N. O. hurricane disaster planning was privatized by Homeland Security.

[barbaraann]

IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana
June 3, 2004

IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. National weather experts are predicting an above normal Atlantic hurricane season with six to eight hurricanes, of which three could be categorized as major.
...
http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/Press_Releases/pressrelease060304_Catastrophic.htm

Shouldn't government employees being doing this? What did we get for half a million dollars?

[JackDragna]

1. How about jack and..well, you know what?

The storm caught New Orleans with its pants down. The hurricane evaculation planning went about as well as teaching cats to tap-dance.

[barbaraann]

2. But Ashcroft was checking on prostitution a few years ago!

Their priorities are so twisted.

[JackDragna]

9. Well hey, you know those hookers..

..it's just a matter of time before they flip out and do billions of dollars worth of property damage. Wait. Wait. No, that's HURRICANES that do that. My bad. *is an enemy combatant*

[barbaraann]

10. I wonder if the hookers are included in the faith-based evacuation plan.

n/t

[Hekate]

14. >snrk< yeah, sure they are

Bush-league. I tell you, I feel SO much safer with the Bushites in charge of the country. They've totally got our interests at heart.

I was at a small get-together tonight and one of our friends I'd sworn off talking politics to said to my hubs (I was out of earshot) that the US has had some bad presidents in the past -- he mentioned Harding, for instance -- but this was the first truly evil president we've ever had. And the guy's wife (whose mailing list I'd asked to be removed from once she started spamming me with RW god'n'country crap) muttered something that sounded like agreement.

Wow. I wonder what finally got to them????? :wow:

Hekate

#Why won't the Chickenhawk cross the road?#

[Eloriel]

27. WOW!! That's quite a conversion.

You ought to think of making that a separate thread. Really.

[SpiralHawk]

19. Republicans had their NOSES in N.O. bedrooms as 9/11 came on

The Bust


"In the days before and after 9/11, FBI agents eavesdropped on the brothel's telephones and recorded more than 5,000 calls, most of them about men wanting sex. The New Orleans Times-Picayune quoted an FBI summary of one recorded conversation between Tommie and a prostitute named Sunny: "Tommie told Sunny that Victor was coming at 4:30 p.m. and Larry was coming at 5:30 p.m. Sunny asked if she could have a break after 5:30 p.m. because she was behind on laundry, that she was running out of sheets."

http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/fbi_brothel/6.html?sect=18

[barbaraann]

20. Why did they target N.O., I wonder.

It's not like there aren't prostitutes in other cities and probably a lot of forced immigrant prostitution in several other states.

[Toots]

25. Next to every US Fort or Base there is prostitution

They were after more than prostitution. They were after some Democrat I would bet.

[barbaraann]

26. Yup.

They could have investigated prostitution without leaving D.C.--but that might have resulted in catching some Republicans with underage gay male hookers.

[Mabus]

31. ROFLMAOWTIME

but it is the truth.

:rofl:

[barbaraann]

32. Link for those who might not get this inside joke.

http://hereinreality.com/callboy.html

[Mabus]

39. It's an excellent illustration of stories that "disappear"

into thin air. I guess back in those days sex didn't sell like it did in the 1990's.

Do you remember when GHWB brought out the entire family to try to deflect questions about Jennifer Fitzgerald? Man oh man, some day I hope the truth about this family comes out.

[Scurrilous]

3. Well...

IEM President and CEO Madhu Beriwal is the recipient of a special merit award from the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association ( LEPA ) for her work in New Orleans hurricane emergency preparedness.

New Orleans has nothing to worry about.

Their hurricane preparedness is award-winning!

[barbaraann]

4. Right.

n/t

[SlowDownFast]

5. We'll see. Everything is speculaton now.

Especially since all National Guard Troops are in Iraq.

[wli]

6. ... and, of course, the disaster plans add up to nothing

Except perhaps embezzlement by Bushler's cronies.

[barbaraann]

7. Or maybe even something worse than nothing.

Just a thought that popped into my mind.

[wli]

8. that wouldn't surprise me, either

The storm would be perfect cover for a little pogrom.

[Virginian]

11. What's pogrom? n/t

[barbaraann]

12. from dictionary.com

An organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a minority group, especially one conducted against Jews.

[wli]

13. here's a link

Check wikipedia's article on pogroms.

[Virginian]

16. Thanks for the info

I have probably seen the word before and thought it was the misspelling of the word "Program."

[barbaraann]

15. I just heard the Mayor say there's no plan for the hospitals and hotels.

Unbelievable.

(It was a replay of a prior interview on tv.)

[elehhhhna]

28. Oopsie. Note to NO--extend that contract!

[craigolemiss]

17. 2 maps and a bridge token?

[barbaraann]

22. Welcome to DU!

I see you're well on the way to understanding the Bush Administration. :hi:

[newswolf56]

18. Leave it to President Bush to turn a disaster into profits for pals and...

members of the oligarchy in general. Typical. Enron, Halliburton, Afghanistan, Iraq -- it's all the same: rewards for the plutocrats, ruination for the rest of us. The New World Order in a nutshell -- and how much longer is it going to take America to wake up?

[barbaraann]

21. Well, if the MSM would publicize this particular profiteering outrage,

it would go a long way to waking America up.

[Bemis]

23. Actually this happens alot..

From 1996 to 2000 I worked for an emergency management consultant (before Homeland bullshit) and we did a ton of business with various emergency management departments in several states.

Back then most of them could get money for studies and reports but not to hire more staff. So we would assist them in participating in their meetings and writing the reports or emergency procedures.

Some places used firms like ours to write "After Action" reports. This way they could have an unbiased look at what the participants of the emergency did during the disaster and what went wrong or right.

[barbaraann]

24. Well, the practice in this case will probably have tragic results.

The use of outsiders to do "After Action" reports does seem like an excellent idea, though.

[NYC]

29. Now those "after action" reports

will be evaluating themselves, won't they?

Privatization. There is a reason for government.

[barbaraann]

30. "There is a reason for government."

Unfortunately many rightwingers have been deluded into thinking that government is the enemy.

[GoBlue]

33. Well if past performance is any indication...

we can expect that their Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan will be a catastrophic success. I can hear it now:

'I don't think anybody could have predicted that this hurricane would slam it into the Superdome with all those people inside."

[bvar22]

34. $500,000 worth of Duct Tape and Plastic?

:shrug:

[Solly Mack]

35. from 2004? What's the plan? They've had a year

and people are still stuck in N.O.

[barbaraann]

36. "It's hard work."

"Nobody expected Hurricane Katrina."

etc.

[Solly Mack]

37. Infuriating!

damn them

[barbaraann]

38. Shock and awe in the Homeland.

Brought to you by the Republican Party.

[bobbieinok]

40. kick

[postulater]

41. Just saw the Louisiana Homeland Security head interviewed on

WWL TV. He said with all the refineries being shut down, $3 per gallon gas will be just the beginning.

He actually smiled when he said that if it wasn't Sunday he'd be buying oil futures on the market!

[Chomskyite]

42. James Lee Witt's involved

And that makes me feel a little better about it . . . the guy is gold and nobody knows why he hasn't run for bigger office in Arkansas. The guy would have the governor's mansion just by saying the word.

[Karenina]

43. Kick!

:kick:

[tx_dem41]

44. Having grown up in New Orleans, and having family still there...

this has been one of the smoothest evacuations I have ever seen take place.