by Last Night in Little Rock

10,000 evacuees from Katrina arrived at Ft. Chafee Arkansas today, a National Guard base. Ft. Chafee is more infamously remembered for the place where thousands from the Mariel Boatlift landed in 1980 and a riot ensued. (The rioters were moved to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, and the same thing happened there.)

Ft. Chafee filled up, and two plane loads and buses took the rest to the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Convention Center and church camps, according to KATV and KTHV in Little Rock. Gov. Mike Huckabee was there to welcome them and assist in redirecting the excess to other places in the state.

Welcome to Arkansas. A home and work await you.

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN.com has a disturbing story tonight: Katrina aftermath taking toll on police. CNN reports that two officers have killed themselves with their own guns and dozens have resigned in the past week. NOLA PD has 1,600 officers.

The feeling of helplessness in the face of utter chaos in the destruction of the city they love so must be overwhelming. Nothing seems to me to warrant suicide, but I don't know what is going through their heads, or what they have seen and experienced. The PTSD rate will be enormous, with the police and public.

[Source: News Australia]

I'm getting really tired of those on the right who claim liberals are attacking Bush for his handling of the Katrina catastrophe just because he's Bush and we'd attack anything he does. Billmon has a good analysis of the powerline crowd attack on liberals.

I'm not fond of Colorado Governor Bill Owens' politics either, but I had nothing but praise for him as I watched the local evening news tonight and saw the busloads and planeloads of displaced persons streaming into Denver. Yesterday Gov. Owens offered shelter for 1,000 of the victims. They began arriving today. Not only has the Governor made housing, clothing, food and necessities available, but Colorado also will provide assistance for job and school placement and professional training. They also are welcome to remain in Colorado.

Back here, we had a pretty good discussion going over what to call those who were evacuated from New Orleans and other Katrina-devastated areas.

Jesse Jackson is taking umbrage with the term "refugees." I don't like the term either and suggested evacuees. But that seems to fit those in the process of being evacuated, rather than those who are settling into new places. Survivors is another term frequently being used.

Another suggestion: Internally Displaced Persons, or IDP's for short.

by TChris

Hurricane victims apparently make a poor photo op for the Secretary of Defense.

Today, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Louisiana and toured a medical facility at the New Orleans international airport. He spoke to and shook hands with military and rescue officials, but walked right by a dozen refugees lying on stretchers just feet away from him, most of them extremely sick or handicapped, Reuters reported.

From Editor and Publisher:

11:45 AM ET. From Gannett News Service:

"President Bush, who toured the heavily damaged coastal area by air Friday, is expected to return to Louisiana Monday. Actor Sean Penn beat Bush to Baton Rouge, showing up at the state Office of Emergency Preparedness about 6 p.m. today before departing to see the damage in New Orleans for himself. He declined to be interviewed.

From the Times-Picayune:

"Actor Sean Penn arrived Sunday at the New Orleans Police Department staging area at Harrah's casino, announcing that he was ready to help in any way he could. Penn, who recently spent time in the New Orleans area while filming 'All the King's Men,' was being escorted by historian and author Douglas Brinkley."

From MSNBC:

Apparently Penn is out searching, in a boat, with rescuers, looking for friends in the city he has not heard from.

Sometimes it's good to see how others view us. The headlines say it all:

• England: The Week Bush Failed America
• Scotland: Bush Panics and Sends in the Marines and Katrina Reveals Truth About U.S. Poverty
• France: Le Monde Editorial: Catastrophe Sparks New Debate Over Wisdom of Iraqi War; Le Figaro: A Distressing End to Bush's Summer Vacation
• Italy: Storm Reveals Leader Who Divides America
• Germany: German Minister Says Part of Blame for Katrina Goes to Bush
• India: (Reuters) 'Bush doesn't care about black people, shame on America' and U.S. South Drowns in Bitterness
• Australia: Survivor's Fury at Relief Effort

I didn't even bother with the more obvious ones coming from Cuba (calling Bush criminally insane) or the Middle East.

Congressman Dennis Kucininch gave this statement in the House on Friday.(pdf) Inidfference is a weapon of mass destruction. Our troops are stationed in the wrong gulf.

Congress must also demand accountability with the appropriations because until there are basic changes in the direction of this government, this tragedy will multiply to apocalyptic proportions.

The administration said yesterday no one anticipated the breach of the levees. Did the administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA warning about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of New Orleans? Did it not know or care that civil and Army engineers were warning for years about the consequences of failure to strengthen the flood control system? Was it aware or did it care that the very same administration which decries the plight of the people today cut from the budget tens of millions needed for Gulf area flood control projects?

larger version

Via Atrios, here's an open letter the Times-Picayune has sent to Bush: Best line, "Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President."

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right." Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718. How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

For the first time, an Administration official has said the death toll from Katrina will be in the thousands.

CNN this morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath is in the thousands, the first time a federal official has acknowledged what many had feared.

Leavitt said he couldn't provide a precise number on the impact of the devastation, but when asked if it was in the thousands, he told CNN's "Late Edition," "I think it's evident it's in the thousands."