The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

SPARKY: It's not freaking enough he sent American Troops to their death in Iraq for no reason; Now, we see he'll try to escape blame for senselessly allowing their loved ones to die.

The leevee breaking because money got shuffled to still inadequately equip troops must be investigated by an independent judge. When we see the Bush Junta II Boy King next - all good people worldover must see the evil in him that only some do now. Check the dates on the two pictures below. Someone is happy while American lives are being lost.

President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day. (AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz)

Elvin Duckworth, left, Jonathan Harvey, center, and Leonard Harvey paddle a row boat through a flooded street in their Gulfport, Miss, neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast Monday, Aug. 29, 2005 . (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Eugene Robinson: It's Your Failure, Too, Mr. Bush

"An administration that tells us a terrorist strike is inevitable should have had in place a plan for evacuating a major American city."

washingtonpost.com:Terry M. Neal: Why, Oh Why?:

Questions. So many questions.

Why, throughout most of last week, was the most eloquent ambassador, and the only recognizable white face in New Orleans, the great and noted statesman . . . Harry Connick Jr.? The jazz musician appeared on NBC's "Today" show several times, roaming the streets of his home town, ruminating on its history, delivering food to the displaced and bemoaning the hideous lack of response to Hurricane Katrina.

Why did Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA head Michael Brown appear on television repeatedly patting themselves on the back for the federal government's effort, when it was so clear to the rest of the world that people were suffering and dying in the streets? "People are getting the help they need," Brown said Friday on the "Today" show, even though the newsreel suggested otherwise.

What in the world was President Bush talking about when he praised Brown at a news conference in Mobile, Ala., saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"?

Speaking of Brownie, how did a guy with no notable experience in disaster relief get that job, anyway?

Mr. President, why did you think it was so important to deliver a political speech comparing Iraq to WWII the day after the hurricane?

Anybody seen Dick Cheney?

Why was Condoleezza Rice, the administration's highest ranking black official, grinning and guffawing at the Broadway show "Spamalot" and shopping for expensive shoes at Salvatore Ferragamo on Fifth Avenue days after the hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast and left tens of thousands of poor black folks hungry, desperate and dying?

Dear Federal Officials, what kind of message do you think your response to the hurricane must have sent the terrorists, sitting at home watching CNN?

Local and state officials, you can't escape scrutiny: Why didn't you do a better job preparing for the process of evacuating people, given that this sort of disaster has been predicted for decades, and at least one previous study has shown that as many as a third of the residents of New Orleans would be reluctant to evacuate? Did you do everything in your power to prepare the police department, state law enforcements and other emergency services for this disastrous event?

Wait a minute . . . Democrats, you can't get away scot-free. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid did issue some tough sounding press releases, and Pelosi held a press conference on Friday. But neither exactly played a high profile role earlier in the week. Is that what you call leadership?

Back to Connick for a minute . . . why is it that he had no trouble getting in and out of New Orleans, but the feds couldn't figure out a way to deliver water to people five days after the hurricane?

[Here's what the New Orleans Times-Picayune had to say on that subject in a blistering editorial on Sunday:

"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."]

Why did it take a president who embraces black kids in campaign photo ops as often as possible five days to get to the scene and embrace some of the mostly black suffering masses in New Orleans?

Why do some in the media seem more intent on focusing on the looting of a criminal few than on the more pervasive acts of human kindness of a people enduring the monumental stress of hunger, thirst, separation from family members, loss of homes, and fatigue in the blistering 90 degree heat of Louisiana and Mississippi?

Why have some of the president's supporters attempted to shift blame onto those who did not, or were not able to, evacuate before the storm?

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, why did you suggest that the city looked like "a place that could be bulldozed"? And why were you at a campaign fundraiser for a colleague when the House was voting on a $10.5 billion relief effort bill?

Mr. President, will you ever hold anyone accountable for performance deficiencies? Will you even bother to demand answers?

Would the federal response have taken so long if some similarly devastating disaster had struck, say, McLean, Va., or Scarsdale, N.Y.?

Would a president who proclaims himself to be a conservative sign a $286 billion highway bill packed with some 6,000 pork-barrel projects, many of them frivolous, while cutting a request from the Army Corps of Engineers to bolster hurricane protection in New Orleans from $105 million to $40 million? Wouldn't a president who calls himself a conservative, demand that taxpayer money be spent on priorities and try to do something to reform a budgeting system that rewards politicians for acting like pigs at a trough?

Final question: Bush, the CEO president?

Postscript: While I never wrote this in my column, I suggested in my washingtonpost.com Live OnLine chat on Friday and in a Sunday appearance on the Chris Matthews Show on NBC that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had relocated to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, Nagin had relocated his office and his family to Baton Rouge, but he stayed behind in New Orleans. I apologize for the mistake.

Allegations President Bush staged photo-ops in aftermath of Hurricane Katrina tragedy

September 6, 2005

New Orleans Disaster

Other links

In a press release issued Saturday, September 3rd, 2005, Democratic Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana claims that President Bush staged a photo opportunity, at the breached 17th Street levee, by having equipment quickly moved into the background during the event. Senator Landrieu says the equipment was dispersed elsewhere the next day, but did not provide details.

Landrieu says in her press release, " ... we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government ..."

The President and Senator Landrieu toured the 17th Street levee on Friday, and held the photo-op. Senator Landrieu said she believed the repair effort was legitimate, at that time. Less than 24 hours later, she discovered only "one lonely crane" working on the site, while giving an aerial tour for ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. A video of her tearful comments, during that tour, has been circulating around the internet (WMV).

Senator Landrieu made no specific accusations about the photo-op during the ABC tour. However, neither does her press release describe any measures taken to verify that equipment was in-fact pulled from other projects for the purpose of the photo-op, nor where the equipment is now. The canal wall breach, near Hammond Highway, was later shown Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes with dump trucks and a power shovel building a single-lane pathway across the gap. The breach was closed Monday.

Notably, Senator Landrieu was herself criticized by Anderson Cooper (CNN) on Thursday, after she responded to a question by rattling off a list of "thank yous" to other politicians (WMV, transcript). Democratic pundits have excused such detachment as an attempt to gain more federal assistance during the tragedy. Senator Landrieu's press release partially confirms this interpretation by attempting to simultaniously ask the president for more aid, while accusing him of misusing existing resources.

In related news, Germany's ZDF News reported that the president's visit to Biloxi was largely a staged event(video). Their onsite crew claimed that an "open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of news people had left", and alleges that others were being set up were abandoned at the same time. Christine Adelhardt of Germany's ARD Tagesschule said "the extent of the staging is shocking me [as much as the disaster.]" She also claimed that, for the purpose of such photo-ops, heavy equipment was being moved to areas which would not require it (video). Senator Landrieu has not complained about any other staged photo-ops, nor has the American press accused the president's press team off any impropriety.

Mayor Nagin has apologized to the president for his earlier accusations of poor federal support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Sources

Kevin Drum "Behind the Curtain". Washington Monthly, September 3, 2005

"Landrieu Implores President to "Relieve Unmitigated Suffering;" End FEMA's "Abject Failures"". Sen. Landrieu, September 03, 2005

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At least 200 New Orleans police officers quit force

At least 200 New Orleans law officers have left the force following the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Some had notified their superiors, but others did not. A few officers simply threw their badges out the window and attempted to drive a squad car to northern Louisiana after the storm.

Some of the reasons given were because of lack of support from the local government in dealing with the crisis, others such as psychological problems with being in armed confrontation with looters and thugs and losing their own families might have driven at least two officers to commit suicide.

Reports are that some officers resorted to using their own personal firearms when dealing with the severe equipment shortage, even before the coastal region was devestated by the hurricane. The morale of the police force, which has dealt with the highest number of murders per capita in the United States, is not a new issue. This natural disaster may have exacerbated long standing tensions in the force that were already present.