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Digby has a fine timeline up of exactly what happened two years ago today when Hurricaine Katrina hit. I'd like to extend it a bit to add my own favorite event of that week. As I wrote at the time, on Thursday when people were still dying of thirst at the convention center:
New Orleans can breathe a sigh of relief. George is in the thick of it now, doing what he does best -- no, not snorting coke and falling off his bike. These are serious times, don't be flippant.
I'm talking about handing out money to Halliburton:
The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.
KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.
Would that be the same Halliburton who had to pay back $27.4 million it overcharged the Pentagon last year? Who nonetheless got "award fees" for "very good work" in 2004 to the tune of $70 million? The very same Halliburton that Bunnatine Greenhouse was demoted for criticizing?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that, given the time frame, it was another no-bid contract for Halliburton, exactly the kind of favoritism Bunnatine Greenhouse was calling out in the first place.
It was, as it turns out, a no-bid contract. George went on to sign a waiver of prevailing wage requirements for federal contractors, and also a waiver of affirmative action requirements -- which effectively shut out minority contractors.
All of this was supposed to insure that New Orleans was rebuilt faster and better. I think we can say that worked out well.
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Hi Jane!
Wow. More reasons for Republics to be proud.
I’m concerned that shrub has pushed the bar of what is acceptable so far that future presidents will be able to commit outrages and say, this is no worse than what happened before.
I think this was the best thing I saw all day.
And we all remember what a stellar record Halliburton has had restoring electrical power to Baghdad, don’t we?
Thanks for the reminder about Mr. Cheney. I think we need more light on the OVP, don’t we?
Bob in HI
Cheney Rules!
let’s depose him.
non-violently, natch.
Jonathan @ 3
I gotta admit I am tired of hearing ‘Clinton Did It’.
Where is all that friggin’ Oversight we were supposed to get with Madame Speaker and ‘Fittin’ Harry Reid?
There has better be some action by these two upon their return from ‘recess’ or Brian Baird won’t be the only asshole in the Congress lookin’ at a primary challenge.
Time is up for these ‘Bush Puppies’
Badwater @ 2
As someone said downstairs, “A thousand points of blight!“.
Heh.
Bob in HI
“Heckuva Job, Brownie!” ;-)
That explains the close resemblance in pace and quality to the reconstruction work going on in Iraq… and they didn’t even have to depose a dictator this time, they simply had to usurp the office of president from it’s rightful occupant.
kirk murphy @ 6
IMO, Cheney is defining the role of future VPs.
There has got to be a thourough inveswtigation into these no-bid contracts and the war profiteering.
What happened to the NYT story the other day? Lost in the men’s room.
Meanwhile Diaper baby Vitter remains in his senate seat.
Bush and the Republicans can not only turn any situation they get near into a disaster they can find ways to loot it too.
A.Citizen @ 8
The ‘oversight’ of Katrina is HoJo’s and Susan’s Bipartisan responsibility, any further questions…?!!!
Bustednuckles @ 7
Bill Clinton re-defined (especially for teen-aged girls) what is acceptable.
It actually shocks me that this administration and this Congress are not screaming bloody murder over the horrific fraud on New Orleans — and America — and the looting of our treasury.
why am I shocked?
I’m at the Yankee game. In the second to highest row. Lots of little guys running around down there but I’m pretty sure they’re playing baseball.
Fun to be here anyway.
kirk murphy @ 6
Up the Revolution!
jane hamsher @ 19
You lucky dawg, a Yankee-Red Sox matchup!!! I can only dream…!!!
When you have stock in a company what company will you give contracts to? Why, me own, of course, thank you. It’s money in me own pocket.
Remember in the early eighties when Halliburton was considered a mafia company? It was open knowledge.
What’s ironic is that it is a third rate company known for less than mediocre work. Aren’t they a key part of The Carlyle Group’s portfolio? BushCo are active members of The Carlyle Group.
Can someone shed more light on this?
Elliott @ 20
Up the Impeachment!
Go Conyers! (well, start going)
They have WiFi in the nosebleed section? Wow.
Go Jane!!
jane hamsher @ 19
Go Yanks!
sangemon @ 25
:P!!!
Elliott @ 18
Who says crime doesn’t pay? It pays real good. You just steal from the treasury and manna from heaven falls in your secret bank account.
Eureka Springs @ 14
I wonder how Vitter plans to vote on the inevitable Craig censure resolution :)
jane hamsher @ 19
Go Sawx! The Yankees S*ck!
{{{{{Jane!}}}}}
CTuttle @ 10
He was on CNN yesterday, trashing shrub and Chertoff. Bitter man. I guess once they decide to throw you under the bus, they really do make sure it’s a bloody and violent affair.
Isn’t this getting tiresome?
By now it must be clear that there is no level of perfidy to which Bush and his cronies will not sink. Nor is there a level of handwringing impotence so useless that Dems in Congress can not exceed it.
Excuse me, I must now go and soak my head in a bucket of ice.
Vitter, in my opinion, should be removed from congress by his colleagues.
Chris Matthews, tonight, was trying to figure out why Bush didn’t rush to NO…as in who didn’t tell him he should go.
B.S. NO ONE should have had to tell him to go. I have always said…”If I had been POTUS on 9/11, I would have demanded that I be flown immediately to NY. And I would have gone to NO at the first sign of what Katrina would do. And I would not have passed go and I would not have collected $200.”
Bush shouldn’t have needed anyone to tell him to get off his ass and get going.
Period.
Morris Sheppard @ 31
Just wait until they give Lieberling the nod for AG.
How did Bush get in and out of New Orleans without meeting massive numbers of protesters?
Jonathan @ 32
Hello ethics committee?
Eureka Springs @ 35
see that brownshirt “advance” manual that got leaked last week… they probably just disappear potential troublemakers for a few hours
sangemon @ 4
That’s a good one. Will it hit the media? Naaa! That’s why we’re here.
In case it hasn’t been mentioned earlier:
The 5th Circuit Court today, decreed that those Katrina victims who wish to sue the Corps of Engineers via the La. Attorney Gerneral cannot do so.
If they have money and their own lawyer, then they can have at it. With no money and no lawyer the AG cannot represent them to redress the damages they suffered via the Corps crappy designs.
Nice timing. One more big FU to NOLA.
Sha @ 33
and no one wanted to tell Bush how bad it was because they knew it would p*ss him off to be bothered.
My YouTube tribute to the victims of Hurricane BushCo:
Mardi Gras From Hell
Jane,
On August 17, 1957, I caught a ball off Jackie Jensen’s bat at the old Comiskie Park.
Jensen batted fifth.
Ted Williams batted third.
That night, Williams went 2 for 3:
walk,
double
home run
sacrifice fly
dakine01 @ 29
Beckett, Rocket matchup, priceless…!!!
Blub @ 34
That would be a good thing. Get HoJo out of the Senate and a real Dem in in 16 months. Besides, as AG he probably would not be as much of a problem as he is as a Senator.
Just to make sure you understand:
My contempt for Joe Lieberman is infinite and eternal.
bg — Treo
Jonathan — pretty cool
Sha @ 33
Sounds like you’d have done exactly what Johnson did when Betsy hit. Someone on Matthews show said he showed up late at night with a flashlight under his chin, knocking on doors and telling people He’s the President here to help them. Can you ever picture any of this crew doing such things?
jane hamsher @ 45
Jane, I hope Jonathan is pretty good. My son saw a Sox game there and ordered the tickets through the Yankees and had the tickets delivered to my address. Did you know that the Yankees send out a Christmas catalog? I was not happy.
Last night when Craig made his speech- there was a curious presence over his left shoulder wearing sunglasses. The photographer left this presence out of the video feed.
Today we got to see a wide angle shot- it was “the wife” wearing sunglasses and acting as if she’d just had the holy SHIT kicked out of her- didn’t say a word….
Hope the photo gets more play- it says it all. This fucker forced “the wife” to come out and be humiliated in public in order to save his fuckin career. Worse than the men’s room- and right on camera..
What a fuckin creep!
NEVER! Not a chance with these bozos.
Ann in AZ @ 46
Morris Sheppard @ 44
..well, except for the inevitable legal opinion justifying the preemptive nuking of a certain country to Iraq’s east. Nothing good ever comes out of HoJoland.. as senator or as AG.
btw, what’s this about the rethugs stripping Craig of his leadership positions and seniority? We’re two days into the scandal and they’ve already sidelined him. We’re years into the Lieberling nightmare, and he’s still holding onto both.
Jane, why would you even bring a computer to the game? Have fun, have a hot dog, have a beer and peanuts, but put the computer away, for God’s sakes! Better yet, do it for your own sake!
jane hamsher @ 45
Hey, Jane, the game’s being carried on Espn, nationally, a chance for some exposure, eh? ;-)
I saw hardball.
It was Buchanan who wanted to blame the staff and Matthews said- “the fish rots from the head down”..
Let’s not start misquoting here just to aid in a rant- that’s gooper behavior.
Blub @ 50
Dem leaders are keeping the powder dry.
Jonathan @ 3
Republics have forfeited their right to complain about future presidents by their actions during the shrub admin. I hope their fat personal accounts keep them happy.
kirk murphy @ 54
for what? Cheney’s coup? ;) I know I’m responding to a snark, but, seriously, keeping the powder dry after the magazine’s gone down with the ship is just lousy tactics… to extend a metaphor ad infinitum
JPL @ 47
Jonathan is just an old guy who went to some White Sox games in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
You can write me off for foolishness any time. That’s why I’m here.
But I’m also here to take guidance from Jane and Christy on how I can support good candidates.
melfeasance @ 41
that’s a profound comment.
kirk murphy @ 54
I suppose we’re to believe that they have big plans, but it really looks like they are just spectacularly incompetent and will allow the Repulbics to rise again.
Jane
As a kid my Dad took me to a Yankees game in 1951. I was six. This was the last year that Joe Dimaggio played and Mickey Mantle’s rookie year. I got to watch them both play in the same game.
We were sitting in the second level on the right field side, a few yards past first base, and I can still picture the incredible sight of Joltin’ Joe trotting in from right field at the end of an inning. I had never, and have not since, seen a man run so gracefully. It was as if he were made of liquid.
Eureka Springs @ 35
I believe he usually goes through Belle Chasse NAS-JRB instead of Armstrong International.
Badwater @ 59
The megacorps party has two wings:
Rethug and DLC/Blue Dog.
The megacorps don’t intend to fall - they’re just planning to change shifts at the front desk.
I think I saw Jane in the stands.
side note
Here’s CSPAN 1 schedule for tonight, note Tim Johnson rally for those interested. Don’t think I could watch Bush, tho.
· President Bush in the Gulf Coast (8pm)
· Criminal Justice System, Post Katrina (8:45pm)
· Senator Tim Johnson Rally (9:45pm)
Morris Sheppard @ 60
Morris,
In 1951, I was 5 waiting to turn 6.
I remember clearly listening to tube-powered radio.
I picked up on Mickey Mantle. Also Hank Williams.
rwcole @ 53
I saw it too, but later on Chris did ask who of his underlings should have had the guts to say, “Let’s go!” Yeah, I think we all concur that it was entirely Bush’s fault, but others should have pushed him harder. That author whose name I forgot to catch said that Rove told him not to go.
The part of the show that really got me was the end when they had the pundit telling the former soldier that torture is not torture if it’s done to a terror suspect. Apparently these guys don’t believe in our Constitution or understand that none of those people at Abu Graib had been adjudicated and found guilty. The presumption of innocence is not something universal to any of these boobs, even though the majority of the detainees seem to have been subsequently found to be just in the wrong place at the wrong time and released. I am seriously concerned that we will never be considered the shining city on the hill again due to all our war crimes and showing the world our soft underbelly.
Everythingseemssoneat @ 63
Arrgh, 3-0 Yanks…!!! :-(
fuck the fucking yankees!
… in memory of steve gilliard.
3 - 0 Yanks, bottom 2nd
Go Yanks!
CTuttle- Great rivalry.
Everythingseemssoneat @ 70
The Rivalry!!!
wasssup
kirk murphy @ 62
I dunno. I think it’s much simpler than that. Our leaders are just too scared to do what we elected them to do… its fear, and shrubco knows precisely how to exploit it. The “blue dogs” are simply those more easily scared than most others, because of their constituencies, their funding sources or just their temperament. Unless we can end this fear, we’ll continue to have mediocre leadership. Ironically, although I suspect she meant something else by it, Hillary spoke truthfully the other day about the moderate dem fear of another terrorist attack… unless we can get beyond that, we’re going to stay hostages of shrubco. For our part as constituents, we have to send a clear message to those leaders that we care more about the rule of law and the gradual erosion of our freedoms and our prospects than we are afraid of terrorists. I know this sounds cliched among the converted, but for whatever reason, this message isn’t getting through with enough clarity, yet.
tw3k @ 72
Jane’s at THE GAME!!! ;-)
encrypt early, encrypt often
CTuttle @ 74
gud :)
Ann in AZ @ 66
What really got to me was the thug’s bit about US being a nation of laws and then in the same breath saying that not everyone deserves to be treated according to the law. That pretty much sums up rethug thinking on a lot of issues.
Baseball.
For a 14-year-old male in northeast Illinois in 1960 it was what you did.
The cornfields smelled sweet that night.
You did what your elders said you should do. The girls looked and smelled sweet.
yellowsnapdragon @ 77
cops and criminals… avoid both!
Bit NOLA @ 39
I have not read that ruling; but my inkling is that it is legally correct based upon sovereign theories, conflict of law theories and Constitutional considerations; not to mention the specific type of cases likely being brought. The La. AG is not the right conduit to seek damages through.
rwcole @ 48
Ida-ho has two Rethug Senators: Crap-o and Creep-o. And reporting from Falafel Boy Bill-o.
yellowsnapdragon @ 77
Amen, and that got me, too!
New Thread….
http://www.firedoglake.com/200.....ts-finest/
yellowsnapdragon @ 77
Yep… McConnell and Inhofe keep pretty reliably to this meme. Torturing terroristiacs isn’t torture… which I presume means that the ‘rorists (or maybe Arabs and Iranians, in general) aren’t human. It’s your basic Nazi circle of exclusion meme.
methinks my Crap-oo, Creep-o, Bill-o comment will fit better in the new thread.
yellowsnapdragon @ 77
All animals are equal.
Some animals are more equal than others.
- George Orwell’s Animal Farm
Harry Shearer for Congress! He was great on KO.
rwcole @ 53
Sorry - I didn’t say Matthews (himself) wanted to blame staff - but the discussion seemed to focus on “someone else”. You’re right, Matthews said fish rots from the head down, but it was an aside and he never took it to the conclusion I was trying to make. Even when they talked about Johnson and the flashlight episode, they seemed to imply that someone had suggested Johnson do that.
I still believe that in both instances, Bush should have been his own “decider” and gotten his ass where it belonged.
Ann in AZ:
Proving once again that none of these bloviators has ever been in the soldier’s position, knowing that HE could be captured and considered a terror suspect.
How is this not obvious to everyone? Sheeeeesh.
Buchanan Prostesteth too Much…my goodness.
My favorite moment was on that Thursday, too. Three days after the levees were breached, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stood in Union Station and announced that September was National Preparedness Month.
It wasn’t until that afternoon that his deputy called the airlines and asked them to do something they’d been clamoring to do for days _ help evacuate victims and bring in supplies.
Thanks for watching, Elliott.
Elliott @ 58
QuakerGirl @ 22
I heard a radio interview recently where the Carlyle Group rep said they weren’t infested any more.
Eureka Springs @ 35
The usual way, he had some guy named Brownie tell everybody to leave because a disaster was coming.
Then Bush came to town.