They Really Dropped the Ball..

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

*GRAPHIC*









What about all the bodies they found in the freezer?

I think they put them there not to hide them, but to stop the smell, disease portential, etc. a make shift grave if you will.

[strandinthewind]

Hopefully, this will help shed light on why FEMA is mostly responsible

__________________________________________________

Sen. Clinton defends call for independent commission

Wednesday, 7:45 a.m.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, dismissed any speculation Tuesday that her call for an independent commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina was politically motivated.

Clinton also said she believes the bulk of the investigation should be on the federal level because of the presidential declaration signed two days before Katrina struck.

That declaration put the federal government in the lead to coordinate the response to the disaster.

"I'm primarily interested why the federal government was not more ready, not more able, not more willing" to handle the response to the disaster, she said.

She said an independent commission, one similar to the body organized after 9/11, is crucial because such a commission can include independent experts with different types of expertise to analyze what did and what should have happened in response to the storm.

Clinton also has called for FEMA to be removed from part of the Department of Homeland Security. She said she believes FEMA has slipped over the years because of budget cuts, lost personnel and people in charge who do not have the right kind of experience and expertise.

"Pick one, pick them all," she said. "They added up."

www.nola.com

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, dismissed any speculation Tuesday that her call for an independent commission to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina was politically motivated.

The only ones who speculated that were the die-hard neocons and the Bush Crime Family/Administration.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

The only ones who speculated that were the die-hard neocons and the Bush Crime Family/Administration.

Do you ever notice how the Bush Admin. and their puppets like Hannity always always start by saying - "this is politically motivated" and then never explain why the actions that are the subject of the matter are good in any way. Sadly, it seemingly has worked for a long time with them. Look at the dissent on the war in Iraq. The facts as we know now and the Bush Admin. knew then were solidly behind that dissent. Yet, rather than own it, they attack the motivations of the dissenters. Classic Rove.

[strandinthewind]

Imagine DeLay doing something like this

Delay points to local officials

House cancels hearings; joint panel to look at Katrina response

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House majority leader late Tuesday tried to deflect criticism of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina by saying "the emergency response system was set up to work from the bottom up," then announced a short time later that House hearings examining that response had been canceled.

Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said House Republican leaders instead want a joint House-Senate panel set up to conduct a "congressional review" of the issue.

Tempers flared Tuesday during a contentious closed-door meeting between House members and Cabinet secretaries in charge of directing Katrina relief efforts. A Republican representative stood up and said, "All of you deserve failing grades. The response was a disaster," CNN was told by lawmakers emerging from the meeting.

But DeLay countered that assessment later in a news conference by saying that the onus for responding to emergencies fell to local officials.

"It's the local officials trying to handle the problem. When they can't handle the problem, they go to the state, and the state does what they can to, and if they need assistance from FEMA and the federal government they ask for it and it's delivered," DeLay said.

He added that Alabama and Mississippi did a much better job of responding quickly than Louisiana. Alabama and Mississippi have Republican governors.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said Tuesday it has begun an investigation into the government's response to the tragedy. Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she expects public hearings to start next week.

Critics argue that the government took far too long to mobilize aid, causing thousands of storm victims to languish for days in the New Orleans Superdome without food, water and other necessities.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has come under intense criticism for the federal response to Katrina. The hurricane and subsequent flooding have devastated the city of New Orleans.

Chertoff, who is heading the federal response to the storm, argued for days after the disaster that no one foresaw such a combination of events -- even though, in fact, lawmakers, scientists, and reporters had long warned that if a major hurricane hit the city it would be a disaster.

Earlier Tuesday, House leaders met with President Bush.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California told media afterward that she was upset with the Katrina rescue effort and felt that Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), should shoulder much of the blame, and lacked the credentials to do his good job.

"Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, brings nothing to the table for the level of competence and accountability," Pelosi said. "He should not continue in that job unless we want a continuation of the shortcomings that we have had in the response."

In a memo dated August 29 -- the day Katrina made landfall -- Brown asked Chertoff for 1,000 DHS volunteers willing to deploy as soon as possible "for a two-week minimum field assignment" in hurricane-struck states.

The memo was obtained by the media Tuesday.

In it, Brown writes, "We anticipate needing at least 1,000 additional DHS employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within 7 days."

According to Natalie Rule, a spokeswoman for FEMA, the employees were needed to answer phones, do community relations and help set up field hospitals, what she called "non-emergency tasks." They are not first-responders, she said.

"We already had all of our first-responder teams pre-deployed -- 32 teams in all -- who went in and staged in and around the hurricane zone and were ready to go by Sunday. This is deployment that requires that the governor make a request to the federal government," Rule said.

In closing, Brown says in the memo, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us meet our responsibilities in this near catastrophic event." Attached to the memo is a list of requirements for employees heading to the hurricane area, including personal supplies, contact points and physical requirements.

One part of the attachment advises employees to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/...ess/index.html

[strandinthewind]

outrages bolded

FEMA Chief Waited Until After Storm

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

WASHINGTON — The top U.S. disaster official waited hours after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast before he proposed to his boss sending at least 1,000 Homeland Security workers into the region to support rescuers, internal documents show.

Part of the mission, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press, was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

Acknowledging that such a move would take two days, Michael Brown (search), director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (search), sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (search) roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29.

Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.

Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."

The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina.

"Governments at all levels failed," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line rescue teams and Coast Guard (search) helicopters before the storm. Brown's memo on Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the rescues, establish communications, and coordinate with victims and community groups, Knocke said.

Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said.

"There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work," Knocke said. "Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts."

Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."

"FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department (search) employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days.

Knocke said the 48-hour period indicated for the Homeland employees was to ensure they had adequate training.

"They were training to help the lifesavers," Knocke said.

Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia.

"You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote.

The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (search), D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should resign.

After a senators-only briefing by Chertoff and other Cabinet members, Sen. Charles Schumer (search) said lawmakers weren't getting their questions answered.

"What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is what is the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wrong in the past," said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government's request for help evacuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon. The president of the Air Transport Association (search), James May, said the Homeland Security Department called then to ask whether the group could participate in an airlift for refugees.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168634,00.html

[SuzeQuze]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House majority leader late Tuesday tried to deflect criticism of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina by saying "the emergency response system was set up to work from the bottom up," then announced a short time later that House hearings examining that response had been canceled...

A Republican representative stood up and said, "All of you deserve failing grades. The response was a disaster," CNN was told by lawmakers emerging from the meeting.

Now the Republicans are not united because this incompetence was so blatant.

[Livia]

WTF? Firemen are being called in to do PR for FEMA? WTF?

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I think they put them there not to hide them, but to stop the smell, disease portential, etc. a make shift grave if you will.

I just meant that they would have to include those in the death toll in the Dome.
There are 94,000 people reported missing, according to the Red Cross.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Livia

WTF? Firemen are being called in to do PR for FEMA? WTF?

Welcome to the world of Karl Rove.

[dissention]

Good christ. These nutjobs are down there trying to recruit people and spread the word of Hubbard.

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/I...ina_35674.html

http://www.scientology.org/en_US/new...na/050906.html

Assists operate on the principle that one tends to withdraw mentally or spiritually from an injured area. Only by restoring communication with this area can one bring the spiritual element into healing, thereby greatly speeding the healing process. Assists are used to alleviate stress and physical aches and pains, or to orient a confused or distraught individual to his present environment. Assists are not "massages." They are techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard to alleviate the spiritual component of physical pain, shock and emotional trauma.

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/I...ims_35638.html

The National Coalition of Human Rights Activists has received a copy of a Scientology email that urges Scientology customers and salespeople to rush to Baton Rouge and prevent victims of the disaster from receiving some relief services.

In an email dated Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:33 AM and titled "VMs in Baton Rouge," Scientology Inc.'s email called for Scientology customers to "keep at bay" some relief workers so that Scientology salespeople could get at the disaster refugees to sell them books, specifically "Dianetics."

The secret internal email tells Scientology customers to rush to the disaster site and pose as "grief counselors" before the victims can receive real counseling. The fake "counselors" claimed they have set up a bright yellow tent to attract victims to them. This behavior is called "Casualty Contacting" [1] by the Scientology business, and it is designed to find more customers for the business among the fearful and the desperate.

[strandinthewind]

Even John - lap dog - Gibson is somewhat turing on W

Louisiana and New Orleans Were Derelict in Their Duty to Their Own People

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

By John Gibson



On Monday I suggested George Bush (search) might want to think about firing some people, perhaps starting with FEMA director Mike Brown (search), mainly for the offense of spending so much time on TV with his foot in his mouth over the slow response to the disaster.

Howls of protest showed up in the e-mail: "How dare you blame Bush. How dare you blame FEMA (search)."

Well, ok, let me be as clear as I can.

The state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans were absolutely derelict in their duty to their own people. Everybody who lives in a disaster zone knows you can't count of the feds for three days. Forget it, the feds can't get there any faster with any significant relief.

Cities have to get along on their own for a little while. New Orleans knew it and Louisiana knew it.

Yet no state or city official parked a few truckloads of water and MREs [Meals Ready to Eat] at the Superdome or at the convention center, where they knew flood refugees would congregate.

Why do you think the Astrodome in Texas was all set up for thousands of refugees? Because the Astrodome is always set up to take thousands of refugees from Galveston, another place everybody knows will get hammered again someday.

So the pitiful leadership of the Democrat administration in Louisiana and New Orleans gets most of the blame. Nobody should have known better than the locals how vulnerable the city of New Orleans was.

Having said that, I will repeat what I think a lot of people sense: The president has to backstop basket case cities and woefully inadequate mayors and governors.

Sorry, Democrat or Republican, he just does. You can't have Cuba offering assistance to American flood victims.

National Guard or Military choppers should have landed at crowded evacuation points and put water and food on the ground.

But, ultimately, the horror in New Orleans is not as much the fault of George Bush as it is the fault of the governor and the mayor. They are always primarily responsible for their city and they let their city down.

However, Bush should still fire some people. They let the rest of us down, especially the people of New Orleans. And, by the way, they let the president down.

I've been fired a few times. It's not the end of the world. So George, fire somebody.

That's My Word.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168633,00.html

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Even John - lap dog - Gibson is somewhat turing on W

He is? He places the blame squarely on local officials and then says Shrub should fire the people who let him down. It's a sick read. Did we read the same thing?

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

He is? He places the blame squarely on local officials and then says Shrub should fire the people who let him down. It's a sick read. Did we read the same thing?

That is why I said somewhat. For Gibson even to question W's decisions in putting faith in the heads of FEMA to me suggests even Fox cannot bury this thing. I get that it is spin away from W, but considering the source, it is tantamount to an attack on W - I mean this a$$ wipes W's a$$ after W's takes a shiitte

[SomeKindaMother]

We don't have 'TV' (the kids call it 'channel tv') at home, and my home computer crashed. We have my college daughter's laptop here for a minor repair, so I have just been catching up on all these atrocities. It sickens and repulses me.

We have a small 2 bedroom seperate basement home on our property completely furnished, with kitchen and bathroom... and I want to bring someone here...a small family. I have good friends who called some agency (sorry, don't know who) and offered to go bring a family to live with them, but the offer was refused and they were instead told to send money. I wonder if we can just drive somewhere, pick people up and bring them back? I don't mean to sound stupid, I'm really curious. Do you all think this is a bad idea? I have 5 kids, one in college--4 still at home. We have never done anything like this before, but I don't know really how else to help. What is the best way to help? I could possibly go volunteer somewhere for a week or so? What is the best thing to do?

Kelly