"... In a city that has no potable water... Did anyone see a looter
with enough sense to take bottled water, canned goods or batteries?
It is beyond despicable that those people are siphoning off resources
that could be used to save lives. My thoughts and prayers are with
those who are living the nightmare and for those who are desperately
seeking news of their loved ones. A special thanks to the Salvation
Army and Red Cross who are always steadfast in their mission of
help."

2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major
hurricane strike on New Orleans as "among the three likeliest, most
catastrophic disasters facing this country," directly behind a
terrorist strike on New York City.

Yesterday, disaster struck.

One of the strongest storms in recorded history rocked the Gulf
Coast, bringing 145 mph winds and floods of up to 20 feet. One
million residents were evacuated; at least 65 are confirmed dead.
Tens of thousands of homes were completely submerged.

Mississippi's governor reported "catastrophic damage on all levels."
Downtown New Orleans buildings were "imploding," a fire chief said.
Oil surged past $70 a barrel. New Orleanians were grimly asking each
other, "So, where did you used to live?" (To donate to Red Cross
disaster relief, call 1-800-HELP-NOW).

While it happened, President Bush decided to & continue his vacation,
stopping by the Pueblo El Mirage RV and Golf Resort in El Mirage,
California, to hawk his Medicare drug benefit plan.

On Sunday, President Bush said, "I want to thank all the folks at the
federal level and the state level and the local level who have taken
this storm seriously." He's not one of them. Below, we present "How
Not to Prepare for a Massive Hurricane," by President Bush,
congressional conservatives, and their corporate special interest
allies.

SLASH SPENDING ON HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN NEW ORLEANS: Two months
ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped
New Orleans prepare for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million"
reduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001
levels.

Reports at the time said that thanks to the cuts, "major hurricane
and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local
engineering firms. & Also, a study to determine ways to protect the
region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now." (Too
bad Louisiana isn't a swing state. In the aftermath of Hurricane
Frances -- and the run-up to the 2004 election -- the Bush
administration awarded $31 million in disaster relief to Florida
residents who didn't even experience hurricane damage.)

DESTROY NATURAL HURRICANE PROTECTIONS: The Gulf Coast wetlands form
a "natural buffer that helps protect New Orleans from storms,"
slowing hurricanes down as they approach from sea.

When he came into office, President Bush pledged to uphold the "no
net loss" wetland policy his father initiated. He didn't keep his
word.

Bush rolled back tough wetland policies set by the Clinton
administration, ordering federal agencies "to stop protecting as many
as 20 million acres of wetlands and an untold number of waterways
nationwide."

Last year, four environmental groups issued a joint report showing
that administration policies had allowed "developers to drain
thousands of acres of wetlands."

The result? New Orleans may be in even greater danger: "Studies show
that if the wetlands keep vanishing over the next few decades, then
you won't need a giant storm to devastate New Orleans -- a much
weaker, more common kind of hurricane could destroy the city too."

GUT THE AGENCY TASKED WITH DEVELOPING HURRICANE RESPONSES: Forward-
thinking federal plans with titles like "Issues and Options in Flood
Hazards Management," "Floods: A National Policy Concern," and "A
Framework for Flood Hazards Management" would be particularly
valuable in a time of increasingly intense hurricanes.

Unfortunately, the agency that used to produce them -- the Office of
Technology Assessment (OTA) -- was gutted by Gingrich conservatives
several years ago.

As Chris Mooney (who presciently warned of the need to bulk up
hurricane defenses in New Orleans last May) noted yesterday, "If we
ever return to science-based policymaking based on professionalism
and expertise, rather than ideology, an office like OTA would be very
useful in studying how best to save a city like New Orleans -- and
how Congress might consider appropriating money to achieve this end."

SEND OUR FIRST RESPONDERS TO FIGHT A WAR OF CHOICE: National Guard
and Reserve soldiers are typically on the front lines responding to
disasters like Katrina -- that is, if they're not fighting in Iraq.
Roughly 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is currently
deployed in Iraq, where guardsmen and women make up about four of
every 10 soldiers.

Additionally, "Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and
generators" used by the Louisiana Guard are also tied up abroad. "The
National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland
security mission," Louisiana National Guard Lt. Colonel Pete
Schneider told reporters earlier this month. "Recruitment is down
dramatically, mostly because prospective recruits are worried about
deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan or another country," the AP reported
recently. "I used to be able to get about eight people a month," said
National Guard 1st Sgt. Derick Young, a New Orleans recruiter. "Now,
I'm lucky if I can get one."

HELP FUEL GLOBAL WARMING: Severe weather occurrences like hurricanes
and heat waves already take hundreds of lives and cause millions in
damages each year. As the Progress Report has noted, data
increasingly suggests that human-induced global warming is making
these phenomena more dangerous and extreme than ever.

"The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina
by the National Weather Service," science author Ross Gelbspan
writes. "Its real name is global warming."

AP reported recently on a Massachusetts Institute of Technology
analysis that shows that "major storms spinning in both the Atlantic
and the Pacific & have increased in duration and intensity by about
50 percent" since the 1970s, trends that are "closely linked to
increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface and also
correspond to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures
during the same period."

Yet just last week, as Katrina was gathering steam and looming over
the Gulf, the Bush administration released new CAFE standards that
actually encourage automakers to produce bigger, less fuel efficient
vehicles, while preventing states from taking strong, progressive
action to reverse global warming.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?
fmedia_id=11789&fcategory_desc=Under%20ReportedUnder Reported
August 31, 2005

How Not to Prepare for a Hurricane - AlterNet.Org - Article - 2005-08-
30
SEND OUR FIRST RESPONDERS TO FIGHT A WAR OF CHOICE: National Guard
and Reserve soldiers are typically on the front lines responding to
disasters like Katrina -- that is, if they're not fighting in Iraq.
Roughly 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is currently
deployed in Iraq, where guardsmen and women make up about four of
every 10 soldiers.


How Bush's policies doomed New Orleans - PhxNews.com - Article - 2005-
08-30

''...Among emergency specialists, 'mitigation' -- the measures taken
in advance to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters -- is a
crucial part of the strategy to save lives and cut recovery costs.
But since 2001, key federal disaster mitigation programs, developed
over many years, have been slashed and tossed aside. FEMA's Project
Impact, a model mitigation program created by the Clinton
administration, has been canceled outright. Federal funding of post-
disaster mitigation efforts designed to protect people and property
from the next disaster has been cut in half. Communities across the
country must now compete for pre-disaster mitigation dollars.''
''In addition, the White House has pushed for privatization of
essential government services, including disaster management, and
merged FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security -- where,
critics say, natural disaster programs are often sidelined by counter-
terrorism programs. Along the way, morale at FEMA has plummeted, and
many of the agency's most experienced personnel have left for work in
other government agencies or private corporations...''

Hurricane likely to leave deep mark on U.S. economy - New York Times -
Article - 2005-09-01

As Hurricane Katrina plowed through the Mississippi River basin,
shutting down ports, flooding cities and cutting power lines,
economists warned that it was likely to leave a deeper mark on the
U.S. economy than previous hurricanes because of its profound
disruption of the Gulf of Mexico's complex energy supply network.

Dumping of US dollar could trigger 'economic September 11' -
Australian, The - Article - 2005-08-29
There is a potentially fatal flaw at the heart of the global economy:
the strong possibility of financial meltdown following a collapse of
confidence in the greenback

Republicans accused of intimidating against climate change
scientists - Guardian, The - Article - 2005-08-30

Some of America's leading scientists have accused Republican
politicians of intimidating climate-change experts by placing them
under unprecedented scrutiny.

Twenty Things We Now Know Four Years After 9/11 - Independent Media
TV - Article - 2005-08-30

Much new information has been revealed this year, with corroborating
documents verifying aspects of the story we only surmised previously.
So without further ado, below are the twenty things we now know four
years after 9/11, based mainly on documented evidence found in the
Bush-friendly mainstream media.

Halliburton Contracts Illegal - But Bush Busts The Whistleblower -
Independent Media TV - Article - 2005-08-29
Greenhouse said that when the Pentagon awarded Halliburton a five-
year $7 billion contract, it pressured her to withdraw her
objections, actions which she claimed were unprecedented in her
experience.

In a letter from her attorney's office, Greenhouse told members of
Congress that the Army gave the no-bid contracts to Halliburton's
subsidiary KBR for political reasons.

Greenhouse charged that contracts were approved over her
reservations, some of which were handwritten on the original
contracts, and extensions of contracts were awarded because
underlings signed them in collusion with senior officials without her
knowledge.

Bunny Bugs the War Profiteers - Independent Media TV - Article - 2005-
08-30

You most likely haven't heard of a feisty woman named
Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse, even though you pay her salary. For
over 20 years now, Greenhouse has overseen contracts at the Army
Corps of Engineers. And up until last Saturday, Greenhouse was the
highest-ranking civilian member of the Army Corps of Engineers. She
has been demoted for "poor job performance," despite an untarnished
career as one of the country's highest-ranking procurement officers.
And from what you'll see, her performance has been anything
but "poor."

Corporate greed drives war and occupation - Green Left Weekly -
Article - 2005-08-31

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/?
source=AOL&cmpgn=NEWS&RTP=http://news.channel.aol.com/

MY FATHER FLEW PRESIDENT BUSH, HIS FATHER, AND REGAN (HMX-1). I HAVE
ALWAYS BEEN A SUPPORTER OF OUR GOVERNMENNT. BUT AFTER LOOSING SO MUCH
AFTER IVAN AND REALIZING HOW FEMA MISAPPROPRIATED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
DURING OUR CRISIS I HAVE LITTLE HOPE THEY WILL DIG OUT OF THIS ONE. I
AM SO DISSAPOINTED THAT WE ARE NOT DOING MORE. WHERE IS THE NAVY?

WHERE ARE OUR GLOBAL SUPPORTERS (TYLAND, INDONESIA, ETC...)? BUSH
NEEDS TO GET OFF HIS VACATIONING ASS AND FLY HIS SPOILED BUTT TO NEW
ORLEANS AND REACH HIS OWN GREEDY ARM OUT AND LIFT PEOPLE TO
SAFETY..MAYBE GIVE THEM REFUGE AT CAMP DAVID....THERES PLENTY OF ROOM
THERE. THERE PLENTY OF CHOPPERS TO GET THE JOB DONE....SEMPER
FI.....GAS PRICES ARE KILLING THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND THAT LEVY
WILL SOON BREAK LEAVING US EXTREMELY VUNERABLE TO MORE
TERRORISM....WHAT IS HE THINKING??? IDIOT!!!!

http://www.bradblog.com/

As one of the vulnerable poor in this country, I can't even stand to
watch or listen or read these accounts anymore -- I know it could be
me, and it's just too close.

I'm beyond mad and terrified and grief-striken for these people. If
we liberals are truly caring, we will build a monument to these
MARTYRS, who died to wake us all up! If we can't mobilize this
country after this, then it truly will be hopeless.

That mayor needs to FORGET our damned gov, and contact the countries
who have offered help, which was turned down by D.C., and accept
their help. He needs to go directly to those countries, and
forget "chain of command!" When that many people are dying, "chain of
command" be damned!

Poverty has been shoved aside by liberal Dems, and if this doesn't
wake them up and get all of us back in line with caring about
poverty, most of us will truly just give up. If this kind of massive
death doesn't do it, then nothing will.

Middle class, you're next.

~~Compliments of Raw Story:

10,000 Guard called to site

It's interesting that the Govenors are the ones calling out the guard.

Satellite Pictures from NOAA

The devastation is beyond belief.

~~TRYING TO BE FAIR : Pentagon has ordered 10,000 National Guard to
New Orleans.

Still can't figure out that it has taken two days to get things
going...Shouldn't have relief help started Monday? Surely could
determine by Tues morning what would be needed.

I mean these people have no water...90 degree heat...NO SHELTER...NO
CARS TO GET TO A SHELTER.

Anderson Cooper was speaking to somone how about airlifting water in
at least.


~~~ANDERSON COOPER JUST REPORTED 7 DAYS TIL A HOSPITAL SHIP GETS TO
NEW ORLEANS - 5 DAYS BEFORE SHIPS WITH FOOD AND SUPPLIES.

PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ARE GOING WITHOUT WATER OR FOOD. TWO DAYS NOW.

~~~But why should Mr Barethemly have to BEG for what should have been
provided days ago?

Understood, this president has no knowledge of hunger, thirst, death
or disease, not a care for human suffering, but he is surrounded by
people to advise him. Is it that he won't listen to them? What planet
are they from?

Texaslady, that question chills me to the bone.

~~~Been real interested to know how many National Guard and
Reservists are still at home...the NPR says 183,366 total count with
Dod saying 145,097 have been mobilized which would leave 38,269 here
at home. The Dod states that 4100 National Guard from Louisiana are
in Iraq.

With 15 base closings and 36 realigned, my question how many regular
military, national guard, reservists, in all are here for Home Land
Security? And the bases that will remain open or realigned are they
located to get to any devastated area quickly?

Why aren't we airlifting our military to New Orleans right now?

~~~~Just remember this as our infrastructure rots,Bush
says "Permanent tax cuts for the wealthy~~~

http://www.bradblog.com/