<p><a href=“http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050903060509990001[/url]”>http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050903060509990001</a></p>
<p>Bringing some troops back from Iraq to deal with airforce bases</p>
<p>But unless your family is dead or injured, you can’t come home</p>
<p>Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn’t know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.</p>
<p>Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html</a></p>
<p>Or do they not watch the news…even Fox showed it</p>
<p>Evacuees at Cajundome wait for first lady, and for lunch</p>
<p>Jan Risher </p>
<h2><a href="mailto:jrisher@theadvertiser.com">jrisher@theadvertiser.com</a> </h2>
<ul>
<li> Complete Local Coverage</li>
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<p>As the first lady toured the Red Cross shelter at the Cajundome this morning, a line of evacuees waiting to eat their lunch trickled out the door of the Dome.</p>
<p>First lady Laura Bush arrived about midday to tour the shelter and meet evacuees.
By 12:50 p.m., the trays of food were still covered and hungry evacuees stood in line, holding empty plates. Rice, beans and jambalaya were on the menu. About that time, volunteers began rolling the carts of food into position to serve</p>
<p>Aides: assistant Army secretary forced out</p>
<p>March 6, 2002 Posted: 11:02 PM EST (0402 GMT)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) – The assistant secretary of the Army resigned Wednesday, with congressional aides saying Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had him fired for questioning proposed budget cuts for the Army Corps of Engineers. </p>
<p>The Pentagon said Assistant Secretary of the Army Mike Parker resigned from his post and expressed appreciation for his contributions. But congressional aides said Rumsfeld wanted Parker fired after his testimony to Congress last week. </p>
<p>The White House declined comment. But a senior Bush administration official would not dispute the report that Parker, a former congressman from Mississippi, had been asked to leave. </p>
<p>“The administration expects its staff to support its budget,” the official told CNN. </p>
<p>The head of the Army’s civil works division, Parker was “terribly honest” in his testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, congressional aides said. </p>
<p>Parker said Bush’s proposal to provide the Army Corps of Engineers with approximately $4 billion – down about 10 percent – was not the right number. The corps had requested more than $6 billion. The assistant secretary told lawmakers that the cuts would mean canceling $190 million in already contracted projects. </p>
<p>Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, the committee’s chairman, called the decision to let Parker go “a serious mistake.” </p>
<p>“Assistant Secretary Parker came before the Budget Committee and answered questions put to him honestly and directly,” Conrad said. "That is precisely his responsibility in our constitutional system. </p>
<p>“The administration will cost itself credibility with Congress if it attempts to suppress the truth from its own representatives who testify before Congress.” </p>
<p>A senior Bush aide said that when the budget is final, you “want everybody to support it.” Parker, the aide said, “doesn’t appear to agree with the president’s budget.” </p>
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<p>FEMA’s Blocking
Of Relief Efforts -
An Amazing List
9-8-5</p>
<p>FEMA won’t accept Amtrak’s help in evacuations
<a href=“http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84aa35cc-1da8-11da-b40b-00000e[/url]”>http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84aa35cc-1da8-11da-b40b-00000e</a>… </p>
<p>FEMA turns away experienced firefighters
<a href=“http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/105538/7048[/url]”>http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/105538/7048</a> </p>
<p>FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec</a>… </p>
<p>FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec</a>… </p>
<p>FEMA won’t let Red Cross deliver food
<a href=“http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm[/url]”>http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm</a> </p>
<p>FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans
<a href=“http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15147862&BRD=[/url]”>http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15147862&BRD=</a>… </p>
<p>FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid
<a href=“http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826[/url]”>http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826</a> </p>
<p>FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board
<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509[/url]”>Chicago News - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune… </p>
<p>FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck
<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050902dale[/url]”>Chicago News - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune… </p>
<p>FEMA turns away generators
<a href=“http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html[/url]”>http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html</a> </p>
<p>FEMA: “First Responders Urged Not To Respond”
<a href=“http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470[/url]”>http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470</a> </p>
<p>That last one is real – not satire but straight from FEMA’s website.</p>
<p>Along the same line, there are some good reports on the NPR site:
Katrina: What Went Wrong?
<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839943[/url]”>Katrina: What Went Wrong? : NPR;
(20 minute segment, but worth the time to download & listen)</p>
<p>Wal-Mart Aid Outpaced Some Federal Efforts
<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839696[/url]”>Wal-Mart Aid Outpaced Some Federal Efforts : NPR;
<p>FEMA Veteran Decries Agency’s Storm Response
<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4840373[/url]”>FEMA Veteran Decries Agency's Storm Response : NPR;