quinn222

Totally stealing this. Wasn't he awesome last night?

Will credit. Thanks.

I have absolutely no idea who he is, but like the icon anyway!

Is he out?

I got power back yesterday. We missed the worst of it. We just lost power for a few days. I'm in Terrebonee Parish and we are taking in evacuees. It's heartbraking listening to the only radio station broadcasting out of N.O. People are begging for help. Political officals are begging for help. I could go on a diatribe right now but I just finsihed one at my site and I'm drained.

I've read abt Cooper's interview with Mary Landrieu and it saddens me. I voted for her and she is one of the last Democrats hanging on to power in a heavily conservative state. I'm proud of Cooper, but I'm sad that Landrieu reacted the way she did. I wish he would have interviewed David Vitter instaed. I can only think that Landrieu is trying to not rile the Bush Adminsitration. We know what happens when you step out of line and dare attack them. It's not much of an excuse I know. She and Blanco should have both said to hell with it and lamabasted the federal governemnet like N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin and Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard did. But I understand why they didn't. Local officals have been saying this was coming and they(Landrieu among them) have tried to get help but the Bush Administration has gutted funding(surprise, surprise). See the chronology below.

Sorry for the long post but this is a sore point with me.


Lo


CHRONOLOGY....Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:


January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.


April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."


2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."


December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.


March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.


2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.


Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."


June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."


June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.


August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

*grabs and snuggles it and you!!*

Andie Pie is the shit. I remember watching him and Lisa Ling in junior high and high school on Channel 1. He made me give a shit about what was going on in the world.

I also watched The Mole (which, IMO, was the best reality TV show) because he was in it.

And I am so glad someone finally called a government official on their shit. (Although I really wish he'd been interviewing Bush).