New Orleans

apollonia666 wrote: Given that some rightwing nutjobs are blaming the disaster on New Orleans's gay community and the Southern Decadence festival (which was scheduled for last weekend)....

BTW, Southern Decadence went on, with a dozen people, at some bar in NOLA that was holding out. NPR did a story...the bar folks talked about how law enforcement went to break it up, but baby, they had a permit!

NOLA lives!

daveb wrote: The FEMA chief just got axed.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/09/D8CGT6T8G.html

Not really axed, just put aside until they can figure out what to do with him.

Check this out:

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife and, maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims," Brown said. "This story's not about me. This story's about the worst disaster of the history of our country that stretched every government to its limit and now we have to help these victims."

The story is how someone with no qualifications is put in charge of FEMA and now is quietly being pushed aside. Bush should just fire him now and not look back. It would actually make me respect what's happening a bit more.

For anyone who doesn't know about Michael Brown's lack of qualifications as FEMA hed, please refer to this TIME magazine article:
How Reliable Is Brown's Resume?: A TIME investigation reveals discrepancies in the FEMA chief's official biographies

Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME.

And this...

Brown's lack of experience in emergency management isn't the only apparent bit of padding on his resume, which raises questions about how rigorously the White House vetted him before putting him in charge of FEMA. Under the "honors and awards" section of his profile at FindLaw.com — which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices—he lists "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University". However, Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here," says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University). "He may have been an adjunct instructor," says Johnson, but that title is very different from that of "professor." Carl Reherman, a former political science professor at the University through the '70s and '80s, says that Brown "was not on the faculty." As for the honor of "Outstanding Political Science Professor," Johnson says, "I spoke with the department chair yesterday and he's not aware of it." Johnson could not confirm that Brown made the Dean's list or was an "Outstanding Political Science Senior," as is stated on his online profile.

And let's not ignore this fact...

The FindLaw profile for Brown was amended on Thursday to remove a reference to his tenure at the International Arabian Horse Association, which has become a contested point.

It's funny because his horse management ability is the only thing anyone can truly validate about this guys background.

"This American Life" on NPR just aired a knock-out show on New Orleans called "After The Flood" People tell their stories, and it just about makes your head pop off -- even if you've been glued to all media these past two weeks. Amazingly, it's nothing that I've already heard.
I bet they're not relying on CPB money to get this show on the air.

Including a paramedic from San Francisco in NOLA for a convention trying to get out and being shot at by a neighboring county's sheriff and a visit to a FEMA trailer park where victims of Hurricane Andrew are still living more than a year after their homes were destroyed.

Whatever I could tell you won't do justice to all the detail and subtlety. It was the kind of thing you want to make sure everybody knows about -- especially every public official.

I think it replays next Saturday in NYC on their AM station - WNYC-AM 820 @11:00 AM
or you can link through
http://www.thislife.org/

Satellite radio listeners: This American Life is available both on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio.

Sirius broadcasts are on the PRI channel, Sirius 108:
Saturday at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.
Weekdays, listen for a "best of" broadcast at 5 a.m. and noon ET.