Thursday, September 08, 2005

Timeline of Bush's Incompetence concerning Katrina 8/25-9/1

(This is from airamerica)

The Beginnings of Hurricane Katrina:

Hurricane Katrina hit Florida late Thursday, August 25th, as a Category 1 hurricane. 9 people were killed. The storm then moved into the Gulf of Mexico, where it gained momentum and power. Below is a timeline of events over the next few days as the Bush administration ignored one of the biggest natural disasters ever to strike the United States.

Saturday, August 27th

Forecasters are predicting that Hurricane Katrina will hit Louisiana and Mississipi early Monday – and that it probably would be a Category 3 or 4 storm. Gulf Coast communities began to ask their residents to evacuate. Meteorologist warn that Katrina has the potential to be a major hurricane.

Bush was at his vacation home in Crawford Texas – avoiding Cindy Sheehan and the dueling protests outside his ranch and delivered his weekly radio address – asking for patience in Iraq – and saying that it will take more time for U.S. troops to complete their work in Iraq.

5pm – Mayor Ray Nagin called for a voluntary evacuation of the city. Greyhound & Amtrak stop service in New Orleans late Saturday Night.

Sunday, August 28th

At 11am - Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. Experts predict that Hurricane Katrina will hit the city with all the force and power of a Category 5 storm – and that 60-80% of the city’s homes will be destroyed.

"All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon.

Bush is still on vacation at his Crawford ranch. He holds a press conference in a helicopter hanger at his Crawford Texas Ranch – taking a moment to urge Gulf Coast residents to evacuate before hailing the Iraqi draft constitution an inspiring success.

Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi request additional security forces from the federal government.

Monday, August 29th

Katrina hit land at 6:10am.

The storm hammered the Gulf Coast with huge waves and tree-bending winds. Exploding transformers lit up the predawn sky in Mobile, Ala., while tree limbs littered roads and a blinding rain whipped up sand on the deserted beach of Gulfport, Miss.

Katrina's fury also was felt at the Louisiana Superdome, which became the shelter of last resort for the area's poor, homeless and frail.

Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and cannot run the air conditioning.

Entire neighborhoods were submerged up to the roofs. Numerous people had to be rescued from rooftops and attics as the floodwaters rose higher and higher.

President Bush hits the road to promote prescription-drug plan to. His first stop is Arizona, where he eats birthday cake with Senator John McCain and talks to senior citizens in Phoenix at a golf resort.

In late afternoon, there are early reports of broken levees. The National Weather Service reported that a levee broke on the Industrial Canal near the St. Bernard-Orleans parish line.

President Bush travels to Southern California to talk to more seniors about changes to Medicare. He also plays golf. He spends the evening in San Diego to prepare for a Tuesday speech commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Tuesday, August 30th

Breaches in at least two levees allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to inundate sections of New Orleans. Officials planned to use helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags into the breach. Those helicopters were diverted to rescue missions.

An estimated 80 percent of New Orleans was under water, up to 20 feet deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped.

Unknown number of deaths.

Thousands remained in New Orleans Superdome, where storm ripped two holes in the vast roof; authorities forbid them to leave.

With a San Diego naval base and the USS Ronald Regan as a backdrop , the president made a speech to celebrate the anniversary of V-J day two weeks after the actual Aug. 14, 1945 anniversary. He compared WWII to Iraq and gave a fresh reason for American troops to continue fighting: protection of the Iraq's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorists. He spends 90 seconds of a 40 minute speech on Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Mayor, former Mayor, and Louisiana’s governor make continued appeals for Federal Aid.

Afterwards, President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. He then flies back to his vacation home in Crawford.

Wednesday August 31st

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people - an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm the nation's deadliest natural disaster since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Bodies are starting to pile up at the morgue in Mississippi's Harrison County, with 40 corpses having been brought there already. Authorities have said the final death toll in the county will end up well above 100.

Health and Human Services Department declares a public health emergency, sends medical supplies, hospital beds and public health officers.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco asks the White House to send more people to help with evacuations and rescues, thereby freeing up National Guardsmen to stop out-of-control looters.

President George W. Bush and his top advisers held a video conference on the Gulf Coast disaster. Most of the staff was still on vacation and away from Washington. Afterwards he flew back to Washington to coordinate the federal response

Bush cut short his working vacation in Texas by two days. Vice President Dick Cheney was still on vacation in Wyoming. White House chief of staff Andy Card was still in Maine

As Bush returns to Washington he does a flyover of devastated areas on Air Force One.

The President makes a recess appointment. RNC sends a desperate appeal to cut the estate tax. Hastert says it’s a bad idea to rebuild New Orleans.

More than 20 countries offer aid.

That evening Condi Rice goes to see Spamalot.

Thursday, September 1st

In the face of report after report that the levees were known to be vulnerable – Bush does an interview on Good Morning America and tells Diane Sawyer that no one expected the levees to break.

Looting, carjacking and other violence spread in the Gulf Coast region, with even rescuers being attacked.

The New Orleans mayor estimated the death toll in his city to be in the hundreds is not thousands. He pleaded for buses and supplies for survivors, saying, "This is a desperate SOS."

Half a day after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. Evacuees thinking it's the best place to get a ride out of town poured into the Superdome and swelled the crowd to about 30,000.

Frustration grew among the thousands still awaiting help at the New Orleans Convention Center, where bodies lie among the living. Earlier, helicopter transfers of the sick and injured at the Superdome were suspended amid security concerns.

Bush discusses relief efforts with Diane Sawyer – plans to tour area.

1pm - Condi Rice goes Shopping for Shoes on 5th Ave.

Dick Cheney is still on vacation.

By the end of the day, approximately 7400 National Guard troops were to be in Louisiana, up from 4700 that morning.

The Senate and House convenes to issue $10 billion aid package.

Dennis Hastert goes to a fundraiser in Indiana.

25 comments:

glory said...

it hurts my heart to read this.

SP said...

I heard this morning that Cheney was going to the tour the gulf coast today. Does that mean he is finally off of vacation? How sad!

On another note, no post on Rehnquist yet?

melette said...

This is just sad. So sad.

Anonymous said...

This is completely sick and sad. I also read the comments that Barbara Bush made in your other post. I totally agree with you on the issue of black conservatives. I mean what is worse than this? Cities were utterly destroyed! ugh!

on a brighter note...congrats on your awards!

Timmy said...

"Bush's Incompetence": redundant.
Keep up the good work (and congrats on the awards).

Anonymous said...

If people didn't think Bush was a jackass before this, then they surely should think so now! There isn't even a word for how stupid he is.

Anonymous said...

I can't even put into words how angry I was to hear about Bush playing the guitar while people were dying. I didn't like the man before but now I hate him.

Neo said...

Critic - Sorry to post a link into your site. But since it's obvious that you are equally disgusted. Please check this out and pass it along to everyone in your blog network.

It's a story related to police shooting at EMS workers that were trying to get out of New Orleans

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml

Thanks,

Neo

Neo said...

Sorry the comment section cut and trumpcated it. Just paste it into your browser. Thx

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/
publish/article_18337.shtml

Chele said...

What was the man supposed to do....be abreast of the situation and on the horn barking commands so that folks' lives could be spared????????

Anonymous said...

thank you for posting this. i am thoroughly disgusted by the current administration's failure to act during this time.

the fact there was already a contingency plan in place that was never activated (in fact, the funding for it was recently cut), which included hospital boats, other boats that could have been used for shelters, and (get this) repairs to the levee, makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.

consider yourself linked to everywhere i can think of it.

Nia said...

Condi shopping was a joke right? Right? You should go on the O'Reilly show. Well no, I take that back...work things out with your therapist first...then go on the O'Reilly show.

LadyLee said...

Interesting post. You told it all...

This current administration's feet are firmly planted in the air. It would have cost, what, 2-3 billion dollars to shore up the New Orleans levees? Chump change compared to what it's gonna cost to revive a whole city! Their slow response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster only proves one thing to me: the Bush administration only cares about stroking their constituents and breast feeding other countries. That's it.

Anonymous said...

So the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor don't take any of the blame?

The Humanity Critic said...

@Anonymous:

(shaking head) More vaginal anonymous posts.. Oh well. Yes, every one is to blame here, but as the prseident of the united states to act so slowly when we all knew the hurricane was coming is unacceptable. Him gutting FEMA like he did, being the first president to stop the Army Corp of engineers from working on the levies, and hiring an inept ex-horse judge to head up FEMA is a lack of leadership. Our president sucks more than a whore on payday, deal with it you spinless, you "I have a blog by am too cowardly so I post anonymously" motherfucker. Anything else??

Anonymous said...

Read this. It's to the point, objective, and about as dead on as you can get.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801667.html

The Humanity Critic said...

I read it, not impressed, especially since it is written by a right-wing hack who frequents the FOX news channel the way a drunk frequents a bar. So it was on point in a "not really, if it was an actually newspaper I wouldn't wipe my ass with it" kind of way. I'll do you one better, same newspaper, better journalist.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090500482.html

Seriously, get your bitch ass out of anonymous and stop being a fucking coward for once in your life. Shmuck.

Anonymous said...

Better journalist? According to who? Not the Washington Post. You see, they publish Krauthammer's column in the print version of the paper - the one people pay for. Terry Neal, while a good author, gets a small slice of Cyber Space. Mr. Krauthammer has won a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Has Mr. Neal? Don't think so.

As for me posting anonymously. What's the big deal? You act like your screen name is your Social Security number. "HumanityCritic" means just as much as "Anonymous".

There's no reasoning with you - you're a blinded, angry and hate filled. I feel sorry for you that despite your obvious talent for creative writing, you lack the basic social skills to hold a conversation.

Let me ask you, when you sleep at night, can you still hear the lambs crying?

The Humanity Critic said...

Robert Novak not only had a show but he was published, and he is a hack, so that doesn't ass any credibility to Krauthammer's column one bit. Shit, Vanilla Ice sold more records than a thousand better suited artist, is this the part where your miserable ass starts praising him? Just wondering.. So that argument just got bitchslapped.

As for you posting anonymously, it is cowardly because most people do it that have blogs. My rant against you earlier could have been a bit of mistaken identity, but since you retaliated with the weaponry of a toddler, Inam lefy with no choice but to take you down a few notches. HumanityCritic definitely isn't my birth name, but at least I am in plain view, instead of hiding with my testicles tucked between my legs.

By all means, don't feel sorry for me, lord yours your mother gives me plenty of love. The only thing I hear when I sleep is the cries of desperation from jackasses that post anonymously like the true cowards that they are. But lastly, is there any way you can defend the administration, besides wheeling some other asshole's work?? Just wondering..

Ethan_Hall_2006 said...

Thank you for putting this together. I'm linking it to my blog. Fuckin Incompetence is right!

Racheblue Love said...

"There is no relationship between global warming and the frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes. Period."

Who is he trying to kid! Charles Krauthammer is surely working for Bush's If-we-Deny-It-It-Won't-Be-True party.

"Let's be clear. The author of this calamity was, first and foremost, Nature (or if you prefer, Nature's God)."

Take some responsibility man! I'm sick of people carrying on their selfish lives and taking no responsibility for the outcomes. If you don't look after the planet, you can not expect it to look after you.

jonathan said...

The lies in this post started before the first day. I stopped reading at that point, so I don't know how many other lies this timeline contains. You just have to look at this:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

If the timeline fails to mention that Bush declared a state of emergency on August 26th, even before the forecasters' reports on the 27th, then how many other lies are there? You should apologize for that.

The Humanity Critic said...

For one thing, going to the white house website to back up the white house kind of makes you look like a jackass, no? Ok, now that we have verified that your parents were siblings, and that your mother should have swallowed you, lets get to the point at hand.

"If the timeline fails to mention that Bush declared a state of emergency on August 26th, even before the forecasters' reports on the 27th, then how many other lies are there?"

Actually, my witless chum, Bush declared a "state of emergency" on the 27th, after Governor Blanco. After Ray Nagin. After Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. You might want to get your shit straight before you start talking shit, fucking simpleton. It still adds up to a slow response time.

"You should apologize for that."

I have nothing to apologize for. I probably should be apologetic for calling you a "douchebag", but let me think about that for a moment.....Naw, you are still a fucking douchebag.

Check out this link, watch, and come back if you want to still swing from the president's nuts. http://www.wimp.com/administration

Check, and Mate.

Jason Hamilton said...

Thanks for the blog post - I am actually suprised when anyone reads it :) as it's mostly just my thoughts at the moment and my family in Texas reads it from time to time. Anyway your timeline pretty much sums up the failure at the top. See my blog post where I link to your timeline. Its frankly just criminal and thank god for term limits

Nia said...

Thought you might enjoy, Boondocks that is if you aren't already a fan.