Internet email: "Things I have noticed while watching media coverage of the recent hurricanes"

1. Texas: Productive industrious state run by Republicans.
Louisiana: Government dependent welfare state run by Democrats.
2. Texas: Residents take responsibility to protect and evacuate themselves.
Louisiana: Residents wait for government to protect and evacuate them.
3. Texas: Local and state officials take responsibility for protecting their citizens and property.
Louisiana: Local and state officials blame federal government for not protecting their citizens and property.
4. Texas: Command and control remains in place to preserve order.
Louisiana: Command and control collapses allowing lawlessness.
5. Texas: Law enforcement officers remain on duty to protect city.
Louisiana: Law enforcement officers desert their posts to protect themselves.
6. Texas: Local police watch for looting.
Louisiana: Local police participate in looting.
7. Texas: Law and order remains in control, 8 looters tried it, 8 looters arrested.
Louisiana: Anarchy and lawlessness breaks out, looters take over city,no arrests, criminals with guns shot by federal troops.
8. Texas: Considerable damage caused by hurricane.
Louisiana: Considerable damage caused by looters.
9. Texas: Flood barriers hold preventing cities from flooding.
Louisiana: Flood barriers fail due to lack of maintenance allowing city to flood.
10. Texas: Orderly evacuation away from threatened areas, few remain.
Louisiana: 25,000 fail to evacuate, are relocated to another flooded area.
11. Texas: Citizens evacuate with personal 3 day supply of food and water.
Louisiana: Citizens fail to evacuate with 3 day supply of food and water, do without it for the next 4 days.
12. Texas: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials provide accessible distribution points.
Louisiana: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials prevent citizens from reaching distribution points and vice versa.
13. Louisiana: Media focuses on poor blacks in need of assistance, blames Bush.
Texas: Media can't find poor blacks in need of assistance, looking for something else to blame on Bush.
14. Texas: Coastal cities suffer some infrastructure damage, Mayors tell residents to stay away until ready for repopulation, no interference from federal officials.
Louisiana: New Orleans is destroyed, Mayor asks residents to return home as another hurricane approaches, has to be overruled by federal officials.
15. Louisiana: Over 400 killed by storm, flooding and crime.
Texas: 24 killed in bus accident on highway during evacuation, and 7 storm related deaths.
16. Texas: Jailed prisoners are relocated to other detention facilities outside the storm area.
Louisiana: Jailed prisoners are set free to prey on city shops, residents, and homes.
17. Texas: Local and state officials work with FEMA and Red Cross in recovery operations.
Louisiana: Local and state officials obstruct FEMA and Red Cross from aiding in recovery operations.
18. Texas: Local and state officials demonstrate leadership in managing disaster areas.
Louisiana: Local and state officials fail to demonstrate leadership, require federal government to manage disaster areas.
19. Texas: Fuel deliveries can't keep up with demand, some run out of gas on highway, need help from fuel tankers before storm arrives.
Louisiana: Motorists wait till storm hits and electrical power fails. Cars run out of gas at gas stations that can't pump gas. Gas in underground tanks mixes with flood waters.
20. Texas: Mayors move citizens out of danger.
Louisiana: Mayor moves himself and family to Dallas.
21. Texas: Mayors continue public service announcements and updates on television with Governor's backing and support.
Louisiana: Mayor cusses, governor cries, senator threatens president with violence on television, none of them have a clue what went wrong or who's responsible.
22. Louisiana: Democratic Senator says FEMA was slow in responding to 911 calls from Louisiana citizens.
Texas: Republican Senator says "when you call 911, the phone doesn't ring in Washington, it rings here at the local responders".
Republicans call for action, Democrats call for help. What party will you be voting for in the next election?

too bad those lists aren't accurate

Just click on his name!!

R Morrow:
I noticed you prefaced your list with "noticed while watching media coverage," but did you also notice that many contrasting media items were not true? As in complete lies? What media were you watching? Were you being ironic?
(See WWLTV video or NOLA archives, and Hurricane Rita blog from the Houston Chron.)

wow, ( http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/gedmin/gedmin.html ), another pnacer (just like bolton and the majority of the neocons in the whitehouse), did he subscribe to the thought that an attack on america would be great to fund the takeover of the world too ??

Yes, check out the website linked to Robert's name. It gives some good insight into the "media" our friend Robert subscribes to.

The pdf of Cliff Kincaid's tirade in support of the death penalty is especially inciteful...no pun intended.

Thanks, Jinny.

Back to the change in deputy at the UN. The professional diplomat w/ existing UN relationships and recommended by at least Steve as a better choice than Bolton is discarded. This is a US loss and a gain in brute force for the neocon-Cheney wing.

Again I have to hope the the remaining professionals find ways to speak out (probably behind the scenes) and discredit the scary actions which are sure to follow.

Bolton is to world diplomacy what Brownie is to emergency management.

Having lied to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about being interviewed in connection with any criminal investigations, he can be said to not be duly appointed by the US. Had he been truthful, he might have had a negative, rather than neutral Committee position on his nomination.

Further, as cited in Henry Waxman's letter to Chris Shays, March 1, 2005, it seems the State Department also was deceitful to the SFRC on John Bolton's role in creating and promulgating the State Department Memo that contained known falsehoods about Iraq seeking yellowcake from Niger. Had the SFRC known this, again, their findings on Bolton could have prevented a recess appointment.

Ambassador Patterson, on the other hand, was deputized by her predcecssor, who was duly confirmed by the Senate. So, we now have a duly appointed Ambassador dismissed by one who was not. I think we should all register our objections, not just with the White House, but with the UN as well.

There is another ambassadorship at the US Mission that is political. It is called "representative for special political affairs" (mostly helping cover the Security Council) that is different from the deputy perm rep post held by Anne Patterson, which is indeed always career. This political ambassadorship was held by TPM Cafe's own Nancy Soderberg under Clinton and has been vacant since Stuart Holliday left it some months ago.