This comes at no surprise...........

J

JohnnyBz00LS

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....... considering all the feet-dragging BuSh did trying to prevent the formation of the 9/11 comission.

Posted on Wed, Jan. 25, 2006

Senators say probe on Katrina curbedWhite House restricts aides’ testimony

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The White House is crippling a Senate inquiry into the government’s sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina by barring administration officials from answering questions and failing to hand over documents, senators leading the investigation said Tuesday.

In some cases, staff at the White House and other federal agencies have refused to be interviewed by congressional investigators, said the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In addition, agency officials won’t answer seemingly innocuous questions about times and dates of meetings and telephone calls with the White House, the senators said.

A White House spokesman said the administration is committed to working with separate Senate and House investigations of the Katrina response but wants to protect the confidentiality of presidential advisers.

“No one believes that the government responded adequately,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. “And we can’t put that story together if people feel they’re under a gag order from the White House.”

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee’s Republican chair, said she respects the White House’s reluctance to reveal advice to President Bush from his top aides, which is generally covered by executive privilege. Still, she criticized the dearth of information from agency officials about their contacts with the White House.

“We are entitled to know if someone from the Department of Homeland Security calls someone at the White House during this whole crisis period,” Collins said. “So I think the White House has gone too far in restricting basic information about who called whom on what day.”

She added, “It is completely inappropriate” for the White House to bar agency officials from talking to the Senate committee.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the administration’s deputy homeland security adviser, Ken Rapuano, has briefed House and Senate lawmakers on the federal response. A “lessons learned” report from Homeland Security Adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also is expected in coming weeks, Duffy said.

But he defended the administration’s decision to prohibit White House staffers or other presidential advisers from testifying before Congress.

“There is a deliberate process, and the White House has always said it wants to cooperate with the committee but preserve any president’s ability to get advice from advisers on a confidential basis,” Duffy said. “And that’s a critical need for any U.S. president and that is continuing to influence how we cooperate with the committees.”

Collins and Lieberman sidestepped questions about whether they plan to subpoena the White House to get the information they seek. The Senate inquiry is scheduled to conclude in March with a report detailing steps the federal government took – and didn’t take – to prepare for the Aug. 29 storm.
Investigators have interviewed about 260 witnesses from federal, state and local governments and the private sector. Additionally, the committee has received an estimated 500,000 documents – including e-mails, memos, supply orders and emergency operation plans – outlining Katrina-related communications among all levels of government.

But Lieberman said the Justice and Health and Human Services departments “have essentially ignored our document requests for months” while HHS has refused to allow interviews of its staff. He described the Homeland Security response as “too little, too late.”

Collins offered a rosier view of Homeland Security’s cooperation, noting that Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson and department chief of staff John Wood were scheduled to talk to investigators later this week.

A special House committee created to review the government’s readiness for Katrina is to release its findings by Feb. 15. Although Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the panel’s chairman, earlier considered subpoenaing the White House, the panel backed away after the Rapuano briefing.

However, Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., is pushing to subpoena Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in response to the Pentagon’s reluctance to release his correspondence about the storm.
 
And this is probably why.......... Another BuSh LIE

White House Got Early Warning on Katrina

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 24, 2006; Page A02

In the 48 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, the White House received detailed warnings about the storm's likely impact, including eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property, documents show.

A 41-page assessment by the Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC), was delivered by e-mail to the White House's "situation room," the nerve center where crises are handled, at 1:47 a.m. on Aug. 29, the day the storm hit, according to an e-mail cover sheet accompanying the document.

The NISAC paper warned that a storm of Katrina's size would "likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching" and specifically noted the potential for levee failures along Lake Pontchartrain. It predicted economic losses in the tens of billions of dollars, including damage to public utilities and industry that would take years to fully repair. Initial response and rescue operations would be hampered by disruption of telecommunications networks and the loss of power to fire, police and emergency workers, it said.

In a second document, also obtained by The Washington Post, a computer slide presentation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, prepared for a 9 a.m. meeting on Aug. 27, two days before Katrina made landfall, compared Katrina's likely impact to that of "Hurricane Pam," a fictional Category 3 storm used in a series of FEMA disaster-preparedness exercises simulating the effects of a major hurricane striking New Orleans. But Katrina, the report warned, could be worse.

The hurricane's Category 4 storm surge "could greatly overtop levees and protective systems" and destroy nearly 90 percent of city structures, the FEMA report said. It further predicted "incredible search and rescue needs (60,000-plus)" and the displacement of more than a million residents.

The NISAC analysis accurately predicted the collapse of floodwalls along New Orleans's Lake Pontchartrain shoreline, an event that the report described as "the greatest concern." The breach of two canal floodwalls near the lake was the key failure that left much of central New Orleans underwater and accounted for the bulk of Louisiana's 1,100 Katrina-related deaths.

The documents shed new light on the extent on the administration's foreknowledge about Katrina's potential for unleashing epic destruction on New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities and towns. President Bush, in a televised interview three days after Katrina hit, suggested that the scale of the flooding in New Orleans was unexpected. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm," Bush said in a Sept. 1 interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The reports echo warnings given around the same time by Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, who began sounding the alarm when forecasters first placed Katrina on a collision with the Gulf Coast on the evening of Aug. 26. But the FEMA and NISAC reports provided much more detail and covered a wider range of possible consequences, from damaged ports and oil terminals to spikes in energy prices.

The White House declined to comment yesterday on the specifics of the reports but noted that the president has repeatedly acknowledged his displeasure with preparations for Katrina. "No one was pleased with the response by the government -- federal, state or local," spokesman Trent Duffy said. "We have already taken steps to be better prepared for future hurricanes, as you saw in the response to the hurricanes that followed Katrina."

The disclosure of the reports comes as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee prepares to convene new hearings today into the federal government's performance during Katrina. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), the committee's ranking Democrat, responded to the documents in a statement saying the administration's failure to fully heed the warnings of its analysts "compounded the tragedy."

"Two to three days before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, it became clear that it would be the 'Big One' everyone has been talking about for years," Lieberman said.

Remember what BuSh said? "I don't think anyone expected the levies to fail."
 
Clear to everyone but BuSh. How long are we going to stand for his lies? How long is it going to take before the Repugs open their eyes?
 
barry2952 said:
Clear to everyone but BuSh. How long are we going to stand for his lies? How long is it going to take before the Repugs open their eyes?
Click to expand...
Those evil repugs. How can he do this to us? Why, why why.
 
Because Bush has magical powers and can create hurricanes and direct them at black people! THATS RIGHT!
 
JohnnyBz00LS said:
White House Got Early Warning on Katrina

In the 48 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, the White House received detailed warnings about the storm's likely impact, including eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property, documents show.
Click to expand...

WOW! What a story! Bush KNEW there was going to be a hurricane! :shifty:

Here's a list of the other people who KNEW::shifty:

1. The Mayor of New Orleans
2. The Governor of Louisiana
3. The citizens of New Orleans and of Louisiana
4. Everyone in the United States who watches the Weather Channel

Here is who is responsible for storm preparation in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana:

1. The Mayor of New Orleans
2. The Governor of Louisiana
3. The citizens of New Orleans and of Louisiana

Here is a list of who is responsible for maintaining law and order in the city of New Orleans:

1. The Mayor of New Orleans
2. The City of New Orleans Police Department
3. The Governor of Louisiana
4. The Louisiana State Police
5. The citizens of New Orleans and of Louisiana

Here is who has the authority and responsibility to call out the National Guard in an emergency in Louisiana:

1. The Governor of Louisiana

Here is who didn't do it:

1. The Governor of Louisiana

Here is who the Left blames for everything, up to and including bad weather:

1. George W. Bush
 
Lame response. BuSh said he wasn't told. Just another lie.
 
And you have the proof for your statement.....

barry2952 said:
Lame response. BuSh said he wasn't told. Just another lie.
Click to expand...
:bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag: :bsflag:

When are you guys going to learn. He did not start the Hurricane, He did not direct it's path, and he was not responsible for intercedeing in what has been historically a function of the state government. In the United States of America where I come from, it is the responsibility of the local and state governments to take responsibility for the citizens who live within their respective borders. The federal government must be invited in by law before they can take any action up to and including declaring the area a disaster area. If Bush would have interceded, you would be crying foul because he usurped the power of a Lunatic Black Mayor or a Woman Governor who clearly has no ideal how to run her state. I bet Bush himself built the defective levee's. Get A Grip.
 
Nothing you said negates the fact that he lied and said he wasn't told. That's the BS in BuSh.
 
I guess you RWWs missed this...........

Posted 1/18/2006 9:12 PM Updated 1/19/2006 12:44 PM

Ex-FEMA director now takes blame for Katrina failures

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Former FEMA Director Michael Brown said Wednesday that he deserved much of the blame for the government's failures after Hurricane Katrina, saying he fell short in conveying the magnitude of the disaster and calling for help.

Michael Brown was less critical of his own actions during September hearings before Congress.
USA TODAY file

"I should have asked for the military sooner. I should have demanded the military sooner," Brown, a Guymon, Okla., native, told a gathering of meteorologists at a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada.

"It was beyond the capacity of the state and local governments, and it was beyond the capacity of FEMA," said Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Brown's remarks Wednesday stood in sharp contrast to his testimony at a congressional hearing in September, when he blamed most of the government's failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin — both Democrats.

He specifically targeted them for failing to evacuate New Orleans, restore order and improve communication.

"These are not FEMA roles," Brown told the congressional committee. "FEMA doesn't evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications."

On Wednesday, he told a gathering of broadcast and National Weather Service meteorologists that he failed to delegate responsibility and instead tried to attend to the details himself.

"It was the largest natural disaster ever to strike the United States — 92,000 square miles. Logistics were falling apart," he said.

Before joining FEMA in 2001, Brown was an attorney, held local government posts and headed the International Arabian Horse Association. President Bush appointed him to head the agency in April 2003.

FEMA came under fire immediately after Katrina struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines Aug. 29, killing more than 1,300 in five states and leaving some 3,200 unaccounted for.

He was relieved of his command in the stricken region and recalled Sept. 9 to Washington. Brown resigned three days later, saying he feared he had become a distraction.

Asked on Wednesday if he felt he had been railroaded out of his post, Brown replied: "I'm moving on."

He said his biggest concern was the current emphasis on reorganizing FEMA, particularly in light of past budget cuts that had left hundreds of vacancies in an agency with 2,500 employees.

"It's time to stop organizing and get FEMA back to what it was before — get its budget back up to where it was."
 
Blinded

Democrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds
By LiveScience Staff

posted: 24 January 2006
10:03 am ET


Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows.

And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that's contrary to their point of view.

Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored while they pondered.

The results were announced today.

"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts."

Bias on both sides

The test subjects on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted, Westen and his colleagues say.

Then, with their minds made up, brain activity ceased in the areas that deal with negative emotions such as disgust. But activity spiked in the circuits involved in reward, a response similar to what addicts experience when they get a fix, Westen explained.

The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making.

"None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged," Westen said. "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."

Notably absent were any increases in activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most associated with reasoning.

The tests involved pairs of statements by the candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, that clearly contradicted each other. The test subjects were asked to consider and rate the discrepancy. Then they were presented with another statement that might explain away the contradiction. The scenario was repeated several times for each candidate.

The brain imaging revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate.

"The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data," Westen said.

Vote for Tom Hanks

Other relatively neutral candidates were introduced into the mix, such as the actor Tom Hanks. Importantly, both the Democrats and Republicans reacted to the contradictions of these characters in the same manner.

The findings could prove useful beyond the campaign trail.

"Everyone from executives and judges to scientists and politicians may reason to emotionally biased judgments when they have a vested interest in how to interpret 'the facts,'" Westen said.

The researchers will present the findings Saturday at the Annual Conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
 
barry2952 said:
Clear to everyone but BuSh. How long are we going to stand for his lies? How long is it going to take before the Repugs open their eyes?
Click to expand...

I'm not seeing the quote where Bush lied, barry. Sorry. For him to say that nobody anticipated the levees failing is certainly acceptable, especially considering that the ENTIRE CITY of New Orleans stayed put and watched them fail.

You're trying to parse whether or not everybody knew it was going to become a CAT 5 hurricane instead of remaining a CAT 3. That's a really thin accusation that hinges on proving that Bush could tell the future. That goes into the category of "conspiracy to commit Hurricane."

He didn't lie, just stated his opinion which was shared by many people. A lie is stating something you know to be false, sort of like what all your Fiberal Senator leaders did in the Alito hearings.
 
fossten said:
I'm not seeing the quote where Bush lied, barry. Sorry. For him to say that nobody anticipated the levees failing is certainly acceptable, especially considering that the ENTIRE CITY of New Orleans stayed put and watched them fail.

You're trying to parse whether or not everybody knew it was going to become a CAT 5 hurricane instead of remaining a CAT 3. That's a really thin accusation that hinges on proving that Bush could tell the future. That goes into the category of "conspiracy to commit Hurricane."

He didn't lie, just stated his opinion which was shared by many people. A lie is stating something you know to be false, sort of like what all your Fiberal Senator leaders did in the Alito hearings.
Click to expand...

Go ahead, stand on the beach and deny the existance of sand and equivocate away the obvious. Here's a refill on your kool-aid. :slap:
 
JohnnyBz00LS said:
Go ahead, stand on the beach and deny the existance of sand and equivocate away the obvious. Here's a refill on your kool-aid. :slap:
Click to expand...

Johnny, you need to go look up the word "equivocate" and get back to me. If anybody's equivocating, it's you fiberals.
 
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