The Hurricane Katrina thread

[D]

What do these people want Bush to do? Go down with a large hose and suck the water out?

I mean seriously, u cant land a plane in N.O. u cant drive a car, It took some time to get there basically because of stuff like that

I do like the Cruise Ship idea SLC and wonder if any of them have thought of that?

[SLCPUNK]

Afghanistan just pledged 100k!

[Sterlingdog]

I understand people wanting to show respect for the victims by not making this political and playing a blame game, but I think we owe it to the victims to find out what went wrong.  I realize there was a hurricane and and flood, but for it to take 5 days to mobilize and get aid to those people is horrible.  They could have air dropped, they have ways to do that stuff.  For heaven's sake, the reporters got everywhere they wanted to go, the government could have too.  The communication was clearly lacking.  Rescuers were leaving people on overpasses and the convention center, but the people delivering the water didn't know they were there.  Even at the superdome, where the location was clearly known, they didn't bring in enough food and water.  Why? 

I don't know what happened, I don't know who's to blame.  Was it Bush being clueless?  Did his advisors fail to explain the situation?  Did FEMA ask for additional security and not get it?  Or did they not ask?  Is it true that our military is stretched to thin due to Iraq?  There will be finger pointing and politicizing, but in the end someone (or many someone's) screwed up and they should be held responsible.  Too many people died that didn't need to die and we should not let that be excused.

Why?  Because three babies died outside the convention center of heat exhaustion.  Three babies that survived a hurricane and a flood and whose parents took them to the convention center because that's where they were told to go.  Three babies died waiting for water in the United States of America.  That's shamefull.   We have to find out who is responsible for that.  It wasn't just bad luck, those people were left to die.  It can not take 5 days to mobilize military in this country.  They didn't show up before because no one told them to.  So who dropped the ball?  I hope we can find out the truth, both for the victims and for our country, so this never happens again.

[SLCPUNK]

Cuts were made before the flood in 2002, and cuts were set for 2006 AGAIN.

Guess who made the cuts? And guess what they needed the money for instead?

That's all I have to say about that.

[POPmetal]

Lets not be petty and dishonor the victims of this hurricane with political rants.

[Will]

Get the cruise ships there ASAP. They have food, showers, beds, every single ammenity these people need. You won't need to ship them here and there and hope they have a place for these people!!!!! These ships can help immediately!!!

I do like the Cruise Ship idea SLC and wonder if any of them have thought of that?

I guess officials have been reading the board...


Three Carnival cruise ships to aid Katrina relief

Sunday, September 4, 2005 Posted: 0255 GMT (1055 HKT)

Two of the ships, the Ecstasy and Sensation, have a maximum capacity of 2,606 each and will be based in Galveston, Texas, while the third boat, the Holiday, has a maximum capacity of 1,800 and will likely be docked in Mobile, Alabama, the Miami-based company said.

Thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were left homeless after Katrina ripped across the Gulf Coast with powerful winds and widespread flooding, ruining homes, buildings and critical infrastructure.

Carnival, which is the namesake brand of the world's largest cruise company, Carnival Corp., declined to say how much the Federal Emergency Management Agency was paying to charter the ships.

The company said people who had their trips canceled on the three ships could receive a full refund or book a trip on another cruise ship. Some future travelers are being switched to another boat.

It was not immediately clear what would be the total impact on the company by removing three ships from service. Carnival crews will operate the ships which will be at the disposal of the U.S. Military Sealift Command, according to the company.

"This inconvenience to our guests will provide desperately needed housing for thousands of individuals affected by this tragedy," said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and chief executive officer.

Carnival shares closed down 28 cents Friday to $48.24 on the New York Stock Exchange.


Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.cruise.reut/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

So, please behave gentlemen!

[GUNZforRoses]

http://www.infowars.com/articles/new_orleans/halliburton_hired_storm_cleanup.htm

 
Halliburton hired for storm cleanup

Houston Chronicle | August 1, 2005
COMMENT:
(Days ago we jokingly suggested that Bush would give his cronies at Halliburton no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq New Orleans and lo and behold, the federal government is doing just that. )

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.

KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.
Navy Turns to Halliburton for Help

New York Times | August 4, 2005
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.

Facing extensive damage by Hurricane Katrina to naval installations in Mississippi , the Navy turned immediately to the Halliburton Company's KBR subsidiary for tasks like restoring electricity, repairing roofs and clearing debris at bases that are urgently needed for response efforts.

It is a familiar role for KBR, which under longstanding contracts has delivered the engineering equivalent of first aid to the Navy and other military and government agencies after natural disasters for more than 15 years. This time, the Halliburton unit's performance is likely to be watched especially closely, as its work under separate contracts in Iraq has come under extensive criticism in the past two years.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command turned to Halliburton after the hurricane under terms of a five-year contract worth up to $500 million, renewed in 2004 after competitive bidding, that calls on the company to provide immediate services on demand after natural disasters, in humanitarian crises or in military conflicts. Last year, the Navy invoked the same contract after Hurricane Ivan hit Florida .

Although Halliburton has not yet been asked to work on installations around New Orleans, it said on Friday that it would begin performing damage assessments there "as soon as it is deemed safe to do so."

The Navy faces urgent problems repairing installations such as the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Gulfport, Miss., which was heavily damaged and has become a crucial staging point for recovery operations in the coastal area hit hardest by the hurricane.

Almost all the base's personnel were evacuated before the storm, and there were no military casualties reported, but many buildings were damaged, power and communications were out, and roads were blocked or flooded.

But even as the Halliburton contract was being announced on Friday, the base was getting back in business, feeding 1,200 personnel each day, sheltering 350 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees in a warehouse, preparing to build a tent city for FEMA, supporting 1,000 employees of Mississippi Power, and deploying Seabees into nearby communities.

Even as it prepared for new jobs in the disaster area, both under its military contract and in its broader civilian role as a major engineering and construction company involved in ports and oil services, Halliburton and its employees faced problems of their own from the storm.

The company said on Friday that it had 3,000 employees working in the affected region and that "many have suffered devastating losses with many homes and vehicles flooded and some with a total loss of all of their belongings." The company, headed by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, has close ties to the Bush administration, and earlier this year confirmed that it had hired Joseph M. Allbaugh as a consultant on issues including disaster relief and homeland security. Mr. Allbaugh was the director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration.

[Sterlingdog]

Editorial blasts federal response

Sunday, September 4, 2005; Posted: 7:21 p.m. EDT (23:21 GMT)


NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed this editorial in its Sunday edition, criticizing the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and calling on every FEMA official to be fired:

An open letter to the President
Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we're going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It's accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city's multiple points of entry, our nation's bureaucrats spent days after last week's hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city's stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don't know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city's death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren't they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn't suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn't have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn't known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You're doing a heck of a job."

That's unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We're no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn't be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

I find it amusing in a way so many are quick to blame Bush for everything, including the Katrina response effort delay. No one on the state or local level was prepared and the co-ordination within the federal level was awful. That is not completely Bush`s fault.

[SLCPUNK]

Tampa Tribune reported a reason for part of the hold up, also repeated tonight on 60 minutes.

The Feds wanted the state to give them ultimate control over the situation. Thus the Feds could say "Hey look, there was no state planning". State government and that awesome mayor of New Orleans, said "no fuckin' way", as they understood the reason why. The Feds (Bush) wanted off the hook for the cuts he had made prior before coming in to help. It didn't happen anyway...and lives were lost in the meantime.

Pathetic.

[SLCPUNK]

http://www.infowars.com/articles/new_orleans/halliburton_hired_storm_cleanup.htm

 
Halliburton hired for storm cleanup

Houston Chronicle | August 1, 2005
COMMENT:
(Days ago we jokingly suggested that Bush would give his cronies at Halliburton no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq New Orleans and lo and behold, the federal government is doing just that. )

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.

KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.
Navy Turns to Halliburton for Help

New York Times | August 4, 2005
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.

Facing extensive damage by Hurricane Katrina to naval installations in Mississippi , the Navy turned immediately to the Halliburton Company's KBR subsidiary for tasks like restoring electricity, repairing roofs and clearing debris at bases that are urgently needed for response efforts.

It is a familiar role for KBR, which under longstanding contracts has delivered the engineering equivalent of first aid to the Navy and other military and government agencies after natural disasters for more than 15 years. This time, the Halliburton unit's performance is likely to be watched especially closely, as its work under separate contracts in Iraq has come under extensive criticism in the past two years.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command turned to Halliburton after the hurricane under terms of a five-year contract worth up to $500 million, renewed in 2004 after competitive bidding, that calls on the company to provide immediate services on demand after natural disasters, in humanitarian crises or in military conflicts. Last year, the Navy invoked the same contract after Hurricane Ivan hit Florida .

Although Halliburton has not yet been asked to work on installations around New Orleans, it said on Friday that it would begin performing damage assessments there "as soon as it is deemed safe to do so."

The Navy faces urgent problems repairing installations such as the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Gulfport, Miss., which was heavily damaged and has become a crucial staging point for recovery operations in the coastal area hit hardest by the hurricane.

Almost all the base's personnel were evacuated before the storm, and there were no military casualties reported, but many buildings were damaged, power and communications were out, and roads were blocked or flooded.

But even as the Halliburton contract was being announced on Friday, the base was getting back in business, feeding 1,200 personnel each day, sheltering 350 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees in a warehouse, preparing to build a tent city for FEMA, supporting 1,000 employees of Mississippi Power, and deploying Seabees into nearby communities.

Even as it prepared for new jobs in the disaster area, both under its military contract and in its broader civilian role as a major engineering and construction company involved in ports and oil services, Halliburton and its employees faced problems of their own from the storm.

The company said on Friday that it had 3,000 employees working in the affected region and that "many have suffered devastating losses with many homes and vehicles flooded and some with a total loss of all of their belongings." The company, headed by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, has close ties to the Bush administration, and earlier this year confirmed that it had hired Joseph M. Allbaugh as a consultant on issues including disaster relief and homeland security. Mr. Allbaugh was the director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration.

I read this earlier and posted on my message board.

Imagine that...

They also were awarded a no bid contract...meaning they can bill whatever they want and the Americans (all of us, right, left) get fucked again.

Another USA tragedy, and while we're all looking away, the pirates come in for more looting.

[SLCPUNK]

Also I found out.......Not one Levee broke!
   

It was the flood walls which apparently are only 2ft thick made 20 yrs ago for up to category 3 hurricanes......

[POPmetal]

I read this earlier and posted on my message board.

Imagine that...

They also were awarded a no bid contract...meaning they can bill whatever they want and the Americans (all of us, right, left) get fucked again.

Another USA tragedy, and while we're all looking away, the pirates come in for more looting.

Lets not be petty and dishonor the victims of this hurricane with political rants.

[SLCPUNK]

Here is the difference:

You posted with the intent purpose of starting a fight:

"[turns on American looney liberal impersonation]"

and

"Man, I can't wait for the Michal Moore "documentary" to come out."

These were nothing more then a cheap shots, ignoring the tragedy, and dishonoring the victims. Used for no purpose but to muster a petty fight.

While pointing out what went wrong, and how it went wrong, is a way of making sure it does not happen again. Which is at least some form of respect towards the victims.

In my first post I made it very clear that it was everybodies fault, including Clintons. But that wasn't good enough for you. You wanted to fight.

[POPmetal]

That was not my intent. In light of some of your recent statements, my post was more like a prophecy.

you forgot to quote the line that said the looney left will blame:

The Corporations. They conspired to start Katrina because they stand to gain billions and billions of dollars from rebuilding efforts.? ...? H?A?L?I?B?U?R?T?O?N? ?

What you're saying would be different if you actually had any evidence of foul play in the awarding of the contract.? But on the contrary, the NY Times article actually said

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command turned to Halliburton after the hurricane under terms of a five-year contract worth up to $500 million, renewed in 2004 after competitive bidding, that calls on the company to provide immediate services on demand after natural disasters, in humanitarian crises or in military conflicts.

So what you made was a baseless, politically driven, petty attack.

And i couldn't help but notice your updated signature. I'm flattered to be referred to as an American, but unfortunately I'm not one yet.

[SLCPUNK]

Your little diatribe did remind me of a septic flush.

Try handing your vitriol to another Q-back........Sir-Spin-a-lot.

[Genesis]

India gives $5 million.
P.S: I never thought we'd be giving the U.S relief money... 

[Mr. Dick Purple]

I know! I know no political stuff but it's like a wake up call for Bush like saying stop using money in war?

[Sterlingdog]

I find it amusing in a way so many are quick to blame Bush for everything, including the Katrina response effort delay. No one on the state or local level was prepared and the co-ordination within the federal level was awful. That is not completely Bush`s fault.

Bush may not have been the person who actually screwed up, but he's the guy in charge.  When you are the boss you are often held responsible for your employees' screw ups.  I heard a woman on tv who had lived through Camille.  When asked how Katrina was different, she said Nixon had the 3rd infantry there within 48 hours.  Does Bush have less power as President than Nixon did?

From what I'm hearing on the news and talk shows, it sounds like FEMA director Brown is going to take the fall for this one.  Analysts are expecting him to resign.  The bad thing about that to me is that I think it will just be for show, to look like something has been done, and others who are equally responsible will not be held accountable. 

Mayor Nagin said he held several people personally responsible for the delayed response.  He declined to give names, but I would love to see his list. 

[gilld1]

Kuwait gave 500 mil and Qatar 100 mil.  I have been pleasantly suprised by the international community.  Even countries like Pakistan and Afganistan are giving.  I guess we tend to focus on all the negative that the Govt does and we forget the good things they do.  Lots of questions remain unanswered though, some heads are gonna roll for this.  But props to the NO mayor and the General in charge.  Two no shit taking guys!