"Because the President declared a state of emergency on
August 26, and because Blanco requested Federal Assistance on
August 27,Under the National Response Plan (as outlined in my Diary, here, and as is amply outlined in many, many places (I linked to them in my diary)....
Several things happened:Under the Homeland Security Act, the Stafford Act, and according to the NRP, this was AUTOMATICALLY determined to qualify as an "Incident of National Significance" - therefore, Responsibility for initial actions, coordination, and etc, AUTOMATICALLY fell upon the Director of DHS (Chertoff), and thereby AUTOMATICALLY fell upon FEMA and its director (Brown), and throught them, ultimately responsibility for command, control, and authority AUTOMATICALLY flows to the COMMANDER IN CHIEF...
In short, because Bush declared a disaster, the relief effort, by law, became the responsibility of the Federal Government Agencies. Any orders, actions, commands, and etc - done or not done, failed or successful, are the ultimate responsibility of the DHS, and the President.
Period." from www.dailykos.com These people (Republicans) really are evil. I don't mean just mean, or ill informed, or rude. I mean fucking evil. Blame the victim, blame the victim, blah blah blah blah. It's as simple as this-they're wrong about Blanco and Negin. They asked for help, and it never came until it was too damn late. Fine. All that aside-the results of this storm-telecommunications gone, toxic waters, dead people, disabled roadways-are an excellent version of the results of a terrorist attack. These people have had four years to fix this. This was the MBA president and the people who want to run government like a business. Effiency, right? New civil tone? Grownups in charge, right? And they actually get a chance to put their new tools, which they begged for, and said they absolutely had to have to protect us with, to work, and it is a category five clusterfuck. AND they have the nerve-the unmitigated GALL- to stand there and say that its not their fault! They dont want to play the blame game? yeah, sure-because they are the ones to blame!

IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH NOW.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/section/Diary
"I have been in contact with a person trying to live through this horror in New Orleans. She has been straddling the position of disaster victim and wife of the Chief of the NOFD. The suicides, the shoot-to kill-order (for humans and animals) and the stress contributed to this gutwrenching exerpt of the e-mail I just received.
'You are not alone, and even the order against the pets are affecting the local police and firefighters. Our police superintendent's house was broken into and someone killed his dog. This wasn't in retaliation to the order to shoot to kill, it was a malicious attack because of who he is and represents. He was surrounded by a very angry crowd at the river, and nearly met his end. PTS, stress, little sleep, not knowing about your loved ones, are taking a huge toll. My first campaign was for the city to provide an email or satellite connection for our families left behind. I went to several stations, local and national, and they are still sharing the same phone that isn't of the 504 area code. I have broken down so many times watching just an hour of the news stations, and another suicide by a police officer.'
Please, if anyone can get this to Josh, the other journalists here, members of both print and electronic media, PLEASE DO! There has been no coverage of the shootings that have already taken place, much less the mounting suicides by police and other emergency workers. I know from my source that one officer committed suicide yesterday (ate a bullet) after his entire family was lost in the disaster and he couldn't cope with the destruction and the shoot-to-kill order any longer. This is an SOS to the media. Without them, nobody will know what is happening inside that place right now."

Disgusting. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006416

"During the campaign of 2004, I spoke often of the two Americas: the America of the privileged and the wealthy, and the America of those who lived from paycheck to paycheck. I spoke of the difference in the schools, the difference in the loan rates, the difference in opportunity. All of that pales today. Today - and for many days and weeks and months to follow - we see a harsher example of two Americas. We see the poor and working class of New Orleans who don't own a car and couldn't evacuate to hotels or families far from the target of Katrina. We see the suffering of families who lived from paycheck to paycheck and who followed the advice of officials and went to shelters at the Civic Center or the Superdome or stayed home to protect their possessions. "

--Fmr. Sen. John Edwards
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/2/14749/71454


Love this man. Want to go back in time and vote for him again.

from Editor and Publisher magazine:




"(September 03, 2005) -- While a rising chorus in the press has taken the White House, FEMA and the Pentagon to task for performing miserably in their response to the human disaster on the Gulf Coast, few have focused on the most telling aspect of the entire failure. It’s not just incompetence. It’s a shameful lack of concern: The 9/11 “My Pet Goat” dithering on an administration-wide scale.Simply stated, the president and his top advisers chose vacation over action.While the media has done a good job in portraying the overall deadly failure of leadership, it has not focused enough on this deadly dereliction of duty. President Bush, in his weekly radio address on Saturday, said: “In America, we do not abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need.” But Bush, and his top aides, quite frankly, did just that. I was reminded of this today, seeing pictures of Vice President Dick Cheney finally showing up at the White House after riding out the storm-of-the-century in Wyoming. Perhaps he brought back with him a couple dozen trout to throw on the grill for the White House staffers. His absence, and the president’s performance during it, can only add to the rumors that Bush is clueless without the Big Guy at his side. This follows Bush himself remaining on vacation for more than two days after the storm hit, despite acknowledging this was the worst disaster in the nation’s history. He did take a trip during those days, not back to Washington but out to San Diego to deliver a political speech comparing his Iraq war to World War II. It got little play because nearly everyone else in the country, beyond his inner circle, was focused on New Orleans instead. What that trip did produce was a picture of Bush laughing with a country singer and strumming a guitar. But at least the president did start heading home late Wednesday. As he did, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was still enjoying her vacation in New York. In fact, that night she enjoyed a few good yucks while attending the goofy Broadway play “Spamalot.” Ironically, the Bush team's performance this week did indeed seem like something out of a Monty Python skit. Each, in his or her own way, took a bunch of "silly walks."Condi also played tennis with Monica Seles and on Thursday went on a shoe-shopping spree on Fifth Avenue until a fellow customer yelled at her for not doing her job and bloggers exposed all of this. Then she hurriedly headed back to Washington. Whoops, we discovered she was overdue in getting a grip on offers to help that were pouring in from overseas governments and organizations. Paging Andrew Card: Turns out he was Bush's Maine man. And what of FEMA chief Michael Brown? He was so out-of-it that he didn’t even know about 10,000 evacuees living and dying at the Convention Center, even after they had received wide TV coverage for hours and hours. The next day, the president greeted him with, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." A medal is surely on the way. This from a president who has been fighting a "war on terror" in Iraq while appointing to the top FEMA position here at home a man whose main career experience was running an Arabian horse association. At a press conference on Thursday, the fourth day of the disaster, with newspapers and TV reporting tens of thousands stranded at hospitals, homes and a highway overpass, Homeland Security chief Michael Cherotff was asked by a reporter if he thought only hundreds or maybe many more needed rescued. He replied:“I'd be guessing. I mean, a thousand seems like a very large number, but we have already rescued several thousand. Hopefully, most people have gotten themselves onto roofs and have been picked up. But, as I said, rather than give you a guesstimate, I can tell you that as long as there is someone on a roof waving a flag, we're going to be sending a helicopter out there to get them.”At the same press briefing, Cherotff was asked if he thought there were enough soldiers on the ground to control the situation. His answer: “I'm satisfied that we have not only more than enough forces there and on the way. And frankly, what we're doing is we are putting probably more than we need in order to send an unambiguous message that we will not tolerate lawlessness or violence or interference with the evacuation.”While the 9/11 “My Pet Goat” episode was certainly illuminating, it’s not certain what might have worked out better that day had the president dropped the book and taken action. But his failure to grab the reins in the hurricane catastrophe for three days this week probably doomed hundreds, or more, to death. This is not mere incompetence, but dereliction of duty. The press should call it by its proper name."



Amen to that.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054581




The President has been unforgivably cruel in this painful time.

Impeach George W. Bush now.

President Bush should resign, or be impeached, because of gross dereliction of duty.

From factcheck.org:

Over at least the past several budget cycles, the Corps has received substantially less money than it requested for the Lake Pontchartrain project, even though Congress restored much of the money the President cut from the amount the Corps requested.
In fiscal year 2004, the Corps requested $11 million for the project. The President’s budget allocated $3 million, and Congress furnished $5.5 million. Similarly, in fiscal 2005 the Corps requested $22.5 million, which the President cut to $3.9 million in his budget. Congress increased that to $5.5 million. “This was insufficient to fund new construction contracts,” according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ project fact sheet. The Corps reported that “seven new contracts are being delayed due to lack funds” [sic].
The President proposed $3 million for the project in the budget for fiscal 2006, which begins Oct. 1. “This will be insufficient to fund new construction projects,” the fact sheet stated. It says the Corps “could spend $20 million if funds were provided.” The Corps of Engineers goes on to say:
Army Corps of Engineers, May 23: In Orleans Parish, two major pump stations are threatened by hurricane storm surges. Major contracts need to be awarded to provide fronting protection for them. Also, several levees have settled and need to be raised to provide the design protection. The current funding shortfalls in fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2006 will prevent the Corps from addressing these pressing needs.

The Hurricane really shows Bush's true colors.

Who would have thought the levee would break?

Well, FEMA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the scientific community. That's who. THE FREAKING DISCOVERY CHANNEL told me New Orleans couldn't take a direct hit from a major hurricane years ago. But Bush's tax cuts took the money away.

The response is slow, and pathetic, and ridiculous.

Bush also compares this to the worst kind of attack. The "MBA President" has had FOUR GODDAMN YEARS to get ready for exactly this kind of event.
But it's only poor black people, so the Republicans will just let them die.


Hurricane Katrina 2005 is George Bush's America 2005. If you have the means, you're on your own and you'll make it. If you don't have the means, die in the streets like a dog. That's the message, America.

Anyone who voted for these people is an idiot, a fascist, or a fool.

The President needs to be impeached. Now.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050824225609990001



But I thought there was "nothing real" about this?

Huh.

I guess Rush wasn't telling the truth.

Again.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-08-25T193428Z_01_N8P699296_RTRIDST_0_ARMS-USA-BASES-UPDATE-1.XML



Great. Way to go, guys.

Create untold hundreds or even thousands of new injured, crippled soldiers, and then close
down one of the places that takes care of them.

"We'll expand the other one(Bethesda)."

Yeah, sure. Until another budget crisis brought on by your insane fiscal management causes you to close that one too.

Any vet who votes for these people is insane. It is abundantly clear that they hate soldiers, and cutting health care is just another big fuck you to the men and women in uniform. They apparently believe vets should just fend for themselves.

The heartlessness, the sheer unmitigated gall of these motherfuckers continues to amaze me.

Bill Clinton's Accomplishments

(From http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/FlushRush/_archives/2004/9/8/137228.html )


Tried to get Universal Health Care National Health Care Costs rising at 10% per annum. Cut to 3% Deficit Reduction Package Crime Bill 100,000 cops on street—crime down down down Welfare Reform-- Mend do not end. GOP helped bit time 80% increase in child welfare payments Job Growth-Record 236,000 per month. (Reagan/Bush 167,000) Largest percentage of Americans working in history Largest Home Ownership in history Record number of small business formations Tax Cut for 15 million working families Family and Medical Leave Act Defense Reinvest and Conversion—Bush enjoying weapons created by Clinton Direct loan programs for students Guts to put promises in a book "Putting People First"-58 promises in book. Took action on 56 in first two years. Second best record in history for getting legislation through Congress in first to years. LBJ number one. Reinvented Government—cut payroll Fewest number of civilians on federal payroll in 36 years Attacked cop killing nasty rifle association. Attacked the cancer inducing tobacco industry Promoted a global effort to ban abusive forms of child labor Loan 12.8 Billion to Mexico. Made 800 Million profit. Kept Mexico afloat. Wash. Post kept list of campaign promises. 162. Took action on 96% in first two years. Took on prejudice toward other Americans in military Took on his own Southern Baptist Church Hard smart work in Middle East and Bosnia-Kosovo Honored with all of the following: Dove of Peace Award Rabin-Peres Peace Award Gandhi Peace Award Order of Good Hope Award Nominated for Nobel Peace Award Northern Ireland Peace Agreement Lifeaholics of America Award for Quarter Century "Working for a Life Not Just A Living". First President to visit Northern Ireland Cleanup of Toxic sites. Record Increasing weekly earnings Shoo Shoo Saddam get away from Kuwait Stopping Haitians from drowning enroute to freedom First to visit South Africa First to make a determined effort to help the African continent come together and grow together Taxing top 1.2% of very wealthy to get Zoom Zoom Boom economy Stopping Republicans in the House from raiding Medicare of 181 Billion Stopping Republicans raid on Medicaid Stopping Republicans raid on education Stopping Republicans attack on environment Largest increase in Education funding since GI Bill Increased funding for Head Start Nafta.. A success until the Peso went south Submitting 8 budgets close to rate of inflation Brady Bill Gaat Assault Weapons Ban Telling Japan "You take our auto parts or we will apply tariffs on you California Desert Protection Forest Management Plan for Northwest Restoration of Florida Everglades Preservation of land in Utah Major increase in funding for homeless Motor Voter Act Lobbying Reform Effort. Handshake with Newt who reneged Pressure to get Campaign Finance Reform. National Export Strategy. Unbelievable success. Over 250 Trade pacts Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Pact Summit of Americas Super 301 Chemical Weapons Ban Treaty. Bottom Up Review of Military Agreement with Cuba to stop flow of immigrants to USA. Ameri-Corps Reduced Nuclear Threat Around the World Community Banking Act FEMA used as an active participant and a leader in disaster relief Tax on well off social security beneficiaries 100,000 new teachers effort 5,000 new classroom effort 50% of classes thru K-12 on internet Fourth Graders improvement on world tests Lifetime Learning Opportunity Program Controls on Spending and Borrowing Pension Protection Act of 1994 Record high consumer confidence Very, very, very low Misery Index National Agenda on Racial Prejudices First to get African-American unemployment under 10% Balanced Budget Record Corporate profits Record Bank profits Record Savings and Loan profits Never whining despite non-sop smears and attacks Not having a Mean Bone in his body per Historian David Maraniss Not knowing how to hate Classing others as "opponents" not "enemies" Inviting your attackers to the White House functions Inviting your defeated opponent Bob Dole to visit troops at Christmas A national attack on hate crimes Fighting to protect "legal" immigrants from Republicans in the House. Fighting hard for Fast Track legislation Kennedy and Kassenbaum Portability of Insurance Lowest interest rates in 30 years Allowing millions of homeowners to refinance home loans at lower (much) rates Lowest unemployment in 25 years Lowest inflation in 25 years Lowest welfare rolls in 27 years Lowest crime Rates in 25 years First balanced budget sent to Congress in 29 years Protecting worker pensions (repeat?) Opposed ban on "Late Term Abortions" A stock market which passed a 1,000 mark six times Greatest growth in federal revenues in history Played Saxophone and Smoked Peace Pipe, instead of beating War Drums like____. One of History's all time workers for Peace President in a year when Fortune Magazine classified it as "Greatest Economy in the History of the world" Popularity jump in the midst of a scandal. President with highest peacetime popularity in Asia, Africa, Russia and Europe. Highest popularity of any president at end of fifth year in office One of the most highly regarded First Lady in History. One of the most highly regarded Vice-President in History

Now Rush says he's being misinterpreted.
Of course.
Argh.
Nobody said you accused Cindy Sheehan of “making it up”.
What you actually said was that there was “nothing real” about Cindy Sheehan.
There is a hell of a lot more that's real about her than there is about you, you
stupid, ignorant fascist dog.
If they love America, why do they hate Americans?
BTW- Charles Chadwick, It's All Right Now. Brilliant.

I thought there was "nothing real" about this, huh Rush?

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050816181409990015

"Colonel Shaffer said in an interview on Monday night that the small, highly classified intelligence program, known as Able Danger, had identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta, and three other future hijackers by name by mid-2000, and tried to arrange a meeting that summer with agents of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share its information. But he said military lawyers forced members of the intelligence program to cancel three scheduled meetings with the F.B.I. at the last minute, which left the bureau without information that Colonel Shaffer said might have led to Mr. Atta and the other terrorists while the Sept. 11 attacks were still being planned. 'I was at the point of near insubordination over the fact that this was something important, that this was something that should have been pursued,' Colonel Shaffer said of his efforts to get the evidence from the intelligence program to the F.B.I. in 2000 and early 2001."

From Rushlimbaugh.com


Rush is trying to say, of course, that it is Clinton's fault that Col. Shaffer was not able to prevent the September 11th attacks. As usual with these dirtballs, they can't defend Bush, so they drag out the carcass of Bill Clinton to kick around.

Firstly, Bill Clinton is the ONLY President who struck Bin Laden before 9/11.
Secondly, Richard Clarke told Condi Rice that they were going to spend more time on Bin Laden than on anything else.
Thirdly, once the MBA President stole the election and took over, the same problems existed as were around before. Remember, Shaffer is still trying to get the intelligence agencies to talk to one another in 2001. Bill Clinton isn't president any more.
Fourthly, these fascist morons keep saying that Bill Clinton saw terrorism as a law enforcement issue, while the C Student sees it as a military issue. Well, let's see....the British dealt with the American Revolution as a military issue. Russia is dealing with Chechnya as a military issue, Israel deals with Islamic Jihad as a military issue....and Britain dealt with Northern Ireland as a law enforcement issue.

Which one worked?

From the "dog bites man" department: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5217351,00.html