Good Morning, This Ain't Vietnam
I think I'm gonna just post Katrina stuff on this blog instead of my regular journal for today, because at this point I can't talk about the human side of the disaster without mentioning how coldhearted, disorganized and fucked up the Bush administration is handling it. Plus I'm getting frustrated by the "omg looters!11!!" type posts on my flist. Anyways.
++ WaPo:
Explosions and fires hit the New Orleans riverfront a few miles south of the French Quarter Friday morning but there were conflicting and fragmentary reports about whether the blazes involved railroad cars or warehouses or empty oil drums.
While the fire glowed in the sky and TV stations speculated about whether or not there were any "toxic clouds," Walter Maestri, head of emergency management for Jefferson County, came on talk radio four hours after the explosions and said "it was not the major incident we thought it was."
More as information comes in.
++ FEMA and seemingly everyone in power have failed New Orleans.
Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans's emergency operations, said the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was inadequate and that Louisiana officials have been overwhelmed.
"This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert told the Associated Press as he watched refugees evacuate the Superdome yesterday. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking, but we're not getting supplies."
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent out a frustrated plea for help yesterday as thousands of people remained marooned at the city's Convention Center in the heat and filth, with as many as seven corpses nearby."This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the Convention Center and don't anticipate enough buses. Currently the Convention Center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people," Nagin said in a statement read by CNN.
I have a rant building up on why everyone is screaming for Mayor Nagin's head, and crying "he's no Rudy Guiliani" but I'll get to that in a minute.
++ AmericaBlog reiterates, the Head of FEMA is delusional.
++ An AP political writer has lamented, "At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims". Indeed.
++ Gov. Kathleen Blanco has warned troops will "shoot and kill" any and all looters.
++ Stuff you already know: Dennis Hasert is an asshole, and a cold-hearted fuck to boot.
++ Stuff you didn't know: there's still some decent GOP Congressmen.
++ WaPo:
Explosions and fires hit the New Orleans riverfront a few miles south of the French Quarter Friday morning but there were conflicting and fragmentary reports about whether the blazes involved railroad cars or warehouses or empty oil drums.
While the fire glowed in the sky and TV stations speculated about whether or not there were any "toxic clouds," Walter Maestri, head of emergency management for Jefferson County, came on talk radio four hours after the explosions and said "it was not the major incident we thought it was."
More as information comes in.
++ FEMA and seemingly everyone in power have failed New Orleans.
Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans's emergency operations, said the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was inadequate and that Louisiana officials have been overwhelmed.
"This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert told the Associated Press as he watched refugees evacuate the Superdome yesterday. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking, but we're not getting supplies."
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sent out a frustrated plea for help yesterday as thousands of people remained marooned at the city's Convention Center in the heat and filth, with as many as seven corpses nearby."This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the Convention Center and don't anticipate enough buses. Currently the Convention Center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 25,000 people," Nagin said in a statement read by CNN.
I have a rant building up on why everyone is screaming for Mayor Nagin's head, and crying "he's no Rudy Guiliani" but I'll get to that in a minute.
++ AmericaBlog reiterates, the Head of FEMA is delusional.
++ An AP political writer has lamented, "At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims". Indeed.
++ Gov. Kathleen Blanco has warned troops will "shoot and kill" any and all looters.
++ Stuff you already know: Dennis Hasert is an asshole, and a cold-hearted fuck to boot.
++ Stuff you didn't know: there's still some decent GOP Congressmen.