cnn reporting on the stonewalling of Katrina by WH

[rodeodance]

[rodeodance]

1. showed clip of Jr saying no one could imagine a levy breaking.

[rodeodance]

2. then showing clips of Browie and Chertoff saying the same (similiar)

[rodeodance]

4. Joe Lieberman coming up at 9 ET

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. yeah, we're stonewalling- what're you gonna do about it?

That's essentially the response of the WH to ANYTHING the Congress wants to look into or investigate as part of their legitimate oversight authority. Only the White House asserts "Executive Confidentiality" every time. We're not allowed to know about war or energy or medicaid or Katrina or just about damn near anything. THe reason is obvious - their actions and inactions do not stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny. They have good reason to HIDE their communications. These are government employees doing the people's business and they need to be accountable to the people and the Congress that represents them. I am sick and tired of this COVER_UP bullshit with each and every issue that comes down the pike!!

I am sure that Bush has issued an executive order that any and all communications from his WH (even if it is an order for paper clips to OfficeMax) will be buried in sealed containers deep inside Yucca Mountain for 200 years and can then only be opened and viewed by his direct descendants for no longer than 5 minutes. His Presidential Library will be limited to one copy of My Pet Goat>

[rodeodance]

5. 'privilaged communication' is the WH term (same as Cheney used to

say could not have communication regarding his energy plan)

[rodeodance]

6. Lots of people were at one time angry about Katrina response--but

wonder if this issue will get pushed or will it slide off the radar again.

[rodeodance]

7. cnn has thus far done a good job of reporting on this--at least keeping it

up front.

[bigscott]

8. but everytime

they start to get it right they drop the ball. Last night they had Orrin Hatch (the anti-christ) on Lou Dobbs and Lou let the AC go on and on about how the extreme "Hollywood" left wing was against scalito soley for the abortion issue and they were not being fair blah blah blah. I was waiting for Lou to bring up the extreme right wing derailing the Myers nomination solely for the abortion issue - but he let me down

[fasttense]

9. I know, Lou Dobbs seems to have blinders on sometimes, and sometimes he is

right on target. You never know with him what side he will take, except of course with the illegal immigrant issue.

[Rockholm]

10. Impeach? Filibuster?

This mis-administration is CONSTANTLY thumbing its' drunken swollen nose at the American people. Yes, indeed freepers, that includes you. They want us to dislike each other.
For once, wouldn't it be nice if the left and the right teamed up on civil liberties to stop this man? REAL republicans would not stand for this. REAL Democrats have YET to take a stand on this.

[harlinchi]

11. The New York Times reports on the stonewalling as well.

Neither The Times nor CNN, in their reporting of the damage which occurred, mention any number close to the actual death total. CNN mentions hundreds of deaths while the Times focuses on the dollar amounts of damages, probably under-reporting even that.

From CNN:

"Any storm rated Category 4 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson scale will likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching, leaving the New Orleans metro area submerged for weeks or months," a Department of Homeland Security report warned August 28, the day before Katrina came ashore at the Louisiana-Mississippi state line.

The documents were released as the Senate committee prepares for a hearing on the response to Katrina, which killed hundreds in the two states and left about 80 percent of New Orleans under water when portions of three levees failed. The breach of the levees was predicted by a 2004 emergency management simulation called the "Hurricane Pam exercise."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/24/katrina.levees/index.html


from The Times:

The Congressional investigations began in September, shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans, devastating much of the rest of the region and causing more than $100 billion in damage.

http://nytimes.com/2006/01/25/politics/25katrina.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=8d29a3cd95560931&hp&ex=1138251600&partner=homepage

How any reporting medium can continue to think of itself as reputable and relevant when, as it reports on Katrina, no real mention is made of the numbers of deaths which occurred is way beyond me. Worse, there appears to be no inclination to find those numbers. The media is giving aid and comfort to an entire administration which ultimately, by history, might yet be considered to have been an enemy of The United States of America.

Also, the Times makes use of what I think is a frequently used tactic of this administration by reporting the actual number of documents released to the investigation, as if the sheer volume of documents provide evidence of 'unprecedented' (another misdirecting phrase commonly used by the administration) cooperation:


The Department of Defense, for example, has provided 18 officials for testimony, and 57 others have been interviewed by Congressional staff members, said Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a Pentagon spokesman. It has also turned over an estimated 240,000 pages of documents.

Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, said his agency, which oversees FEMA, had been similarly responsive, providing 60 officials as witnesses and producing 300,000 pages of documents.


Obviousman (from Wiley) has intervened and informed us that having provided 1 million documents is insignificant if the 1,000,001st has the crucial information and was not provided.