Hurricanes - The Parent Trap

"My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law." Jerry Seinfeld

My parents are visiting us from Florida. Rather suddenly. We got them on a plane to Philly today in advance of Ernesto. At 83 and 90, even a small hit from a storm can be a big hardship.

Their condo's on the top floor of their tony building in Boca Raton. So flooding's not an issue. But if the power goes out, they're not climbing stairs -- in any direction. Or doing without air conditioning. Or living without lights. My mother's three quarters blind as it is.

If your parents live in Florida, it's hard to know what to do during hurricane season. How to help ... other than opening your home to them. My folks used to have a place at the Jersey shore where they'd stay for the summer and into the Fall, to avoid the hurricane menace.

But it got too hard to schlep clothes and meds and their car and all other necessities of normal--and especially senior--life between two homes. So they decided to stay put. They're happy in Boca. They've got friends, activities, doctors (no small thing) and all the other important comforts of home there.

Until the hurricanes start. Then they become trapped, by indecision and circumstance between a rock and a hard place. Go or stay? Take a chance on riding it out or flee to certain safety? Put themselves through the draining ordeal of air travel or risk a worse outcome in a hurricane?

This time it was an easy call. Lines for miles at gas stations. Doctors' offices, schools, most businesses closing mid-day. Warnings from the state and federal government. During Katrina they were here with us, and Florida didn't even take the brunt of the storm.

But Wilma was a different story. A horrible life lesson. They literally got here in the nick of time. Thank God. Their apartment was trashed. It's still not completely fixed. All new windows--including window frames--were to have been installed starting today.

So here they are. Again. The news about Ernesto is still iffy. So here they stay. Where we know they're safe. Until the next time.

Questions About the Katrina Tapes

Video, AP

"It doesn't come as a surprise that there's footage showing…everyone knew everything in excruciating detail. What is a surprise is that given the billions that the government has spent on homeland security and developing all these response-to-disaster plans…nothing worked right." Ivor van Heerden, director of the hurricane public health center, Louisiana State University

I have some fundamental questions about the videos and transcripts of high level government Katrina meetings released by AP. You have many of the same questions I'm sure.

1. Why didn't the president ask any questions in the critical pre-Katrina briefing?

With my own background in politics and media, plus experience in national disasters, I can think of about a dozen. Even without that kind of knowledge, I bet you can too.

I look at that particular tape and see the stark reality many of us have feared since Day 1 -- our president is a puppet. A severely limited non-thinker with an appalling lack of imagination or genuine interest in anything beyond the one-dimensional.

He can't think in layers or wrap his brain around hypotheticals. He certainly can't multitask. And when faced with complex decision-making, he falters. And falls back on cowboy bravado and political platitudes.

If I wasn't scared before, I am now.

2. Why did Michael Brown just bend over and take the blame?

Those tapes and transcripts have been around all this time. Obviously everyone at the meetings knew the content. So that leads to:

a. Did Michael Brown have no friends willing to help him by leaking the tapes when the country was wiping the floor with Brown?
b. Or is this why Brown was demoted but not fired and has been so apparently, arrogantly unrepentent?
c. And why did Brown claim the president "is very engaged, and he's asking a lot of really good questions I would expect him to ask."

3. Why did Michael Chertoff stay so noticeably unengaged and emerge so unscathed?

4. Who is going to get off his/her ass and lead a concerted, long overdue effort to impeach President Bush for this and other crimes against the American people?

Wilma Hits Home

AP

"Over no home can the sign be hung: There is no trouble here." Chinese Proverb

Two weeks ago, my parents bought a pair of oriental lamps for their living room. Though mostly blind from AMD, my mother still loves beautiful things, especially the three-dimensional, which she can 'see' with her hands. My folks live in South Florida, and when hurricane warnings came, she placed the lamps carefully between two couches, away from the windows.

Last Thursday, thinking they might have more than lamps to worry about, my parents came to us here in Philly. Most of their friends stayed put, teasing them they'd use any excuse to come east to see their children. My mother laughed and agreed. They'd been here last year for Hurricane Charlie, which caused a little water damage when it blew out a window in their guest room.

Monday Hurricane Wilma blew back and forth across Florida, first from the Northeast, then the Southwest. Buildings were hit, trees are down, power is out, water is contaminated. We're all glad Mom and Dad are here again this time because while still active, they're in their 80's, and would find it hard to cope with the aftermath.

Last night Dan Rubin of Blinq wrote movingly about the the damage to his parent's Florida home. I told him my mother had been commiserating by phone with many of her Florida friends about wreckage in their homes.

Today the phone call came. The one we'd all been waiting for -- and dreading. From my parent's condo building manager. "I'm so sorry," he said, "but your apartment has been totaled."

Mom and Dad's apartment takes up a full corner of the building's top floor. One side faces northeast, the other southwest. Walls of windows overlook the inland waterway and the ocean. Wilma had a field day with that. She blew through the apartment, smashing and soaking and upending everything inside.

Forget the new lamps. Or any other lamps. Everything is gone. Furniture, rugs, dishes, glasses, art, chotchkies. Even the refrigerator was sucked out of its alcove and tossed like a leaf around a corner, through a hallway and into the living room. A lifetime of possessions, and precious mementos ... ruined. The destruction is massive.

Incredibly, one small area was spared. Off the master bedroom, which is set into the inner corner of the building, my mother's closet is intact. All her elegant, fashionable clothes and shoes and handbags untouched. Ironic really, the things most easily--and pleasurably--replaced, survived.

Of course, no matter how much was destroyed, my parents survived too. "We're alive," my father keeps saying. "We have insurance and a comfortable place to stay with the kids. Let's be grateful we're not on the street."

And when I lamented to my mother about the family photos that filled their apartment, she said, "I don't even care, I can't see them any more anyway. At least we're here, where I can touch my children and grandchildren."

You're right, Mom. We're so glad you're still here to 'see' us with your hands. And we'll all give you a hand rebuilding your home.

The Fool From FEMA

Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS [graphic added]

"If you load responsibility on a man unworthy of it he will always betray himself." August Heckscher

There's almost nothing more ludicrous than a fool defending his indefensible actions. Especially by mounting a bogus, self-serving offense. I nearly levitated with disbelief listening to Michael Brown tell His Side of the Story to the special House committee investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina.

When questioned, legitimately, by Congress about the inexcusable lag time in evacuating New Orleans--resulting in thousands stranded without food, water or relief for days on end--Brown claimed FEMA was "prepared but overwhelmed" to handle Katrina's enormous scope.

"So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans." Brown sneered at the committee.

Well, yes. In fact we do. We expect FEMA's director to captain the Federal Emergency Management Agency's job by doing his -- or is that too much to ask?

Apparently it is. Brown, in a near frenzy of self-righteous anger, tried to lay responsibility for the disastrous FEMA bungles on everyone's doorstep but his own. What he did is called Ring and Run. He's been removed from his position so he rang the bells of local Louisiana officials by blaming the catastrophe on their actions -- then weaseled out of danger onto his version of the mea culpa high road.

"I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together. I just couldn't pull that off," Brown whined, implying it was his interpersonal skills, not his management ones, that were lacking. And of course, that local officials were ultimately at fault for more important failures.

Mr. Brown's in the right church, wrong pew. What he couldn't pull off was directing the implementation of a complex disaster plan which was already in place, awaiting its commander. This wasn't rocket science, it was a logistically designed system meant to be implemented by the appropriate government agency on the ground.

But Michael Brown in all his unmasked incompetence is a screaming example of the Bush patronage machine at it worst. All the blame-gaming and obfuscating in the world doesn't change the fact that Director Brown was egregiously unqualified for the job in the first place.

"I probably should have just resigned my post earlier and gone public with some of these things, because I have a great admiration for the men and women of FEMA and what they do, and they don't deserve what they've been getting." Say what? He's implying the country's blaming FEMA's field personal for their leaders' monumental screw-up? It's outrageous. The man has no shame.

We know they don't just jump in their cars and hit the road based on a TV weather report. They stand ready to be deployed. And when they were--finally, finally!--we watched dedicated FEMA employees swing survivors to safety from helicopters, fish dead bodies out of putrid water, slog door to door for days trying to save lives. Yet to deflect our attention from his own mistakes, their former Fearless Leader claims we're on a witch hunt for them? Get real. They're the Heroes. He's the goat ... Brownie the Guileless Goat.

So what, in the end, is Brownie's punishment? In the upside-down looking-glass world of the Bush administration, he gets not a slap on the wrist, but a cushy reward. A position as consultant to the government in reviewing FEMA's culpability for the bungled national response to Hurricane Katrina.

This is beyond chutzpah. Giving a seat at the table to the guy who left the barn door open is a fool's errand. And in this case, aptly, that fool is also a horse's ass.

"I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it," Brown said.

I guess I have to agree. He's damn good at making a fool of himself. And now we see he's as good at screwing the country as he did New Orleans.

Next Hurricane: ScrewU

Carlos Barria/REUTERS


Rick Wilking/REUTERS

"This is a catastrophic hurricane that is headed toward the coast of Texas, and the president wants to go and be able to see some of the preparations that are underway and thank all those who are involved in preparing for this response," White House press secretary Scott McClellan

Yeah. Well. Hurricane Rita caused some damage and flooding, especially unwelcome in New Orleans. But for the most part it caused more fear than anything else. And more confusion. And far too much traffic. Which may have resulted in needless deaths. It could still get worse, but most likely we'll continue to see a bigger flood of media coverage than water.

CNN and MSNBC have been showing--not a lot--all day. Whole neighborhoods in Texas ... intact. Houses built on stilts ... intact. Maybe a roof half off. Some piers down. Some smaller buildings wrecked. Maybe some streets, and all those stilts, under a couple inches of water. And who's flying in to the rescue, right on cue? Who else but The Bushman. Nobody's there, what's the point, dude? (Well, maybe that is the point.)

People were told to evacuate and they did. But those humongous traffic jams around Houston -- with opposite direction highway lanes empty because no agency could agree whose call it was to open them. No extra gasoline available because no agency had thought to stock up on it. People trapped and helpless once again, in cars and on roadways in grave and immediate danger.

Why? I mean, really: WHY??

All states supposedly had FEMA and local agencies in place to plan for disasters before Katrina. Every city in American supposedly has evacuation, rescue, relief and recovery plans for various contingencies. Katrina's roar and FEMA's whimper put the lie to that preparedness myth. But from the instant Katrina happened, those agencies--especially along Hurricane Alley on the Gulf Coast and inland--should have been working feverishly to prepare for the next one.

They claimed they were ready for Rita. They had nearly a week's warning. Yet now we're hearing "We weren't expecting 2 million people to evacuate." "We have a lot to learn after Katrina." "We're still getting the kinks out."

Yo! Get the people out! You know the size of your population. You told them to evacuate. After Katrina, and with worse predictions about Rita, what did you think they'd do, stay home to drown?

Most are drowning anyway -- in endless bureaucratic foul ups.

Katrina - FEMA is a Joke

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep.'' Michael Brown, former head of FEMA's onsite Hurricane Katrina relief efforts

You do that, Mike. Too bad thousands of Katrina's victims--living and dead--can't do the same, thanks in large measure to your appalling incompetence.

Even before Brown's recall to Washington this afternoon, the jokes were starting. I'm sure you're getting emails too. Some are macabre, in the uniquely American tradition of dealing with untenable tragedy. Some are slick, Ba-Dum-Bum lines from late night talk show hosts -- mostly tweaking the president.

But the one I got today from a dear pal who's worked forever on Capitol Hill is my favorite. Not because it makes you smile, which it does. But because it also makes you think. And it's a way to articulate the anger, frustration and helplessness we all feel at our government's criminal lack of timely response to the plights of Katrina's victims. And at the political Blame Game currently consuming those responsible.

This list from the National Journal Hotline (warning, website open to members only) supplies new descriptions for the FEMA acronym. I've edited and trimmed a few, grouped them conceptually and in a rough timeline. Look the entries over here, then feel free to add your own.

The Joke's On Us

FEMA can stand for a lot. Here are some readers' ideas.

F**k! Evacuate! Move on. Apply blame
F**k Every Minority in America
F**k Every Man and Animal
F**k Everything, Massive Anarchy

Few Emergencies Merit Attention
Flood Evacuation? Maybe After
For Evacuees Missing in Action
Fearing Every Mass Attack
Federal Experts My Ass

Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency
Fumbling Every Major Attack
Failure to Evacuate and Manage Appropriately
Federal Emergencies Managed Atrociously
Funneling Everyone's Money Away

Federal Excuse-Making Agency
Falsely Exaggerated Management of Accidents
Finally Emergency Men Arrive
Finally Evaluating Messy Aftermath
Failure to Effectively Manage Anything

Flood Event Maims Administration
Feeble Excuses Mounting All over
Foreseeable Election Matter Already
Forget Ever Managing Again
Failure Eventually Means Asskicking
Farewell Emergency Mike, Adios

Here's their favorite, and one of mine too:
Former Equestrian Managers Association.

Now Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, who was already overseeing New Orleans relief, recovery and rescue efforts on the ground is in charge. Let's hope he's not a joke.

This just in from my Hill pal:

Yeah, No One "Means" To Insult An Entire Demographic

Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Baker later explained that he "didn't intend flippancy" but has "long wanted to improve low-income housing" (Harwood, Wall Street Journal, 9/9).

Hooboy. Talk about a real joke.

Katrina - Disaster Info You Can Use

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America" Bill Clinton

For most of us, if we're lucky, the horror of Katrina is about Other People. But it's a cautionary tale that we should all take very seriously -- it could happen to any of us, any time. And it's become painfully clear we can't always count on our government to protect us, rescue us or take care of us if disaster strikes.

My friend and colleague Cortney turned me on to Y&S Weekly, a newsletter published by young and successful.com. In the wake of Katrina, they've complied a common sense lists and some excellent resources to help us prepare and protect ourselves in the event of any catastrophic event.

Just as many people updated their Living Wills after the Terri Schaivo fiasco, so we should all review this vital information. It could help save our lives, our property and our future.

25 Preventative Measures to Help Protect You, Your Loved Ones, and Your Business in Case of Emergency, Tragedy or Disaster.

It's all spelled out in detail at the site above, including links. Here's the gist of the list, I've bolded my personal Top Ten:

1. Make sure you have basic emergency supply kits for your home, office and car.
2. Know CPR, and brush up on your basic first-aid skills.
3. Make sure your Tetanus shot is up to date.
4. Know where your closest police stations, fire stations and hospitals are.
5. Arrange to have a place to stay with out of town friends or relatives in case of emergency.
6. Designate a family member or friend who lives in a different geographical region than you, as a point of contact in case you can't reach family or friends in an area that’s been adversely impacted.
7. Keep an extra supply of any prescription medicine you need.
8. Don’t forget about your pets! There are special safety precautions you can take for them, too.
9. Make copies of all important documents such as your ID, drivers license, passport, credit cards, insurance cards, birth certificate, social security card, prescriptions, etc., and store them at home, in a sealed envelope with your most trusted out of state friends or family, and online in a password protected or encrypted format.
10. Keep $100 in cash on hand at all times.
11. Keep an emergency credit card with a line of credit.
12. Maintain a safety net of cash.
13. Store valuables and critical personal documents (see #9) in a home safe, wall safe, floor safe, or hidden portable safe. [I vote for a portable, fireproof safe.]
14. Store greater valuables and less critical documentation in a safety deposit box at the bank.
15. Stock up on Space Bags. [I've used these for traveling, they're great.]
16. Make sure your business is prepared for a disaster.
17. Make the investment in appropriate insurance policies, such as homeowners, renters, health, disability, car, and even pet insurance.
18. Create business cards with your personal and business information.
19. Take appropriate safety precautions when returning home.
20. Learn to cope with a traumatic event.
21. Know your blood type.
22. Add a list of emergency phone numbers in your cell phone called ICE (In Case of Emergency).
23. Make a habit of having at least half a tank of gas in your car at all times.
24. Donate money, time, and/or blood to other people now. [Including your own blood if you choose.]
25. Be aware of available resources for emergency help (for example: Prepare.org for people with disabilities and medical issues, Better Business Bureau for disaster tips.)

And if that's not enough, they've got a solid list of critical resources:

Cash Donations
Coping Psychologically with Disaster
Federal Disaster Aid
Insurance
Legal Assistance
Missing People
Pets
Small Business Owners
Unemployment Insurance Assistance
Additional Information

I know other sites are providing similar information, but my hat's off to these smart, dedicated young people for their ingenuity and zeal in helping others -- and for getting their act together so quickly. Bush, Chertoff and Brown should all take a page from their book.

Oh, I forgot. Those guys don't read anything that doesn't contain a Profit & Loss statement.

And finally, consider this: On August 29th, FEMA encouraged Americans to donate to three central charities on its web site -- the American Red Cross, America’s Second Harvest and Operation Blessing. We all know the Red Cross. America's Second Harvest is a national food bank. But what is Operation Blessing, you ask? It's Pat Robertson's "charitable" website, which has been under investigation for violations of charitable solicitation laws.

After Bloggers got hold of that info, FEMA pulled Operation Blessing from its website. Is America a great country or what?

Katrina -- Winds of Spin

Mark Georgiev for the New York Times

"If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!" Shel Silverstein

Spin should come from hurricane winds, not Republican windbags.

But Washington, DC--not New Orleans--is Spin Central, USA. And the Bush administration is spinning madly to dig itself out from under the mountain of blame in the aftermath of Katrina's destruction -- and the even more devastating lack of first (or second, third, fourth) response to the crisis by the federal government.

Karl Rove and the White House communications office spun into action Friday with a plan to "contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina." [New York Times] Political damage? "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana." [NYT] Shift the blame? Could there be a bigger travesty? Well...

The Mother of Insensitive Remarks
They rolled out the Big Guns, including our president's mother. Who, while touring the Astrodome filled with some of Katrina's most destitute refugees on Monday, stuck her foot so far into her mouth she'll need the Army Corps of Engineers to get it out.

Barbara Bush related that many of the evacuees told her how much they appreciated Texas hospitality and then noted, "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas." Huh? You're scared that these poor, mostly black people who've lost everything--in large part as a result of your own son's outrageous screw-up--want to move into your backyard, Bar? How very generous and gracious of you. You heartless bitch.

Think I'm being harsh? There's more. As quoted by Editor and Publisher online, the former First Lady and current First Mother said on American Public Media's 'Marketplace' program, "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." Her implication that sleeping on hard cots among thousands of strangers in the posh environs of the Astrodome is preferable to living in their own intact but tacky homes is so filled with contempt and lack of compassion, the mind boggles.

On the other hand, at least now we have a better picture of how George W. Bush learned to be such a Compassionate Conservative: direct from the sour mother's milk of human unkindness.

No Spin From the Master
In a CNN interview, former president Bill Clinton refused to put any topspin on the egregious failure of federal first response to Katrina's victims. "Our government failed those people in the beginning..." Clinton said. "One hundred percent of the people recognize that it was a failure." Clinton went on to say he believed there should be a future Katrina Commission to analyze what went wrong, but "Right now, our goal should be on not failing them a second time."

Incredibly, it turns out, 100% of the people don't appear to recognize any failure by the feds. A CNN.com QuickVote poll asked: Do you agree with former President Clinton that government "failed" the people in the aftermath of Katrina? The Yes vote tally is 78%. But 22% of the people taking the poll responded No.

Who are those 22%? There can't possibly be ninety thousand Bush staffers available to hit poll buttons. So that means these are Political Responses from Bush loyalists who will support the president blindly, no matter how much irrefutable evidence to the contrary. They are undoubtedly the same people who assail Cindy Sheehan as unpatriotic, who still believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, who've got guns and ain't afraid to use 'em and who agree that John Roberts is the next Great Mind on the Supreme Court.

And of course, they are clearly people with the same love for humanity as Barbara Bush.

No Bodies, No Baggage
In today's final spin cycle, there's FEMA's effort to block the news media from showing pictures of dead bodies recovered--and discovered--from Katrina's wrath. Hmm. This sounds vaguely familiar. Oh yes! The federal government hasn't allowed pictures of any of the 2000+ flag draped military coffins brought back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

On embargoing pictures of the Katrina bodies, a FEMA spokeswoman said, "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect." Oh please. If they had treated the living with half as much respect, there wouldn't be nearly as many dead.

Do they really think we're stupid enough to buy that excuse? Well, yes they do. This latest endeavor to control our collective outrage is a transparent attempt to cover up what will certainly prove to be a far bigger death toll than even from the War in Iraq.

They say they want to spare our sensitivities, and those of the families. I say, SPIN THIS, YOU IDIOTS.

Katrina's Real Victims: Justice and Equality

Steven Senne / AP

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." Howard Zinn

Okay, let's air the dirty laundry now that it's really started to stink. The lack of immediate response by the federal government to the thousands of predominantly black victims held hostage in New Orleans was nothing less than rampant Racism at its worst.

No more excuses. No more denials. No more lies. Just the plain, cold Truth. As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has said: if even a fraction of White Americans were trapped, say, in Orange County, California without food, water, medical attention or other basic necessities, help would have arrived within hours, not days. We all know this, and it's time the rest of us said it out loud.

George W. Bush and his administration are elitist, anti-egalitarian, male chauvinists and racists. Period. They had ample warning to prepare for this disaster yet they sat on their lily white hands. And after Katrina hit, with the scope of the tragedy immediately apparent, they dillied and dallied while black New Orleans residents suffered and died.

What legitimate reason can they give for such an unconscionable lack of first response? "We didn't know..." "We didn't expect..." "It's not acceptable..." BULL. They knew, they expected. And it's the lack of crisis leadership by the commander in chief that's not acceptable. From the top down, they just didn't give a damn. Because this particular segment of the population has no Value to them.

A few months ago, Bush and his fellow Right Wingnuts threw themselves into a tizzy over one brain dead white woman -- because she had Political Currency. If Terri Schiavo had been Kanisha Washington, they wouldn't have given her the time of day.

Just as they displayed no sense of urgency or obligation to rush to the aid of a bunch of poor black New Orleans citizens -- who, even if they vote, probably don't vote for Republicans. And why the hell should they? The Right Wing's record of support for society's disenfranchised is already disgraceful. Now, in the wake of Katrina it's become downright criminal.

Republicans think they hide their contempt so well. But Katrina's fury stripped off their Compassionate Conservative clothes and we saw them for what they really are: nakedly opportunistic Rich White Men (and a few men and women of color who've gained power and money by association with them) who have only disdain for any class, race, person or group not One of Them.

It's ugly. One look at the Superdome and the Convention Center teaming with miserable, forgotten humanity recalls too many other shameful places in history: The Warsaw Ghetto. The Gulag Archipelago. South Africa's Soweto. The Sudan's Darfur. Or, as I've said already, any slave auction in pre Civil War south. There can be no excuse for such wanton disregard for human life.

It's outrageous. This President earned a halo after 9/11 -- not for his own commanding and heartfelt actions, but on the backs of truly caring and brave Americans who Did the Right Thing instantly and with genuine color blindness and Good Will Toward All.

It's obscene. What Right Thing has George Bush done to rally the country during this new and horrendous tragedy? He used black Katrina victims as photo ops during his overdue, slick, quick trip to the ravaged south. He didn't comfort any victims, he insulted all of them -- and the dedicated Americans who have been working tirelessly to aid them.

It's evil. The Bush administration has the blood of thousands of black victims on its hands. I'll bet the president washed his hands many times after leaving -- not from images of that blood, but from distaste at having to touch so many wet, dirty African Americans. Yes, that's a horrible thought. But the black cat is out of the bag. And the president's not Lady MacBeth in cowboy boots.

It's despicable. The real George W. Bush is exposed as a gravely deficient leader who, at heart, doesn't care about arguably the neediest of his fellow Americans. He has yet to apologize or accept even the smallest degree of personal responsibility. He just keeps promising heads will roll -- but what about the one that wears the crown? He set the tone. He let the response lag. His lack of timely command allowed thousands to die, terribly and needlessly.

Yet in essence, President Bush is blaming the victims for creating his newest political nightmare. My friend Swami Uptown is eloquent on that subject. He's as mad as I am, and surely we're not alone. What should the country do about our president's criminal negligence?

Personally I favor a good old fashioned Southern lynching. But I'll settle for impeachment.

Katrina - A Storm of Injustice

"This is a national emergency. 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." Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans homeland security




"We go now...by the smells, just like the dogs." Doug Cope, search team manager, Pass Christian, Mississippi

All around the ravaged south they're looking for survivors and finding dead bodies. But in New Orleans, there are thousands of survivors -- virtually being left for dead. The images are haunting, and more, they're disturbing. Because most of those trapped in unspeakable conditions are black.


Matt Stamey, The Courier

We look at the photos, the video clips, the news reports and we're outraged. Our sense of anger and distress as viewers puts the very real rage and frustration of the actual victims in immediate perspective.


Eric Gay, AP

We don't treat animals they way these people are being handled. Except, in fact, we used to, back in the days of Slavery. And the scenes of black people, herded as they are into domes and busses, are far too reminiscent of slave auctions.


Phil Coale, AP

That isn't a football game, it's a sea of mostly black and poor humanity left behind in chaos because they had no money, no transportation, no help to evacuate. Like most of us, I hope, I'm doing what I can to help. But no matter what we do as individuals, it will literally take an army to provide the enormous amount of care the victims of Katrina need.

And where is America's home army, the National Guard? In Iraq and Afghanistan, some argue. That's true for a large number, but as we hear about troops still mobilizing from various staging areas in Florida, Maryland and around the country here at home, you have to ask: what the hell have their leaders been waiting for? And what in God's name are they afraid of? Is it possible that a few hungry, dehydrated, exhausted, desperate black refugees with handguns in storm ravaged New Orleans, LA, USA are more threatening that hundreds of fanatical terrorist warriors armed with bombs in Iraq? So it would seem.



I'm having trouble dealing with what I saw and heard this morning on the Today Show: NBC photojournalist Tony Zumbado reported how one helicopter dropped some pitifully small supplies without landing, as he made a live plea to the National Guard to bring more to the New Orleans Convention Center, promising it would be safe to land helicopters. The people won't hurt you, he explained, they just need food and water. "Three people died while I was there videotaping. It is the saddest situation I've ever seen, considering that we've covered hurricanes, understanding that this great nation knows how to take care of their people and ... yet 4 days later, nothing."



In describing some conditions too grisly for the networks to air, Zumbado said, "Half of the things that I videotaped I knew they were questionable, but it had to be documented so no one could ever say 'that wasn't the case.' "

I hope all news outlets are doing the same. When the finger pointing, revisionist recountings and Congressional hearings start in 6 months or a year, irrefutable evidence of the real sequence of events will be critical. And the biggest issue, sadly, has come down to black and white.



"Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response. I'm not saying that myself, but what's self-evident is that you have many poor people without a way out." Jesse Jackson

Those people in line have a way out. They're waiting to buy gas for their SUV's. It's striking to note that they are all White.


NBC News

The stink of politics around Katrina already is beginning to rival the stench of sewage and dead bodies. The president flies into the South like Superman, and presto, truck convoys arrive at the New Orleans Convention Center. Are we really supposed to believe George W. Bush had a direct hand in that? Give me a break. Even if he did flip the switch, where the hell was he--and that convoy--4 DAYS AGO?



The smartest thing President Bush has done so far is to put these two guys in charge of fundraising. Too bad neither one is controlling FEMA. I have my issues with both men, and Bush Senior learned his lesson with Ivan, but frankly either one could do a better job than our current president is doing now.

Katrina Creates Homeless Hell

The New York Times

"You see this stuff on TV and you never think it's going to happen to you." Jennifer Noll, Katrina survivor

Katrina isn't 9/11 and it isn't the Tsunami. It's Katrina, period. A hurricane of such massive, destructive force it has wiped out entire cities and towns in whole sections of the South. And in scenes reminiscent of foreign war zones--Croatia, Poland, Russia, Africa--it has turned ordinary, everyday citizens into an army of homeless refugees.

The plight of these suddenly homeless people makes the life of a street person in any other city seem tame and manageable. At least they can camp in a park, an alley, beneath an underpass. They can find food in trash cans, dumpsters and the back doors of friendly food establishments. They can panhandle at a favorite street corner, subway stop or office building. They can find clothes or shoes at Good Will or a church. If they're quiet and quick, they can even use bathrooms at bus stations, train stations, any public buildings. Then it's back out into the light or night of familiar territory, everyday routine.

Not so for the homeless of Katrina. The parks, office buildings, restaurants, bus stations--even the alleys--are gone. Katrina's homeless have nowhere to go and no way to get there. No one to help and no way to ask. Even the poorest had houses and neighborhoods and churches and transportation and stores and lives -- then overnight, they had NOTHING. No homes, no schools, no transit, no businesses, no streets, no highways, no cities.

We watch pictures of them from the comfort of our own intact homes. We are horrified, but from a safe distance. Their gruesome vantage point is stark reality -- nothing but devastation and hopelessness as far as their eyes can see. They are Trapped. Frightened. Hungry. Thirsty. Desperate. Angry.

So we shouldn't be surprised when they resort to what amounts to enforced anarchy. They're literally under siege. The underpinnings of their society have been destroyed along with their homes. They're more than just dazed and confused, they're alone in a sea of equally pitiful--and increasingly desperate--humanity.

Everything they've come to rely on to live their everyday lives is gone. They have no food or water, so they knock out a window in an abandoned store and take it. This we can understand. They need baby formula, diapers, medical supplies--basic necessities to sustain human life--so they steal them wherever they can. This we can even encourage, or at least forgive.

But some are taking televisions and jewelry and cash too. And they are breaking into sporting goods stores and pawnshops to get guns. They're using machetes to carjack drivers who are themselves trying to escape the End of the World. And, as with any people under a siege mentality, they are turning on each other with a vengeance.

How did this happen? An unconscionable lack of first response from local, state and federal governments. Especially the federal government. And a criminal lack of second, third or fourth response that continues, days after the fact, to baffle the country.

Is everyone on vacation along with George Bush?? There were dead-on advance predictions of this massive, catastrophic storm yet our president didn't even mobilize himself until after it was over.

I remember him sitting in that Florida classroom on 9/11 while New York burned, seemingly paralyzed, unable to react. Then I watched his appalling lack of leadership during his press conference August 31, a day late and a lot of compassion short. And I have to wonder: what does it take to get this president to take decisive action?

My friend Jesse Kornbluth, aka Swami Uptown, has a fascinating theory of why George W. Bush reacts to death and destruction--or rather, doesn't--in George Bush: An Appointment with Death.

Regardless of our president's weaknesses, our government needs to rally to the aid of Katrina's homeless, and fast. An act of terrorism gave President Bush the excuse to wildly overreact--long after the fact--and to put our military and our country in even graver danger. An act of Nature must force him to Do The Right Thing, or he will go down in history as the worst president on God's flooded earth.