“[A]n angry Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans’ emergency operations, watching the slow procession from the Superdome, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency response was inadequate,” reports AP via NW Indiana News.
“This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control,” Ebbert said. “We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking but we’re not getting supplies.”
He said the evacuation was almost entirely a Louisiana operation. “This is not a FEMA operation. I haven’t seen a single FEMA guy.” …
Randi Rhodes is on a tear. She just said that the White House should call CNN and MSNBC’s producers because clearly they’re able to get there, so maybe Bush should ask them how to do it.
Update [2005-9-1 15:53:58 by susanhu]: Physicians at hospital in New Orleans couldn’t get any help from the mayor, the governor, or the White House. They called the Associated Press to beg for help to evacuate them. The doctors said they have no food left, only liquid is fruit punch. (Randi, reading from story just off the AP wire.)
Said they’re absolutely out of supplies, they’re now letting the dome people “march out.”
To where, who knows?
I don’t get Randi till 3 leftcoast time but I’ll be listening.
Where are the friggin’ grownups Bush promised America?
I always listen to Air America on the ‘net because I can’t get the Seattle station here unless I’m in my car, and then very badly.
Or this completely, the most fiasco laden emergency response in the history of the planet.
I am apoplectic. Hyperventalating.
Just heard that police just arrested family who stole a car to try to get away from the Convention Center. And in the middle of the report, it sounded like someone tried to steal the reporter’s car.
This is unreal. And Bush is talking oil economics.
AAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
this is also the most well-reported disaster ever.
what is really happening in Iraq… if this is the “best” they can do at home…
…or are they trying to line up private contracts…
I’ve been anti-war and upset and railing for years now, but this brings it home.
Compared to Fallujah, New Orleans may be a veritable picnic.
Only there, we were the Hurricane. Imagine the maliciousness a storm of that magnitude must feel. The guilt as it dissipates away into a tropical storm, and then just into a sense of depression.
There’s a report on dKos that FEMA has LEFT New Orleans and the Marines are there.
When the federal government cannot or will not handle something like and leaves it to the military, THAT IS NOT GOOD in the long run. Although I hope it is good for people in New Orleans.
More damning evidence that the neocon view of the world is literally killing us. This from David Corn’s blog on the Nation:
Bunch works for the Philadelphia Daily News, and he mainly reviewed stories from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Here’s an excerpt:
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security — coming at the same time as federal tax cuts — was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: “No one can say they didn’t see it coming….Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation.”
In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.”
Read it as we weep. Give to the victims the neocons have pocketed all the tax money.
On CNN, a reporter on the scene says that the National Guard just dropped several DOZEN MRE’s…for 15,000 people.
Than assisting. Hey I’ve got an idea. Let’s let the soldiers give some candy to children. And then they’ll come up near the toys of war… and get blown to fuck.
Dr. Strangelove or how I learned to start damming the leevy and caring for starving infants.
MoveOn.org has put up a link for Hurricane Housing, connecting people who have with people who need.
I’m in Europe and just plugged into this…
http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2005/9/1/145855/1504
and I’m just stunned. How can the president allow this to go on the way it has for…what…three days?? Where’s the leadership? The on site stories are truly shocking…complete failure by that government…
I’ve never seen Cafferty like this. He said he got between 500 and 600 replies to the question (admittedly paraphrased) ‘How has the government and FEMA done so far in responding to Katrina?’ Not one reply said they’re doing a good job. He went on to say that in his 62 years he has never seen anything as bad as this. It’s 5 days and we can’t even drop sandwiches and water to these people. He said the government has fallen flat on it’s face. Lots I can’t specifically remember. WOW. He was on a mini screed and will continue this the second he gets on camera again. He left with the statement that later he’s going to talk about the socio-economic and racial makeup of the people who are suffering the most. Go Jack, go.
THE DISGRACE IS THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH NATIONAL GAURD IN-COUNTRY TO GET THIS JOB DONE!!
Get the troops out of Iraq and let them do their real job!
fucking baggage converyor belt??
Are they dead? Alive?
Why am I so reminded of Soylent Green?
This is awful, awful, awful and it’s RAINING!
We have lost too much now to let bush get away with this. Everyone must keep up the pressure. Here is their vision of little government. Here are the tax cuts at work. Damn them with their pockets lined with money meant for helping the suffering. We obviously cannot respond properly because of Bush’s 100 billion a year for the war and his idiotic tax cuts. 200+ billion on Iraq. How much would new levees have cost?
Susan your absolutely right its a national disgrace!
The TRUTH. Never again should people be taken in by the neocons irresponsible siren song.
This comment was sent to me a couple of days ago by someone in North Florida, regarding logistics:
emphasis added
Apparently, no one in FEMA thought about the fact that you couldn’t just drive the stuff across I-10, and clearly they’ve never thought of air-dropping it. That might be because FEMA is headed by a political hack. Laura Rozen came up with this gem at War and Piece:
An estate planning lawyer?
My God the freaking insanity never ends. I can’t stop my handsa from shaking stupid stupid bastards.
Hey folks. I am simply at a loss of words for posting much. I am way beyond anger and frustration in my own personal feelings.
My son who is a cop on the beat in Memphis, said the refugees have migrated up our way, too. The local motels and hotels are full. Many ppl coming thru up this way. They are stopping at rest areas and staying. Sleeping in cars, etc….you get my drift?
I am leaving for Memphis to work in my area of expertise and will not be back until Sunday hopefully. I will leave in the morning early.
I can see the ramifications going very deep for us Americans everywhere, not just locally in La and Ms and Al. There are some refugees here as far as the northwest corner of Tn and the bootheel of Ms. Just know that I am with you in my mind and heart during my absence. To all those who have relatives and friends in the affected areas, my heart goes out to you and my prayers are with you all the time. May any God of any religion be with you or whether you believe or not, God’s speed.
I simply do not have any further words of sympathy
to give. I am just at a loss for this. Mighty big hugs coming from you all from me.
TIMES Picayune
New official excuse: “we were not clairvoyant.”
They all seem furious, forget politics, forget Network political affiliations, they are raging about what is happening.
.
Yesterday I viewed a very moving interview with a lady, plus two daughters, looking for her husband who went missing from the moment the hurricane eye passed New Orleans. He would try to make a dash from mobile home to where the girls and his wife had found refuge by relatives.
That is the last she heard from him. The mobile home was flattened by fallen trees, however he was not found inside.
During the interview, the CNN reporter tries to comfort her by caressing her arm with sympathy. You could feel her anguish and the reporter’s difficulty in coping with her grief, as he was reporting the story before millions watching.
~~~
The reporter was emotionally involved, how could he not be. There are thousands of stories like that. It is so hard to witness, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for those right up close to the situation. Even worse to be in the situation. Hope that woman finds her husband and son.
They BEGINNING to drop food on Mississippi — BEGINNING, it is Thursday afternoon.
And of course, MI first, they may be poor but they’re white….
ok, that last was not necessary. I apologize.
“…BEGINNING to drop food on Mississippi — BEGINNING, it is Thursday afternoon”…
Hey, give Nero Chimpboy a break. He can speak almost 400 words now. You know he understands because of what he said about this very situation: “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” And he’s working hard, it’s hard.
He’s talking right now on MSNBC — I want them to airlift HIM to the SuperDome and drop him inot the middle of that crowd.
Everything we can, everything we can — he keeps saying that — how can he say that??
.
and believe the fantasy tales of the authorities. Welcome back to reality.
Now, for the last hour or so, I’ve been scanning all the relevant blogs and news outlets, and it does appear at least in the US that the reality of just how devastating and significant what has happened is sinking in. Before I go on, I want to emphasize that this is not some kind of “garden variety” natural disaster like the flooding in Germany and Switzerland, the forest fires in Portugal, or the hurricanes (even some of the more devastating ones) that hit the US southeast every several years. What is happening is frankly unprecendeted, and will send shockwaves across the US and, potentially, the rest of the world for some time to come.
“Consider, the Superdome is a world-class facility built with modern technology to withstand a category 5 hurricane and to become a fortress even against an immense flood.”
“I have to say, this has turned into a rather nasty blame-game thread. As Americans, I know we have to take it, but really let up a bit until the criticism is wholly deserved.”
“Re: Transport Pumps Need Generators
Because the criticism comes without a command of the facts …
I can’t understand why people would apportion blame when they don’t have the facts.”
even gets applause .. what a bs .. yes I'm still pissed off~~~
This is all so beyond comprehension. I am beyond outrage. I am numb with disbelief. I almost feel angry with the people around me that are really unaware what is going on. Oh I know they are aware but I mean, I am having a hard time functioning right now. I don’t know what to do. I really don’t.
I am numb with disbelief. I almost feel angry with the people around me that are really unaware what is going on.
I know what you mean…I’m sick over what’s happening, and one of my closest friends was busy getting breast implants today…It feels surreal. Am I crazy?
(That was a rhetorical question, BTW…)
No, not crazy…just a compassionate soul that can find no solice. And I was told I am not self aware? I am selfish and oh crap just forget it.