Katrina's POLITICAL aftermath (keep the political discussions HERE)

"...one must recognize that there are limits to what powers the federal government should exercise in a crisis. Yes, it is the right and duty of the president to override state drug policy, to determine who can or cannot marry, to indefinitely detain citizens without due process and to torture and kill prisoners as he sees fit, but disaster relief is a matter that should be left to the states. Yes, the images of the drowned, the diseased, and the desperately dying drove much of the country to outrage, but how much more outraged would America have been if FEMA had fed the Superdome refugees without the full oversight and authorization of the State of Louisiana? Had the president sent rescue helicopters to evacuate New Orleans the day the levees burst, he might have saved thousands of lives, but he would also have overstepped his authority - and if there's one thing George W. Bush refuses to countenance, it is abuse of power."

also see fafblog's Do-It-Yourself Emergency Management Guide!

!!!

Oh, very witty, Alfred. What incredible insight.

xpost no, like Harding

http://thousandrobots.com/blog/files/palpatine_02.jpg

here and here

Did you see this fuck on "Larry King Live"? Jimmy Kimmel ran excerpts of it last night. While footage of a man chest-deep in water ran, Simmons was saying that New Orleans could be "The Venice, Italy of the World!" A.) It's probably rather short-sighted to be calling New Orleans that right now as well as being a little tasteless and B.) as Kimmel already pointed out, isn't Venice, Italy already "The Venice, Italy of the World"?

"'I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week.' And he said 'What didn't go right?'"

He inspires confidence, our president.

I shit you not. The clip could've been played out of context, but I saw what I saw.

also, dig this shit: FEMA is now fucking with people moving out to the different ememgency centers. Ed Schultz is on the air screaming about this. "These are not detainees, these are americans!"

xpost

An alert emailer writes the following:
"Plain and simple: President Bush signed Gov. Blanco's request to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana on 8/27. Within the text of that declaration the Gov. declares:
Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster.
The Stafford Act is the legal stipulator in that declaration. Under The Stafford Act:
§ 5170a. GENERAL FEDERAL ASSISTANCE {Sec. 402}

In any major disaster, the President may--

# direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to utilize its authorities and the resources granted to it under Federal law (including personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, and managerial, technical, and advisory services) in support of State and local assistance efforts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/national/nationalspecial/07brown.html

I read that rather as a sign that they're admitting that Brown can't handle NO on his own. There's an article in the Washington Post that goes into it a little more here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090601677.html

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_72002.asp

This is the only article I can find referencing it though. Photos of him doing relief work have surfaced on a handful of blogs though I can't remember which now. :( I also saw a brief clip of him in reference to this on local (DC) news.

>From the Knoxville News Sentinel
(link:http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4054083,00.html)

Gore accompanies about 140 arrivals from New Orleans but declines to take
credit

By ROBERT WILSON

They saw nature's unmatched fury up close.

Now they would see unbridled human compassion.

About 140 people - mostly elderly and infirm - arrived Saturday at McGhee
Tyson Airport on a chartered mercy flight from hurricane-ravaged New
Orleans, welcomed to East Tennessee by a bright sun and a host of medical
professionals straining at the reins to help their fellow human beings
without regard to whether they were on the clock.

The displaced hurricane victims came to Tennessee on a hastily arranged
flight, accompanied by doctors and carrying whatever they had in boxes,
bags or, in one case, an old suitcase tied up with rope.

Former Vice President Al Gore arranged the flight and was on board, but he
declined to take credit for the airlift, fearing it would be
"politicized."

The patients and evacuees arrived aboard an American Airlines MD-80 about
3:15 p.m. The unloading process took almost two hours, as some walked
hesitantly down a staircase beneath the rear of the aircraft. Others were
rolled down a ramp from the front of the plane to waiting wheelchairs.
Personnel from Rural/Metro and the Tennessee Air National Guard
volunteered their services, as did others, to get the patients and
evacuees loaded onto buses or ambulances for the ride to area hospitals to
be assessed medically before going to a Red Cross shelter.

On hand to help with the operation were Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale
and his wife, Claudia, still decked out in orange from having attended the
University of Tennessee football game against Alabama-Birmingham. The
county's first couple assisted medical staff in shuttling patients from
the ramp to buses.

One of the doctors on board the flight was Dr. Anderson Spickard of
Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, who said he had a
"personal and professional" relationship with Gore.

Spickard said Gore called him about 11 p.m. Friday to ask him to
participate in the flight.

"The jet was chartered," he said. "It was a private effort."

Gore chartered the plane, but, Spickard said, "we'll decide who pays for
it later."

The doctor said the patients on the plane traveled well and added that he
was "pleased" with Knoxville and Knox County's response to the call for
help.

The patients, he said, "didn't know what kindness" they would receive here.

Spickard said the plane would leave McGhee Tyson Saturday evening for
Dallas, where he would spend the night before making another mercy flight,
possibly to Chattanooga, Nashville or Chicago.

The plan had been to make two flights Saturday, Spickard said, but delays
in getting to Knoxville meant that the plane could not get back to New
Orleans before dark. And there are no landing lights at New Orleans
International Airport.

Mayor Ragsdale said he was touched by some of the heart-wrenching stories
the people told him as they disembarked from the plane.

One, he said, was a man of 80-plus years who described being on his roof
for three days before being rescued. Another was in an attic that almost
filled with water. A third was a man who got off the plane barefooted and
with obvious skin trauma to his lower legs, who told the mayor of having
to stand in water for 2-3 days.

"Some folks are mentally exhausted," he said. And, the mayor said, he has
been notified that the Knoxville area can expect as many as 1,500 more
evacuees in coming days.

Ragsdale said a meeting was held Friday afternoon - before the mercy
flight was announced - that included representatives of his staff and
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam's, all area hospitals, Knoxville's Community
Development Corporation, Child and Family Services, the Red Cross, the
Salvation Army and the Knox County Health Department to come up with a
plan to mobilize in case of such an emergency.

"We didn't know this would happen," Ragsdale said. "It is fortunate we had
the meeting."

He called Saturday "a very successful day."

Gore chose not to speak to the assembled media, but he was seen in a black
T-shirt and jeans moving rapidly from one side of the plane to the other
assisting with the off-loading operation.

Forty people aboard the plane were uninjured evacuees, mostly family
members of the elderly patients. Two or three children and a dog also were
on board.

Participating in the operation were the Knoxville Fire Department, the
Blount County Rescue Squad and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
Cruisers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol escorted the buses to
hospitals.

Additional medical personnel within the regional emergency system also
were on standby.

Units at the airports included at least 10 ambulances, a phalanx of buses,
fire trucks and other equipment.

All those aboard the mercy flight were taken to hospitals for evaluation,
including the University of Tennessee Medical Center, St. Mary's, Fort
Sanders Regional Medical Center, Parkwest, the Baptist Health System,
Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, Blount Memorial Hospital, Jefferson
Memorial Hospital, Fort Sanders Loudon and Children's Hospital of East
Tennessee.

Air National Guard personnel donated their time to help move patients and
others to buses and provide liquids, said Capt. Lisa Godsey, public
information officer for McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base. Also
coordinating the event was Rebecca Huckaby, public information officer for
the airport.

The crew for the plane was made up of volunteers led by Capt. E.W. Evans.

Mayor Ragsdale said the effort "could not have had better cooperation" and
that the response was "heart-warming."

------------------------------------------
Gore in New Orleans to aid Katrina victims
------------------------------------------
>From GNN
(link:http://www.algore-08.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=272&Itemid=81)

Updated: CNN reports that Al Gore has landed a plane in New Orleans, and
will fly approximately 100 of the most critically ill to hospitals in
Tennessee.

According to Alexis Simendinger of the National Journal, Gore organized
the relief flights earlier this week, but was delayed for several days
trying to get clearance from FEMA, which required a Federal Department to
request special numbers for each patient transported by private
conveyance. The flight consisted of two American Airlines planes, paid for
by Gore himself.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html