Riding Out Katrina

[Steve]

Flashermac said:

The carpenters union and several others traditionally have been Republican. As to California and New York, well ... those aren't really NORMAL places.

 

The biggest unions and all the major ones are staunch democrats (UAW, AFL CIO, teachers unions, etc.), not sure if those unions you mentioned are national ones or city ones but unions an democrats are pretty much synonymous.

 

Is anywhere in America really NORMAL? ::

[Steve]

Evel_Penivel said:

Search for Bodies Ends in New Orleans

By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer

1 hour ago

 

NEW ORLEANS - Officials ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses finding far fewer bodies than once feared... The toll Tuesday stood at 972, eight more than Monday, the state health department said.

 

The death toll probably will continue to rise, but authorities have said sweeps yielded fewer bodies than feared, and that the toll was likely to be well below the dire projections. Mayor Ray Nagin said soon after Katrina struck that New Orleans alone could have 10,000 dead.

 

 

I'm certainly much relieved that the body count is no where near what was feared. It also brings up the reports of widespread anarchy as well.

 

An excerpt from New Orleans' paper the Times-Picayune said the following:

 

That the nation's front-line emergency management believed the body count would resemble that of a bloody battle in a war is but one of scores of examples of myths about the Dome and the Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials, including the mayor and police superintendent. As the fog of warlike conditions in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath has cleared, the vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

 

As well as other articles say the body count at the superdome and the convention center was very small as well:

Superdome -- 6 bodies: 4 dies of natural causes, 1 overdose, and 1 suicide

Convention Center -- 4 bodies: 1 possible homicide, others apparently natural causes.

[..]

Wow! This should be front page headlines: A Bush administration official actually admits that something was his fault!!!!!!

 

+++++++++

US security chief rebuts ex-disaster head on storm

Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:41 PM ET

 

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday disagreed with a charge by the former top federal disaster official that state and local authorities were to blame for the botched response to Hurricane Katrina.

 

Chertoff told a House of Representatives special committee investigating the highly criticized government response to the hurricane that he had no difficulty dealing with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other state officials.

 

"My own view is this, I've got to get my own house in order," Chertoff said. "I am not here to judge others. I did not have a problem with state and local officials."

 

Michael Brown, who quit as Federal Emergency Management Agency director under fire for his agency's slow response to the hurricane, told the committee last month that Louisiana officials were "dysfunctional."

 

In contrast, Chertoff said devastation caused by the storm overwhelmed the disaster-relief system. Some response systems were improved by the time hurricane Rita hit a few weeks later, Chertoff said, but he said FEMA still needs to be retooled.

 

Acknowledging the controversy over Brown's lack of disaster-relief qualifications, Chertoff also stressed that top FEMA officials need to have relevant experience.

 

Chertoff told the committee he had trouble getting in touch with Brown the day after Katrina hit, when it was clear the levees protecting New Orleans had failed and the city would flood. He said he finally spoke to him shortly before 8 p.m. that Tuesday night.

 

Committee Chairman Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, said e-mails from Brown that have been turned over to the panel showed that he resented being named the "principal federal officer" in charge of the Katrina response, a title he saw as a demotion.

 

Davis said "it struck me as rather odd" that Brown was worried about his title in the middle of a catastrophe.

 

Democrats are formally boycotting the House committee created to investigate Katrina response although a few from the devastated region are informally participating. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has called the Republican-led probe a sham, saying it was an effort to "whitewash" the White House's response. Democrats want an independent commission to investigate the government's actions.

 

 

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

 

++++++++++

 

Cheers,

SD

[packy]

Okay Brown is a first- class SCREW-UP. But If you want to be objective about this, look at the Mayor and the Governor. The Mayor had the ability to transport all the people In the Superdome by using the buses that stood idle in water nearly up to the windows. Not only saving the people but at the same time saving Millions of Dollars in Buses. The Governor, she just sat back bideing her time, until someone told her what to do, possibly the person that was gone on vacation, or out of reach by phone. Brown was not qualified to do anything other than clean stables, the Mayor, he looks as if he might have been a waitress , excuse me waiter, and the Governor, I will not go there.

 

The Governor and the Mayor, were elected, by the same people that they let down. Would or could either of them be elected as dogcatcher next election?

 

The one person that did show initiative was the young man that "STOLE" a school bus and transported people to Houston, Did they follow through with their threats to charge him with Grand Theft. If anyone knows please advise me. This man had the right idea and because THREE did not know what to do, they wanted to charge him with something, anything for showing them up. He and the passengers paid for the gas to get themselves to safety.

 

The media has tried to make this a BLACK/WHITE issue. But as an American that is so white he can lay on a white sheet and make it look dirty, it is high time the people of the US put their Racial differences aside and act as Americans, not as Blacks nor as Whites, not as Democrats nor Republicans but Americans. The last President we had that had this type of attitude was Eisenhower, even I have a hard time remembering him.

 

As a resident of Florida, a survivor of Ivan, Dennis (which did not hit locally) and a ready to evacuate survivor of Katrina, I was prepared to get my self out of Harm's way. I ran from Dennis, tried to run from Ivan but my truck did not want to go, at no time did I receive any assistance from the Federal Government to leave, at no time did I ask for a free ride, at no time did I say that it was the government's fault for anything that I did or didn't do.

 

With the advanced notice the people of New Orleans had, they could have walked to safety. Other than YOURSELF, who is responsible for your safety? If you are poor, sick or whatever, someone will help if you make an attempt to help yourself. Why not stand up on your own and say I am responsible for not leaving. We all hold our fate in our own hands. If we do not show good common sense, why should we expect someone else to care. Are there any one of you that would not pick up an Old man or Woman walking to vacate from a hurricane?

 

Several chain restaurants in this area have asked for donations for Katrina Aid. I gave exactly what they sent us after Ivan,.....................

 

There are 20 to 30 percent of homes in this area that had damage from Ivan still have tarpaulin for roofs. They received their aid but one I know set up a business dealing drugs on the corner. Another took his money to Las Vegas. While both of these people showed exactly where their priorities lay, It was taxpayer money that they misused. Did you want to finance a drug dealer or a plane trip for gambling?

 

Federal Aid is a joke! Them that get it and properly use it are few and far between. Fema is a mismanaged agency that should be tore apart and rebuilt to a useful agency with accountability for every dollar they spend. If Brown had been accountable for things, perhaps he would have had the motivation to do a better job. The Mayor and the Governor will get theirs in the next election, I'm sure.