More on Katrina.

When is looting okay? Interesting article on ethics. (With "ethics" misspelled in the URL. OCD much, E?)

A very disturbing article from Daily Kos about the government's abdication of responsibility in NOLA. Richard, you may not want to click through on this; it's pretty grim and you don't need any more grim today. *hugs*

However, an on-the-spot observer writes that even as FEMA is pulling out, the Marines are arriving. We can hope they'll restore order enough so that the search and rescue operations can resume.

I can't even feel anything but angry right now. I have been avoiding pictures of the devastation because they would just wreck me. It's enough hearing it described on NPR.

Donate for Katrina... to Pat ... Robertson?

alkdghalksdjg shameless influence peddling asd;ligahsdgj

GRAAAAAAAH!!

Another pack of lies from Scott McLellan.... dodging questions about flood control.

I'm just going to quote this in its entirety. It so beautifully speaks for itself. I got it from a post at Think Progress.

REPORTER: There’s a lot of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans in particular were underfunded because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Do you find any of this criticism legitimate? Do you think there is any second guessing to be done now about priorities given that [a disaster in] New Orleans was sort of obvious to a lot of the experts?

MCCLELLAN: As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that’s where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. So if that’s what you’re talking about, that’s one thing. Now, if you’re talking about specific areas, I would be glad to talk about some of those, if that’s what you want.

REPORTER: I’m talking about policy

REPORTER: One project, for instance, is the one where people felt they needed $60 million in the current ‘06 fiscal year, and they were given $10 million. Those types of projects. And a lot —

MCCLELLAN: Which project is this?

REPORTER: Southeast Louisiana Flood Control.

MCCLELLAN: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one.

...
.......

....

Ngggh.

Dear Mr. Michael Chertoff:

English, motherfucker! DO YOU SPEAK IT!*

The capacity of politicians to not answer direct questions repeatedly put to them by journalists PISSES ME THE HELL OFF.

A little while ago on "All Things Considered"...

(NB: These are not direct quotations, as I can't quote with complete accuracy)

Mr. Secretary, what about those thousands of people trapped at the convention center without food or water?

"Blah blah blah Superdome--"

Mr. Secretary, this is the convention center we're talking about.

"Blah blah blah people need to get to staging areas blah blah Superdome..."

Ngggh. Never mind that plenty of people can't get to staging areas because they're cut off....


Until things quiet a bit, my radio is staying off unless it's piping through tunes from my iPod. Ugh.


*Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction

Head of FEMA blames victims of Katrina

Michael Brown, the head of FEMA... well, I'll let him do his own talking:

(CNN) -- The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.

Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.

"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.

"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," he said.

There are no words for this kind of thing.

(For those who don't know: most of those who stayed, stayed because they had no cars, no place to go, and no money. Where were the gov't-sponsored buses then?)

(I had already shut down my comp and turned off the radio, and then I walked by my husband's comp with cnn.com up onscreen and saw the headline and was like, "What?")

And in my own life

I lost my favorite hat that Hardi gave me for my birthday. Woe.