Tag: Hurricane Katrina

Repost: Bush Fiddles (with a Guitar) While New Orleans Floods

Jon Ponder

This is a repost of an article published in Pensito Review one year ago, on August 30,2005, as part of our coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster

Message: I Don’t Care

Left: President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country singer Mark Wills, right, backstage after the president gave a speech in San Diego.

Right: Meanwhile, flood waters are rising in the city of New Orleans, where thousands of people are homeless. Fires are burning throughout the city, and looting has been reported in the Central Business District and beyond. Emergency services are stretched past capacity. Food and potable water are scarce. In counties along the Gulf Coast of the Deep South, millions are without power. Property damage from the storm is projected to be greater than Hurricane Andrew, the previously most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

Rock on, George!

Must-Read Debate on Katrina between Dr. (‘Go F**k Yourself, Mr. Cheney’) Marble & Rockey (Wish Bush Had Another Term) Vacarella

Jon Ponder
“I think Bush is the worst president in the history of this nation without question. And he should resign as soon as possible.”
— Dr. Ben Marble

On Hardball last week, Chris Matthews refereed a balls-to-the-wall debate between “Doc” Marble, the young Mississippi physician who famously told Vice Pres. Cheney to go “cheney” himself while the vice president was on a tour of the region after Katrina struck, and Rockey Vacarella, the GOP pol who drove a FEMA trailer up to Washington from Louisiana to serve as a prop in a White House photo op with Pres. Bush last week:

MATTHEWS: Late today, I spoke with both of these men, Dr. Marble from Long Beach, Mississippi. He is the guy with the commentary about the vice president. And Rocky Vacarelli on the phone. He is going to be on the phone from New Orleans.

[…]

Top 10 Stupid Post-Katrina Quotes

Buck Banks

Sherman, set the Way-Back Machine to 2005! Here are some doozies uttered by the people that brought us the Katrina disaster (Mother Nature exempted). They range from the blithely idiotic to the utterly clueless to the maliciously racist.

1) “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” — President Bush, on “Good Morning America,” Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

2) “What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them.” — Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 5, 2005

3) “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” — President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

4) “Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.” — FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005

5) “Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?” – House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 9, 2005

6) “We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do … The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” (Laughter) — President Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

7) “Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.’ Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse.” – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for the government’s failings, “Meet the Press,” Sept. 4, 2005

8) “What didn’t go right?'” –President Bush, as quoted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), after she urged him to fire FEMA Director Michael Brown “because of all that went wrong, of all that didn’t go right” in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort

9) “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” –Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Sept. 6, 2005

10) “You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals…many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold.” – CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans’ hurricane evacuees, Sept. 1, 2005

These quotes are also available here.

Repost: Me & Katrina � Reflections a Week Later

Buck Banks

One day after Katrina hit, ice and water were being delivered to Homestead, 30 miles south of Miami, near the tip end of the state. While over 800,000 people were without power Friday morning, by Monday all but 90,000 had their electricity restored.

Heckuva Job � Pensito Review revisits its Katrina coverage: As I walked my dogs through Coconut Grove this morning, I marveled at the difference in my neighborhood from a week ago when we awoke the morning after Hurricane Katrina whacked us � hard. Gone were the downed trees, the downed powerlines, the masses of tree limbs, leaves and chunks of debris that littered and blocked the streets. Gone was the eerie silence, replaced by humming air conditioners, traffic noise, birds singing.

Although some scars are permanent � the canopy is shot to hell and huge 80-year-old trees that shaded our streets were lost � the huge piles of storm debris are gone, including the 20-foot-long, five-foot-high one in front of my house. Looking around this morning, it’s almost possible to forget the stunned sense of bewilderment, emotional exhaustion and loss with which I greeted the dawn last Friday.

Then there’s New Orleans. While I went without electricity for five days, I cannot begin to fathom the suffering of the folks caught in the hell hole that was New Orleans. Though it took me three days to clear my yard and make repairs, I cannot begin to fathom the sense of loss of people in Gulfport and Biloxi whose houses and all their possessions are simply gone. Though I had no ice for my Gatorade or scotch, I was never without water or food.

Prior to Katrina’s making landfall in Florida, a massive support system had been mobilized. Florida Power & Light brought in 6,000 repair workers from neighboring states, including Lousisiana. By Saturday morning, ice and water were being delivered to Homestead, 30 miles south of Miami, near the tip end of the state. While over 800,000 people were without power Friday morning, by Monday all but 90,000 had their electricity restored.

Granted, Katrina was a borderline Category 2 when it rumbled through my neighborhood with winds just under 100 mph, and it was a Cat 4 when it hit the Gulf coast. But where was the preparation? Where was the emergency management? It’s not like we didn’t know where the hurricane was heading, when it would hit and what were the likely landfalls. So why did it take so long to get help to the people?

Maybe it’s a matter of practice. I mean, after all, Florida dealt with four hurricanes last year and one early this summer. And as much as I personally think Jeb Bush is one of the worst governors Florida has had (and that’s saying something), he does recognize the realities of emergency preparedness and response, and he communicates and he gets stuff done.

Chalk the misfortunes of the residents of the Gulf coast up to bad luck compounded by incompetence. I think the folks in New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama were just damned unlucky to get hit with a Category 4 hurricane on Ray Nagin’s, Kathleen Blanco’s and George Bush’s watch. Now, it seems, they’re just damned.

DHS Purchase Cards Abused After Katrina

Buck Banks

Card-carrying feds: Apparently, it wasn’t just hurricane refugees who were spending federal money like drunken sailors in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — Department of Homeland Security personnel were punishing their purchase cards, too. The cards are issued to DHS employees to buy necessary items while in the field, but the Government Accountability Office red-flagged a bunch of “questionable purchases,” according to GovExec.com.

The report highlighted instances of wasteful purchases by DHS agencies. Among them: The Secret Service spent more than of $7,000 on iPods and failed to produce evidence that they were actually used for “training and data storage;” and $68,000 went to “canine booties” to protect dog paws from debris during Gulf Coast recovery operations but the “booties continue to sit unused in [Federal Emergency Management Agency] storage.” Additionally, more than 100 FEMA laptops went missing, at a cost of about $300,000, the report said. Also, a 63-inch television bought for $8,000 was found unopened.

‘The government is particularly vulnerable when using purchase cards in times of disaster.’

Remember those news stories about New Orleans Katrina survivors using their $2,000 FEMA debit cards to buy — gasp! — beer and cigarettes? Man, that’s microscopic potatoes indeed compared to when the feds start playing with the plastic.

For the approximately 10,000 cards in circulation during a five-month period beginning in June 2005, the report found that 45 percent of purchases lacked the required prior written authorization, 63 percent failed to confirm that goods and services were received and 53 percent did not give priority to already designated vendors.

Of course, DHS sought to counter some of the charges:

Late Wednesday, DHS issued a statement saying the iPods in question were “used by the Electronic Crimes Task Force, as such devices are increasingly being used by criminal elements to illicitly store and transfer information,” but did not describe exactly how they were used.

Those criminal elements! I bet they use their iPods to — gasp! — illegally download and store Lil Kim songs off the Internet, so the SS (Secret Service) must emulate them to crack the code of the criminal mind, right? Yah.

Contrite DHS officials told lawmakers they will update and reissue guidelines for use of purchase cards. David Norquist, DHS’ chief financial officer, concluded with this trenchant analysis of the situation: “The government is particularly vulnerable when using purchase cards in times of disaster.”

Duh.

FEMA Likely to Become USEMA, Possibly More Useless

Buck Banks

Name games: Congress Daily is reporting that Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rules Chairman Trent Lott, R-Miss., have reached an agreement to keep the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the Homeland Security Department but give it enhanced powers and protected status.

If Collins and Lott have their way, our beloved FEMA would be transformed into the U.S. Emergency Management Authority, or USEMA, which, I suppose would inevitably be pronounced use-mah.

If we’re serious about reforming FEMA we should do it in a way that we know can be passed into law

The House has been watching this deal-making closely, as it is considering a bill that would separate FEMA from DHS, making it an independent agency again as it was before DHS was created in 2002 — a position Lott had supported. Under the agreement, the FEMA director would report directly to the White House on emergency matters.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., immediately seized on the announcement to express hope that it will influence House lawmakers. The House leadership plans to put a bill on the floor the week of July 10 with language backed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., that would remove FEMA and make it an independent, Cabinet-level agency.

King was going to introduce an amendment to the bill with language almost identical to the agreement worked out by Collins and Lott.

“This has to show the House that legislation taking FEMA out of DHS is an exercise in futility,” King said. “And if we’re serious about reforming FEMA we should do it in a way that we know can be passed into law, rather than just making a statement.”

The White House has opposed FEMA’s removal from the Homeland Security Department.

This whole debate seems to me to be designed to direct our attention away from the fact that FEMA is staffed at only 75 percent and has made few substantive changes in its operations since its disastrous response to the Katrina disaster last year. Whether it’s under DHS or independent, or whether its director reports to George Bush or Bugs Bunny will likely have little effect on whether FEMA can manage a large-scale emergency.

I reckon we’ll find out in the next hurricane or flood or earthquake, eh?

Heckuva Scapegoat

Jon Ponder

In the immediate aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Team Rove staved off a political firestorm by issuing talking points that characterized criticism of the president’s performance (or lack thereof) as attempts to “play the blame game.” This was a surprisingly effective strategy but the enormity of the failure of leadership required more blame-shifting.

Michael Brown, the FEMA director during the crisis, was a convenient patsy.A die-hard Republican loyalist, Brown appeared to stay true to the president during the grilling he took from Democrats when Congress investigated the federal govenment’s failures during Katrina.

Now, maybe — just maybe — Brown is has had enough of maltreatment from the Bush political office. Last week, he revealed the contents of an email from a senior Bush official who told Brown that the president was grateful that he had fallen on his sword:

This was the text of the email message to Brown read on the air: “I did hear of one reference to you, at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. I wasn’t there but I heard someone commented that the press was sure beating up on Mike Brown, to which the President replied, ‘I’d rather they beat up on him than me or Chertoff.'”

CBP Plan: Let’s Put Illegals On Cruise Ships

Buck Banks

Tough-love boat: You gotta give the Customs and Border Protection agency points for creativity. Or not.

Faced with a potential flood of illegal aliens apprehended in the impending immigration crack-down as the agency moves from its “catch-and-release” methodology (arrest them, give them a court date and hope they show — un-huh) to a “catch-and-don’t-release” one, CBP leaders asked managers to come up with ideas on how to deal with arrested illegals until they are tried or deported. Their creative answer? Charter cruise ships.

The bureau is considering either buying out-of-service cruise ships or leasing them to create “detention barges” at sea, the source said. The barges would act as jails, housing alleged violators of U.S. immigration law.

Because the cruise industry is not as profitable as it once was, CBP may get a bargain on ship space that has passed its prime, the source said. And, as the need for additional beds for detainees could only exist on a short-term basis, having a contract that creates more jail space for illegal immigrants will prove less costly than having to build new jails, the source said.

The bureau is considering either buying out-of-service cruise ships or leasing them to create ‘detention barges’ at sea.

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency was pressed for housing space to accommodate Hurricane Katrina evacuees last year, it chartered three Carnival Cruise ships for months to provide shelter for up to 7,000 people.

That worked out really well for Carnival, which was paid $236 million for the six-month charters. They caught tons of flak and bad press for supposedly bilking the gubmint on the deal. (Disclosure: I do consulting work for Carnival.) In the end, a congressional panel decided the deal wasn’t so great for Carnival after all, and having the ships available as quarters for first-responders did aid in recovery efforts.

In May, President Bush predicted that 4,000 additional beds will be needed by the end of fiscal 2006, and thousands more will be needed in the coming years. That seems like an understatement, considering there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. In any event, nobody wants to build immigrant jails, apparently, and the ones we already have are, well, overcrowded.

Look, we’re going to need them, so we might just as well allot some vast areas of federal land to creating impregnable detention camps for hundreds of thousands of farm workers, day laborers, housekeepers, construction workers, cab drivers, cooks, waiters, custodians and hotel workers. Heck, that’d have to be easier than building a 400-mile-long fence, wouldn’t it?