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White House Blocking Hurricane Aid
AP is reporting:
With Gulf Coast governors pressing for action, Senate Finance Committee members complained Wednesday that the Bush administration is blocking a bipartisan $9 billion health care package for hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "We've got people with needs today," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. She was joined by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who testified via a teleconference hookup, in urging quick action on the legislation.
Black and White ‘Looters' Being Covered Differently?
Salon has an intriguing story, with screen shots, exploring whether the media are treating blacks who are taking items from stores differently than whites doing the same thing.
20 Folding Tables Needed IMMEDIATELY for Coast
20 lightweight folding tables are needed ASAP to go to Gulf Coast – we have a truck ready to drive them down if anyone knows of a source. Please reply if you do. Thanks, Emma
New Orleans Police Spokesman Commits Suicide
He shot himself with his own gun.
As the White House develops a political strategy to blame the terrible conditions on Louisiana, the spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department, Sgt. Paul Accardo, 38, who has been quoted all week in media reports about the disaster, has committed suicide.
Hard Bigotry of No Expectations
New York Times editorial today:
Barbour Adds Gulf Coast to Special Session
Earlier this week, Gov. Barbour announced a special session to allot corporate welfare to a North Mississippi project. After criticism that his call was ignoring dire needs on the Coast, he expanding the call to include issues vital to the Gulf Coast, which is struggling a full year after Katrina. Following is a verbatim statement from the governor:
Lott: ‘I Am Demanding Help for Mississippi'
[Sept. 5, 2005/verbatim statement] POPLARVILLE, Mississippi – U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi emerged from a one-on-one meeting with President Bush today in Poplarville asserting, "I am demanding help for the people of Mississippi to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina."
Thousands May Be Dead in N.O.; 50 in Hancock County
AP is reporting:
Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans, the mayor said Wednesday - an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."
Lott Wants Pascagoula Naval Station Left Open
[verbatim statement] September 12, 2005—WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wake of problems with the Administration's response plan to Hurricane Katrina, U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi has asked President Bush to review the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommendations to close the Gulf region's two naval bases – including Naval Station Pascagoula, located in one of Mississippi's storm-devastated counties.
Feds Trying to Block Media from New Orleans?
NBC's Brian Williams write on the site blog:
An interesting dynamic is taking shape in this city, not altogether positive: after days of rampant lawlessness (making for what I think most would agree was an impossible job for the New Orleans Police Department during those first few crucial days of rising water, pitch-black nights and looting of stores) the city has now reached a near-saturation level of military and law enforcement. In the areas we visited, the red berets of the 82nd Airborne are visible on just about every block. National Guard soldiers are ubiquitous. At one fire scene, I counted law enforcement personnel (who I presume were on hand to guarantee the safety of the firefighters) from four separate jurisdictions, as far away as Connecticut and Illinois. And tempers are getting hot.
Gulf Coast: Not Much Better
The Sun-Herald reports:
Authorities fear a disease outbreak could add to the toll of fatalities from the hurricane. The number of confirmed deaths in the six southern-most counties rose to 134. Family and friends are driving through the streets of ravaged neighborhoods asking the few residents still in their homes if they know what happened to their loved ones. The stench of decay - human and animal - was growing stronger in flattened neighborhoods where cranes would be needed to untangle the debris. Bodies swept out to sea in the storm Sunday are still coming back, authorities said.
Barbour Calls Special Session on Coast Housing
[verbatim statement] (JACKSON, Mississippi) * Governor Haley Barbour announced today he has called a Special Session of the Mississippi Legislature for Thursday to ask legislators to reduce the cost of construction of new homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Bush Admits Response Blunders
Good. This is what he should have done in the first place rather than blaming the victims. AP is reporting:
Testimony of Gov. Haley Barbour about Katrina - March 7
Testimony of Governor Haley Barbour to U. S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Thank you for this opportunity to join you today to discuss the worst natural disaster in our nation's history, Hurricane Katrina. First, we in Mississippi greatly need and genuinely appreciate the generous Katrina appropriations package you passed and the President signed in December. Thank you.
Chertoff: Hurricane, Then Floods A ‘Surprise'
CNN is reporting:
Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur. But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years.
Gov. Barbour's Niece Racks Up FEMA Contracts
The New York Times is reporting today:
‘Looking for Friends': A Gallery of Post-Its
Our two new young friends, Pierce and Zon, drove down from Madison, Wis., to do what they can to help with the disaster. Right now, they're helping the JFP with our KatrinaBlog and getting us hooked up with the Indy Media network, as well as interviewing and photographing evacuees around the city. See this gallery of notices posted in the Coliseum of people who are trying to find loved ones that they just uploaded into the JFP galleries. (If one is hard to read, try the Zoom In button.) Thanks, guys.
No Way Out: Many Poor Stuck in Houston
AP is reporting:
September 22,2005 | HOUSTON -- Wilma Skinner would like to scream at the officials of this city. If only someone would pick up their phone. "I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain't none. No one answers," she said, standing in blistering heat outside a check-cashing store that had just run out of its main commodity. "Everyone just says, 'Get out, get out.' I've got no way of getting out. And now I've got no money." With Hurricane Rita breathing down Houston's neck, those with cars were stuck in gridlock trying to get out. Those like Skinner -- poor, and with a broken-down car -- were simply stuck, and fuming at being abandoned, they say.
Planned Cuts Hurt Mississippi
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau reporter Ana Radelat writes today:
Bill Minor Rips Sid Salter, The Chipper, et al
Columnist Bill Minor rips the Ledge's Sid Salter a well-deserved new one over his playing into the partisan Mississippi-vs.-Louisiana rhetoric. This has been one of the toughest political games to watch since Katrina: one victim state pitted against another one. And it started immediately. (We also like the way Mr. Minor rips "the Chipper" for his FEMA flip-flop. Preach, brother.)