List of stories on FEMA FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations FEMA turns away experienced firefighters FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans

For some unknown reason, Terry has opened up another topic about Katrina. To avoid confusion--with postings from here, there and everywhere--please keep your discussion here, on Topic 101. It'll all be in the same place then.

The second topic is for the media responses and articles. Sean Penn gets into rescue act BY NICOLE BODE NEW ORLEANS - Sean Penn took matters into his own hands yesterday, launching a boat in a personal effort to rescue New Orleans families stranded by Hurricane Katrina. The Oscar-winning actor and political activist managed to reach several people who had been trapped in their homes since the hurricane hit Monday. Penn, who was accompanied by his personal photographer and a crew of helpers, brought the victims to dry land - and gave them cash as well. Johnnie Brown, 73, a retired custodian, called his sister on a cell phone after being plucked from his flooded house. "Guess who come and got me out of the house? Sean Penn the actor. Them boys were really nice," he said. Penn later accompanied a few of them to a hospital. Asked what he was doing in the disaster zone, Penn said, "Whatever I can do to help." More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/343547p-293308c.html

Yes, this is my (*cough*) competent, (*cough*) compassionate (*cough*) leader in action.... Newsview: White House Falls Out of Step By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time. Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and a death toll exceeding 1,880. The administration on Tuesday struggled to deflect calls for an accounting of who was responsible for a hurricane response that even Bush acknowledged was inadequate. There were increasing calls for the resignation or firing of Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "I think it's clear we're in damage control now," said Norman Ornstein, political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. It's a troubling position for Bush, already suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. The mistakes have come one upon the other. Even as Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf Coast that Sunday night and early Monday, Aug. 28-29, and the National Hurricane Center was warning of growing danger, the White House didn't alter the president's plans to fly from his Texas ranch to the West to promote a new Medicare prescription drug benefit. By the time Bush landed in Arizona that Monday, the storm was unleashing its fury on Louisiana and Mississippi. The president inserted into his speech only a brief promise of prayers and federal help. He continued his schedule in California, and he didn't decide until the next day that he should return to Washington. But it took him another day to get there, as he flew back to Texas to spend another night at his home before leaving for the White House. Once the president was in Washington, the criticism only intensified. While a drowned New Orleans descended into lawless misery, Bush delivered remarks from the Rose Garden that were seen as flat and corporate. It was a sharp contrast to the commanding, empathetic president the public rallied around in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In a television interview, Bush said — mistakenly — that nobody anticipated the breach of the levees in a serious storm. Even Monday's trip to the region was a redo, hurriedly arranged by the White House over the weekend after lukewarm response to Bush's first in-person visit to the Gulf Coast last Friday. Bush had raised eyebrows on his first trip by, among other things, picking Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss. — instead of the thousands of mostly poor and black storm victims — as an example of loss. "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch," Bush said with a laugh from an airplane hangar in Mobile, Ala. [Ed. note- He's such a card, isn't he? :-(] In the same remarks, Bush gave FEMA chief Brown — the face for many of the inadequate federal response — a hearty endorsement. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said. [Ed. note- Should be getting his Freedom Medal any day now. ;-)] Later in Biloxi, Miss., Bush tried to comfort two stunned women wandering their neighborhood clutching Hefty bags, looking in vain for something to salvage from the rubble of their home. He kept insisting they could find help at a Salvation Army center down the street, even after another bystander had informed him it had been destroyed. [Ed. note - Oops!] And at his last stop that day, at the airport outside of New Orleans, Bush lauded the increasingly desperate city as a great town because he used go there and "enjoy myself — occasionally too much." Unlike his galvanizing appearance in the rubble of the World Trade Center just days after the 2001 attacks, Bush has stayed far from the epicenter of New Orleans' suffering. His only foray into the city was to its edges to watch crews plugging one of the breached levees on Friday. On Monday, he skipped the hardest-hit coastal areas entirely, choosing instead to visit Baton Rouge, the state capital about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, which sustained no damage. He also went to Poplarville, Miss., to walk the streets of a middle-class neighborhood that seemed to suffer little more than snapped trees, a couple off-kilter carport roofs and a downed power line or two. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president avoided New Orleans to stay out of the way of search-and-rescue operations. "It's going to be almost impossible to overcome the perception about the president that he didn't show compassion and didn't get control of the policy failures," American University political scientist James Thurber said. "The vivid images that are coming across the television are really destroying his image as a leader." [Pfft! What image would that be?] White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the president and his aides are unconcerned for now about the unrelenting criticism. "Emotions are running high. People are tired," Bartlett said. "If we focused more of our attention on decisions that have already been made, rather than on those before us, there's potential for making far greater mistakes. ... We really don't have time to play the political game right now." [It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the *leader* of our/a country stepping up to take control and manage a crisis, as well as showing some compassion to fellow human beings from all walks of life, especially those most affected, the much less fortunate.] ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: Jennifer Loven has reported from Washington since 1993 and covers the White House for The Associated Press.

Holy cow...* trying to stifle inappropriate laughter* Right city, wrong state FEMA accused of flying evacuees to wrong Charleston Tuesday, September 6, 2005; Posted: 9:56 p.m. EDT (01:56 GMT) story.charleston.ap.jpg Dr. Robert Ball, right, waits for evacuees to arrive Tuesday at a Charleston, South Carolina airport. (CNN) -- Add geography to the growing list of FEMA fumbles. A South Carolina health official said his colleagues scrambled Tuesday when FEMA gave only a half-hour notice to prepare for the arrival of a plane carrying as many as 180 evacuees to Charleston. But the plane, instead, landed in Charleston, West Virginia, 400 miles away. It was not known whether arrangements have been made to care for the evacuees or transport them to the correct destination. A call seeking comment from FEMA was not immediately returned. "We called in all the available resources," said Dr. John Simkovich, director of public health for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. "They responded within 30 minutes, which is phenomenal, to meet the needs of the citizens coming in from Louisiana," he said. Simkovich said that the agency had described some of the evacuees as needing "some minor treatment ... possibly some major treatment." "Unfortunately, the plane did not come in," Simkovich said. "There was a mistake in the system, coming out through FEMA, that we did not receive the aircraft this afternoon. It went to Charleston, West Virginia." A line of buses and ambulances idled behind him at Charleston International Airport as he described what happened. "This is a 'no event' for today," Simkovich said.

Bush had raised eyebrows on his first trip by, among other things, picking Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. instead of the thousands of mostly poor and black storm victims as an example of loss. "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch," Bush said with a laugh from an airplane hangar in Mobile, Ala. [Ed. note- He's such a card, isn't he? :-(] I missed this. OMG, could he be worse? Yeah, I suppose so. But think about poor Trent Lott, one of the "don't call'm refugee" hurricane folk. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president avoided New Orleans to stay out of the way of search-and-rescue operations. Sure. I'm dumb and I'll believe that one. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the president and his aides are uncncerned for now about the unrelenting criticism. It's important to be consistent. They've been "unconcerned" about me (women) forever.

Did anyone see Jay Leno Wednesday night? Was in rare form during his monologue. Some bits: Q: What's the difference between FEMA and Social Security? A: With Social Security, you have a chance to get some benefits before you die. Officials in the hurricane-stricken areas are considering re-naming the Gulf of Mexico, the Persian Gulf II, in the hopes that Bush will send troops much faster. Dick Cheney is headed to the stricken area--boy, just what they need, another person requiring emergency medical help. The Vice President pledged to stay in the area until all oil derricks are safe. FEMA will be handing out $2,00 vouchers to each affected family, which they can use however they wish, for example, food, shelter, a tank of gas. Michael Jackson announced that he will perform a benefit concert for residents of the area. He said, "If I can touch just one child . . ."

The Daily Show, returning from vacation, is in rare form also. John Stewart did one of the best chronologies I've seen of Bush taking several days to get off his vacation. It was reminiscent of the Michael Moore movie Fahrenheit 911 where he showed Bush hesitating to act after 911. Of course this response was so much slower and bungled. http://dailykos.com has some excellent comments today. Worth a read. An example. (it gets even better) Everybody who failed to respond properly to Hurricane Katrina (or "Corrina," as Laura Bush called it yesterday), line up and prepare to take your punishment from Soja Popova: A 93-year-old woman with a "grip like iron" fought back against a robber by grabbing him by the testicles. The Lithuanian woman, who says her strong grip [comes from] years of milking goats, held on to the man until police arrived. Soja Popova, from Klaipeda, was shoved to the ground when she opened the door to two young men. But she fought back by grabbing the nearest by the testicles and squeezing "with all my force as hard as I could." She told police: "He started screaming like an animal and his friend was trying to pull him free, but I have a grip like iron." The man's screams of agony and his friend's shouts for the woman to let go alerted neighbors, who called police. Brown, Chertoff, Bush...drop your drawers. - Jon Stewart: The president has vowed to personally lead the investigation into the government's failed response to Katrina? Isn't that a job perhaps someone else should be doing? Samantha Bee: No, not at all, Jon. To truly find out what went wrong, it's important for an investigator to have a little distance from the situation. And it's hard to get any more distant from it than the president was last week. --The Daily Show

FEMA Dumps Brown As Katrina Relief Chief By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Bush administration dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown as commander of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts Friday, then abruptly scrapped plans to give $2,000 debit cards to displaced storm victims as it struggled to get a grip on the recovery operation. Buffeted by criticism, President Bush stirred memories of the 2001 terror attacks as he hailed the "acts of great compassion and extraordinary bravery from America's first responders," then as now. Brown, who had come to personify a relief operation widely panned as bumbling, will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen. Allen had been in charge of relief, recovery and rescue efforts for New Orleans. The decision to order Brown back to Washington from Louisiana � he remains as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency � marked the administration's latest attempt to assert leadership in the wake of the devastating storm and its aftermath, including the weakest public opinion polls of Bush's time in office. Still, there was fresh evidence of raggedness in the effort when FEMA announced late in the day that it would discontinue a two-day-old program to issue debit cards worth $2,000 to displaced families. Evacuees relocated to Texas, many of whom began receiving cards on Friday, will continue getting them, officials said. Hurricane victims at other locations will have to apply for expedited aid through the agency's traditional route � filling out information on FEMA's Web site to receive direct bank deposits, FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule said. Brown introduced the program on Wednesday, calling it "a great way to ... empower these hurricane survivors to really start rebuilding their lives." At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the decision to reassign Brown had been made by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and that Bush supported it. One Republican welcomed Brown's ouster with unusually sharp language. "Something needed to happen. Michael Brown has been acting like a private instead of a general," said Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, whose state was hard-hit by the storm. Senate Democrats, who have been sharply critical of Bush's response to the storm, said the president should not have left Brown as head of FEMA. In a letter to the president, the Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, and three other members of the leadership called for the dismissal of the FEMA director. He "simply doesn't have the ability or the experience to oversee a coordinated federal response of this magnitude," wrote Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Separately, Reid and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist opened private discussions over a GOP plan for a congressional committee to investigate the administration's readiness for the storm and reaction to it. Republicans hold a majority in both the House and Senate, and Frist and Speaker Dennis Hastert announced plans this week for a joint panel with more GOP members than Democrats. Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi have said they would boycott the proceedings, calling for an independent commission instead. Bush's public support rose dramatically in the days following the attacks of 2001. He linked that time with the present at a ceremony Friday awarding medals to family members of fire, police and other first responders killed by terrorists four years ago. "When America has been challenged, there have always been citizens willing to step forward and risk their lives for the rest of us," the president said. "Over the last 11 days in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama, we have again seen acts of great compassion and extraordinary bravery from America's first responders." Bush said the nation was "still at the beginning of a huge effort. The tasks before us are enormous. Yet so is the heart of the United States." Thus far, the tab for federal relief has reached $62.3 billion, with billions more expected to be needed in the months and years to come. The rising price tag spread nervousness among some lawmakers. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., touring a shelter for evacuees in Chattanooga, said the combined cost of recovery and the Iraq War were a good reason to postpone a costly Medicare prescription drug benefit. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said mere reconstruction of a Gulf Coast area that is home to large numbers of poor black Americans wasn't enough. "When we rebuild the land ravaged by the winds and the floods, we must rebuild it to be a more just and fair land," he said. The government continued to produce reports and declarations testifying to the destructive power of the storm that roared out of the Gulf of Mexico and spread destruction along the coast from Texas to Florida. The Commerce Department declared a fishery failure in the region, an action that makes federal relief funds available to assess and repair damage to fisheries. Fishermen will be eligible for direct assistance, as well. Brown had faced fierce, bipartisan criticism for days, and on Friday, was confronted with questions of whether he had padded his professional resume. Chertoff announced his fate to reporters in Louisiana, saying, the director had "done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this unprecedented challenge." Asked if he was being made a scapegoat, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: "By the press, yes. By the president, no." As for his plans, he said, "I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. "And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims." Allen, tapped to replace Brown, has direct experience in hurricane relief operations. Early in his Coast Guard career, Allen was involved in search-and-rescue missions and later directed them in the Caribbean. He headed Coast Guard operations in the Southeast United States and the Caribbean. In the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks, he was assigned to make sure the ports and waterways were secure and that local responders in the New York area had the vessels, aircraft and personnel they needed.

"When the hurricane struck, it did not turn [the Gulf Coast] into a third-world country. It revealed one." - DANNY GLOVER, in New York City, at Saturday's Jazz at Lincoln Center "Higher Ground" benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina

I know I sent this to several people...glad to know that this topic is still operational. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9368952/ Apparently Mr. Broussard was a little bit confused in his scenario.

She was in *that* nursing home. Disgraceful. Ok, the timeline was off. It was still incredibly tragic and I'd like to see those owners fry. And he was still obviously under a lot of pressure.

Actually, later they found she died the day of the storm from natural causes. V. sad.

As one poster alludes to, the Daily Show couldn't make this shit up...or could have and was beaten to the punch. ;-) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/26/184830/683 (This is an excerpt) Guess Who's a New FEMA Consultant by lost Mon Sep 26th, 2005 at 15:48:30 PDT [From the diaries -- Hunter Update [2005-9-26 21:56:30 by Hunter]: CBS updates: "Later this evening, CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger spoke with a spokesman for FEMA, Russ Knocke, who confirmed that Brown remains on the FEMA payroll. He also said that technically Brown remains at FEMA as a 'contractor' and he is 'transitioning out of his job.' The reason he will remain at FEMA about a month after his resignation, said the spokesman, is that the agency wants to get the 'proper download of his experience.'"] Mike Brown. Yeah, that Mike Brown. He's been hired by the agency as a consultant. Bob Scheiffer announced this on CBS News moments ago, stating that Brown annouced his re-hiring to congressional staffers. Guess what he'll be in charge of? SIGH. He will help evaluate how FEMA responded to the disaster. I wish I were making this up. Link to CBS News Blog below. * lost's diary :: :: * Update [2005-9-26 19:38:0 by lost]: Thanks to theboz and all the other Kossacks for this link to the CBS Rita Blog. Sept. 26, 2005 6:44 p.m. (CBS) � CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's response following Hurricane Katrina. Update [2005-9-26 20:6:40 by lost]:karmatipjar posted the link to Keith Olbermann's blog about Brownie's "new job": At a meeting with staff of the special House committee looking into Katrina preparations today, the disgraced and displaced former FEMA director said he had rejoined the agency as a consultant to "provide a review" of how the agency functioned before, during, and after the storm. This according to two congressional sources. A congressional aide told NBC News nobody's sure � but it is assumed Brown is being paid by FEMA. He is to testify tomorrow before that House committee, prompting our colleague Howard Fineman to joke that only in Washington would a man on his way to the electric chair be paid to belt himself in. Update [2005-9-26 20:36:41 by lost]: In the interest of full disclosure, miholo alerted us to this AP story which contains this information: Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks, said Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke. During that time, Brown will advise the department on "some of his views on his experience with Katrina," as he transitions out of his job, Knocke said. ...which seems to indicate that Brown is merely continuing to do whatever the hell it is he did before until he can pack it in. To cont... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/26/184830/683

Eased out of the Big Easy By Jesse Jackson Chicago Sun-Times - October 4, 2005 After his administration's incompetence and indifference had lethal consequences in Katrina's wake, President Bush has been scrambling to regain his footing. He's called for an "unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis." In religious services at the National Cathedral, he called on America to "erase this legacy of racism" exposed by those abandoned in Katrina's wake. He's called on Congress to appropriate more than $60 billion in emergency relief and outlined a recovery program likely to cost up to $200 billion, or nearly as much as the Iraq War. All this has led the press to compare his plans to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal or Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Don't fall for it. A close look at the Bush plan reveals that this is a bad deal from a deck stacked against the poor who suffered the most in Katrina's wake. The first clue came from Bush's first act. He issued orders erasing the prevailing wage for work on rebuilding the Gulf, and his administration gave Halliburton a lucrative no-bid contract to begin the work. Then he designated Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana an enterprise zone, and, using emergency authority, waived all worker protections in the region -- protections for equal employment, for minority contractors, for health and safety, for environmental protection. We're learning that when Bush promised to remove the legacy of racism in New Orleans, he meant he'd remove the poor who were victims of that racism. Bush's secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Alphonso Jackson, revealed that to the Houston Chronicle. More: http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse04.html

Life flickers in dark New Orleans By Matthew Davis Hurricane Katrina turned New Orleans into a post-apocalyptic city, a scene out of a Hollywood disaster movie. Three months on, what has changed? Parts of central New Orleans look almost normal. The traffic has returned, businessmen in suits meet in restaurants, Starbucks is open for cappuccinos. You can feel the return of order by the re-opened boutiques, the police cars out on patrol and by the fact that no one is driving the wrong way down the freeways any more. At night, Cajun music drifts out of the French Quarter, and on Bourbon Street the dancing girls entertain customers in neon-lit bars. But the darkness also reveals just where "normal" ends. Vast swathes of New Orleans are still unlit and uninhabitable - "nuked" as residents say. More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4484070.stm

I highly recommend the new Spike Lee documentary on HBO, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in 4 Acts." http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image It's 4 parts on the Katrina disaster and history of NO among other things. There's more I want to say about it and would like to go back to update on comments said here last year, but too sleepy now.

I saw that on tivo... I'll mark it for recording. Right now there's such a barrage of 911 tv specials.