They Really Dropped the Ball..

[Mad4stevie]

People can now to to www.weather.gov and find aerial pictures taken by NOAA to see what there home area looks like . . .

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM

If you click on the area, it will show the satellite image. It really amazes me.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by amber

If they had cared, they would have, like the article said, spent more time and money shoring up new orleans, instead of Washington. Read the bold part again - sounds like they didn't care, to me. Do you really need the literal words "they don't care about the people in New Orleans" to infer that they don't? Their actions show they don't. And you're smart, I think you can see that just as well as I can. it's all about someone's actions. They can say a billion times that they care, but if they don't do anything to help those people - it's obvious they don't care.

I see what you're saying (and you don't have to quote yourself to get the point across). Again, I'm not saying all is hunky dory but it's not accurate to say "they don't do anything to help those people."

[estranged4life]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I am so horrified I cannot sleep at night.

and get stressed out from life that you cannot sleep...Trust me, I have aged (Or at least I feel like I have) 30 years in a span of 6 months.

I had to turn off the coverage of New Orleans...Bringing back too many horrors of OKC in 1995 which kept me sleepless for quite a long time.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by Mad4stevie

People can now to to www.weather.gov and find aerial pictures taken by NOAA to see what there home area looks like . . .

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM

If you click on the area, it will show the satellite image. It really amazes me.

Thanks for this, Heather.

[amber]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

I see what you're saying (and you don't have to quote yourself to get the point across). Again, I'm not saying all is hunky dory but it's not accurate to say "they don't do anything to help those people."

I just noticed that, I actually meant to quote you, not myself. - when you said "nowhere does the article say they don't care".

[Mad4stevie]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

Thanks for this, Heather.

Sure. They just did a piece on it for MSNBC.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by amber

I just noticed that, I actually meant to quote you, not myself. - when you said "nowhere does the article say they don't care".

Ah ok. I understand. I have often quoted the wrong person before, although never myself! lol

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

I see what you're saying (and you don't have to quote yourself to get the point across). Again, I'm not saying all is hunky dory but it's not accurate to say "they don't do anything to help those people."

I, too, think it is inaccurate to say the Fed. Govt. does not care at all. In fact, the initial actions and FEMA and the ACE's work over the last three decades support that they care. I also do not think this is the heated racist question people are saying, though clearly if these had been mostly rich white people, the help would have come sooner. I say this because if the govt. could launch an effort to find the dead body of JFK, Jr., et al, and do so in a matter of days on a holiday weekend - how can we do that and not this So, I think there is a racism thread in this. But, that is my opinion and I think it is supported by facts.

In the end, I think W thought FEMA could handle the second part of this because they had handled the first part okay. Sadly, they did not, but the buck stops with him and he should be accountable because if they had acted in a proper manner, he would be basking in the glow of it

[amber]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I, too, think it is inaccurate to say the Fed. Govt. does not care at all. In fact, the initial actions and FEMA and the ACE's work over the last three decades support that they care. I also do not think this is the heated racist question people are saying, though clearly if these had been mostly rich white people, the help would have come sooner. I say this because if the govt. could launch an effort to find the dead body of JFK, Jr., et al, and do so in a matter of days on a holiday weekend - how can we do that and not this So, I think there is a racism thread in this. But, that is my opinion and I think it is supported by facts.

In the end, I think W thought FEMA could handle the second part of this because they had handled the first part okay. Sadly, they did not, but the buck stops with him and he should be accountable because if they had acted in a proper manner, he would be basking in the glow of it

Yes, there are many aspects to this whole situation. I think race is one of them - but clearly not the only one.

[strandinthewind]

More proof that FEMA knew and was just not prepared

from www.nola.com

Times-Picayune


Sunday, September 04, 2005

FEMA knew storm's potential, Mayfield says
Sunday, 4:44 p.m.

By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer

Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said
Sunday that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA Director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, listened in on electronic briefings given by his staff in advance of Hurricane Katrina slamming Louisiana and Mississippi and were advised of the storm’s potential deadly effects.

Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories, which warned of a storm surge capable of overtopping levees in New Orleans and winds strong enough to blow out windows of high-rise buildings. He said the briefings included information on expected wind speed, storm surge, rainfall and the potential for tornados to accompany the storm as it came ashore.

“We were briefing them way before landfall,” Mayfield said. “It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped.

“I keep looking back to see if there was anything else we could have done, and I just don’t know what it would be,” he said.

Chertoff told reporters Saturday that government officials had not expected the damaging combination of a powerful hurricane levee breaches that flooded New Orleans.

Brown, Mayfield said, is a dedicated public servant.

“The question is why he couldn’t shake loose the resources that were needed,’’ he said.

Brown and Chertoff could not be reached for comment on Sunday
afternoon.

In the days before Katrina hit, Mayfield said, his staff also briefed FEMA, which under the Department of Homeland Security, at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., its Region 6 office in Dallas and the Region 4 office in Atlanta about the potential effects of the storm.

He said all of those briefings were logged in the hurricane center’s records.

And Mayfield said his staff also participated in the five-day
“Hurricane Pam” exercise sponsored by FEMA and the Louisiana Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in July 2004 that assumed a similar storm would hit the city.

FEMA’s own July 23, 2004, news release announcing the end of that exercise summed up the assumptions they used, which were eerily close to what Katrina delivered:
“Hurricane Pam brought sustained winds of 120 mph, up to 20 inches of rain in parts of southeast Louisiana and storm surge that topped levees in the New Orleans area. More than one million residents evacuated and Hurricane Pam destroyed 500,000-600,000 buildings. Emergency officials from 50 parish, state, federal and volunteer organizations faced this scenario during a five-day exercise held this week at the State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge.

“The exercise used realistic weather and damage information developed
by the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
LSU Hurricane Center and other state and federal agencies to help
officials develop joint response plans for a catastrophic hurricane in
Louisiana.”

That plan assumed such a hurricane would result in the opening of 1,000 evacuee shelters that would have to be staffed for 100 days, and a search and rescue operation using 800 people. The storm would create 30 million tons of debris, including 237,000 cubic yards of household hazardous waste.

Mayfield said his concern now is that another named storm could hit
either New Orleans or the Mississippi Gulf coast, as September is the
most active month of the annual hurricane season.

“This is like the fourth inning in a nine-inning ballgame,” he said. “We know that another one would cause extreme stress on the people who have been hurt by Katrina.”

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mersmia@cox.net.

[heyjupiter678]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1001054586

An Angry 'Times-Picayune' Calls for Firing of FEMA Chief and Others in Open Letter to President On Sunday

By E&P Staff

Published: September 04, 2005 10:40 AM ET

NEW YORK The Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Sunday published its third print edition since the hurricane disaster struck, chronicling the arrival, finally, of some relief but also taking President Bush to task for his handling of the crisis, and calling for the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown and others.

In an "open letter" to the president, published on page 15 of the 16-page edition, the paper said it still had grounds for "skepticism" that he would follow through on saving the city and its residents. It pointed out that while the government could not get supplies to the city numerous TV reporters, singer Harry Connick and Times-Picayune staffers managed to find a way in.

It also cited "bald-faced" lies by Michael Brown. "Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach," the staffers pointed out. "We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry."

Here is the text.

***

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.


E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher)

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

Ah. Perhaps we should compile a list of things one is not allowed to do within a certain number of days after a disaster, which also needs to be determined. I am sure Josh can help us with this.

Edit: Oops there I go being sarcastic again! But that's the way some of us deal with conflict. In fact one of my friends wrote an interesting article on sarcasm being the weapon especially of women... but I won't get into that. At any rate I do not see why sarcasm is any less legitimate than other means of expressing criticism. In fact I often find it a little more amusing than the other types.

haha! I'm sorry but why is Rice being criticized for going to a broadway play? Broadway should have just shut down totally...

I'm sorry but if I had tickets to go see...lets say...WICKED...I would be there!

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

haha! I'm sorry but why is Rice being criticized for going to a broadway play? Broadway should have just shut down totally...

I'm sorry but if I had tickets to go see...lets say...WICKED...I would be there!

You are not the Sec. of State. In that time period, many countries were calling to offer help, which is what she is suposed to field. Also, what about all hands on deck - W said everyone in the govt. was doing everything they sould Finally, if she has nothing to do with this area of govt., then why the hell is she having photo ops there now. Think she wore her $500 + Ferragamos she bought while the govt. she helps run was failing these people; wonder if she really wanted to get them dirty. Better yet, maybe she covered the eyes of a dead baby with her ticket stub from Spamalot or offered that Ferragamo shoe box as a makeshift coffin in a random act of kindness

to wit:

Rice Tours Hurricane Damage in Alabama

Sunday, September 04, 2005



BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (search) defended President Bush on Sunday against charges that the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina (search) showed racial insensitivity.

"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," the administration's highest-ranking black said as she toured damaged parts of her native Alabama.

Later, during a service at the Pilgrim Rest AME Zion church (search) outside Mobile, Rice nodded in agreement as the Rev. Malone Smith Jr. advised the congregation, "Wait for the Lord."

"There are some things the president can do; there are some things the government can do," Smith told about 300 worshippers during a rollicking two-hour service. "But God can do all things. I want you to know he's never late. He's always on time."

Rice later echoed the call for patience.

"The Lord is going to come on time — if we just wait," she said.

It was a sort of homecoming for Rice, an Alabama native and granddaughter of a Presbyterian minister.

Her visit came as some black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, have complained bitterly about the slow response to the disaster, whose victims have been disproportionately black and poor. They have said racial injustice was a factor in the government's slow relief effort.

"How can that be the case? Americans don't want to see Americans suffer," Rice said. "Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race."

Since Katrina struck, an estimated 70 nations, from Azerbaijan to Venezuela, have offered hundreds of millions in cash donations for the federal government to relay to the American Red Cross, Rice said. Many countries have also donated supplies, ranging from helicopters and medical aid to food and blankets.

Among the largest contributions was Kuwait's $400 million worth of petroleum product plus $100 million in cash intended for relief efforts. Among the smallest: $25,000 in cash from Sri Lanka, a poor nation still recovering from last December's tsunami.

After the church service, Rice visited a community center in Bayou La Batre, one of Alabama's hardest hit areas. Flood waters following Katrina reached 11 feet in some places in southern Alabama, while about 718,000 homes and businesses in Mobile were left without power for days, and at least two people died.

Republican Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, escorting Rice through the community, said power had been restored to all but about 50,000 residents and businesses, while up to 2,500 Alabamians were still looking for shelter.

"It was devastating, but in comparison to what they had in southern Mississippi and Louisiana, it kind of pales in comparison," Riley said.

While welcoming Rice, some Alabamians expressed frustration with the administration's response.

"It's so unfortunate that the time it's taken to rescue them is too long," Democratic state Rep. Yvonne Kennedy said at the church service. "Had the response been more timely, I think we could have saved lives. To be so slow in coming, people lose hope."

While touring domestic disasters falls outside her official domain, Rice told Bush that "if there is anything I can do outside of my responsibilities as secretary of state, I'd be happy to do that, too." She was criticized last week for attending a Broadway show and shopping in New York during an abbreviated vacation.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168440,00.html

[Jessica Leigh]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

Low-paying jobs like the one you mentioned aren't enough to survive on. Have you checked the cost of rent lately? Housing is extremely unaffordable, especially in urban areas. Most of their paychecks go to rent, which leaves little money to live on. Additionally, those jobs rarely provide their employees with health insurance.

What they spend it on is between them and their conscience. The conservative mantra of "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" doesn't work. I used to buy into that, but if you try do some reading and research, you'll see how flawed the argument is. And by reading, I do not mean Ann Coulter.

some of us actually live like that and have a big problem with people begging us for our money. i'm still waiting to find out what kind of financial aid i'm going to get this semester so i can see if i can afford student health insurance. if not, then i have another semester of driving to mexico for my prescriptions. beer? that would be nice. i'm not giving anyone money for beer unless they return the favor.

[heyjupiter678]

I don't know if this has been posted yet or not -- my apologies if it has -- but everyone should see the video of Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard on this morning's Meet the Press. It's heartbreaking.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Mee...-Broussard.mov
http://www.overspun.com/video/MTP.AaronBroussard.wmv