Democracy for New Mexico

FEMA Refuses Help Left and Right

Just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure:

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

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid

FEMA turns away generators (See entry from 3:32 P.M. by Ben Morris, Slidell mayor)

FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"

Federal troops deny access to save historic documents

Aquarium animals, fish dying due to generator burnout

Tip of the hat to DavidNYC at Kos.

Watch full coverage of this story by Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! (REAL video).

For God's Sake, Just Shut Up and Send Us Somebody

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. On Meet the Press today:

Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out.

Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn't need them. This was a week go. 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 way. 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 our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.

. . . The guy who runs this building I'm in. Emergency management. He's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

(QT).

Watch on This Week, taking a helicopter tour of New Orleans today (QT).

Times-Picayune: An Open Letter to the President

A dead body lies wrapped in a sheet
on a piece of plywood on Rampart Street just outside
the French Quarter in New Orleans, La., Sunday

Traditional Jazz Funeral

Editorial in New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper:

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

Landrieu Blasts FEMA and Bush

On the heels of a discovery that Homeland Security has demanded that the Red Cross stay OUT of New Orleans, we learn this:

Story on From the Roots:

Landrieu Blasts Bush on Katrina Response
by Mike Liddell
Sat Sep 3rd, 2005 at 07:05:42 PM EST

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., issued the following statement this afternoon regarding her call yesterday for President Bush to appoint a cabinet-level official to oversee Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts within 24 hours.

Sen. Landrieu said:

“Yesterday, I was hoping President Bush would come away from his tour of the regional devastation triggered by Hurricane Katrina with a new understanding for the magnitude of the suffering and for the abject failures of the current Federal Emergency Management Agency. 24 hours later, the President has yet to answer my call for a cabinet-level official to lead our efforts. Meanwhile, FEMA, now a shell of what it once was, continues to be overwhelmed by the task at hand.

“I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims – far more efficiently than buses – FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.

“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government.

“Mr. President, I’m imploring you once again to get a cabinet-level official stood up as soon as possible to get this entire operation moving forward regionwide with all the resources – military and otherwise – necessary to relieve the unmitigated suffering and economic damage that is unfolding.”

Today’s aerial tour of the 17th Street levee will be featured tomorrow on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Later, Sen. Landrieu will also appear on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
*********************
Not angry enough at FEMA and Bush? How about this?

Katrina By the Numbers

A truly breathtaking compilation of statistics in a diary at Daily Kos.

A Deadly Form of Cronyism

Bush, Brown, Chertoff

Talking Points Memo, including links to other sources and even more info, exposes FEMA Director Michael Brown's total lack of relevant experience. No wonder we're in trouble. Excerpt:

Michael Brown is a lawyer and GOP party activist. Before he came to FEMA in 2001, he had a full-time job overseeing horse-shows as the commissioner of the . He started with them in 1991. But he was eventually fired because of what the Herald describes as "after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures." (The Kos diary has some more details.).

But the stars were shining on Brown because President Bush had just been elected. And he appointed his chief political fixer Joe Allbaugh to replace James Lee Witt as head of FEMA.

That was a good break for the recently-canned Brown, because, as we learn from the Herald, he and Allbaugh were college roomates. He hired Brown as his General Counsel at FEMA in February. And then, by the end of the year, he promoted him to Deputy Director.

Then, little more than a year later, Allbaugh left FEMA to set up New Bridge Strategies, a consultancy to cash in on the Iraqi contracts bonanza. On Allbaugh's departure from FEMA, Brown became Director, in charge of federal domestic emergency management in the United States.

Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, doesn't have any background in dealing with natural disasters or terrorist attacks either. He's an ex-federal prosecutor and was a special counsel during the Whitewater investigation fiasco.

And you didn't think we'd avoid the Halliburton taint, did you? Must be where Cheney has been hiding this past week, paving the way to stream more billions into the arms of his cronies, who are doing such a fantastic job in Iraq:

Yesterday the Houston Chronicle reported that Halliburton has been hired by the Navy to repair its damaged facilities in Mississippi and perform initial damage assessments of facilities in New Orleans.

. . . in the coming days and weeks we will move into a recovery phase in which, no doubt, tens of billions of dollars will be spent cleaning up and rebuilding not just New Orleans but big sections of the Gulf Coast.

Does anyone believe that the Bush administration can handle that money and that task without widespread waste, fraud and cronyism?

What I'll be waiting to see is if any Dems have the nerve to criticize these kinds of serious and damaging ethics and effectiveness breaches, which worsen the death, destruction and chaos instead of mitigating it. Or if they'll allow and perhaps even participate in another drain of billions into the hands of Bush cronies. Enough is enough, don't you think? Lives in the balance...

Disgraceful: No Words

There really are no words adequate to describe it: aerial shots from WWL-TV, New Orleans. Satellite and aerial shots from Yahoo.

But Mayor Nagin does have words -- for Bush and FEMA. Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses'

My words: Have you seen or heard a more pathetic spinner, liar and apologist than national FEMA head Michael Brown during this coverage? Have you seen him look even mildly anguished or dismayed over what is taking place on his watch? Those scenes of misery at the convention center yesterday: disgraceful. Those pathetic calls from hospitals where patients were dying of dehydration? Disgraceful. Not one helicopter or plane or truck or boat could bring these people a pallet of food or water almost 4 days after the hurricane? Disgraceful.

Sorry, I can't believe that the response would be this poor if this were unfolding in some area of the nation mostly populated by the wealthy. And the white.

The words of Terry Ebbert, Director of Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans:

“This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans.”

The Bayou Buzz has lots of words about the dismal performance of the feds that helped create this mess, and that continues to abet a worst case scenario. Excerpts:

Even before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the actions of the federal government toward the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans were nothing less than disgraceful. For years, local and state leaders in Louisiana pleaded for more federal assistance for coastal restoration in Louisiana and upgraded levee protection and flood control in New Orleans. The response for the city that has produced some of the finest literary, musical and artistic talent in the world was indifference. Politicians enjoyed going to conventions in New Orleans, partying in the city for Mardi Gras, but refused to allocate mere pennies that may have saved thousands of lives, thousands of homes, thousands of businesses and careers. It is a national disgrace.

. . . Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers asked for a meager $105 million for New Orleans flood control and hurricane protection projects, but was given only $42 million, after the White House and Congress drastically cut the request. If the Army Corps of Engineers had been given proper resources for the past decade, we would not be witnessing the destruction of the country’s most unique, historic and beautiful city.

. . . We are spending billions on Iraq protecting their citizens and oil fields, but did not want to spend a mere $105 million to protect a national treasure and a region that is vital for our own energy production.

Again, no words:

How to Help Hurricane Victims

We'll be collecting donations for the Red Cross at tomorrow's DFA-DFNM Meetup. Here are some other ways to give. Patience is required. I've been trying to click on the Red Cross page on and off all morning without success. It must be swamped, which is a good thing.

Courtesy of League of Conservation Voters:

Charity Navigator provides information on charities and tips on giving.

American Red Cross, 800-HELP-NOW (435-7669) English, 800-257-7575 Spanish.

America's Second Harvest, 800-344-8070.
Adventist Community Services, 800-381-7171.
Catholic Charities USA, 800-919-9338.
Christian Disaster Response, 941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, 800-848-5818.
Church World Service, 800-297-1516.
Convoy of Hope, 417-823-8998.
Lutheran Disaster Response, 800-638-3522.
Mennonite Disaster Service, 717-859-2210.
Nazarene Disaster Response, 888-256-5886.
Operation Blessing, 800-436-6348.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, 800-872-3283.
Salvation Army, 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769).
Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, 800-462-8657, Ext. 6440.
United Methodist Committee on Relief, 800-554-8583.
************

Local blog has a link to a growing collection of Hurricane Katrina photo galleries.

And what was our president doing yesterday in San Diego? Celebrating our victory over Japan in WWII and playing the guitar in San Diego:

NOLA Hangs In

I got hung up watching the repetitive and rather hysterical coverage of Hurricane Katrina last night, bringing back many sweet and bittersweet memories of youthful visits to New Orleans and Biloxi. I'm so lucky to have experienced short spurts of the Crescent City and environs before it got as cleaned up and gentrified as it is today. Back when the Jax beer factory was still a factory and the Mississippi River front was still funky and Cafe Du Monde was more raggedy and downhome. Back when many of the buildings of the French Quarter remained unrenovated and some coins could buy you a plate of red beans and rice if you knew where to go. When you could still find run-down places to rent for cheap in the Quarter or the shotgun shacks down the way, and you had to exhibit some bravado to do so.

I could go on with the memories but I'll spare you. Still, I find myself pining for a chickory-laced cafe au lait and some beignets this morning, and I can almost recapture the mix of earthy smells and sounds and textures of a walk in the morning drizzle there, something green sprouting out of every nook and cranny.

Last night in front of the TV I kept returning to the chant, "turn East, turn East". Remarkably, Katrina did, at the very last moment, sparing New Orleans the very, very worst case scenario that held real possibilities for almost total destruction. I know that things will still likely be incredibly bad there, and farther East toward Biloxi and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts, as well as inland. Levees could still break and flooding and wind damage will no doubt be widespread and severe. I feel for the people caught in the maelstrom, and in the awful aftermath. But I have the hopeful feeling this morning that at least some of the dear essence of NOLA will survive, as it has for hundreds of years. Damp, worn, a little damaged and decrepit, but still kicking.

Republican Noise Machine Rattles On

Soy Blue takes on the Republican Noise Machine and the hypocrisy at its core. Heather Wilson? Demoralizing our troops and endangering their lives? Go read and comment.