Ike, the emperor and his priorities. (Pix heavy)

[seafan]

(NASA)
This image provided by NASA shows Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico closing in on the Texas coast. The image was taken Wednesday Sept. 10, from the International Space Station. At 5 a.m. EDT Friday, the storm was centered about 265 miles southeast of Galveston, moving to the west-northwest near 13 mph. Ike was a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds that had increased slightly to near 105 mph.



(AP/David J. Phillip / September 12, 2008)
A truck drives along the seawall as waves crash over the partially flooded road as Hurricane Ike approaches Friday, in Galveston, Texas.



(AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez / September 12, 2008)
A man and his dog ride through the high surf created by the approaching Hurricane Ike in Bacliff , Texas.



(SMILEY N. POOL, AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
A home is left standing among debris from Hurricane Ike Sept. 14, in Gilchrist, Texas. Flood waters from Hurricane Ike are reportedly as high as eight feet in some areas causing widespread damage across the coast of Texas.


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Galveston, Texas: People wait to be evacuated in buses at Ball high school
Photograph: Carlos Barria /Reuters


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Houston, Texas: Vehicles drive through floodwaters
Photograph: Frank Franklin II/AP


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Sabine Pass, Texas: An alligator crosses a road
Photograph: Eric Gay/AP



(Guy Reynolds/Dallas Morning News/MCT / September 11, 2008)
Bill Murphy, second from right, waits with three rescuers for a boat to pull them to safety after Murphy's wife Barbara and two others were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter in High Island, Texas, Friday, September 12, 2008, as Hurricane Ike moves toward Texas.


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Houston, Texas: Five people sit stranded on a car in a flooded street
Photograph: Bill Olive/AP


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Bridge City, Texas: The first floor of a house is covered in marsh grass
Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Iberia Parish, Louisiana: Storm surge from hurricane Ike inundates the port
Photograph: Richard Alan Hannon/POOL/AP


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Port Arthur, Texas: A search and rescue team heads into the flooded Sabine Pass to help victims
Photograph: Eric Gay/AP


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Gilchrist, Texas: A single house is left standing on the waterfront
Photograph: POOL/EPA



(ERIC GAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS / September 15, 2008)
Fish remain stuck in a fence as flood waters caused by Hurricane Ike recede, in West Orange, Texas.


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/GD8834391@Jerusha-Edgar,-17,-re-4273.jpg
Seabrook, Texas: Jerusha Edgar, 17, reacts to seeing her destroyed apartment. She and her mother lost all their belongings


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Galveston, Texas: Debris is piled up between houses in a flooded residential area
Photograph: Bob Pearson/EPA



http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/world/gallery/2008/sep/15/usa/[e-mail]
Washington: George Bush with a map of Gulf Coast oil pipelines as he speaks to the press after receiving an update on hurricane Ike from officials
Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP

[liberal N proud]

1. Awesome force of nature

[LunaSea]

2. Deja Vue

[LonelyLRLiberal]

3. This is why I don't understand the low death toll being reported.

It doesn't seem possible that fewer than 100 people died when tens of thousands refused to evacuate.

[bdamomma]

7. maybe they are keeping that information away from us.

it happened once and could happen again.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. YES, there is a blackout on that information - LINK TO THREAD:

Read about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4002229&mesg_id=4002229
thread title: FEMA HIDING THE BALL-TX Radio: "Fed Gov Trying To Control Media & Story"

[LonelyLRLiberal]

10. Thanks for the info. No surprise that these criminals would hide the facts. nt

[barbtries]

4. amazing pictures

i still want to know about the people. where are the people? did they over-report the number of people who stayed to wait out the storm? they said something like 20,000 - they rescued somewhere around 3,000 - where are the people?

[seafan]

5. And here were the emperor's priorities after Katrina in 2005:

The perils of George Pix heavy


The last 8 years have been a George W. Bush gang rape of America.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. What bu$h really cares about. Oil pipelines.

Oh yeah!

[ThatsMyBarack]

14. And birthday cake.

[seafan]

9. Barbara Bush after Katrina: "...this is working out very well for them."

Editor and Publisher
September 05, 2005 7:25 PM ET

NEW YORK Accompanying her husband, former President George
H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in
Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

The former First Lady's remarks were aired this
evening on American Public Media's "Marketplace"
program.

She was part of a group in Houston today at the
Astrodome that included her husband and former
President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son,
the current president, to head fundraising efforts for
the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of
evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost
everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to
Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

Like mother, like son.

"There are some that feel like if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about if that is the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on." ---George W. Bush, July 3, 2003

Like father.


Here's one from Poppy from 10-15-04.


Like brother.


And some choice Jeb quotes:



The family that preys together, stays together.

[seafan]

11. Before and after images of Bolivar Peninsula; September 9 and 15

These are the astonishing before-and-after images that show how Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texan coastline.

Grass is literally ripped from the ground or drowned underwater, houses are flattened, and in some places the very shape of the coastline itself was altered by the Category 2 storm's raging winds and surge.

The pictures emerged as the death toll of Ike in the U.S. climbed to 51. Ike's death toll in the Caribbean was over 80.

Yesterday search teams pulled out of Galveston - the worst-hit section of the mainland U.S. - having searched the entire island for survivors.

.....

The search and rescue teams of Texas Task Force 1 spent four days making door-to-door searches across the island for those who rode out the storm. Some of the people they found were evacuated while others chose to stay in their homes.

The task force checked on almost 6,000 people who said that they did not need assistance getting out and performed more than 3,500 rescues since Friday, said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

City and state officials still want people who stayed through the storm to get off the island because of concerns a growing health threat on the island.

Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik said officials had confirmed the first death in nearby Brazoria County. Pustilnik also gave details on five deaths in Galveston County: Three had serious medical conditions prior to the storm but did not evacuate, one drowned in a truck and one was found in a hotel room.

Ike's death toll officially stood at 51, with 17 of the deaths occurring in Texas.

Authorities may never know if, or how many, people who tried to weather the storm were washed out to sea.

.....

LINK






Before and after: Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, on September 9, 2008 (top) and September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of Hurricane Ike (below). Houses are gone, grass disappeared, the dunes have been eroded and sand dumped well inland







An oblique aerial view of the Bolivar Peninsula, also from the U.S. Geological Survey, on September 9, 2008 (top) and September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of Hurricane Ike (below)

[chill_wind]

12. I found a BB forum seeking to list/locate the missing in Crystal Beach/Port Bolivar

(6 pages so far of comments/entries)

http://www.khou.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28278&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=&sid=d30a1d8b44bad31e3f2930970b76c856

Yahoo has a post-IKE Bolivar_Peninsula group, but access is restricted to keep spammers out. Since I couldn't supply the access request with an honest response, I didn't elect tojoin, but I'm very curious about the discussions:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bolivar_Peninsula_Group/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=2

[chill_wind]

13. kick

[malaise]

15. I'm stealing your fish photo

These are powerful