NPWLIX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED. [snip]

After this tepid, mealy-mouthed warning, as well as a videoconference and a 41-page assessment from the Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, this was our Commander-in-Chief's response:

We all know what happened next:

In 2002, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General stated in its Semiannual Report to the Congress, October 1, 2001 - March 31, 2002 that

"MSHA [Mine Safety and Health Administration] is unable to complete statutorily mandated inspections of Metal/Nonmetal mine operations because of the rapid growth in mine operations, reductions in the numbers of inspectors, and shifts toward compliance assistance."

In June 2002, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers Association, implored the President,

"We call on the Bush administration to fully fund the Mine Safety and Health Administration to ensure that coal mines are inspected more thoroughly and that the mine act is enforced more stringently."

So the President cut the MSHA budget in each of the following two years. Here's what happened after that:

Two months before the war in Iraq began, the CIA's National Intelligence Council completed a study in which it predicted that a war in Iraq could result in the development of a violent insurgency that would divide the country.

What did President Bush do?

which resulted in

On October 4, 2004, a group of 169 leading professors of economics and business sent President Bush a letter on their fears about the direction the U.S. economy was heading. The letter said, among other things,

The data make clear that your policy of slashing taxes - primarily for those at the upper reaches of the income distribution - has not worked. The fiscal reversal that has taken place under your leadership is so extreme that it would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. The federal budget surplus of over $200 billion that we enjoyed in the year 2000 has disappeared, and we are now facing a massive annual deficit of over $400 billion. In fact, if transfers from the Social Security trust fund are excluded, the federal deficit is even worse - well in excess of a half a trillion dollars this year alone.

[snip]

Given the tenuous state of the American economy, we believe that the time for an honest assessment of the problem and for genuine corrective action is now. Ignoring the fiscal crisis that has taken hold during your presidency may seem politically appealing in the short run, but we fear it could ultimately prove disastrous. From a policy standpoint, the clear message is that more of the same won't work. The warning signs are already visible

And what happened? Well, here's the current national debt:

And finally, on August 6, 2001, President Bush was given this Presidential Daily Briefing:

which said, "Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S."

So what did our President do?

And what happened?

So -

Now that 12 top physicists, including 5 Nobel laureates, have sent President Bush a letter urging him not to consider the use of nuclear weapons in Iran, and describing the devastating consequences if he should not heed the warnings, you can probably figure out what's coming:

To paraphrase our pal Don Rumsfeld: Am I worried? You behhht! Should I stock up on non-perishable food items and water? Of courrrse! Can I expect my family to survive the coming noo-kyew-lur holocaust? Who knowwws?

Or maybe I just need to study up on my old civil defense poster from the 1970s, paying particular attention to the last two paragraphs:

Tags: Bush, warnings, evidence, disaster, Iran, Katrina, mine safety, 9/11, physicists, scientists, nuclear weapons, Recommended (all tags)