Asheville, NC: 60 out of 100 gas stations empty

Welcome to the Thunderdome. George Bush has now made America a third world country. Read More......

Anderson Cooper rips, rips, rips Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for being a pro-Bush shill

It really is amazing how much Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu has turned into a member of the Washington political borg. Even her voice - listen to the way she says "Anderson" over and over again - is so disingenuous.

If she were my senator, man she would be toast right now. If it were my family and friends dying in New Orleans right now, Mary Landrieu would hear a few things about her repeated "thanks" for all the "hard work" President Bush has done working on the hurricane over the past, oh, has it been a whole day yet that he's finally back from his vacation?

Anderson sounds like he's about to cry, and hit her at the same time. She is such a borg. Were she my senator I'd want her raising hell to get our president off his ass. Good God she's thanking Bush again, telling Anderson she understands the death and destruction he's witnessed all week, the rats eating people's bodies (his words). No, Mary, you don't understand. George Bush just finished his vacation yesterday and you're thanking him, repeatedly, on every show you're on? Who's senator are you? Who's party are you? If Mary Landrieu thinks this is government at its best, Louisiana seriously needs a new senator.

Mary Landrieu. Another disgusting excuse for a democrat.

Read the transcript here.

And watch the video here. Read More......

Primetime Live: Dull, Dull, Dull

I miss Peter Jennings. The only interest so far: they began with a quick interview with Sen. Mary Landrieu who may be tweaking her message. This time she emphasized that everyone in charge at the federal level needs to get help there as fast as possible. Well, that's an improvement, though she finished by thanking Bush. Again.

ADD: A little better now with a segment on race -- such as two wire service photos showing people taking food from a grocery store. One w black people was labeled as "looters" while the one with white people was labeled "people who found bread and water." Yes, blaming people for not evacuating is idiotic -- poor people who don't have cars, can't afford hotel rooms and can't charter a bus like some hotel guests did. How can the gov't be helpless in evacuating people? Why didn't they declare Friday a school holiday in the South and get every school bus headed to these cities to get people out? Why isn't Greyhound and Peter Pan etc donating services for a few days...rather than allowing people to rent buses for $2500 for a private charter as people have described on TV today? Read More......

Open Thread

And even milquetoast conservative David Brooks sees the political and social faultlines here: "But take a close look at the people you see wandering, devastated, around New Orleans: they are predominantly black and poor. The political disturbances are still to come." Read More......

REUTERS: Agency documents show Bush funding cuts helped cause New Orleans disaster

Bush is toast. This is his disaster, he owns it.

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.

Read More......

Bush's Final Exam: Will He Flunk?

The New York Times makes clear this is Bush's biggest test since 9-11, one that in many ways is more complicated. (No countries to invade, at least as far as we know.) One very annoying passage:

It is reminiscent of how Mr. Bush has argued that progress is being made in Iraq. But as the administration has learned in Iraq, the imagery of violent chaos, repeated over and over, can undercut even the most frequently cited statistics. And so Mr. Bush's biggest risk may be an inability to control circumstances that are beyond his ability to shape from Washington.

This is wrong on about eight different levels. It implies Bush's progress in Iraq is undercut by "the imagery of violent chaos." No, Bush's refusal to FACE FACTS in Iraq is undercut by the daily news of worsening conditions, increasing deaths, a stronger insurgency and no FACTS to back up Bush's claim that things were peachy.

Bush's risk in dealing with Hurrican Katrina is NOT "an inability to control circumstances that are beyond his ability to shape...." No one is holding Bush accountable for the storm striking land. Bush is accountable for what he CAN control -- his indifference and politics-as-usual attitude even AFTER the storm had struck; Bush's refusal to cut his vacation short until the last moment -- and spending ANOTHER night in Crawford rather than going straight to DC while the waters were rising and people were dying; the slashing of funds devoted to shoring up the levees; the reduced level of National Guard available; the possible lack of amphibious vehicles because they've been sent to Iraq; the sluggish response; the incompetent lack of coordination that MUST come from the federal government and on and on. The facts about all these issues will become clear as soon as the MSM starts demanding the relevant details.

All of these factors are under Bush's control and he can and should be held accountable for how he performs. Listing blocks of ice and a few generators on their way won't make people ignore the facts staring them in the face.

This is Bush's final exam. So far, he gets an "F." Read More......

Paula Zahn is about to kill the head of FEMA

FEMA Director Mike Brown talks to Paula Zahn moments ago:

Paula Zahn: How can it be that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of victims have not received any food and water more than 100 hours after Katrina hit.

FEMA's Mike Brown: Paula, I think it's so important for the American public to understand exactly how catastrophic this disaster is. I think we have a major American city, a major urban area, that has been totally demolished. And what we're finding is, is that as we continue to do the evacuation and get people out, people who have completely lost everything, they have no place to go, they have nothing, that we're finding other people who are literally coming out of second stories of homes, there are some even appearing on bridges that are not underwater, that people who were unable or chose not to evacuate are suddenly appearing. And so this catastrphic disaster continues to grow.

I will tell you this though, every person in that convention center, we just learned about that today. And so I had directed that we have all available resources to get to that convention center to make certain that they have the food and water, the medical care they need...

A clearly pissed Paula Zahn: Sir, you're not telling me, you're not telling me you just learned that the folks at the convention center didn't have food and water until today did you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?

FEMA's Brown: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today. We have been doing the evacuations from the superdome for several days, we're taking people out from the superdome to Houston and San Antonio. The people from the superdome have been fed [JOHN'S NOTE: THAT'S TRUE?].... Read More......

FEMA telling public to give donations to Pat Robertson's organization

Well, guess Pat Robertson is a bit closer to the Bush administration than they're willing to admit publicly. Calling for the assassination of a foreign leader doesn't make him persona non grata, calling for the State Dept to be nuked doesn't make him a pariah, agreeing that gays and liberals caused Sept 11 didn't make him off limits either.

Pat Roberton's Operation Blessing is number 3 on Bush's list for who to give your cash to.

Nice. Read More......

CNN's Jack Cafferty blasts Bush bad, this is a must-see

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars got the video too, yeah, they have more bandwidth! See it here.

He's pissed.

The quality of the video is intentionally bad - I wanted to keep the size under a meg.

Watch the video here, WMV format (sorry)

Text of the commentary, from Crooks and Liars:

Jack Cafferty on CNN

The thing that's most glaring in all of this is that the conditions continue to deteriorate for people who are victims and the efforts to do something about it don't seem to be anywhere in sight. [...]

The questions that we ask in The Situation Room every day are posted on the website two or three hours before we go on the air and people who read the website often begin to respond to the questions before the show actually starts. The question for this hour is whether the government is doing a good job in handling the situation.

I gotta tell you something, we got five or six hundred letters before the show actually went on the air, and no one - no one - is saying the government is doing a! good job in handling one of the most atrocious and embarrassing and far-reaching and calamatous things that has come along in this country in my lifetime. I'm 62. I remember the riots in Watts, I remember the earthquake in San Francisco, I remember a lot of things. I have never, ever, seen anything as bungled and as poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people?

Why can't sandwiches be dropped to those people in the Superdome. What is going on? This is Thursday! This storm happened 5 days ago. This is a disgrace. And don't think the world isn't watching. This is the government that the taxpayers are paying for, and it's fallen right flat on its face as far as I can see, in the way it's handled this thing.

We're going to talk about something else before the show's over, too. And that's the big elephant in the room. The race and economic class of most of the victims, which the media hasn't discussed much at all, but we will a bit later.

Read More......

Is This Disaster Natural Or Man-Made?

The Independent in UK juxtaposes the tragedy in Iraq and the devastation in the Gulf states and uses the headlines "In Iraq, a Man-Made Disaster" and "In America, a natural Disaster."

Certainly the hurricane is natural. But the plans to prepare for this hurricane, the indifference to the death and destruction by Bush even AFTER the hurricane struck and the incompetence in reacting to it are all man-made. The Guardian in the UK gets it and spells it out with "Why City's Defences Were Down."

It points out that the American Society of Civil Engineers made clear how vulnerable New Orleans was because of man-made engineering, the possible diversion of funds to shore up the levees towards Iraq and the indifference of Bush towards poor people. Most significantly, Bush has had FOUR YEARS to try and develop plans for evacuating cities -- plans that HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR since 9-11 changed everything and the possibility of a terrorist attack meant evacuating a city was now a distinct possibility the president must plan for. Whether it's a dirty bomb, some other chemical attack or a natural disaster, Bush had to be prepared to evacuate a major American city. Clearly he has failed miserably. If this were a terrorist attack, the anger over his incompetence would be ten-fold. It still should be.

Lloyd Dumas, professor of political economy and economics at the University of Texas at Dallas, criticised the government's failure to oversee a more efficient evacuation. "It's remarkable that with the massive restructuring of the federal government that took place with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, they don't have more well thought-out plans to evacuate a city like New Orleans," he said....

Professor Dumas added that not enough provision seemed to have been made for poor people. "There doesn't seem to have been much attention paid to people who didn't have private automobiles," he said. "I didn't hear anything about school buses or city buses being used to aim people out of town...."

In fact, Greyhound buses stopped running on SATURDAY, according to one report. I've heard NO reports of school buses or other public transportation being made available. So poor people who wanted to get out were trapped.

The war in Iraq was also being seen as playing a part in the federal response to the crisis. Many members of the National Guard who would normally have been swiftly mobilised to help in evacuation are on duty in Iraq. Although US air force, navy and army units were deployed to assist, the locally-based National Guard is depleted by the demands of the war.

So the hurricane is natural. But the preparations for it and the sluggish, confused response afterwards is purely man-made and the buck stops with Bush. What were Bush's priorities?

The corps has long wanted to strengthen some of the levees which have been sinking, and on its website yesterday said it planned to build a further 74 miles of hurricane defences. But according to local media, it was last year refused extra funding by the White House which wanted to save money to pay for homeland security against terrorism. "In its budget, the Bush administration proposed a significant reduction in funding for south-east Louisiana's chief hurricane protection project. Bush proposed $10.4m, a sixth of what local officials say they need," reported Newhouse News Service yesterday.

I hope that record-breaking vacation -- which continued AFTER this horrific disaster had struck -- was worth it for Bush. America paid a heavy price for it. Read More......

New Bush admin talking point: New Orleans residents deserved it

FEMA director Michael Brown just added this little line to his interview on CNN right now, refering to who FEMA is trying to hel in New Orleans:

"...to help those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city..."

How is it relevant to talk about the fact that the people who are stranded "chose" not to evacuate? Not to mention, there are lots of folks who couldn't evacuate because they were too poor, too infirm, or simply had no transportation. But even if they chose to remain with their homes, why is the head of FEMA pointing this out? Sounds to me like we're hearing a new Bush admin talking point. It's subtle, but it's clear - the people dying in New Orleans are to blame for their own predicament. Read More......

New Orleans: Anarchy

CNN reporter just compared reporting in New Orleans to reporting in Iraq. It's that dangerous.

AP describes the scene:

Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said.

Meanwhile, Condi's playing tennis, Cabinet secretaries are trying to get their staffs to attend the war parade, the RNC is working on tax cuts and the President, who knows what he's doing. Read More......

Open Thread

So jarring to hear Americans referred to as "refugees" Read More......

Is it possible for Bush to wipe the smile off of his face?

It was bad enough that Bush seemed so coached for the photo op by the window on AF1 yesterday, with his clenched fists, but what the hell is the matter with the guy when he smiles while talking about the Katrina disaster? I just saw the ABC interview and couldn't believe that the guy could sit there once again with his smug face and smile as he talked with Diane Sawyer. What's so funny about your failure to help the suffering people of New Orleans? What the hell is the matter with this guy? I know that your oil pals are raking in the bucks once again but c'mon. People are dying, George. What's so funny? Read More......

Is GOP using the hurricane to promote the repeal of the inheritance tax?

Click the image below to see a legible blow up of the email Ken Mehlman just sent out on behalf of the Republican party.



RNC chair Ken Mehlman literally just sent out a mass email urging the elimination of, as he called it, "the death tax." Gee, just a coincidence that in the middle of the one of the greatest disasters in American history the head of the Republican party is focusing on a partisan political agenda dealing with tax cuts?

Here's an idea, Ken. If you're concerned about people paying a tax when they die then call your president and tell him to stop dicking around and do something about the people dying all across the south while you lobby for tax cuts. Read More......

US refuses Jamaica's offer to help with disaster

Why?

Bush has also refused a specific offer of help from Canada, with specific equipment we apparently need. Because Condi has matters under control while she's currently on vacation in NYC buying $3000 Prada shoes on Fifth Avenue today (true story, see below)?

WITH each passing hour, news of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina grows more horrific, but the US embassy in Kingston said the world's most powerful nation was not now accepting help from outside, even as the offers mount....

The US acknowledges the crisis as its "worst natural disaster" in its history.

The United Nations went further to characterise it as one of the worst disasters internationally, outstripping even the damage caused by the December 26 Asian tsunami which killed 180,000.

While the destruction from the tsunami was estimated at about US$10 billion (euro8.2 billion), insurance experts estimate that Katrina will result in up to US$25 billion (euro20.5 billion) in insured losses....

Jamaica was among the nations offering what help they could. But the Kingston embassy, while stating its appreciation for the support, politely declined the offers, saying in a statement: "The United States Government is not yet requesting international assistance at this time."

Read More......

Rebuilding New Orleans "doesn't make sense" to Hastert

Kick em when they are down. Just what they need to hear from the Speaker of the House:

Lawmakers have to ask themselves if it’s worth sinking possibly billions of federal dollars into rebuilding New Orleans, a low-lying city which would remain a vulnerable hurricane target even after clean up, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Wednesday.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Hastert during an interview with the Daily Herald editorial board. “And it’s a question that certainly we should ask.”

Is he speaking for the entire GOP? Read More......

US Dept of Commerce now pressuring employees as well to attend Bush Sept 11 party on the mall

A message going around the Commerce Dept TODAY, and posted on their Web site. Yeah, no pressure there, having the Secretary ask employees directly to attent and support "freedom," an event they have to REGISTER BY NAME FOR. Might have been nice to instead ask the employees to focus on what they could do personally to help the disaster. Read More......

Oh my God. Condi is STILL on vacation!

From today's NY Post:

SIGHTINGS: September 1, 2005 -- SECRETARY of State Condoleeza Rice, here on three days' vacation to shop and see the U.S. Open, hitting some balls with retired champ Monica Seles at the Indoor Tennis Club at Grand Central

Read More......

BREAKING: Sec of State Condi Rice caught buying several-thousand-dollar pair of shoes in NYC moments ago, spends last night at Broadway show!

Good God.

From Gawker, moments ago:

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." Read More......

White House: We have NOT requested international aid

UPDATE: Bush administration REFUSING to let Canada send emergency aid.

McClellan just told the press briefing that we have not requested international assistance.

Why not? Other nations don't have troops and aircraft and boats that can help us protect New Orleans and get people out of that death zone?

So now Bush's pride is going to risk the lives of even more Americans. Read More......

"I don't treat my dog like that"

From the AP

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

``I don't treat my dog like that,'' 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. ``I buried my dog.'' He added: ``You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can't get them down here.''

The White House is now refusing to respond to concerns about their having dropped the ball. "This is not the time for criticsm." Oh my, he just said this was about "people seeking partisan gain in Washington."

Really Scott? People are dying in New Orleans because your boss decided to stay on vacation until yesterday afternoon and because people are upset about that, and want your boss to finally be held responsible for his repeated lack of nerve, his propensity to run and hide every time a crisis hits, because people would like him to finally stop running and start doing his job, that makes us partisans.

Uh huh.

Wonder how the dead grandma in the wheelchair feels about the job you're doing? Read More......

Open thread

Watching Scotty's press briefing now. He's already said that the additional troops won't arrive for several days. Several days. Why weren't they pre-positioned? Oh yeah, because Bush was on vacation devoting those days to Medicare and WWII/Iraq. Read More......

BREAKING NEWS: FEMA suspends rescue operations in New Orleans

CNN just announced that New Orleans has now become so dangerous that FEMA is calling off its search and rescue operations in the city.

Jesus Christ.

Glad Bush decided TODAY to send those extra troops on the aircraft carrier that should arrive, oh, when? Read More......

While people are dying in NOLA, 3 minutes before Bush addresses the nation about Katrina, HHS urges employees to focus on Bush's 9/11 wargasm party

Why is Bush's Sept 11 wargasm party on the national mall still happening? You'll recall this is the big event Bush and the Pentagon are planning on September 11 in order to link Sept 11 to the Iraq war and to help Bush's falling approval ratings.

I mean, how crass can Bush be, he's still going to hold some massive party on the mall to focus the nation's attention on Iraq while people are literally dying in New Orleans?

This is the PENTAGON running this event in only 10 days, folks. How many Pentagon employees are going to be working on this party instead of helping save the dying people in New Orleans? How much Pentagon money and equipment is going to be spent on this propaganda party while people are dying in the south?

This is an email sent out by the US Department of Health and Human Services to its employees yesterday afternoon, only 3 minutes before Bush spoke to the nation about the hurricane. Those are some priorities the Bush administration has. While people are dying in New Orleans our top health agency is being told to devote its time and energy to a party.

From: Announcements to all U.S. DHHS Employees
[mailto:HHS-STAFF@LIST.NIH.GOV] On Behalf Of News, HHS (HHS/OS)
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 4:57 PM
To: HHS-STAFF@LIST.NIH.GOV
Subject: Commemoration of Patriot Day

In twelve days, we will commemorate Patriot Day, a day to remember the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a day to honor members of the Armed Forces currently serving at home and abroad, and a day to reiterate our commitment to the freedoms we enjoy. I will honor Patriot Day by participating in the Freedom Walk, a memorial event sponsored by the Department of Defense. I invite you as employees of the Department of Health and Human Services to join me.

The Freedom Walk begins at 10 a.m. in the Pentagon's south parking lot, winds two miles through Arlington National Cemetery and over the Potomac River, and ends at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall where country music star Clint Black will perform. The walk is free, but people must register by visiting www.AmercaSupportsYou.mil

September 11 marked a change in the way we view our world, our nation and ourselves. The betterment of ourselves and our country is our response. In whatever way you choose to commemorate the horrendous acts of early September four years ago, let us once again renew our gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy and reaffirm our commitment to tolerance, peace and liberty throughout the world.

Read More......

Surprise! 4 days AFTER the disaster the US military is finally sending help

What a surprise.

Now that it's 4 days after the disaster, Bush is only later today sending an aircraft carrier to the gulf. God knows how many days it will take to get there. Apparently he's also sending hospital ships and other boats that won't even leave for a few more days.

Do you get it? They JUST decided to send these boats TODAY. Why didn't they send them last week when we knew the storm was coming? Why didn't we send them on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday after we already knew New Orleans had been wiped off the map? (Answer: Because up until yesterday afternoon Bush was on vacation.) This was a storm we thought would be EVEN BIGGER and a storm that we thought would hit New Orleans even MORE head on, yet Bush only TODAY decided to send more boats and more troops?

The Vietnamization of New Orleans. A slow gradual response that in the end will ensure defeat. Read More......

Gov. Haley Barbour Just Lied On National TV

On CNN, Miles O'Brien questioned Gov. Haley Barbour about preparations for this devastating hurricane. And Haley Barbour flat out LIED on national tv. He said that we only had "a few hours" of warning before realizing Hurricane Katrina was going to be a category 4 or 5 storm. When it hit Florida, Barbour said, it was only a category 1. O'Brien tried to interrupt him and call Barbour on this outrageous lie (does Barbour think we haven't been watching TV for the past five days?) but Barbour shouted him down and acted as if inconvenient facts weren't going to stop him from wriggling his way out of responsibility.

The FACTS are that Hurrican Katrina made landfall in Florida on Thursday night. Here's a CNN report from Friday evening at 10 p.m. making perfectly clear that more than two days before striking the Gulf Coast, everyone knew this was threatening to be a tremendous disaster.

Gov. Barbour just lied on national TV about THE MOST BASIC FACTS of this disaster and he should be blasted by every local and national media outlet until he apologizes and admits either gross incompetence (and steps down) or that he flat out lied. Read More......

Several Atlanta, Wisconsin and Arizona stations already out of gas

Disaster.

"Out of Gas" signs and yellow caution tape were draped across pumps that were out of gas in parts of the United States early Thursday after many retailers were overrun by panicked motorists looking to top off their tanks as prices soared past $3 per gallon and reports of shortages spread.

Many gas stations in and around downtown Atlanta had run out of gas by sunrise. The same was reported in elsewhere, including parts of North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Arizona.

Read More......

Washington Post editorial outright lies about Bush's hurricane response

You know, it's one thing for the Washington Post editorial board to become the pro-Bush pro-war shills they became after Katherine Graham died, but it's quite another for one of the nation's (formerly) greatest newspapers to outright lie to the nation in a time of crisis.

To wit, today's editorial:

So far, the federal government's immediate response to the destruction of one of the nation's most historic cities does seem commensurate with the scale of the disaster. At an unprecedented news conference, many members of President Bush's Cabinet pledged to dedicate huge resources to the Gulf Coast. The president's decision to release a part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to compensate for the loss of Gulf Coast refineries may represent one of the first truly appropriate uses of that facility.

The federal government's immediate response? You mean, President Bush staying on vacation for two more days after the hurricane struck? Bush's "immediate response" was to fly to California and Arizona for two days and talk about Medicare and then try to link Iraq, again, to WWII. The Washington Post just outright lied.

Then the Post notes Bush's "unprecedented news conference." Excuse me? It was a fucking Rose Garden address. Gee, no president has ever done that before. Not to mention, if Bush was serious, why didn't he give a prime time address to the nation? He did that when he wanted to convince the nation Iraq wasn't falling to pieces. But with the hurricane, we get a speech in the Rose Garden. Not to mention, after an entire American city is wiped out, I sure hope the president is going to appear. Have expectations gotten so low that the simple fact that the president actually appears on the third day AFTER a massive disaster somehow makes him eligible for the Nobel Prize?

Then there's the Navy. What the hell was Bush doing sending Navy ships from Norfolk two days AFTER the hurricane struck? Why isn't the National Guard there already? Why didn't Bush call together the cabinet on Monday? The questions go on and on.

But the Washington Post, the NEW Washington Post, will have nothing for the truth. For some reason we haven't been able to figure out, the Washington Post editorial board loves George Bush and will do whatever it can, by whatever means necessary, to help this president whenever they can.

And if that means outright lying to their readers, so be it.

(Hat tip to ItAffectsYou) Read More......

Devastatingly Too Little, Too Late

So the Washington Post's Froomkin said yesterday we were "virtually apoplectic." Perhaps the pictures everyone is seeing today might make people understand what we were fearing.

We were apoplectic because we were watching WWL most of the day on Monday, Tuesday, and again yesterday. It was plainly obvious from just the news coverage over a Web browser window that not enough was being mobilized. With the levees breaking, by Tuesday morning, while the President was strumming his guitar, it was obvious, at least to this author, that 20 feet of water would strand and kill tens of thousands.

I've heard that people couldn't have planned for anything like this. I call bullsh*t on that one. Here's a news article from the Houston Chronicle from 2001:

In the face of an approaching storm, scientists say, the city's less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people or more, and probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. Thousands of refugees could land in Houston.
...
A big storm, scientists said, would likely block four of five evacuation routes long before it hit. Those left behind would have no power or transportation, and little food or medicine, and no prospects for a return to normal any time soon.

"The bowl would be full," Levitan said. "There's simply no place for the water to drain."

So the President doesn't read the paper, fine. Then hire people who do Mr. President. Nightline has done specials on an event like this for YEARS, turn on the TV Mr. President, or hire someone who does.

If we were apoplectic on Tuesday morning, it's Thursday morning, 48 hours later, and now I'm torn between crying and screaming, listening to the reports and then watching the head of Homeland Security talking about NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH. DO THEY NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THE IRONY OF ALL OF THIS?

People are firing weapons at the obviously overwhelmed rescue workers, there aren't enough troops on the ground and the head of Homeland Security is talking about preparedness.

You weren't prepared for this Mr. President, and now it's so obviously too little too late for tens of thousands of people who have and are, still, dying. I'm so angry and sad right now I can't even express it.
Tags: Katrina Read More......

How Clueless Are They?

Chaos is spreading throughout the Gulf states. Coordination is collapsing, requests for aid aren't even being delivered by confused and/or incompetent local and state officials. People are dying. And Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security is on Fox News right now talking about National Preparedness Month. You have GOT to be kidding. Read More......

Lautenberg Smacks Bush

Go Frank. Thanks for speaking the obvious truth:

Responding to Bush's statement, Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said the president should have had troops and supplies on the ground Monday. "President Bush's wake-up call came awfully late," he said.

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Just watching some aerial footage of NW New Orleans on CNN

I can't even believe the size of the refugee camp that popped up along the highway intersection. Besides the size of the group, CNN was saying that the people there were out of food and water. Is FEMA and the Bush team waiting for them all to die before they do something? My blood absolutely boils looking at the failed program down there. Reports are that a Chinook rescue helicopter was shot at which has slowed down an already slow rescue program. We're really seeing some impressive compassion and planning here by Team Bush. Read More......

Open Thread

What can we expect today? Read More......

Bush's failure to respond and the race issue

The majority of people living in New Orleans are African-Americans and considering this administrations lackluster acceptance of diversity (beyond millionaires) one has to question if race has played a roll in this tremendous failure. This is a team who doesn't seem to care very much for what happens to people with dark skin, whether we are talking about the war in Iraq, extremist religious policies for the war on AIDS in Africa, foot dragging on Sudan, no response to the Mugabe regime, slowness to respond to the tsunami and of course the steady increase in poverty in the US.

If you are a millionaire and African-American or Hispanic, it's a open door policy but otherwise I am struggling to find a case where Bush and his cronies give a damn about African-Americans. Of course, New Orleans is also not a rich city in terms of financial wealth compared to other cities and Bush has yet to show compassion or understanding for anyone with a financial balance sheet less than his own. Read More......

New Orleans police to abandon search and rescue missions

It's amazing how out of control the city has become due to the lack of National Guard troops to maintain law and order. The mayor has re-deployed police away from search-and-rescue missions because the city has become Baghdad on the Mississippi with armed gunmen ruling the streets. When is Bush going to start giving a damn about average Americans in need?

Late Wednesday, Tenet Healthcare Corp. asked Louisiana State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard to help evacuate one of its hospitals in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals was held up by gunmen.

"We have to close it down because we can no longer ensure the safety of our patients or our staff in that hospital," Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini said of the 203-bed Meadowcrest Hospital.

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Stuff Happens

That's Rummy's infamous response to the lawlessness that sprang up in Baghdad when Bush didn't have enough boots on the ground. What will Bush and his cronies say now about the chaos in New Orleans?

Aaron Brown of CNN described the scene as something you'd expect to see in a Third World country. He also jumped on a comment by Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of LA who tried to tell everyone to remain calm and that everything was being done. The military is on the way, Landrieu said. Then she added rather plaintively, "Get here soon."

As Aaron Brown said, The military is on the way but it's not there yet. It's not there soon enough.

Meanwhile, Bush's top staff is meeting to discuss the biggest question of the day -- how can they blame this on Bill Clinton? Read More......

Bush's Dept of Energy blowing off North Carolina gasoline crisis

Surprise.

Statement Given Wednesday By Gov. Easley Concerning Gasoline Supply In North Carolina
...
This is not only a state problem, this is also a regional and a national problem. We are hoping that the Department of Energy will take some action as soon as possible. I have tried to get direction from DOE, but they have not yet responded.

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"They had no plan"

Update: I accidentally linked to the wrong Wash Post article, the link is correct now.

Thursday's Wash Post

"This is mass chaos," said Sgt. Jason Defess, 27, a National Guard military policeman who had been stationed on a ramp outside the Superdome since Monday. "To tell you the truth, I'd rather be in Iraq," where he was deployed for 14 months until January.

"You got your constant danger, but I had something to protect myself," he said. "Three meals a day. Communications. A plan. Here, they had no plan."

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Open thread

Man. Read More......