by DrDebugDU » Sun Sep 04, 2005 4:35 pm
Fires burn along river; thousands wait to leave<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Evacuees wait as relief efforts build<br><br>Military efforts begin amid suffering at convention center, hospitals<br><br>NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) - - Thousands of people faced the prospect of spending another night outside of a New Orleans convention center, as a stream of buses worked to move out the 30,000 evacuees who have been stranded there for days amid mounds of trash and human waste.<br>Authorities with the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Saturday that 4,000 people had been bused from the Ernest Morial Convention Center.<br><br>A huge convoy of buses and military vehicles brought food, water and medical supplies to the convention center Friday afternoon. (See the squalid refugee-camp conditions at the center -- 2:30)<br><br>The evacuees headed to the staging area in an orderly fashion when the buses returned Saturday morning, leaving behind the mountains of trash.<br><br>Elsewhere in the city, a helicopter hovered above power lines in one flooded neighborhood, dropping food and water to survivors. One man waved in thanks after wading into the contaminated, waist-deep water to get some supplies.<br><br>Outside the metropolitan area, attention turned to Katrina's rural victims Saturday.<br><br>"Because we've been so busy in New Orleans, we forgot about the country people, and we're trying to address them now," said Richard Zuschlag of Acadian Ambulance Service.<br><br>Besides Orleans Parish, the military has established a strong presence in Jefferson Parish to the south, but hasn't begun a systemic search for survivors outside of the metropolitan area, he said.<br><br>Saturday, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens in Chalmette made an urgent request to an ambulance service pilot to ask the military to send food and water to about 2,000 people in the town about five miles southeast of New Orleans.<br><br>Authorities said that they have evacuated some 42,000 people from New Orleans proper by bus, air and Amtrak trains. They also said that three Carnival cruise ships were on their way to the area to serve as temporary housing. Most of the evacuees have been moved to shelters in Texas.<br><br>Heavily armed law enforcement units were patrolling the city to restore order after reports of gangs prowling the city, looting, raping and killing at will.<br><br>A New Orleans police sergeant said Friday that he'd seen bodies riddled with bullet holes.<br><br>The Louisiana State Patrol said that there were no confirmed reports of violence overnight. (CNN's Bill Schneider on the question: Who's in control? -- 2:14)<br><br>A fire at the Shops at Canal Place, at the foot of Canal Street near the Aquarium of the Americas, started "under suspicious circumstances" since the building has no electricity or gas, firefighters told CNN.<br><br>The firefighters battled the blaze throughout the day aided by four water tankers that had been sent to New Orleans from Mississippi. Earlier, people could be seen leaving the building carrying shopping bags filled with merchandise.<br><br>Fifty-foot flames also engulfed an industrial district along the Mississippi River and threatened to spread from warehouse to warehouse. (Watch the fires sweep along waterfront -- 5:05)<br><br>Although much of the city is covered with foul water, there is no water pressure. An attempt to bring water tankers and fireboats into the area was unsuccessful.<br><br>Bush: 'We will make it right'<br><br>In a rare live radio address Saturday, President Bush said more than 7,000 additional troops will be sent over the next 24 to 72 hours to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. (Full story)<br><br>"Where our response is not working, we will make it right," he said.<br><br>Bush visited hard-hit areas Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana on Friday before returning to Washington to sign a $10.5 billion relief bill. (Full story)<br><br>Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters on Saturday that government officials did not expect both a powerful hurricane and a breach of levees that would flood the city of New Orleans.<br><br>"That perfect storm of combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight," Chertoff said.<br><br>He called the disaster "breathtaking in its surprise."<br><br>But government officials, scientists, and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years.<br><br>Many Americans have expressed outrage over what they perceived to be a slow response from the federal government.<br><br>Some questioned whether race was a factor in treatment of the largely black evacuee population.<br><br>The Rev. Al Sharpton said Saturday in Houston that race played a role, and called President Bush's response to the crisis "inexcusable." Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have criticized the pace of relief efforts, saying response was slow because those most affected are poor. (Full story)<br><br>Hospital evacuated<br><br>At New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport on Saturday, babies slept on flattened cardboard boxes as hundreds of evacuees waited to be airlifted.<br><br>CNN's Ed Lavandera described a "thunderous buzz" of helicopters delivering evacuees to the airport, where they were getting medical treatment before being moved on to more permanent shelters.<br><br>"The hallways are filled, the floors are filled. There are thousands of people there," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told The Associated Press during a visit to the airport. "A lot more than eight to 10 people are dying a day. It's a distribution problem. The doctors are doing a great job, the nurses are doing a great job."<br><br>The last 200 patients, who had waited in primitive conditions, were evacuated from Charity Hospital, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported. (Full story)<br><br>The hospital has no power, no water and no food. The bodies of patients who have died had been stored in stairwells because the hospital's morgue is flooded.<br><br>Although bodies have been spotted for days throughout the city, New Orleans officials have no death toll, instead focusing on rescuing the living.<br><br>Residents in Harrison County, Mississippi, complained about the slow pace of the removal of bodies.<br><br>People in one Biloxi neighborhood showed CNN the body of their neighbor, wedged under a porch. They said emergency officials are aware of the body and told them not to remove it.<br><br>In another Biloxi neighborhood, residents said they found 25 bodies washed up from the floodwaters. (Watch report on growing frustration in Mississippi -- 2:16)<br><br>Other developments<br><br>About 15,000 people have been evacuated to Houston's Astrodome, which officials say is filled to capacity. Two other shelters were opened nearby that can hold an estimated 26,000 people. (Watch evacuees react to Texas hospitality -- 2:13)<br>The U.S. Air Force will send 300 troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help their families cope with emergencies on a hurricane-devastated air base in Biloxi, Mississippi, a spokesman said Saturday. (Full story)<br>Offers of support have poured in from all over the world. Many countries have offered condolences and made donations to the Red Cross, including Britain, Japan, Australia and Sri Lanka, which is still recovering from last year's tsunami. (Full story)<br><br>CNN's Sean Callebs, Sanjay Gupta, Ed Lavandera, Chris Lawrence and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Act of God (I was wondering where he was, says Rove): NOW, sir: send in those Nat'l Guard: its Thursday evening and the orders go out to get the NG in there.<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>WASHINGTON - Another 10,000 National Guard troops are being sent to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, raising their number to about 40,000, but questions linger about the speed with which troops were deployed.<br><br>Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.<br><br>New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last 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.<br><br>California troops just began arriving in Louisiana on Friday, three days after flood waters devastated New Orleans and chaos broke out.<br><br>In fact, when New Orleans' levees gave way to deadly flooding on Tuesday, Louisiana's National Guard had received help from troops in only three other states: Ohio, which had nine people in Louisiana then; Oklahoma, 89; and Texas, 625, figures provided by the National Guard show.<br><br>Maj. Gen. Thomas Cutler, who leads the Michigan National Guard, said he anticipated a call for police units and started preparing them, but couldn't go until states in the hurricane zone asked them to come.<br><br>"We could have had people on the road Tuesday," Cutler said. "We have to wait and respond to their need."<br><br>The Michigan National Guard was asked for military police by Mississippi late Tuesday and by Louisiana officials late Wednesday. The state sent 182 MPs to Mississippi on Friday and had 242 headed to Louisiana on Saturday.<br><br>Typically, the authority to use the National Guard in a state role lies with the governor, who tells his or her adjutant general to order individual Guard units to begin duty. Turnaround time varies depending on the number of troops involved, their location and their assigned missions.<br><br>One factor that may have further complicated post-Katrina deployment arose when Louisiana discovered it needed Guardsmen to do more law enforcement duty because a large portion of the New Orleans police force was not functioning, according to Lt. Gen. Steven H. Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon.<br><br>Because the agreement that was already in existence for states to contribute Guard troops to Louisiana did not include a provision on their use in law enforcement, Blum said, Gov. Blanco had to get separate written agreements authorizing Guardsmen to do police-type duty.<br><br>Still, Blum said, this took only minutes to execute.<br><br>With many states' Guard units depleted by deployments to Iraq, Katrina's aftermath was almost certain from the beginning to require help from faraway states.<br><br>Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress are just beginning to ask why one of the National Guard's most trusted roles — disaster relief — was so uneven, delayed and chaotic this time around.<br><br>Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., said the situation has shown major breakdowns in the nation's emergency response capabilities. "There must be some accountability in this process after the crisis is addressed," he said.<br><br>Democrat Ben Nelson, Nebraska's other senator, said he now questions National Guard leaders' earlier assertions that they had enough resources to respond to natural disasters even with the Iraq war.<br><br>"I'm going to ask that question again," Nelson said. "Do we have enough (troops), and if we do, why were they not deployed sooner?"<br><br>President Bush was asked that question Friday as he toured the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast area and said he disagrees with criticism the military is stretched too thin.<br><br>"We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the Gulf Coast, and we'll do both," he said.<br><br>Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., plans to make oversight of the Defense Department, the National Guard and their assistance his top priority when he returns to Washington next week from an overseas trips, spokesman John Ullyot said Friday.<br><br>Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the disaster area himself, as he did after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks . But the troops four years ago were deployed for national security protection, and presidents of both parties traditionally defer to governors to deploy their own National Guardsmen and request help from other states when it comes to natural disasters.<br><br>In addition to Guard help, the federal government could have activated, but did not, a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract with airlines. The program, called Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, lets the government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service.<br><br>The CRAF provision has been activated twice, once for the Persian Gulf War and again for the Iraq war.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>The Big One: It's just a Matter of Time<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>THE BIG ONE<br><br>A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time.<br><br>By Mark Schleifstein and John McQuaid<br>Staff writers<br><br>The line of splintered planks, trash and seaweed scattered along the slope of New Orleans' lakefront levees on Hayne Boulevard in late September 1998 marked more than just the wake of Hurricane Georges. It measured the slender margin separating the city from mass destruction.<br><br>The debris, largely the remains of about 70 camps smashed by the waves of a storm surge more than 7 feet above sea level, showed that Georges, a Category 2 storm that only grazed New Orleans, had pushed waves to within a foot of the top of the levees. A stronger storm on a slightly different course -- such as the path Georges was on just 16 hours before landfall -- could have realized emergency officials' worst- case scenario: hundreds of billions of gallons of lake water pouring over the levees into an area averaging 5 feet below sea level with no natural means of drainage.<br><br>That would turn the city and the east bank of Jefferson Parish into a lake as much as 30 feet deep, fouled with chemicals and waste from ruined septic systems, businesses and homes. Such a flood could trap hundreds of thousands of people in buildings and in vehicles. At the same time, high winds and tornadoes would tear at everything left standing. Between 25,000 and 100,000 people would die, said John Clizbe, national vice president for disaster services with the American Red Cross.<br><br>"A catastrophic hurricane represents 10 or 15 atomic bombs in terms of the energy it releases," said Joseph Suhayda, a Louisiana State University engineer who is studying ways to limit hurricane damage in the New Orleans area. "Think about it. New York lost two big buildings. Multiply that by 10 or 20 or 30 in the area impacted and the people lost, and we know what could happen."<br><br>Hundreds of thousands would be left homeless, and it would take months to dry out the area and begin to make it livable. But there wouldn't be much for residents to come home to. The local economy would be in ruins.<br><br>The scene has been played out for years in computer models and emergency-operations simulations. Officials at the local, state and national level are convinced the risk is genuine and are devising plans for alleviating the aftermath of a disaster that could leave the city uninhabitable for six months or more. The Army Corps of Engineers has begun a study to see whether the levees should be raised to counter the threat. But officials say that right now, nothing can stop "the big one."<br><br>Like coastal Bangladesh, where typhoons killed 100,000 and 300,000 villagers, respectively, in two horrific storms in 1970 and 1991, the New Orleans area lies in a low, flat coastal area. Unlike Bangladesh, New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. Though providing protection from weaker storms, the levees also would trap any water that gets inside -- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour -- in a catastrophic storm.<br><br>"Filling the bowl" is the worst potential scenario for a natural disaster in the United States, emergency officials say. The Red Cross' projected death toll dwarfs estimates of 14,000 dead from a major earthquake along the New Madrid, Mo., fault, and 4,500 dead from a similar catastrophic earthquake hitting San Francisco, the next two deadliest disasters on the agency's list.<br><br>The projected death and destruction eclipse almost any other natural disaster that people paid to think about catastrophes can dream up. And the risks are significant, especially over the long term. In a given year, for example, the corps says the risk of the lakefront levees being topped is less than 1 in 300. But over the life of a 30-year mortgage, statistically that risk approaches 9 percent.<br><br>In the past year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have begun working with state and local agencies to devise plans on what to do if a Category 5 hurricane strikes New Orleans.<br><br>Shortly after he took office, FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh ordered aides to examine the nation's potential major catastrophes, including the New Orleans scenario.<br><br>"Catastrophic disasters are best defined in that they totally outstrip local and state resources, which is why the federal government needs to play a role," Allbaugh said. "There are a half-dozen or so contingencies around the nation that cause me great concern, and one of them is right there in your back yard."<br><br>In concert with state and local officials, FEMA is studying evacuation procedures, postdisaster rescue strategies, temporary housing and technical issues such as how to pump out water trapped inside the levees, said Michael Lowder, chief of policy and planning in FEMA's Readiness, Response and Recovery directorate. A preliminary report should be completed in the next few months.<br><br>Louisiana emergency management officials say they lobbied the agency for years to study how to respond to New Orleans' vulnerability, finally getting attention last year.<br><br>With computer modeling of hurricanes and storm surges, disaster experts have developed a detailed picture of how a storm could push Lake Pontchartrain over the levees and into the city.<br><br>"The worst case is a hurricane moving in from due south of the city," said Suhayda, who has developed a computer simulation of the flooding from such a storm. On that track, winds on the outer edges of a huge storm system would be pushing water in Breton Sound and west of the Chandeleur Islands into the St. Bernard marshes and then Lake Pontchartrain for two days before landfall.<br><br>"Water is literally pumped into Lake Pontchartrain," Suhayda said. "It will try to flow through any gaps, and that means the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (which is connected to Breton Sound by the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet) and the Chef Menteur and the Rigolets passes.<br><br>"So now the lake is 5 to 8 feet higher than normal, and we're talking about a lake that's only 15 or 20 feet deep, so you're adding a third to a half as much water to the lake," Suhayda said. As the eye of the hurricane moves north, next to New Orleans but just to the east, the winds over the lake switch around to come from the north.<br><br>"As the eye impacts the Mississippi coastline, the winds are now blowing south across the lake, maybe at 50, 80, 100 mph, and all that water starts to move south," he said. "It's moving like a big army advancing toward the lake's hurricane-protection system. And then the winds themselves are generating waves, 5 to 10 feet high, on top of all that water. They'll be breaking and crashing along the sea wall."<br><br>Soon waves will start breaking over the levee.<br><br>"All of a sudden you'll start seeing flowing water. It'll look like a weir, water just pouring over the top," Suhayda said. The water will flood the lakefront, filling up low-lying areas first, and continue its march south toward the river. There would be no stopping or slowing it; pumping systems would be overwhelmed and submerged in a matter of hours.<br><br>"Another scenario is that some part of the levee would fail," Suhayda said. "It's not something that's expected. But erosion occurs, and as levees broke, the break will get wider and wider. The water will flow through the city and stop only when it reaches the next higher thing. The most continuous barrier is the south levee, along the river. That's 25 feet high, so you'll see the water pile up on the river levee."<br><br>As the floodwaters invade and submerge neighborhoods, the wind will be blowing at speeds of at least 155 mph, accompanied by shorter gusts of as much as 200 mph, meteorologists say, enough to overturn cars, uproot trees and toss people around like dollhouse toys.<br><br>The wind will blow out windows and explode many homes, even those built to the existing 110-mph building-code standards. People seeking refuge from the floodwaters in high-rise buildings won't be very safe, recent research indicates, because wind speed in a hurricane gets greater with height. If the winds are 155 mph at ground level, scientists say, they may be 50 mph stronger 100 feet above street level.<br><br>Buildings also will have to withstand pummeling by debris picked up by water surging from the lakefront toward downtown, with larger pieces acting like battering rams.<br><br>Ninety percent of the structures in the city are likely to be destroyed by the combination of water and wind accompanying a Category 5 storm, said Robert Eichorn, former director of the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness. The LSU Hurricane Center surveyed numerous large public buildings in Jefferson Parish in hopes of identifying those that might withstand such catastrophic winds. They found none.<br><br>Amid this maelstrom, the estimated 200,000 or more people left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter in New Orleans for people too sick or infirm to leave the city. Others will end up in last-minute emergency refuges that will offer minimal safety. But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground.<br><br>Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days.<br><br>"If you look at the World Trade Center collapsing, it'll be like that, but add water," Eichorn said. "There will be debris flying around, and you're going to be in the water with snakes, rodents, nutria and fish from the lake. It's not going to be nice."<br><br>Mobilized by FEMA, search and rescue teams from across the nation will converge on the city. Volunteer teams of doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians that were pre-positioned in Monroe or Shreveport before the storm will move to the area, said Henry Delgado, regional emergency coordinator for the U.S. Public Health Service.<br><br>But just getting into the city will be a problem for rescuers. Approaches by road may be washed out.<br><br>"Whether or not the Airline Highway bridge across the Bonnet Carre Spillway survives, we don't know," said Jay Combe, a coastal hydraulic engineer with the corps. "The I-10 bridge (west of Kenner) is designed to withstand a surge from a Category 3 storm, but it may be that water gets under the spans, and we don't know if it will survive." Other bridges over waterways and canals throughout the city may also be washed away or made unsafe, he said. In a place where cars may be useless, small boats and helicopters will be used to move survivors to central pickup areas, where they can be moved out of the city. Teams of disaster mortuary volunteers, meanwhile, will start collecting bodies. Other teams will bring in temporary equipment and goods, including sanitation facilities, water, ice and generators. Food, water and medical supplies will be airdropped to some areas and delivered to others.<br><br>Stranded survivors will have a dangerous wait even after the storm passes. Emergency officials worry that energized electrical wires could pose a threat of electrocution and that the floodwater could become contaminated with sewage and with toxic chemicals from industrial plants and backyard sheds. Gasoline, diesel fuel and oil leaking from underground storage tanks at service stations may also become a problem, corps officials say.<br><br>A variety of creatures -- rats, mice and nutria, poisonous snakes and alligators, fire ants, mosquitoes and abandoned cats and dogs -- will be searching for the same dry accommodations that people are using.<br><br>Contaminated food or water used for bathing, drinking and cooking could cause illnesses including salmonella, botulism, typhoid and hepatitis. Outbreaks of mosquito-borne dengue fever and encephalitis are likely, said Dr. James Diaz, director of the department of public health and preventive medicine at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans.<br><br>"History will repeat itself," Diaz said. "My office overlooks one of the St. Louis cemeteries, where there are many graves of victims of yellow fever. Standing water in the subtropics is the breeding ground for mosquitoes."<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>FEMA "said they had to CONTRACT OUT for that and couldn't use volunteers.<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4608106&mesg_id=4608106">www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4608106&mesg_id=4608106</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Pirate Smile (1000+ posts) <br>Sat Sep-03-05 05:58 PM<br>Original message<br><br>OMG. A group in Florida wanted to volunteer to bring in 500 air boats to help in the rescue efforts.<br><br>FEMA "emphatically" refused. They said they had to CONTRACT OUT for that and couldn't use volunteers.<br><br>Republican Rep. Mark Foley just said that on MSNBC.<br><br>UN.F#$KING.BELIEVABLE!<br><br>edit to add - After this segment, they had on one of their military experts that MSNBC has on all the time.<br><br>He said (paraphrasing)- This is a question of leadership. If the regulations in the beaurocracy required things that were untenable in the crisis, then a leader sees it and does what you need to to make it possible. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, if there was a question about posse comitatus or something like that, a leader would be able to determine when the rules or laws are more harmful to the people, the reasons why the law is in place doesn't fit and a leader will suspend it or do what they have to do. This was a failure of leadership.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>BREAKING: Bush visit to New Orleans halts food delivery<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2058870">www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2058870</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Pirate Smile (1000+ posts) <br>Sat Sep-03-05 05:58 PM<br>Original message<br><br>OMG. A group in Florida wanted to volunteer to bring in 500 air boats<br><br><br>Edited on Sat Sep-03-05 06:42 PM by Pirate Smile<br><br>to help in the rescue efforts.<br><br>FEMA "emphatically" refused. They said they had to CONTRACT OUT for that and couldn't use volunteers.<br><br>Republican Rep. Mark Foley just said that on MSNBC.<br><br>UN.F#$KING.BELIEVABLE!<br><br>edit to add - After this segment, they had on one of their military experts that MSNBC has on all the time.<br><br>He said (paraphrasing)- This is a question of leadership. If the regulations in the beaurocracy required things that were untenable in the crisis, then a leader sees it and does what you need to to make it possible. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, if there was a question about posse comitatus or something like that, a leader would be able to determine when the rules or laws are more harmful to the people, the reasons why the law is in place doesn't fit and a leader will suspend it or do what they have to do. This was a failure of leadership.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Oops .Dept of Homeland Sec Web site claims FULL responsibility for any natural disaster<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/michael-chertof">americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/michael-chertof</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4612185">www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4612185</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Gloria (1000+ posts) <br>Sat Sep-03-05 09:29 PM<br>Original message<br><br>Oops. HomelandSec site claims FULL respons. for any Natural Disaster<br><br><br>http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/michael-chertof...<br><br><br>VIA the good folks at Americablog.com.....<br><br>Oops. Dept of Homeland Security Web site claims FULL responsibility for any natural disaster<br>by John in DC - 9/03/2005 01:06:00 PM<br><br>Again, oops.<br><br>The Dept of Homeland Security Web site says the agency will assume "primary responsibility" for any "natural disaster or large-scale emergency." So much for Bush and his surrogates claiming that the buck stops with the mayors and governors of the affected areas.<br><br>Click on the photo to see an enlargement of the Dept of Homeland Security web page claiming responsibility.<br><br><br>Preparing America<br><br>In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The new Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>bush faked levee repair for photo op yesterday<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4613605">www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4613605</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>tuvor (1000+ posts) <br>Sat Sep-03-05 10:39 PM<br>Original message<br><br>bush faked levee repair for photo op yesterday<br><br><br>Edited on Sat Sep-03-05 11:15 PM by tuvor<br><br>From AMERICAblog:<br><br>From a press release LA Senator Mary Landrieu sent out today:<br><br>But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young annd old - deserve far better from their national governmeent.<br><br>Thanks to speedoo, here's the original source: <br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4906">www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4906</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
