The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

SPARKY: No Tears for Renquist; Plenty for the Victims of Katrina; New Hurricane forming in Atlantic; Perhaps the Puppet Boy King's Science Advisors are really wrong about the effects of Global Warming; But, hey it's only the poor that are suffering; K-12 start Tuesday and we can guess how many will be ‘left behind’ again; Should the Administration be fired for fucking with FEMA? - I say get rid of the whole lot — One last thing- if you donate to help the Katrina victims, use a site that “matches” your donation.

Enabler of the Bush Junta II Puppet Boy King's Coup d'Etat, Chief Justice of the United States, William Hubbs Rehnquist, dies at age 80

Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, has died at age 80 from thryoid cancer. His death leaves a second vacancy in the Supreme Court. (click for Full story).
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Controversy over whether New Orleans Mayor failed to follow hurricane plan

September 4, 2005

New Orleans Disaster

Sources

"New Orleans Mayor: "CIA Will Wipe Me Out"." All Headline News, September 4, 2005
"Katrina Satellite Imagery." NOAA, September 3, 2005
"Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin in which he says, "I need 500 buses, man."." CNN, September 2, 2005
"An aerial view of flooded school buses in a lot, on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, in New Orleans, LA." Yahoo, September 1, 2005
"Nagin orders mandatory evacuation in face of Katrina." WWLTV, August 28, 2005
"State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan." State of Louisiana, 2000

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Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin slams Bush, federal government in radio interview

September 3, 2005

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, castigated the federal government for lack of response to Hurricane Katrina in a radio interview Friday. During a climatic point in the interview, Nagin stated

We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickity split. After 9/11, we gave the President unlimited powers, lickity split, to take care of New York and other places.

You mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place so unique that when you mention "New Orleans" anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up. You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people who have died and thousands more are dying every day, we can't get figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need.

I mean, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly. And I don't know whose problem it is; I don't know if it's the governor's problem or if it's the President's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down the two of them and figure this thing out right now.

The mayor also called for a "moratorium on press conferences" and criticized the slow federal action:

There is nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and people are dying down here.

Mayor Nagin is being called a hero by some for ordering the evacuation as early as he did; although many pundits have been suggested possible improvments to city policies prior to the hurricane.

Sources

"Ray Nagin Interview." WWL Radio Staton, September 2, 2005

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Hurricane Maria forms in Atlantic
September 4, 2005

Hurricane Maria has intensified and become the season's fifth hurricane on Sunday, Sept. 4. The hurricane is currently growing stronger in warm waters in the open Atlantic Ocean.

According to MSNBC News, at 5 a.m. EDT the hurricane had a maximum sustained wind of 75 mph., which barely makes it to hurricane status, and was centered at 256 miles Southeast of Bermuda. Currently it is moving North-northwest and has been predicted to turn Northward around late Sunday and early Monday. If the hurricane continues on its route as was predicted, hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart believes, "Maria should remain well to the east of Bermuda and only pose a threat to shipping interests.”

This hurricane does not seem to pose a threat to mount to anything comparable to the current major US disaster, Hurricane Katrina, since it plainly is not as powerful and is expected to soon land in cooler Atlantic waters, sapping much of it's remaining strength at that point.

Maria is the 13th named storm of the hurricane season this year, which is distantly surpassing a statistic from the hurricane center — only about 4 or 5 named storms as of this time of year — keeping in mind the season is from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Sources

"HURRICANE MARIA ADVISORY NUMBER 13." NOAA, Semtember 4, 2005
Associated Press "Hurricane Maria forms over open Atlantic." 2005, Semtember 4, 2005

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Scientists debate whether Hurricane Katrina was aggravated by global warming

September 2, 2005

Both scientists and politicians are divided over the increase in hurricanes in the last 30 years. The years 1970 to 1994 saw far fewer hurricanes than 1995 to the present. The New York Times suggest this was due to cool water in the North Atlantic driving winds that disrupted potential hurricanes from forming. Some experts say this is part of a natural cycle, others claim that global warming increases both the destructive power and the frequency of hurricanes. The Times article also pointed out that during eight recent years the U.S. has been hit by about one-third fewer severe hurricanes than usual.

Britain's chief scientific adviser Sir David King: “We have known since 1987 the intensity of hurricanes is related to surface sea temperature and we know that, over the last 15 to 20 years, surface sea temperatures in these regions have increased by half a degree centigrade. So it is easy to conclude that the increased intensity of hurricanes is associated with global warming."

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Professor Kerry Emanuel also claimed that rising sea temperatures increased the destructive potential of hurricanes, but he claimed hurricane Katrina was part of a natural cycle. A recent paper by Emanuel which claimed that hurricanes have intensified since the 1970s was described by Dr. William Gray as “a terrible paper, one of the worst I've ever looked at.”

Jürgen Trittin, Germany's Minister of the Environment was sharply critical of the U.S. Government. He wrote in an editorial: “The US has, up until this point, had its eyes closed to this emergency.”

Carsten Voigt, from the German Foreign Ministry showed more solidarity to the victims of the disaster. He also said that while he believed that hurricanes were more powerful due to global warming, he did not believe that hurricane Katrina was the fault of America, or the Bush administration. “The main point though is that climate change is an issue that needs to be put on the table.”

Sources

KENNETH CHANG "Storms Vary With Cycles, Experts Say." The New York Times, August 30, 2005
Andrew Buncombe "King: Global warming may be to blame." The Independent, 2 September 2005
"German Minister Stands Behind Criticism of Bush." spiegel, August 31, 2005
Steven Milloy "Junk Science: Katrina Kicks Up Storm of Global Warming Debate." Fox News, 1 September 2005

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It's not over, the horror is just starting; Trust Sparky on this — and we'll see the Red State Zombies either ignore the suffering and/or blame the victims ... and still be painfully slow in assisting them. - o&0
PS True Blue Sparky has donated to the Red Cross. The below is forwarded so you all can feel as good as possible about this tragedy ...

Our deepest condolences go to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who lost their lives, their homes and their livelihoods. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.

While we are devastated by the enormity of this tragedy, our faith, tenacity and determination ensure that we will rebuild and we will endure. The American spirit of generosity will be evident in the days to come, as communities in the afflicted areas come together and our American family from coast to coast provides assistance. Click here to see how you can help.

All of our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to Leader Pelosi's call for a special session of Congress, and we are coming together to make sure government can meet its responsibility to its citizens. But this tragedy demands nothing less than each one of us helping as much as we can and then going the extra mile after that. Click here to see how you can help.

Sincerely,