PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tag hurricane

Critics of the Bush administration have promoted video of an Aug. 28, 2005, teleconference between emergency management officials and the president as proof that the White House was warned that levees around New Orleans would likely fail against Hurricane Katrina. But a closer examination of the recording and transcript shows no mention that the Crescent City's levees would be breached.

The National Rifle Association has filed a motion for contempt against Mayor Ray Nagin and the City of New Orleans over the confiscation of guns in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last fall. According to an NRA statement, the motion, which also targets the acting chief of police, alleges the officials failed to comply with a temporary restraining order, handed down Sept. 12, ordering an end to all gun confiscations in the city.

President Bush informed the nation, during a press conference, that he might seek to use the U.S. military to quarantine parts of the nation should there be a serious outbreak of the deadly avian flu that has killed millions of chickens and 60-some people in Southeast Asia. That's the second time Bush has expressed a desire to use the military for local policing. The first was in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In September 1998, Hurricane Georges swept up a beachfront house along the Gulf of Mexico and tossed it like a bowling ball into John and Gail Leacy's summer home on the western edge of this barrier island. The Leacys collected thousands of dollars in federal flood insurance and rebuilt. Last year, Hurricane Ivan slammed their Creole-style three-bedroom cottage with wind and floodwaters. And in late August, a wall of water from Hurricane Katrina severely undercut the house's concrete pad and pilings.

Perhaps you've heard the one about the 700 firefighters from a variety of states who volunteered to do rescue work following Hurricane Katrina? They sat in a hotel room in Atlanta for days getting sexual harassment training from FEMA officials. No joke. Note to Republicans eager to shovel new money at federal agencies: This is the way government works.

A combative Michael Brown blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress. In response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former FEMA director.

Federal dollars won't make the Crescent City great. So we are sending all the king's horses and all the king's men to fix the Humpty-Dumpty of New Orleans. Put it back together on a sinking wall of mud and see if it falls off again.

Our president is very generous with other people's money. Worse, he is generous with the money of people who are in no position to object, either because they are too young or because they haven't been born yet.

With close to 600,000 participants, public rips Nagin response to hurricane Katrina as 'poor'

The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security blocked a vanguard of Red Cross trucks filled with water, food, blankets and hygiene items from bringing relief to the thousands of hungry and thirsty evacuees stranded in the New Orleans Superdome after Hurricane Katrina struck, according to a Fox News Channel report.

A black conservative leader says don't blame racism or President Bush for what happened to thousands of black people during and after Hurricane Katrina. "The truth is black people died, not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco."

Pro-life advocates say Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, continues to exploit victims of Hurricane Katrina. The organization previously said it would provide morning after pills to victims, instead of food or shelter, and is now raising money off of the hurricane for its local abortion centers.

Democrats led by Sen. Hillary Clinton are blaming the Federal Emergency Management Agency for failing to respond adequately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. But FEMA didn't do much better under much less taxing conditions, when the floods that followed Hurricane Floyd left tens of thousands stranded up and down the Eastern seaboard, wondering what happened to federal rescuers.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Republicans failed hurricane victims in their time of need, and she is calling for quick action to get displaced people the government assistance that "they are owed." <p><img src="http://www.trommetter.org/smilies/twocents.gif">I'm sorry Nancy, the government doesn't owe those people anything. That mentality is why the federal budget deficit continues to balloon.

The Bush administration is being widely criticized for the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the allegedly inadequate protection for "the big one" that residents had long feared would hit New Orleans. But research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding.

According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, in response to a question of who is to blame for New Orleans' problems after the hurricane: 13 percent said Bush...

Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

Upstate residents touched by horrific images of people along the Gulf Coast left destitute by Hurricane Katrina are helping with monetary donations, food and other necessary items.

The Greenville community is offering relief for people left homeless in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Spinx Company, Inc. commits to operate at a Zero Profit Margin on all gasoline sales and merchandise sales from Monday, August 29, 2005 through Monday, September 12, 2005. The Spinx Company is taking this action to help absorb the dramatic increase in wholesale gasoline prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

As New Orleans descended into anarchy in the wake of devastating Hurricane Katrina and its inundating floods, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert delivered his stunning opinion that rebuilding the historic city would be pointless and a waste of money.

This natural disaster is bringing together a perfect storm of environmentalist and religious doomsday sayers.