God I hope this story is overblown right now!!!

[Guy Berger]

It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

←

I've said it several times in this thread, but worth repeating at least 50 times more: it's a tragedy that the administration put more effort into covering its ass than into saving lives in NO.

Guy

[RDK]

From Salon.

From all across the nation, local fire departments have sent firefighters -- many of them trained in emergency medicine and search-and-rescue techniques -- to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Emergency Management Agency requested the help. But when the firefighters arrived in Atlanta, loaded down with the firefighting gear FEMA told them to bring, they were sent to a hotel to wait. Some of them have been waiting for three or four days now. Some have been assigned to sit through an eight-hour class on topics that included sexual harassment. And some have been dispatched to the disaster area to work as human props behind George W. Bush as he toured the destruction.

We've said this before lately, and we'll say it again: We're not making this up.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Hundreds of firefighters who volunteered to help rescue victims of Hurricane Katrina have instead been playing cards, taking classes on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's history and lounging at an Atlanta airport hotel for days. 'On the news every night you hear [hurricane victims say], "How come everybody forgot us?"' said Joseph Manning, a firefighter from Washington, Pa. 'We didn't forget. We're stuck in Atlanta drinking beer.'"

Well, not just drinking beer. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that FEMA put a team of 50 firefighters on a flight to Louisiana Monday morning. Their mission: Stand beside Bush as he toured the devastation -- just possibly not the best use for highly trained emergency workers, and a job we thought was obsolete in the digital age anyway.

FEMA defends the use -- or nonuse -- of the firefighters, saying that their chiefs knew they were being sent to the Gulf Coast to work as community-relations officers for FEMA. Apparently, that job entails working as human props and passing out FEMA's phone number. "There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter told the Tribune.

On Monday, the Tribune says, some firefighters began to take off their FEMA-issued T-shirts in protest. A FEMA spokesman responded by questioning the firefighters' willingness to help in a time of need. "I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak told the Tribune.

[jazzypaul]

On Monday, the Tribune says, some firefighters began to take off their FEMA-issued T-shirts in protest. A FEMA spokesman responded by questioning the firefighters' willingness to help in a time of need. "I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak told the Tribune.

←

What fucking commitment does a firefighter have to FEMA? What the hell is this bullshit? People come ready to help and you're going to make them hand out fliers?

I'm moving to India. Fuck this noise.

[kh1958]

Excerpts from The Onion on the hurricane...

God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again

September 7, 2005 | Issue 41•36

Louisiana National Guard Offers Help By Phone From Iraq

BAGHDAD—The 4,000 Louisiana National Guardsmen stationed in Iraq, representing over a third of the state's troops, called home this week to find out what, if any, help they could offer Katrina survivors from overseas. "The soldiers wanted to know if they could call 911 for anyone, or perhaps send some water via FedEx," said Louisiana National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Schneider. The Guardsmen also "would love to send generators, rations, and Black Hawk helicopters for rescue missions," but, said Schneider, "we desperately need these in Iraq to stay alive." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised the phone support, but noted that it would take months to transfer any equipment from Iraq to New Orleans, saying, "You fight a national disaster with the equipment you have."

Government Relief Workers Mosey In To Help

NEW ORLEANS—Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, leading a detachment of 7,500 relief workers, moseyed on down to New Orleans Monday afternoon. "Well, I do declare, it's my job to see if any of these poor folks need any old thing," Brown said from his command rocker on the command post porch, adding, "Mighty hot day, ain't it?" Follow-up teams of emergency relief workers are expected to begin ambling into the Gulf Coast region as early as this weekend. "They should be getting the trucks good and warmed up anytime now, and they'll be cruising into town just as soon as all the reservists stroll in," said Brown, who is currently at his desk awaiting offers of food, water, and evacuation buses to roll in from "somewhere or other."

White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

NEW ORLEANS—Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of shopping districts have reported seeing African­Americans "looting snacks and beer from damaged businesses." "I was in the abandoned Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I'd managed to find," said white survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination. "Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going straight for the booze. Hell, you could see they had already looted a fortune in diapers." Radio stations still in operation are advising store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against marauding blacks looting gun shops.

Bush Urges Victims To Gnaw On Bootstraps For Sustenance

WASHINGTON, DC—In an emergency White House address Sunday, President Bush urged all people dying from several days without food and water in New Orleans to "tap into the American entrepreneurial spirit" and gnaw on their own bootstraps for sustenance. "Government handouts are not the answer," Bush said. "I believe in smaller government, which is why I have drastically cut welfare and levee upkeep. I encourage you poor folks to fill yourself up on your own bootstraps. Buckle down, and tear at them like a starving animal." Responding to reports that many Katrina survivors have lost everything in the disaster, Bush said, "Only when you work hard and chew desperately on your own footwear can you live the American dream."

[Johnny E]

Here's an editorial from today's New York Daily News:

That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are.

And what is this turd gonna say if it turns out the majority of the missing police were killed in the flood? Fucking asshole! How dare he!

[ghost of miles]

Boy, I was sure right about Bush and Brown (the head of FEMA). Anybody else see the article in today's NY Times? Pelosi met with Bush yesterday:

At a news conference, Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's choice for head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency had ''absolutely no credentials.''

She related that she had urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Michael Brown.

''He said 'Why would I do that?''' Pelosi said.

'''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?'''

''Oblivious, in denial, dangerous,'' she added.

"What didn't go right?" Said yesterday by our president.

[Johnny E]

"What didn't go right?"  Said yesterday by our president.

←

WHOA!

What is the matter with this man? Is he a sociopath?

[BERIGAN]

Here's an editorial from today's New York Daily News:

Let's take a break from the joy of Bush bashing to reveal the dirty little secret of New Orleans: Its local government deserves an F for its planning and response to Katrina. And one other thing: The New Orleans police force would be a joke if it weren't a disgrace.

Yes, I know it's impolitic to say such things while the suffering in the Big Easy is fresh and many cops risked their lives to save others. But now is the time to blow the whistle on the story line being repeated by rote across America: That the federal government ignored New Orleans because most of its residents are black and poor.

That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.

The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please.

If even a smidgen of the racism charges are true, President Bush should be shot. But before we give him his blindfold, let's look at New Orleans before Katrina.

Start with crime. That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.

It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.

New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year.

That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are.

The top cop, Eddie Compass, has responded by offering all officers paid vacations to Las Vegas and Atlanta. Yes, that's right - he is pulling all cops off the street, even while bodies lie in the open. Never in New York.

Then there's Mayor Ray Nagin, a Democrat, who has blamed everybody but himself. Maybe he has forgotten his plans for dealing with Katrina.

Last July, his office prepared DVDs warning that, if the city ever had to be evacuated, residents were on their own. According toa July 24 article in The Times-Picayune (spotted by the Web's Drudge Report), "Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message.

And how's this for preparation? Cops were told not to work on the day Katrina hit, one officer told The New York Times, but "to come in the next day, to save money on their budget."

By all means, let's investigate what went wrong in New Orleans. Let's start in City Hall.

←

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with.

←

Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one.

←

Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that:

1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing";

2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth;

3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole;

and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force.

It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

←

Big Wheel, IF Kerry was president, and a Republican Gov and Mayor left hundreds upon hundreds of buses unused(except to take some people to the Superdome) you don't think you would be bitching much more about the locals, than what the Feds did or did not do? You and others would be screaming bloody murder, wondering why the fuck they didn't bus everyone out of town.

I know, everything would have gone perfectly if only Kerry had been the president, and it wouldn't have been an issue.

2)That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/07/D8CFNMPG0.html

[catesta]

Here's an editorial from today's New York Daily News:

Let's take a break from the joy of Bush bashing to reveal the dirty little secret of New Orleans: Its local government deserves an F for its planning and response to Katrina. And one other thing: The New Orleans police force would be a joke if it weren't a disgrace.

Yes, I know it's impolitic to say such things while the suffering in the Big Easy is fresh and many cops risked their lives to save others. But now is the time to blow the whistle on the story line being repeated by rote across America: That the federal government ignored New Orleans because most of its residents are black and poor.

That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.

The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please.

If even a smidgen of the racism charges are true, President Bush should be shot. But before we give him his blindfold, let's look at New Orleans before Katrina.

Start with crime. That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.

It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.

New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year.

That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are.

The top cop, Eddie Compass, has responded by offering all officers paid vacations to Las Vegas and Atlanta. Yes, that's right - he is pulling all cops off the street, even while bodies lie in the open. Never in New York.

Then there's Mayor Ray Nagin, a Democrat, who has blamed everybody but himself. Maybe he has forgotten his plans for dealing with Katrina.

Last July, his office prepared DVDs warning that, if the city ever had to be evacuated, residents were on their own. According toa July 24 article in The Times-Picayune (spotted by the Web's Drudge Report), "Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message.

And how's this for preparation? Cops were told not to work on the day Katrina hit, one officer told The New York Times, but "to come in the next day, to save money on their budget."

By all means, let's investigate what went wrong in New Orleans. Let's start in City Hall.

←

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with.

←

Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one.

←

Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that:

1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing";

2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth;

3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole;

and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force.

It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

←

What the hell makes you think this guy (Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Goodwin) is doing some kind of pro Bush song and dance?

Take your glasses off.

[Big Wheel]

2)That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/07/D8CFNMPG0.html

←

What total garbage. Those remarks of Dean's were made today, AFTER the NY Daily News's resident asshole wrote his article.

And here is the best version of the Dean quote that I could find:

"...the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not."

Who here doubts that this is true?

[Big Wheel]

Here's an editorial from today's New York Daily News:

Let's take a break from the joy of Bush bashing to reveal the dirty little secret of New Orleans: Its local government deserves an F for its planning and response to Katrina. And one other thing: The New Orleans police force would be a joke if it weren't a disgrace.

Yes, I know it's impolitic to say such things while the suffering in the Big Easy is fresh and many cops risked their lives to save others. But now is the time to blow the whistle on the story line being repeated by rote across America: That the federal government ignored New Orleans because most of its residents are black and poor.

That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.

The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please.

If even a smidgen of the racism charges are true, President Bush should be shot. But before we give him his blindfold, let's look at New Orleans before Katrina.

Start with crime. That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.

It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.

New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year.

That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are.

The top cop, Eddie Compass, has responded by offering all officers paid vacations to Las Vegas and Atlanta. Yes, that's right - he is pulling all cops off the street, even while bodies lie in the open. Never in New York.

Then there's Mayor Ray Nagin, a Democrat, who has blamed everybody but himself. Maybe he has forgotten his plans for dealing with Katrina.

Last July, his office prepared DVDs warning that, if the city ever had to be evacuated, residents were on their own. According toa July 24 article in The Times-Picayune (spotted by the Web's Drudge Report), "Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message.

And how's this for preparation? Cops were told not to work on the day Katrina hit, one officer told The New York Times, but "to come in the next day, to save money on their budget."

By all means, let's investigate what went wrong in New Orleans. Let's start in City Hall.

←

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with.

←

Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one.

←

Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that:

1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing";

2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth;

3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole;

and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force.

It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

←

What the hell makes you think this guy (Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Goodwin) is doing some kind of pro Bush song and dance?

Take your glasses off.

←

Hmm, maybe the fact that the Daily News editorial page carries only slightly less water for Bush than the NY Post? Goodwin's bias is well known. link

link )

[GA Russell]

Here's an op ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by a former state rep who thinks that the state and local govts have the duty to act first, before FEMA comes into play.

Blame Amid the Tragedy

Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected--and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

[Edward]

Here's an editorial from today's New York Daily News:

Let's take a break from the joy of Bush bashing to reveal the dirty little secret of New Orleans: Its local government deserves an F for its planning and response to Katrina. And one other thing: The New Orleans police force would be a joke if it weren't a disgrace.

Yes, I know it's impolitic to say such things while the suffering in the Big Easy is fresh and many cops risked their lives to save others. But now is the time to blow the whistle on the story line being repeated by rote across America: That the federal government ignored New Orleans because most of its residents are black and poor.

That narrative has all the accuracy of a historic novel: it takes two undisputed facts - the feds were slow and New Orleans is largely black and poor - and weaves in pure fiction to make the desired link.

The charge of racism-inspired foot-dragging isn't just nonsense. It's pernicious nonsense, as in destructive and malicious. You know that's a fact because loony Howard Dean, the Democratic Party boss, is now peddling it. He's joined by Jesse Jackson, who said the squalor in New Orleans "looks like the hull of a slave ship." Oh, please.

If even a smidgen of the racism charges are true, President Bush should be shot. But before we give him his blindfold, let's look at New Orleans before Katrina.

Start with crime. That looters ran unchecked after the hurricane isn't surprising when you consider that criminals have had the run of the city for years.

It is a perennial contender for Murder Capital. The 264 homicides last year were a drop of only 11 from 2003 - and the first decline in five years.

New Orleans, with fewer than 500,000 people, had almost half the murders of New York, which had 570 homicides last year in a city of more than 8 million. Put another way, if New York had New Orleans' murder rate, we would have more than 4,200 murders a year.

That the New Orleans police are hardly the Finest was proven by a shocking report yesterday: Nearly a third of New Orleans cops - some 500 of the 1,600 - are now unaccounted for. The department says some quit, but it doesn't know where most of them are.

The top cop, Eddie Compass, has responded by offering all officers paid vacations to Las Vegas and Atlanta. Yes, that's right - he is pulling all cops off the street, even while bodies lie in the open. Never in New York.

Then there's Mayor Ray Nagin, a Democrat, who has blamed everybody but himself. Maybe he has forgotten his plans for dealing with Katrina.

Last July, his office prepared DVDs warning that, if the city ever had to be evacuated, residents were on their own. According toa July 24 article in The Times-Picayune (spotted by the Web's Drudge Report), "Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," one official said of the message.

And how's this for preparation? Cops were told not to work on the day Katrina hit, one officer told The New York Times, but "to come in the next day, to save money on their budget."

By all means, let's investigate what went wrong in New Orleans. Let's start in City Hall.

←

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with.

←

Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one.

←

Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that:

1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing";

2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth;

3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole;

and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force.

It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

←

Big Wheel, IF Kerry was president, and a Republican Gov and Mayor left hundreds upon hundreds of buses unused(except to take some people to the Superdome) you don't think you would be bitching much more about the locals, than what the Feds did or did not do? You and others would be screaming bloody murder, wondering why the fuck they didn't bus everyone out of town.

I know, everything would have gone perfectly if only Kerry had been the president, and it wouldn't have been an issue.

2)That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/07/D8CFNMPG0.html

←

If Kerry had been elected President, someone far more competent than Michael Brown would be heading FEMA.

If Kerry had been elected President, the budget for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers would not have been so drastically cut.

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers

If the rights of U.S. citizens had been respected in 2000, we would not be in Iraq now; and either Gore or McCain would be President, so this whole mess would probably have been avoided.

Are you EVER going to stop apologizing for Bush and admit that this semblance of a man has accomplished next to nothing positive during his 4-plus years as President???

[RDK]

If Kerry had been elected President, someone far more competent than Michael Brown would be heading FEMA.

Undoubtedly!

If Kerry had been elected President, the budget for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers would not have been so drastically cut.

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers

Possibly.  But the arguement could be made that he'd have diverted the funds to more pressing (even humanitarian) issues.  Regardless, it's doubtful the levees would have been improved in so short a time.  From what I've heard, the section that did break hadn't been considered a high risk area.   

If the rights of U.S. citizens had been respected in 2000, we would not be in Iraq now; and either Gore or McCain would be President, so this whole mess would probably have been avoided.

That's right, because Gore and McCain can leap tall buildings in a single bound and stop hurricanes and levee breaks with their bare hands. 

Are you EVER going to stop apologizing for Bush and admit that this semblance of a man has accomplished next to nothing positive during his 4-plus years as President???

No arguement there!

←

[Big Wheel]

Here's an op ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by a former state rep who thinks that the state and local govts have the duty to act first, before FEMA comes into play.

Blame Amid the Tragedy

Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

←

Bob Williams also happens to be the president of a conservative think tank, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, and possesses no relevant disaster management experience. I wonder if he has an ulterior motive in publishing this op-ed and appearing all over cable TV in the last few days?

Par for the course for the WSJ editorial page. I think I'll just turn it over to the folks at Media Matters.

Edited September 8, 2005 by Big Wheel

[BERIGAN]

Here's an op ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by a former state rep who thinks that the state and local govts have the duty to act first, before FEMA comes into play.

Blame Amid the Tragedy

Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

←

Bob Williams also happens to be the president of a conservative think tank, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, and possesses no relevant disaster management experience. I wonder if he has an ulterior motive in publishing this op-ed and appearing all over cable TV in the last few days?

Par for the course for the WSJ editorial page. I think I'll just turn it over to the folks at Media Matters.

←

Well, we all know Media matters isn't an left wing site!

[BERIGAN]

Who's to Blame for Delayed Response to Katrina? New Orleans' Emergency Plan Not Followed, Federal Government Slow to Take Lead

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 6, 2005 — In New Orleans, those in peril and those in power have pointed the finger squarely at the federal government for the delayed relief effort.

But experts say when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments — not the federal government — to respond.

Full Coverage: Katrina

Katrina Internet Charity Scams Try to Dupe Donors

Person of the Week: Complete Coverage

New Orleans' own comprehensive emergency plan raises the specter of "having large numbers of people … stranded" and promises "the city … will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas."

"Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves," the plan states.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, however, that plan was not followed completely.

Instead of sending city buses to evacuate those who could not make it out on their own, people in New Orleans were told to go to the Superdome and the Convention Center, where no one provided sufficient sustenance or security.

'Lives Would Have Been Saved'

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said "80 percent" of the city was evacuated before the storm hit, but Bob Williams says that's not good enough.

Williams dealt with emergency response issues as a state representative in Washington when his district was forced to deal with the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

"If the plan were implemented, lives would have been saved," Williams said.

There's no question the federal government plays a major role in disaster relief. But federal officials say in order to get involved, they must first be asked to do so by state officials.

As one FEMA official told ABC News, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco failed to submit a request for help in a timely manner.

Shortly before Katrina hit, she sent President Bush a request asking for shelter and provisions, but didn't specifically ask for help with evacuations. One aide to the governor told ABC News today Blanco thought city officials were taking care of the evacuation.

Nonetheless, some experts argue that the federal government should have been more proactive.

"If the city and the state are stumbling or in over their head, then it's FEMA's [Federal Emergency Management Agency's] responsibility to show some leadership," said Jerry Hauer, director of public health preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Both the president and Congress have vowed to investigate questions of blame. It may already be safe to conclude that there will be plenty of it to go around.

ABC News' Dan Harris filed this report for "World News Tonight."

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/HurricaneKatrina...TC-RSSFeeds0312

[Jim Alfredson]

Berigan, and all the other Bush apologists (where are you, SBO?) you need to look at the big picture. People did not leave New Orleans after the mayor issued a mandatory evacuation notice before the storm. The reasons they didn't leave are probably as varied as the people themselves but it doesn't change the fact that they did not leave. Shit, there are still some who are not leaving now. Who knows why? Does it really matter?

Here is the issue: People who survived the storm became trapped in the city. The local government was under-manned, under-managed, and totally out of their league. What happened in New Orleans is the sole reason FEMA exists in the first place.

Did FEMA do its job in your eyes? Did they even do a decent job? Did the federal government do its job? This is the worst natural disaster in this country's history. Did the government do what it is supposed to do, ie protect its citizens?

NO! And who runs the entire government? Who is the head of the federal government right now?

Whatever happened to "the buck stops here"?

Bush and his cronies, which include Chertoff and Brown and the whole rest of the losers, FUCKED UP ROYALLY. They did not react to this crisis with any sense of urgency and as a direct result, more people died than had to. If you can't see that, then you are truly out of your alleged mind.

Open your fucking eyes for a minute and LOOK AT THIS MESS!!!

Please stop blaming the victims.

Read that quote from Bush again. "What didn't go right?"

C'MON MAN!!! Jesus H. Christ, C'MON!!!

[Edward]

If Kerry had been elected President, someone far more competent than Michael Brown would be heading FEMA.

Undoubtedly!

If Kerry had been elected President, the budget for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers would not have been so drastically cut.

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers

Possibly.  But the arguement could be made that he'd have diverted the funds to more pressing (even humanitarian) issues.  Regardless, it's doubtful the levees would have been improved in so short a time.  From what I've heard, the section that did break hadn't been considered a high risk area.   

If the rights of U.S. citizens had been respected in 2000, we would not be in Iraq now; and either Gore or McCain would be President, so this whole mess would probably have been avoided.

That's right, because Gore and McCain can leap tall buildings in a single bound and stop hurricanes and levee breaks with their bare hands. 

Are you EVER going to stop apologizing for Bush and admit that this semblance of a man has accomplished next to nothing positive during his 4-plus years as President???

No arguement there!

←

←

My point, Ray, is that the United States' infrastructure would definitely have been in better shape after four-plus years of Gore as President or four years of Gore followed by McCain. Bush has failed to allot the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers anything close to what it has requested since 2002. Budget Cuts

Do you think that Gore, who would have arguably been the greatest environmentalist to serve as President (sorry all of you misguided Nader supporters), might have spent some money to help restore the Louisiana wetlands? Do you think that the United States might have had the money for wetland restoration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' projects if it had not been saddled by a President intent on fighting a costly war in Iraq and granting tax cuts to the rich?

Edited September 8, 2005 by Edward

[Cali]

Whatever happened to "the buck stops here"? 

←

In answer to that question, I just saw on CSPAN that Haliburton was awarded a $500 million, no bid contract, for re-construction in N.O. And we were all wondering where Cheney was.

[Johnny E]

At this point the Bush apologists (or whatever's left of them) are making fools of themselves. For even the most dedicated party loyalists have now had enough of this loser and his gang of theives.

[BERIGAN]

Berigan, and all the other Bush apologists (where are you, SBO?) you need to look at the big picture.  People did not leave New Orleans after the mayor issued a mandatory evacuation notice before the storm.  The reasons they didn't leave are probably as varied as the people themselves but it doesn't change the fact that they did not leave.  Shit, there are still some who are not leaving now.  Who knows why?  Does it really matter?

Does it really matter why they didn't leave before the storm, or after? It doesn't matter as much after, but before...it sure as hell does! There was a mandatory evacuation order. Bush declared Louisiana a disaster before the storm hit. Did The mayor follow the emergency plan in place already?

This is long, and should be another post perhaps, but it explains how royally the City and state FUCKED UP, making the feds job that much more difficult....

....The mayor's mandatory evacuation order was issued 20 hours before the storm struck the Louisiana coast, less than half the time researchers determined would be needed to get everyone out.

City officials had 550 municipal buses and hundreds of additional school buses at their disposal but made no plans to use them to get people out of New Orleans before the storm, said Chester Wilmot, a civil engineering professor at Louisiana State University and an expert in transportation planning, who helped the city put together its evacuation plan.

Instead, local buses were used to ferry people from 12 pickup points to poorly supplied "shelters of last resort" in the city. An estimated 50,000 New Orleans households have no access to cars, Wilmot said.

State and local plans both called for extra help to be provided in advance to residents with "special needs," though no specific timetable was prepared. But phone lines for people who needed specialized shelters opened at noon Saturday — barely 30 hours before Katrina came ashore in Louisiana.

Many people from New Orleans ended up staying home or using a "last resort" special needs shelter state authorities and the city health department set up at the Superdome. Those who made it out of town initially found limited space. The state of Louisiana provided shelter in Baton Rouge and five other cities for a total of about 1,000.

In the city of New Orleans alone, more than 100,000 of the city's residents described themselves as disabled in a recent U.S. census.

Early mistakes

Hospitals were exempted from the mayor's mandatory evacuation order. But at least two public hospitals, loaded with more than 1,000 caregivers and patients, had their generators in their basements, which made them vulnerable in a flood. That violated the state's hurricane plan but had gone uncorrected for years because the hospitals did not have the money to fix the situation, a state university hospital official told the Chronicle.

The consequences came to bear in the images hours and days later: Elderly people dying outside shelters and hospitals that were losing power and, finally, their patients. Now, hurricane evacuation experts around the country are asking why New Orleans failed to prepare for the flood scenario from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

"Everybody knew about it. There's no excuse for not having a plan," said Jay Baker, a Florida State University associate professor who is an expert in hurricane evacuations and is familiar with New Orleans hurricane studies.

Tami Frazier, a spokeswoman for Mayor C. Ray Nagin, currently working out of Houston, refused to comment on direct questions this week or to answer several written questions sent via e-mail. She cited the need to focus on rescuing citizens and recovering bodies.

Robicheaux, the cancer patient who was trapped in a downtown New Orleans hospital, said he thought the city "decided basically to let it ride."

"When you're in a city like New York and there's a big snowstorm, you expect them to have plows. That's not the way it is here. There are no resources to stockpile supplies."

Saturday evening, Hurricane Katrina had intensified to Category 4, with the possibility that it could strike land as a killer Category 5 storm.

About 8 p.m., Mayor Nagin fielded an unusual personal call at home from Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, who wanted to be sure Nagin knew what was coming.

Still, Nagin waited to issue a mandatory evacuation, apparently because of legal complications, said Frazier. She said the city attorney was unavailable for an interview to explain.

But Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the attorney general of Louisiana, said state law clearly gives the mayor the authority to "direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from any stricken or threatened area."

"They're not confused about it. He had the authority to do it," Wartelle said.

The mandatory evacuation order came at 10 a.m Sunday.

Former Kemah Mayor Bill King, who has spent years trying to boost funding and organization for hurricanes planning in the Houston-Galveston area, said Nagin's decision to wait to order people out compounded the tragedy.

"To call an evacuation on Sunday morning when the storm was going to hit on Monday morning at 6 a.m. is just ... negligence," King said. "If he'd called it better than that he would have saved lives."

Special-needs evacuation

The Chronicle reviewed Louisiana's Emergency Operations Plan, adopted in 2000. It calls for the establishment of specialized shelters for people with special medical needs. It also recommends that cities use public transportation to evacuate residents if necessary.

The city of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan suggested people develop their own way to get out. "The potential exists that New Orleans could be without sufficient supplies to meet the needs of persons with special considerations, and there is significant risk being taken by those individuals who decide to remain in these refuges of last resort," it says.

People who called for information on special needs shelters Saturday were directed to sites in Alexandria and in Monroe, La. — cities 218 and 326 miles away. The state scrambled to find 20 ambulances and some specialized vans to pick up fragile residents who needed rides.

"There were transportation systems in place to take people out of New Orleans, which was the preferred solution," said Kristen Meyer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Hospitals. But she's not sure how many got out.

Some, including Lower 9th Ward resident Lois Rice, a paraplegic, became trapped in their homes when the floodwaters rose. She was rescued after using her air mattress to float into her attic.

Florida, by contrast, for two decades has required counties to establish and maintain permanent databases of "special needs citizens," and arrange rides for people with no transportation. The state also has shelters established for myriad medical conditions.

Florida emergency officials agree that last-minute planning simply doesn't work.

"Unless you planned in advance, it would be a catastrophe," said Guy Daines, a retired Florida emergency manager who is considered an expert in specialized evacuations.

In New Orleans, many people with special medical needs ended up at the last resort shelter in the Superdome.

New Orleans' own special needs evacuation plan, however, says that shelter is "NOT TO BE INTERPRETED AS A GUARANTEE OF SAFETY, and the City of New Orleans is not assuring anyone protection from harm within the facilities that are being offered or opened for this purpose."

"When I saw them loading special needs people into the Superdome the day before the storm, my heart was breaking," said Patti Moss, a Texas nursing professor who has developed a tracking system for such vulnerable citizens here. "They were in the path of the storm."

Two of the city's hospitals dedicated to serving the city's poor, University and Charity hospitals, quickly lost power, according to Leslie Capo, a spokesman for the Louisiana State University health sciences department.

After days in the dark, it took the National Guard, the U.S. Army and a Black Hawk to rescue Robicheaux.

"We had been kind of left on our own and I thought, 'This is a fine thank you,' " he said.

Planning for the poor

In storm-vulnerable Jefferson Parish and New Orleans, the American Red Cross worked before the storm to promote a "buddy system" to encourage everyone without cars to find rides through churches and other organizations.

But in an interview published July 18 in New Orleans City Business, Jefferson Parish hurricane planner Walter Maestri insisted New Orleans needed to do much more for those who didn't have cars.

"New Orleans has a significantly larger population without means of transportation, so it's a much bigger problem for the city. ... The answer is very simple — evacuation," he said.

As Hurricane Katrina approached Sunday morning, New Orleans officials advertised city buses would be used to pick people up at 12 sites to go to the "last resort" shelters.

It's unclear how many buses were used. Planners decided not to use any of the New Orleans school buses for early evacuation, Wilmot said.

Photographers recorded images of them lined up in neat rows and submerged — though one was commandeered by Jabbar Gibson, 20, who ferried 70 passengers to safety in the Reliant Astrodome.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3344347

Here is the issue:  People who survived the storm became trapped in the city.  The local government was under-manned, under-managed, and totally out of their league.  What happened in New Orleans is the sole reason FEMA exists in the first place. 

Did FEMA do its job in your eyes?  Did they even do a decent job?  Did the federal government do its job?  This is the worst natural disaster in this country's history.  Did the government do what it is supposed to do, ie protect its citizens?

NO!  And who runs the entire government?  Who is the head of the federal government right now?...

did FEMA do it's job? Not real well at first. You could say now they are doing a "decent" job, but it is far from perfect. You mentioned it was the worst natural disaster in our nation's history. But people seem to think that is no excuse for any delays.

Have you heard the story today that the Red Cross was kept out of N.O. by the Louisiana Homeland security? Heard it on T.V. last night, can't find a link yet. BUT if that is true, they killed people by their actions. Supposedly, they didn't want food and water brought to the Convention center, and the Superdome because it would be a magnet to bring even more people to those crowded locations! The fact is, there really is blame enough for every level of goverment, but people on the far left hate Bush more than anything else, so he, and his administration are the only ones they want to see blamed....

Edited September 8, 2005 by BERIGAN

[Brownian Motion]

The New York Times

September 8, 2005

After the Storm, the Swindlers

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

Even as millions of Americans rally to make donations to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Internet is brimming with swindles, come-ons and opportunistic pandering related to the relief effort in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. And the frauds are more varied and more numerous than in past disasters, according to law enforcement officials and online watchdog groups.

Florida's attorney general has already filed a fraud lawsuit against a man who started one of the earliest networks of Web sites - katrinahelp.com, katrinadonations.com and others - that stated they were collecting donations for storm victims.

In Missouri, a much wider constellation of Internet sites - with names like parishdonations.com and katrinafamilies.com - displayed pictures of the flood-ravaged South and drove traffic to a single site, InternetDonations.org, a nonprofit entity with apparent links to white separatist groups.

The registrant of those Web sites was sued by the state of Missouri yesterday for violating state fund-raising law and for "omitting the material fact that the ultimate company behind the defendants' Web sites supports white supremacy."

Late yesterday afternoon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation put the number of Web sites claiming to deal in Katrina information and relief - some legitimate, others not - at "2,300 and rising." Dozens of suspicious sites claiming links to legitimate charities are being investigated by state and federal authorities. Also under investigation are e-mail spam campaigns using the hurricane as a hook to lure victims to reveal credit card numbers to thieves, as well as fake hurricane news sites and e-mail "updates" that carry malicious code aimed at hijacking a victim's computer.

"The numbers are still going up," said Dan Larkin, the chief of the Internet Crime Complaint Center operated by the F.B.I. in West Virginia. He said that the amount of suspicious, disaster-related Web activity was higher than the number of swindles seen online after last year's tsunami in Southeast Asia. "We've got a much higher volume of sites popping up," he said.

The earliest online frauds began to appear within hours of Katrina's passing. "It was so fast it was amazing," said Audri Lanford, co-director of ScamBusters.org, an Internet clearinghouse for information on various forms of online fraud. "The most interesting thing is the scope," she said. "We do get a very good feel for the quantity of scams that are out there, and there's no question that this is huge compared to the tsunami."

By the end of last week, Ms. Landford's group had logged dozens of Katrina-related swindles and spam schemes. The frauds ranged from opportunistic marketing (one spam message offered updates on the post-hurricane situation, with a link that led to a site peddling Viagra) to messages said to be from victims, or families of victims.

"This letter is in request for any help that you can give," reads one crude message that was widely distributed online. "My brother and his family have lost everything they have and come to live with me while they looks for a new job."

Several antivirus software companies have warned of e-mail "hurricane news updates" that lure users to Web sites capable of infecting computers with a virus that allows hackers to gain control of their machines. And numerous swindlers have seeded the Internet with e-mail "phishing" messages that say they are from real relief agencies, taking recipients to what appear to be legitimate Web sites, where credit card information is collected from unwitting victims who think they are donating to hurricane relief.

On Sunday, the Internet security company Websense issued an alert regarding a phishing campaign that lured users to a Web site in Brazil that was made to look like a page operated by the Red Cross. Users who submitted their credit card numbers, expiration dates and personal identification numbers via the Web form were then redirected to the legitimate Red Cross Web site, making the ruse difficult to detect. The security company Sophos warned of a similar phishing campaign on Monday.

"They're tugging at people's heartstrings," said Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the United States Secret Service. Mr. Mazur said there were "a number of instances that we're looking into with this type of fraud, both domestically and overseas," but he would not provide specifics.

The lawsuit filed in Florida last Friday accused Robert E. Moneyhan, a 51-year-old resident of Yulee, Fla., of registering several Katrina-related domain names - including KatrinaHelp.com, KatrinaDonations.com, KatrinaRelief.com and KatrinaReliefFund.com - as early as Aug. 28, even before the hurricane had hit the Louisiana coast.

By Aug. 31, according to the Florida attorney general, Charles J. Crist Jr., Mr. Moneyhan's sites had begun asking visitors to "share your good fortune with Hurricane Katrina's victims." A "Donate" button then took payments through a PayPal account that Mr. Moneyhan had set up.

Mr. Moneyhan did not respond to numerous phone calls and e-mail messages, but the Web site names in question are now owned by ProjectCare.com, a loose collection of Web sites that is using the Katrina sites as an information center for hurricane victims.

Kevin Caruso, the proprietor of ProjectCare.com, said that he had offered to buy the sites from Mr. Moneyhan on Sept. 2, but that Mr. Moneyhan, distressed over the lawsuit, simply donated them to Project Care without charge. Mr. Caruso also said that after several phone conversations, he believed that Mr. Moneyhan, was "trying to help the Hurricane Katrina survivors, but did not have the experience to proceed properly."

The lawsuit, however, states that Mr. Moneyhan had tried to sell his collection of Katrina-related domain names on Sept. 1 "to the highest bidder." The suit seeks $10,000 in civil penalties and restitution for any consumers who might have donated to the Web sites while they were controlled by Mr. Moneyhan.

Jay Nixon, the Missouri attorney general, sued to shut one of the more bizarre fund-raising efforts yesterday. A state circuit court granted a temporary restraining order against Internet Donations Inc., the entity behind a dozen Web sites erected over the last several days purporting to collect donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Also named in the Missouri suit, which seeks monetary penalties from the defendants, is the apparent operator of the donation sites, Frank Weltner, a St. Louis resident and radio talk show personality who operates a Web site called JewWatch.com.

That site - which indexes Adolf Hitler's writings, transcripts of anti-Semitic radio broadcasts and other materials, according to the Anti-Defamation League - attracted headlines last year when it appeared at or near the top of Google search results for the query "Jew." It remains the No. 2 search result today.

Most of Mr. Weltner's Katrina-related Web sites - which include KatrinaFamilies.com, Katrina-Donations.com, and NewOrleansCharities.com - appear to have been registered using DomainsByProxy.com, which masks the identity of a domain registrant.

However, Mr. Weltner's name appeared on public documents obtained through the Web site of the Missouri secretary of state yesterday. Those indicated that Mr. Weltner had incorporated Internet Donations as a nonprofit entity last Friday.

The various Web sites, which use similar imagery and slight variations on the same crude design, all point back to InternetDonations.org. There, visitors interested in donating to the Red Cross, Salvation Army or other relief organizations are told that "we can collect it for you in an easy one-stop location."

It is unclear whether any of the sites successfully drew funds from any donors, or if Mr. Weltner, who did not respond to e-mail messages and could not be reached by phone, had channeled any proceeds to the better-known charities named on his site. But the restraining order issued yesterday enjoins Mr. Weltner and Internet Donations Inc. from, among other things, charitable fund-raising in Missouri, and "concealing, suppressing or omitting" the fact that donations collected were intended "for white victims only."

"It's the lowest of the low when someone solicits funds" this way, Mr. Nixon said in an interview before announcing the lawsuit. "We don't want one more penny from well-meaning donors going through this hater."

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

* Home

* Privacy Policy

* Search

* Corrections

* XML

* Help

* Contact Us

* Work for Us

* Back to Top

[Big Wheel]

Bush and his cronies, which include Chertoff and Brown and the whole rest of the losers, FUCKED UP ROYALLY.  They did not react to this crisis with any sense of urgency and as a direct result, more people died than had to.  If you can't see that, then you are truly out of your alleged mind.

←

It's worse than this, Jim. Contrary to what administration water-carriers like Michael Goodwin are saying , the federal government response was not just "slow." The senior officials weren't just slow in their response, they seemed to have no conception of the situation on the ground well after the public at large had a grasp of the facts (see: Convention Center). And once they did become apprised of the facts, they decided to focus on political damage control instead of, you know, actually saving people's lives.

People who say, "well, the feds were slow, but Nagin and Blanco fucked up blah blah blah," are trying to sound like they're just reasonably doling out the blame. What they're really doing is completely trivializing the enormity of the administration's fuckup here.

[Jim Alfredson]

Its really hopeless, isn't it?

Bush: "What went wrong?"

Berigan: "Gee, maybe FEMA didn't respond as quickly as they could have, but they're doing a great job now."