Nathan's Occasional Blog

I can’t believe I pay taxes for this kind of effort to be undertaken on my behalf. I realize finger pointing doesn’t do a damn bit of good for those in the stricken areas of the Gulf Coast, but perhaps if we can get our collective act together the next storm won’t be so bad. And don’t get me wrong – we will have another Katrina (probably many) way before we have a terrorist incident on this scale. And while we’re at it, what difference do you think there would be were this a nuclear bomb in NOLA instead of a hurricane? Same outcome – the government’s head up its ass.

Landrieu Implores President to “Relieve Unmitigated Suffering;” End FEMA’s “Abject Failures”: “‘But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday 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.”

Another good read is at Bugbash.

Navy ship off Gulf Coast underused by FEMA:

Xeni Jardin: Snip from Chicago Trib article:

While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore.The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

But now the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven’t been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship. (…) The role in the relief effort of the sizable medical staff on board the Bataan was not up to the Navy, but to FEMA officials directing the overall effort.

Link, requires reg, try bugmenot (Thanks, David)

Good Lord, FEMA hasn’t a friggin’ clue.