over the next few days, 500 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers will head to the Gulf Coast to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in any way they can – from performing rescues to shuttling refugees to providing relief supplies.
It’s the least the State of Wisconsin can do to assist Louisiana and Mississippi as they deal with the hurricane’s aftermath.
The people of Wisconsin can help, too.
The human toll of Hurricane Katrina is staggering, and as the days unfold, the situation in the Gulf States continues to worsen. So many have lost so much, and they are in desperate need of our material, financial, and spiritual support. This is one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, and the people of Louisiana and Mississippi will need our help as they work to rebuild their homes and their lives over the coming months and even years.
America is at its best when we realize we are one community. Now is the time for all Americans to band together and volunteer their time and resources to local and national relief efforts.
The best and quickest way you can help is by donating money. Cash donations will help provide clean water, food, and shelter for disaster victims.
The American Red Cross is a great place to start: www.redcross.org.
To find out other ways you can help, visit the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s website at www.wisdems.org for a list of charitable organizations and agencies assisting hurricane victims.
We are still learning the full extent of the devastation, but this is no time to wait. Please do something now to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, and we will continue to do everything we can to help our fellow Americans recover from this tragedy.
Sincerely,
Governor Jim Doyle
Dear Friend:
Yesterday, I called elements of the Wisconsin National Guard to active duty to help in the tremendous rescue and relief efforts now underway in Louisiana and Mississippi. Over the next few days, 500 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers will head to the Gulf Coast to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in any way they can – from performing rescues to shuttling refugees to providing relief supplies.
It’s the least the State of Wisconsin can do to assist Louisiana and Mississippi as they deal with the hurricane’s aftermath.
The people of Wisconsin can help, too.
The human toll of Hurricane Katrina is staggering, and as the days unfold, the situation in the Gulf States continues to worsen. So many have lost so much, and they are in desperate need of our material, financial, and spiritual support. This is one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, and the people of Louisiana and Mississippi will need our help as they work to rebuild their homes and their lives over the coming months and even years.
America is at its best when we realize we are one community. Now is the time for all Americans to band together and volunteer their time and resources to local and national relief efforts.
The best and quickest way you can help is by donating money. Cash donations will help provide clean water, food, and shelter for disaster victims.
The American Red Cross is a great place to start: www.redcross.org.
To find out other ways you can help, visit the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s website at www.wisdems.org for a list of charitable organizations and agencies assisting hurricane victims.
We are still learning the full extent of the devastation, but this is no time to wait. Please do something now to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, and we will continue to do everything we can to help our fellow Americans recover from this tragedy.
Sincerely,
Governor Jim Doyle
9.01.2005
Did the New Orleans disaster need to be as bad as it was?
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps 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. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09012005.html
How New Orleans was Lost
Chalk up the city of New Orleans as a cost of Bush's Iraq war.
There were not enough helicopters to repair the breeched levees and rescue people trapped by rising water. Nor are there enough Louisiana National Guards available to help with rescue efforts and to patrol against looting.
The situation is the same in Mississippi.
The National Guard and helicopters are off on a fools mission in Iraq.
The National Guard is in Iraq because fanatical neoconsevatives in the Bush administration were determined to invade the Middle East and because the incompetent Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refused to listen to the generals, who told him there were not enough regular troops available to do the job.
After the invasion, the arrogant Rumsfeld found out that the generals were right. The National Guard was called up to fill in the gaping gaps.
Now the Guardsmen, trapped in the Iraqi quagmire, are watching on TV the families they left behind trapped by rising waters and wondering if the floating bodies are family members. None know where their dislocated families are, but, shades of Fallujah, they do see their destroyed homes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1560351,00.html
Why city's defences were down
Cuts in spending to raise levees blamed on cost of war in Iraq
The Louisiana coastline may have been so badly damaged by the hurricane because manmade engineering of the delta has led to erosion of natural defences, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The engineering of the last 100 years that has reworked the Mississippi delta with thousands of miles of levees and flood barriers to protect communities and aid navigation, has also disturbed natural barriers which traditionally prevented storm surges and protected against hurricanes, says the society.
"Human activity, directly or indirectly, has caused 1,500 square miles of natural coastal barriers to be eroded in the past 50 years. Human activity has clearly been a significant factor in coastal Louisiana land losses, along with subsidence, saltwater intrusion, storm events, barrier island degradation, and relative sea level changes," the society said in a paper last year.
The damage done this time may be also linked to White House cuts in funding for hurricane defence to pay for homeland security terrorist defences.
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps 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. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09012005.html
How New Orleans was Lost
Chalk up the city of New Orleans as a cost of Bush's Iraq war.
There were not enough helicopters to repair the breeched levees and rescue people trapped by rising water. Nor are there enough Louisiana National Guards available to help with rescue efforts and to patrol against looting.
The situation is the same in Mississippi.
The National Guard and helicopters are off on a fools mission in Iraq.
The National Guard is in Iraq because fanatical neoconsevatives in the Bush administration were determined to invade the Middle East and because the incompetent Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refused to listen to the generals, who told him there were not enough regular troops available to do the job.
After the invasion, the arrogant Rumsfeld found out that the generals were right. The National Guard was called up to fill in the gaping gaps.
Now the Guardsmen, trapped in the Iraqi quagmire, are watching on TV the families they left behind trapped by rising waters and wondering if the floating bodies are family members. None know where their dislocated families are, but, shades of Fallujah, they do see their destroyed homes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1560351,00.html
Why city's defences were down
Cuts in spending to raise levees blamed on cost of war in Iraq
The Louisiana coastline may have been so badly damaged by the hurricane because manmade engineering of the delta has led to erosion of natural defences, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The engineering of the last 100 years that has reworked the Mississippi delta with thousands of miles of levees and flood barriers to protect communities and aid navigation, has also disturbed natural barriers which traditionally prevented storm surges and protected against hurricanes, says the society.
"Human activity, directly or indirectly, has caused 1,500 square miles of natural coastal barriers to be eroded in the past 50 years. Human activity has clearly been a significant factor in coastal Louisiana land losses, along with subsidence, saltwater intrusion, storm events, barrier island degradation, and relative sea level changes," the society said in a paper last year.
The damage done this time may be also linked to White House cuts in funding for hurricane defence to pay for homeland security terrorist defences.
Who wants to bet...
...that Bush says the disaster in New Orleans is a reason we will need tax cuts?
Just a prediction.
Just a prediction.
Look Who Wants to Help...
Aid offers pour in from around the globe
Rice: U.S. will accept assistance that ‘can help alleviate the suffering’
Venezuela, a target of frequent criticism by the Bush administration, offered humanitarian aid and fuel. Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a $1 million donation for hurricane aid.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9161198/
What's Rev. Pat putting in?
Rice: U.S. will accept assistance that ‘can help alleviate the suffering’
Venezuela, a target of frequent criticism by the Bush administration, offered humanitarian aid and fuel. Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a $1 million donation for hurricane aid.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9161198/
What's Rev. Pat putting in?
God Destroyed New Orleans?
Personally, I think this is sick & opportunitic:
HURRICANE KATRINA DESTROYS NEW ORLEANSDAYS BEFORE "SOUTHERN DECADENCE"
PHILADELPHIA - Just days before "Southern Decadence", an annual homosexual celebration attracting tens of thousands of people to the French Quarters section of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina destroys the city.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge," he continued.
New Orleans is also known for its Mardi Gras parties where thousands of drunken men revel in the streets to exchange plastic jewelry for drunken women to expose their breasts. This annual event sparked the creation of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series.
"We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said. "May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
"[God] sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)
http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html
HURRICANE KATRINA DESTROYS NEW ORLEANSDAYS BEFORE "SOUTHERN DECADENCE"
PHILADELPHIA - Just days before "Southern Decadence", an annual homosexual celebration attracting tens of thousands of people to the French Quarters section of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina destroys the city.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge," he continued.
New Orleans is also known for its Mardi Gras parties where thousands of drunken men revel in the streets to exchange plastic jewelry for drunken women to expose their breasts. This annual event sparked the creation of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series.
"We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said. "May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
"[God] sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)
http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html
Draft Jenna First!
That was a sign I made for a demonstration a few years back - it looks like others are picking up on the idea:
Questioning Bush's Sacrifice for a 'Noble Cause'
This week, the liberal Web site buzzflash.com noted in an unsigned editorial that "not one -- not one -- of any of Bush's children or his nieces and nephews have volunteered for service in any branch of the military or volunteered to serve in any capacity in Iraq. Not one of them has felt the cause was noble enough to put his or her life on the line."
Publicity stunt or not, it does raise a question. If the sacrifice is so noble, has the president urged his own children, or enlistment-age nieces and nephews - of which there are eight - to join the military and fight in Iraq?
I called the White House to pose this question and was somewhat surprised to learn that none of the supposed liberal baddies in the White House press corps had ever asked the president or any of his spokespersons that question.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino couldn't find that this question had ever been asked. She said she'd have to check and call back. And she did later Tuesday afternoon with this prepared statement: "There are many ways for people to serve their country and to help make the world a better freer and more peaceful place. The president is grateful to all of those who have answered the call to service whether it's in the military or in another capacity and members of his family have done both."
This is a newer version of the old chickenhawk argument - that is, that the administration is filled with hawks who avoided military service themselves. The current argument focuses on the question of whether children of today's Iraq war supporters are urging their children to fight in a war they deem noble.
"It's pretty simple, really. The military doesn't have enough soldiers; the president believes that this is a good and just war; he has two daughters who could enlist in the military, but haven't. These things don't add up.
"So here's a question I think a White House reporter should ask the president: President Bush, if your own two daughters won't enlist, how can you expect anyone else's children to join the military?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090100786.html
Questioning Bush's Sacrifice for a 'Noble Cause'
This week, the liberal Web site buzzflash.com noted in an unsigned editorial that "not one -- not one -- of any of Bush's children or his nieces and nephews have volunteered for service in any branch of the military or volunteered to serve in any capacity in Iraq. Not one of them has felt the cause was noble enough to put his or her life on the line."
Publicity stunt or not, it does raise a question. If the sacrifice is so noble, has the president urged his own children, or enlistment-age nieces and nephews - of which there are eight - to join the military and fight in Iraq?
I called the White House to pose this question and was somewhat surprised to learn that none of the supposed liberal baddies in the White House press corps had ever asked the president or any of his spokespersons that question.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino couldn't find that this question had ever been asked. She said she'd have to check and call back. And she did later Tuesday afternoon with this prepared statement: "There are many ways for people to serve their country and to help make the world a better freer and more peaceful place. The president is grateful to all of those who have answered the call to service whether it's in the military or in another capacity and members of his family have done both."
This is a newer version of the old chickenhawk argument - that is, that the administration is filled with hawks who avoided military service themselves. The current argument focuses on the question of whether children of today's Iraq war supporters are urging their children to fight in a war they deem noble.
"It's pretty simple, really. The military doesn't have enough soldiers; the president believes that this is a good and just war; he has two daughters who could enlist in the military, but haven't. These things don't add up.
"So here's a question I think a White House reporter should ask the president: President Bush, if your own two daughters won't enlist, how can you expect anyone else's children to join the military?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090100786.html
Fiddling While Rome Burns for Our Times...
From AMERICAblog:
BREAKING: Sec of State Condi Rice caught buying several-thousand-dollar pair of shoes in NYC moments ago, spends last night at Broadway show!
According to Drudge, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment. And Page Six reports that she’s also working on her backhand with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York.
We wish we were surprised.What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are a true American.
For anyone who still doesn't get it, let's talk for a moment about why this story matters.
The president, finally, has decided that the hurricane is a problem. He claims yesterday at 5pm, finally, that he's going to be devoting his entire administration to saving the lives of the people currently dying in this growing national disaster. And what does a top member of his cabinet do? She goes to a Broadway comedy and today is buying multi-thousand-dollar shoes on 5th Avenue at the same time CNN is showing dead grandmothers in wheelchairs abandoned on the streets of New Orleans.
This is more than just a cheap shot at Condi. What in the blazes is this woman doing at a Broadway show in the middle of a national emergency? This is akin to going to a Broadway show in the middle of September 11. Don't we expect the Secretary of State to work past 5pm on a day an entire American city is being wiped off the face of the planet? And shouldn't she be doing something else today than shopping at filthy rich stores on 5th Avenue? Could she be - oh, I don't know - working with foreign leaders, like the Mexicans, to see what immediate assistance they can offer to the neighbor?New Orleans is ceasing to exist. What in God's name is Bush doing letting his secretary of state go on vacation in the middle of this?Message: "I don't care."
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/breaking-sec-of-state-condi-rice.html
BREAKING: Sec of State Condi Rice caught buying several-thousand-dollar pair of shoes in NYC moments ago, spends last night at Broadway show!
According to Drudge, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment. And Page Six reports that she’s also working on her backhand with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York.
We wish we were surprised.What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are a true American.
For anyone who still doesn't get it, let's talk for a moment about why this story matters.
The president, finally, has decided that the hurricane is a problem. He claims yesterday at 5pm, finally, that he's going to be devoting his entire administration to saving the lives of the people currently dying in this growing national disaster. And what does a top member of his cabinet do? She goes to a Broadway comedy and today is buying multi-thousand-dollar shoes on 5th Avenue at the same time CNN is showing dead grandmothers in wheelchairs abandoned on the streets of New Orleans.
This is more than just a cheap shot at Condi. What in the blazes is this woman doing at a Broadway show in the middle of a national emergency? This is akin to going to a Broadway show in the middle of September 11. Don't we expect the Secretary of State to work past 5pm on a day an entire American city is being wiped off the face of the planet? And shouldn't she be doing something else today than shopping at filthy rich stores on 5th Avenue? Could she be - oh, I don't know - working with foreign leaders, like the Mexicans, to see what immediate assistance they can offer to the neighbor?New Orleans is ceasing to exist. What in God's name is Bush doing letting his secretary of state go on vacation in the middle of this?Message: "I don't care."
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/breaking-sec-of-state-condi-rice.html
Cell Phone Troubles in New Orleans
I used to sell cell phones, so I found this interesting
Katrina outages reveal phone system quirks
Some cell users can make calls, but not receive them
The storm also revealed some quirks of how the telephone system works: Some Gulf Coast residents who had fled far away before the storm hit were finding that their cell phones could make calls but not receive them.
The problem affected only those whose cell phone numbers came with area codes from the affected region such as 504 for New Orleans.
Gary Morgenstern has been unable to dial the cell phones of his daughter or her boyfriend, both students at Tulane University, since Monday even though they evacuated from New Orleans late Saturday and have been driving west through Texas and Arizona.
As a result, Morgenstern’s been sending text messages to her phone when he wants her to call so he can find out how they’re doing.
“My daughter could be sitting next to me in New Jersey and I could be having the same problem,” said Morgenstern, a public relations executive for AT&T Corp., noting that his daughter and boyfriend have different national providers.
Wireless industry experts said the problem revolves around basic network architecture.Usually, when cell users take their phones outside their local area code, the wireless network checks back with a network computer in the home market to verify account information and let the service provider know where to route calls.
With communications to the home switch in New Orleans and nearby area codes cut off by the storm, cellular operators quickly made arrangements on their networks and with one another to automatically connect any calls dialed from one of those phones.
Incoming calls, however, can present a problem because the phone network can’t determine where to route those calls without first checking in with the New Orleans switch to find out where the cell user is located.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120503/
Katrina outages reveal phone system quirks
Some cell users can make calls, but not receive them
The storm also revealed some quirks of how the telephone system works: Some Gulf Coast residents who had fled far away before the storm hit were finding that their cell phones could make calls but not receive them.
The problem affected only those whose cell phone numbers came with area codes from the affected region such as 504 for New Orleans.
Gary Morgenstern has been unable to dial the cell phones of his daughter or her boyfriend, both students at Tulane University, since Monday even though they evacuated from New Orleans late Saturday and have been driving west through Texas and Arizona.
As a result, Morgenstern’s been sending text messages to her phone when he wants her to call so he can find out how they’re doing.
“My daughter could be sitting next to me in New Jersey and I could be having the same problem,” said Morgenstern, a public relations executive for AT&T Corp., noting that his daughter and boyfriend have different national providers.
Wireless industry experts said the problem revolves around basic network architecture.Usually, when cell users take their phones outside their local area code, the wireless network checks back with a network computer in the home market to verify account information and let the service provider know where to route calls.
With communications to the home switch in New Orleans and nearby area codes cut off by the storm, cellular operators quickly made arrangements on their networks and with one another to automatically connect any calls dialed from one of those phones.
Incoming calls, however, can present a problem because the phone network can’t determine where to route those calls without first checking in with the New Orleans switch to find out where the cell user is located.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120503/
8.30.2005
A Must Read...
The Vietnamization of Bush's Vacation
By FRANK RICH
ANOTHER week in Iraq, another light at the end of the tunnel. On Monday President Bush saluted the Iraqis for "completing work on a democratic constitution" even as the process was breaking down yet again. But was anyone even listening to his latest premature celebration?
..two conservative Republicans - actually talking about Iraq instead of Ms. Sheehan, unlike the rest of their breed - stepped up to fill this enormous vacuum: Chuck Hagel and Henry Kissinger. Both pointedly invoked Vietnam, the war that forged their political careers. Their timing, like Ms. Sheehan's, was impeccable. Last week Mr. Bush started saying that the best way to honor the dead would be to "finish the task they gave their lives for" - a dangerous rationale that, as David Halberstam points out, was heard as early as 1963 in Vietnam, when American casualties in that fiasco were still inching toward 100.
..As the retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey reported to the Senate, the National Guard is "in the stage of meltdown and in 24 months we'll be coming apart." At the Army, according to The Los Angeles Times, officials are now predicting an even worse shortfall of recruits in 2006 than in 2005. The Leo Burnett advertising agency has been handed $350 million for a recruitment campaign that avoids any mention of Iraq.
..IN the new pitch there are no mushroom clouds. Instead we get McCarthyesque rhetoric accusing critics of being soft on the war on terrorism, which the Iraq adventure has itself undermined. Before anyone dare say Vietnam, the president, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld drag in the historian David McCullough and liken 2005 in Iraq to 1776 in America - and, by implication, the original George W. to ours. Before you know it, Ahmad Chalabi will be rehabilitated as Ben Franklin.
..Among Washington's Democrats, the only one with a clue seems to be Russell Feingold, the Wisconsin senator who this month proposed setting a "target date" (as opposed to a deadline) for getting out. Mr. Feingold also made the crucial observation that "the president has presented us with a false choice": either "stay the course" or "cut and run." That false choice, in which Mr. Bush pretends that the only alternative to his reckless conduct of the war is Ms. Sheehan's equally apocalyptic retreat, is used to snuff out any legitimate debate. There are in fact plenty of other choices echoing about, from variations on Mr. Feingold's timetable theme to buying off the Sunni insurgents.
The marketing campaign will crescendo in two weeks, on the anniversary of 9/11, when a Defense Department "Freedom Walk" will trek from the site of the Pentagon attack through Arlington National Cemetery to a country music concert on the Mall. There the false linkage of Iraq to 9/11 will be hammered in once more, this time with a beat: Clint Black will sing "I Raq and Roll," a ditty whose lyrics focus on Saddam, not the Islamic radicals who actually attacked America. Lest any propaganda opportunity be missed, Arlington's gravestones are being branded with the Pentagon's slogans for military campaigns, like Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Associated Press reported last week - a historic first. If only the administration had thought of doing the same on the fallen's coffins, it might have allowed photographs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/opinion/28rich.html
By FRANK RICH
ANOTHER week in Iraq, another light at the end of the tunnel. On Monday President Bush saluted the Iraqis for "completing work on a democratic constitution" even as the process was breaking down yet again. But was anyone even listening to his latest premature celebration?
..two conservative Republicans - actually talking about Iraq instead of Ms. Sheehan, unlike the rest of their breed - stepped up to fill this enormous vacuum: Chuck Hagel and Henry Kissinger. Both pointedly invoked Vietnam, the war that forged their political careers. Their timing, like Ms. Sheehan's, was impeccable. Last week Mr. Bush started saying that the best way to honor the dead would be to "finish the task they gave their lives for" - a dangerous rationale that, as David Halberstam points out, was heard as early as 1963 in Vietnam, when American casualties in that fiasco were still inching toward 100.
..As the retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey reported to the Senate, the National Guard is "in the stage of meltdown and in 24 months we'll be coming apart." At the Army, according to The Los Angeles Times, officials are now predicting an even worse shortfall of recruits in 2006 than in 2005. The Leo Burnett advertising agency has been handed $350 million for a recruitment campaign that avoids any mention of Iraq.
..IN the new pitch there are no mushroom clouds. Instead we get McCarthyesque rhetoric accusing critics of being soft on the war on terrorism, which the Iraq adventure has itself undermined. Before anyone dare say Vietnam, the president, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld drag in the historian David McCullough and liken 2005 in Iraq to 1776 in America - and, by implication, the original George W. to ours. Before you know it, Ahmad Chalabi will be rehabilitated as Ben Franklin.
..Among Washington's Democrats, the only one with a clue seems to be Russell Feingold, the Wisconsin senator who this month proposed setting a "target date" (as opposed to a deadline) for getting out. Mr. Feingold also made the crucial observation that "the president has presented us with a false choice": either "stay the course" or "cut and run." That false choice, in which Mr. Bush pretends that the only alternative to his reckless conduct of the war is Ms. Sheehan's equally apocalyptic retreat, is used to snuff out any legitimate debate. There are in fact plenty of other choices echoing about, from variations on Mr. Feingold's timetable theme to buying off the Sunni insurgents.
The marketing campaign will crescendo in two weeks, on the anniversary of 9/11, when a Defense Department "Freedom Walk" will trek from the site of the Pentagon attack through Arlington National Cemetery to a country music concert on the Mall. There the false linkage of Iraq to 9/11 will be hammered in once more, this time with a beat: Clint Black will sing "I Raq and Roll," a ditty whose lyrics focus on Saddam, not the Islamic radicals who actually attacked America. Lest any propaganda opportunity be missed, Arlington's gravestones are being branded with the Pentagon's slogans for military campaigns, like Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Associated Press reported last week - a historic first. If only the administration had thought of doing the same on the fallen's coffins, it might have allowed photographs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/opinion/28rich.html
Where is the Louisiana National Gueard?
Louisiana National Guard troops watch Katrina from Iraq
More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Brigade serving in Iraq can only watch from Baghdad as Hurricane Katrina bears down on their families and homes in New Orleans and the other south Louisiana communities from which they hail. The deployed soldiers and their equipment, which includes high water vehicles, Humvees and generators, will be sorely missed as Louisiana attempts to prepare for and recover from the historic Category Five storm.
http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1093
We need our units here, not in Iraq.
More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Brigade serving in Iraq can only watch from Baghdad as Hurricane Katrina bears down on their families and homes in New Orleans and the other south Louisiana communities from which they hail. The deployed soldiers and their equipment, which includes high water vehicles, Humvees and generators, will be sorely missed as Louisiana attempts to prepare for and recover from the historic Category Five storm.
http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1093
We need our units here, not in Iraq.
8.26.2005
Today in History...
On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was declared in effect.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050826.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050826.html
8.25.2005
8.24.2005
Cut Schools for Oil Profits...
It's time to play compare headlines:
High Gas Prices Draining Schools
Sky high gas prices has school districts paying through the hose. And that's taking money ear-marked for kid's education.The Appleton School District had to spend an extra 200-thousand dollars on diesel fuel for its bus fleet this year.
They'd rather have spent the money hiring four teachers than at the Lamers Bus Yard in Menasha. School officials say they anticipated gas prices would soar.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9056150/
Compared to this:
Oil industry awash in record levels of cash
But a smaller portion of profits is going to find new oil discoveries
When major oil companies report their quarterly profits next week, they're once again expected to post record numbers. With crude trading around $60 a barrel, the oil industry is enjoying one of the biggest windfalls in its history. But as the industry looks for places to put that cash, it's finding it harder and harder to put funds to work finding new deposits of oil and natural gas.
By just about any measure, the past three years have produced one of the biggest cash gushers in the oil industry’s history. Since January of 2002, the price of crude has tripled, leaving oil producers awash in profits. During that period, the top 10 major public oil companies have sold some $1.5 trillion worth of crude, pocketing profits of more than $125 billion.
“This is the mother of all booms,” said Oppenheimer & Co. oil analyst Fadel Gheit. “They have so much profit, it’s almost an embarrassment of riches. They don’t know what to do with it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8646744/
So, Appleton will cut 4 teachers while big oil has no idea what to spend it's money on.
Maybe they'd like to hire some teachers.
High Gas Prices Draining Schools
Sky high gas prices has school districts paying through the hose. And that's taking money ear-marked for kid's education.The Appleton School District had to spend an extra 200-thousand dollars on diesel fuel for its bus fleet this year.
They'd rather have spent the money hiring four teachers than at the Lamers Bus Yard in Menasha. School officials say they anticipated gas prices would soar.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9056150/
Compared to this:
Oil industry awash in record levels of cash
But a smaller portion of profits is going to find new oil discoveries
When major oil companies report their quarterly profits next week, they're once again expected to post record numbers. With crude trading around $60 a barrel, the oil industry is enjoying one of the biggest windfalls in its history. But as the industry looks for places to put that cash, it's finding it harder and harder to put funds to work finding new deposits of oil and natural gas.
By just about any measure, the past three years have produced one of the biggest cash gushers in the oil industry’s history. Since January of 2002, the price of crude has tripled, leaving oil producers awash in profits. During that period, the top 10 major public oil companies have sold some $1.5 trillion worth of crude, pocketing profits of more than $125 billion.
“This is the mother of all booms,” said Oppenheimer & Co. oil analyst Fadel Gheit. “They have so much profit, it’s almost an embarrassment of riches. They don’t know what to do with it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8646744/
So, Appleton will cut 4 teachers while big oil has no idea what to spend it's money on.
Maybe they'd like to hire some teachers.
8.23.2005
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