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September 03, 2005
My God. The Army is invading New Orleans.
From ArmyTimes.com, reprinted in full without permission:
NEW ORLEANS — Combat operations are underway on the streets “to take this city back” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”
Jones said the military first needs to establish security throughout the city. Military and police officials have said there are several large areas of the city are in a full state of anarchy.
Dozens of military trucks and up-armored Humvees left the staging area just after 11 a.m. Friday, while hundreds more troops arrived at the same staging area in the city via Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters.
“We’re here to do whatever they need us to do,” Sgt. 1st Class Ron Dixon, of the Oklahoma National Guard’s 1345th Transportation Company. “We packed to stay as long as it takes.”
While some fight the insurgency in the city, other carry on with rescue and evacuation operations. Helicopters are still pulling hundreds of stranded people from rooftops of flooded homes.
Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and police helicopters filled the city sky Friday morning. Most had armed soldiers manning the doors. According to Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeremy Grishamn, a spokesman for the amphibious assault ship Bataan, the vessel kept its helicopters at sea Thursday night after several military helicopters reported being shot at from the ground.
Numerous soldiers also told Army Times that they have been shot at by armed civilians in New Orleans. Spokesmen for the Joint Task Force Headquarters at the Superdome were unaware of any servicemen being wounded in the streets, although one soldier is recovering from a gunshot wound sustained during a struggle with a civilian in the dome Wednesday night.
“I never thought that at a National Guardsman I would be shot at by other Americans,” said Spc. Philip Baccus of the 527th Engineer Battalion. “And I never thought I’d have to carry a rifle when on a hurricane relief mission. This is a disgrace.”
Spc. Cliff Ferguson of the 527th Engineer Battalion pointed out that he knows there are plenty of decent people in New Orleans, but he said it is hard to stay motivated considering the circumstances.
“This is making a lot of us think about not reenlisting.” Ferguson said. “You have to think about whether it is worth risking your neck for someone who will turn around and shoot at you. We didn’t come here to fight a war. We came here to help.”
Bush floods them out, starves them half to death, then SHOOTS THEM.
Write to your Congressman NOW. And repeatedly!
04:54 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Piling the dead on balconies
From Editor & Publisher, one of many pleas from real people trapped for nearly A FUCKING WEEK in New Orleans (this one is from Charity Hospital):
There are 1200 patients, doctors, nurses and hospital personnel trapped in Charity Hospital. Surrounded by 5 feet of water that has become dangerous to even swim through, these people have had no electricity since 5:00 a.m, Monday. Why is their plight no worse than others? This hospital is trying to keep their patients alive without any technology available other than manual means and perseverance.They've lost patients just because there is no electricity. They're having to stack the dead bodies outside on balconies because the disease and stench could cause more health problems that these people don't need at this time.
"Since 5:00 a.m, Monday." Gov. Blanco requested National Guard troops on SUNDAY. George W. Bush didn't sign the paperwork to send the National Guard until THURSDAY. FIVE DAYS.
Bush is a disgrace to humanity. We cannot say it enough. The plea from Charity Hospital is one of MANY pleas. We're talking about tens of thousands of American lives that HAVE NOT BEEN LOST. And still, nearly a week later, the response remains A DISGRACE.
Impeachment is not nearly enough. New Orleans residents should file a civil suit against Bush for criminal negligence and reckless endangerment.
03:06 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Bush doesn't care about black people
All hail Kayne West for having the courage to tell the truth. During NBC's apolotical concert to raise money to help the victims of Katrina, West went off the script, leaving scene partner Mike Myers speechless, probably wondering why he'd signed on to Shrek 3 and 4.
Yahoo news has the whole story; here's an excerpt:
Comedian Mike Myers was paired with West for a 90-second segment that began with Myers speaking of Katrina's devastation. Then, to Myers' evident surprise, West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."While allowing that "the Red Cross is doing everything they can," West — who delivered an emotional outburst at the American Music Awards after he was snubbed for an award — declared that government authorities are intentionally dragging their feet on aid to the Gulf Coast. Without getting specific, he added, "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."
After he stated, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.
If you live on the East Coast, you caught that live. If you live out West -- sorry, NBC cut it for the rebroadcast.
And now we know that Red Cross is not being allowed into New Orleans by the National Guard. Maybe if the Red Cross carried AK-47s, Bush would let them in.
11:30 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
When will they call Halliburton to clean up
Wouldn't that be an hilarious thing. Bring in a corporation loaded with Bush cronies and profiteers to help clean up the Gulf Coast region. I wouldn't put it past them to do that.
OH FUCK.
10:20 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
George Bush: Criminally Negligent
WASHINGTON - Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.
Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the disaster area himself, as he did after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Tell O'Reilly and Fox News and tell your congressman. Make sure the White House doesn't scapegoat Blanco and Louisiana.
09:40 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
September 02, 2005
Hey Bushie! There's a shitload of brush to clear!
Here is a tough guy man's man who loves to clear brush. He just spent most of August clearing the fuck out of the brush on his estate. However, when he encountered important physical labor to be accomplished, his mighty arms did nothing more than facilitate some hand gestures (whilst smirking). He's gone now. Flown back to Washington.
Where'd you go, Bushie? Brush to clear!
09:03 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The right-wing playbook is showing
Fox News and the right-wing have a fairly simple fill-in-the-blank strategic playbook and it's beginning to ooze to the surface. Watch for this in the coming days:
Blame will be deflected from George Bush's criminal lack of response and the Republican budget cuts which weakened the response and the levees. Blame will land squarely in the laps of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Blanco -- both Democrats.
The looters will become the new terrorists. Already tonight, O'Reilly called for the looters to be hunted down. Bush has asked for a zero-tolerance policy despite many of the looters simply being starving human beings looking for food and water.
There are terrorists and looters and people to blame... Sadly, most of them flew back to Washington this evening. His bedtime is in less than an hour.
08:51 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 6
08:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 5
08:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 4
08:14 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 3
08:13 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 2
08:12 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush's budget cuts, Part 1
08:09 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Helping those who help the poor
ACORN is one of the businesses whose offices were destroyed by Katrina was. ACORN is a national organization that fights to dfend the rights of low and moderate income families -- in other words, all the people hardest hit by Katrina.
Campaign For America's Future is soliciting tax-deductible donations that will help ACORN:
- Establish a temporary headquarters in Baton Rouge and reopen their New Orleans office as soon as possible;
- Service housing and credit needs of impacted communities;
- Organize individuals to ensure that low-income neighborhoods and families have a voice that will challenge public officials to treat all people fairly and get relief and rebuilding aid to the people who need it most.
Give to ACORN here.
07:57 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Halliburton (and Exxon, and Mobil and...) cashes in on Katrina
Josh Marshall wondered on TPM where Dick Cheney is. Probably in an undisclosed location counting the profits he's making on his Halliburton stock options. Because the oil industry is making money off Katrina.
Doug Heller at HuffPost flags the venal looting by the moneyed:
The Yahoo Major Oil & Gas Index shows stocks up 5% since Monday. ExxonMobil is up 5%. Halliburton is up about 8%. Why would companies sustaining massive damage to their property be doing so well?[snip]
And people should be angry. A rough calculation indicates that Exxon's value has increased by about $20 billion this week. How many senior executives in the oil industry have made millions in stock increases even as their oil rigs are torn apart? If the companies simply said that they would freeze prices temporarily and, when the situation stabilized, promised not to increase profits related to Katrina, the stocks wouldn't be jumping.
07:51 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
This would make an hilarious comedy sketch...
...if it wasn't so tragic.
Bush to women: "There's a Salvation Army center that I want to, that I'll tell you where it is, and they'll get you some help. I'm sorry.... They'll help you.....Woman 1: "I came here looking for clothes..."
Bush: "They'll get you some clothes, at the Salvation Army center..."
Woman 1: "We don't have anything..."
Bush: "I understand.... Do you know where the center is, that I'm talking to you about?"
Guy with shades: "There's no center there, sir, it's a truck."
Bush: "There's trucks?"
Guy: "There's a school, a school about two miles away....."
Bush: "But isn't there a Salvation Army center down there?"
Guy: "No that's wiped out...."
Bush: "A temporary center? "
Guy: "No sir they've got a truck there, for food."
Bush: "That's what I'm saying, for food and water."
Bush turns to the sister who's been saying how she needs clothes.
Bush to sister: "You need food and water."
Video here.
Via Kos.
07:40 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
A caring leader
Listen here to Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans who has the guts to say "I need troops, man. I need 500 buses. You gotta be kidding me, this is a national disaster."
03:41 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
HORRIBLE.
Bush at the conference today:
The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)
Read the rest from our NATIONAL DISGRACE here.
03:36 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
A better leader.
"It's all my fault, boys. It's all my fault."
Robert E. Lee to his troops, after the disastrous Pickett's Charge on the final day of Gettysburg.
And we're stuck with "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
02:44 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Worse than 9/11. So, so much worse
From Louisiana Senator Dave Vitter comes an estimate on the death toll:
"My guess is that it will start at 10,000, but that is only a guess," Vitter said, adding that he was not basing his remarks on any official death toll or body count.
Vitter, the Republican, was a lot more candid than is Dem. compatriot Mary Landrieu about the horrible job the government is doing:
Vitter, speaking to reporters at the emergency response center in Baton Rouge, also said he gave the federal government a grade 'F' for its response to the disaster so far.
Read it all here.
02:03 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
What the FUCK are those choppers doing there?!?!
From today's photo-op a long way away from anyone suffering.
HE IS A FUCKING DISGRACE.
01:58 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Hurricane housing
Do you have a bed for someone who lost their home?
Go to www.hurricanehousing.com and make an offer.
01:50 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
The real looters are in DC
Major Owens over at HuffPost has a great piece on the true looters of New Orleans: the corporations and politicians who laid the groundwork for this epic disaster.
Read the whole thing, but he ends with a poem that's on point:
THE WASHINGTON LOOTING OF NEW ORLEANSWashington looters still running loose
Abusers of New Orleans
Embezzlers of canal repair dollars
Big shot necks too big for a noose.
For the Mardi Gras
Neo-con domestic shock and awe
Bush budget blunders trapped in the crayfish claw.
Grandmothers and babies cry
Urban peasant victims die;
Oh when the Saints come marching in
Judgement will fall on merciless men.
Put street looting logs away
Only political atrocities on the dock today.
Washington looters still running loose
Big shot necks too big for a noose.
01:41 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Bush doesn't get it
Which one of these men looks like he doesn't have a fucking clue about what's going on in the south coast?
"I'm not looking forward to this trip," Bush said as he set out for a first-hand look at the destruction in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi."It's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine," the president said.
He wishes he could blame this on Bin Laden or Saddam. But he has no one to blame but himself. The "weapon" is his defunding of levee building, his support for global warming, his pulling of Guard forces for his illegal war.
Read the rest of his pathetic performance here.
01:35 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Take action on accountability
Act for Change has an on-line petition running. The purpose is to hold people accountable for their actions in the wake of Katrina. Go to the link and sign.
The media, including Fox News in some cases, seems remarkably affected by what they're seeing, and by how horrible the government response has been.
But it's not just what Bush HASN'T done after Katrina that's so horrible; it's what he did before that is, if possible, more horrible.
01:24 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Mr. Bill knew more than the Bubble Boy
The press and all Americans need to hold Bush accountable for this statement:
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
Even MR. BILL knew the levees would break -- more than a year ago! Windows Media video here.
10:59 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The poor matter.
From the Washington Post, a New Orleans resident:
"To me," said Bernadette Washington, "it just seems like black people are marked. We have so many troubles and problems."
And black people have a President who is not only responsible for creating many of these problems, he patently doesn't care about the people or the problems.
Van Jones has a piece on HuffPost about the politics of race in this disaster. To sum up: black people are getting screwed. Again.
In a second post on HuffPost, the brilliant Mr. Jones goes further:
Poor people and Black people didn't "choose to stay behind." They were left behind. All evacuation plans required the city's residents to have working, private cars -- plus gas money, nearby relatives or funds for a hotel stay. And if you didn't have all those things, tough luck.Had the responsible agencies valued the lives of the poor, they would have helped the destitute flee in the face of the hurricane -- even those who couldn't afford a car or a motel room. But when the "face of suffering" is Black, somehow our high standards for effective action and compassion begin to sag.
Of course, seeing this, Bush could have taken a strong stand for the poor and the suffering. But his half-hearted, emotionally flat statement on Wednesday did little to rally the nation. It seems that, as long as "the terrorists" didn't do it, Bush just can't get himself too worked up about Americans dying by the hundreds.
[snip]
We must not be afraid to speak that truth. Some will say that this is no time for playing the "blame game." No time for engaging in "divisive politics."
Pardon me. To the contrary: this is exactly the time to draw a clear line of distinction between those of us who have always fought to invest in this country -- and those who happily squandered the national treasure on give-aways and imperial adventures. Between those of us who have long fought to protect the most vulnerable among us, and those who have worked feverishly to undo those protections.
This is no time for progressives to be hemmed in by some false "unity" with a President whose policies are largely to blame for this disaster. Too much is at stake, going forward.
In the short term, we must exert maximum pressure on the federal government to pull out all stops to rescue people and re-establish peace and good order. And in the weeks to come, we must demand an immediate repeal of the tax cuts -- to enable a massive investment for rebuilding New Orleans and repairing the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Also, any Louisiana and Mississippi guardsmen who want to return home from Iraq to aid their statesmen should be allowed to do so.
The truth is that the poor people of Louisiana were deliberately left behind -- and not just over the weekend. Our political leaders as a class -- and George W. Bush, in particular -- left them behind a long time ago.
"It just seems like black people are marked," said Mrs. Washington. Yes. Our "leadership" has marked black people as unimportant, as collateral damage, as looters and thieves. Wrong. One of the greatest American heroes of the 20th century was a black person, and we can be sure that, were he alive today, Dr. King would have been in New Orleans days ago helping to bail people out, not picking a guitar or going to see Spamalot.
04:33 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Unbelievable.
Bush on GMA today (link from the Washington Post):
"It's very important for the citizens in all affected areas to take personal responsibility and assume a kind of a civic sense of responsibility so that the situation doesn't get out of hand, so people don't exploit the vulnerable."
What a fucking hypocrite. How DARE this man lecture anyone on responsibility? He could, however, deliver a position paper on how best to exploit the vulnerable.
04:27 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Accountability
Paul Krugman, as ever, on point in tomorrow's NYT:
Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.
[snip]
Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.
So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.
Bush is, quite simply, responsible. We need Congress to do its job and hold him accountable, though, unfortunately, they are accessories to the crime.
04:09 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Anderson Cooper does his job.
It has taken this utter horror, this wholesale massacre of American life, for the media to start doing its job after five years of hibernation.
Here's Anderson Cooper hounding Dem. Sen. Mary Landrieu for REAL answers:
LANDREIU: Let me just say a few things. Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Alabama to our help and rescue.I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts.
Anderson, tonight, I don't know if you've heard -- maybe you all have announced it -- but Congress is going to an unprecedented session to pass a $10 billion supplemental bill tonight to keep FEMA and the Red Cross up and operating.
COOPER: Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated.
And when they hear politicians slap -- you know, thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there's not enough facilities to take her up.
Do you get the anger that is out here?
LANDRIEU: Anderson, I have the anger inside of me. Most of the homes in my family have been destroyed. Our homes have been destroyed. I understand what you're saying, and I know all of those details. And the president of the United States knows those details.
COOPER: Well, who are you angry at?
LANDRIEU: I'm not angry at anyone. I'm just expressing that it is so important for everyone in this nation to pull together, for all military assets and all assets to be brought to bare in this situation.
And I have every confidence that this country is as great and as strong as we can be do to that. And that effort is under way.
COOPER: Well, I mean, there are a lot of people here who are kind of ashamed of what is happening in this country right now, what is -- ashamed of what is happening in your state, certainly.
And that's not to blame the people who are there. It's a desperate situation. But I guess, you know, who can -- I mean, no one seems to be taking responsibility.
I mean, I know you say there's a time and a place for, kind of, you know, looking back, but this seems to be the time and the place. I mean, there are people who want answers, and there are people who want someone to stand up and say, "You know what? We should have done more. Are all the assets being brought to bear?"
"I'm not angry at anyone"? How can Mary Landrieu say that with a straight face? Does she not read the multitude of reports about how Bush cut funding for levee building that she, herself, was BEGGING for?
Cooper nails it: someone has to take responsability. But I guess W doesn't stand for "wesponsable."
Watch video of Cooper and Landrieu at crooksandliars.
03:54 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Impeach him now.
A child can understand why George W. Bush needs to be let go from his job. Whether he is uncaring or imcompetent (I'm thinking some of both) doesn't matter. His actions are clear. To say he screwed up is a MASSIVE understatement. He took actions that directly led to the SCALE of a disaster we're only just beginning to fathom. And, shockingly, he has continued to act in a way that only increases the level of death and destruction to American life.
Hunter over at Daily Kos sums the whole horrible situation brilliantly. Here's an excerpt:
This was a disaster the country had been preparing for. This was one of the disasters most predicted, most feared, most planned for. There was two days of advance warning, as the massive, category 5 hurricane shifted purposefully towards New Orleans. This was no terrorist attack -- this time, there was warning. This time, there was knowledge.These deaths, these men, these women, these infants dying now in these hours didn't have to happen. They did not have to die waiting for convoys to gather outside their city or for reservists to stand alongside their shattered police forces. They did not have to wait in darkness and fear for help to arrive, only to struggle for days without that help ever coming.
This is not politics. This is not partisanship.
This is unforgivable.
Do we have to wait to start counting bodies in the thousands to begin impeachment proceedings?
03:42 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
September 01, 2005
Sorry, Bush apologists, but Katrina IS about politics.
If we're to arrest global warming, it has to be done through political action.
Which is why we first have to understand how political action led to Katrina.
Here's Ross Gelbspan again:
Even if we all sat in the dark and rode bicycles, it would not stop global warming, especially given the reliance on coal in India and China and on oil in Mexico and Nigeria and the developing countries. We need to take the lead in spearheading a rapid transition to clean energy. That will happen only through political pressure, and hopefully through pressure on the United States from a lot of the European countries that are already moving in that direction. I would just make a short plug. In my book, Boiling Point, that will be out in paperback next month, the last chapter deals with a set of policy strategies that would propel this kind of transition. This is not a technology issue. We have all these renewable sources right now. It’s really a political issue. And so, I would urge people to take political action to force this kind of change.
For more informed comment from Gelbspan, an expert on global warming, check out his website, www.theheatisonline.org.
05:30 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Give credit where due.
HUGE funding cuts by Bush + HUGE hurricane caused in part by Bush-supported pro-global warming policies = Worst Natural Disaster in US History.
Yes, it doesn't take a climatologist or an economist to see that we can lay a great deal of the blame for the Katrina devastation at the feet of one guitar-strummin', dog-carryin', vacation-takin' man: George W. Bush.
Here are the facts:
Knight-Ridder on Bush's funding cuts:
Federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, according to budget documents. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu requested $27 million this year.Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper and a local business magazine reported that the effects of the budget cuts at the Army Corps of Engineers were severe.
In 2004, the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported.
Pulizter Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan speaking on Democracy Now about the causal link from Bush policies to global warming to Katrina:
It's very clear that global warming does not make more hurricanes, but it makes hurricanes much stronger. And that's because hurricanes take their energy from the temperature of surface waters. In the case of Katrina, it started as a category one, I think 70 mile-an-hour winds when it glanced off South Florida, but as it moved through the Gulf where surface temperatures are about 80 degrees, it became enormously more powerful. I think the winds reached about 170 degrees, and that is a big reason for this incredible devastation that we have been seeing. It's very interesting that also Sir David King, who is Tony Blair's science adviser, made a direct link between hurricane intensity and global warming, and coincidentally, there was a piece of research done by Dr. Kerry Emmanuel at M.I.T. that came out just a couple of weeks ago that found that tropical storms had become 50% more severe in the last 30 years, again because of rising temperatures.We have to cut our emissions worldwide by 70%, and that threatens the survival of the coal and oil industry. We need a rapid global transition to clean energy. Unfortunately, the White House, under the Bush administration, has become the East Coast branch of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal. And those companies and those industries are really calling all of the shots for climate and energy policy in this White House.
9/11, Iraq, Katrina: how many dead Americans on Bush's watch?
05:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer
Someone explain this nonsense to me
"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," [Bush] said in Oval Office remarks with his father and Clinton at his side.
Is there some sort of frivolous gas buying trend we don't know about? Bands of half-stoned teens going from pump to pump squirting fuel in the air like a lawn sprinkler?
In a nation which functions via automobile, it's like saying, "Don't blink if you don't need to."
05:05 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Jack Cafferty for president -- now
If only our actual president were as determined and clear-headed as CNN's Jack Cafferty.
This commentary is a MUST SEE.
04:56 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Hastert brings us today's WTF?! quote
Asked in an interview with the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago paper, whether it makes sense to spend billions rebuilding a city that lies below sea level, a reference to New Orleans, Hastert replied, "I don't know. That doesn't make sense to me."
Full story here - quotes at the bottom.
04:48 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Flood control has been a priority? When?
Today's Scotty Mac atrocity:
REPORTER: There's a lot of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans in particular were underfunded because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Do you find any of this criticism legitimate? Do you think there is any second guessing to be done now about priorities given that [a disaster in] New Orleans was sort of obvious to a lot of the experts?MCCLELLAN: As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that's where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. So if that's what you're talking about, that's one thing. Now, if you're talking about specific areas, I would be glad to talk about some of those, if that's what you want.
REPORTER: I'm talking about policy
REPORTER: One project, for instance, is the one where people felt they needed $60 million in the current `06 fiscal year, and they were given $10 million. Those types of projects. And a lot --
MCCLELLAN: Which project is this?
REPORTER: Southeast Louisiana Flood Control.
MCCLELLAN: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one.
More here.
04:30 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
In other tragic news...
Forgive me for interjecting this in and amongst Katrina posts, but this is extremely upsetting to me.
Some of the great apes - chimps, gorillas, and orangutans - could be extinct in the wild within a human generation, a new assessment concludes . . . Human settlement, logging, mining and disease mean that orangutans in parts of Indonesia may lose half of their habitat within five years.
In addition to donating to the hurricane relief effort, I urge you to take a moment to consider contributing to GRASP, a UN effort to preserve great ape populations in the wild. Go here.
04:03 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
GOP preemptively screwed Katrina victims
Remember Bush's horrible Bankruptcy Bill? It goes into effect on October 17 and unless something happens immediately, the victims of Katrina will be totally screwed.
Rep. John Conyers and fellow House Dems are planning to sponsor legislation to exempt hurricane victims starting on the first day Congress returns. The trouble is, when a similar amendment was brought up prior to the bill passing, the amendment failed with -- you guessed it -- votes falling along party lines. Republicans against it, Democrats for it.
John Conyers:
When the Judiciary Committee considered the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act earlier this year, Ms. Jackson Lee offered an amendment to protect the victims of natural disaster like those now devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While the amendment was defeated on a party line vote without any debate, we hope that in light of recent events our colleagues will recognize the importance of protecting our most financially vulnerable Americans.
More at Eschaton.
03:50 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Karl Rove is a fleshy-haired jackass
More from Bradblog.
Thanks to Josh Dobbin for the tip.
03:47 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Wolcott: Hold Bush accountable starting NOW
There is no "next week" when it comes to getting answers and fixing accountability for failure under this president. Next week never comes.
Full article. A MUST READ.
02:39 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
If you're poor and in need of gas...
The Hess station across the street from my studio just moments ago. This morning at around 10 a.m., the price for regular was $2.99.
02:03 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush fumbles as people die
Bush on Good Morning America:
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
As most of us following THE NEWS are aware, discussions of the levees stretch back to the first reports that Katrina would hit New Orleans. Furthermore, the levees have been an issue for YEARS!
From 2004:
For the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees, a complex network of concrete walls, metal gates and giant earthen berms that won't be finished for at least another decade.
And now... This from the Superdome...
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.
There aren't words. Who shall these people look to for support and leadership? Who's minding the store here? And what's still to come?
01:12 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
NY Times: Waiting for a leader
Today's Times nailed it on the head:
George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.
Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?
09:49 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
August 31, 2005
The Hurricane President
Via Kos, this was President Bush yesterday while New Orleans was being overtaken by the Gulf of Mexico. A snarky caption isn't needed. Proof I'm not making this up here.
10:54 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Hurricane Katrina
Red Cross
Salvation Army
Pets and animal rescue
10:48 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
