Oh, they are all there and jacking each other off over how well they have done -- led by the destructor-in-chief, Rumsfeld the Destroyer and he's joking around and being ("Gen. Honore, fron and center!")... I am sick to death, hm, bad word choice, of these people....they are lying their asses off about when the levees broke again. I can't stand it.

I want something else, to get me through this, semi-charmed kinda life..
Third Eye Blind

I saw this live on Meet the Press.  It was so heartbreaking, and it was such a contrast to the segment that preceded it where Russert let Homeland Security Chief Chadoff shamelessly spin, lie, and evade about the role of the Bush administration in the lead-up to and aftermath of Katrina.  I hope this gets played and replayed in the media.  Wolf Blitzer ran it a little while ago on CNN.

jpol

I cried when I saw this replayed on CNN just now. It is too tragic and powerful for words.

There are still people trapped and dying. No one seems to really care.

This is a horrific genocide and will live in infamy in American history.

I can only hope those responsible will be brought to justice.

For all your sakes. They are dangerous to your health and well being.

Thank you... I came here just now to post the link to this video.

If you didn't see Russert today or haven't seen this video of Mr. Aaron Broussard, President of Jefferson Parish, La... I think every American owes to these people to hear this man speak about what happened there and to take action accordingly.

I warn you though... it is hard on the heart to hear this man tell of how the government has abandoned his people... OUR people.

The 10,000 Things

and your eloquence (and that of Booman's as well) are sorely needed in these times.

I've never read more passionate, caring, angry, truth-telling writing anywhere than I've seen on this site in the last week.

This is the sort of writing that holds us together, that makes us effective, that spurs us to take action.

I am in awe of this place the past week.

Keep it up.

I wish the MSM would play the complete interview. He talks about 3 things FEMA did, and it is damning - this is  murder. At first I was okay with Gen Honore', but after his press converence with Chertof and Rumsfiels he's now Gen Peacock to me. He thinks all of us out here are dumb as a box of rocks. How many of you think troops etc would be staged in the eye of a hurricane? The Gen thinks you do. He's a yes man for Rumsfeld. Hope you see the press converence some time.

Head of FEMA is a horse breeder.
Head of Homeland Security is a lawyer.
Maybe the qualifications for these positions should reflect the job.

Crooks and Liars also a very good must-read summary:

"Mike's Blog Round Up."

Nice and succinct, with links.

Hickok: "You know the sound of thunder. Can you imagine that sound if I ask you to? Ma'am, listen to the thunder."

I was just watching those live rescues off rooftops.

I am horribly afraid of heights.  So bad, I can barely get on a ladder.  I wonder if I could be rescued like that ... I'd probably need a blindfold.

Hickok: "You know the sound of thunder. Can you imagine that sound if I ask you to? Ma'am, listen to the thunder."

You people are strong!

I flipped past Russert spinning, started to throw-up in my mouth and changed the channel fast.

I missed this segment.

Eat 4 Today: Just today I'm not going to take seconds & not eating between meals

Russert went after Michael Chertoff:

Russert:Mr. Secretary, this is yesterday's Daily News: "Shame Of A Nation." And I want to read it to you and our viewers very carefully. It says, "As for Chertoff, if this is the best his department can do, the homeland is not very secure at all. It is absolutely outrageous that the United States of America could not send help to tens of thousands of forlorn, frightened, sick and hungry human beings at least 24 hours before it did, arguably longer than that. Who is specifically at fault for what is nothing less than a national scandal... It will never be known exactly what a day could have meant to so many unfortunates whose lives came to an end in those hopelessly tortured hours--on scorching roadsides, for lack of a swallow of water, in sweltering hospital bads, for lack of insulin. But what is already more than clear is that the nation's disaster-preparedness mechanisms do not appear to be in the hands of officials who know how to run them."

Mr. Secretary, are you or anyone who reports to you contemplating resignation?

Later:

MR. RUSSERT: I want to stay on this because this is very important. You said you were surprised by the levee being broken. In 2002, The Times-Picayune did story after story--and this is eerie; this is what they wrote and how they predicted what was going to happen. It said, and I'll read it very carefully: "...A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time. ... The scene's been played out for years in computer models or emergency operations simulations... New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. ...the levees would trap any water that gets inside-- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour--catastrophic storm. ... 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 for people too sick or inform to leave the city. ...But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground. Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Other 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."

That was four years ago. And last summer FEMA, who reports to you, and the LSU Hurricane Center, and local and state officials did a simulated Hurricane Pam in which the levees broke. The levees broke, Mr. Secretary, and people--thousands...

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Actually, Tim, that...

MR. RUSSERT: Thousands drowned.

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Tim, I had...

"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

reading your post while listening to a effing dumb broad praising the chimp. She claims that she could open as soon as she gets power. They should take her to the sections of NO and dumped in the cesspool. BUT- I will bet that she becomes a MAJOR spokesperson for the LIARS.
  Probably more than 10,000 dead and this "club owner" is talking about reopenning while praising the admin, nothing else needs to be said. Meanwhile, WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE DEMS?
                     billjpa@aol.com

but he did really good this time. I don't think he deserves your dissin' on this one, Susan.

He's one of the few national news hosts who quoted back the Homeland Security website, which says that agency has "primary responsibility" in national disasters. Though he did then let Chertoff slime by when he again tried to put the blame on local and state officials.

The interview with the parish president was truly heartbreaking, even after all the heartbreak we've witnessed all week. His descriptions of what happened on the ground are almost even more enraging that the personal story he told later:

MR. RUSSERT:  Hold on.  Hold on, sir.  Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility?  Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD:  Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming."  I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry.  The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples.  We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water.  FEMA turned them back.  They said we didn't need them.  This was a week ago.  FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish.  The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away."  When we got there with our trucks, they got a word.  "FEMA says don't give you the fuel."  Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines.  They cut them without notice.  Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines."  Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

Just unbelievable.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

.

• WH Proposal :: $71m Cut Hurricane & Flood
  
• Bush's Post 9/11 Response Plan Big Failure
  
• Disasters George Bush Wrought - Analysis and Update

• "They don't have a clue what's going on down there,"
  Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM radio Thursday night.

• NOLA - THE BIG ONE
  Georges Sept. 1998 -- A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time.

Every single one of the people of New Orleans is part of our collective family- yes there are some lawbreakers- as there are in every population- but walk a few blocks in their shoes? How desperate would you have to be to start  stealing? I know I am preaching here- but geez- how many of us have been in that kind of desperation? I can't imagine what I might do- especially if I had little kids. Probably turn murderous.

How many of us have been screaming for the the last week? How many of us have been screaming for the last four years?
How many of us have seen the damage done that will never be repaired?
How many of us can afford NOT to reisist?

Damn.  I missed this.

I watched Meet the Press, but the cities (aka Minneapolis/St.Paul) feed was pre-empted for storm/flood-risk warnings.

Funny enough, I:

• missed what was before Chertoff
  
• had to see Chertoff's "gosh darn I'm trying, and its too risky to do anything but let me fumble my way through this.  Hey, I'm still learning.  This is hard, hard work"
  
• Missed all of Mr. Broussard's empassioned pleas
  
• Say Russert dismiss an obviously distraught Broussard to let Haley Barbour say Missippi is hunky-dorey and its all LA's governors fault... blame the Democrats.

And every sense I get is that the outrage is there, but like the stranded residents of NO, the American people are going to sit tight and wait to be told how to express it.

I'm betting the Dems fumble the ball and let the Administration wait this out.  ARrrrgh.

I'll have to tape the rebroadcast of MTP tonight and see what some fucking Republican-leaning news director didn't want Minnesotan's to see.


The Religious Right didn't take over the Republican party with a brilliant strategy of appeasement and selecting 'electable moderates'

Sorry I missed this diary when it came out. So much to read.

Yes I like "piss conferences" because it reminds me of "piss contests" which is what they are.

To thine own self be true. W.S.