Who Are You Going to Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes?

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff claims that food and water are being provided to refugee concentrations, and that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff today on NPR's All Things Considered:

Robert Siegel: We are hearing from our reporter, he's on another line right now, thousands of people at the convention center in New Orleans with no food, zero.

Chertoff: As I said, I'm telling you we are getting food and water to areas where people are staging. The one about an episode like this is if you talk to someone or you get a rumor or an anecdotal version of something I think it's dangerous to extrapolate it all over the place.

[Snip]

Robert Siegel: But Mr. Secretary when you say we shouldn't listen to rumors. These are things coming from reporters who have not only covered many many other hurricanes, they've covered wars and refugee camps. These aren't rumors, they are saying there are thousands of people there.

Chertoff: I would be--I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water.

Comments

[Suffering Bruin]

Uncle.

I mean, I give. Just when you think this administration cannot sound any more inept, ill-informed and incompetent comes this crap from Chertoff.

The only--ONLY--good thing about this administration is that when it comes to uttering the inane, the elevator just keeps going down. That's great for The Daily Show but not so good for the country.

[jawbone]

But Chertoff did wish "Godspeed and good luck to all those who are suffering."

What a plan.

[zerohundred]

So... if we can't get food to the people in the 'safe' areasm WTF is happening to the people on the streets!??

[gil]

at this point, I have been asking myself - is this deliberate? are they making a political decision to let this continue? how could anyone really be this incompetent? (I know rhetorical...)

[Robert Earle]

A couple possibilities:

1) He's confusing the convention center with the Superdome.

2) He's parsing the language closely; ie. those starving aren't IN the convention center, they're OUTSIDE the convention center. BIG difference.

3) He's stupid.

4) He's a lying sack of shit.

5) He's part of the Bush Administration...oh wait, sorry, I already did that one above.

[Kathleen]

I believe Chertoff followed up with remarking that "those people" "chose" to stay anyway, despite the government warnings.

[monkyboy]

CBS has a poll showing a 54% approval rating on Bush's handling of Katrina. I sense another left-wing blog echo-chamber here. Sure, we all know how Bush policies contributed to the disaster, but...

Why aren't any prominent Demos in NO?

[Abbygal]

From a person living through it (http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/), the trucks are dumping water out the back and not letting people know it's there. There apparently isn't a coordinated effort at all.

[Steve]

For what its worth... I heard the late version of this report on NPR and after the interview and a conversation with the reporter, NPR stated that Chertoff (or his office) had called back confirming the convention center story and saying that they would be sending some assistance that way.

[Greg]

I heard the interview on my drive home. I almost felt embarrassed for Chertoff, he was that pathertic. I was hoping Siegel would touch on the absolute screwing of NO's defenses by Bush. I think he heard Chertoff say "uncle" and backed off...

[NHL]

PPP=PPP. That is all you need to know. "It's hard" is not an excuse when it's your job.

[David W.]

As soon as I heard Chertoff speak about being in charge of the relief operation, but then add that it was actually President Bush who was in charge, the stage was set for yet another case study of how everyone who works for Dubya sooner or later finds their reputation soiled and in tatters.

My advice to anyone asked by the Bush administration to work in any capacity for them is to politely refuse and pointedly add that they feel they can do their country more good by not joining what has become nothing more than a public relations office for the most incompetent President we have ever had the misfortune to suffer through.

[Brian]

In his defense, he's not lying, it's just that they're incompetent.

ZAHN: Sir, you aren't just telling me you just learned that the folks at the Convention Center didn't have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the Convention Center people until today.

[anicetis]

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff claims that food and water are being provided to refugee concentrations, and that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia:

Best opening sentence in all World, Blog and otherwise.

[Sarah Deere]

what utter screaming bullshit. Or, Bushit.

[pinson]

Did anyone here the bonus "after interview" bit from Siegel? Actually, it was from the followup interview with John Burnett on the scene. Here's a quick transcription:

"Later this afternoon, Secretary Chertoff's spokeswoman called to say that after our interview, he received a report confirmeing the situation at the COnvention Center and he says the department is workign tirelessly to get food and supplies to those in need in order to save lives..."

The crazy thing about this is that when they rolled out Chertoff as their guy for Homeland Security, he was widely acknowledged by the press and democrats as a competent guy who would be effective and get the job done. So how do you explain his performance on NPR? I mean, the convention center meltdown was on CNN and the AP wire all day long. This was not even news. I mean, if he didn't know about a particular fire or shooting incident, no big deal. But this was the story of the day (two dead bodies outside the Convention Center!) and the man in charge was utterly clueless. And then he had his spokeshuman call back to confirm that, yes indeed, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security has no idea at all of what's going on in New Orleans. Who is this stupid?

[Admiral Tirpitz]

I surprised we're still not at war with North Korea, given Kim Il-sung's military research into weather manipulation and global warming.

[Tosh]

Where is Winston Smith when you need him?

[Violet Strange]

Disaster Handling Rule #387

When selecting appointees to government positions where calming the public after disasters will occasionally be neccessary, do not hire someone who looks as though he or she feeds on corpses.

[save_the_rustbelt]

Even to this distant observer, we need to lift in a couple of infantry battalions of the 101st, supplemented by their air units, and married up with engineering battalions and medical battalions.

Sending in the Guard piecemeal ain't going to cut it.

If our Boy Scout camp was run this badly someone would get fired immediately.

[Harlemchick]

I am just so disgusted with this "chose to stay," bullshit.
Also, he was desperately hitting the "they are not going to DESIGNATED," distribution spots. WTF?!?!!? Were they broadcasting this on loudspeakers? The electricity is out, they have no food and water and you want them to check freaking NOLA.com??!?!
They are so setting up to blame these people, it's one of the lowest days of this country.

[Mean Gene]

Uh, anyone else putting together a disaster kit together since we all now know that, if the shit ever hits our particular fan, we can expect no return on our FEMA/Homeland Security investment? Chertoff should've been fired by the conclusion of that NPR interview--instead, he'll probably received the Medal of Freedom once the water has been pumped out of New Orleans and the active collection of corpses begins.

[jerry]

Okay, f*ck the administration, I will be the first with the broom handle.

But I am curious, why isn't every radio/tv station within flying range of New Orleans dropping supplies from their Traffic Copters? At what point do the journalists actually lend a hand?

[Ed Hunter]

The warm and wonderful Mike Chertoff just figures, "what's the rush already? Don't they understand that I'm very, very busy helping to plan the next false flag "terrorist attack" on the US that provides the cover for stealing of Iran's oil? I mean, it's not like those dirty schwarzes are human or anything like that, RamBam tells me so. Now if Katrina had hit Israel, now THAT would be a calamity worthy of my attention..."

What a brilliant pick to lead "Homeland Security", eh?
Just whose homeland and whose security are they referring to do you think?

[mario]

Understand this.
They are not incompetent.
They simply don't give a crap. They simply do not believe it's the government's job to help people. The government serves primarly to enrich their friends.

It's really very simple.

[WatchfulBabbler]

To be fair to Chertoff, he's been effectively set up to fail. By making one cabinet member the go-to authority for basically every possible protective, prophylactic, reactive, responsive, and analytical function that might conceivably affect the nebulous category of "homeland security," the DHS reorg created the seeds of the clusterfuck that is New Orleans. The real scandal is that the Feds have to date basically abdicated their role in restoring order and security to an area that no longer has any municipal law enforcement, and a small number of National Guard (mostly pulled from other states) as any exemplar of state authority.

For God's sake, give me back James Lee Witt's FEMA.

[jason]

This is so spot on:

As soon as I heard Chertoff speak about being in charge of the relief operation, but then add that it was actually President Bush who was in charge, the stage was set for yet another case study of how everyone who works for Dubya sooner or later finds their reputation soiled and in tatters.

My advice to anyone asked by the Bush administration to work in any capacity for them is to politely refuse and pointedly add that they feel they can do their country more good by not joining what has become nothing more than a public relations office for the most incompetent President we have ever had the misfortune to suffer through.

[snag]

Uh, Jerry, want to at ease with the borderline anti-Semitic comments? Yes, I know, anti-Israel doesn't equal anti-Jew, but still.

[moe]

Does anyone here, besides me remember the Berlin airlift? My god, if we could do it back in 1960, with godless communism breathing down our necks, why can't we do it more than 40 years later?

I also note that the Russians have offered us aid but it's my understanding that we have declined.

How pathetic.

[Kevin]

The only way he could not have heard about the convention center is by being deaf. As he apparently can hear, he must not care enough to listen.

[KevinNYC]

I believe we have also learned that FEMA is headed by someone who used to be an estate lawyer.

[piotr]

I think the Canadians offered help and we declined. We could not let them score such an obvious propaganda coup.

Reminds me when Reagan's people branded two Canadian movies "foreign propaganda" and demanded data on everybody showing them in US. One cannot be to careful with Canooks.

[David W.]

The Shrill One Speaks:

"I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

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."

[Ralph]

Chertoff has been a lawyer and a prosecutor. What does he know about "homeland security"?

Whatever that is.

[randall]

The pathetic son of a bitch has lost his shame gene. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident.

[tom f]

I'm finally able to turn on CNN, and after 45 min. of interesting news, they put on Larry King with...wait for it...

Bill Terry-looks-conscious-from-here Frist and Michael it's-a-rumor-that-three-days-after-Katrina-people gathered-on-high-ground-don't-have-food-or-water Chertoff.

What in god's name can I learn from these people? What is the possible news value of hearing pablum from Republican politicians?

I've got an analytic problem : a)I want to evaluate what could reasonably be expected as an aid effort in the wake of a predictable catastrophe and b)what exactly are the logistical problems involved in sending food and water to New Orleans. It seems that CNN gan give us human interest stories and news footage, up to date reports on aid developments, or the aforementioned analysese.

Again, what in god's name are Frist and Chertoff doing on a news organization that takes itself seriously? I rationally expect these guys will have little to no info. to impart and would actually impede the analysese that an intelligent viewer expects.

[bambi vs godzilla]

This is not an administration of public policy geeks. Remember John DiIulio?

"There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

[DR]

In case you didn't catch this in the Wash Post on Tue.

Destroying FEMA

By Eric Holdeman

Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A17
The writer is director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.

SEATTLE -- In the days to come, as the nation and the people along the Gulf Coast work to cope with the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we will be reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal agency capable of dealing with natural catastrophes of this sort. This is an immense human tragedy, one that will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond the capabilities of state and local government to deal with. It requires a national response.

Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why, at this moment, the country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being, in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security.

Apparently homeland security now consists almost entirely of protection against terrorist acts. How else to explain why the Federal Emergency Management Agency will no longer be responsible for disaster preparedness? Given our country's long record of natural disasters, how much sense does this make?

What follows is an obituary for what was once considered the preeminent example of a federal agency doing good for the American public in times of trouble, such as the present.

FEMA was born in 1979, the offspring of a number of federal agencies that had been functioning in an independent and uncoordinated manner to protect the country against natural disasters and nuclear holocaust. In its early years FEMA grew and matured, with formal programs being developed to respond to large-scale disasters and with extensive planning for what is called "continuity of government."

The creation of the federal agency encouraged states, counties and cities to convert from their civil defense organizations and also to establish emergency management agencies to do the requisite planning for disasters. Over time, a philosophy of "all-hazards disaster preparedness" was developed that sought to conserve resources by producing single plans that were applicable to many types of events.

But it was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992, that really energized FEMA. The year after that catastrophic storm, President Bill Clinton appointed James Lee Witt to be director of the agency. Witt was the first professional emergency manager to run the agency. Showing a serious regard for the cost of natural disasters in both economic impact and lives lost or disrupted, Witt reoriented FEMA from civil defense preparations to a focus on natural disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation. In an effort to reduce the repeated loss of property and lives every time a disaster struck, he started a disaster mitigation effort called "Project Impact." FEMA was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, in recognition of its important responsibilities coordinating efforts across departmental and governmental lines.

Witt fought for federal funding to support the new program. At its height, only $20 million was allocated to the national effort, but it worked wonders. One of the best examples of the impact the program had here in the central Puget Sound area and in western Washington state was in protecting people at the time of the Nisqually earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001. Homes had been retrofitted for earthquakes and schools were protected from high-impact structural hazards. Those involved with Project Impact thought it ironic that the day of that quake was also the day that the then-new president chose to announce that Project Impact would be discontinued.

Indeed, the advent of the Bush administration in January 2001 signaled the beginning of the end for FEMA. The newly appointed leadership of the agency showed little interest in its work or in the missions pursued by the departed Witt. Then came the Sept. 11 attacks and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Soon FEMA was being absorbed into the "homeland security borg."

This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that mission.

FEMA will be survived by state and local emergency management offices, which are confused about how they fit into the national picture. That's because the focus of the national effort remains terrorism, even if the Department of Homeland Security still talks about "all-hazards preparedness." Those of us in the business of dealing with emergencies find ourselves with no national leadership and no mentors. We are being forced to fend for ourselves, making do with the "homeland security" mission. Our "all-hazards" approaches have been decimated by the administration's preoccupation with terrorism.

To be sure, America may well be hit by another major terrorist attack, and we must be prepared for such an event. But I can guarantee you that hurricanes like the one that ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi yesterday, along with tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, windstorms, mudslides, power outages, fires and perhaps a pandemic flu will have to be dealt with on a weekly and daily basis throughout this country. They are coming for sure, sooner or later, even as we are, to an unconscionable degree, weakening our ability to respond to them.

The writer is director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.

[Sandwichman]

Drowning New Orleans, October 2001 Scientific American

"A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city..."

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000

Disaster in the Making, September 2004 Baltimore City Paper Online

“This is an exposed nerve in the emergency management community, in the sense that resources have been shifted away from hurricanes, tornados, and other kinds of disasters—the kind of disasters that are more likely to occur than terrorism.”

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9166

[boing!!!]

Tom Delay IS the Federal Government, and he was out drinking and whoring this week. He couldn't possibly have known.

[MTC]

Considering the Bush Administration's gross incompetence in safeguarding life and property in New York and now New Orleans, despite having been warned of impending disasters in both instances, should not the citizens of the San Francisco Bay Area ponder pre-emptive secession for their own safety?

[John McKinzey]

Pitiful... Having Americans die on American soil from dehydration. It's just totally inexcusable. This weekend, I was emailing my friends about how New Orleans could be in trouble... On Tuesday, W was cutting cake with McCain and strumming some guitar at a photo-op in California.... Maybe this latest asleep at the wheel moment will force the media to admit the obvious: we're ruled by morons.

[Movie Guy]

What a disgrace.

They don't have the first clue.

Someone needs to chain the FEMA Director to that bridge by the Superdome and make him stay down to run this operation side-by-side with the State of Louisiana.

If Brown flys back to Washington, D.C. after the President's visit on Friday, Congress should call for his head. Ditto for any clown that shows up down there wearing a coat and tie, or speaking with typical Washington doubletalk.

And the Dome-to-Dome Express move is not the right answer for more than a few weeks. So, where are those people going to be housed? Why aren't they ramping up available space at some of the military bases and posts being drawn down or already closed? Roll those FEMA trailers in and set up small conclaves of residents.

By the way, what's this crap about the college towns and cities in the Southeast kicking out the hurricane victims out of their hotels to accommodate football fans who already had reservations? Talk about misplaced priorities.

The disgraces continue to mount up.

This has to stop.

[PJ's Pissed]

Mean Gene wrote...

"But I am curious, why isn't every radio/tv station within flying range of New Orleans dropping supplies from their Traffic Copters? At what point do the journalists actually lend a hand?"

Exactly who's/what world are you living in? These journalist have been tirelessly assisting anyone they run across if it is within their ability to do so safely. We have elected and appointed officials who are very handsomely rewarded with our hard earned tax dollars whose job it is to "lend a hand" and they are nowhere in sight unless there a political posturing photo-op involved. I know for a fact, as someone whose entire family is there and now homeless, and who has been in front of every news station available since Sunday that every single journalist that is down there has personally helped someone, someway. Why muddy up the waters with such a lame attempt at diverting the real blame. BOTTOM LINE - the people responsible for handling this, starting with Bush shoud be held fully accountable for this horrific situation and no one else, especially not a journalist who is desperately trying to get information to the people. Those journalist are doing their job and the government official's. Frankly, I am amazed and thankful the journalist are starting to get pissed enough to put it out there and call it the way they're seeing it. And the sad part is the retaliation they will probably be faced with for doing so. F.Y.I. - I voted for Bush and I don't personally know a single journalist, so don't even bother.

[pj's pissed]

I am so sorry Mean Gene. The post I was referring to was made by Jerry, not you. Prime example of how things get completely screwed up when one starts spouting when one is sleep deprived, emotionally wrecked and has no business trying to write anything. I simply didn't realize the poster info was listed at the bottom of the post, not the top as in some other blogs. Again, my apology to you.

[clayton]

It's like he's a 21st Century Nero!

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/08/31/_a_tale_of_two_photo.html

[monkyboy]

Let's not drag Nero down to Bush's level, Clayton. Nero had some very good years before he lost it. I think Bush may be a little sociopathic. If so, he should be pitied. I looked on Wikipedia for symptoms of the disease and here is what they list:

A Three-Factor Model of Psychopathy

Arrogant/Deceitful Interpersonal Style

*Glibness/superficial charm
*Egocentricity/Grandiose sense of self-worth
*Pathological lying
*Cunning/Manipulative
*Deficient Affective Experience

Lack of remorse or guilt

*Callous/Lack of empathy
*Shallow affect
*Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
*Impulsive/Irresponsible Behavioral Style

Need for stimulation/Proneness to boredom

*Parasitic lifestyle
*Lack of realistic, long-term goals
*Impulsivity
*Irresponsibility

I see quite a few matches. Maybe Bush just can't feel anything for the victims of Katrina. It would explain a lot...

[Lush Rimbaugh]

Why do those people in New Orleans hate America?

[John McKinzey]

His symptoms also closely resemble the "dry drunk" scenario... do a google on "dry drunk" and its a virtual dead on profile of W.

[theorajones]

As someone living in a large city, I am terrified of the chaos that will erupt during the next disaster, because people have a reasonable expectation that NOTHING will be done to save them and it's every man for himself.

The next northeast blackout will NOT run so smoothly as the last one.

Tax cuts have consequences.

[John]

FYI, Chertoff's main claim to fame in the legal/corporate world was his decision to indict all of Arthur Andersen, rather than just the few partners responsible for Enron. That was his call, and we know what happened from there. Clearly, the guy is better at breaking things than fixing them. Sound like Iraq?

[JR]

This is an unmitigated disaster; we need the best people working on emergency management. We need the A-Team. Only the very best will be able to deal with this kind of catastrophe. Career emergency responders, civil engineers, peacekeeping personnel.

Sadly we don't have the A-Team. The administration decided to turn FEMA into a feeding trough for political patronage, and decided to replace federal efforts to prepare for natural disasters into private sector competitive bidding exercises.

[Innocent Bystander]

Ok, so they are completely incompetent in their abilities to manage public emergencies created by natural disasters. But I'll bet they raised a lot of money to get Bush-Cheney selected.

Grover, how's that federal government drowning in a bathtub sound now?

[anne]

"War and Peace" tells us what happens as the French advance on Moscow and the Russians generally evacuate. What can happen in an emptying city under terrifying pressure, with people who could not leave or chose not to leave wandering about? Conditions are harsh. for it is winter. Moscow almost immediately begins to decay, for cities are maintained by multitudes. Moscow burns. the French after a number of days finally enter Moscow, but there is nothing for them. This is the end of Napoleon. Tolstoy knew, always Tolstoy knew.

[diddy]

What would have been so wrong with Robert Siegel saying, "Mr. Chertoff, you are lying to me on live radio, and we will take every opportunity to remind the American people about it." Andy Cooper did this to Senator Landrieu last night. It's time for the people who have actually been there to tell the politicians to STFU until their words are accompanied by the food, water, medicine, transportation, and contingency plans that the people of N.O., Mississippi, and Alabama need now.

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02discrim.html

September 2, 2005

From Margins of Society to Center of the Tragedy
By DAVID GONZALEZ

The scenes of floating corpses, scavengers fighting for food and desperate throngs seeking any way out of New Orleans have been tragic enough. But for many African-American leaders, there is a growing outrage that many of those still stuck at the center of this tragedy were people who for generations had been pushed to the margins of society.

The victims, they note, were largely black and poor, those who toiled in the background of the tourist havens, living in tumbledown neighborhoods that were long known to be vulnerable to disaster if the levees failed. Without so much as a car or bus fare to escape ahead of time, they found themselves left behind by a failure to plan for their rescue should the dreaded day ever arrive.

"If you know that terror is approaching in terms of hurricanes, and you've already seen the damage they've done in Florida and elsewhere, what in God's name were you thinking?" said the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. "I think a lot of it has to do with race and class. The people affected were largely poor people. Poor, black people."

In the days since neighborhoods and towns along the Gulf Coast were wiped out by the winds and water, there has been a growing sense that race and class are the unspoken markers of who got out and who got stuck. Just as in developing countries where the failures of rural development policies become glaringly clear at times of natural disasters like floods or drought, many national leaders said, some of the United States' poorest cities have been left vulnerable by federal policies....

[JR]

I've had enough of Michael Brown claiming about the lack of communications with New Orleans. He says that FEMA doesn't know what's going on becuase nobody could have anticipated such a breakdown.

Bullshit. CNN and the networks have been reporting from New Orleans from the start. You want to know where people are congregating? Turn on the TV. You want to what's going on around the Superdome and the Convention Center? Turn on the TV.

[ericblair]

The crazy thing about this is that when they rolled out Chertoff as their guy for Homeland Security, he was widely acknowledged by the press and democrats as a competent guy who would be effective and get the job done.

Competent at what? Why put a federal prosecutor and judge with zero major organizational experience and no crisis management experience in one of the most complex and challenging management jobs in the world?

Probably because anyone with the experience and knowledge to actually attempt this job would know that the job is basically impossible and their real function is to be the designated scapegoat for the next disaster. Chertoff was respectable and had nice (but irrelevant) credentials, and must not have realized he was going to be sandbagged.

[me]

Someone needs to take a crayon and write a note to Bush "WMD hidden in floating dead bodies in NO!"

[bartkid]

"Godspeed and good luck to all those who are suffering" is not a viable national emergency response plan.

Can one reporter point that out to him.

Can a reporter ask what tv coverage the administration is watching - where is Chertoff getting his information.

Can one reporter ask Chertoff, give a simple explanation of what FEMA is doing today, what FEMA will be doing in 24 hours, what FEMA will be doing in 48 hours?

The whole administration - and Congress - needs a swift kick in the posterior. Vacation is most definitely over. And they should expect to work a whole lot of evenings and weekends this September.

[save_the_rustbelt]

In 1985 Hurricane Bob hit the Boy Scout Jamboree with high winds and flooding (nothing on the scale of N.O. of course). I was there as a visitor.

Five minutes after the high winds died down 14 and 15 year old boys were organizing to take head counts, triage the injured, move camps out of flood zones, reset tentage and repair damage. The boys and there volunteer leaders had most of the work done within 24 hours.

So what is Bush's excuse with a $2 trillion government and the military? What!?!?!

[carot]

"Understand this.
They are not incompetent.
They simply don't give a crap. They simply do not believe it's the government's job to help people. The government serves primarly to enrich their friends."

I disagree. The problem is they know nothing will happen to them personally as long as they stand by Bush so they have no incentive to do the job properly.

Right now there are others in the Bush administration creating just as bad a screw up, who are watching to what happens to those that let this happen. And when nothing does happen they'll breathe a sigh of relief and let the next screw up happen.

Team Bush is like the worst British left wing union. You can't do anything to them because they all support each other, and for that reason you can't make them do their job properly and you can't get them fired.

It's like that old song "you can't get me I'm part of the union".

[anne]

Tolstoy was a genius at simple observation, simple understanding. I am stunned at how well the evacuation of Moscow, a simple evacuation with no overt pressure, results in the destruction of the city. The Russians did not burn Moscow; that is myth. Russians left, but not all, and Tolstoy's Lev watches the city begin to decay almost at once as people with no place to go wander the city. Fires are built simply for warmth in winter, and fires are always dangerous but imagine how dangerous when there is no order left. The city decays, parts of the city begin to burn.

[save_the_rustbelt]

I understand even the Washington Times is tearing Bush a new rectum.

The Washington Times!

God, what a mess.

[No von Mises]

It's really nice to see the righties spew out Hayekian crap about "personal responsibility" in this monumental, dispicable crisis. The road to serfdom has passed through New Orleans and is rearing its ugly head.

The God the righties bastardized for political gain will wreak havoc on them. I just hope its soon for the sake of humanity.

Maybe for once, race and class will enter popular discourse as it certainly should.

[Molly]

Has anyone else thought about how terribly vulnerable our national security is RIGHT NOW in New Orleans? IF I were a smart, opportunistic terrorist, I'd find a way to get into NO - by water, best bet - and get a group of disaffected folk to join me in setting the country on fire. Then, while folks were distracted, the rest of the country's ports are open to attack because the National Guard is in Iraq.

Do you suppose this is what Bush and Prince Saud talked about while strolling hand in hand in Crawford?

[donna]

I haven't been able to watch any of the television coverage. The heartbreak of reading about this disaster is hard enough. I was so angry and outraged about it all yesterday. Today, I am just heartbroken, seeing our government fail the people so miserably. I've already donated to the Red Cross, signed up as amember, and will take their disaster training courses. We the people cannot rely on the government to provide disaster relief as long as these people are in office.

People need to learn that Republicans do not care about them, at all. Unless you are a rich donator, these people don't care about you. They are heartless, and hopeless.

[Nicholas Mycroft]

From AP:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, "Flood control has been a priority of this administration from Day One."

[cl]

"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."

Reminds me of Condie stating that no one could have imagined someone flying planes into buildings...

[Doctor Memory]

A thing which I believe, but cannot prove and have no evidence for: the dismantling of FEMA was an act of deliberate malice, not incompetance. It was a direct payoff to:

(a) the Grover Norquist wing of the GOP,who consider the mere idea of the federal government providing disaster relief anathema, and ...

(b) the Pat Robertson/Randall Terry wing, who thought that the Clinton/Witt FEMA was part of the "New World Order" conspiracy, and was a cover for establishing a UN dictatorship / building concentration camps for Christians / polluting our Precious Bodily Fluids.

[what a boob]

Bush is just a boob. No question.

But I also have issue with the mayor of NO and the governor of LA. On CNN this morning the spokeman for the Army Corps of Engineers reiterated that the levees were indeed only designed to withstand Class 3 storms, and _that_is_why_the_mayor_and_gov_ordered_evacuation!

If that's the case, that they knew the levees were likely to be breached, why didn't they provide transportation (e.g. commandeer fleets of schoolbuses) to those unable to transport themselves (i.e. over a third of his populace).

WTF?!?

Not a very competent guy either IMHO. Seems like he won a popularity contest, not a vote. This guy just does not have skills.

Where's Rudy Guiliani when you need him?

[BillCross]

and thenthere's this from Foxnews -- Giving economics professors a bad name

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167790,00.html

[weco]

Read this if you want to get even angrier. Can't believe my eyes when I read it on Bloomberg this morning.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/1/17259/23125

Unbelievable. I think these people are born with the shame gene missing.