Hurricane Katrina

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Sept. 26, 2005

6:44 p.m.

 

(CBS) — CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's response following Hurricane Katrina.

 

WHATTHEFUCKINGFUCK!?!?

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/22/...C-SearchStories

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Louisiana wants $250 Billion

 

Yeah...uh..unless they know about some magic tree that has money for leaves and diamonds for fruit..that ain't happening.

 

Iraq > Louisiana

[Art Sandusky 0]

Pendleton Act 2k5!

[Gary Floyd 0]

In other news, "Brown Blames "Dysfuntional" Louisiana"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050927/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

 

An excerpt

 

Former FEMA director Michael Brown aggressively defended his role in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday and put much of the blame for coordination failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

 

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

 

The storm slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday, Aug. 29.

 

Brown's defense drew a scathing response from Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La.

 

"I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...2806,full.story

 

Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy

Rumors supplanted accurate information and media magnified the problem. Rapes, violence and estimates of the dead were wrong.

 

By Susannah Rosenblatt and James Rainey, Times Staff Writers

 

 

BATON ROUGE, La. — Maj. Ed Bush recalled how he stood in the bed of a pickup truck in the days after Hurricane Katrina, struggling to help the crowd outside the Louisiana Superdome separate fact from fiction. Armed only with a megaphone and scant information, he might have been shouting into, well, a hurricane.

 

The National Guard spokesman's accounts about rescue efforts, water supplies and first aid all but disappeared amid the roar of a 24-hour rumor mill at New Orleans' main evacuation shelter. Then a frenzied media recycled and amplified many of the unverified reports.

 

"It just morphed into this mythical place where the most unthinkable deeds were being done," Bush said Monday of the Superdome.

 

His assessment is one of several in recent days to conclude that newspapers and television exaggerated criminal behavior in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, particularly at the overcrowded Superdome and Convention Center.

 

The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated body counts, unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among examples of "scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."

 

(snip)

[SuperJerk 0]

Please note that the above story does NOT claim that the lack of food and water for the survivors was an exaggeration.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Eh, the mere exaggeration will go largely unknown because it can be used to benefit anyone's view.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I need to get a complete tape of that Brown hearing. The bits I saw were pretty damned scathing, but those didn't even make the highlights. I have a hard time not saying this is a lame duck President now. The clouds didn't stop gathering over Washington any slower when DeLay was indicted either.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The former head of FEMA, Michael Brown, testified about what went wrong in the response to Hurricane Katrina. He said he did a good job and he put all the blame on the state and local officials. This guy's good. He could run for president!

- Jay Leno last night

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Government Study: Poor Blacks Attract Hurricanes

 

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

 

WASHINGTON, DC — A secret Bush Administration study claims that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were drawn to the Gulf Coast by the large number of poor African-Americans living there. The Texas Policy Interest Group (TEXPIG), a neo-conservative "think tank," produced the report at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney's, office according to a highly placed source.

 

"Hurricanes are made by warm water, black people have darker skin so they're hotter, and poor people can't afford air conditioning," the six page report reads. "Therefore, it's pretty obvious to us that hurricanes go to where poor black people live."

 

The report was critical of the effort to evacuate residents of the Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina hit the area two weeks ago, saying the policy of moving families together was ill-conceived. "We all know that when those people get together in one place, trouble starts.

 

Next time you should use the sense your momma gave you and separate the races.

 

Send some of them up to Massachusetts, them liberals like 'em so much. Keep like with like and don't ever mix the races!! Praise Jesus!"

 

TEXPIG's staff consists of three oil executives, the head of the state's death row program, and fourteen Baptist ministers. The organization produced the 2002 report "Overseas And At Home: A Guide to Killing Muslim Terrorists and Other Pagans"

 

http://www.bongonews.com/layout4.php?event...opic=hurricanes

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

BLACK PEOPLE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT GEORGE BUSH.

 

From NBC's "First Read" this morning:

 

Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman has made concerted efforts to draw African-American voters to the GOP.  But in the wake of the government's perceived slow response to Hurricane Katrina, Bush's job approval among African-Americans stands at 2%.  While 28% of all those polled say the country is heading in the right direction, only 5% of African-Americans do.  "Not that African-Americans are ever a core part of the GOP coalition," McInturff notes, but these results "are some of the most difficult numbers" he says he's seen out of the community."

[cbacon 0]

Where's the quote in your sig from, Smitty?

[SuperJerk 0]

BLACK PEOPLE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT GEORGE BUSH.

 

From NBC's "First Read" this morning:

 

Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman has made concerted efforts to draw African-American voters to the GOP.  But in the wake of the government's perceived slow response to Hurricane Katrina, Bush's job approval among African-Americans stands at 2%.  While 28% of all those polled say the country is heading in the right direction, only 5% of African-Americans do.  "Not that African-Americans are ever a core part of the GOP coalition," McInturff notes, but these results "are some of the most difficult numbers" he says he's seen out of the community."

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I'm shocked its even that high.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Where's the quote in your sig from, Smitty?

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Rapper Immortal Technique's song, Freedom of Speech.

 

Any song that takes on Bill O'Reilly, Fox, Ashcroft, & the Patriot Act is top shelf in my book.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I really didnt feel like starting a new thread on this..

 

Levees in New Orleans to be rebuilt only to withstand a category 3 hurricane..

 

So we can go through all of this again when New Orleans gets hit with another Cat 5 Hurricane? I wouldn't blame any of the "We wanna rebuild" people if they decided to move after that brilliant move.

[2GOLD 0]

I really didnt feel like starting a new thread on this..

 

Levees in New Orleans to be rebuilt only to withstand a category 3 hurricane..

 

So we can go through all of this again when New Orleans gets hit with another Cat 5 Hurricane?  I wouldn't blame any of the "We wanna rebuild" people if they decided to move after that brilliant move.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Glad to see they took this hurricane stuff seriously.

You think once you dodge the bullet (which they did, it could have struck dead on the money) that they would think "hmm maybe a strong levee would be smart" but instead some of the brain trust apparently slept through school.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I really didnt feel like starting a new thread on this..

 

Levees in New Orleans to be rebuilt only to withstand a category 3 hurricane..

 

So we can go through all of this again when New Orleans gets hit with another Cat 5 Hurricane?  I wouldn't blame any of the "We wanna rebuild" people if they decided to move after that brilliant move.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Glad to see they took this hurricane stuff seriously.

You think once you dodge the bullet (which they did, it could have struck dead on the money) that they would think "hmm maybe a strong levee would be smart" but instead some of the brain trust apparently slept through school.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I guess by "the brain trust" you mean the Bush Administration:

 

Prospects are better for repairing New Orleans' breached levees by next hurricane season, but the state's long-term goal of improving them to withstand a Category 5 hurricane is not supported by the Bush administration.

[chaosrage 0]

New Orleans: Choose your own adventure!

 

You are an African-American living in a crack house in a New Orleans slum. You decided to stay and weather out Hurricane Katrina since you were not sure if you could score crack at any of the evacuation centers. The windows of the crack house were already boarded up, you had a couple days worth of rocks and some Fiddy Cent CDs to listen to on a portable boom box. In addition, most of your fellow crack heads had abandoned the house, leaving you to rummage through their stuff for stray crack rocks. You find a couple.

 

When the worst seems to be over, the levee breaks and water floods into your crack house. That's okay. You grab your boom box and crack pipe and run up to the attic. You are lucky and water doesn't reach to the roof like it does the houses down the block.

 

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/9/6/34041/87727

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"It most certainly was," Sharpton says. "And we cannot allow it to happen again. Myself and some other prominent black leaders are putting forth a campaign to blame this situation on the Bush administration. We would like to use you as an example of the plight of African-Americans in the city of New Orleans who were neglected during the crisis. Will you help your brothers and sisters in the community?"

 

Just last week, you were a petty thug, stealing tape players out of cars to score your next hit of crack. Now, you're about to become a political symbol like Cindy Sheehan. What else could you say? "Sho' nuff, I do it."

 

THE END

 

 

Yay, I won.

[2GOLD 0]

I really didnt feel like starting a new thread on this..

 

Levees in New Orleans to be rebuilt only to withstand a category 3 hurricane..

 

So we can go through all of this again when New Orleans gets hit with another Cat 5 Hurricane?  I wouldn't blame any of the "We wanna rebuild" people if they decided to move after that brilliant move.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Glad to see they took this hurricane stuff seriously.

You think once you dodge the bullet (which they did, it could have struck dead on the money) that they would think "hmm maybe a strong levee would be smart" but instead some of the brain trust apparently slept through school.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I guess by "the brain trust" you mean the Bush Administration:

 

Prospects are better for repairing New Orleans' breached levees by next hurricane season, but the state's long-term goal of improving them to withstand a Category 5 hurricane is not supported by the Bush administration.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That's what Presidental Adminstrations are usually referred as.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I have determined that no one in any seat of power was watching television or saw pictures during the time that there were Americans STRANDED AND DYING IN THE STREETS OF A MAJOR CITY

[2GOLD 0]

I have determined that no one in any seat of power was watching television or saw pictures during the time that there were Americans STRANDED AND DYING IN THE STREETS OF A MAJOR CITY

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Hey man, it was baseball season. They had caught the fever.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Soooooo... we still don't feel like spending the money to make the place safe, after an astronomical and still unknown rebuilding cost dwarfs the cost of a levee system by hundreds of billions.

[Guest Leelee]

If you want to spend money, I'd do it building another city that isn't below sea level, surrounded by water, and in the middle of possible tropical disturbances.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The city is indispensable though, financially, culturally, and logistically (would you like to find homes for 500,000 people?). They had the right idea when the place was founded, but its own success is what lead to spreading into unsafe areas. The roots of everything that happened extend back 250 years, but none of that absolves failing to heed warnings and spending a small amount immediately instead of a massive amount later, and that isn't even taking the human toll into account. The $14b system wouldn't have been completed in time for Katrina which must be said, but the system was also for a lot more than the New Orleans area, and I'd imagine that's where they'd complete their work first, with about a year to spare (I believe the levee proposal was drawn up and proposed in 2001).

[bobobrazil1984 0]

"Brownie"'s emails while the hurricane was raging and people living in hell:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/brown.fem...ails/index.html

 

There's a PDF download there that has all the emails rather than just the ones cited in the article.

 

My favorite part:

 

Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that "the situation is past critical" and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.

 

Brown's entire response was: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?" (Copies of e-mails -- PDFexternal link)

 

 

Wow. Its amazing he is immediatly able to respond to emails about his wardrobe, but takes days to respond to, you know, people dying and shit.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

This is why help took so long to arrive:

 

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

"Brownie"'s emails while the hurricane was raging and people living in hell:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/brown.fem...ails/index.html

 

There's a PDF download there that has all the emails rather than just the ones cited in the article.

 

My favorite part:

 

Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that "the situation is past critical" and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.

 

Brown's entire response was: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?" (Copies of e-mails -- PDFexternal link)

 

 

Wow. Its amazing he is immediatly able to respond to emails about his wardrobe, but takes days to respond to, you know, people dying and shit.

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The phrase criminal negligence comes to mind.

[2GOLD 0]

This is why help took so long to arrive:

 

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Awwww, how cute.

They let him use the big people phone now!

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

Hey, is that a pic of Tony Blair behind him?

[2GOLD 0]

Hey, is that a pic of Tony Blair behind him?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Either him or Gary Cole.

Maybe GW is a big fan of Harvey Birdman?