Bush: Gov't. works on disaster response

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060826/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Bush: Gov't. works on disaster response

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine -
President Bush, ahead of next week's anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, says the government is making changes to improve response to national disasters and address the deep-seated poverty the floodwaters exposed.

"Last year I made a simple pledge: The federal government would learn the lessons of Katrina, we would do what it takes, and we would stay as long as it takes, to help our brothers and sisters build a new Gulf Coast where every citizen feels part of the great promise of America," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
............

Bush noted the human toll of the storm: More than a thousand deaths. Countless families who lost their homes and livelihoods. Tens of thousands of men, women and children forced to flee the region.

"One year after the storms, the Gulf Coast continues down the long road to recovery," Bush said. "In Mississippi and Louisiana, we can see many encouraging signs of recovery and renewal, and many reminders that hard work still lies ahead."

[rodeodance]

1. and the bush family coming out of church. pic at site.

.....AP Photo: President Bush with first lady Laura Bush, left, leave St. Ann's Episcopal Church with his..

[Lerkfish]

2. without even reading the article

I"m sure part of the revamping of strategy involves the army as first responders.

[rodeodance]

3. "Sensitive to the criticism, the WH says that rebuilding will take

time"

sounds like Iraq to me!!




Responding to critics who claim the Bush administration responded like molasses, Bush acknowledged in his radio message that Katrina revealed that federal, state and local governments were unprepared to respond to the disaster. That is the message Democrats from across the nation are making as the anniversary approaches.

They argue that many of the neighborhoods struck by the storm appear today as if the hurricane just hit. Tens of thousands of families still can't return home, and the rebuilding process is only just beginning in many communities, they say.

Sensitive to the criticism, the White House says that rebuilding will take time __ that the one-year anniversary does not mark a finish line in recovery.

Eager to show progress in the region, Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings was in New Orleans on Thursday to announce more than $60 million in international donations for Gulf Coast schools and universities. Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez was in New Orleans on Friday to portray the city as "open for business" and to attend the reopening of a Home Depot store damaged during the hurricane.

[rodeodance]

4. Jr is taking Laura to the Gulf with him:

Following a long, relaxing weekend on the coast of Maine, Bush and
Laura Bush are traveling to Mississippi and Louisiana on Monday and Tuesday to meet with local officials and citizens to review progress made since the hurricane struck Aug. 29, 2005.

[rfranklin]

5. Bush: We have to learn how to maximize efficiency of FEMA....

to drain the Treasury more efficiently through Halliburton, Bechtel, and other heavy contributors to the Bush Crime Family.

[rodeodance]

6. umm.. now Bush is calling the people "our brothers and sisters "

......."Last year I made a simple pledge: The federal government would learn the lessons of Katrina, we would do what it takes, and we would stay as long as it takes, to help our brothers and sisters build a new Gulf Coast where every citizen feels part of the great promise of America," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.

[drthais]

7. how does this man get away with this bull****???????????

I am here in Louisiana and I can tell you,
there was abandonement before, during, and after the storm(s)
they did not do 'what it takes' and they didn't stay five minutes.

As we look at Ernesto, I am thinking of all of those families
hunkered down in those stupid little FEMA trailers
really, no bigger than what you can pull behind a truck
and guess what? they are not anchored down, as they certainly should have been
I have friends that have had to flee these trailers during a freakin THUNDERSTORM

what are these folks supposed to do?
do you realize that many of them, especially the poorest, have no transportation?

My husband is out right now gassing up the truck and laying by several 5-gallon cans of gas
getting cases of water and pet food and such
this morning, I heard our neighbor cranking up his generator
to make sure it's operable..........

[MaineDem]

8. Katrina revealed inadequate response: Bush

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - Nearly one year after Hurricane Katrina created a humanitarian and political crisis, President George W. Bush said on Saturday the storm showed the government was unprepared to respond to a disaster of that magnitude and revealed "deep-seated poverty" in America.

Political fallout from the hurricane, which killed more than 1,000 people and displaced tens of thousands, was severe for Bush last year, sending his public opinion ratings to new lows amid widespread criticism the government's response had been too slow.

He returns next week to the scene of one of the worst natural disasters in American history to meet with local residents and officials to review progress in rebuilding New Orleans and communities along the Gulf Coast that were flooded and destroyed.

His trip to Louisiana and Mississippi comes as the election season heats up with Democrats trying to seize control of Congress from the president's Republican Party in November congressional elections.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/08/26/katrina_revealed_inadequate_response_bush/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Maine+news

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. From his castle in Kennebunkport, he issues his concern for "poverty"

Hubris, thine name is bush. MKJ

[CoffeeCat]

13. Great point...

As he and his daddy dine on caviar from their yacht, many NOLA residents sit in their FEMA trailers--wondering
why the levies were never fixed---a year post-Katrina.

This bastard has no business speaking to their pain and suffering. We watched as our brothers and sisters
waited days for a bottle of water. No one came.

People are still suffering and without help, and the levies are not repaired.

Talk is cheap, unlike the $400 steak dinner that Junior probably wolfed down last night in his daddy's sprawling mansion.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

10. News Flash Chucklenuts. We WERE prepared for natural disasters

before you and your Cabal hit town. Also, there were fewer people in poverty before you Christian Taliban/Neocon Hate Train hit town. Everything you touch turns to shit.

How about you leaving those poor people on the Gulf Coast alone? They can't handle any more photo ops and "Heck of a job, Brownies" right now. They are too busy trying to get their lives back together, batten down for the next series of storms, finding jobs, places to live, food and medicine for their families to have to put up with your BS. Go fishing, play golf, fart at the family wedding, find some alone time with Condi - but by all that is good and holy - STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE GULF COAST.

[loves_dulcinea]

14. thank you

you said everything i was feeling, exactly

[tuvor]

11. He has therefore admitted to being a failure as president.

Dozens and dozens of times, he has (wrongly) said that his most important job is to protect Americans.

[CoffeeCat]

12. This should be interesting...

...but hopefully, not tragic.

If you look at the projected path of the latest tropical-storm-turned hurricane (Ernesto), it's projected
to hit around NOLA. A great deal could change between now and then and it might weaken.

However...can you imagine how foolish and asinine Bush will look if he's standing in NOLA, while another
major hurricane is imminent in the area--and those levies are still not shored up and adequate to protect
the citizens?

He needs to be held accountable, and if a major hurricane is going to hit---his presence at this time
will only magnify his failures, and the fact that he's all talk and no action.

You can stand in a pile of debris and pontificate and shed tears all you want. At the end of the day,
if you really cared, you'd help make people safe and truly help them. Junior is not doing those
things and he may end up looking even worse than he did post-Katrina.

[hedgehog]

15. I'm looking at the dates and at the current storm track and I can't

believe this, either. The way it looks now, Bush hits town Tuesday, jabbers a bit and leaves. Two or three days later the first hurricane of the season drops by. People have spent the last year trying to haul debris out of there. What happens when a hurricane stops by to help?


If this was a plot for a sci-fi disaster movie, we'd all be laughing at how ludicrous it is.

[hedgehog]

16. On second thought, what happens if Bush hits the city in the middle

of a mass evacuation?

[krispos42]

17. glug, glug, then Cheney's the official president...

Well, maybe not. The Coast Guard has their shit together.

[lpbk2713]

18. Is it any wonder *the government was unprepared to respond

to a disaster of that magnitude* after you gutted FEMA. And if that wasn't bad enough, you put a damn horse show judge in charge of what was left of it. I hope you live to regret all the misery you have caused.

[truthisfreedom]

19. he's doing this to weaken the Democratic attack on the administration's

incredibly slow recovery work and terrible record with Katrina. he doesn't give a flying hootie-hoo about anybody in NO.