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| ::KatrinaBlog |
[verbatim]
Testimony of Governor Haley Barbour to U. S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
March 7, 2006
Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee:
Thank you for this opportunity to join you today to discuss the worst natural disaster in our nation's history, Hurricane Katrina. First, we in Mississippi greatly need and genuinely appreciate the generous Katrina appropriations package you passed and the President signed in December. Thank you.
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So much for passing the buck:
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage. Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
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Buried in a story today by The Clarion-Ledger's Ana Radalet is an intriguing question: How many new Democratic voters will Mississippi gain due to Louisiana evacuees? One also has to wonder how many "red" voters the GOP is going to lose on the Gulf Coast due to the terrible responses to the hurricane.
But as the months go by and it remains difficult to return home, many Louisianans now living in Mississippi will register to vote in their adopted state. That would mean an increase of voters in some places like Jackson and Hattiesburg that have large amounts of Louisiana evacuees. It also means Mississippi, considered one of the nation's greatest "red" states for its increasing loyalty to the Republican Party, may see an increase in Democratic voters.
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A big day for prayers. AP is reporting:
A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud in the eastern Philippines on Friday, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in sludge three stories high. At least 23 bodies were recovered, but 1,500 people were missing and feared dead.
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The New York Times is reporting:
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans. An examination of documents shines a new light on the government response to Hurricane Katrina. Investigators have found evidence that federal officials at the White House and elsewhere learned of the levee break in New Orleans earlier than was first suggested.
But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.
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USA Today reports today that many Coast residents feel slighted by the State of the Union address:
Many Gulf Coast residents spent Wednesday angrily counting the words President Bush devoted to their storm-battered region in his State of the Union speech. The tally: Bush addressed 165 of his 5,300 words to disaster recovery in the Gulf, and he never used the word "Katrina."
At the end of his speech Tuesday night, Bush spoke of the $85 billion that the federal government is giving to rebuild the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, but he did not propose any new funding. Some people are worried that the speech is a signal Bush has moved on to other issues.
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The Clarion-Ledger is reporting:
Although President Bush said no one could foresee Hurricane Katrina's destruction, documents show the White House received detailed warnings about the storm's likely impact days before the hurricane hit. Several lawmakers lashed out at the Bush administration on Tuesday for failing to heed the warnings of massive flooding, breached levees and loss of life.
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This may be the best thing John Grisham has ever written, today in the New York Times. This is the last section, but read the whole thing:
Unlike New Orleans, where the floods were heaviest in the poorer neighborhoods, the Gulf Coast experienced damage that cut across social and economic lines. Hurricane Katrina did not discriminate here. Wealthy people now dwell in FEMA trailers that are exactly the same size as the ones handed out to those who were living in subsidized apartments.
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The Times-Picayune is running a powerful editorial, trying to correct public misconceptions and rumors about the realities on the ground in New Orleans. This desperate plea for truth is similar to an editorial run last week by the Sun-Herald, which Ali Greggs is discussing on her blog. No doubt about it: The South—the Coast and New Orleans—are getting screwed by national media and political innuendo.
Here's part of the Times-Picayune piece:
EDITORIAL: We needed levees, not more buses
One of the lingering myths about Hurricane Katrina is that everybody who died here was trapped here and that, in fact, no one would have died if local and state governments had provided buses out of town. That myth also assumes that upon hearing of a mandatory evacuation, everybody with the means to leave town does so.
The falsity of both claims has been well-established.
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The New York Times is reporting today:
Rosemary Barbour happens to be married to a nephew of Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour. Since the Reagan administration, when Mrs. Barbour worked as a White House volunteer as a college student, she has been active in the Republican Party.
To some contract watchdogs, this could be an example of how the federal government responsibly reached out to give a piece of the billions of dollars in federal hurricane-recovery work to a small Mississippi-based company owned by a Latina. Mrs. Barbour, 39, who was born in Guatemala but now lives in Jackson, Miss., is certified by the United States Small Business Administration as a disadvantaged small-business owner.
But the $6.4 million in contracts received by her company, Alcatec L.L.C., have also elicited questions about possible favoritism.
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Recent Comments:: |
Aug 29, 07 | 5:27 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
L.W.: "pics," not "oics."...
Aug 29, 07 | 5:26 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
L.W.: Interesting oics, Lambda.
blu, I think that link deserves its own thread. That's some juicy stuff!...
Aug 29, 07 | 3:08 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
blu_n_a_redstate: Bloomberg.com is reporting: MS Gov. Barbour Held Stock in Parent of Lobby Firm
What do you think? Here is the...
Aug 29, 07 | 2:03 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
blu_n_a_redstate: Gov. Barbour, friends, and family---WOW!!!
Have you seen this?
If it doesn't open, click below to...
Aug 29, 07 | 12:26 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
LambdaRisen: Saw this today. Amazing.
Before, After and Now pics on MSNBC by local resident...
Aug 29, 07 | 9:01 am
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
ladd: Of special note is this story from October 2004....
Aug 28, 07 | 8:05 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
ladd: Right, L.W., I kinda wish we'd kept up the "triage blog" as we called it. That was amazing; we posted needs and people around the country responded. That's what I spent most of my time doing the first week after Katrina....
Aug 28, 07 | 7:51 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
L.W.: Anyone remember the donations thread? For me, that's my most vivid memory. Everyone needed something, even if it was just ice and gas....
Aug 28, 07 | 7:19 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
L.W.: I hope we don't either....
Aug 28, 07 | 7:13 pm
Hurricane Katrina: Two Years Later
golden eagle '97: I pray that we never have to live through another storm like Katrina again....
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| ::JFP Cover Stories/Katrina |
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Jul 18, 07 | 3:52 pm
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JFP News Stories/Katrina |
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JFP Columns/Katrina |
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JFP Truth Watch/Katrina |
Sep 08, 05 | 4:56 pm
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