From Oliver Willis: If you have been wanting to see a timeline of Katrina events in a political perspective, Willis posts a link to the Think Progress site.
Also from Willis site: FEMA Stops Reporters from taking pictures of the Bodies. They also deny journalists from going out on the recovery boats.
This is outrageous! FEMA obviously does not want anybody to see the human devastation, further evidence of their inept response. Mark my word: This is the start of a whitewashing in which the American public is going to be veiled the truth of how many bodies are going to be recovered in New Orleans. Pretty soon we are going to hear that FEMA is going to stop counting bodies. More on this, I'm sure.
From the Shelby Times: Truly disturbing news told to the Disaster Mortuary Operational Team (DMORT) as they prepare to go in and help with recovering bodies. "....expect up to 40,000 bodies...." and "they will be recovering bodies for 30... to 120 days."
From Salon's "War Room": Firefighters volunteering from other states sitting around hotel rooms
A Salon Feature Article: GOP Response. Senators saying Homeland Security and FEMA directors need not appear in inquiry. Absolutely outrageous! Consider these paragraphs:
Lieberman calls Katrina the "most significant test" of the government's overhauled disaster response plans since Sept. 11. "It obviously did not pass that test. We need to know why." He says the investigation will be guided by "an overriding and unflinching commitment to tell the truth, so our government will never repeat the mistakes that it made last week." He says the government's response made him feel "concern, grief, anger and embarrassment."
At a press conference ostensibly about the upcoming Supreme Court nominations, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is apoplectic about the response to Katrina. "You know what drives me up a wall?" he asks. "You look at what is happening at the Superdome. You could not get water in. You couldn't get doctors in. They couldn't get support in. Thank God for the press. The press was able to go in and out, and they asked a legitimate question: 'If we can get in and out of here, where, in God's name, are the people who are supposed to [bring] water, food, support?' People were dying there."
Also from Salon: The Media Coverage about Katrina's devastation: Eric Boelart writes an excellent article about the media's "waking up," being forthright in their reporting and questioning of the administrations' lapdogs in light of their terrible response to New Orleans flooding. Consider these paragraphs:
It's important to note for the record that it was the conservative editors at the New Hampshire Union Leader who quickly underscored the White House's deadly slow response to Katrina. In a biting editorial published Aug. 31, days before the mainstream press got up enough courage to criticize the federal relief efforts, the paper noted, "As the extent of Hurricane Katrina's devastation became clearer on Tuesday ... President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before. A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease."
The paper concluded: "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty. Wherever the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back."
It was the type of stinging, accurate broadside the national press was just not willing to make right out of the blocks. Yes, in the crucial days right after Katrina hit, Bush declined to address the nation in prime time. Yes, he refused to cancel his umpteenth public pep talk about Iraq in front of a grateful group of military men and women, which only Fox News carried live. Yes, while he was taking part in a goofy backstage photo op with a country music singer, New Orleans was sinking into complete and utter chaos. Yes, New Orleans' mayor had already announced the death toll was likely to be in the thousands. And yes, gangs of looters were ransacking portions of the city. But for three days last week -- on Aug. 29, 30 and 31 -- the mainstream media really didn't say boo about Bush.
Even on Sept. 2, when the New York Times acknowledged that Bush was taking heat for his handling of the crisis, the paper couched it in purely partisan terms, under the headline: "Democrats and Others Criticize White House's Response to Disaster."
Eventually, though, the pictures from New Orleans became too ghastly to ignore and reporters turned angry.
For years, frustrated news consumers have wondered what it would take to finally awaken the press from its perpetual, lazy slumber. Now we know the answer: one ravaged American city and a few thousand dead civilians.
Also from Salon: The Democratic Senators demand answers regarding the disorganized, inadequate, inept, and irresponsive federal response to the flooding.
Finally, from the Salon "War Room": Cindy Sheehan has cancelled the national tour till further notice so that Camp Casey could be setup in Covington, LA to help the evacuees coming out of New Orleans.
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