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New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Imitates General Honore
General Honore is some poobah in the National Guard who captured the whimsy of the country after storming into New Orleans with his tough words and in-charge attitude. He also made one of the more popular phrases of this year part of the national dialogue.
I speak specifically of Honore’s famous “stuck on stupid” comment that resonated, if ever, during the mess that was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
From Sweetness and Light.com
, we have a picture of the fine Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, all dignified looking as he rides his horse down the streets of his city. How handsome is this fellow who left his citizens to drown as school buses sat up to their wheel wells in water, unused for an evacuation Louisiana politicos did not want to enact? Does riding that horse give Nagin the respect of General Honore? Wethinks not. It only makes him look “stuck on stupid”.
Here’s An Interesting Tidbit on AP’s Famous Nothing Katrina Tape Story
Recall yon reader, if you will, Dan Rather, CBS, and those “fake-but-accurate” documents about Bush’s National Guard service. Move on now to the recent AP story that had “secret tapes” (heh) of the weather service advising a group of administration types that the coming Katrina storm might “overtop” the levees.
The “overtop” word being critical here. Because Bush had stated, before this big secret tape was suddenly “discovered” by the AP, that no one suspected the levees would be breached.
First, that tape was nowhere near secret. Indeed a viewer can see before their lying eyes a whole bunch of news people in the room. If my ageing memory serves me right, I believe I saw that same news clip myself during all the Katrina brouhaha.
Second, the AP called Bush a liar and they had this “secret” tape to prove it. Only the weather guy, who knows nothing about breaching at any rate, said the levees might be “overtopped”.
A breach is when you fill a bowl with water and suddenly a hole breaks in the vessel. All of the water inside will drain out. Overtopping is when too much water is poured into the bowl and the excess the bowl can’t contain will flow over the top until at a level the vessel can contain.
I’m no weather guy and I’ve no degree in engineering. But I can understand the difference between breaching and overtopping.
Here’s a video of that famous secret tape.
From Wizbangblog.com, we discover some interesting connections between the bogus AP story and CBS.
Note the authors in the quote below.
By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON
WASHINGTON (AP) - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.
So Wizbang does some more investigating, God Bless America for Google searches. Tada! Guess who was a producer on 60 Minutes II. Read for yourself, copied from CBS’ own web site.
Margaret Ebrahim (2003)
Producer
CBS News, 60 Minutes II
Who is this woman and why is she always involved in such lies against this administration? And what kind of name is “Ebrahim” anyway?
Speaking of the AP
From the Drudge Report, let us document for posterity that the AP did make a retraction. It’s almost criminal that they lied like they did to begin with.
In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.
Dave Gregory Drunk on Imus
Well I don’t know if he was drunk although Imus himself labeled him as such. Gregory was in India covering the president and hey, don’t they have such as water pipes and other in that country?
The PA Bouncing Checks
From Little Green Footballs we learn that the Palestinian Authority is having money troubles.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The private Israeli firm that provides gasoline to the Palestinian Authority said a check for more than 22 million dollars bounced last week and announced it has stopped deliveries.
“A check for 103 million shekels (22.4 million dollars) made out to Dor-Allon was returned unpaid last week and we have stopped deliveries because the Palestinian arrears are accumulating,” a Dor-Allon spokesman told AFP Monday.
Amid the threat of a fuel crisis in the Palestinian territories, an Israeli official questioned by AFP said the “government cannot intervene in a matter involving a private contract.”
Heh.
Elect a terrorist government. That’s the ticket.
Not to worry. The EU covered the check.
Newt for Prez?
From the times I’ve seen Newt Gingrich out and about the man has been anything but coy about his presidential ambitions. By me Newt has a chance to beat John McCain for the Republican nomination because so many conservatives are disgusted with “moderate” McCain.
Below, Newt, founder of “Contract With America”, waxes on about this administration’s PR battle. Assuring us, we must assume, that Newt’s the man to make it all right.
From Opinion Journal.com:
Here, flush with the recollection of his own accomplishments, impatience sets in. "So if you're asking me, is it possible to be inarticulate, confused and uncertain and win a major policy battle, the answer is no. Do I think the president, the House and the Senate--if they systematically went to the country and laid out a positive plan that would make more sense--could they win? The answer is yes
More Political Tidbits HERE
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Bush, Blanco, the Tapes and Media Lies
Kaitlyn,
Lots of new news on the Louisiana/Katrina story this week.
Beginning with the AP hysterical story that President Bush knew, KNEW I tell ya, that the levees in New Orleans were going to breach.
Then we hear the so-called incriminating tape and the weather guy did give a warning, but only that the levees would be “overtopped”. Overtopped, Kaitlyn, is a lot different than breaching.
Consider a bowl of cereal. Put in the cereal, than add the milk. Only if you add too much milk, the milk spills over the top and gets all over the table. The amount of milk that would spill on the table would be however much goes over the bowl rim. The rest of the milk would remain in the bowl.
Now suppose this same bowl was properly filled with appropriate amounts of cereal and milk for the vessel to contain it safely. All of sudden the bowl pops a hole. In this case, every drop of milk in the bowl would come flowing out.
In the case of the levees, which were NOT overtopped, Kaitlyn, the water would pour out until the level of the water on either side of the structure was of equal depth. That’s a lot of water, Kaitlyn. Not near as much as would have been delivered by a mere overtopping of the levees, especially considering they have great big pumps to handle water washing over the levee walls. There’s not enough pumps in the world to handle the sudden flow of an entire lake into the city.
The lamestream media of this era will do anything to create lies out of whole cloth against the president, including this silly exercise in false hysteria. The weather people warned Bush that Hurricane Katrina’s rain totals might cause the water in the canals to spill over the top. They said nothing about breaching as, heh, weather people don’t know anything about breaches.
To add to the lying hysteria, we find out after the AP story hit the wire and caused Bush haters to go nuts accusing him with knowing the levees would break but doing nothing about it, we discover, heh, that Louisiana’s own Governor Blanco, AFTER THE STORM, Kaitlyn, was taped saying that the levees were not breached during Katrina. If the Governor of the state didn’t know about the breaching AFTER the storm, how is the President, all the way in Washington, D.C., supposed to know BEFORE the storm even hits?
From WAFB.com:
| At noon on August 29th, Blanco's voice is heard on the tape telling staffers, "I think we've heard that we have not breached the levees. We have not breached the levees at this point in time." That was the same time Hurricane Katrina was flooding New Orleans East and St. Bernard Parish. A little later on the tape, Blanco said, "...where we have waters that are eight to ten feet deep and we have people swimming in..." |
The Retraction
Lest you don’t believe your grandmother, Kaitlyn, below the retraction by the AP.
From Drudgereport.com:
| In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials. The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking. The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing. |
They lie, Kaitlyn. They lie and don’t correct their lies until they are caught.
For Giggles and Grins
New Orleans Mayor Naginhead below, in an imitation of General Honore. Honore was a General in the National Guard who came into New Orleans to save the day. His commanding presence and his most famous “stuck on stupid” line captured the amusement and fancy of Americans across the land.
Naginhead is no General Honore no matter how many horses he rides.
The Resolution
The second big story this week about New Orleans is the revelation of how the reconstruction plans for individual homeowners will work. This is provided for historical reference, Kaitlyn. There are two things in the quote below that bother me.
First, the stuck-on-stupid people who didn’t purchase flood insurance even though they lived in a flood plain and even though the federal government provided flood insurance when conventional homeowner’s insurance will not, will STILL get reimbursement from my taxpayer dollars. Proving again there are no consequences for stupid behavior, especially when deep federal pockets are available. Also, Blanco says she’s going to make sure that anyone re-locating within the flood plain obtains and keeps flood insurance.
Uh-huh.
The first year they have to pay the flood insurance premium many of these stupids will drop it. I have no faith that the state of Louisiana will follow through and track this. Then, boom, another hurricane, their homes flood, and go to hell, we’ll build these idiots ANOTHER home on the taxpayer dollar.
From Bayoubuss.com:
| Repair; Rebuild; Relocate; or, if no other options are appropriate, Buyout. In navigating these options, I propose that assistance be capped at $150,000 per homeowner. Insurance and FEMA payments received for repairs will be counted against the calculation of total needs. Contributed funds will be fully forgiven after 5-years of occupancy of the repaired, restored, or relocated home. I believe this significant investment should give homeowners a step-up in their recovery. Our program envisions covering damaged houses both outside and inside of the floodplain. So many Louisiana families were counting on the federal levees to protect them, whether they lived inside or outside of the floodplain. No one expected that the levees would breach in a storm they were designed to withstand. Many of our homeowners inside the floodplain played by the rules and paid for flood insurance for years. Some did not. For those who lived inside the floodplain and were not insured, assistance will be reduced by 30%. This is only fair. And I am going to insist that any person rebuilding in the floodplain must build to new standards and carry flood insurance.  The repair program applies to homes that are in need of rehabilitation and mitigation assistance. Our program will contribute up to the pre-storm home value for each of these properties, and assist homeowners in securing affordable options to compensate for any gaps in coverage. Our goal is to get families back into their homes as quickly as possible. The repair program will jump-start this process. The replacement program will operate similar to the repair program. Homeowners with homes too damaged to repair will be assisted in building an equivalent replacement house. This house will be rebuilt on the same property if it is safe to do so. Our program will contribute pre-storm home value to build the replacement house, with affordable loans available to cover any gaps in financing. We will also help homeowners who are unable or choose not to rebuild to relocate within the state. The pre-storm value for a comparable home up to the maximum of $150,000 will be provided, with gap financing options. For homeowners who opt not to repair, rebuild or relocate within the state, Louisiana will offer to buyout the property at 60% of the pre-storm home value up to the $150,000 limit. Many people displaced by the storm are renters. Although the individual applications are limited to homeowners, we are committed to investing in rebuilding rental units. Through gap financing, low-income housing tax credits, and other measures, we will be working to guarantee affordable housing in mixed-income communities. |
more Katrina Posts HERE.
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