Life Goes Off

Man, this does not look good at night. At first, I thought it had gone down, then when I poked my head around the edge of my balcony, I saw this:

I went for a drive further up the hill to see if I could see the fire any better, but the hill in front of the hill on fire kind of obscured everthing. All you could see was a halloween orange volcanic glow, which was probably scarier because you have no idea how big the fire is.

This is a zoomed-in shot from the balcony.

Sorry that it's a little blurry, but this captures the look to the naked eye better than with a flash. The flash photos did not get all the orange in there.

In its never-ending quest for ratings better than third, CNN has decided to extend the emotional Anderson Cooper's responsibilities by pairing him with Ned Flanders' cousin Aaron Brown for Newsnight.

CNN's president seems to think that the mismatched pairing will make for better television, though he didn't say how it's going to help better inform the public. I wonder why he didn't say that?

This will surely be the shot in the arm CNN's soporific prime time lineup needs. After Larry King and Paula Zahn, two hours of Coop Dogg feat. DJ Flanders should keep whatever viewers they have left.

More Wildfire photos. It appears to be getting a little scarier on this side of the hill. Click on each picture for a larger view.



Cool shot of a helicopter fighting the blaze. Again, these photos are taken with the camera zoomed all the way in of what is probably 2 miles away.

This is the view from my apartment window right now. That mountain ridge is probably 1.5-2 miles away and there are three long blocks of houses and a school between us and the fire, which is moving to the right instead of down, so I think we're going to be okay.

Pre-order the DVD of Guided by Voices' The Electifying Conclusion through Plexifilm and get a commemorative shot glass! You and your friends can play a drinking game where you have to do a shot every time Pollard swings the mic or does a high-kick. Good luck making it past the first half hour. With this and the live Wilco double CD, November can't get here fast enough.

From Plexifilm's website:

A definitive record of one of the greatest bands in indie rock, THE ELECTRIFYING CONCLUSION is a chronicle of the last four hours of GUIDED BY VOICES. The film captures GUIDED BY VOICES' final concert at Chicago's Metro on New Year's Eve 2004 - sixty-three songs - completely uncut. Excitement and nostalgia emanating from both the band and audience throughout the memorable evening are powerfully captured here in fantastic performances of both standard GBV tunes and special, seldom-played classics.The DVD includes over 20 minutes of extras including 4 live songs from 1994 and footage of Bob Pollard recording demos for Half Smiles of the Decomposed.

Who? Exactly. Only a few people know who he really is, but his confirmation process is still illuminating, mainly because it proves that confirmation hearings are a waste of time, or at least a waste of time when one party runs Congress and the White House. Basically, so long as Roberts didn't act like Bork or make some other bonehead mistake, he was in. And that's what he did: about the only things we knew about him was that he was young, well-mannered, his kid's a bit of a brat (Jack Jack rules) and that Diane Feinstien was intimidated by his beauty.

I know a lot of people think everyone should be more up-in-arms about this, but this is how the game is played. It's Bush's turn and he's going to make his moves while it's his turn. No Democrat is going to complain about how unfair it is when it's their turn to do the same. The left's reaction is a mixture of jealousy, disappointment and ideological differences. No one has to like it, but no one can blame the President for doing what any President would do: pick the people he wants. It's that whole victor/spoils thing, and perhaps we should be more pissed off at John Kerry and Terry McAuliffe than at W.

As for Roberts, he's more or less been a hired gun his entire career, which gives him a bit of that slippery lawyer "Pay me and I'll argue whatever you want" kind of air, but he could turn out to be a really principled person -- geez, sorry that comment automatically assumed he won't. We'll just have to wait and see because this is the way it is. Like Rummy would say, we're going to trial with the court we've got, not the court we want. The left can keep their fingers crossed that he's a Souter, but just don't hold your breath.

I hope Roberts' first action as Chief Justice is to allow cameras in the courtroom for Anna Nicole Smith's case. The chance to watch that is worth at least 3 civil liberties.

Tonight and tomorrow night at the Redcat theater in the Disney Music Hall is hosting a pretty cool concert:

The always-rousing Rova Saxophone Quartet is augmented by guitar luminaries Nels Cline and Fred Frith and other guest artists for a brilliant new interpretation of John Coltrane's Ascension--the monumental 1965 piece that stands as one of the key watersheds of post-bop free jazz. In addition to Rova’s four reeds--played by Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs and Jon Raskin--the 11-piece ensemble features the violins, electric guitars, drums and an array of electronics, samplers and turntables of guests Jeff Gauthier, Earl Harvin, Ronit Kirchman, Tom Recchion and Mark Trayle. The two performances at REDCAT mark the 40th anniversary of Coltrane’s contribution to the emergence of structured improvisation.

I'm still not sure if I can make it, but call 213-237-2800 or go to www.redcat.org for $24 tickets.

Critics are calling for Into the Blue to be renamed Into the Brown, which would represent both its quality and its fascination with Jessica Alba's ass.

Charlotte Observer's Lawrence Toppman
Not even the repeated sight of Jessica Alba in a bikini, the camera caressing her like the eyes of a strip-club patron, can lift this leaden refuse off the ocean floor.

Variety's Justin Chang
Not a thriller so much as an extremely violent swimsuit calendar ...

To anyone ever selected to go on The Apprentice: never volunteer yourself to be project manager by saying "I work in advertizing". You will always get fired that week. It happens every year, and the product the person in the advertizing field produces is always awful.

This week was no exception except that it was pretty boring, especially to watch the guys flail around in the boardroom trying to fire Markus. The Donald told them repeatedly that Markus wasn't going to be fired and they kept whining "but we don't like him." Chris' decision to just bring in Markus was the last in a series of cocky moves on the part of the guys. Markus isn't going to last long, but he can't be held responsible for why they failed. He was a fuck-up on the execution, but they lost because of the idea, not because something didn't get done. The others will say they were distracted by him, but by then they had already sealed their fate with a poopy idea.

The rest of the show ... a tad boring. Let's hope things pick up.

World Leader Pretend just performed live on the Today Show. Yesterday, their sales rank was #19, 606 in Music. Right now, it's #5, 654. Let's see what it is in a few hours, shall we?

Jon Brion plays in LA. Every Friday. He plays in New York something like once every seven years. Well, he's doing a rare Thursday show at Largo with none other than Nels Cline on November 3. I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet the house that Murph will be at this show, front and center.

Come on, like you've never thought about it. Just watch it.

Am I the only one who finds it freaky that "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics is a really creepy theme song for The Apprentice: Martha Stewart? Isn't it also sad that it's the best part of the show?

Little is left secret in last night's episode, making for dramatic conflict between my mind and my finger as it kept trying to hit the fast-forward button on the TiVo. This Jim guy has now gone from being annoying to being an absurdist caricature of a human organism. His "tactics" would be transparent even to a pre-verbal child (or perhaps a very smart zygote), which makes them deliciously ridiculous. While I still have yet to understand where his hatred of Dawn comes from (perhaps she looks like a girl who dumped him in little league), I also still see no reason why he should like her. Or anyone else on Team Matchstick. I think the quiet girl may have something to offer, or she may just be quiet. I can't really even tell you who anyone is on the other team because they get zero screentime; the show is too busy chronicling the disintegration of those who were never fully integrated into the human race to begin with. Eventually the show will run out of loudmouths and we'll actually be able to learn everyone's names. Until then, I have nothing else to say that I haven't said already. Grey on gray does not grow on you over time and if you're going to hold a cigar, then you should smoke it. Otherwise you're just a poseur.

It will be an interesting series of months to see how Congress and the White House sort out how they are going to pay for the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, especially since no one seems to be thinking any way other than politically on this.

First you have the President committing to "doing what needs to be done" ... except raising taxes. In fact, the administration is holding firm to cutting more taxes, despite the blossoming federal deficit and another $200 billion about to be put on their tab. Then you have Congress attempting to determine whose pork is disposable and whose isn't, with some saying that there is no fat (because it's all pork) and others disputing what is fat and what is "the best part" like people arguing over fried chicken skins or a nice, greasy pizza. No one is seriously discussing the other option - raising taxes - except to vow that it won't be done.

I'm hardly a financial analyst and I don't know much about this stuff, but from what I've read over the past few months about the depreciation of the dollar and other such economic issues, the Katrina bill could push us over the edge fiscally into some very dangerous territory. Now, I understand that lawmakers are trying to sort out every possible option before running and raising taxes, which is nice; I'm hardly a tax-and-spend person. But I'm starting to feel that they are doing their best to prolong the inevitable, and in a case with so many factors (like China) and such a large bill, the sooner we get real the better off we'll be. There's no need to sweet talk me now in order to get into my pants later: let's just screw and be done with it. Or, to use another sex metaphor, if you're trying to let me down easy, don't worry about it; I'll get over it; you weren't that good anyway.

Think of it this way: Congress won't want to raise taxes until after the mid-term elections, and the President probably won't want to do it at all, which means that the deficit will continue to balloon over the next few years until it becomes another administration's problem. By that time, the problem will be dangerously clear and whoever is in charge will have no choice but to raise taxes, perhaps even substantially. If that next group in charge are the Democrats, the tax raise will be comparable to political suicide; if they win in 2008, they won't in 2010 or 2012, and the same would probably be true if the GOP was in the White House. This is, of course, what happened to Bush's father, which perhaps explains his reluctance to do anything to taxes other than cut them like a lumberjack.

So what are we to do? I'd like to think the case is fairly simple: a small increase in taxes coupled with spending cuts and perhaps the temporary abandonment of repealing the estate tax. The problem is, once you start talking about keeping the estate tax and - God forbid - repealing the Bush tax cuts, it becomes a discussion of political opportunism, where the left appears to be trying to take advantage of a shitty situation in order to promote the same talking points they've been blathering about for years, while the right gets to dismiss legitimate concerns about a deficit spiraling out of control as petty politicking.

The Hold Steady/Constantines tour begins October 14th. Don't forget to down a 6-pack of tall boys before the show. You'll need to keep up. Check your local listings for tickets.

Dates:

Fri Oct 14 Richard's on Richards (Vancouver, BC Canada)
Sat Oct 15 Neumo's (Seattle, WA)
Sun Oct 16 Berbati's Pan (Portland, OR)
Mon Oct 17 W.O.W. Hall (Eugene, OR)
Tue Oct 18 Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA)
Thu Oct 20 Knitting Factory (Los Angeles, CA)
Sat Oct 22 The Casbah (San Diego, CA)
Sun Oct 23 Plush (Tucson, AZ)
Tue Oct 25 Larimer Lounge (Denver, CO)
Thu Oct 27 Mojo's (Columbia, MO)
Fri Oct 28 Logan Square Auditorium (Chicago, IL)
Sat Oct 29 Annex (Madison, WI)
Sun Oct 30 First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN)
Tue Nov 1 Magic Bag (Ferndale, MI)
Wed Nov 2 Opera House (Toronto, ON)
Thu Nov 3 La Sala Rossa (Montreal, PQ)
Sat Nov 5 The Middle East (downstairs) (Cambridge, MA)

Short version: David Cronenberg's new film A History of Violence is a good film, perhaps one of the smartest, more subversive films to be released by a major studio this year. You should see it.

Slightly longer version: I am a huge Cronenberg devotee, and this is a movie to satisfy devotees and virgins alike. It's certainly his most mainstream film since The Fly (perhaps the best remake ever) and bears the most resemblance to his second most mainstream film The Dead Zone (certainly one of the best Stephen King adaptations). While most of Cronenberg's films focus on the outward, physical evolution/mutation of the human being, A History of Violence focuses on an internal metamorphosis. Set in a Rockwellian small town, Tom Stall does something that alters his entire family: he kills two men in defense of himself and the staff at his diner. This act not only has gangsters coming to town to reveal Stall's secret, violent identity, but the act also awakens the violence within each member of his family as well as within Stall himself. It's a subtle, rich devolution that is as fascinating to watch as it is uncomfortable.

Cronenberg shows what he has in common with David Lynch in this film with its Blue Velvet style setting and storyline, and also in its examination of the relationship between sex, violence and power. He holds back on his usual gross-out moments, choosing to use the few moments extremely wisely, causing shrieks not heard since Jeff Goldblum ruined that monkey in The Fly.
The film has an unfortunate patch in the third act and goes a little off-course and off-message. It has a little to do with the writing and more to do with William Hurt's scenery-chewing antics that belong more to Stevie Van Zandt (thanks, Ken) on The Sopranos than in Cronenberg's understated mood piece. The film recovers in the final minutes, but it's enough of a derailment to keep the movie from being excellent. Such theatrics would have been more forgiveable (and forgettable) earlier in the movie, but since they're at the climax, they kind of stick with you more than you'd like.

That being said, the rest of the movie is nothing short of fantastic. Yes, ladies, Viggo is in it, and, yes, his butt makes a cameo.

If you're a Rita victim and want some of that sweet federal aid, you'd better buy a windspeed-o-meter, because if your parish didn't receive hurricane-force winds, you're SOL. For now, they're not even declaring these areas disaster areas, despite the fact that Terrebone Parish received a 9-foot storm surge, flooding many areas, but only tropical storm-strength winds.

Windspeed has nothing to do with flooding ... unless, of course, it creates something like a 9-foot storm surge that can break levees and floodwalls and flood cities. While New Orleans certainly sustained hurricane-force winds, it wasn't the winds that caused the flooding, so shouldn't they also be taken off the list as well?

FEMA's still saying this is their "initial" ruling, so they still have the ability to change what appears to be an issue of semantics. Let's hope so.

(via JBoo)

Time to let the dork flag fly with a post that has been so long in my brain that perhaps it's my brain trying to tell me it should stay there. But we don't always have to listen to our heads. That's why we have stomachs. And sex organs.

This concludes the low-brow humor section of the post. Please fasten your seatbelts as we are about to go through a patch of heavy pretension.

Along with Visconti and Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini is one of my favorite Italian filmmakers, yet most people don't discuss him as much as his contemporaries, and when they do, it's mainly to mention his neorealist films Open City and Paisan, both fantastic films, but also two of his first, which is a bit like confining a serious discussion of Michael Bay to Bad Boys. This is part of the problem with Italian filmmakers who worked in the neorealist period through to the 1960s: they are typically only identified with neorealism unless they make a significant, glaring break from postwar neorealism. Clearly, Fellini made a break in the late 1950s and now his realistic films barely receive mention in discussing his career, Visconti played both sides of the fence (Senso & White Nights vs. Rocco and His Brothers) before The Leopard, and only hardcore Antonioni-ites delve into his work prior to L'Avventura. There are a couple of reasons why Rossellini doesn't get this treatment: 1) his works weren't hits, 2) his and frequent star Ingrid Bergman's relationship created an international scandal that made them infamous at the time, 3) a new crop of filmmakers began to spring up and overshadow any rediscovery of his work during his lifetime, 4) many of his later films are hard to find on video. These factors all conspired over time to let much of Rossellini's work languish in obscurity, but Martin Scorsese's My Voyage in Italy gives massive props to Robby Ross, and the Criterion Collection's impending release of The Flowers of St. Francis gives hope that a large-scale rediscovery of his post-neorealist work is forthcoming.

The two post-neorealist works I want to talk about are some of his first with Ingrid Bergman: Europa 51 and Stromboli. I was able to find a video copy of Stromboli (Billy Bragg and Wilco fans may recognize the title from "Ingrid Bergman") at AFI, but Europa 51 is largely unavailable on video; however, Turner Classic Movies screened both of them back in April, so those with TiVos can sneak the videos to their best video store and help get it out there.

Europa 51 was a flop upon its release, and it certainly is not the greatest movie ever made, but it is definitely worth seeing. It's the story of an upper-class socialite wife (Bergman) whose life undergoes a transformation after her son dies. After that, she finds herself helping (and spending all of her time) with the poorest of the poor. Her family thinks she's gone nuts (because who wants to hang out with poor people?), so they commit her. But her works and her attempts to live by Christ's mandates turn her into a modern-day saint.

The film is a merger of the neorealist tradition with a larger religious tradition, and its depiction of class lines within that context is extremely insightful. There's a marvelous sequence where Bergman finds a poor woman a job in the factory (played by Giulietta Massina), but the woman can't start the next day because she has a rendevous with the man of her dreams. The woman asks Bergman's character to go in her place. At first, it seems that the movie is taking a cynical turn, but it's really to set up how far Bergman will have to go to live her new devotion to selfless love. She goes to work at the factory, where she must pull sheets from a rapidly moving series of sorters, and, through rapid cutting, we discover that she is overwhelmed and can hardly function, yet others around her have no trouble. For the first time in the story, she has assumed the identity of the people she wants to help, and it scares the shit out of her. But she comes out of it with greater assurance that she's doing the right thing.

Where Europa 51 runs for the Church, Stromboli runs for the opera house, making a neorealist movie that becomes a feminist opera of volcanic proportions (pun will become clear later). This time, Bergman is a new trophy wife for a fish merchant who wants them to live on the small island of Stromboli where he's from. Of course, Bergman comes to find that the life she wants and the life her husband has planned for her are very different, and that the village life is going to eat her alive. There's a wonderfully grotesque tuna fishing sequence, where Bergman watches the brutality of the industry firsthand. This film builds to a point where Bergman has to choose between the life she wants and the life that's been forced on her, even if it kills her.

Sound familiar? I was struck by its similarity to Kate Chopin's The Awakening and have come to look at it as perhaps the best unofficial, perhaps unintentional, adaptation of Chopin's ideas. Bergman's character is different in that she has no children and is around some familiar people, but the ideas and emotions are strikingly similar, and the ending seals it all up. Where Chopin's Edna Pontellier drowns, Rossellini's Bergman walks into a volcano as an act of defiance and independence. It's a great merger of melodrama and harsh, low-budget realism, and quite ahead of its time in many ways.

Another great Bergman/Rossellini picture is Voyage in Italy (aka Strangers), where Bergman and the always-perfect George Sanders play an estranged couple trying to make it through a trip to Italy. This one is a little easier to find than the other two and just as good. The Pompei sequence in that film is clear evidence why Rossellini is a master of the art form.

So, if you're feeling like tracking down a foreign movie sometime soon, those are a few that you can be pretty certain you'll see before your friends.

Yes, I know this is not a clever post title, but in an attempt to make it seem more clever, I'll say it's in reference to my taking so long to post about a record I've owned for a month. Still doesn't work? That's fine.

I'll start off by saying that I'm not well-versed in the hip-hop game. I don't know the intricacies of Kayne and Jay-Z's partnership, nor do I know enough about MCs to echo people's criticisms that Kayne is not an adept MC. I know what hip-hop I like, and I know what hip-hop bores me to death. Plus, hip-hop is a bit like classical or jazz in that there are so many artists, such a huge backlog, that it's very easy to get lost and fall far behind in what's going on, so I mostly just listen to Wu-Tang and their spin-offs because that's enough to occupy anybody's listening habits.

But I'm able to get into Kanye the same way many pasty white music dorks are fawning over his latest: his collaboration with musical genius Jon Brion. Like most people, I've been fawning over JB since his work on Paul Thomas Anderson's films, a fawning that turned into a full-on gay crush once I started going to his Friday night shows at Largo. The man can do anything, and just to prove it, he produced a hip-hop album with the most critically-lauded producer-turned-MC of 2004.

Is that enough preliminary talk for you? Good, me too. On to the album, which could be called The College Dropout 2, only this would be a sequel that's actually better than the original. They're very similar, except West gets even more ambitious, takes more risks, and more of them pay off. None of the songs quite reach the heights of "Jesus Walk", but neither has anything else West or any other rapper has done. Also like its predecessor, the album suffers from overlength that keeps it from ascending to the pantheon of Hip-Hop records.

Late Registration kicks off with a full-on assault of brilliance in its first free tracks: "Heard 'Em Say", "Touch the Sky" and "Gold Digger". It confirms that West is no fluke as a solo artist and sets the bar incredibly high for the rest of the record. Sometimes too high, sometimes not.

Then we start with the skits. Will one rapper do me a favor and put an end to skits on albums? What's the point? Or, put it this way: if your skit is not as good as "The $20 Sack Pyramid" on The Chronic, leave it at home. That should keep 99.9% of skits off rap albums. This time around, West takes his College Dropout theme further with a fraternity called Broke Phi Broke, which should be enough to tell you that 4 skits devoted to this is 4 more than this record needs.

"Drive Slow" kicks off a couple of mid-tempo numbers in the middle (never a good idea), with Paul Wall and GLC contributing some good flows. Common always brings it on "My Way Home", which benefits from a great sample. Then there's "Crack Music", which suffers from repetition, but JB's production flourishes are still tasty. "Roses" takes awhile to get going, but manages to win out in the end. JB tries his hardest to make "Bring Me Down" into an interesting number, but his action-movie string section only calls attention to the fact that the song isn't worth such an arrangement. "Addiction" seems addicted to repeating its worst part (the chorus), but the song is good aside from that.

Then another skit puts an end to the mid-tempo with a song that screams "producer": "Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Remix)", a genius use of "Diamonds Are Forever" and the arrival of Jay-Z on the album. It's a song they actually put on the album twice, another example of the record's tendency toward overkill. "We Major" is the longest song on the record and feels that way, lifted up by Nas and the shoutout to JB near the end.

Another skit tells us that perhaps the tone is going to change, and it does with "Hey Mama", one of the best songs of the record with JB adding some shredding guitar work and lots of other instruments that have probably never been on a rap album before. "Celebration" makes for an interesting entry in the weary Cristal, Escalades and Bling genre of rap songs but fails to rescue the genre from its impending demise (hopefully).

Another skit and we're in the home stretch with "Gone", and this is when fatigue really sets in. Had this track been earlier in the album, I might have more great things to say about it, but at 21 tracks, the album is a bit of an endurance test for a single listen, so even though the album may not be getting worse, it feels like its returns are diminishing the longer you listen to it. Then the second version of "Diamonds of Sierra Leone" kicks in and you think you're in bonus track land, but there's still another song to come. This version of the song suffers from not having Jay-Z's rap on it (which kind of seemed to be the point of the whole thing in the first place) and from the fact that you've already heard it (did I mention that yet?).

"Late" is a good closer, easing you out of the album and back to the real world ... and you really feel like you've been on quite a trip. You can't quite remember all the places you've been, but you know you had some fun, even if you had to wait in line some.

I thought it would take much longer than seven years for another band to find a way to record an album worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Of course, other exceptional records have been recorded since 1998, but few have even approached the psychadelic, maudlin, heartwrenching beauty of Jeff Mangum's masterwork. Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy is going to change all that, as if their album cover isn't proof enough. Okkervil River is more rootsy than NMH (dare I say NMH meets Son Volt?) and not nearly as experimental in its instrumentation, but the mood is there, and the feeling in your gut is the same. This is one that cannot be recommended highly enough, and props to Sean T for the discovery.

Some block-rockers, some tearjerkers, some headbangers - just the stuff that's been, to quote Matt Martin, "ruling our shit" for 2005.

Murph's List:

01. "Wishbone" - Architecture in Helsinki, from the album In Case We Die
02. "John Wayne Gacy" - Sufjan Stevens, from the album Illinois
03. "For Real" - Okkervil River, from the album Black Sheep Boy
04. "Modern Girl" - Sleater-Kinney, from the album The Woods
05. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" - The Hold Steady, from the album Separation Sunday
06. "Hey Mama"/"Touch the Sky" - Kanye West, from the album Late Registration
07. "Like Eating Glass" - Bloc Party, from the album Silent Alarm
08. "Be" - Common, from the album Be
09. "Punches" - World Leader Pretend, from the album Punches
10. "The Bagman's Gambit" - The Decemberists, from the album Picaresque

Honorable Mentions (really, any of these could be #10):
"Get It Together" - The Go! Team, from the album Thunder Lightning Strike
"Mushaboom" - Feist, from the album Let it Die
"The Bleeding Heart Show" - The New Pornographers, from the album Twin Cinema
"I Turn My Camera On" - Spoon, from the album Gimme Fiction
"The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, from s/t album
"Pencil Rot" - Stephen Malkmus, from the album Face the Truth
"Blue Orchid" - The White Stripes, from the album Get Behind Me Satan

Sean T's List:

1. “For Real” – Okkervil River, from their album Black Sheep Boy
2. “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” –Andrew Bird, from his album The Mysterious Production of Eggs
3. “Off the Record” – My Morning Jacket, from their album Z
4. “Mushaboom” – Feist, from her album Let it Die
5. “Initiate” – Calla, from their album Collisions
6. “Casimir Pulaski Day” – Sufjan Stevens, from his album Illinois
7. “The Engine Driver” – The Decemberists, from their album Picaresque
8. “Slow Night, So Long” – Kings of Leon, from their album Aha Shake Heartbreak
9. “It’s All Gonna Break” – Broken Social Scene, from their album Broken Social Scene
10. “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”, Stars, from their album Set Yourself on Fire

Honorable Mention
"Kicking Television" (live) – Wilco, from their live album Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
"The Beast and Dragon, Adored" – Spoon, from their album Gimme Fiction
"Soon Enough" – Constantines, from their album Tournament of Hearts
“Dilaudid” – The Mountain Goats, from their album The Sunset Tree
"Everyday" - Rogue Wave, from the album Stubbs The Zombie: The Soundtrack

The New Orleans field office for the FBI has had to move to Baton Rouge, and what better place to set up shop than at a frat house ... the Sigma Nu frat house? I am not kidding:

Beginning today, some 50 New Orleans agents displaced by Hurricane Katrina will be living in the red-brick home once occupied by a fraternity exiled for hazing violations.

The F-B-I spent 90-thousand dollars renovating the house, which had been vandalized.The federal agency's own New Orleans building was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Repairs could take as long as eight months.

The F-B-I is just one of the New Orleans-based federal law-enforcement agencies
making do with unusual living and working arrangements.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has moved to the gymnasium of an old elementary school in Mandeville.

Shouldn't the DEA be killing two birds with one stone by setting up on frat row? Does the FBI still plan on having parties? When does rush start? I'd rather be FBI than GDI.

Because I think I've gotten myself hooked on a network procedural show for the first time ever. What's the show? Criminal Minds, aka 60-minute Silence of the Lambs. I thought it was going to be awful, but they hooked into my fascination with serial killers, profilers and fear and pulled really fucking hard. I don't know if this is the show for everyone, but if you can quote freely from Lambs, can list at least five books dealing with Bundy, Zodiac and Manson, and you know what a Behavioral Science Division is, then Criminal Minds is about as good as you're going to get on network TV.

Not as many as you'd think. After all the hysteria, the carnage in the "jungle" that was the Superdome and Convention Center in the wake of Katrina can be counted on two hands. After everyone said people were raping people atop a 100-foot-high pile of dead bodies, turns out none of it was true.

The total: 6 bodies found at Dome; 4 at Convention Center

Now, I don't know what to chalk this up as other than proof that rumors spread faster in the wake of a hurricane than they do in high school. Or it just shows that urban legends still exist and come into being quite quickly. It's quite incredible that both city officials and the media went forward with such frightening stories that they had no way of confirming. Then again, it's incredible that Wolf Blitzer has a job. I chalk it up as another mistake made in the 1991 Iraq War.

Exhibit A:

... all the tourists who've visited and enjoyed the Crescent City since Betsy, but who now complain about rebuilding it (while the U.S. rebuilds Iraq) can go suck an unpickled egg!! Shouldn't you have been boycotting the city the past forty years, or don't you know history? We rebuilt New Orleans for your pleasure then, and we'll rebuild it for your pleasure this time, too. And I'll be damned if you don't eventually visit us again, and frolic, and then go back home, spent, but ready to "tut tut" us with a more-secure- than-thou sense of superiority.

Listen, Buckwheat: just because your bland, unhistorical, suburban,
cultureles, Panera Bread mini-mall wastelands could be replicated anywhere else,
doesn't mean that we share your aesthetic about our city.

Perhaps this can start a new branding campaign for New Orleans. Let's start a contest on the best variant of "New Orleans: Proud to Call It Home":

New Orleans: Proud to Mop Up Your Puke
New Orleans: Site of Your Next Tryst
NO: Water's Not the Only Thing Liquid We Can Hold
NO: The Only Place You Can Still Call a Place

Anyway, feel free to add your own. In other motto news, here's the new Loyola University Motto:

So where did FEMA workers in New Orleans evacuate to for Rita?

Gulf Shores, AL

That's right: they went to the beach while the Ninth Ward flooded again.

Coney Island is home to many things -- the Wonder Wheel, carny freaks, the Cyclone, and the original Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. It's also the location of Keyspan Park, a wonderful minor league ballpark (home of the Brooklyn Cyclones) that sits adjacent to the boardwalk where cool, salty air breezes over from the ocean. Last night, I ventured down to Coney Island for what I hoped would be a hat trick of rock bands: The White Stripes with special guests The Shins and M. Ward. Thankfully, the show did not disappoint.

Vikings 33, Saints 16

Yuck. Saints down 24-0 before you even had time to get pissed at AB for letting the ball slip out of his hands. This was a bad one. No real good comes from this debacle. The Vikings were a sick ball club and were under a lot of pressure to perform. Rather then beat them down, we gave them the game away in the first quarter. Still, I'm not going to beat up on the Saints.... yet. Teams that play on the road the week after Monday Night Football usually don't play very well. It's not an excuse, but given everything the Saints have been through, they didn't need a shortened work week.

With the Vikings jumping out to such a quick lead, it was tough to get a real handle on what kind of team we have. The defense looked atrocious in the first half, but played alright in the second. Was this thanks to the insertion of the second-string linebackers of TJ Slaughter, James Allen and Ronald McKinnon. They looked great once they got in on the action. Meanwhile, where is Charles Grant? He and Howard got virtually no pressure from the ends. Howard had to go up against a tough tackle, but I don't recall Grant's number being called once. C'mon Charles, get hungry! Our o-line was unable to pick up on the blitz. Clearly, there is some miscommunication on the line about who is picking up who. Meanwhile, the run blocking looked good, but was a non factor since were in catch up mode.

Regardless of the team's play, minus four in the turnover category and 13 penalties is not going to win any games. Again, like last week, it was a miracle they were even still in the game in the 3rd quarter. But silly mistakes (I'm looking at you Dwight Smith and your 4th quarter taunting penalty) prevent this team from making what could be memorable comebacks. Here's hoping that the lack of travel this week will help the team reenergize and focus.

This Game Reminds me of....

Any other game against Minnesota. The Vikings have owned the Saints franchise like none other over the past 20 seasons. We'll never forget the whipping they gave our boys back in the '87 playoff game. And even in the Haslett era, they've dominated us. (I do think Haz got one win over them in 2001.) There was the 2000 playoff game, and the 2002 two point conversion that knocked us out of the playoffs. And last year there was the 500 yards passing by Duante Culpepper. Before yesterday, I chalked up the more recent Viking dominance to Randy Moss and hoped that maybe times had changed. But it turns out that the real star to that Vikings squad is Culpepper. He owns us. As AB might say, he owns us with his eyes. He had a lot to prove yesterday after his six-pick game the week before. And he took it out on us. Shame on our boys for handing it to him on a silver platter. Otherwise, this may have finally been the time we beat on him.

This Week's Saints

Devrey Henderson -- The second year player had his best game as a pro (three catches for 95 yards). He certainly looks like an able third receiver. And for all the drops they say he makes in practice, I've yet to see him drop one in a game. His speed is a weapon, and we need to alert defenses that we will take advantage of it should they leave him alone one on one. If Devrey continues to hold on to the ball and running good routes, the offense will get better and better and perhaps be something to fear later in the season.

Ronald McKinnon -- Don't be surprised if this guy starts at MLB next week over Courtney Watson. Yesterday, as we saw in preseason, McKinnon has a nose for the run. He may be older than Watson and we may be playing Watson with an eye on the future, but the future is now. And we can't afford to wait while teams take advantage of a clearly confused Watson. Also encouraging to see was the play of James Allen. He's been unable to practice all camp and season, but if he is healthy he will be a major addition to the LB corps, which has been our primary liability to this point in the season.

This Week's Sinners

Aaron Brooks -- AB had an awful game. His accuracy was uncharacteristically poor and his two pics killed us. Granted, he didn't have much to work with. We were in catch up mode the whole game, had to abandon the running game, and the o-line was unable to pick up the Viking blitzes.

Aaron Stecker -- He's a good return man, but his opening fumble was the worst start we could have had. How does that happen only one week after the opening kick in the New York game. I don't care that he injured his ankle on the play. He's got to hold on to the ball. It put us in a hole, and we never got out of it.

Courtney Watson -- As discussed above, he looks lost out there. Sometimes he'd blitz, but would delay a second as if he didn't know if he should or not. He clearly lacks an instinct that the great lbs have. I think it's time for a change. I hope McKinnon gets the nod next week.

Dwight Smith -- I love your play and attitude out there, but do not taunt. Make a tackle and walk away, especially when your team has a a chance to get back in the ball game.

Next Up

The Buffalo Bills in our first game in the Alamodome. By the end of this game, we should know what kind of team we have. It's a must win for the Saints. The Bills are nothing special, but are not pitiful either. They'll bring a solid defense and a decent running game. But the Saints, if they want to be a true contender this year, has to win games like this one. Falling to 1-3 for the third consecutive year cannot be an option. I do think the Saints will be rebound, and though I've been off on my picks the last two weeks, I feel much more confident about this one. Saints 27 -- Bills 16.

This is our kick-ass new computer. It is a beast. Sometime this week, I'll actually be done setting it up.

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday today.

World Leader Pretend will perform and be interviewed on this Friday's Today Show at 8:30am (eastern). If you are in the NY area, they will also be playing at noon on Thursday outside at Rockefeller Plaza. I wonder if Al Roker will share barbecuing tips with the boys. Go here for more info:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=13693164&blogID=49694052

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the Loyola Benefit. We raised over $2500 for the Loyola Relief Fund.

Sunday football, cash bar, raffle, food. Hey, the drive will be much quicker on a Sunday morning!

$30 donation at the door includes meal and beverage

The funds go to the Loyola University New Orleans Relief Fund to benefit the Loyola University Community and to help the university recover from Hurricane Katrina.

This event is going to be kick-ass and low-key. Hope to see you there.

Just found out that one of the people who died in the bus explosion today was the grandfather of one of my classmates at Loyola. I don't want to post who all over the place, but those who would want to know know how to get in touch with me.

12:08 P.M. - An Army Corps of Engineers official is blaming today's flooding in New Orleans on an earlier-than-expected storm surge from Hurricane Rita. Brigadier General Robert Crear says contractors are being brought into the city to repair breaches in a patched levee with rocks and sandbags.

But if the levee was "overtopped", then why are there breaches? I could be completely stupid (quite likely here) or the levees were not overtopped.

7:05 A.M. - WILMER, TX (AP): A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire and was rocked by explosions early Friday on a gridlocked highway near Dallas, killing as many as 24 people, authorities said. Click for story.

This explosion was made worse because many of the elderly had oxygen tanks with them that went off like a row of falling dominos.

My folks are a-okay, chilling near a safe beach, and grandparents are at Wal-Mart in Natchitoches.

Please keep frequent commentor Nick in mind as he rides out the storm in Houston.

Man, last night's premiere of Donald's The Apprentice made me heave a huge sigh of relief. Usually, The Donald keeps the most irritating people around for at least another week before he fires them, because reality TV viewers love to hate. This time, thankfully, he spared us from having to listen to Melissa's delusions of grandeur any more. Had she stayed another week, she may well have become the first person to be killed on reality TV.

The task seemed pretty interesting, though the tasks seem to become less and less important to the show with each passing season. Then again, when you have Melissa and a flyer that looks like it was made for porno, what else can you focus on?

The flyer was amazingly awful, as in I couldn't believe 8 women didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Then again, if I were walking down the street and got handed a red flyer by eight hot women that said (XXX gonna make you sweat), I'd at least go and see what the class was all about.

And I was afraid for a second that The Donald would not overlook such a marketing blunder to fire the squeaky wheel. It was a major blunder, but, as Alla (the Russian spa owner) said, they lost by one sale, and they could have easily made one more sale had they not had to deal with Melissa.

Thankfully, Kristi more or less just let Melissa talk herself out of the show. It's always entertaining to hear difficult people go on and on about how everyone is intimidated by them because they're smart and beautiful and how nothing is ever their fault because they are too smart and beautiful to make mistakes. And it's even better to watch Carolyn's facial reactions to these things.

As for the men, of course none of them stand out because that guy Markus still hasn't stopped talking. I did like getting to see The Donald show that he's really a nice guy at heart by flying Randal to his grandmother's funeral.

Since there are 18 candidates and 13 episodes, we're going to see some double-firings this year, and the new exemption rule is quite interesting (your team has to vote for your exemption). I can't wait.

Despite a bazillion movies coming out this weekend (I counted), not too many dismissals. It seems like the critics did a collective shrug instead of gang up on one movie. Perhaps it's because they're all in shock at David Cronenberg's next great movie, A History of Violence, or maybe the movies coming out this weekend are not all that bad. Anyway:

Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek on Flightplan:
An exercise in edgy tedium, and even though it's only 90 minutes or so, it seems to last longer than an actual transatlantic flight. If you bring an eye mask and a few sleeping pills, you should get through it OK. A magazine or book wouldn't hurt, either. It'll be over before you know it.

In other film news, Fox Searchlight is donating 10% of this weekend's gross for Roll Bounce to hurricane relief, so now you can say you went to see a roller disco movie and not have people laugh at you. Just say "It was for charity!"

My parents and grandparents have left Lafayette and New Iberia, respectively, but my parents like to think that they're taking their vacation a few days earlier than expected.

HBO, that channel devoted to nurturing new and exciting shows, has decided to cancel The Comeback. Mrs. Murph and I just recently got HBO and this show has been rocking my world ever since. Mega-bummer. If HBO renews that Latin suckfest Rome and cancels The Comeback, I may just have to cancel HBO. I know my TiVo would thank me.

Are the hurricanes chasing New Orleanians? If they go to Iowa, will a hurricane hit Iowa and follow them until they surrender? Or are they looking to bag the Cajuns now that they have the Creoles?

As Jon Stewart said last night, Rita became a Category 12 hurricane in a matter of minutes. Now there are voluntary evacuations for Lafayette Parish for those in mobile homes and low-lying areas. Sounds like my folks are still planning on staying, but that could all change soon.

So the storm is supposed to hit late tomorrow, and yet we're still not sure where it's going to go. Yesterday, folks in Corpus thought they were getting it head-on, now it's looking like Galveston is getting it head-on, and if it continues on the track it's on, Corpus may only get the edge of this huge storm. The point I'm trying to make is that, while we can see them on the radar, these storms are not 100% predictable. Yesterday, central Louisiana seemed in the clear, now they're glued to the TV.

Jeffrey's got the full scoop on that special species of human being: the landlord, the hardest working man in the world (snark).

Yes, New Orleans area landlords are starting to kick tenants out of their buildings, sometimes with a polite letter, sometimes just by dumping all their shit out in the street. Some are even trying to charge them September rent, as well as charge them for cleaning the rotten refrigerator themselves. They have also been instructed to be careful not to bump their asses on the way out the door.

Why? So they can renovate their buildings and bring in better (read: richer) tenants at higher prices.

While evacuating, these people are being evicted, and this isn't happening in the slums of the city: this is happening in areas like Kenner, Metairie, etc. This is a horrible example of people using the storm to take advantage of other people, only this time the landlords may have some legal excuses that makes them think they're doing something right.

Desire NOLA has created a great program to bring business back to New Orleans, and their T-Shirt is absolutely perfect:

Go to their website and check out more information, where they apologize for "any delay due to overwhelming response." Nice.

Sweet bliss! The Apprentice two nights in a row! If only The Donald were on both nights.

A lot of people had their misgivings about what Martha Stewart would be like hosting The Apprentice, and I'd have to say they'd be right. Now, don't mistake any of this as displaced Martha-hating, but she is just not dynamic enough for a reality-TV competition show. She's too reserved, too low-energy, too ... cold. She's about as dynamic on this show as her favorite color scheme (gray on grey).

But that doesn't stop the show from being completely awesome. That would be thanks to the brilliant group of fuck-ups she has selected (and one of whom she'll get to boss around like her mother on one of her cooking shows). These guys were so brilliant that, when told to switch into teams, they thought it would be great to separate the corporate-types from the creative types. I know Martha told them to group together according to a theme, but I don't think this is what she meant.

Martha's Carolyn and George are her daughter and some older guy who carries a cigar with him everywhere, despite the fact that he's always about 50 floors away from where he'd be allowed to smoke it. It's almost funny, but then it just gets inexplicably weird. I'm sure it's something they'll devote a 10-minute segment to during the 8-hour special finale.

As for Martha's "You're Fired" line, "You just don't fit in", I don't think it works, nor does her saying "will be asked to leave" instead of "fired". As if that sounds any nicer when you're getting fired. Of course it doesn't, it just makes the person firing you feel better.

I can't even pick an early favorite now because the show really only put the spotlight on people who I wished she would fire immediately because you know they're not going to last six weeks. Then the preview for next week shows someone wanting to leave the show. What is with these folks? Is it now going to be standard procedure for someone to want to leave in week two or three, despite the fact that these shows have been around long enough for them to know what to expect?

Anyway, this show should provide at least 10 weeks of enjoyment out of its 15-week run. The tasks seem to be very well done and there seem to be enough smart, sane people to keep the show from turning into complete chaos. Stay tuned tomorrow for my update on The Donald's edition.

Yes, you read that right: Jerry O'Connell, Vern from Stand By Me and the star of Tomcats, is going to marry uber-model-turned-actress Rebecca Romijn (formerly Stamos). I guess she has a thing for guys who used to be famous.

If you're thinking of sending a gift, I'd recommend replacing Vern's lost comb and make sure all gift for Romijn can become invisible.

I'll do my best to keep these brief as each showcase had six and seven bands, respectively. To keep myself upright and not snoozing in the corner like a stand-in from Weekend at Bernie's, I had to rock things Britney-style (that's a steady diet of Red Bull with a smattering of cigarettes for those of you who don't read US Magazine).

Day 3 (Merge Records Showcase at Rothko)
In order of appearance:
Richard Buckner - Sitting alone center-stage with a guitar on his lap and a board full of pedals at his feet, Richard Buckner played a haunting half-hour set without stopping once. Apparently, this is par for the course for his performances. His music is woven with an alt-country thread that embraces minor chords and cryptic imagery, and in between songs, he would improvise a few bars before transitioning to the next song. He has a distinct, hardened voice, and I look forward to checking out some of his albums, as he's apparently been around a while. WLP Andy recommended Devotion + Doubt and Since, so I will probably start there.

Tenement Halls - Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of his former band, the Rock-a-Teens, singer/songwriter Chris Lopez has come out on top yet again with his new project, Tenement Halls. These guys are a ton of fun to watch, and I recommend you download their track "When the Swifts Come Home" and you'll find yourself whistling the melody a week from now. Fun indie pop, plain and simple.

Annie Hayden - I have to say, I was bored with her performance from beginning to end. I don't know if she was having an off-night or what, but she never seemed to capture the attention of the packed room, outside of those standing in the front row directly in front of the stage. People were talking throughout her set, and while I usually am annoyed by this sort of thing, I can understand their lack of focus. Hayden came across as Liz Phair-lite (the old Liz Phair, not the new "I wanna be Avril Lavigne at 38" Liz Phair), and the band seemed unrehearsed and just off their game entirely. There were a couple songs that shone through with strong melodies and might sound nice on the album, but it wasn't enough to make me seek her out.

Portastatic - Perhaps sensing the crowd was ready to rock and get into the show again, Mac "I'm not just the President of Merge, I'm also a Member" McCaughan opened his set with a blistering version of one of my favorite Dylan songs "Tonight I'll be Staying Here with You." They proceeded to play an incredibly tight set that didn't have a single lapse. His current incarnation of the band consists of Jim Wilbur (Superchunk) on bass, Margaret White (Cat Power, Comas) on violin, keyboards, and guitar and Matthew McCaughan on drums. I definitely want to pick up his newest album, Bright Ideas after seeing their set. Since Superchunk seems to be on an indefinite hiatus, all of McCaughan's focus is here and it shows. Portastatic isn't merely his side project any more. If you're nostalgic for early 90's indie rock, do not pass go.

Crooked Fingers - What can I say? I love this guy. Eric Bachmann, mastermind of Crooked Fingers, performed solo on guitar here, and you could hear a pin drop during his set in the packed club. Hints of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Diamond can be found in his voice, and his songs are whiskey-soaked laments of loss and desperation. Each time I see him, his voice becomes more and more pure which is a good and bad thing, because while it's incredibly pretty, I sometimes miss the grit and gravel from earlier CF recordings and his now-defunct band Archers of Loaf. For the uninitiated, I recommend starting with Red Devil Dawn and then maybe Bring on the Snakes. Very moving performance...

The Rosebuds - I first saw this husband-wife fronted band open for Teenage Fanclub in San Francisco a couple months ago and really liked them, considering I'd never heard a song of theirs before. They proved tonight that it wasn't a fluke. Ivan (guitar, vocals) and Kelly (keyboards, vocals) led their raucous trio through a set of Kinks-inspired rock-and-roll. The manic pop energy they created on stage was infectious, and after some technical problems with their keyboard towards the end of their set, they moved to the front of the stage and onto the floor and led the crowd in an un-amplified acoustic sing-along where the crowd was clapping in unison and ready to do whatever the Rosebuds told us to do. Fun times by a fun group out of North Carolina...their new album is titled Birds Make Good Neighbors.

Ok kids, that's all for now..be back soon with my Sub Pop review and whether or not Wolf Parade are this year's Arcade Fire.

Giants 27, New Orleans 10

Last week many press outlets labeled the Saints as America's Team. Last night, America learned what it's like to be a Saints fan. We endured a poor performance by the boys in black and gold. Turnovers, penalties and a myriad of other mistakes sealed their fate. It's a wonder how they were still in this game as late as the fourth quarter. The Giants looked like an average football team: a solid run defense, but a vulnerable pass defense; good receivers and running backs, but an inexperienced quarterback. They'll likely finish 7-9 or 6-10. But they did not make mistakes last night and that should serve as a reminder to this Saints team, who for the previous five regular season games looked like they finally figured out that by avoiding self-inflicted wounds, victory is possible.

Still, there's no reason to panic. And I say this because I have more faith in Aaron Brooks right now than I have had at any point in his Saints career. Despite his turnovers, I do believe Brooks looks a lot more comfortable in this offense than in the McCarthy offense. Even before the Saints were in catch up mode, he spread the ball around and threw it with authority. If Ernie Conwell can have half the game he had last week, then it would have been a completely different ballgame. Plus, it's important to note that the Giants really took Deuce out of the game. This is going to be the norm until AB consistently beats teams with the pass. But after two games, I see more upside to Brooks than I do stuff to be alarmed about.

This Saints game reminds me of....

Every week I will try and pick a game from Saints seasons passed similar to this Saints game. The Giants game reminds me of the Saints 2002 game at Detroit. I believe the Saints were 2-0 or 3-0 at the time and there was a lot of excitement. They were clearly the better team than Detroit, but the Saints made some stupid turnovers and the tight end (David Sloan) at the time dropped some key passes. The Saints looked bad in defeat, but were able to shake it off and went on to a 6-1 start to the season.

This Week's Saints

Joe Horn -- A helluva catch in the end zone earns him some love. Up until his fumble at the goal line, he was having a great night. Horn had some great sideline catches and consistently got open. Looking at Joe on the sideline, I think he might be upset about the commitment to the ground game. Because he was miked up, we got to hear him say that the Giants DBs were no match for he and Stallworth. That proved to be true. And while I support our commitment to the ground game, I wonder if we should open up with more passing until the defense puts more men into coverage. This will be interesting to watch as the season progresses.

Michael Lewis -- The Beerman didn't have any great returns last night, but he did seriously injure his knee on his last kick return. The initial report is a torn ACL, which will sideline him for the season. One has to wonder if he'll ever play again in a regular season Saints game. That would be a shame. Michael Lewis is the only native New Orleanian on the roster (right now -- don't be surprised if they re-sign Talman Gardner this week to take Lewis's spot on the roster). The Beerman quickly became one of my favorite all-time Saints. From delivering beer to scoring touchdowns, his story is something out of the movies. And the fact he did it all in his hometown makes it that much more remarkable. I hope he can make it back, but at his age and at that position, it is unlikely.

Eli Manning -- I thought Manning played a solid game last night. But I'm giving him props here for donning an
Aaron Brooks jersey and promoting the "Be A Saint" t-shirts. Reebok is donating all proceeds made off of selling Saints gear to Katrina relief. (Murph has already posted his concerns about the fine print of the deal.) Still, Eli, unlike Peyton, really loves New Orleans. I read he spent his offseason living at Mom and Dad's in the Garden District. Hell, he probably still likes hanging out at Fat Harry's. Thus, I think Eli is a bit more genuine in his concern for the rebuilding of New Orleans. And his star power will hopefully sell a lot of Saints gear. I already bought my Be A Saint t-shirt last night.

This Week's Sinners

Ernie Conwell -- I've already discussed his poor play above. But his drops/inability to look for the ball in time really came at inopportune times for this offense. Frankly, he looked out of it. Maybe he has a concussion from last week's hit in the Carolina game. But if that's the case, put in Zach Hilton. Especially in the red zone. He's such a big target, I don't think he'd miss too many high throws.

Jason Craft -- Jason Craft was abused by Plexico Buress in the first quarter. He did not have an answer. Though I do think Buress got a way with a bit of pushing off. And, Craft was thrown into the fire at the last minute. Fakhir Brown was supposed to start and I think we all saw why he threatened to hold out in the offseason. Brown is clearly the second best cover guy on the team and without him we are in trouble.

Sederick Hodge and Courtney Watson -- The play of our linebackers, which has been a concern for sometime, continues to disappoint. Watson is especially disappointing. Playing in the middle, he needs to be more of a presence on the run defense and in coverage. It's time for Haz to bench him and replace him with veteran Ronald McKinnon, who looked solid during the preseason. As for Hodge, he just looks lost out there. He is playing in place of an injured James Allen, who I think was the secret ingredient in the resurgence of our defense late last season. Like Fakhir Brown, let's hope Allen's knee gets better and gets better soon.

This Week

We're off to play Minnesota (0-2). They looked awful on Sunday against the Bengals. It's unlikely they'll play that poorly again, and they're always tough to play in the Metrodome. But Mike Tice, without Moss, is being exposed as the bumbling idiot that he's always been. (His brother John was always the intellect in the family!) Let's hope his job security is enough of a distraction to prevent them from getting back on track. I like us to win this one, 27 -- 23. (My record on Saints picks so far is 1-1.)

Those of you who endured the Saints-Giants game last night probably saw a commercial with all the Giants players (including the overrated frat boy Shockey) wearing Saints jerseys and asking us to "be a saint" and buy Saints apparel from Reebok's website. Rbk said that all profits from the sale of these jerseys would go to the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund ... until October 1.

That's right: 12 friggin' days worth of sales. It's all in the fine print at the bottom of the screen.

Don't get me wrong, their offer is generous, but are they ashamed of the fact that it's only for twelve days? I could see how they might be, since they have two dozen other team jerseys to sell at a full profit during a season that is only 16 weeks long. It's not like Saints jerseys are going to sell like FDNY jerseys after 9/11.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I do feel like the kid who wanted an 80-gig iPod for Christmas and got the Nano.

Sean T has told about a few, now here's a Loyola Benefit that Mrs. Murph had a hand in organizing:


Sunday football, cash bar, raffle, food. Hey, the drive will be much quicker on a Sunday morning!

$30 donation at the door includes meal and beverage

The funds go to the Loyola University New Orleans Relief Fund to benefit the Loyola University Community and to help the university recover from Hurricane Katrina.

This event is going to be kick-ass and low-key. Hope to see you there.

For LGO readers in the Los Angeles area, this stellar lineup is taking place this Thursday, but good luck getting tickets as it appears it is sold out on Ticketmaster's website.

September 22nd - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern LG (Concert For Katrina Relief)
Tenacious D and friends
Line up:
Fiona Apple
Dave Grohl
Josh Homme with Jesse Hughes
David Cross
Sarah Silverman
And special guests

All net proceeds go to The American Red Cross.

Tickets went on-sale Friday, September 16 at noon. Tickets available through avalonattractions.com, ticketmaster.com, all ticketmaster outlets, The Wiltern LG box office, and charge by phone at: (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000 and (805) 583-8700.

For those of you in NYC, there are couple shows this week worth noting:

Tuesday September 20, 2005
Arts for Art, Inc. and the Angel Orensanz Foundation present
Vision Artists for New Orleans: A Jazz and Creative Music All-Star Benefit for the Artists of New Orleans
Location: Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, 172 Norfolk St (just south of Houston)
Time: 5:30pm to midnight
Tickets $30 only at the door

The order of appearances...
5:30 pm The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and friends, Masada John Zorn and Dave Douglas, Tri-Factor w/ Hamiet Bluiett, Billy Bang & Kahil El-Zabar, Bill Dixon (solo trumpet), Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Whit Dickey, Patricia Nicholson, Henry Grimes, Oliver Lake, Ted Daniel, Cooper-Moore, Kidd Jordan, Clyde Kerr, J.D. Parran, Reggie Workman, Kali Z. Fasteau, Alvin Fielder, Muhal Richard Abrams (solo piano), Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry and Elvis Costello, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Hamid Drake, Amiri & Amina Baraka, Yo La Tengo w/ Other Dimensions in Music.

--Emcees will be Steve Buscemi, Steve Dalachinsky & Patricia Nicholson
--Each performance will be from 10mins to 30mins in length
--Proceeds from the event will go to New Orleans artists. (via One Louder)

Also tomorrow night (Tuesday the 20th), some guy named Tom Waits is playing with Ray Lamontagne, Galactic with the Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, The Meters, The Neville Brothers and many more at Radio City Music Hall. Tickets still on sale here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D003B2CABADB8D4?artistid=989373&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1
100% of all money raised from ticket sales will go directly to organizations involved in the region's relief and rebuilding efforts, including the Bush Clinton Katrina fund, Habitat for Humanity, MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund, and the Children's Health Fund.

If you know of any benefit shows taking place in your neck of the woods, feel free to post in the comments section.

As you may have noticed, for the first time in its 16-month history, LGO has found a way to showcase new voices. Big_Shot is bringing us the Saints news because ... well, it's obvious from his posts why: because he's good at it and certainly light years ahead of me in Saints knowledge. I think he's going to do a great job and I hope you all enjoy it too.

And now there is a third, a triumverate, if you will: Sean T will be a music correspondent, bringing you reviews, news and another Top 10 list for the year. I don't know how much we'll disagree on, but maybe we'll just agree passionately.

Big_Shot's on a regular schedule for the season and Sean T is going to post whenever he pleases, so I hope you'll enjoy our expanded content as much as I will. Please don't think this means I'm slacking - ideally, LGO will have more quality content than ever.

Fred Barnes' column in the latest issue of The Weekly Standard (you know, the commemorative 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition), makes one really great point about the President's response to Katrina, only to run away from it as quickly as it is made. Perhaps it's because Barnes is about as comfortable with criticizing Bush as he is with spooning with John McCain.

Barnes latches onto an exchange between House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Bush in which Pelosi says Brown should be fired. When Bush asks why, Pelosi says, eloquently, "Well, for everything ... it was so slow." Bush shot back with "Thank you for your advice."

Now I'll be the first to admit that Pelosi made no point worth taking, probably because the only hurricanes to ever hit her home state (and the one I live in now) came from hot air circulating out of her windbag mouth. But Barnes takes it a little further:

A lot was packed into the brief exchange. It displayed the deep polarization in American politics that has shaped nearly everyone's take on Katrina. It showed the eagerness of Democrats to exploit the hurricane and its aftermath for maximum political gain. And it reflected Bush's failure to seize the opportunity of Katrina for strong presidential leadership.

Bingo. While some Democrats certainly recognized the severity of the fuck-ups at all levels of government, many (like Teddy K) just use it as another flag to wave at the John Roberts confirmation hearings or as a bargaining chip in getting a less conservative judge nominated to replace O'Connor (what does this have to do with the Supreme Court anyway?).

But the great point here is that even if you don't think Bush did anything wrong, he certainly missed an opportunity for a bold, inspiring display of leadership. Even if his hands were completely tied, as many want to claim, he could have created what Barnes calls another "bullhorn moment" (and what I call a Bill Pullman moment) and reaped a great deal of political benefit. Instead, like what many Bush supporters claim happened with Blanco and Nagin, he dragged his feet until the opportunity blew up in his face. More Barnes:

His performance lacked three things we saw in 9/11. By the evening of 9/11, he understood the magnitude and meaning of the attacks and told aides, including VP Cheney, that America was at war. The night the levees [sic] broke and indeed the next day, Bush hadn't fully grasped the dimensions of the crisis. In the nine days after 9/11, the president delivered two powerful speeches ... but there was no major speech in the same time frame after Katrina.

Barnes also notes how inappropriate Bush's comments about Trent Lott's porch and Brown's job performance were by saying "the tone and substance were wrong," meaning everything except the grammar was a total fuck-up.

But then Barnes runs away from his criticism of Bush by saying that

as with 9/11, Bush's second reaction was more confident. Within days of the first visit, Bush returned with stronger words ... Bush was in charge again.

To not come back with stronger words would have been the biggest political blunder of his entire career, and it certainly didn't gain back what he lost in his weak first response.

Had Bush's first response been stronger, complaints about his performance would be confined to delusional partisans who believe he's responsible for everything bad about the world, from global warming to Carrot Top. I would have congratulated him, because I don't dislike Bush for the sake of disliking him, and any level of comfort greater than a 1700-feet flyover on the third day would have been greatly appreciated.

And I think his supporters should be disappointed with him too, if only for this simple reason: he had an opportunity to stand up and be the great leader many believe him to be and he choked. He phoned it in until he had pissed off a lot of people and a better response was his only choice to keep up appearances. He could have been the Bush of 9/12-9/20, but instead he experienced one of his lowest points of leadership. If there is anything he failed to do in response to Katrina, it was this, and his failure to seize the opportunity, to answer the call to greatness, is one of his biggest political mistakes, not because of the capital he lost, but the capital he failed to gain.

Some people just have to ruin things for the rest of us. While I'm a huge fan of The Daily Show, I'm always disturbed and offended by their attitude toward religion. It's rather smug, condescending and surprisingly ill-informed (with the exception of Stephen Colbert's "This Week in God"). Bascially, they tend to group anyone with any sort of religious belief under the gilded umbrella of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, which, obviously (hopefully), is a gross generalization. Of course, this attitude is not isolated just to them, but rather to the secular world in general; in other words, they aren't the generators, just the messengers.

I know I may not make a lot of blogosphere friends with this post, but that has really been bothering me and the whole point of LGO in the first place was to give me an outlet for things that were bothering me so I didn't torment Mrs. Murph with my pent-up concerns. So, here goes:

I am, and have always been, a practicing Roman Catholic. So, yes, I think there is a God with a son named Jesus and that bread and wine are magically transformed into flesh and blood on Sunday, even though I have no scientific evidence to back it up. I know this sounds ridiculous to a lot of people, but let me clarify what being a Catholic does not mean to me. It does not mean that the universe was created in six days, that people actually used to live to be 900 or that there was really a flood that killed everything except two of each species (excepting the unicorns, of course - they were late). It also does not mean that I want Church and State to have the same address or that I think government should tell people what they can or cannot do based on the en vogue religion. I feel comfortable enough making my own moral decisions and am too busy trying to live up to them in my daily life that I don't have time to waste trying to force them on other people and tell them they're going to suffer eternal hellfire if they don't do what I say (not what I do, just what I say).

You wouldn't know this from watching TV, because all Christian religions in the news, film and television are grouped together as Bible-thumping, fag-hating, Dr. Phil-watching cultists. After four and a half years in L.A., this has started to get on my nerves, because I may thump my Bible and hate fags, but I do NOT watch Dr. Phil ... that's a joke, folks.

As a white male, perhaps it's time I feel like a misrepresented minority (notice how evangelicals have taken to calling themselves "people of faith" as though they were "people of color"), but that doesn't make it any more or less right. Contrary to what some may think, I don't hate atheists. Some of my best friends are atheists ... these are the jokes, people. I completely understand why educated people would come to think that there is no God, especially after something like Hurricane Katrina happens. That's just something we disagree on and that's cool. I don't think any less of them because that's what they believe. I know a ton of people of faith would vehemently disagree with me, and many atheists may hold contempt for what I believe, but that's okay because I believe that we're free to choose our own religious course. What I don't like is when it's chosen for me.

And that's where we get to those bad apples. The evangelical's crusade against all things that don't agree with them has caused the secular world to assume that all people who believe in some higher power (save Asiatic religions, because those people are just confused celebrities) to share the beliefs of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition and all those other organizations that are little more than pure-sounding names for censorship and theocratic movements. This is deeply resent. I feel like a Spaniard or Puerto Rican in L.A. being called Mexican ... not that there's anything wrong with being Mexican, but just because you're Hispanic (or Christian) does not mean that you come from the most recognizable (or loudest) group (the fundgelicals). And it comes from both sides, the secular and the evangelical. The secular needs to realize that there is more than one Western religion and the evangelical needs to understand that not everyone who believes in God is on their team.

I know there's also the complaints about the shortcomings of organized religion, some of them terribly huge, like in my religion. I know the recent sex scandals have caused many to leave the Church. Well, as a former altar boy whose pee-pee has never been touched and whose back hole remains exit-only, I think this too is very short-sighted thinking. Let me make a two analogies to this line of thinking:
1. I think everyone would say without a doubt that not all Muslims are terrorists. Then why do comedians get away with joking that all priests jerk off nine year-olds? I'll tell you one reason: because it's the easiest joke in the world. I don't laugh at these jokes not only because I don't think they're funny but also because they're lazy.
2. Given all the bad that's happened, many people claim they just don't feel comfortable participating in a religion that allowed something like that to happen. To me, this is letting a few bad apples run the show again, but there's an even better rebuttal. It goes like this: okay, if you feel that way, then why do you still live in America? America has committed atrocities in their history that make the altar boy scandal look like a Jerry Lewis Telethon, and yet you don't seem to have lost faith in our country. Why not? Well, because it's a lot easier to skip Church on Sunday than it is to move to Canada.

To me, you think this way and you let those motherfucking pedophiles win. And I sure as shit don't want those assholes to win, which is why I'm doing my best to live according to the real teachings of Christ and not what some diddler and his protectors tell me to do.

The bottom line is, all human institutions are flawed; that's what "human" means (told you I was Catholic) - it's our responsibilty as humans to find a way to rise above our inherent flaws. Some people succeed at this, many do not. It's not the institution's fault. There are plenty of good and bad people to go around, in organized religions and out, so it's hardly the institution that makes them bad. Granted, hard-lined fundamentalists (as well as most people with power and authority) tend to be full of anger and self-righteousness and show a great degree of concern for things that they would never do. But you know what? I think One Tree Hill is a threat to the moving image ... so I don't watch it. I tend to think that the fundamentalists listen to the left more than the left does and vice-versa and we'd probably all be better off if we just tuned them all out.

I know the paranoid want us all to believe that the right-wing fundamentalists are going to take over the world like the Commies were supposed to in 1958, but I really don't see that happening. Worst-case scenario, we'll live in segregated communities, with the left on the coasts and the right in the center ... wait, that's what we're living in now, isn't it? On the other hand, the fundamentalists are just as paranoid about the left. You'd think we were rival football teams. In a way, perhaps we are: passionate people always need something to rally against, and it's always easier to do that if you think the other side is out to consume you entirely. So, take two chill pills and call me in the morning, everybody.

Sorry to present such a disorganized rant, but I guess I've waited too long for my thoughts to be brief enough to present in one, coherent post. This should at least get some kind of discussion started. Happy Sabbath!

So, what made the cover of the first issue of The Weekly Standard since Katrina?

Hurricane Katrina?
Wrong. Trick question.

Justice Rehnquist dying?
No.

Ah-ha! The Fourth Anniversary of 9/11?
Nope.

Give up?

The magazine's 10th Anniversary celebration.

At least we know what the most important event of the week is.

Have received word from in-laws and friends that their houses are okay. Some in-laws on Westbank are already back at their house, other friends in Jeff Parish got either 0 or 3 inches of water, respectively. 3 inches still means junking furniture, drywall, carpet, etc., but the house will still be salvaged. Buddy in Slidell's parent's house shocking relatively unscathed.

In bad news, Uncle and Aunt in Lakeview definitely facing at least 8 feet of water, friends in Chalmette's families probably have at least 10 feet, the same for other pals in Jeff Parish.

I'm sure most of you know by now that Bush has named Karl Rove as the man "in charge of the reconstruction effort" for the areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Of course, most critical of the administration see this as Satan himself once again controlling every aspect of the world for his boss' political benefit.

Now, I totally think the decision to nominate Rove is a really dumb move, but not because of Rove's similarities to the Dark One, which lefties would cite even if Rove was nominated as head of McDonald's. If Rove is Bush's policy mastermind, why is Bush making him spend all his time rebuilding the Gulf Coast? Aren't there many other people better equipped to oversee this who are not in charge of running so many other things for the President? Isn't this like putting Donovan McNabb in charge of replacing the astroturf? This is not, of course, to say that rebuilding isn't important (as if I'd even think of saying that), but only to say that Bush seems to be allocating his most precious political resource to a situation that will (or should) keep that precious resource occupied entirely for at least a year. Wouldn't Bush benefit more from having Rove work on policies like privatizing Social Security? Who's Bob Novak going to get his stories from now? In other words, shouldn't Rove being doing something more political?

Or is this political after all? Is the rebuilding that Rove's in charge of really the rebuilding of the President's poll numbers that got wiped out like they were the Twinspan in New Orleans East? Not to make anyone cue up the X-Files theme, but is Rove's job here more about rebuilding an image than rebuilding a city?

I'm not trying to sound paranoid (because I really don't need to try - it comes naturally), but this is really the only sensible explanation I can come up with as to why Bush would put his Queen (chess analogy) in such an obscured position. Of course, he's the President, he can appoint whoever he wants, but one must admit that someone like Rudy Giuliani would be an obvious enough example of what kind of person should be doing this, as well as an example of how such an assignment doesn't even come close to falling on Rove's Radar.

Of course, Josh Marshall does a much, much better job of explaining this in two posts: #1 and #2. Yes, you do not give more power to the inefficient and incompetent; you make them more efficient and more competent with the ample powers they already have. While Josh seems to keep this at the federal level, it's an obvious lesson to all levels of government.

Please don't eat anything.

Worth 1000.com has the most hilarious (and disturbing) set of photos you'll see in awhile.













And now I have to add my own to this list:


Dick Clark, 2037

Some people are calling it bad taste to release a horror movie shot in New Orleans at a time like this (please), but one thing's for sure: no matter what, Venom sucks ass.

New York Post's Kyle Smith
All hopes for suspense and plot twists are snuffed out about as quickly as the film's black characters.

San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub
You'll feel so much better just sending your $9.50 to the Red Cross then catching "I Know What You Did Last Summer" one more time on television.

Frequent commentor Sean T is plotting a Hurricane Katrina Relief Shindig on the Upper East Side, yo!

Here are the details ... also keep in mind that I will not stop reminding you about this, so mark it down now.

Date: Wednesday, September 28th
Time: 7:30pm-10:30pm
Place: Waterloo Tavern (1629 2nd Ave btwn 84th & 85th St)Cover: $30 cash only ($10 of each cover charge will be donated to the cause. If you can afford to give more, we welcome it.)

***Open bar does not include shots, top shelf liquors, or bottled beers. Sorry! But you can still get your Mardi Gras on with Pimms Cups, Bloody Marys, Mint Juleps, draft beer, mixed drinks, etc.***

Other excitement includes food specials (TBD), Jill and Sean T bartending, Sean T and DJ Darrell on the iPods of Steel, and possible other surprises ... oooh, how deliciously vague.

All proceeds will go to America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest charitable hunger relief organiztion which obtains and distributes food, water and essential grocery supplies to the hurricane victims. For more information, please visit: http://www.secondharvest.org.

Having witnessed Sean T work the iPod of steel in my passenger seat, this is not to be missed. You will see someone take you from Neutral Milk Hotel to Missy Elliott faster than you can say King of Carrot Flowers. Someday the world will recognize the blossoming art of the On-the-Go playlist.

Mega kudos go out to Sean T and I hope it's a success.

Big-time apologies for not sharing more news and passionate rancor with you this past week. This is due to several factors, in no particular order:
- Primary computer had a heart attack, perhaps a stroke - both hard drives failed, system fan dead, perhaps not worthwhile to fix, perhaps PC's ashes to be fired out of a cannon outside Pink's when the line is short enough for me to get a burrito dog, as its final wishes may very well have been, while I order new PC for a sleazy rebound relationship before my former PC's ashes even settle on La Brea.
- Realized I spent 8 hours a day at the computer for nearly 10 days getting worried and angry at people, both real and imaginary - not healthy
- Anger well dried up, surprisingly - a 10 day emotion binge will do that to you
- Other people are doing a much better job covering the Hurricane than I am, some because they get paid to blog full-time (Josh Marshall), others because they've evacuated and are much sharper than I am (Oyster, Jeffrey, Jude).
- Started researching for a new script that has been equally draining, though for drastically different reasons.

I have had other things I've wanted to write about. I want to write about two records that have been rocking me recently: Kayne's latest and Common's Be; a comparison between Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Roberto Rossellini's underrated film Stromboli (which seemed waaaay inappropriate given the ending of Chopin's novel); a new series called "When Geniuses Collaborate," whose first installment would focus on Brian Eno's collaborations with David Byrne, Robert Fripp and John Cale; and then the hot-button issue of the treatment of religious belief in the media, particularly on The Daily Show, in which I would blame the fundangelicals for tainting all religious belief with their own strain of fanaticism.

I am going to write these posts soon. I guess I'm just in a period where I'm trying to get my thoughts to segue from New Orleans to other things, and, being more than a bit self-critical, I seem to be feeling guilty for wanting to think about something other than the horrors taking place in my home state. I keep telling myself that I'm doing just about all I can (if you get around to blowing $150 on beer, you're near the end of the list) and that this recovery is going to take so long that I'll have ample opportunity to do more as time goes on.

On a brief sidenote, that is one of the things that makes me feel a little less helpless about what's happened: there is so much time to do so many things to help - this isn't going away for a while - it's almost an onion of charity opportunities, finish one layer and there's another one waiting to make you cry ... wait, that sucks.

Anyhoo, just had to vent and perhaps explain my relative silence. Plus, when you're out buying all this beer, it's hard to blog after you get all that shit up a flight of stairs. As long as nobody tells me I've forgotten about what's happened, I hope to bring a fresh mix of Katrina posts and the eclectic brain farts you've come to know and love from LGO.

This tower of power represents all the Abita in stock at Whole Foods Glendale, Whole Foods Farmers' Market and BevMo! in WeHo. I wish they stocked the seasonal brews, but I'm working on that. While some people stared at me like I was a crazy alcoholic (and card me - like a 20 year-old would really expect to get away with buying this much shit), many actually understood what I was doing without my having to tell them. It was kind of funny to see people's eyes quickly move from my face to my shopping cart.

Oh yeah, and, party's at my house.

There was a great puppet show on the news today. There was this character named Diane "Miss Piggy" Feinstein and this other guy named John "Beeker" Roberts. It seemed the puppets were having a contest to see who could come up with the most clever disguise for the question "Will you vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade?" No matter how hard each puppet tried, all Beeker said back was "I know you are, but what am I?"

I'm so glad that each puppet is going to get their own turn, because it's going to take at least five days before this starts to bore me. If only another puppet could come by and tell us some stories about a puppet talking dirty and quoting lines from The Exorcist. Then it could go on for a month.

Finally saw a clip of Tim Russert antagonizing Mayor Nagin on Meet the Press, via last night's supremely disappointing The Daily Show. Russert showed Nagin that all-famous photo of the buses underwater (it's so famous I don't even need to link to it) and asked the obvious question "Why didn't you use these to evacuate people?"

But Russert didn't stop there. He wanted to know why Nagin didn't use the buses on FRIDAY to start evacuating people. Well, Tim, here's why:
1. Hurricane Katrina was not a scary-ass storm at that point
2. Hurricane Katrina was not locked in on a definite track for New Orleans
3. There is no number three because 1 and 2 are already kind of repetitive.

Russert's questioning and ire are quite understandable. That picture is so powerful. It produces a kneejerk reaction so strong that it eclipses any subsequent thought on the matter. It immediately becomes a symbol, something that seems to explain it all in a tragic fashion. It's the first reaction everyone has, but it is not that simple.

Michael did a great round-up of the logistics of all this (where to find drivers, unions, drivers' families, etc), and Hobson's Choice has another rundown.

Here's a thought I'd like to contribute: Let's suppose Nagin did evacuate 10,000 people by bus on Friday to somewhere like Houston. Then Katrina takes a turn west and hits Galveston head-on and pushes upward to Houston. Then Houston floods. Then you've got 10,000 evacuees trapped in the Astrodome and Tim Russert is asking Nagin why the hell he evacuated everyone in the first place when it didn't come anywhere near New Orleans?

This is very hypothetical and hyperbolic, but not out of the question. Ideally, people would be evacuated north to cities like Alexandria or Shreveport, but a bigger city like Houston would be much more equipped to handle such an influx of people (you also have to take into account the 800,000 who would have evacuated on their own to every hotel in a 1,000 mile radius).

Anyway, as Hobson's Choice mentions, the bus plan in place in New Orleans needed about 40 hours to evacuate people. It was not started in time. Had they started it in time, things would have been a lot better, presuming that people showed up in time to get on the bus. Had they done this last year when Hurricane Ivan threatened the city up until the last minute, who knows what the reaction would have been. I'd imagine that their reaction would be similar to the reactions of those who got out on their own for Ivan: inconvenienced but relieved. However, does anyone remember the firestorm that erupted when the papers said that Nagin had ordered 10,000 body bags in anticipation of Ivan? Given that, who knows how people would have reacted to paying for a massive evacuation?

My point is, it is a lot more complicated than it sounds, and the picture and its implementation in the media obscures the complexity of the situation. I'm sure Russert and others would like to think they have more to offer than a kneejerk, indignant reaction, but this time they're coming up snake eyes. One would think that the media has fawned over enough hurricanes in recent years to understand what goes on in the days before a storm hits, but I guess those are the days they're out shopping for a sporty windbreaker to wear on TV.

I'm not sure how I feel about the buses. It's a whole lot easier to look at the problem now that I know the results. Nagin didn't have that luxury. He knew the worst-case scenario, but he also knew it could miss entirely. After all, that's what's been happening for the past 40 years. He had a very tough call to make. Last year, he was okay. This year, he got in trouble. It's hard to know, and I'm sure in the future everyone will take the "better safe than sorry" train of thought ... until they do all this evacuation stuff five times in two years and start to wonder why everyone is freaking them out so much.

Erin Aubry Kaplan has an absolutely marvelous piece in the LA Weekly about just how despicable Hustle and Flow is as a portrait of black culture. I strongly urge you to read it all, but here is her thesis statement:

Instead of non-threatening maids and minstrels, we now have whores and murderous gangstas being marketed as cool, hip and, above all, real. Such characterizations don’t debase black people, we’re solemnly told, they honor them; they tell our essential truths. A pimp isn’t a bad reflection on black folk — he’s our Everyman, our salt of the big-city earth. This is a new age; the old meanings don’t apply anymore. What’s most disturbing to me is how willingly critics and other gatekeepers of popular culture routinely reinforce this kind of Orwellian logic. And increasingly, they’re going a step beyond, sanctioning these dangerous stereotypes as not only permissible, but human.

So true. I have yet to meet a person of color who is a pimp, a drug dealer, a ho or a gangsta. All the drug dealers I've ever met were white anyway. I'd dare say the same probably goes for most LGO readers. Then why are Hollywood and Indiewood able to convince us that "real" stories about people of color must involve guns, drugs, ghetto music, depraved living, or, preferably, all of the above? Is there a real good reason why Parenthood or American Beauty didn't have any black characters in meaningful roles? Is there a real good reason why Hustle & Flow couldn't have been about white people? More from Kaplan:

The comparison has been made before, but I’ll make it again: How is it that the Mafia, America’s über-criminals, get such empathetic film treatment — think Tony Soprano’s therapy sessions and Ray Liotta’s ruminating voice-overs in GoodFellas — and black criminals get squat? The only answer is that black criminality needs no explanation, just some celluloid to blow it up to 1,000 times its actual size. Talk about inequality: Not only is there a racially defined achievement gap, salary gap and health-care gap in this country — there’s a major story gap, too, and it’s getting filled in with more bullshit every year.

She also mentions black filmmakers like Charles Burnett who have languished in obscurity for decades, their greatest, most realistic portrayals of black people still not even available on video. This is a very insightful look at an issue that never gets a full discussion. It's the reason why Everbody Hates Chris is on UPN and not CBS. It's the reason why there is only room for about 5 black actors and actresses in Hollywood for leading roles.

Many people will try to explain this away as the evils of the marketplace. If you listen to Mark Gill, head of Warner Independent Pictures, he'll tell a different story with this factoid: why was Morgan Freeman chosen to narrate March of the Penguins? He has the highest likeability rating in Every.Major.Demographic. As in through the roof, 75% or higher in every quadrant. That's almost unheard-of, and he's probably the only person in town who can make this claim. So clearly the audience is racist and that's why black movies don't make money. Or could it be because Freeman has always taken roles (perhaps with the exception of Unleashed) full of dignity, class and style, and he has always delivered no matter what? That he's never had to appear in a minstrel show like Malibu's Most Wanted or Hustle & Flow? Or is it just because he's found a way to shine in the white man's movie?

My point is that if every "black" movie were a Morgan Freeman movie instead of another variation on Boyz in da Hood (for all intents and purposes, Hustle & Flow is really just Boyz in da Hood: The Musical), don't you think black movies would be doing better? I think they'd at least be less offensive.

Michael Moore claims to be prepping a documentary about Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina. I'd love to request him to go into hibernation, or to at least find a non-Bush-related subject. I guess when you're a agit-prop filmmaker, you have to go where your audience is, but I'd like to think that we don't need Michael Moore to show us how fucked up this is. I can't think of any perspective he could bring to this that would enlighten anyone.

In other Hurricane film news, Louisiana filmmaker Glen Pitre (Belizaire the Cajun) is purportedly near completion on a hypothetical-turned-real documentary about the effects of a Hurricane on New Orleans. He's not finished because now he wants to add more footage documenting the actual catastrophe. I'm having trouble finding more information on this, so if anyone can help out, please do. I know he's had a fiction script called Storm Surge that's sent around Tinseltown a bit (it's a disaster pic about a Cat 5 storm hitting New Orleans). I just hope this isn't all an example of someone being opportunistic.

Murph has invited me to guest blog each week about the boys in black and gold and their efforts from the previous Sunday. This will be my first shot and welcome comments for further discussion. I'll give you my take on the good and the bad from the game and hope that it will be a bit more enlightening than what bombards us on sports talk radio and ESPN. I won't bother linking to too many articles, but I get most of my Saints knowledge from nola.com and 2theadvocate.com. If you're a Lafayette or Shreveport reader, I encourage you to stay away from Gannett's Glen Guilbeau. He's on the Saints beat, but his anti-Saints bias leads to poor reporting. A good source for links to many Saints articles can be found on the best Saints web site in the world, SaintsReport.com. So with my intro out of the way, let's get to it...

Saints 23, Panthers 20

Faith. That's what the Saints asked for in their annual season ticket sales pitch. (You can see some of those hilarious commercials here.) After all, this is a team that for 38 years has produced only one playoff victory. But when the Saints marketing brain trust picked that theme this year, they surely could not have known that the faith of its fans would be shaken in so many ways. Faith in God. Faith in the institutions of government. Faith in civility and society when law is absent. But yesterday, the New Orleans Saints, despite their hapless history, managed to restore the faith of many just a little bit. And not just because they won the game. Rather, the way the players and the coaches handled themselves all week. They visited shelters and quickly got a sense of what the Saints mean to the people. They stayed focused, came out and played hard. Even if Carney's kick had sailed left, I think most fans still would have been proud. But they played to win, and in doing so beat the Carolina Panthers, Sports Illustrated's choice to win the Super Bowl. The Saints restored our faith not because of that important victory, but because they reminded all of us what we are capable of when we rally together, work hard and never give up. Who Dat? Da Saints, Dat's who!

This Week's Saints

Ernie Conwell -- His six catches tied his career high, and most importantly he had no drops. He'll probably credit his clutch play to the Almighty as he is one of the most religious guys on the team. Earlier in the week, he bought a wedding ring for one of the evacuees. Hell, he probably did it not to help the guy out, but to help protect the sanctity of marriage. Now, God has blessed Ernie in return for his good works. Thanks, God. And also major props to God for Ernie's damn fine day of blocking on the ends. Carolina's d-line was fierce and Ernie's fine day of receiving overshadows the solid job of blocking he did along with the tackles.

Aaron Brooks -- With the exception of his fumble in the red zone, AB was flawless. Almost a perfect game throwing the ball, evading the rush and making smart decisions. He led that last-minute drive almost perfectly, so can we please stop calling him out on the "leadership" quality. Trust me, anytime you here a commentator question any athlete's leadership credibility, then that is merely code for not liking the guy. When a guy is a bad leader, the players on his team will eventually call him out. Case in point: Terrell Owens and the Eagles. But if the criticism is coming from the outside, they don't know what they're talking about.

Jim Haslett -- He'll get a lot of praise throughout the week for doing a great job for keeping the team focused. I think he deserves more praise for his off-season decision to canning offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy and promoting Mike Sheppard. The offense yesterday was disciplined and efficient. They did not have one opening drive touchdown last season, but yesterday they spent over 9 minutes marching in the first drive. Good job, Haz. Now I'll pray that your ego doesn't get too big over the next week as it did after you made Coach of the Year in 2000.

Ray Nagin -- All of the reporting about yesterday's game indicates that Mayor Ray Nagin sent a letter to the team. At the team's final meeting Saturday night, Haslett tried to read the letter but broke down crying. He had to give it to another staffer to read, who similarly broke down. Very few dry eyes in the room, but whatever was said is something that may be enough to get Nagin re-elected. The team responded, and Haz awarded a game ball to Nagin and the city of New Orleans.

The Sinners

Charles Grant -- He is one of my favorite players and had a helluva game yesterday. But when he was held late in the second quarter, he picked up the ref's flag and twirled it around. Fortunately, it wasn't seen by the official because that would have been a sure unsportsmanlike penalty. Charles, I know you're hungry, but please don't eat the flags.

Jake Delhomme - I love our hometown hero, but enough with the whining!!! Almost every single play, you can see Jake in the ref's face. Some would call this leadership. I think it's unbecmoning and obnoxious. And while we're on Jake, I think we've seen enough now to know what to expect. He is wild. He can make a helluva play on one down and a bone-headed pass the next. His risks will pay off from time to time, but yesterday it killed his team in the 3rd quarter. QBs that win Super Bowls are best when they limit their mistakes.

Ron Pitts and Tim Ryan -- They're the Fox broadcasting team we're likely to see many times again this season, as we did last season. They're awful, but you already knew that. There are so many lowlights for these two morons, but my favorite occurred late in the second quarter when Delhomme's fumble was picked up by Darren Howard and lateraled to Mike McKenzie. The play required replay, and while the official reviewed it these two morons thought the review was about whether it was a fumble or pass. It took them three minutes to figure out that whether it was a fumble or pass was irrelevant because Howard caught the ball before it hit the ground. As it turned out, the official was reviewing the lateral and the spot of the ball.

FOX Sports Broadcasting -- I've long been a critic of Fox sports and their piss poor production quality of their broadcasts. I'm especially critical of endzone camera angles and their lack of giving statistics during the game. But yesterday, the broadcast was pretty good overall. However, the decision on the part of Fox's television affiliates in Texas was really bad. With thousands of displaced Saints fans watching the game in shelters in Houston and San Antonio, both Fox affiliates switched from the Saints game to the Cowboys game with 35 seconds remaining. Yes, that's right. With only two plays left, they went to commercial and the start of the Cowboys game. Their defense was that they were contractually obligated to make the switch. Okay, maybe. But for two plays couldn't they at least have split the screen and show both games at the same time. And why was it so important to run two minutes of commercials?

This Week

This should be an interesting week in the history of the franchise. The commish, Paul Tagliabue, is visiting Baton Rouge today with Tom Benson to meet with LSU Chancellor O'Keefe. I predict (I'm optimistic) that the Saints will play three games in Baton Rouge and four in San Antonio. This woulud be a good compromise for the players who would like less travel and for the fans who would love to see the Saints play in Death Valley. But how this is handled will go a long way in determining where the franchise will end up. Benson, who is awful at PR, cannot be seen as asking for too much when negotiating with LSU. But if he pisses the LSU people off, then their may be hesitancy to put up with him for the next three or four years, which will be necessary while the Nola rebuilds.

The Saints will play the Giants on Monday. The Saints are a better team than the Giants. And the Giants surely are not as good as the Panthers. If not for the hurricanse, the Saints would likely have been four point favorites. Now, they'll likely be underdogs. Who know how they'll rebound from all of the emotions of the last two weeks. Inconsistency has been the big problem in the Haslett era and was going to be the challenge for his coaching staff no matter what this season. So, it'll be interesting to see. The Giants easily beat the Cardinals yesterday. But Manning's numbers weren't too impressive (10-23, 2TDs, 2 INTs). I like the Saints in this one, 27 -- 18.

And ask them to stock Abita's Fleur-de-lis Hurricane Restoration Brew. It sounds like Whole Foods is going to be on the bandwagon. And while you're at it, ask them to carry Abita seasonal brews if they don't already.

The 25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath. Thanks, Scaramouche.

Because don't we all need some of it right now?

The recent drought of decent new films to see has ended. In the past week, I've seen two of the best movies I've seen all year: Broken Flowers and Grizzly Man, two more impressive outings by two of cinema's greatest living talents.

Jim Jarmusch rebounds from the soporific Coffee and Cigarettes with one of his best films ever: Broken Flowers, a film packed with so many great performances and so articulate in its subtlety that its wonders are almost easy to miss. Part of this is due to the casting of Murray, who, despite his many recent understated performances, still makes you expect huge laughs from him. This is bound to send many viewers yawning for the exits, but even though the pleasures of Broken Flowers may be smaller, they last a lot longer. While his role here is similar to his role in Lost in Translation, Murray is more offbeat, less sentimental and more defeated, as if we are watching the life slowly drain out of him. Broken Flowers may seem like a comedy, but it's really a tragedy with a smile.

Grizzly Man is the ultimate antidote to the outdoorsman, and only Werner Herzog could deliver and antidote so alternately poetic and misanthropic. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Grizzly Man is another deadly reminder of how man is always at the mercy of nature, no matter how hard he tries to conquer it. Herzog turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill tragi-doc into a treatise on the violence of nature and man's foolish romanticizing of it.

The Grizzly Man is Timothy Treadwell, a struggling actor who spent 13 summers living with the grizzlies in Alaska. In 2003, he and his girlfriend were brutally mauled and eaten by a grizzly. Prior to his death, Treadwell chronicled his adventures in over 100 hours of videotape. Herzog's documentary consists of Treadwell's tapes and Herzog's penetrating interviews with his friends and family.

Herzog not only peels back the facade from Treadwell's video, showing him doing multiple takes and crafting a lone warrior persona, but he also deconstructs his own film by both damning and praising Treadwell, demanding the viewer to engage in a dialogue with the film and forcing each viewer to arrive at his/her own conclusion.

So many documentaries attempt to merely present the "facts" while simultaneously engaging in the manipulation of time and space and point of view that is inherent in cinema. Refreshingly, Herzog puts on no journalistic airs. In fact, he shuns them every chance he gets. With a subject who was very much a self-made legend, it is the most appropriate stance to take, and it is what makes Grizzly Man one of the most remarkable documentaries to come around in a long time. Fuck the penguin orgy, this is the real deal.

I've been absorbed in a new project for most of the week that has prevented me from being glued to the computer as I've recently been.

The latest news that's been troubling to me is this item Josh Marshall talks about: that media are suing because government officials are trying to prevent them from getting too close to things in New Orleans. Why they didn't keep them from hyping shit and looking stupid before and during the storm is beyond me. But I think the clue to why they're doing it now can be found in the title of an Ice-T song: "Body Count". Although while images may be kept at bay, I really can't see Mayor Nagin refraining from telling everyone what the final toll is. The number, I'm afraid, will be sufficiently huge enough to be shocking on its own.

And then there's that other sad thought that Ken has brought up before that I have to echo: what would people be saying if John Kerry (or Clinton) was doing the exact same things as Bush? I think the script would be exactly the same, only the actors would switch parts. It would be like Opposite Day, with the left defending their leader and the right asking what happened to the leadership. Stand by your man, by any means necessary. How gross. I guess that's why I'm politically agnostic.

The Clinton mentionings come up quite often as a response to criticism of Bush. Why does criticizing Bush automatically mean that you are a Clinton-worshipper? Actually, it doesn't, but that's the misunderstanding. Why can't you just think our current leader isn't doing a good job with this particular issue? Why does it have to mean that you embrace everything Clintonian? Perhaps it's because it's my home state that's been affected, but I'd be disappointed if any President behaved this way in this situation.

Whether you're into big government or small government, the purpose of government at its smallest is to handle things that state and local governments (and the private sector) cannot handle themselves. So, no matter how small you like your government, this is a prime example of why a federal government is necessary, and if it cannot respond appropriately to its most basic responsibilities, then we have a problem. It doesn't mean making government bigger; it doesn't mean making it smaller; it simply means making it better and holding those accountable for its failings responsible so that a tragedy like this doesn't have to happen again.

Let's root for the Saints tomorrow and hope that they can do something to lift the spirits of their hometown.

Here is a story about our friend's father, Dr. Bryan Bertucci. I don't know how he did it, but he's a remarkable person:

CHALMETTE, LA. - Dr. Bryan Bertucci, one of only two doctors in town when Hurricane Katrina hit, spent endless days keeping alive the 57 patients in his care. He moved them to the hospital's second floor and, when waters continued to rise, lowered them onto boats with a sling made from sheets so they could be transferred to the jail.

He told himself he could get through it because outside help was on the way — but eight days would pass before federal medical assistance arrived.

The assistance that eventually came was too late to save about 30 people who died in a nursing home after apparently being abandoned by their caretakers and an unknown number of others who might have been rescued had there been more help.

This industrial city, in the state's easternmost parish, is a swath of destruction stuck between more populated and accessible disaster areas in New Orleans and Mississippi.

For days after the storm, it was isolated by floodwaters, cut off from communications and left to fend for itself.

"We were a lost city," said District Chief James Gonzales Jr. of the St. Bernard Parish Fire Department, which alone performed most rescues immediately after Katrina hit. "Lines were down, and we heard from no one. Coming from any direction, rescue workers would have had to pass up people in need to help us, so we helped ourselves."

'This was too much'

The parish government set up an emergency operations center in an oil refinery; firefighters sheltered evacuees in a sugar factory; and Bertucci made arrangements for a private helicopter to bring in medical supplies. As pumps this week began to lower the water line, however, the horrific consequences of Katrina and the isolation became clear.

Rescue workers searching door to door for bodies in accessible parts of the parish found four bodies with life vests that had floated into a closet.

"Those are people who we might have gotten to," said Bertucci, also the parish coroner, as he choked back tears. "We did everything, everything we could, but this was too much."

Bertucci won't estimate how many have died since the storm, although outlying parts of the parish that run up to the Gulf of Mexico have told him to expect about 120. Those coupled with about 20 known deaths in town and the 30 at the nursing home
could put the death toll for this parish of fewer than 70,000 at about 200.

A body recovery team worked Friday to take bodies out of St. Rita's nursing home, which still is surrounded by about 3 feet of water. Employees with Kenyon International Emergency Services, a Houston-based recovery and identification company, waded through about 2 feet of mud to locate bodies, which were ferried across floodwaters on small boats.

Parish officials said the Louisiana attorney general told them Friday he plans to investigate the nursing home drownings, which appear to have happened after the home's supervisors left residents before the storm.

Some streets were covered with a thick layer of sediment, deposited by the storm surge, which tossed boats to odd places such as the railroad tracks and a church courtyard.Business stalled Companies such as Exxon, Dynegy and Domino Sugar, which all have facilities in the area, predicted it would take weeks to bring their operations back on line. At the Murphy Oil facility, a leak that sent gallons of oil into the parish's neighborhoods added to the problems. Many of those buildings have served as storm shelters or staging areas for emergency crews.

Gonzales, the fire chief, bunkered in a Domino Sugar storage building with 27 other firefighters. As calm settled after the storm passed, they began rescue operations, plucking people off rooftops and pulling them out of the water."

Our communications were cut off," he said. "We couldn't even speak to the Sheriff's Department, so we put some boats in and started looking for people who needed help."

Before last weekend, about 300 people were staying at the Domino plant, wading through more than 3 feet of water on the first floor.

Meanwhile, evacuees and rescue workers began pouring into a triage center Bertucci helped set up at the jail. Many needed medication. Others hadn't eaten in days.

"The world as I knew it had ceased to exist," he said. "You wonder why you're doing this and then you remember that we were the only ones here for each other."

Officials estimate they have evacuated 10,000 people from the parish, and National Guard troops and other volunteers are going door to door to clear out those who remain. Then, they will concentrate on rebuilding.Government officials, including Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, who has directed emergency operations nearly 24 hours a day without rest, predicted the area will rebound.

"We got through this on our own," he said. "That strength comes from somewhere and we'll use it to come back."

With a fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale.

In just over a week, Time Warner has matched $1 million in employee contributions to the American Red Cross.

I noticed I didn't do one of these last week, probably because the big DOTW didn't happen at the movies. Anyway, here's LGO's triumphant return to spreading the smackdowns around. This week, of course, The Man is getting pummeled mercilessly.

San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle
Arrives in theaters today with a sheet over its head and a tag on its toe. So to speak. What we have here is a complete systemic failure, a comedy that's not funny, with action that's not thrilling.

Los Angeles Times' Kevin Crust
In some ways, The Man plays like a sequel to some terrible movie that was mercifully destroyed before it was ever released.

As Flamingo Jones would say, if you don't know what that means, then you're not my friend.

Lots of reports are trickling about talking about how helpless the federal government was to help because they were not asked properly by state and local officials. They're also saying that FEMA isn't really supposed to do anything other than coordinate other relief agencies, that they don't actually do any relief themselves per se.

My answer to that would be "So, coordinate, then!"

Then there's all the hoopla about how Gov. Blanco hasn't signed anything for them to be fully in charge (the govt.) and how they really can't do anything unless she asks them to, etc. You mean you can't even suggest to her what you could do to help? You mean nobody brings her coffee unless she asks?

Yes, we are living in a bureaucratic nightmare, but at least we're not drowning and getting raped (not at the same time, mind you) while it's going on.

I understand and respect the idea of a chain of command and procedure and all that shit, but there are times where these things just start to seem silly, and this is one of them. Disseminating all this information to the effect of "well, we'd love to help, but she hasn't stamped my 27B/6 ... until then my hands are tied" sounds more like an excuse for being ineffectual and less like general principle.

This is that "blame game" that the feds claim they are not participating in. This is it. This is their offense. It's not the flashy "explosive" offense of the 99 St. Louis Lambs, but more of a really sinister defense. Think Ray Lewis and his friends.

My point is this (I will speak in a parable): if your neighbor's house is engulfed in raging flames, do you call 911? Or do you think to yourself "well, I'll just wait for them to call me if something's wrong"? Or, better yet, if you're a fireman and you drive by a burning house, do you wait for them to call you? Or do you call for backup? I hope the answers here are obvious, but, if not, the answers are YES - NO - NO - YES. You may now move on to the next part of the post. Be sure to bring your #2 pencil.

By Tuesday, this was an obvious disaster, and to think that there were people who could help and didn't because somebody didn't turn in their paperwork is shameful. Further, since both Bush and Blanco declared states of emergency before the storm hit, isn't everyone already on alert? Hasn't some of this paperwork already been filed? Don't these organizations have phones that dial out?

Of course. Either their own inaction has caused them to resort to this bureaucratic blaming tactic, or this was the best excuse they could come up with. It's sad any way you slice it.

To all those chillin' up in Nashville:

LOYOLAPALOOZA NASHVILLE

A Benefit for the Katrina Victims of the Loyola University New Orleans Community

Monday, September 12, 2005
6:00 PM
French Quarter Cafe
823 Woodland St.
Nashville, TN
Hosted by: Patrick Thomas from Big D & Bubba
Performances by:Blair Gimma – New Orleans Singer/Songwriter
Damien Boggs
Donations will be accepted at the door: $10 minimum
100% of proceeds will go to the Loyola University New Orleans Community
Call 615.497.4310 with questions.

Oyster links to an amazing post about more FEMA fiascoes.

And Ken sets all the partisans straight.

I have nothing to add that would make me seem even remotely intelligent, so I remain as quiet as Corey Haim's agent's phone.

Actually, they like to call them "opinions". Larry Johnson has another worthwhile post at TPM Cafe. Here is an except of the story:

While watching the MSNBC program, CONNECTED, COAST TO COAST with Ron Reagan, a man from the Evergreen Foundation was on air spinning the myth that the President had to "beg" the Governor of Louisiana to take action. Having been on this show several times I called one of the bookers, Susan Durrwatcher, to alert her to the fact that this man was misrepresenting what happened. I offered Susan the following objective, documented facts (see timeline below). Susan thanked me for my "opinion" and said "we just have a different perspective". Stunned, I asked her by what standard of journalism that an objective fact was mere opinion? I asked her to simply look at the documents and correct the record. She declined.

The rest of the story has some of those documents as well as the following:

The Bush White House is furiously spinning to lay the blame on the Governor and Mayor of Louisiana. My position is that I think both the Governor and the Mayor can be faulted on a variety of fronts. I do not absolve them of their responsibility to properly and fully implement their own emergency response plans. However, the Governor followed the appropriate protocol and, in accordance with the National Response Plan (NRP), asked the President in accordance with the Stafford Act, to declare a State of Emergency.

One would think that if the media were so out to get the President, they would have had a hooker come to Johnson's house and personally escort him to the studio and give him a handjob during his interview.

The politicizing of all of this has made it impossible to objectively assess what went wrong when. The bottom line is, everyone in power fucked up at some point, but never at the same time, almost as if they were taking turns. It would have been better for everyone had those in power simply botched one thing together, but instead they've spread it around so well that to blame any of them of anything is dismissed as "politicking".

I know we haven't lived in an age of accountability for a long time, but for how long can everyone expect us to believe that it's all someone else's fault? Maybe JFK didn't make any friends accepting responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco in public (especially because he blamed the CIA in private), but it would be nice to see something like that from someone when everything dries up.

Driving home last night, a car pulled up alongside me and asked me to roll down my window. The moment I did, the passenger, a fifty year-old man, screamed "New Orleans!" The driver, his son, I think, asked if I was from there and if everyone was okay. I said everyone was okay and asked if their peeps were okay. The driver pointed to all the people in his car and said "They're right here." We laughed and wished each other well and I told them I'm glad they're all safe. We told each other to hang in there and then the light turned green and we went our separate ways.

Michael has a thoughtful post on the logistics of evacuating the entire city by bus and other such things. Worth a read, although probably not for Ken because then we'd be forced to celebrate Ken and Michael Don't Agree Anymore Day right after celebrating Ken and Michael Agree Day. I don't know about you, but I can't handle one Opposites Day after another, especially after I've eaten my own weight in crawfish.

10:54 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government plans to distribute debit cards worth $2,000 each to victims of Hurricane Katrina, The Associated Press has learned.

10:50 A.M. - St. Bernard Parish President Jr. Rodriguez - obviously the federal government was overwhelmed by this, but they shouldn't have been.

10:49 A.M. - Rodriguez: When can they come back? There's no homes to come back to. It will be at least a month before they can come and inspect the damage.

10:47 A.M. - Rodriguez: We had Canadian mounties here by the second day, and the government wasn't here. We had no communications, and I think if you don't hear from an entire parish in two days, you go see what's going on.

10:37 A.M. - State officials say that the first $200 million check from FEMA is arriving this week and will be distributed to the parishes, another $300 million check will come next week and FEMA wants to start individual assistance soon and is asking victims to register at 1-800-621-FEMA.

10:35 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many countries say they want to help, but that their Hurricane Katrina offers have gone unanswered. A top Indian official says his country has a plane "parked at the airport" loaded with medicine and food, but the U-S hasn't given a destination.

Taiwan says it's waiting for the U-S to decide where the island nation's two (m) million-dollar donation should be sent. South Korea has promised 30 (m) million dollars and had said it would sent 40 rescue workers and 100 tons of blankets, diapers, wheelchairs and the like by this weekend. But now a Foreign Ministry official says the delivery will be delayed until next week because "preparations are not going well."

A State Department spokesman says "any offers of support that could potentially benefit" the U-S have been accepted. Is that an insult?

10:34 A.M. - WHITE HOUSE (AP) -- The White House says President Bush will ask Congress later today for more cash to pay for Hurricane Katrina recovery work.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan's refusing to confirm what congressional sources are saying -- that the request could reach $40 billion dollars.

10:25 A.M. - To the estimated 10,000 residents still holed up in this ruined city, the mayor had a blunt new warning: Get out now or risk being taken out by force.

As floodwaters began to slowly recede with the first of the city's pumps returning to operation, Mayor C. Ray Nagin instructed law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts for their own safety. He warned that the fetid water could spread disease and that natural gas was leaking all over town.

By midday Wednesday, however, no forced evacuations were reported. Police Capt. Marlon Defillo said police were focusing for now on people who wanted to be rescued. And Art Jones of the state Homeland Security Department said the National Guard does not work for the mayor and has yet to receive orders from the military to force people out.

Nagin's directive -- which superseded an earlier, milder order to evacuate made before Hurricane Katrina crashed ashore Aug. 29 -- came after rescuers scouring New Orleans found hundreds of people ignoring warnings to get out. They included Dennis Rizzuto, 38, who said he had plenty of water, food to last a month and a generator powering his home. He and his family were offered a boat ride to safety, but he declined.

"They're going to have to drag me," Rizzuto said. I'd like to nominate you for the Model Citizen Award, since those in the press are already using you as an example of a typical New Orleanian.

10:11 A.M. - Doug Thornton: Assessment to be made whether dome can be rebuilt, restored or torn down, but premature to say it has to go. Decision on dome is weeks away.

9:45 A.M. - National Sheriffs Association president Ted Sexton said 1,500 sheriffs deputies are helping local law enforcement, 1,000 of those in Louisiana now and 500 in Mississippi.

8:10 A.M. - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district engineer Colonel Richard Wagenaar, interviewed on WWL-TV by telephone this morning, said his optimistic view of pumping the city dry is 21 days, but if there is a tropical storm or other events it could take up to 3 months.

Col. Wagenaar said work is progressing on the Industrial Canal and London Ave. breaks, with 500 to 1,000 workers involved from all agencies and branches of local, state and federal government.

His estimate for fixing the London Canal break is next week, but he hopes to have the canal blocked in the next day. A contractor is on site, but "the complexity is 5 times that of the 17th Street Canal break."

It's a different situation, however, for the Industrial Canal. "It will take quite a while," Col. Wagennar said. "There are significant blockages" including several barges blocking access to the site.

6:42 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region – and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.

Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities." What do you expect from a guy who thought Louisiana was a city?

NOTE: New posts below.

As the criticism rises against the federal government's lackluster - if not reckless - response to Hurricane Katrina, Bush Administration defenders (and the administration itself) are falling back on what has always worked for them: blame those criticizing them.

Before this ignites another exchange involving M Smith, let me clarify something: I am not blaming this all on the President. This is the failure of way more than one person, but it is a failure that goes all the way to the top. I just want to shed some light on a few things worth thinking about.

So the administration went into high gear for the weekend by getting stories in places like The Washington Post and elsewhere chastizing Gov. Blanco for failing to declare a state of emergency at all (UPDATE: Actually, she declared a SOE BEFORE the storm hit). But even if she hadn't, I think anyone with eyes can tell that we are in a state of emergency. The article also says things like Blanco has resisted federal jurisdiction, etc. -- The point is that the article is trying to paint her as an incompetent and the reason why things are as bad as they are in LA and why the federal government has not been able to help.

This logic doesn't work for me: if everyone in Louisiana is so woefully incompetent, then doesn't that give the federal government, who can so clearly see how badly help is needed, more reason to step in. It seems to me that their reason for inaction is actually more of a call for action. If the state is failing in leadership, as they so claim, then it's up to a higher leader to step in and show some leadership. That's what a great leader does. I know it's a very different scenario, but do you think this logic would have held any weight on 9/11?

That being said, allow me my one angry Bush screed: even though it may not amount to much, I think Bush should be camped out in the Gulf states. I think he should have been since Monday or Tuesday. I think doing a quickie flyby at 1700 feet in the middle of the week and a quick one-day jaunt on Friday should have told him that he needs to be there 24-7. I know he's the President and has a lot of other things to do, but one of the largest cities in the country he presides over has been wiped out. This is a FEDERAL issue. It may have happened to a city, it may have happened in a state, but its effects will be felt across the entire country for a long time. These federal areas are areas where he can help, and if he seems comfortable with conducting the business of the state from a ranch in Texas, he should be able to do the same from an Air Force base on the Gulf Coast.

No, that's not a typo. It seems that many firefighters from around the country who volunteered for FEMA did not think they were signing up for a day of sexual harrassment training. Josh Marshall links to this story from the Salt Lake Tribune (excerpts below):

ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"

As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.

Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.

Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.

On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.

So the firemen think they could be doing something better than handing out flyers. What is FEMA's response to this? It's typical: question the integrity and values of those complaining:

"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.

No word yet on whether or not Hudak's position has become available. More quotes:

"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."

"A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do."

As you'll see from the article, many firefighters did seem to know what they were signing up for, but does that make this any less of a waste of time?

While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one - displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say firefighters assembled at the Sheraton.

A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance. "My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said.

Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the disaster.

But at least the government's putting them up at the Sheraton, right? Yeah, right.

Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government.

"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste."

Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.

But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

4:43 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Officials at LSU created a fund to help students directly affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The fund was set up by the LSU Foundation to help students from southern Louisiana, school officials said.

Donations were being taken online at www.lsu.edu/lsufoundation and at the foundation's office.
Checks can be mailed to Hurricane Katrina-LSU Student Relief Fund, c/o LSU Foundation, 3838 W. Lakeshore Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808.

4:39 P.M.- (ABC News): Microbiologist finds flood waters in New Orleans' Ninth Ward to be 45,000 times what would be considered safe for swimming in a pond or a lake. Click here.

4:37 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): The fund set up by former Presidents Bush and Clinton to benefit survivors of Hurricane Katrina raised more than $1 million in online donations during its first 24 hours, the ex-presidents said Tuesday.

4:35 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): The pain at the pump got a lot worse in the past week.
The Energy Department says the average retail price of regular gas jumped almost 46 cents a gallon in the week after Hurricane Katrina. The Energy Information Administration says that pushed the price of a gallon to $3.07. That's $1.22 higher than a year ago.

4:21 P.M. - NEWARK, NJ (AP): The first evacuees from Hurricane Katrina have started arriving in New Jersey. The evacuees include nearly 30 members of an extended family with a boy who spent his 11th birthday in a hospital emergency room today. One hundred more families are expected soon, bound for temporary quarters in a Perth Amboy housing complex.

3:55 P.M. - WWL-TV: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say they expect to drain New Orleans in 80 days.

3:50 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Social Security cards, driver's licenses, credit cards and other personal documents are literally floating around New Orleans, raising the prospect some hurricane survivors could be victimized again -- this time by identity thieves.

3:31 P.M. - Gretna Mayor Harris: People around the country do not understand the threat to this entire nation that exists because of coastal erosion.

3:26 P.M. - Harris: I think FEMA must’ve disconnected their phone lines. It took them five days to get into Gretna with food and water. FEMA did great things when they were by themselves, but (combining them with) Homeland Security seems to have gummed them up.

3:20 P.M. - (Los Angeles Times): Six-year-old boy carries five-month-old while leading five other toddlers to safety. Click here. CNN would probably say he stole them for food.

3:11 P.M. - (AP): "Its full of rot. Its full of chemicals. Its just the most revolting soup you can imagine." The description comes from a reporter trying to describe the stench from the water that fills the streets in much of New Orleans.

2:54 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Hurricane evacuees seeking food stamps in Texas started as a trickle and quickly turned into a torrent -- eight applications the first day mushroomed to more than 26,000 within four days. To varying degrees, the same story is playing out around the country as state and local governments take in Gulf Coast evacuees by the thousands, taxing social programs that in many cases already were stretched thin. Click here.

2:47 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): A triumvirate of Republican power brokers may give Mississippi first dibs in the post-Hurricane Katrina grab for federal disaster funds even though the federal government focused its initial response on New Orleans. Click here.

2:20 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): The military's growing contribution to hurricane relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi will not diminish its capability to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

"Let me be clear: We have the forces, the capability and the intention to fully prosecute the global war on terror while responding to this unprecedented humanitarian crisis here at home. We can and will do both," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference. Click here

2:17 P.M. - WWL-TV: New Orleans East could be dry by the end of the month, according to information from a press conference from the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

2:15 P.M. - WWL-TV: DOTD will begin fielding offers for rebuilding of the Twinspans Bridge this Friday, September 9.

2:07 P.M. - PORTLAND, OR (AP): -- Two to three hundred Oregon's National Guard are heading to Louisiana today. They are from the 41st infantry out of Klamath Falls and Portland.

2:05 P.M. - CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AP): Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum has set up disaster relief centers in Texas and Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Venezuela's emergency management director says the company's begun providing humanitarian aid to thousands of American victims. He says volunteers at Citgo refineries in Lake Charles and Corpus Christi, Texas, are providing medical care, food and water to about 5,000 people.

Meanwhile, he says volunteers from the company's Houston headquarters have provided similar help to some 40,000 victims.

Venezuela's oil minister also says the nation will send one million barrels of gasoline to the disaster zone as soon as possible.

2:00 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): As environmental officials begin their surveys, the dangers from Hurricane Katrina -- ranging from bacteria to heavy metals to gasoline -- lurk in floodwaters and below ground.

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality secretary Mike McDaniel said among the concerns are bacteria, heavy metals and hazardous building materials in the floodwaters.
Below ground, there are over 6,000 gasoline tanks. Above ground, there are hundreds of industrial plants that could release dangerous materials into the southeastern Louisiana environment.

McDaniel refused -- at least for now -- to characterize the floodwater in New Orleans as "toxic soup." That's a term used by many officials to describe what the floodwater would be before Katrina's devastating plunge through southeastern Louisiana. He says the term brought images of "instant death."

No matter what is in the water, he says it will have to go back into Lake Pontchartrain. Click here.

1:49 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Public health officials expressed concern Tuesday about possible chemical contamination of waters flooding New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina's wake, saying no one yet knows if industrial leaks occurred.

A task force led by medical and environmental authorities has begun work, based at a still-operating hospital in the flooded city, to monitor for disease outbreaks and "begin to make judgments about when New Orleans is safe to reinhabit," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

There are scattered reports of diarrheal diseases in shelters housing evacuees from New Orleans and coastal Mississippi. It's not yet clear if diseases were spread in the shelters or whether people arrived already ill, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But, "right now, so far so good," she said of the shelters' ability to prevent disease outbreaks.

1:47 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): President Bush intends to seek $40 billion as the next installment for hurricane relief and recovery, according to a congressional official.

12:04 P.M. - CAPITOL HILL (AP): Congress is promising to hold hearings as it conducts its own investigation into the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Senator Susan Collins says "government at all levels failed." The Republican from Maine says it's difficult to understand the ineffective response to a disaster that had been warned about for years.

Congress has formally returned today from a five-week summer break, with lawmakers signaling that hurricane relief efforts will be a top priority in the weeks ahead.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says the response "needs to be first and foremost."

Congress already has approved ten and $500 million as an initial downpayment for hurricane relief. But an aide to Democratic Leader Harry Reid says those efforts eventually could exceed $150 billion.

11:45 A.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Victims of Hurricane Katrina scrambling for housing in their temporary new hometowns can access a new Web site designed to link renters directly with property owners with an apartment, house or room to rent.

The site, www.HurricaneHousing.net, has a search engine that allows users to choose the city, parish or county where they are seeking housing in a seven-state area that includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Georgia.

The site was developed by real estate agents, many of them swamped with phone calls from displaced residents who won't be able to return to their water-logged homes anytime soon.
Because many people don't immediately have Web access, officials with Louisiana Realtors noted that FEMA was attempting to set up Internet stations at shelters that are packed with evacuees.

11:00 A.M. - (AP): Even as Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters recede from New Orleans, frustration among area officials continues to spill over.

The president of Jefferson Parish says people who were too poor to evacuate are now on the brink of starvation.

Aaron Broussard tells CBS' "The Early Show" these residents had the spirit to endure the forces of Mother Nature, but now their biggest obstacle may be "human nature."

In his words, "Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area." He's demanding a congressional probe into what happened there -- headed by the right person.

As he put it, "Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

Meantime, Broussard is calling for any kind of help. Even a week after Katrina hit, he says locals still "need everything."

If you want to stretch your dollars, please find out if anyone you know has an employer who is matching contributions. Time Warner, Newscorp, Colgate-Palmolive and many other corporations are matching the donations of their employees. So, if you know someone whose company is doing this, give them your money and have them magically double it.

Since we've been fortunate enough to have very few metrics for catastrophe, a lot of 9/11 comparisons have been getting tossed about w/r/t Katrina. I've been guilty of it myself, and while Katrina was hardly a declaration of war (except by that extremist terrorist Mother Nature), its effects are similarly catastrophic and far-reaching. Ken does a great job of pointing out some major differences. While most of the discussion elsewhere w/r/t 9/11 is about natural disaster vs. terrorist attack, Ken's able to point out the sides of the hurricane that make things more complicated than on 9/11:

I've been seeing a great deal of comparison to New York on 9/11, as if there is any similarity between the two events. New York had its act together. Rudy Giuliani saved the day, etc.

This is silly. On Sept. 11, a relatively small patch of land in southern Manhattan was attacked by men in jets. Thousands died as the World Trade Center crumbled. New York City Firemen and Police were valiant in their efforts. Giuliani was a rock. These things are true. But the facts remain:

* New York City infrastructure was not wiped out by the attacks. Yes, there were problems with cell phones and overloaded circuits, but Manhattan did not lose power.

* The area of impact was small compared to New Orleans. We're talking acres vs. miles.

* The area of impact was not being flooded immediately afterward and was not sitting under two and a half feet of water for days and weeks after the fact.

* In practical terms, there were no survivors. That was the sad truth of 9/11. The buildings came down, killing pretty much everyone in them. There was no evacuee problem. There were few hospitals that had to be evacuated. And, more important, there were no drug-addled morons in need of a fix, no gang-land thugs running around with guns looking to prey on fellow survivors, and there wasn't a racial element to it.

He also goes on to note the similarity of Mayor Bloomberg's evacuation plan to that of Mayor Nagin's:

Mayor Mike Bloomberg said that the City would forcibly evacuate New Yorkers in low-lying areas, that we have a plan and that it will work. Well, that's easier said than done. Typically, you only have 48 hours to move hundreds of thousands of people through New York's traffic system. Are you going to evacuate at 72 hours out every time, only to see the hurricane change course? And where will these people be moved? To Madison Square Garden.

Before the screeching starts, let me say on behalf of Ken and myself that these facts are in no way intended to mitigate the severity of 9/11 or to suggest that Hurricane Katrina is any more valid of a tragedy. This is merely a compare-and-contrast post that, like I said at the beginning, utilizes our inadequate metrics to provide a picture of the scope of this disaster.

Because it's after Labor Day and you don't want the post-debutantes after you. Anyway, here's some real news:
8:52 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government says people displaced by Hurricane Katrina will get debit cards to help pay for necessary personal items. The deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says workers are going from shelter to shelter to make sure evacuees get cards quickly. Patrick Rhode tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that the paperwork usually required to get the debit cards will be reduced or eliminated.

8:50 A.M. - Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Center chief Dr. Walter Maestri: Plaquemines and St. Bernard will have a very hard time getting the water out because they don't have the expensive pumps that Orleans and Jefferson have.

8:04 A.M. - (AP) -- With a major levee break finally plugged, engineers struggled to pump out the flooded city Tuesday as authorities braced for the horrors the receding water would reveal. "It's going to be awful and it's going to wake the nation up again," the mayor said.

Mayor Ray Nagin said it would take three weeks to remove the water and another few weeks to clear the debris. It could also take up to eight weeks to get the electricity back on.

"I've gone from anger to despair to seeing us turn the corner," he said on NBC's "Today." Still, he warned that what awaits authorities below the toxic muck would be gruesome. A day earlier, he said the death toll in New Orleans could reach 10,000.

7:46 A.M. - AUSTIN (AP) -- While the airlift of Hurricane Katrina refugees out of Texas appeared to be on hold, plans to move some to cruise ships in Galveston have also been postponed. The delay was announced in a statement issued Tuesday by the Unified Command in charge of the shelter in and around the Houston Astrodome. No new relocation date was mentioned.

7:35 A.M. - Chanel LaGarde, Entergy spokesman: We have 385,000 customers back on and we have some downtown buildings back, along with two pumping stations. We're back in Algiers now, but it will be 2-3 weeks to get everyone back there.

7:33 A.M. - LaGarde: Return of power to everyone in New Orleans and St. Bernard will be "months not weeks."

6:07 a.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- Former first lady Barbara Bush is getting attention for some of the comments she made about New Orleans evacuees who are now in Houston. In an interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace," she said the relocation is "working very well" for some of those forced out of New Orleans. She noted that many of the people at the Astrodome were "underprivileged anyway."

9:24 P.M. - (AP): The American Red Cross said Monday it had 487 shelters and evacuation centers open and was caring for at least 142,121 hurricane victims in 16 states. These figures do not include refugees still in New Orleans, or at hotels, motels or church or state shelters across the South.
Here is a breakdown of Red Cross shelters in eight states:
--Texas: 74 shelters, including the Astrodome; 56,000 people
--Louisiana: 175 shelters; 55,000 people
--Mississippi: 113 shelters; 17,000 people
--Alabama: 48 shelters; 5,200 people
--Florida: 41 shelters; 3,600 people
--Arkansas: 7 shelters; 3,000 people
--Georgia: 17 shelters; 1,100 people
--Tennessee: 3 shelters; 1,000 people

7:42 P.M. - Congressman Bobby Jindal: People who want to volunteer for search and rescue operations, police from outside the state who want to help, all should be able to come to New Orleans without fear of wading through bureaucratic red tape. My constitutients don't care who brings them food and water, or take them to safety, just help these people.

On rebuilding the city: Shame on us if we strive to rebuild the same city -- education and health care wise, etc. We should use this opportunity to construct a better New Orleans. Let's use these resources which can only help to contribute to this greater goal. We need to maintain our history while building for the future.

7:42 P.M. - Jindal: Don't just tell people what they want to hear, be honest with them and let them know that you have a plan for the future. The people don't expect to have all their problems solved overnight, but they expect a plan.

7:37 P.M. - New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett during Monday's press conference:

Q: There ae published reports coming out of Louisiana that the team may never return to New Orleans again. How would you react to that?

Haslett: "I don't know where they would get those reports and I don't think they are true. I think that is the last thing on anybodies mind right now. If somebody would say that obviously they do not have a good handle on what they are talking about so I don't think that is true by any means whatsoever. I don't think it is on anyone's mind and that is something that is going to have to be determined after the season is over. Right now we have four months of football and hopefully we can get though those and get into the playoffs and then figure out where we are going to live. Hopefully it is back where we came from."

Q: Do you have a preference for your home games between San Antonio and Baton Rouge?

Haslett: "I would like to have them here because we are practicing here but I think we owe it to the fans of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, all the people in Baton Rouge, all the way up to Lafayette and Shreveport. We have season ticket holders all over the Gulf Coast not just New Orleans. I think we owe it to the state and to the region to play a couple games back in Baton Rouge, if we can."

7:30 P.M. - Dr. Tim Ryan, UNO Chancellor: The city has to convince people that the levee has been corrected before people will come back to the city. Home security is a major issue. The real estate market will greatly depend upon the number of people willing to stay in town or move back from outside the state.

6:50 P.M. - (AP): Specialists trying to rescue some of the most historic documents New Orleans history have been stymied in their efforts to get downtown.

The New Orleans Notorial Archives is trying to save documents ranging from original land grants to slave sale records and title records. But federal troops have refused to let workers through checkpoints into the city.

The Notorial Archives has hired a Swedish document salvage firm that freezes and then freeze-dries records to slowly remove moisture from them, to rescue the documents. But the refrigerated trucks were turned away by uniformed troops as they tried to enter the city.

The city was just about to hire a firm to transfer many of the documents in the archive to a computer. But at the Notorial Archives, most abstractors still do hand searches of the 12 million stored documents.

6:25 P.M. - (AP): New Orleans is getting tough with people who are still refusing to leave the hurricane-ravaged city.

Mayor Ray Nagin says water will no longer be handed out to people who refuse to leave.

Despite evacuations, rescues and relief efforts, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley says some people still don't want to leave their homes while others are hanging back to take part in looting and other criminal activity.

State police are using force to get some to move. A SWAT team, armed with rifles, confronted two brothers at their home in the Uptown section of New Orleans, leaving one sobbing.

One officer says the team tried to make sure that the two men understood that food and water is becoming scarce and that disease could begin spreading.

5:55 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): The Giants-Saints game, driven from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, will be played as part of a nationally televised doubleheader starting at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 19.

The game, already moved to the Giants' home in the New Jersey Meadowlands, will begin on ABC, then be switched to ESPN at 9 p.m., when ABC goes to the regularly scheduled game between Washington and Dallas in Irving, Texas. In New York and Louisiana, as well as other parts of the Gulf Coast, ABC will continue to carry the Giants-Saints game, switching to Redskins-Cowboys when the Saints game ends.

3:32 P.M. Ben Morris, Slidell mayor: We are still hampered by some of the most stupid, idiotic regulations by FEMA. They have turned away generators, we've heard that they've gone around seizing equipment from our contractors. If they do so, they'd better be armed because I'll be damned if I'm going to let them deprive our citizens. I'm pissed off, and tired of this horse$#@@."

3:11 P.M. - From all corners of this country, hundreds of would-be rescuers are wending their way to the beleaguered Gulf Coast in buses, vans and trailers. But government red tape has hampered many who ache to help Katrina's victims.

Louisiana's Jefferson Parish is desperate for relief, but parish President Aaron Broussard says officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned back three trailer trucks of water, ordered the Coast Guard not to provide emergency diesel fuel and cut emergency power lines.

Why? FEMA has not explained. But the outraged Broussard said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the agency needs to bring in all its "force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives."

The government says it is doing the best it can in the face of a massive and complicated disaster.
"Even as progress is being made, we know that victims are still out there and we are working tirelessly to bring them the help they need," said Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Some of the delays can be explained by the need to control a volatile situation. Long lines of volunteers are being stopped on freeways on their way into New Orleans.

"Anyone who self-responded was not being put to work. The military was worried about having more people in the city. They want to limit it to the professionals," said Kevin Southerland, a captain with Orange Fire Department in Orange County, Calif., a member of one of eight 14-member water rescue teams sent to New Orleans at FEMA's request.

2:28 P.M. - State Department of Transportation: The breach in the 17th Street canal has been repaired. The condition of the pumps near the area is uncertain.

2:27 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most of the 2,800 Louisiana National Guard soldiers who are returning home early from their Iraq mission intend to join in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, their commander said Monday.

"The people of Louisiana have been worrying about us these past 12 months; now we are worried about them," said Brig. Gen. John Basilica Jr., commander of the 256th Brigade Combat Team of the Louisiana National Guard.

2:25 P.M. - EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) -- Aerial photographs confirm that a leak at the flooded Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, La., is spreading into a nearby neighborhood.

The crude oil spill was discovered Sunday leaking from an 85,000-barrel tank. The aerial photographs later showed it seeping through the flood waters to the neighborhood west of the refinery, which is owned and operated by El Dorado-based Murphy Oil.

2:24 P.M. - (AP) Some 400 to 500 police officers from New Orleans' 1,600 member force were unaccounted for, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said.

Reinforcements for police arrive from around the country, allowing a rest for emergency workers who have been working nearly nonstop since before the storm hit.

2:20 P.M. - Senator David Vitter on George Bush's visit: President said, "we're going to get this done."

2:19 P.M. - Vitter: I haven't heard anyone say we shouldn't rebuild N.O. except for that ridiculous statement from the Speaker of the House.

2:18 P.M. - Vitter: There will be plenty of blame to go around, it will be bipartisan, but now is not the time.

2:15 P.M. - Vitter: This is the biggest natural disaster in this country's history - period.

Larry Johnson at TPM Cafe has an interesting post re: Bush vs. Blanco. It seems that not only Blanco but Bush as well declared a State of Emergency in the region before the hurricane hit. He also includes a letter from Blanco requesting federal assistance. While it's hardly the last word on the subject, it certainly is worth reading.

You may be surprised (via Scaramouche). Of course, he manages to squeeze Terri Schiavo into the story. No word yet on how he'll get Natalee Holloway into it.

Why is it okay to question the adequacy of the levees and the rationality of the geography of New Orleans and not okay to question the preparedness of the government to assist state and local officials in dealing with the disaster? Is it because we were asking for it? Is it because the French and Spanish made our bed for us 300 years ago and now we have to sleep in it? If the cry among the "compassionate" is that we should have seen it coming, then that logic goes double for those in the position to send relief. If it was all so obvious that this was coming and that this would be so bad, then why did it take so long to mobilize? This is not a Bush thing; this is a thing for all levels of government. If you want me to be fair and call out everyone, then why didn't Blanco, Barbour, Nagin, et al request the Thundercats to come in on Sunday? All they had to say was "Thundercats, HO!"

The bottom line is, it was clear that this hurricane, wherever it hit, was going to be Very. Bad. News. Just last year we saw what Ivan did to Alabama, and Katrina looked just as bad if not worse. Granted, the levee breaking in New Orleans was a little lagniappe for everyone, but the devastation in Mississippi alone demonstrates that these catastrophes are well beyond the means of state and local governments; the state's resources are as overwhelmed by the storm as its coast.

With this in mind, in the future, perhaps national emergency and rescue agencies should mobilize prior to a major storm making landfall. Of course, it may not be wise to place them in the storm's path, but it would be prudent to find a staging area less than a day's drive away for them to be waiting to move in once the storm clears. If we're going to learn anything from this storm, perhaps this could be it.

Ian is volunteering at the Cajundome in Lafayette and blogging about his experiences with evacuees. Please read it.

Here it is:

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.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen
to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved
communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

Attention all Warner Bros. employees: WB is matching all employee donations until they reach $1 million.

On that note, look for companies of people you know who match donations. That way, you're giving double what you're able to give! Please post other companies that do this in the comments section.

Not many of these going around, but that's why it's coming out of Los Angeles.

Last night, Mrs. Murph and I went to see Brian Wilson perform SMiLE at the Hollywood Bowl. Needless to say, it was nothing short of magical. At the end of his mind-blowing third set, Wilson read a plea for the 10,700 people in attendance to donate to the Red Cross on their way out. The cheers of 10,700 people drowned out the end of his plea. After a week of wondering whether people in L.A. "got it" (and after feeling convinced that the priest at my church didn't), we felt like people cared. It was an overwhelming feeling.

I want to write more about the concert, so I will, if only to cheer people up:

The Polyphonic Spree opened. If you've never seen them live, you have to watch them for at least five minutes. I am convinced they are a cult and their music is trying to brainwash the populace toward apocalyptic, suicidal glee. All the songs are about forgetting your cares and reaching for the sun or the sky because you have the choice, etc (all subtle death imagery, or at least self-empowerment through a cult leader demagoguery). And all 20 of them wear identical robes and smile and dance. I'm sorry, but it's really freaky and I don't buy it ... unless they commit mass suicide on stage soon.

And then there was Brian Wilson: what can be said? I was worried about how it would go - the man is a drug casualty after all, and when I have children, I will be sure to make them study Wilson before & after because he is the best anti-drug ad there is. But he was almost a fully-functioning human being at the show. Seeing 12 people on stage replicating what Wilson used to be able to do himself is rather amazing.

But despite all of that, the show was incredible. Wilson has surrounded himself with amazing musicians who have the privilege of playing some of the best music in the world, and they played the hell out of it. Wilson opened with a set of early Beach Boys songs like "In My Room" and "Surfer Girl", which was nothing short of transcendent. Then he played Pet Sounds favorites like "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows", "Sloop John B" and "Pet Sounds", which was where the musicians got to show off some more.

Then they took a short break and came back out with SMiLE. To hear the beginning harmonies of Wilson's pop symphony to God was incredible, astounding and other inadequate adjectives. The entire performance was flawless, except for some floozy talking away behind us (seriously, you are sitting in a $100 seat and want to chit-chat?).

Then Wilson took a quick break and came back to do more Beach Boys songs like "Fun Fun Fun" and "Surfin' USA" before closing with his Red Cross plea and a spiritual number.

If SMiLE is coming to your town, please go.

And the hits just keep on coming:

11:44 A.M. - BATON ROUGE - The LSU Health Care Services Division is seeking information on the locations of patients who were evacuated from the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity Hospital and University Hospital campuses) over the past several days. Patients transferred from these facilities were transported by other agencies under emergency conditions to hospitals, shelters and other sites in Louisiana and elsewhere, and the Medical Center of Louisiana is unable to answer inquiries from families about the current location of these patients.

Hospitals, shelters, long term care facilities and any other facilities that have received patients transferred from MCLNO's Charity and University Hospital campuses are asked to call the LSU hospital headquarters in Baton Rouge at 800-735-1185, or to fax a patient list to 225-922-1502 as soon as possible.

Patients should not call this number with inquiries.

11:27 A.M. - Asst. Police Superintendent Warren Riley: This is the greatest catastrophe in American history, on American soil.

11:23 A.M. - Riley: Would not address officers who fled the city. "That's a story for another time," he said. People should be proud of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, who stayed in town to rescue stranded residents.

11:19 A.M. - Riley: Said people should not try to stay in the city. "There is absolutely no reason to stay here...This city has been destroyed."

11:17 A.M. - Riley: The city is making progress. Police, while still in rescue mode, are beginning to focus more on law enforcement in town. About 4,000 law enforcement agents are in New Orleans, and are working to stem the tide of chaos in the area. "We're more cohesive," Riley said, referring to the return of communications between law enforcement agencies in town.
Riley said anyone who wants to take their own boats out and conduct their own rescue operation should come down to Harrah's on Canal Street in order to be a part of a coordinated rescue effort.

11:15 A.M. - (AP): Louisiana's largest newspaper is lashing out at the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

In an open letter to President Bush, the Times-Picayune is calling for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired -- especially director Michael Brown.
The editorial says "We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry."

The newspaper goes on to say "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."

The letter says "No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced."

11:07 A.M. - MONROE (AP): About 150 medical patients, most of them elderly and a few barely clinging to life, have been airlifted to Monroe from New Orleans.

Three large Air Force planes delivered the patients to the Monroe Air Service terminal at the Monroe Regional Airport.

A doctor in charge of the medical effort in Monroe said 90% of the patients were in need of immediate hospital care. Some were close to death.

By yesterday afternoon, all the patients had been triaged and transported to either shelters or one of Ouachita Parish's four acute-care hospitals by a parade of ambulances from throughout northeastern Louisiana.

10:12: A.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard: I'm not surprised at what the feds say, they're covering their butts. They're keeping the body counts down because they don't want to horrify the nation. It's worse than Iraq, worse than 9-11. They just don't want to know how many were murdered by bureaucracy.

10:08 A.M. - VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices fell Monday after industrialized nations agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude from their strategic stockpiles to help avert a severe fuel shortage in the United States.

The U.S. refinery system was struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

9:48 A.M. - Five Plaquemines schools have cancelled classes for all of 2005-06. Belle Chasse high schools are trying to open by January.

9:46 A.M. - Video from oil company spokesman shows total devastation in lower Plaquemines.

9:40 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP) -- With memories of the Sept. 11 attacks still vivid, hundreds of police officers and firefighters left New York City on Monday, bound for Louisiana.

The 150 police officers and support vehicles join 172 officers already sent Saturday. Some officers will be federalized, which gives them the same powers as local authorities "to provide much needed law enforcement to keep people safe in and around New Orleans," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

9:35 A.M. - (AP) A steady stream of reinforcements for police poured down interstate highways toward New Orleans on Monday -- long convoys of police cars, blue lights flashing, emblazoned with emblems from scattered police, sheriff, and other jurisdictions, in and out of state.
Mayor Ray Nagin, in a telephone interview on WWL radio, the city's linked emergency broadcast center, said he was arranging to rotate out the city officers who have been working virtually around the clock since before the storm hit.

He said they and their families would get five or more days in cities with large numbers of hotel rooms -- Atlanta and Las Vegas in particular. In addition to the police, firefighters and dispatchers will be included.

9:16 A.M. - Former President Clinton: Wal-Mart giving employees at stores closed by Katrina jobs in other markets where they've relocated.

9:13 A.M. - Former President Clinton: Nothing we do can be an adequate response to the suffering we've seen.

9:12 A.M. - Former President George Bush: Recovery will take years. We need to help the Gulf Coast communities and the great city of New Orleans to get back on their feet.

9:11 A.M. - Bush: The job is too big for any one group.

9:11 A.M. - Bush: We're establishing the Bush/Clinton Katrina disaster fund and the money will go to the state's governors to be distributed as the state's need.

9:10 A.M. - Bush: Wal-Mart is contributing $23 million to the fund.

9:10 A.M. - JP Sheriff Harry Lee: Worried about people coming back armed because they heard of isolated incidents in Orleans. Don't come back and try to be "Rambo" to protect your home, that's my job. And don't mess with my movies.

9:05 A.M. - Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee: It looks like the people coming back into Jefferson Parish is going smoothly. However, my personal recommendation was to not let people back until the power was back on, but I understand people's anxiety to see their home.

9:04 A.M. - Lee: If anyone's car stalls in the roadway during this return, we will remove it by any means we can and it may get damaged, but we can't delay those trucks.

9:04 A.M. - Lee: We will enforce the dusk to dawn curfew.

9:00 A.M. - (AP) The man overseeing the military effort in New Orleans says it looks like fewer than 10,000 people remain in the city. Lieutenant General Russel Honore tells ABC the number is based on aerial reconnaissance.

Appearing separately on NBC, Honore said New Orleans is "not a city under siege." He says his native city "needs help from the big people in America" -- as well as from its technology -- in order to "get back on its feet."

8:57 A.M. - MIAMI (AP) -- Carnival says that earnings should be cut by a penny to three cents a share with most of the impact in the fourth quarter due to Hurricane Katrina.

The world's largest cruise operator says it had to cancel one voyage and shorten two others for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand because of the storm.

The brand has chartered the Sensation, Holiday and Ecstasy to the federal government for six months to be used as shelters for up to seven-thousand hurricane refugees.

8:55 A.M. - The latest on St. Bernard Parish from the parish's web site.

8:40 A.M. - METAIRIE, La. (AP) -- One week after Hurricane Katrina turned the region into a disaster of biblical proportions, miles-long lines of vehicles crawled into Jefferson Parish on Monday as residents were allowed to return for brief inspections of what's left of their homes.
The traffic began moving into the parish west of New Orleans at about 6 a.m., and officials planned to allow traffic in for 12 hours, though they encouraged residents to inspect their property, pick up personal items and leave.

8:30 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish information: 1-985-898-2323

8:28 A.M. - (AP) -- Offers of help keep pouring in from countries all around the world, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Greece says it's offered the U.S. the use of two cruise ships "for several months" to help house thousands made homeless by the storm.

Greece is also offering relief supplies and emergency crews. Greece is experienced in rescuing victims of earthquakes and other natural disasters. Spanish officials say they can help too. They say they've received a laundry list of needs from the U-S ambassador that include oil, canned food and medical equipment. The ambassador also highlighted the need for logistics specialists.

8:21 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis to residents: Please continue to stay away and give us a few more days. We're getting power on one at a time and we can move faster if the crews have total access.

8:15 A.M. - Davis: 5,500 still in St. Tammany Parish shelters.

8:10 A.M. - Davis: We have taken over AM 730 to broadcast news locally and we've taken over two pharmacies to provide medicines. We have two gas stations open in Covington but the lines are very long.

7:48 A.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard - There's no textbook on how to rebuild from the most devastating hurricane in history.

7:47 A.M. - Broussard: We've already begun to rebuild. We need to get up and running in three weeks to be a staging area for the rebuilding of New Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines.

7:46 A.M. - Broussard: We're pushing everything hard to get rebuilt as fast as we can. We want to build up quickly.

7:40 A.M. - New York Times article: If nation couldn't respond to this hurricane, how could they handle large-scale terrorist attack. Thanks, jerks.

7:35 A.M. - BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised more than $3 million by late Sunday night in a unique edition of the annual event that benefits both the Muscular Dystrophy Association and victims of Hurricane Katrina. Viewers pledged more than $3 million by 10:30 p.m., according to Bob Mackle, a telethon spokesman. The total amount of donations to aid hurricane victims was not immediately available, he said. The telethon, which started at 6 p.m. Sunday, ends Monday afternoon.

7:20 A.M. - Senator Frist volunteers as doctor, criticizes administration's response. DAMN! When this guy breaks rank, he goes all-out!

7:14 A.M. - (AP) Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., lashed back, saying she won't tolerate federal officials' denigrating local efforts to deal with the catastrophe.

"If one person criticizes them or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me," she said on the ABC's "This Week." "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."

7:05 A.M. - Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff on the coming death toll: "We need to prepare the country for what's coming... It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine."

7:00 A.M. - (AP) -- A week after Hurricane Katrina, dozens of military and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters filled the air over New Orleans. But it's getting harder to find people who needed rescuing. One Navy helicopter crew flew in from Pensacola Naval Air Station, only to spend most of their 13-hour shift fruitlessly searching flooded neighborhoods.

6:45 A.M. - Robin Cooper, CLECO spokesperson: 7,000 homes in St. Tammany have power restored, but 73,000 remain without. Power restored to hospitals.

3:15 A.M. - (AP) -- Not even Hurricane Katrina could prevent the Decadence Parade from being staged in the French Quarter. The annual Labor Day gay celebration drew about two dozen people. Street musician Matt Menold summed it up best: "It's New Orleans, man. We're going to celebrate."

2 A.M. - Transcript from Meet the Press:
MR. RUSSERT: Well, many Americans believe now is the time for accountability. The Republican governor of Massachusetts said, "We are an embarrassment to the world." The Republican senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, said that you deserve a grade of F, flunk. How would you grade yourself?

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: You know, Tim, again I'm going to--the process of grading myself and grading everybody else is one that we will examine over time. I will tell you that my focus now is on what is going to go forward. What would really be--require a grade of F would be to stop thinking about the crisis we have now so that we can start to go back and do the after-action analysis. There are some things that actually worked very well. There are some things that didn't. We may have to break the model that we have used for dealing with catastrophes, at least in the case of ultra-catastrophes.

And let me tell you, Tim, there is nobody who has ever seen or dealt with a catastrophe on this scale in this country. It has never happened before. So no matter what the planning was in advance, we were presented with an unprecedented situation. Obviously, we're going to want to learn about that. I'll tell you something I said when I--a month ago before this happened. I said that I thought that we need to build a preparedness capacity going forward that we have not yet succeeded in doing. That clearly remains the case, and we will in due course look at what we've done here and incorporate it into the planning. But first we are going to make sure we are attending to the crisis at hand.

MR. RUSSERT: So no heads will roll?

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Tim, in due course, if people want to go and chop heads off, there'll be an opportunity to do it. The question I would put to people is what do you want to have us spend our time on now? Do we want to make sure we are feeding, sheltering, housing and educating those who are distressed, or do we want to begin the process of finger-pointing?

1:30 A.M. - Transcript from msnbc.com
MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night. (Broussard is crying)
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

MONDAY 1:15 A.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- They've already raised eleven (m) million dollars to help victims of the tsunami in southern Asia. Now former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton will do the same for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The pair are set to formally announced the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund in Houston this morning. They'll do it from the Reliant Center in Houston -- not far from the Astrodome. Houston has taken in some 24-thousand Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

11 P.M. - (AP) - The Reliant Center is holding a date open should game officials decide to move the Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern to Houston this year.

The game is normally played at the Louisiana Superdome, which is unusable after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last week.

Grambling athletic director Willie Jeffries said officials are also considering the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., and LSU's Tiger Stadium.

The 32nd annual matchup is scheduled for Nov. 26.

10:23 P.M. - CBS News — Watch '60 Minutes' interview with Mayor Ray Nagin

10:21 P.M. - Nagin told '60 Minutes' that he did not unload on President Bush during his visit to New Orleans, like he did earlier this week on WWL Radio. The president did acknowledge, however, that federal response could have been better, Nagin said.

10:20 P.M. - Nagin on '60 Minutes' - "Did more people die because of the storm or because of the lack of response? That's the question."

10:19 P.M. - Mayor Ray Nagin on CBS' '60 Minutes' - "I watched a guy jump from the Superdome yesterday ... We've had two police officers commit suicide. ... This is hell."

9:59 P.M. - (AP) - The dead recovered from New Orleans' slimy, contaminated floodwaters will be brought to St. Gabriel where medical teams will attempt to identify potentially thousands of bodies.

The morgue will be located in a warehouse next the town's City Hall, Head Start and senior citizen center, a fact that doesn't sit well with many locals.

"It would be different in Baton Rouge. This has place has two, three streets," said Jackie Wilson. "I hope it doesn't start stinking around here."

The police chief, Kevin Ambeau, said he had been assured that the morgue's existence posed no danger to residents. City Hall's activities will be moved to nearby locations.

Darlene Brown, who lives across the street from the morgue, said she has seen trucks bearing large generators, gravel and pipes pass by.

"So what if I'm going to be inconvenienced for a while," Brown said as she sat under her carport watching all the activity Sunday afternoon. "It's nothing like those people (New Orleanians) are going through."

The morgue's presence will not be the first undesirable government facility to be located in the rural poor area along the Mississippi River: There are two prisons and a center to house lepers.

8:11 P.M. - St. Bernard Parish President Junior Rodriguez said St. Bernard Parish needs help too. He said they are at the "end of the line."

8:10 P.M. - Rodriguez: Updates on plight of St. Bernard after storm were late in coming because parish officials could not communicate with the outside world. Deputies and firefighters could communicate with each other, but not with anyone else.

8:05 P.M. - Jefferson Parish residents told to bring enough food, water and gasoline for the length of your stay if you return to see your home this week. Parish President Aaron Broussard said nothing will be available to supplement their needs.

7:43 P.M. - Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said he doesn't recommend that people return to Jefferson Parish at this time.

7:11 P.M. - Office of Emergency preparedness: Civilian helicopter crashes in rescue attempt. Early report are that the pilot and passenger made it with minor injuries and cuts.

6:41 P.M. - Dallas Morning News: Can New Orleans rebuild?

6:34 P.M. - New York Times article: Bush tries to quell political crisis.

6:30 P.M. - (AP) -- There may be no better way to explain the desperation on the city's ravaged streets than this: In the past few days, two police officers took their lives with their own weapons and dozens have turned in their badges.

New Orleans' thin blue line is frayed at the edges.

Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley on Sunday identified two officers who committed suicide as Sgt. Paul Accardo, the department's spokesman, and Patrolman Lawrence Celestine. He called both "outstanding cops" and friends. Asked how they died, Riley put a finger to his temple, then paused.

"Both of them," he said, shaking his head slowly. "Used their own guns."

6:24 P.M. – Saints GM Mickey Loomis – we would like to play our games in Baton Rouge but we have to see what is possible. The NFL will have a lot of say. No decision has been made.

6:23 P.M. – Loomis – Saints form Hurricane Katrina relief fund and owner Tom Benson and his wife will make the first contributions, the specifics to come in the next few days.

6:22 P.M. – Mickey Loomis – although we are practicing in San Antonio and are looking to find a place to play our home games, we are still the New Orleans Saints and we want to be in the front of helping to rebuild our city.

6:21 P.M. - Saints GM Mickey Loomis – our hearts, minds, thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Gulf Coast area.

6:06 P.M. - Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said. Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people carrying guns, killing five or six.
Fourteen contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers. They were on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help plug the breech in the 17th Street Canal, Hall said.

None of the contractors was killed, Hall said.

6:04 P.M. - Army Corps of Engineers spokesman - We know that people in the field took fire. Nobody has been able to go out there and verify.

6:03 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- With a shattered New Orleans all but emptied out, an unprecedented refugee crisis unfolded across the country Sunday, as governors and emergency officials struggled to feed, shelter and educate more than a half-million people dispossessed by Hurricane Katrina.

In Texas, where nearly a quarter-million refugees have filled the state's relief centers, Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency officials to airlift some evacuees to other states willing to take them.

5:43 P.M. CLINTON, Miss. (AP) -- A New Orleans-based company says it's moving its corporate offices to Mississippi during cleanup from Hurricane Katrina. The CEO of Entergy says New Orleans is the company's home and they intend to return.

But for now, Entergy's corporate offices will be located in an office complex in Clinton, Mississippi, located west of Jackson.

5:06 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The Rev. Gerard Young embraced Gov. Kathleen Blanco as she entered St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge Sunday, the first day for formal Sunday services since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.

"You have been so relentless," Young told her. "We are grateful."

As Gov. Blanco walked up the front steps of the cathedral, she said, "We're still rescuing people, hoping the water goes down."

5:00 P.M. - State of Louisiana: In response to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, there have been questions as to what items and services are needed. The State of Louisiana encourages people to give cash donations to an organized volunteer agency of your choice.

The State of Louisiana is working closely with the Louisiana Voluntary Organizations Active in disaster to coordinate donations of goods and services with agencies that are able to receive, store, and distribute donated items. The following items are needed: MRE’s, canned goods, non-perishable food items, baby supplies, mosquito repellants, bleach and other cleaning supplies, cases of bottled water, toiletries, individually boxed juice, individually wrapped snacks, rubber and heavy duty work gloves, dust masks, plastic utensils, and paper plates.

Please call 1-866-334-8305 to donate goods and services to benefit the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

4:44 P.M. - Harrison County: Apria Healthcare, located at 2198 Pass Road in Biloxi, will provide free oxygen for those in need from 10AM to 5PM daily. Please call 385-220 for more information.

4:42 P.M. - United Kingdom article saying that New Orleans will remain a ghost town for 9 months.

4:40 P.M. - (AP) -- Six days after Hurricane Katrina hit, officials in New Orleans are asking that anyone stranded hang brightly colored or white linens out their windows. The Coast Guard put out the call, hoping to speed up rescues across the hurricane zone. But with no power throughout the area, it's not clear if anyone is getting the message.

4:38 P.M. - Reverend Jesse Jackson suggests using existing military bases and establishing tent cities to keep families together instead of scattering families all around the United States.

4:37 P.M. - Jackson: There were about 500 empty buses sitting in LaPlace as the people waited near I-10 and Causeway and they weren't allowed to go pick up the people because they had no where to take them.

4:35 P.M. - Jackson: Relocation has become a nightmare. When we went Wednesday night to get the 450 students from Xavier and when we got to a bridge with the students, a rush of people came to surround the bus, begging us to take them. We had to leave them and it was so painful. We promised them to go back and get them and we did.

4:32 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Volunteer physicians are pouring in to care for the sick, but red tape is keeping hundreds of others from caring for Hurricane Katrina survivors while health problems escalate.

Among the doctors stymied from helping out are 100 surgeons and paramedics in a state-of-the-art mobile hospital marooned in rural Mississippi.

"The bell was rung, the e-mails were sent off. ...We all got off work and deployed," said one of the frustrated surgeons, Dr. Preston "Chip" Rich of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"We have tried so hard to do the right thing. It took us 30 hours to get here," he said. That government officials can't straighten out the mess and get them assigned to a relief effort now that they're just a few miles away "is just mind-boggling," he said.

4:30 P.M. - WWL-TV General Manager Bud Brown, who has been in town for only two months: I have been extremely impressed with the people of Louisiana. There was nothiing in my time before coming to WWL-TV that could have prepared me for this.

4:26 P.M. - BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended President Bush on Sunday against charges that the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina showed racial insensitivity.

"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," the administration's highest-ranking black said as she toured damaged parts of her native Alabama.

4:22 P.M. - BATON ROUGE - LSU is asking for donations of mattresses and bedding supplies for medical and emergency personnel at the Maddox Field House and the PMAC. All mattress sizes and air mattresses will be accepted. These donations will allow LSU to continue to provide the highest quality medical care to all evacuees.

Donations will be accepted until 6 p.m. today at the Energy, Coast and Environment Building Rotunda on Nicholson Drive Extension on the LSU campus. For additional information, contact 225-578-7688.

4:16 P.M. - N.O. Deputy Chief Warren Riley: Law enformcement officials shot eight people carrying guns on the Danziger Bridge today - killing five.

4:03 P.M. - (AP) -- Helicopters hauled slingfuls of huge sandbags Friday and dropped them like giant beanbags into a gaping hole in the damaged New Orleans levee that let floodwaters pour into the low-lying Lakefront neighborhood.

On the opposite side of the 17th Street Canal, curious flood victims watched from their makeshift perches as the helicopters made the slow, heavy trip from the Coast Guard station barely two blocks away.

4:02 P.M. - AUSTIN, Tex. (AP) -- How on earth can a state as big as Texas run out of room? Well, that's what authorities say is happening. And Governor Rick Perry is ordering his emergency officials to begin preparations to airlift some hurricane refugees to other states. Texas relief centers are running out of room while housing nearly 240-thousand Louisiana refugees in hotels and shelters. Other states offering to help are New York, Michigan, Utah, West Virginia, Iowa, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

4:00 P.M. - Father William Maestri: Archdioces of New Orleans to set up school offices Tuesday in Baton Rouge.

3:59 P.M. - Maestri - Looking to start satellite schools. Meeting Wednesday in Baton Rouge for principals and teachers who can get there.

3:58 P.M. - Maestri - Rummel and Chappelle to be used as staging areas to help get electricity back to Jefferson Parish.

3:20 P.M. - Allstate Insurance has mobilized their catastrophe team in Baton Rouge. Their Mobile Response Units are set up at two locations in Baton Rouge at the Home Depot stores located at 18139 Highland Rd. and 10300 Coursey Blvd.

3:06 P.M. - St. John Parish President Nickie Monica said Sunday afternoon that schools are scheduled to open in the parish on Sept. 12. He also said that water in the parish is safe to drink.

2:53 P.M. - According to Louis Cataldie, Louisiana emergency medical director, there are 59 confirmed dead as a result of Katrina. Twenty-six bodies were located in downtown New Orleans, 22 at Interstate-10 and Causeway Blvd. and 11 in Jefferson Parish. There are reportedly 100 bodies in St. Bernard Parish but those have not been confirmed by state health officials. These numbers reflect confirmed dead and that number is expected to increase dramatically.

2:03 P.M. - Thirty U.S. Treasury Dept. officers from the U.S. Mint police are enroute from Washington, D.C., to provide security at the New Orleans Federal Reserve Bank.

1:45 P.M. - According to the Louisiana Department of Social Services, a phone number has been set up for help in locating missing children: 1800-thelost and a Web site as well: http://www.missingkids.com

1:21 P.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis said electric power has been restored throughout Covington, Mandeville and Madisonville, but only sporadically to parts of Slidell.

1:10 P.M. - Sheriff Harry Lee in Jefferson Parish said the West Bank is pretty well clear of debris although he does not recommend anyone return even though they will be allowed to at 6 a.m. Monday. He urges any returning evacuees to drive carefully and not interfere with utility crews working on electric power lines.

11:47 A.M. - PHOENIX (AP) - The first group of Hurricane Katrina refugees who will be given shelter in Arizona arrived Sunday morning at Sky Harbor International Airport. About 150 people from the New Orleans area were aboard the first plane to arrive in the Phoenix area, said airport spokeswoman Julie Rodriguez. They were greeted by Phoenix's mayor, Red Cross officials and other local officials.

10:10 A.M. - MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- The Bush administration sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, its highest ranking black official, Sunday to visit the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast amid criticism it had responded slowly to the suffering of poor, minority victims. She returned to her native Alabama to attend services at the Pilgrim Rest AME Zion church outside Mobile.

10:06 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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. "I think it's evident it's in the thousands," Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday on CNN, echoing predictions by city and state officials last week about the death toll.

10:00 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Sunday the federal government is in control of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans after days in which authorities failed to reach stranded refugees and evacuate the city. He said a house-to-house search will be conducted to find the living and the dead.

In a series of interviews, Chertoff said the evacuation and relief operations are under way, with federal assistance in place, the city is secured, and a lot of bad news is still to come as they deal with the dead and how they died, "maybe hiding in houses, got caught by the flood, people whose remains are going to be found in the streets. ... It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine."

Chertoff said everyone must leave downtown and other flooded parts, and residents who stayed must not try to remain in their homes in coming weeks or months, calling it "not a reasonable alternative" to leaving.

9:10 A.M. -- The Jefferson Parish animal shelter said it has rescued over 100 animals from evacuees at Interstate 10 and Causeway Boulevard. The shelter issues an urgent appeal for national pet and veterinarian organizations to bring trucks to the animal shelter in Tylertown, Miss., and take animals away to places where they can be cared for.

8:45 A.M. - Washington (AP) -- Amid widespread criticism about a slow and ineffectual response to the crisis, the Bush administration dispatched several top officials to the region: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. President Bush planned to return to the region Monday.

8:28 A.M. - (AP) "A Marshall Plan for the Mississippi." That's what New Orleans native Andrew Young thinks is in order to get the hurricane ravaged area back on its feet. The former U-N ambassador and Atlanta mayor says getting the region's economy back on track requires thinking similar to what was done for Europe after World War Two. Young wants to see the White House use tax-exempt municipal bonds. Investors would get a tax break, while the bond money would go to reconstructing New Orleans. He points out that the city is key to shipping oil, gas, steel and grain.

8:26 A.M. - (AP) With each passing day, health concerns continue to grow for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Some are obvious, some less so.

Doctor Ivor Van Heerden of the L-S-U Hurricane Center says gastrointestinal illnesses like dysentery are among the immediate concerns. So are staph infections among people who had cuts on their arms and legs while wading through filthy water. In a couple of weeks, he expects an increase in West Nile Virus.

Medicine shortages are compounding the misery. Van Heerden tells Fox News Channel he got a frantic call from a doctor in Baton Rouge, looking for insulin.

8:24 A.M. - BRAGGS, Okla. (AP) -- Nearly 40 buses filled with evacuees from the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast have arrived at an Oklahoma National Guard barracks.

The buses rolled in last night loaded with weary Hurricane Katrina survivors. Many are from New Orleans and all received immediate comfort and attention, especially medical care. Volunteers and other relief workers say they're amazed at the high spirits of the evacuees, who hugged and smiled as they arrived.

8:10 A.M. - Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu - The images you've seen on TV was the lawless young men who did horrible things and have to be dealt with but what you didn't see, because the cameras weren't allowed in there, was that 99 percent were golden.

8:08 A.M. - Landrieu: This was the largest, most gargantuen storm in history. Ninety percent of the harm, tragedies and deaths were because of things beyond anyone's control. About 10 percent will be because of what someone didn't do.

8:05 A.M. - Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu - There's a lot of blame to go around, and a lot of credit. Heroes and demons. This is an American tragedy.

8:00 A.M. - Landrieu: We have rescuers going door to door. There are people still in their houses in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Lakeview and Uptown, waiting to be rescued.

8:00 A.M. - Landrieu: - We need to stop calling them refugees, they are American citizens. I've made that mistake myself.

7:55 A.M. - Landrieu: We're going to need $150 billion to rebuild the area and that might be a low estimate.

6:36 A.M. - BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Louisiana and other states hit by Hurricane Katrina can expect international help.

Ten Belgian aid experts are due to arrive stateside tomorrow. Belgium says the team will go either to Baton Rouge or Montgomery, Alabama. The experts' job is to help provide logistics and assess further needs.

6:11 A.M. - CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict is offering his prayers to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In his traditional Sunday blessing, the pontiff also prays for those helping in the recovery.

Benedict says everyone is pained by the disaster caused by the storm. He prays for the dead and their relatives and for -- in his words-- "the wounded without a roof, for the sick, the children, the elderly."

5:25 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) --Emergency officials in Louisiana say they are still getting calls from people trapped and in need of rescue. Officials say they received a thousand such calls just yesterday, with some people saying they are still trapped in their attics.

Authorities are using color-coded maps to locate anyone in need of rescue. They plan to go door-to-door if they have to, in order to find all remaining survivors.

3:37 A.M. - (AP) -- The last bedraggled refugees were rescued from the Superdome on Saturday and the convention center was all but cleared, leaving the heart of New Orleans to the dead and dying, the elderly and frail stranded too many days without food, water or medical care.

No one knows how many were killed by Hurricane Katrina's floods and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating among the ruined city, crumpled on wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.

2:11 A.M. - ATLANTA (AP) -- As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs. She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday.

They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant recipient, needed to survive. Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon their animals in the midst of evacuation.

In one example reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. "Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.
At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.

12:45 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The overseers for Louisiana's charity hospital system was working Saturday to learn the whereabouts of many patients evacuated late Friday. It did know some. Newborns from the intensive care and well-baby units at Charity and University hospitals were taken to Women's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Marvin McGraw, spokesman for the LSU hospital system, wrote in a news release sent Saturday afternoon.

12:01 SUNDAY - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Two days after a large oil spill was spotted near the town of Venice, on the Mississippi River downstream from New Orleans, there are no immediate plans to clean it up. Darin Mann, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said a flyover Saturday showed the spill didn't appear to be growing. He said DEQ didn't know how much oil was spilled since Hurricane Katrina came ashore, where the oil came from or when cleanup would begin.

"The problem is there's just no accessible road down there. It's only reachable by boat," Mann said.

8:42 P.M. - Health official: No timetable on when New Orleans will be decontaminated. First, he said, it must be drained, then it must be decontaminated.

8:40 P.M. - (AP) Thousands of people remain at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where officials turned a Delta Blue terminal into a triage unit. Officials say three- to five-thousand people had been treated at the triage unit, but fewer than 200 remain. Others throughout the airport are waiting for transport out of the city.

Jake Jacoby, a physician who's helping run the triage center, says "in the beginning it was like trying to lasso an octopus."

Airport director Roy Williams says about 30 people had died, some of them elderly and ill. The bodies are being kept in refrigerated trucks as a temporary morgue.

8:17 P.M. - SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) -- New Orleans-based Hibernia is assuring its customers that banking will go on uninterrupted and was working to re-establish communications with its mainframe.

The company says ATM and debit cards should be working and has seen only isolated instances of problems, said Keith Bergeron, regional chairman for northwest Louisiana. Its telephone banking system is overloaded and may give busy signals but will be improved. Payroll for its employees and other companies is on track.

8:08 P.M. - Congressman William Jefferson: "It is utter devastation." On my helicopter tour, I flew over New Orleans East, the Lower Ninth Ward, Central City - it's all under water. I saw the levee breach at the 17th Street Canal, it's unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it. My entire district, the city I love, is gone."

8:06 P.M. - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin: There are some employees who have been on for six straight days in horrible conditions and some of them are starting to crack.

7:58 P.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis: Sales of alcohol no longer allowed in the parish. Also parish under a "no burn" order.

7:56 P.M. - CBS' Cami McCormack on WWL Radio: People at the Convention Center site were wetting themselves rather than getting out of a line for buses and possibly losing their place.

7:55 P.M. - McCormack - The conditions in the Convention Center were horrible. There were people being beaten, there were rapes, there were people banding together to keep watch around themselves due to the crime.

7:50 P.M. - Jefferson Parish Food Distribution:
Eastbank:
East Jefferson High School
Grace King High School
Winn-Dixie, Veterans & Lake Ave.
Home Depot, Veterans & Roosevelt
Zephyr Field
Westbank:
Terrytown vol. Fire Dept., 200 Wall Blvd.
Harvey vol. Fire Dept., 639 Maple Street
Marrero Estelle vol. Fire Dept., 2248 Barataria
Marrero Ragusa vol. Fire Dept., 1400 Berger Road
Alario Center, Westwego

7:34 P.M. - (CORRECTION): The correct address for Loyola's temporary administrative office is:
Loyola University New Orleans
Central Louisiana Business Incubator
1501-A Wimbledon
Suites 148 -150
Alexandria, LA 71301

7:22 P.M. - JACKSON, MS (AP): The president of the NAACP says class and economic status played a clear role in how the federal government responded to Hurricane Katrina.

Bruce Gordon says there are clear discrepancies between how the government responded to September Eleventh and how it reacted to the needs of Katrina's victims, who were largely poor and black.

For now, though, the civil rights leader says he's not going to point any fingers. Gordon says that can wait until after the storm victims get the care they need.

The NAACP president spoke in Mississippi hours after top advisers to the president met with African-American leaders in Washington.

7:20 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): With more than 220,000 hurricane refugees camped out in Texas and more coming, Gov. Rick Perry warned Saturday that his enormous state was running out of room.

"Texas is committed to doing everything it can to help our neighbors from Louisiana, but we want to make certain that we can provide them with the medical care, food, shelter, safety, education and other services they need to start getting their lives back together," Perry said in a statement. "Local officials are beginning to notify us that they are quickly approaching capacity in the number of evacuees they believe they can assist."

About 18,500 survivors were housed in Houston's Astrodome and an adjacent meeting hall. More than 120,000 refugees were in 97 shelters in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and dozens of smaller cities across the vast state, Perry's office said, with another 100,000 in hotels and motels. Uncounted more were in churches or private homes.

7:10 P.M. - Archibishop Alfred Hughes: Call 1-888-366-5024 if you have any questions regarding the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

7:05 P.M. - (Center for Disease Control and Prevention): Facts about drinking and eating safely after the storm:
FOOD
You should throw away:
-- Food that may have come in contact with flood, storm water.
-- Food that has unusual odor, color or texture.
-- Perishable foods that have been above 40 degrees for two hours or more.
-- Canned foods that are bulging, opened or damaged.
-- Food containers with screw-caps, snap-lids, crimped caps, twist caps, flip tops, and home canned foods that may have come in contact with flood water.
But:
-- Thawed food that contains ice crystals or is 40 degrees or below can be refrozen or cooked.
Also:
-- If cans come in contact with flood or storm water, remove labels and wash cans or dip them in a solution of one cup of bleach to five gallons of water. Then relabel.
-- Don't use contaminated water to wash dishes, brush teeth, wash or prepare foods, wash hands, make ice or make baby formula.
Infant feeding:
-- Breast-fed infants should continue breastfeeding.
-- If ready-to-feed formula not available use bottled or boiled water to prepare.
-- Let boiled-water formula cool before giving to infant.
-- Be sure safe water is used to clean feeding bottles, nipples.
-- If clean water not available to wash hands before preparing formula, alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used.
Food Storage:
-- While power out, keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed.
-- Using heavy gloves, add block ice or dry ice if power may be out long.
WATER
-- Heed public announcements and instructions on water safety.
-- Use only bottled, boiled or treated water for food preparation, bathing, cleaning.
-- Alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used as substitute for safe water.
-- Make sure bottled water is from safe source.
-- Boiling water (when practical) is preferred way to kill bacteria/parasites.
-- Rolling boil of one minute will kill most organisms.
-- Boiling water will not remove chemical contaminants.
-- Chlorine tablets and iodine tablets can be used but are not as effective as boiling for killing organisms.
-- Household chlorine bleach can be used; one fourth teaspoon per gallon of clear water and let set for half hour before using.
-- Don't use decontamination methods that are not recommended by local health authorities.
-- Avoid containers that may have been contaminated until you can thoroughly clean them with soap and clean water, rinse with clean water, then shake container with bleach solution inside, rinse again with potable water.
-- Flooded private water wells may not be safe to use.
MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM:
Local media reports
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline (1-800-MPHotline)
www.foodsafety.gov
CDC and Red Cross websites

7:00 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn visited Hurricane Katrina evacuees camped inside the Houston Astrodome today.

Horn made good on a promise he made after the Saints' last preseason game Thursday by driving to Houston to spend time with storm victims there.

He worked his way through lines of cots and people lining the Astrodome floor as women shrieked in delight and everyone from small children to the elderly lined up to greet him.

Horn spent about three hours with the evacuees, signing autographs, holding babies and playing with the children.

Horn says "Anybody can throw money around at these people, but they need love."

6:52 P.M. - Suzanne Bisset of KTVK: State Police are reopening the I-10 as clean up efforts continue at the I-10/Causeway Interchange.

6:40 P.M. - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin: We're starting to see a turnaround for the better in town. When asked if his angry comments perhaps hastened the federal government's response, Nagin said he could not take all the credit. "The nation demanded a response" and the government responded, he said.

Nagin advised those who had fled or evacuated the city that they should not return for some time. He said there is a long checklist city officials must go through before declaring the city open to the public, among them: draining the city, cleaning out debris and other waste, removing dead bodies, and decontaminating the city for disease potential.

The Mayor said that history will judge whether or not he could have done more to save Orleans residents.

6:36 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Top White House officials are discussing allegations that racism may have slowed down the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and a number of President Bush's other advisers met tonight with some black leaders, including Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings.

Cummings says that the Bush administration indicated it's sensitive to the issue and that it doesn't ignore African-Americans.

At the same time, Cummings admits the discussion of race was a small part of a two-hour meeting. He says right now the White House is more concerned with how to get resources to people still in need.

For more information, please visit the Loyola Links on the sidebar.

UPDATE: Have just learned that Loyola will pay all faculty and staff for the Fall 2005 semester. I'm sure some fiscal tightwads will be up in arms about this, but I can't think of much more in line with Jesuit and Catholic values at the moment. Big ups to Fr. Wildes and everyone else involved in this decision.

Thanks to Bigshot, here's a link to Anne Rice's editorial in the NYTimes. Very worthwhile reading. I know it would be easier if I just pasted it all here, but I'm pressed for time, so please hop over on the link.

6:24 P.M. - WWL-TV's Jonathan Betz: Downtown buildings and businesses that survived the initial impact of Hurricane Katrina were ransacked by looters.

6:13 P.M. - (AP): Their clothes, unchanged for six days and soaked by putrid flood waters, stuck to them like second skins as they hobbled down the ramp from a Coast Guard cutter, lined up for quick pat downs by security personnel who snapped on rubber gloves. Click here. More Hemingway action.

6:11 P.M. - (AP): They wait in the baking sun atop mounds of stinking garbage and walk barefoot through filthy pools of water. And they are smiling. Finally, the escape from hell has begun.

For tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors trapped for days at the Superdome and other wretched shelters, boarding a rescue bus is the first sign of hope after days of squalid living and bestial violence. Click here.

6:07 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Southern University has purchased four portable shower systems than can accommodate up to 80 people each at a time for use by Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

"The showers should be installed by Tuesday and they will provide opportunities for daily shower for all of our guest," said Interim President/Chancellor Edward R. Jackson.

The F. G. Clark Activity Center at Southern University is home to 500 evacuees affected by Hurricane Katrina.

5:53 P.M. - MOBILE, AL (AP): Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb announced a campaign to collect donations for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Church officials met Saturday morning with Red Cross representatives to coordinate the effort.
Donations of newly purchased pillows, undergarments, diapers for infants and adults, and new towels and washcloths are needed.

The donations can be delivered at Catholic Social Services at 400 Government Street or the Catholic Social Service Center at 555 Dauphin Street, both in Mobile.

Donations also are being collected at any other Catholic Social Services offices in Bay Minette, Chatom, Clarke, Dothan and Montgomery.

To conserve fuel, donations also can be delivered to any Catholic parish.

Financial contributions can be made to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Mobile designated for Katrina relief and mailed to P.O. Box 230, Mobile, Al. 36601.

5:50 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): The prisoners corralled on highway overpasses are gone, taken away by boats and buses, some after climbing down a 50-foot scaffold to get to their rescue vehicles. The prisons in New Orleans and two neighboring parishes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina are empty.

Now, state and local officials are trying to piece together some system for booking, jailing and prosecuting accused criminals -- trying to re-establish law and order in a region that had descended into anarchy after the storm.

"The entire criminal justice system is alive and well and is being rapidly re-established," said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who represents the district in and around New Orleans and is setting up a new office in Baton Rouge.

The evacuation of prisoners in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes was complete by Thursday without a single escape, officials said; deputies and their families were finished evacuating a day later.

5:47 P.M. - (AP): The last 300 refugees in the Superdome climbed aboard buses Saturday bound for new temporary shelter, leaving behind a darkened and stinking arena strewn with trash.

The sight of the last person -- an elderly man wearing a Houston Rockets cap -- prompted cheers from members of the Texas National Guard who were guarding the facility.

"I feel like I've been here 40 years," said Louis Dalmas Sr., one of the last people out. "Any bus going anywhere -- that's all I want."

Inside and outside the Superdome -- including the concourse around it and a 50-yard bridge that connects it to a shopping center -- was sea of trash up to 5 feet deep.

5:40 P.M. - (AP): With communication disrupted by power outages and families and friends separated and scattered during evacuations, Web sites organized by the Red Cross and others are jammed with thousands of pleas. Click here.

5:30 P.M. - (AP): The American Red Cross said Saturday it had 361 shelters open and was caring for at least 96,180 hurricane victims in nine states. These figures do not include refugees still in New Orleans, or at hotels, motels or church or state shelters across the South. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said as many as 120,000 hurricane refugees were in 97 shelters in his state alone, with another 100,000 in Texas hotels and motels. Hundreds more were housed in churches or private homes.
American Red Cross shelters:
-- Louisiana: 127 shelters; 51,480 people
-- Mississippi: 102 shelters; 13,510 people
-- Texas: 49 shelters; 23,850 people
-- Alabama: 47 shelters; 3,760 people
-- Georgia: 17 shelters; 880 occupants
-- Tennessee: 9 shelters; 70 occupants
-- Florida: 8 shelters; 1,380 occupants
-- Arkansas: 1 shelter; 1,250 occupants
-- Missouri: 1 shelter; 0 occupants

5:15 P.M. - AUSTIN, TX (AP): The number of hurricane evacuees staying in Texas is now nearly equal to the entire population of Baton Rouge.

Emergency workers at Houston's Astrodome are preparing for 10,000 new arrivals everyday for the next three days. Evacuees are also moving in large numbers into other states including Tennessee, Indiana and Arkansas.

5:10 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina who need help getting federal and state benefits can now call a single toll-free number.

It was set up jointly by three state departments: Health and Hospitals, Labor, and Social Services. The number is 1-888-LAHELPU, or 1-888-524-3578; it will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They can get information about these programs:
--Food Stamp Benefits, including Disaster Food Stamp Benefits
--Medicaid or WIC
--Mental Health Counseling
--Addictive Disorders
--Developmental Disorders
--Social Security Benefits or Social Security Disability Benefits
--Child Support
--Foster Care Program
--DHH Optional State Supplement Checks
--Louisiana Rehabilitation Services
--Unemployment Benefits and Disaster Unemployment Benefits

Displaced Department of Social Services employees may also call the number to report their whereabouts or ask about their jobs. Officials ask for patience because they expect a lot of calls, especially during the first days.

5:06 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): In the rush to evacuate people from the storm-ravaged New Orleans area, at least two dozen children have been separated from their parents in Louisiana, according to the state social services department.

Some children and parents also have been separated and sent to neighboring states in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and as the evacuation continues officials expect that number to grow larger, according to Marketa Garner Gautreau, an assistant secretary with the social services office.

"As people have been pushed onto buses and jumped onto buses, they've gotten separated from their families," Gautreau said.

Other children needed medical care and their parents couldn't get airlifted with them, she said, pledging that all children separated from parents are being well-taken care of with about five social services volunteers to each child.

"We are going to reunite these children and their families," Gautreau said.

Parents looking for children can call 1-800-THE-LOST or visit www.missingkids.com.

5:05 P.M. - WWL-TV: The following is a release from Loyola University:
Loyola University New Orleans is closed for this semester and will reopen in January 2006. Our 27 sister institutionss have generously offered support by making arrangements to accept Loyola students this fall semester. Arrangements with LSU in Baton Rouge have also been made for our students this fall semester. First year law students will be able to attend the University of Houston. Second and third year students will be able to take courses at institutions listed on the Association of American Law Schools website at www.aals.org/

The university has set-up temporary administrative offices in Alexandria, Louisiana. The mailing address is Loyola University New Orleans, Central Louisiana Business Incubator, 1501-A, Suite 148/150, Alexandria, LA 71301. A 1-800 number is also being established and will be posted as soon as we know it. More information will be forthcoming to answer questions from students, parents, faculty and students, and others.

Please be patient as we set-up our communications and staff to continue administrative operations.

5:00 P.M. - WWL-TV: St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis has issued a moratorium on the sale of alcoholic beverages in the parish. This includes beer, wine and liquor. Bars and restaurants will not be allowed to sell alcoholic beverages in any form. Any one breaking this new law will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

4:27 P.M. - WWL-TV: Clean up crews can be seen collecting the debris and garbage around the evacuation point at the I-10/Causeway Interchange. There are no more evacuees in the area.

4:23 P.M. - (AP): Only pockets of stragglers remain in the streets around the New Orleans Convention Center, and paramedics have begun carting away the dead.

Most of the hurricane survivors were taken away earlier today by bus and helicopter.
Many of those who filed onto the buses had to walk past corpses to make their escape. Conditions were so crowded that many refugees had to leave bags full of belongings at the side of the road.

One woman who had been stuck at the convention center for five days said "anyplace is better than here."

National Guardsmen are providing security at the center. They confiscated knives and letter openers from people before they boarded the buses.

4:20 P.M. - WWL-TV's Mike Hoss: Army Corps of Engineers hope to have the breech at the 17th Street Canal repaired by Sunday.

4:18 P.M. - Hoss: Several West End restaurants have been reduced to rubble.

4:15 P.M. - ESPN.com: The ugly side to Hurricane Katrina, the despair that led to the looting this past week in New Orleans, has spilled into the seemingly trivial world of college basketball.
Monte Towe, head coach of the displaced University of New Orleans, told ESPN.com on Saturday that his best player, sophomore guard Bo McCaleb, is being approached by intermediaries representing other schools to leave the university. This comes on the heels of the school deciding Friday, according to Towe, that the Privateers will play this season. Click here.

4:01 P.M. - (AP): President Bush plans to return to the Gulf Coast on Monday.

In this morning's radio address, the president recounted yesterday's visit and said he saw "a spirit that cannot be broken."

He's ordered more than 7,000 active duty forces to the area as his administration intensifies efforts to rescue survivors. He says 4,000 active duty troops are already in the region.
In addition to the president, several other administration officials also are heading south.
The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers will fly to Louisiana and Mississippi tomorrow.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is planning a trip to Mobile, Alabama.

4:00 P.M. - (AP): Fire broke out in the Saks Fifth Avenue store in the Canal Place shopping center in downtown New Orleans on Saturday, and firefighters brought in tanker trucks of water to keep it under control.

No other water pressure was available because of Hurricane Katrina, but Fire District Chief Donald Schulz said the blaze was contained after several hours. Cause was not known.

"All I can tell you is people ran out of the building as we went in," Schulz said.
Asked if he thought they deliberately set it afire, Schulz said, "They weren't sales clerks."
Firefighters had to cut through a window to get in.

Several fires have been an added aggravation during the ordeal that followed Monday's devastating hurricane which has forced an evacuation of the entire city.

One fire Friday destroyed a four-story residence building diagonally across the wide Canal Street from the shopping center.

"This district seems to have had more fires than any since the hurricane," Schulz said.
Another, bigger fire also broke out Friday with a thunderous explosion in a warehouse downriver from the French Quarter and continued to burn late Saturday.

A towering column of billowing smoke hung over the fire, which had spread along the row of warehouses.

Terry Ebbert, city em emergency operations director, downplayed the danger.

"It's not serious. It's not a toxic chemical. It's pretty well confined," he said.

3:55 P.M. - WWL-TV: Peyton and Eli Manning made a surprise visit to a shelter and helped the American Red Cross to deliver food, water, Gatorade, baby formula and diapers to the evacuees. More than 30,000 pounds of non-perishable items in total.

"This is home," Peyton said. "I don't know how many we're gonna help, but we gotta do something."

One woman at the shelter commended the Manning brothers for coming to town.
"That really is beautiful," she said. "They've lifted our spirits."

3:48 P.M. - Lt. Jack West, Covington Police Dept.: No incidents of any injuries to police deputies, despite previous reports saying officers had been shot by looters. Only one looter had been arrested.

3:40 P.M. - Sen. David Vitter (R): Spent the whole day in the area, in Gretna and the Oakwood Mall. Vitter said the Shopping Center was damaged by looters. He voiced concern that problems aren't just being shifted from New Orleans to the airport.

Vitter said the priority of officials should be to increase the amount of relief supplies, putting more troops on the ground, and continuing the evacuation operations in town.

The Senator hopes we've begun to turn a corner in this crisis.

3:36 P.M. - Rep. Charlie Melancon (D): We must ask tough questions about levee and coastal restoration projects.

3:31 P.M. - (AP): Storm casualties in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina as released by official sources. A total 144 confirmed deaths Saturday:
--Harrison County: 65 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner.
--Hancock County: 30 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner.
--Pearl River: 17 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner.
--Jackson County: 10 dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner.
--Forrest County: Seven dead, reported by Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree.
--Jones County: Six dead, reported by Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
--Adams County: Two dead, reported by the MEMA.
--Stone County: One dead, reported by Harrison County Coroner.
--Hinds County: One dead, reported by MEMA.
--Lauderdale County: One dead, reported by MEMA.
--Leake County: One dead, reported by MEMA.
--Simpson County: One dead, reported by MEMA.
--Warren County: One dead, reported by MEMA.
--Interstate 59: One dead, National Guard soldier killed in traffic accident, reported by the Mississippi National Guard.

3:26 P.M. - Tab Troxler, Dir. of Emergency Operations, St. Charles Parish: Asking residents to return to the parish to begin the rebuilding process and in order to stabilize the local economy.
St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Dept.: It is safe for residents to come back, you do not have to be afraid.

3:22 P.M. - (AP) Hurricane survivors must decide: rebuild or retreat? Click here.

3:12 P.M. - (CNN): Firefighters told CNN the blaze started under "suspicious circumstances." Smoke wafted from the upper floor of the Saks Fifth Avenue store...Earlier, a CNN crew saw looters leave the mall carrying filled Gucci and Brooks Brothers bags. Click here. WHO ELSE WOULD HAVE SEEN IT?

3:05 P.M. - BATON ROUGE: The former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency joined the Louisiana government Saturday to help direct the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
James Lee Witt, who ran FEMA from 1993 to 2001, said he will stay as long as he as needed.
"He will sit at the table for me, and he will be my voice at the table," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
Louisiana officials are getting stretched too thin and need help, she said. "I like to hire the smartest people in the country," she added.

Witt has more than 25 years of disaster management experience. He was appointed to head FEMA in 1993, after President Clinton took office. FEMA had been strongly criticized in 1992 for its slow response to Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo; after Witt took over, it won praise for its vigorous reaction to Midwest floods and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.
Blanco said that when she told Mike Brown, FEMA's current head, that she hoped to hire him, "he said, `That is absolutely the right thing to do. He will make a huge difference."'

At the National Hurricane Conference in March, Witt said putting FEMA under the Homeland Security Department hurt its ability to deal with natural disasters.

On Saturday, he said, "Now's not the time to point blame at anyone." I really hope this isn't another Clinton-Bush pissing contest.

2:58 P.M. - (WWL-TV) BATON ROUGE: All patients, physicians, employees, and students were successfully evacuated from Charity Hospital.

The newborns from the well baby and in intensive care units were transferred to Women's Hospital in Baton Rouge.

The mental health patients and their mental health staff were transported to the Central Louisiana State Hospital at Pineville.

The employees, students, and residents were taken to Baton Rouge or San Antonio.

As soon as information is compiled on the location of patients transferred from the MCL Charity and University campuses, a toll free hot line will be made available and announced in the media.

2:37 P.M. - WWL-TV: A criminal holding facility will be constructed in Orleans Parish, where authorities will process criminals.

2:32 P.M. - The Hammond Daily Star: Farmers at the edge of the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina have to dump their milk because they've run out of room to store it, even as thousands of people go hungry and thirsty in and around New Orleans.

Many farms' storage tanks are just big enough to hold two milkings, and co-ops haven't been able to pick up the milk, Dee Simpson said Friday.

She said she has been dumping milk at her family's 250-acre dairy farm since Thursday, but other farms had to start Tuesday, she said.

The loss of income combined with the huge expense of repairing damaged barns and using generators to run dairy equipment could be disastrous for the heart of the state's dairy industry.
Clifford and Patty Champlin are using 300 gallons of diesel fuel a day to power five generators at their 500-acre dairy farm. Hundreds of trees fell on their property, and many have destroyed their fences. It takes a day to remove just one tree, Clifford Champlin said.

The Champlins, who produce milk for Kleinpeter's, also will have to replace the roof of their animal wash lot, part of which collapsed. They had just spent $3,000 to replace the roof.

Dee Simpson said her co-op couldn't get diesel or working generators but hopes to have them shipped here within the next day or two. She said she hopes the co-op will pay them for the milk that's been discarded.

Farmers also are having trouble fin ding feed for their 80 cows, numerous calves and 40 horses The plant where they buy it will be closed for four weeks.

"That's going to be the hardest part -- just trying to take care of these animals," Dee Simpson said.

2:30 P.M. - FORT CHAFFEE, AR (AP): New Orleans-area residents brought to Arkansas to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina arrived at Fort Smith on Saturday but the first wave was temporarily diverted because of worries that Fort Chaffee couldn't accommodate their wheelchairs.

Fort Chaffee, a decades-old Army base in western Arkansas, does not fully comply with standards set under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Washington County emergency officials agreed to take them, but space later was found at Fort Chaffee.

About 60 planes are expected to arrive over the next two or three days, bringing 4,000 or so evacuees removed from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. The first plane, which arrived Saturday morning, had 60 passengers in wheelchairs.

Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday that as many as 50,000 refugees may already be in Arkansas, with as many as 20,000 still to come. He said plans also were being made to house thousands more at church camps, scout camps, and public housing apartments.

2:21 P.M. - Video game development company Bungie is selling shirts to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

According to a statement posted at www.bungie.net: "Now, why did we make a T-Shirt? We used the tools we have. We have a company store that can handle the transactions. We have designers, and we were able to make T-Shirts faster than anything else. And a T-Shirt is something you can wear to show solidarity with the folks suffering there, and reminds everyone around you that it's good to donate. It's a billboard for what we're capable of doing when people need help." Click here to contribute.

2:18 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): The triage line inside the Astrodome hasn't changed much since the buses began arriving from New Orleans two nights ago.

It's long with tired, ailing refugees, some in wheelchairs, some on crutches, some critical, some not, but every one of them waiting on a doctor.

This is the Astrodome, not the Superdome. It's smells a lot less here. It's cooler, and less chaotic. Still, it's a basin of folks with so many ills, where everyone lines up to be treated. And it's no short line.

Mary Cavnar Johnson, M.D., private practitioner turned Red Cross volunteer, is quick and kind. Whenever she glances over a patient's shoulder, though, the line doesn't get any shorter.
In four hours, she's treated 50 people. (At her practice, Johnson sees no more than 30 in a routine, eight-hour day.)

There are, give or take, roughly 50 doctors, paramedics and nurses on hand to treat the Astrodome's thousands of new residents.

2:13 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Governor Kathleen Blanco has declared a state of public health emergency.

The declaration allows doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to register with the Department of Health and Hospitals and go to work immediately in Louisiana. The medical professionals must be in good standing in their home states.

Blanco also is asking that school buses be used to help carry supplies and evacuate hurricane victims.

Superintendents in every Louisiana school district that is still up and running have been ordered to send a list of buses and drivers.

2:09 P.M. - PHOENIX (AP): One thousand or more refugees of Hurricane Katrina could begin arriving in Arizona as early as Sunday morning, said a spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano.
Some of the evacuees would likely be brought to Phoenix's Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where they would remain for a few weeks until other housing arrangements could be made, said Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer.

"We will be working with people to transition them to other shelters," L'Ecuyer said.
Another possible location for temporarily housing refugees is the Tucson Convention Center, said Michael Carson, a spokesman for the city of Tucson.

Officials were unable to say how many refugees would be sent Phoenix and Tucson and how long the displaced people would remain in shelters.

The Arizona Department of Housing plans to help find longer-term housing for refugees.

2:02 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Homeland Security Michael Chertoff says Coast Guard has rescued 9,500 people in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and humanitarian aid has gone to 100,000 people.

2:00 P.M. - U.S. Attorney Jim Letten: I bring a message from the President of the U.S., the Attorney General of the U.S. "The city of New Orleans belongs to its citizens and not the thugs who have attempted to terrorize the citizens."

1:58 P.M. - Letten: Federal prosecutors are coming to Louisiana and working around the clock in the field to process and screen people who are arrested to find federal offenders and then imprison them.

1:50 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP) -- A convoy of 70 city buses, accompanied by an assortment of support vehicles and volunteers, departed lower Manhattan on Saturday morning for a 24-hour trip south to help evacuate victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The caravan, including another 47 vehicles from the city police and mass transit, was expected to arrive in New Orleans on Sunday to start ferrying victims of the hurricane out of the crippled Crescent City. They left from Police Headquarters, just a few blocks east of ground zero.

1:47 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to order 75,000 meals a day from the city's two Jason's Deli restaurants, but the chain's overwhelmed employees haven't been able to keep up, a restaurant manager said Saturday.
"We would have to close both of our restaurants down to the public to come close to it," manager Brad McElwee said. "Every day we're feeding as many as we can."

McElwee said 25 employees at his restaurant put together 4,000 to 5,000 meals for FEMA on Saturday, while trying to serve walk-in customers as well. Forty workers at the other location have been making 5,000 to 12,000 meals a day.

1:14 P.M. - Marriott hotel press release: Marriott has established a toll-free line for friends and families to call for information about guests and associates who may have been affected by the hurricane. That number is (866) 211-4610. Outside the U.S. and Canada, the direct dial number is (402) 390-3265.

1:09 P.M. - Health spokesperson: We have 21 children separated from their parents and we are trying to help get them with their parents. The children range from infancy to 8 years of age. missingkids.com 1-800-THELOST. The spokesperson said there are additional displaced children out of state and they are working on getting those numbers as well.

1:03 P.M. - (AP) Evacuees continue to board buses at the New Orleans Convention Center, with many people filing past corpses to make their escape. Conditions are crowded and many people have had to leave bags full of belongings at the side of the road because there's no room.

National Guardsmen are providing security at the center. They're confiscating knives and letter openers from people before they board.

12:55 P.M. - WWL-TV: City Councilman Oliver Thomas is livid that evacuees are being taken out of the state capital to shelters in other states because, according to him, the city is scared of New Orleans residents.

Thomas said Governor Blanco has done the best she could do, but said she has to tell people around the state that N.O. residents are not thugs and looters, and to accept them in their community. "They got a lot of good people in New Orleans," Thomas said.

Said he was at the scene of the alleged "riot" at the Centroplex, but that it was blown out of proportion.

Thomas said that only a few people are committing acts of criminal looting, and are not in the majority.

12:44 P.M. - CHARLESTON, WV (AP): Louisiana and Texas have accepted West Virginia's offer to help relocate displaced Louisiana residents in need of assistance, Gov. Joe Manchin announced Saturday.

At about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, six West Virginia Air National Guard C-130s left Charleston's Yeager Airport for New Orleans Airport to pick up approximately 500 Louisiana residents "looking for a safe and friendly place to lay their heads," Manchin said.

The first plane was to arrive Saturday evening back at Yeager, where the passengers would be given food, water, showers, blankets and medical attention, he said. From there, they were to be flown to Morgantown and bused to Camp Dawson in Preston County, where they will be temporarily housed.

"We will welcome these fellow Americans with open arms and I am confident that our residents will quickly rise to the challenge of helping our new neighbors rebuild their lives," the governor said.

12:43 P.M. - MOBILE, AL (AP): The USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, the state's largest draw for tourists, has been closed indefinitely because of Hurricane Katrina damage, and a gasoline shortage could keep others off the beaches and roads this Labor Day weekend.

12:37 P.M. - (AP): A list of famous spots in the city, and how they are faring, though the full extent of the damage won't be known for some time. Cick here.

I know I posted this story already, but let's break it down a bit:

Outspoken rapper Kanye West made waves at NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief."

"OUTSPOKEN"? Is that what you call every black man with an opinion and the gall to voice it? "MADE WAVES"? Hemingway was a reporter. You are a reporter. You are not Hemingway.

He claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

I think it's narrow-minded to limit this statement to George Bush.

West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."

Don't even try to deny it. But, of course, they do: he's "ranting", running his mouth off. Don't pay attention. And then they say it in Corporatese.

In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks."

Translation: He's just an unruly house negro who done mouthed off when we gave him one ounce of the freedom we enjoy. Please, white people, we thought this boy would just do what he told. That's what they all usually do. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get back counting all the money this boy has made for us.

"It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

That's right: lay the groundwork to blame Kanye for anything that goes wrong with your little telethon. Tell him the levee broke because he don't know his place.

Michael has a list of 22 Reasons Why America Needs New Orleans.

From the little I've been watching, it appears that CNN is trying to outFox Fox. There should be some kind of an award for this. If you scan the wwltv.com headlines, check and see which ones are the most sensational: 9 times out of 10, they're coming from CNN.

If anyone's out there spotlighting the worst of the worst, it's CNN. If anyone out there is not helping, it's CNN. Maybe things in The Situation Room look worse than anywhere else, or maybe someone's tired of being last in the ratings race. What are they going to do when things start to stabilize? Start shooting people themselves, of course, and then blame it on black people.

Hello everybody. Things appear to be clearing up now that the resources are coming in. Funny how that happens, isn't it?

You'll notice on the sidebar that I'm placing the big important Katrina links there.

On with the news.

12:37 P.M. - (AP): A list of famous spots in the city, and how they are faring, though the full extent of the damage won't be known for some time. Cick here.

12:27 P.M. - GALVESTON, TX (AP): Federal officials are chartering three Carnival Cruise Lines ships for six months to provide shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

The "Ecstasy," "Sensation" and "Holiday" are being pulled from regular use. Could they find more ironic names?

Ecstasy and Sensation will both be pulled Monday. They're scheduled to dock and house Katrina refugees in Galveston, Texas. The Holiday likely will be pulled Thursday and docked in Mobile, Alabama.

The Ecstasy and Sensation can each take about 2,600 passengers. The Holiday has capacity for about 1,800 people. Guests with canceled bookings will get refunds and the opportunity to re-book on any Carnival ship -- with a $100-per-person shipboard credit.

The "Elation," which operates from Galveston, will take over some of Ecstasy's schedule.

12:21 P.M. - HOUMA (AP): A teenager died and eight other people have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after two Houma families ran generators inside their homes to power appliances until power was returned after Hurricane Katrina. Click here.

12:16 P.M. - FEMA Director Mike Brown: Zephyr Field will be used as a military hospital.

12:13 P.M. - (The Herald-Sun): Oklahoma City offered to become the home of the New Orleans Hornets this season following the devastation by Hurricane Katrina. Click here for story.

12:09 P.M. - WWL-TV: Air-conditioned buses are rolling up to the New Orleans Convention Center to pick up evacuees.

12:08 P.M. - WWL-TV: The I-10/Causeway Interchange has considerably fewer evacuees waiting to leave the city.

12:04 P.M. - FBI Special Agent in charge of Louisiana James Bernazzani: FBI offices in New Orleans took a direct hit. The FBI never left the city, he said. Tactical teams were moving around the city working to secure specific locations deemed vital to the survival of the city.
Bernazzani said he was cautiously optimistic about the city's welfare, and that the FBI is committed toward returning New Orleans to relative safety. On the topic of security, Bernazzani said a gang task force was en route to the city to help restore order.

12:03 P.M. - (AP): After an overnight disruption, evacuations have resumed at the Superdome. Several thousand people are climbing aboard buses to escape the frightening scene of filth, violence and despair. The evacuees had been patiently waiting in five lines for their place on a bus.

One woman cried with relief and exhaustion, saying she'd never been through anything so awful.
The arena's second-story concourse looks like a dump, with more than a foot of trash except in the occasional area where people have been working to keep things as tidy as possible.

Officials are trying to completely evacuate the Superdome so they can set up a staging area.

11:55 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP): The Big Apple will raise its glasses to the Big Easy -- not for toasts, but to collect money for more than 80,000 hospitality workers from the hurricane-ravaged city.

In addition to New York, bars around the country also have promised to mix cocktails to help the Louisiana bartenders and hotel, casino and restaurant workers facing unemployment.
Four New York-based cocktail experts are spurring the "Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour" -- a two-hour nationwide drinking session scheduled for next Saturday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Each $10 drink -- Big Easy classics like the sazerac, the ramos gin fizz and the Pimm's cup -- will be served with a set of free Mardi Gras beads.

New York bartenders stepped forward first, with dozens of establishments from Soho's tony new Pegu Club to the Central Park's Tavern on the Green and the lively Havana Central, agreeing to participate in the fundraiser.

Organizers said the effort is spreading quickly and now includes the Sierra Gold tavern in Las Vegas, a half dozen businesses in Washington, D.C., and more in Arlington, Va., and Silver Springs, Md.

11:54 A.M. - TYLER, TX (AP): A newspaper in Tyler has agreed to offer free help-wanted classified ads to link local businesses and hurricane refugees seeking jobs.

The associate publisher of the Tyler Morning Telegraph says the newspaper began publishing a "Hurricane Job Central" column today.

He says evacuees might be in the area for an extended time, and hopes a short-term partnership with East Texas businesses can create mutual benefits for all.

11:52 A.M. - HOUSTON (AP): The American Red Cross is working to reunite families separated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The agency has activated the Family Links Registry, which is accessible by telephone or the Internet.

Evacuees living in shelters, hotels or with family members or friends are being encouraged to call 1-877-568-3317 to let people know where they are. Evacuees also can register by visiting www.redcross.org.

Officials say the system will be updated continuously. It's designed to help people reach loved ones who might be in distant locations.

11:50 A.M. - Morial: It only takes one or two fools to ruin the image of New Orleans with their actions.

11:49 A.M. - Morial: Were they (evacuees) not poor and African-American, would they have received help any sooner?

11:48 A.M. - Former N.O. Mayor Marc Morial: "I'm in a lot of pain" watching the events unfold in New Orleans. Morial added that he doesn't like members of the media using the term "refugee," because of its connotation; instead he prefers the term "citizen refugee."

11:41 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's spokesman James Hartman: Asking people to stay out of the parish for right now. Sheriff's deputies are committing systematic searches of the area, and are responding to e-mails and calls from residents.

Hartman said he's seen only isolated incidents of looting in St. Tammany, and reports 10 arrests have been made.

Food, water and ice can be picked up at area schools, Hartman said.

11:30 A.M. - MINNEAPOLIS (AP): Thousands of refugees from Hurricane Katrina could soon be arriving in Minnesota, where people may be asked to open their homes to victims of the devastating storm.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Saturday on WCCO-AM that Minnesota has been asked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house up to 5,000 people displaced by the hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast.

The refugees could begin arriving in a "matter of days," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said the state is looking at National Guard armories and perhaps Camp Ripley in central Minnesota as an initial receiving station. Part of the plan might involve Minnesotans opening their homes to hurricane refugees, he said.

Pawlenty said Minnesota is happy to help.

"This is a national tragedy, and it really requires a national response," he said.

10:43 A.M. - WWL-TV's Josh McElveen: The stench coming from the Superdome is "indescribable."

10:28 A.M. - FEMA Director Mike Brown: 13,000 National Guard troops are now on the ground in New Orleans, and order is being restored.

10:26 A.M. - (AP): Animal welfare groups are scrambling to rescue pets left behind by hurricane victims. The International Fund for Animal Welfare says at least 300 dogs have been taken from New Orleans to Houston, where they're being cared for by the SPCA. And hundreds more may be arriving soon.

The group says many of the dogs were smuggled into shelters and evacuation buses by people fleeing New Orleans. It's working with the SPCA to set up temporary animal shelters.

Meanwhile, members of the Humane Society's Disaster Animal Response Team have worked their way into stricken areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. They're following up reports of animals locked in homes, kennels and veterinary clinics.

10:21 A.M. - Gen. Jon Graham, Dir. of Civil Works: Over 35,000 people have been evacuated from the city, using more than 780 commercial buses. Initially, between 60,000 and 80,000 were estimated to be trapped in the city when the evacuation process began. However, as the evacuation missions continue, more and more people keep showing up at evacuation sites.

10:14 A.M. - Army Corps of Engineers official: 1,200 corps members in the New Orleans area.

10:06 A.M. - Michelle Duffourc, airport spokeswoman: Please do not come to the airport. Our rescue efforts of sick and infirmed are being hampered by walkups.

10:04 A.M. - FEMA Director Mike Brown; We had resources here, but Katrina was a much bigger than expected and covered a much larger area than we expected. It's heart wrenching.

10:03 A.M. - Brown: Seeing the magnitude of this tragedy, people want to lash out at FEMA, they want to lash out at me. That's fine and understandable. But I have to continue trying to save lives.

10:03 A.M. - Brown: We thought we had the standard hurricane and that we'd immediately respond and have things in order in a couple of days and then the levee broke and that hampered us and then some idiots decided they'd get guns and start shooting and that almost put our rescue efforts at a halt. If you don't think it frustrates an urban search and rescue person when they are trying to save lives and they have to stop because they are being shot at, then you are wrong.

9:58 A.M. - (AP) -- A raging fire is burning warehouses located less than a mile from New Orleans' French Quarter.

The blaze is sending smoke that ranges from green to charcoal black billowing over rows of warehouses.

The fire on the east bank of the Mississippi River is also buckling corrugated roofs and setting off tiny explosions. And a concrete loading dock area is the only thing separating the fire from a triple line of tanker cars.

9:56 A.M. - (AP) -- Evacuees are growing increasingly frustrated at the New Orleans Convention Center as they spend another day waiting for buses.

A dead man is lying on the sidewalk under a blanket with a stream of blood running down the pavement. People say he died from violence.

One refugee says "We're hurting out here, man. We got to get help."

The National Guard says it's doing what it can. One official says soldiers have served more than 70,000 meals outside the New Orleans Convention Center since yesterday. He says another 130-thousand meals are on hand.

9:39 A.M. - FEMA Director Mike Brown: Nearly 4,000 people were airlifted out of New Orleans area yesterday. Approximately 25,000 people have been airlifted out to date. We've gotten out 95 percent of the people in the Superdome.

9:38 A.M. - Brown; The situation at the Convention Center is under control.
9:37 A.M. - Brown: Amtrak trains are now flowing out of the city with evacuees.
9:36 A.M. - Brown; Approximately 1,700 people in hospitals still need to be evacuated.
9:35 A.M. - Brown: We have 80,000 people in shelters in areas outside of the area.
9:35 A.M. - Brown: Rescue workers are going house to house looking for survivors.

9:15 A.M. - (AP) Since the hurricane, people have displayed a massive outpouring of charity. Total donations passed the $200 million mark by Friday, four days after the storm slammed into the Gulf Coast. The bulk of those funds were collected by the Red Cross, which said it has raised $196.9 million from individuals and corporations.

9:13 A.M. - MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The United States has agreed with a request from Mexico to not prosecute undocumented Mexican migrants affected by Hurricane Katrina who ask U.S. officials for help, President Vicente Fox said Friday.

"We have agreed with the government of the United States that those who were not documented at the time will not be subject to any pressure or persecution whatsoever," Fox said during a government event Friday afternoon.

9:13 A.M. - President Bush: Where our response is not working, we will make it right. Where it is not working, we will duplicate it. We will not rest until we get this right. We've all been humbled by the power of Mother Nature.

9:12 A.M. - President Bush: 7,000 more forces from the Air Force are being sent to New Orleans.

9:12 A.M. - Bush: I signed a $10.5 million aid package. This is only a down payment.

9:11 A.M. - President Bush: Hour by hour the situation on the ground is improving, yet the enormity of the task requires more resources.

9:10 P.M. - President Bush: The magnitude of responding to a crisis in an area the size of Great Britain has caused a problem in bringing relief, especially to the city of New Orleans - and that is unacceptable.

9:08 A.M. - Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti: The looters that are in custody have been removed from the city of New Orleans at a temporary site before being taken to the Hunt correctional center.

9:03 A.M. - AUSTIN (AP) -- Attorneys from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will be allowed to practice in Texas -- due to Hurricane Katrina. The Texas Supreme Court order will be in effect for 30 days. In the meantime, the high court will look at ways to establish registration procedures for out-of-state lawyers displaced in Texas. Can I just say how much Texas is doing to help?

9:02 A.M. - (AP) -- Governor Blanco is a bit more optimistic now that the National Guard has arrived in force in New Orleans.

She says it's "putting confidence back in our hearts and in the minds of our people." With a jittery city starting to calm a bit, Blanco says "We're going to make it through." She says the evacuation of thousands of people from the convention center could start today, though a National Guard commander says it may take longer.

9:00 A.M. - A small group of police and firemen are trapped on top of the BellSouth building on Bundy Road in Eastern New Orleans and said they are dehydrated.

9:00 A.M. - DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U-S Air Force officials said today that 300 airmen will be sent home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help their families cope with emergencies on a hurricane-devastated airbase in Biloxi, Mississippi.

8:52 A.M. - HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- "Dying of dehydration and exhaustion." That's the desperate scene described by a college student stuck in a flooded New Orleans hospital in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Erik McCall told his father of dozens of dead patients and describing a makeshift morgue in an operating room.

McCall spoke with his father for the first time late Thursday from Methodist Hospital. He and his mother have been there since she was called in to work last weekend as a nursing administrator.

8:50 A.M. - (AP) -- National Guardsman Michael Rogers has now seen New Orleans in two different lights. A month ago, the steamy riverfront offered Rogers a much-needed vacation after a year's tour in Iraq. Now he's back providing emergency aid and he says the place reminds him of Baghdad.

Among the similarities, angry crowds, a hot blazing sun and a murky mixture of resentment and gratitude. Taking a cigarette break yesterday, he watched hundreds of newly homeless line up outside the downtown convention center for the food and water they'd gone without for days.
In Rogers words, "This right here, I'd have to say is very similar to Iraq, the way the people are -- hungry, very angry."

8:44 A.M. - The mayor says he feels a little better about things now. Ray Nagin returned from a meeting with President Bush yesterday a much calmer man than the one who earlier issued a statement of warning to CNN. In the warning, he said New Orleans was "hanging on by a thread" and "only God knows" if it would survive another night.

But after the meeting, he says he thinks people are paying attention now and "hopefully they'll continue to do what they're doing."

8:41 A.M. - Open letter from Michael Moore to President Bush. As if he'd ever do anything private.

8:33 A.M. - Essay on Katrina from Ex-New Orleanian and Lusher School alum Anya Kamenetz in the Village Voice.

7:58 A.M. - BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Jerry Lewis will be asking viewers of his annual Labor Day telethon to divide their compassion between "his kids" and the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The telethon begins Sunday night and runs through Labor Day. Traditionally the money raised goes towards the fight against muscular dystrophy. But Lewis says he knew he had to change the focus this year after watching footage of hurricane victims. He says he's confident "his kids" agree with him.

7:46 A.M. - The following is an important message to the employees of the Don Bohn Automotive Group: In an effort to reach employees, Don Bohn Automotive Group has posted important information on bohnzone.com. Hotline phone numbers have also been set up. Please call 713-647-5700 or toll free 1-888-477-1288. We are urging all employees to please contact us through bohnzone.com or the hotline and let us know that you are ok. There are 524 Don Bohn employees and contact has been made with about 50%. We have financial assistance set up for our employees as well as information on paychecks. Please contact the hotline or website, so that we may help.

2:15 A.M. - (AP): National Guardsmen halted the evacuation of the Superdome early Saturday after buses transporting the refugees of Hurricane Katrina stopped rolling.

About 2,000 people remained in the stadium and could be there until Sunday, according to an estimate from the Texas Air National Guard.

Guard members said they were told only that the buses had stopped coming and close down operation where buses pull up to be loaded.

SATURDAY 1:10 A.M. - CNN: JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour raises the official death toll from Hurricane Katrina in the state to 147. That number is expected to rise as recovery efforts continue.

11:55 P.M. - (AP): At one point, the Superdome evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the evacuation line -- much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome since Sunday.

"How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.

11:22 P.M. - (AP): Outspoken rapper Kanye West made waves at NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief." He claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."
...
West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."
...
In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks.

"It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion." May I also add that Kayne's new album, Late Registration, is the bomb?

10:58 P.M. - (AP): Rescue efforts already hampered by communications meltdowns, lack of power and stagnant floodwaters continue to get stuck by bureaucracy, by planning snafus and by the sheer volume of disaster.
...
"They've been out there all day in the blistering sun," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. "No bus is picking them up because there is no destination for the people. More people will die from dehydration and starvation than from the floods."
...
Meanwhile, two truckloads of food sat on a bridge Friday for more than 12 hours waiting for a helicopter to airlift the supplies to people waiting for rescue from a wharf in St. Bernard Parish, which was nearly entirely under water, according to U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, who represents the parish.

9:03 P.M. - (AP): Tulane has canceled its fall semester and students are encouraged to enroll elsewhere for classes.

7:49 P.M. - (AP): They haven't quite figured out how yet, but Tulane is going to play football this season.

Students are being allowed to enroll in "nine of the leading higher education associations," according to a statement from Tulane president Scott Cowen. That means the school's athletes will also be able to play sports this fall.

"We're playing ball," said Scott Sidwell, Tulane's associate athletic director. "Now it's up to us to make it happen."

Athletic director Rick Dickson and Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky began discussing contingency plans for Tulane after the team forced to leave New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. The duo flew to Houston on Friday and met with Cowen.

"Until 4 p.m. on Friday," Dickson said, "we didn't know the answer if we could compete in our sports programs."

But a decision was made to get Tulane students in classrooms, and that meant football players, too. The team is currently in Dallas, as guests of Southern Methodist University.

7:03 P.M. - CNN's Barbara Starr reports that there is "no indication" the convention center in New Orleans is secure. She reports there is still much unrest. Let me end here by asking this: when has CNN ever said anything unapocalyptic? If you've been following these reports from WWL, the ones that contain the most sensational rumors come from CNN.

Note: I think I'll keep this one up near the top for a little while as well. Scroll down for the newest latest.

And I'll feel much better if that someone is me. This is not directed to anyone in particular, just trying to let people know how things appear to a local.

To those not acquainted with New Orleans:
Yes, we realize that much of our city was built below sea level. It's kind of the first thing you learn in school. Right after that bit about that George guy and the cherry tree and right before eating paste is bad for you.
Yes, we realize our geography leaves us more vulnerable to flooding. We don't know this because we are smart. We know this because it rains a lot and we get off of school.
Yes, we tried to protect ourselves from it.
Yes, it has worked in the past with varying degrees of success.
No, it did not work this time.
Yes, we are very disappointed in this.
No, we do not think that means this situation is all our fault. This will not change despite how many people suggest it. Maybe that means we're stupid, maybe it means the "many people" are mean and need to sit in Time Out (aka Sensitivity Training). If it's any consolation to the Blame NOLA contingent, we feel pretty bad as it is, bad enough to where feeling 100% guilty will not help things get better faster.

Now here are some other issues, perhaps call them Did You Know?:
That if you drink an Icee too fast, you get a brain freeze?
That the Port of New Orleans was an essential port to the growth of this country's industry since its inception?
That this success is based on the port's location?
That, because of all the wealth and industry coming into the area, a city naturally grew around it?
That many cities in the world are built around areas that are vulnerable to natural disaster?
That The Waterboy is not a documentary?
That, while you can see a hurricane coming, you do not know exactly where it will hit until (at most) 48 hours before it hits land?
Given this, do you think it would be wise to evacuate the entire Gulf Coast of the United States every time a hurricane enters the Gulf?
If yes, do you realize that could be 6 states evacuating as many as 10 times in 4 months?
If yes, can my Mom crash at your place?
That the city evacuated nearly 1 million people in less than 48 hours?

As for the evacuation, it is sad that there were many people who had no means to leave town. In fact, it is downright awful. Make no mistake about it. While it would have been stellar if the city and state had been able to get them out via busing or boats, their failure to do so does not mean they did not have a plan. It might mean that they did not have a great plan, there might be a better one out there, but there was one. The Superdome has always been intended to be a refuge for those who cannot leave the city. It was built to withstand a category five hurricane. While the structure held, except for two holes in the roof, the facilities needed to keep people in the Dome for an extended period of time (electricity, sanitation, food rations) did not. In the future, a more satisfactory plan will need to be drawn up. Everyone realizes this, and, as soon as they finish dealing with all the shit going on right now, they'll get on it. They might even tell you about it when they're done, assuming it's still a story.

That being said - and this is just for my own clarification - how many other cities have ever had to do 100% evacuations in the days leading up to a natural disaster? This is not a cop-out, I just want to know if there are any precedents for something like this and if there are any successes we can learn from. If anyone knows, please share it.

Okay, now that I have that off my chest ... how about some happy trees?

I don't know about you, but I feel a little bit better now.

Donate to the Red Cross. Donate everywhere you can. But you can do more than that. You can reach someone directly, can physically put something they lost back in their hands. There are a lot of things to do, but I thought of one that is so inexpensive and doable for the average blog reader that I have to spread it. Because I'm a self-important bastard, I've named it Murph's Musical Charity Drive.

What is Murph's Musical Charity Drive? People whose homes are flooded probably did not take their record collections with them. As we know, CDs are expensive, especially if you had to buy all the Beatles CDs all over again at one time (that's $200 right there). With all the things evacuees will have to re-purchase, music is probably not at the top of their list, and understandably so. But that does not mean that they have to go without it.

So what am I saying? I'm thinking about trying to compile a wish list from the evacuees I know and start burning CDs for them and sending them a musical care package wherever they are now. I'm saying you can do it too. I'm saying we all can do it. I'm saying it would cost us almost nothing but a little bit of time.

But, wait, Murph: isn't that kind of bad? If you ask me, they already bought the CD, and if some greedy people think they should have to buy it twice because of their bad luck, then maybe that should be against the law. If you want to sidestep the issue, what if the recipient pledges (with fingers and toes crossed) that it is only temporary and, as soon as they can, they will buy new copies?

I know this is a bit petty and small potatoes in the face of such a huge disaster. I know many people don't have homes right now and wouldn't know what to do with a CD if they got it, but some people could use it. I'm definitely not saying that this is the only thing you should do. This should be what you do after you've given everything else you can. This should be something you do for someone you know, or for someone who you know who knows someone in this situation, you know? All of these people are in a depressing situation, and I'm sure they'd greatly appreciate anything to lift their spirits. One of the ways to do that is through music, and since we can't all go over there and give them a hug, isn't this one of the next best things?

So, I'm going to send out some feeler emails to folks I know who have evacuated, and we'll see how it all develops. Those interested in participating should drop a comment and I'll compile some sort of email list that can get this started.

Jonathan McGee is ok and with his family.

The Hunger Site, which normally raises donations for world-wide hunger, has dedicated their site for the time being to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. This site does not ask for money or contact info to send you mail later… they simply ask that you click on a box on their webpage for free. The advertisers on the page are the ones who send money to The Hunger Site. Please take the few seconds to click on the yellow box in the middle of the page at http://www.thehungersite.com/.

UPDATE: I just went and it looks like they'll let you click once a day. Go to a computer lab in your college and click on every computer.

This is what it's like on the ground in some places. From a good friend in L.A.:

My sister the nurse finally got out yesterday with the scariest story ever...She's been at the hospital since Saturday and hasn't slept since. The power went out and they had no water. Doctors couldn't scrub to operate up andthey had no place to put all the people who were dying. They had to put her(a nurse) on an IV while she was working because she had become so dehydrated and malnourished. A giant truck of supplies never arrived because it was hijacked.

So the hospital announced it was going to evacuate and said she could go on a helicopter with some of the patients. A doctor brought her aside and warned her not to go, because the helicopters are just dropping people off at the convention center and leaving them there. A cop told her the mobs are out of control and at the Superdome alone there have been a report of 3 murders and 54 rapes. He told her to get out of town any other way she could even if it meant getting fired.

At the same time, looters who came over the bridge into her part of townstormed the nearby Wal-Mart and Academy Sports and took all the guns. They started storming the hospital and shooting the guards in order break inside..

She ran to her car, which was in the hospital's parking garage, and high-tailed it out of town on the interstate. She just drove as fast as she could and finally found a gas station in the middle of nowhere and took an hour and a half to wait in line to fill up. Then she got lost and couldn't reach anyone on her cell phone, but finally found my brother who gave her directions to Baton Rouge.

Sorry for the long gap in posting. Mrs. Murph and I are in Lake Arrowhead for the weekend, but I'm still going to post while I'm here, only not quite as frequently.

7:03 P.M. - CNN's Barbara Starr reports that there is "no indication" the convention center in New Orleans is secure. She reports there is still much unrest.

6:40 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Sen. Mary Landrieu called Friday for President Bush to appoint a cabinet-level official to direct the federal response to the devastation along the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, said she asked Bush during his tour of New Orleans on Friday to act within 24 hours to put a single official in charge of the overall relief effort who would report directly to him.

"The suffering has gone on long enough," she said. "Now is the time for action."

There also were calls from Republicans for Bush to name a prominent official to oversee the recovery effort. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., suggested Giuliani, former Secretary of State Colin Powell or retired Gen. Tommy Franks to take charge.

President Bush acknowledged Friday before leaving Washington that "the results are not acceptable" and promised that the government would restore order in lawless New Orleans. He has faced increasing criticism from state and local officials for the government's slow response to the disaster.

6:26 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Thousands of people stranded in two swamped parishes south of New Orleans are just as desperate for food, water and supplies as those trapped in the city, but they can't get the attention of federal disaster relief officials, Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., said Friday.

And to make matters worse, Melancon said in a telephone interview, he was unable to deliver that message to President Bush during his visit to New Orleans on Friday because the president's security detail couldn't clear him in to meet with Bush on Air Force One.

After waiting 90 minutes while a U.S. marshal using a satellite phone repeatedly tried, and failed, to contact Bush's plane -- located just 300 yards away at New Orleans' Armstrong airport -- a disgusted Melancon left.

"After an hour and a half of that, and two hours to get down there, I am now back on my way, without seeing the president, not accomplishing anything in my mind today. I've wasted time while people are dying in South Louisiana," he said. "It's not personal to the president. It's just that this whole thing has been handled terribly."

Melancon said the communications problems that kept him from meeting with Bush are symptomatic of the problems that have plagued the slow-moving federal response to the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina.

6:05 P.M. - (AP) AP Essay: Can this actually be happening in America? Click here to read essay.

5:57 P.M. - (AP): Hundreds of thousands of people with no homes, no food, no jobs, no money -- the reality is staggering. A mass exodus of refugees from Hurricane Katrina has left communities across the nation scrambling to find ways to care for the newly dispossessed.

The hurricane that drowned New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast will pose an unprecedented test for communities, churches and schools that will have to find the space and the dollars to cope with throngs often arriving on their doorsteps with little but the clothes on their backs.

Thousands of storm survivors have already found temporary homes: More than 15,000 people bused from Louisiana have packed in the Houston Astrodome. The city's convention center and an exhibition hall are expected to house more.

More than 94,000 other hurricane refugees are living in 284 Red Cross shelters in nine states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and Florida.

College dormitories, churches, schools and community centers have all been converted into shelters. Other hurricane refugees are holed up in hotels or bunking with families or friends.

5:53 P.M. - (AP): Days after Hurricane Katrina struck, nobody can say how many people it killed. And in a situation marked by chaos and flooding, that won't change anytime soon, disaster experts say.

In Mississippi, for example, the confirmed death toll has reached 131, but Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday, "We don't know how many fatalities there are. The official count is really meaningless."

5:01 P.M. - OPELOUSAS (AP) - One Hurricane Katrina refugee died and many others were injured when a bus carrying them west from the Superdome in New Orleans overturned and rolled across a highway median. At least 10 people were taken to hospitals, several critically injured, The Daily World of Opelousas reported on its Web site.

3:54 P.M. - FEMA Spokesperson: The first estimate we got was that about 10,000 at the Superdome had to be rescued and it's been in the tens of thousands.

3:54 P.M. - FEMA Spokesperson: I'm probably going to lie awake at night for a long time second guessing how we responded.

3:52 P.M. - FEMA spokesperson: The magnitude of this overwhelmed us.

3:34 P.M. - (AP) The evacuation of Superdome refugees was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt hotel. They were moved to the head of the line to be evacuated -- much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome for days. Who says we don't care about the tourists?

The 700 had been trapped in the Hyatt just like the others, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome.

3:14 P.M. - St. Bernard Parish officials say that FEMA has not called them yet...five days after the storm. I was going to comment, but read it again. It speaks volumes on its own.

3:07 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter said FEMA's efforts to deal with the hurricane have been completely ineffective, and he called the federal government's response a failure.

"I think FEMA has been completely dysfunctional and is completely overwhelmed, and I don't know why. This situation was utterly predictable," said Vitter, R-Metairie. "It seems like there was no coherent plan, which I don't understand because this precise scenario has been predicted for 20 years," he said.

3:03 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Three New Orleans-area hospitals remain open. The Louisiana Hospital Association says they're asking their workers to report.

Those are East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero and Ochsner Clinic Foundation in Metairie.

The hospital association says all three have power, air-conditioning and security, and remain committed to serving their communities during these difficult times.

2:54 P.M. - WWL Reporter Jonathan Betz says the refugees at I-10 and Causeway are standing in squalid conditions. He said there are only 10 portable toilets for thousands of people and the Interstate median is full of human waste.

2:50 P.M. - WWL-TV LIVE pictures show thousands still wait to be picked up from I-10 and Causeway. Buses arrived a few hours ago, but the refugees say that it's the first sighting of buses in 12 hours. Some of the refugees have been waiting four days. State Police say five people died Thursday while waiting.

2:37 P.M. - LITTLE ROCK, AR (AP): A pediatric specialist left New Orleans this week confident of one thing -- dedicated doctors and nurses at Louisiana hospitals excelled at preserving lives while their known world crumbled around them.

Doctor Tad Fiser of Arkansas Children's Hospital says the lack of electricity and other hardships did not stop doctors in New Orleans from doing their work. Fiser says he cannot offer enough praise for the care given by doctors from the Children's Hospital of New Orleans, Tulane Medical Center and Touro Infirmary.

Fiser says at one point he rode on a helicopter with a doctor from Charity Hospital who had been working since Sunday and had only one peanut butter sandwich to eat.

Fiser traveled to Louisiana on Wednesday to help evacuate children from New Orleans area hospitals to a medical unit set up at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. The children were being treated for grave ailments before the storm hit.

After arriving at Baton Rouge, many of the children were sent to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Arkansas Children's Hospital has taken in four patients.

2:32 P.M. - ALBANY, NY (AP): While people around the country are donating money to buy food, clothing and other essential supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims, New York lawyers are creating a fund to help restore legal services in devastated areas and provide free direct help.
The New York State Bar Association fund will help victims in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama pay for such services as filing insurance claims, getting death certificates completed and applying for federal aid.

Association President A. Vincent Buzard says he has contacted association presidents in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to offer financial support and volunteer attorneys. When the time comes, he says many New York lawyers will head south to help.

Since most New York attorneys lack licenses to practice in those states, any legal aid they could give would have to be through lawyers belonging to the bar associations there.

Buzard is also urging his 71,000 members to donate to groups like the American Red Cross to meet the immediate needs of those affected.

2:28 P.M. - WWL-TV: Wildlife and Fisheries has said they are no longer asking people to volunteer their time and boats to go on rescue missions because of security concerns.

2:25 P.M. - (AP): The nation's airlines have been putting aside their own financial troubles to fly in supplies and take out refugees from hurricane devastated areas. Relief flights donated by airlines poured into Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport today.
Here are other efforts:
--Some pilots have set up a shuttle service out of Baton Rouge to evacuate high-risk people to Texas. Others are flying damage-assessment missions over the damaged region and taking in critical supplies.
--AirTran Airways today flew two humanitarian aid flights from Atlanta to the Gulfport, Mississippi airport. AirTran dropped more than 20 tons of water, food, clothing, medical supplies and other items.
--United Airlines this week flew 12 tons of food and water from Chicago to New Orleans. On the flight were 30 emergency medical technicians from Chicago who stayed behind in New Orleans. The same jet returned with 104 evacuees from New Orleans.
-- Fort Worth-based American Airlines is offering 500 miles to frequent-flier members who give the Red Cross at least $50 and then show a receipt to the airline.
--Houston-based Continental Airlines is giving 1,000 tickets for hurricane victims to relocate within the United States. The tickets are being doled out by emergency agencies.

2:22 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): Passengers getting off buses from New Orleans may be in sight of the end of their nearly week-long ordeal. But first, they have to go through screening.
Police in Houston are guiding people through lines where they can undergo pat-down searches.
Paramedics wearing rubber gloves are helping medical teams conduct a triage operation. Kidney patients and others who might need immediate medical attention are being transported to hospitals.

The evacuees are also being offered icy bottles of water as they get off the buses. Disposable diapers are being passed out to those with small children.

Many of the people are asking total strangers for a few seconds of cellphone time to try to locate loved ones.

2:05 P.M. - (AP): A mix of cheering and swearing has greeted National Guardsman pouring into New Orleans.

As a convoy of relief trucks swarmed through downtown, some near the city's convention center threw up their hands and screamed "Thank You, Jesus!"

Others weren't as pleased. One man says "hell no," he's not happy to see the Guard, saying troops should have shown up days ago. Michael Levy says he'll be pleased when 100 buses arrive to evacuate people.

Levy says people at the center have been sleeping on the ground "like rats." And he says if he had his way, New Orleans would be burned down.

1:52 P.M. - First Lady Laura Bush: This is the most devastating natural disaster in our history.

1:44 P.M. - First Lady Laura Bush, in Lafayette, on the rebuilding process: "It's going to take a lot of money and it's going to take a lot of hard work." The First Lady urged people to continue making donations to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

1:35 P.M. - Xavier University spokesperson: 400 students still trapped at the university. One person is already dead.

1:25 P.M. - Pres. Bush, after touring the damage in Biloxi, MS: "I don't think anybody can be prepared for the vastness of this destruction." The President said he "completely disagreed" with those who said the war in Iraq was diverting vital, much needed resources away from the storm-ravaged area.

"We'll do both (help the Gulf Coast and those in Iraq), we've got plenty of resources to do both," Bush said. Flex those pythons. Flex 'em, baby. Shit, let's go bomb Quebec just to show how much we can handle.

1:20 P.M. - Marriott spokesman: There are still guests at the hotel, and that the Marriot is trying to get a bus from the St. Louis area down to New Orleans to get to the guests. There has been much looting at the hotel.

1:17 P.M. - (AP): A large fire erupted today in an old retail building in a dry section of Canal Street.
There's no immediate reports of injuries.

Earlier today, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked an area of New Orleans east of the French Quarter.

1:13 P.M. - CHICAGO (AP): Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says the victims of Hurricane Katrina are "our brothers and sisters" and its up to residents of Chicago and the rest of the nation to help them.

Daley today announced that the city is setting up the Chicago Helps Fund, which is similar to a fund the city set up to help victims of the September eleventh terrorist attacks.

The mayor says checks can be dropped off at any J.P. Morgan Chase bank branch, and the city is setting up a call-in line to take donations.

Daley says he's urging residents to give as much money as they can, and he says he also hopes churches will ask their congregations for donations at services this weekend.

The mayor also says the city's Office of Emergency Management has offered its services and is ready to send personnel and equipment to help with relief efforts.

12:58 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., urged President Bush to appoint former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani or two former military officials to run the ground response in the Gulf Coast, saying local authorities are not up to the task. Sweeney suggested Giuliani or retired generals Colin Powell and Tommy Franks could take charge of the much-criticized hurricane relief efforts. Click here.

12:50 P.M. - SAN ANTONIO (AP): The first of 25,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees ticketed for San Antonio arrived today at the old Kelly Air Force Base aboard nine buses from Louisiana.
A staging area's been set up at what's now called KellyUSA in southwestern San Antonio. There, the refugees will be checked in and given living arrangements.

They'll be staying in a 325,000-square-foot warehouse that was part of the old air base. Medical and mental-health care will be available -- as will showers and meals.

It's not clear how many refugees are expected to arrive this first day.

12:49 P.M. - BILOXI, MS (AP): President Bush has been trying to console people who lost their homes, and everything else but their lives, to Hurricane Katrina.

Visiting Biloxi, Mississippi, Bush spoke with a tearful woman who told him, "We don't have anything." They stood alongside the ruins of homes that had been reduced to pieces amid fallen trees and other debris.

He walked through the debris with the woman and a girl, his arms around their shoulders, and told them to "hang in there."

Bush flew today to Mobile, Alabama for an update on the relief efforts, and left from there to tour other areas of the Gulf coast that were ravaged by the storm.

Before leaving the White House, he said the efforts to provide food and water to survivors, and to stop the lawlessness in New Orleans, had not been good enough. He said, "The results are not acceptable."

12:45 P.M. - (AP): Evacuations resumed today at some of New Orleans' most troubled hospitals where desperate doctors were being forced to make tough choices about which patients got dwindling supplies of food, water and medicines.

Rescuers finally made it into Charity Hospital, the largest public hospital and trauma center in the city, where gunshots prevented efforts yesterday to evacuate more than 220 patients.
Richard Zuschlag, president of Acadian Ambulance Service president, says the military is handling the evacuation of Charity and other nearby hospitals.

Relatives of Doctor L. Lee Hamm, chairman of medicine at Tulane University, also reported that they received a text message from him around midday today. He confirmed that evacuations were taking place at Charity and nearby University Hospital, where more than one-thousand patients, family members, staff and people from the community had huddled.

12:30 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): The U.S. and other nations are going to release more oil from their reserves, to relieve the energy crunch from Hurricane Katrina.

The Bush administration says it's going to release 30 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic stockpile. Another 60 million barrels will come from overseas.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says it's part of an "aggressive" federal response to the hurricane.

The fuel from abroad will be released by the International Energy Agency, based in Paris. It will be in the form of both crude oil and gasoline, and it will be released over the coming month.

12:29 P.M. - Cathy Flinchum, State Police spokesperson: Police patrols in New Orleans still ongoing, with more police coming in everyday. Reports are coming in that the violence and crime is beginning to lessen. Communication is not as good as it should be for law enforcement officers.

12:16 P.M. - (AP): State officials said Friday they have spotted a huge oil spill near two storage tanks at the town of Venice, on the Mississippi River downstream from New Orleans.
A flyover by the Department of Environmental Quality revealed what was described as a major oil spill.

"Two tanks with the capacity of holding 2 million barrels appear to be leaking," the statement said.

12:09 P.M. - (AP): The stench from backed-up toilets inside the Superdome is unbearable and people are afraid to go into the unlighted bathrooms.

Sandra Jones says she and her family use a box to relieve themselves instead of using restrooms because "The stink is so bad you can't go in there anyway."

Even though she's hungry, one hurricane refugee in the dome says she's not eating. Michele Boyle says eating would mean she'd have to use the dark, dangerous and filthy restrooms in the dome. So she's going without.

Boyle has been spending some of her time trying to keep a small area of the dome as clean as she can until help arrives. Boyle and other refugees found some brooms and swept up the mess.
She says they're simply "trying not to let it get any worse."

12:06 P.M. - ATLANTA (AP): Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said he will sign an executive order Friday to suspend state motor fuel taxes through the end of September to "relieve some of the financial burden" on consumers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The order will remove the 7.5-cents-a-gallon tax and a 4% sales tax on gas, the governor said, and was set to begin at midnight.

The move comes as gasoline in some parts of the country has risen above $3 a gallon, triggering thousands of consumer complaints of price gouging.

Political leaders in several other states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, have either proposed or said they are considering gas tax suspensions in their states.

Perdue said the tax break in Georgia would cut the cost of gas by about 15 cents a gallon. He also called on gas stations to pass the savings along to customers.

"This is not an opportunity for our stations or our businesses to reap a windfall for themselves," Perdue said.

11:57 A.M. - STOCKHOLM (AP): The head of the United Nations is urging other countries to help the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Speaking in Sweden today, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the U.N. itself can't offer any money but does have extensive experience and expertise in disaster response.

Annan asked all countries and other organizations that can help to give their assistance.

Yesterday the U.N. chief called the damage "far worse than any of us expected." Annan said Americans have always been generous in responding to disasters around the world, but that now the U.S. itself has suffered a serious blow.

11:50 A.M. - WWL-TV: Army Corps of Engineers reports progress being made in filling the levee breaches with giant sandbags and interstate pilings.

11:45 A.M. - U.S. Postal Service spokesman: 4,000 postal workers in the Greater New Orleans area can call 1-877-477-3273 to check in.

Anyone with friends or relatives who are currently stationed in the Houston Astrodome can get a letter out to them by writing the following on the front of their envelope:
(The name of the person you are trying to reach)
General Delivery
Houston Astrodome 77230

11:44 A.M. - (AP) Fire destroyed one in a row of old four-story brick buildings in the central business district Friday. The building was residential, but firefighters said there were no reports of injuries. The structure, not far from the casino and convention center, had minimal damage in the storm but burned to rubble.

Since there is no water in the city system, firefighters were unable to fight the blaze and stood by watching.

"There was nothing they could do," said Chief Norman Woodridge.

The blaze appeared to be contained within the firewalls. It was across the street from two high-rise hotels, where employees were dumping buckets of water on their wind-shredded awnings to prevent embers from lighting them. A half block from the fire, authorities with rifles stood guard.

The building was residential, and earlier in the week people, who apparently rode out the storm there, were sitting on a rooftop patio. Authorities said they were not aware of anyone in the building when the alarm was sounded. Virtually all the city is being evacuated because there is no water or electricity, let alone food and sanitation.

11:35 A.M. - BOISE, ID (AP): Another C-130 from the Idaho Air National Guard is leaving Gowen Field in Boise to support Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts.

Before heading to New Orleans, the plane is stopping in Portland today to load supplies and equipment for Oregon National Guard security forces being deployed to the disaster area.
Yesterday, two C-130s from Idaho left for the Gulf Coast, one carrying Nevada National Guard security forces and the other loaded with 28-thousand bottles of water.

11:31 A.M. - NEWARK, CA (AP): A leading risk assessment firm is projecting the economic loss from Hurricane Katrina and flooding in New Orleans at over $100 billion.

Risk Management Solutions says the losses are the result of two separate catastrophic events: the landfall of Hurricane Katrina last Monday, and the New Orleans flood which resulted from failure of the levee systems that protect the city.

The company says at least 50% of the total economic loss is expected to come from flooding in New Orleans, in addition to hurricane losses from wind and coastal surge, infrastructure damage, and indirect economic impacts.

On Monday, RMS issued preliminary insured loss estimates of up to $25 billion for Hurricane Katrina, prior to evidence of the levee failure and flooding.

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has said that damage from the hurricane could reach $50 billion once damage to bridges, roads and other public infrastructure is counted.

11:27 A.M. - HOUSTON (AP): A Houston sports complex is now home to about 18,000 hurricane refugees from Louisiana.

15,000 of the storm evacuees are in the Houston Astrodome. An additional 3,000 are in a nearby horse arena.

Houston Mayor Bill White says the nearby Reliant Center and the George R- Brown Convention Center are being prepared to house additional refugees.

Conventions and other events booked into those facilities are going to be displaced.

Officials are urging residents throughout the region to help locate garage apartments and other housing that could be temporarily made available to displaced families.

Arrangements are also being made to post highway signs directing those displaced by the storm to cities where other temporary shelters have been opened.

11:24 A.M. - City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard Lewis (Dist. E): Wants to put the focus on police officers and firefighters who have never waivered in their tireless fight to restore law and order, and save as many buildings and people as humanly possible.

10:58 A.M. - MOBILE (AP): President Bush has launched his tour of the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast with promises of money and the restoration of order.

Bush vows the government will stop the lawlessness in New Orleans. He also says ten and a-half billion dollars in emergency funds being approved by Congress is a small downpayment for disaster relief.

As he was embarking on his first-hand look, Bush said he was not looking forward to the trip. "It's no vaction for me," he said.

In Bush's words, "It's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine." "And we will hunt down these hurricane terrorist killers."

He spoke with the pilot of a rescue helicopter who told him of flying roof-to-roof, rescuing families of four and five people -- a job the pilot said seems to never end.

10:43 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's too early to predict how long it will take to remove the floodwater from New Orleans because the Army Corps of Engineers is still planning how to accomplish the feat, its commander said Friday. "We're certainly talking weeks," Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told reporters at the Pentagon.

10:39 A.M. - President George Bush: The great city of New Orleans will be rebuilt. Out of this tragedy will come a great Gulf Coast. If only he could have thrown in a more direct nut-punch to Hastert, although I guess it is difficult to find his nuts.

10:37 A.M. - Bush: First we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation.

10:33 A.M. - (AP) A large fire erupted today in an old retail building in a dry section of Canal Street. There's no immediate reports of injuries.Earlier today, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked an area of New Orleans east of the French Quarter.

Here are some websites for information about Loyola University New Orleans. If you are a student or a parent who is frustrated about not knowing what's going on with the University, I'd ask you to be patient and consider that a large number of the faculty and staff lost everything and are trying to coordinate the University from a remote location. Your concerns are understandable, but these sites are resources for faculty and staff trying to locate each other to begin planning for the future. Once they know they're alive and well, then they can start to figure out what to do next. This is not something this is going to sort itself out in a week.

Here are the sites:

Loyola New Orleans - this is a site for faculty and staff to find each other and know that everyone is safe. Please do not post questions/complaints here.
Loyola Temp Emergency Site - good news resource
Loyola Coming Together - a good catch-all with links everywhere
Alumni Newsgroup - where alums can coordinate relief efforts and get news.
Association of Jesuit Colleges - regular updates about Loyola are here, as is information about displaced Loyola students enrolling in other Jesuit colleges -- did I mention Loyola Marymount is on the beach?
Loyola Students
Loyola Parents

New Orleanians have always harbored a tounge-in-cheek illusion that their city was too strange to actually be part of America proper. We never thought that America would take that seriously enough to abandon us in a time like this but that does indeed appear to be what's happened.

Time for that sobering dose of reality that wakes you up faster than a venti double soy vanilla caramel machiatto.

9:47 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pumping the water out of New Orleans could take a month or more, according to a former head of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Removing the water depends on how much of the pumping capacity engineers can get working, former Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers said Friday.

Optimistically, the capacity could lower the water as much as a foot a day, but it is likely to start more slowly and could take a month or more, he told The Associated Press.

9:39 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of people are finding themselves out of work and their livelihoods in limbo following the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Experts believe it will take months before people get back to work in hurricane-ravaged areas. Some workers may not have jobs to return to and others may opt to move away and find work elsewhere, economists and other experts said.

Workers in flooded-out New Orleans, which faces major and potentially lengthy cleanup challenges, are taking the biggest hit, analysts said.

9:36 A.M. - BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Crude oil prices dropped more than $1 a barrel and gasoline futures fell sharply Friday as key allies discussed releasing supplies from their stockpiles to help offset U.S. shortages that have driven retail gas prices in some parts of the country above $3 a gallon.

9:34 A.M. - NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The National Guard wants hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to know, the cavalry is coming. Lieutenant General Steven Blum of the National Guard says seven-thousand National Guardsmen are arriving in Louisiana today to "to save Louisiana citizens."

He says the only thing they'll be attacking is "the effects of the hurricane," but adds they are prepared to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner."

9:22 A.M. - State Representative Karen Carter: If you want to help...get a bus. We have comandeered other things, we need to comandeer Greyhound. You want to help? Send buses and gas, buses and gas. I don't need $10 million right now - send buses and gas!

9:20 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- In the span of a week, Baton Rouge has become Louisiana's most-populous city -- at least temporarily -- and a big chunk of that growth is likely to be permanent, officials say. Evacuees from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans area have poured into East Baton Rouge Parish, along with rescue personnel using the city as a home.
"Baton Rouge is now the largest city in Louisiana and it's going to be for quite a while, if not permanently," said Walter Monsour, the top administrator to the president of the city-parish government.

9:13 A.M. - JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- There are reports of ice for ten dollars a bag and gasoline at six dollars gallon as Mississippi, like Louisiana, tries to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi's attorney general says he'll investigate the complaints. Many residents remain without food, water, electricity or gasoline. Some officials say 126 people are dead, but Governor Haley Barbour says he's been told it's more like 150 and likely to grow.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We're here to save Louisiana and restore order to the lives of the civilians.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: The majority of the citizens have responded in an exemplary manner.

8:16 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: This is a massive airlift here. The calvary has arrived and will continue arriving.

8:13 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We have several hundred police officers on the way.

8:13 A.M. - National Guard spokesman: We now have the resources we need to get this situation under control.

8:05 A.M. WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush says relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina are not acceptable. As he prepares to depart for a tour of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, Bush assures people "we'll get on top of this situation." He says millions of gallons of water and tons of food are on the way.

8:03 A.M. - John Ballard, Tangipahoa Parish : Between six and eight dead in Tangipahoa.

8:02 A.M. - (AP) An explosion at a chemical depot jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over a city awash in corpses and under siege from looters. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Vibrations from the blast along the Mississippi River and a few miles east of the French Quarter were felt all the way downtown. A series of smaller blasts followed and then a cyclone of acrid, black smoke.

To jittery residents of New Orleans, it was yet another fearful sight in a city that has deteriorated rapidly since Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.

7:03 A.M. - Maestri: We had a plan and we followed it (on storm coverage). Mayor Nagin and those in Jefferson believed that within 48 hours food, water and security would be here. It didn't happen.

7:01 A.M. - Jeff Parish Emergency Operations Center Director Walter Maestri: 17th Street Canal Levee breach is now under control...not fixed...but under control.

6:59 A.M. - Jeff Parish Emergency Operations Center Director Walter Maestri: Civil unrest is basically under control in Orleans and Jefferson.

6:58 A.M. - Maestri: Explosions Friday morning were NOT a result of thuggery, but merely gas problems that exploded in Bywater.

6:42 A.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is trying to make clear that the government understands how dire the situation is in New Orleans.

There's been a growing chorus of complaints from refugees and the city's mayor, who complain about what they say has been a slow federal response to the hurricane, flooding and lawlessness.
Mayor Ray Nagin said last night that the feds "don't have a clue" about what's happening.
Mike Brown tells CNN he didn't know the New Orleans Convention Center was being used as a staging area for evacuees until he saw news coverage. He blames that on a lack of communication with city officials. As Brown puts it, "we don't know where everybody is."

6:40 A.M. - "New Orleans is an economic disaster. This tragedy is so unprecedented people could be out of work for three, six, nine months or longer," said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the economic forecasting project at Georgia State University.

6:39 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers are demanding an investigation into gasoline prices after thousands of motorists called a government hotline to complain of price gouging.
The Energy Department reported more than 5,000 calls to its price gouging hotline Thursday from around the country, although officials emphasized there was no way to immediately determine how many of the allegations were valid.

6:37 A.M. - The mayor of New Orleans is seething over what he sees as the government's slow response to his city's disaster. Ray Nagin went on WWL Radio last night to say the feds "don't have a clue what's going on." He added, "Excuse my French -- everybody in America -- but I am pissed."

The mayor says he needs troops and hundreds of buses to get refugees out. Nagin accused state and federal officials of "playing games" and "spinning for the cameras." He says he keeps hearing that help is coming, but "there's no beef."

6:20 A.M. - Terry Ebbert, the head of emergency operations for New Orleans. "This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."

6:10 A.M. - (AP) Texas agreed to triple to 75,000 the number of evacuees being taken in from Louisiana. Houston officials temporarily stopped admitting people to the Astrodome late Thursday after accepting 11,325. Others will be housed in the adjacent Reliant Center, where the Houston Texans play football.

6:07 A.M. - Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Director Walter Maestri: Entergy is considering pulling out its crews trying to bring power back until there is some semblance of order. Entergy says some crew linemen have been shot at.

6:06 A.M. - James Hartman, St. Tammany Parish spokesman: The parish has had few problems with unrest. Some citizens are frustrated, but we've had little looting and mostly a spirit of cooperation.

6:05 A.M. - James Hartman, St. Tammany Parish spokesman: Gas leaks still rampant, needing to be repaired.

6:04 A.M. - Hartman: "We have no fuel. People are coming here and running out of gas."

6:02 A.M. - Hartman: We have taken over a radio station - AM 730, by authority of the parish president and trying to broadcast information to the Northshore.

6:00 A.M. - Hartman: People need to stay away and if they haven't left, they need to get away right now.

5:48 A.M. - (AP) Military helicopters on Thursday dropped about 150 massive sandbags into the levee breach that allowed flood waters from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers general said.

The 3,000-pound sandbags are part of a temporary plan aimed at plugging the hole in the levee. The Corps also plans to drop concrete highway dividers and seal the spot where swirling waters undermined and toppled the floodwall, said Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, commander of the crew working to fix the floodwall. "We're dumping things into the hole, just to stem the tide," Crear said.

Blogging about this tragedy is about the only thing that's keeping me from losing my shit now. The local L.A. news showed all the people at the convention center, shouting "help" to the "free press" with people crying and moaning for assistance. It's just too horrible to comprehend. I was with friends who couldn't believe they were watching footage from America. All I could do was look at the awesome baby that had fallen asleep in my arms and focus on him and how cool he is.

I do have to say it was wonderful to see what happened when the black hawk helicopter landed there with supplies and four young African-American men formed a line and passed the supplies down to people who needed it most. It was spontaneous and perfectly organized. It went without comment on the news, but I was nearly moved to tears. After days of being trapped in confined, hot spaces, these people did not storm the helicopter and raid it like a mob. They denied themselves and helped those worse off than them, even though, relatively speaking, they are all some of the worst off of all.

I'm terrified by what's going to happen when the National Guard troops enter. Insert your apocalyptic film comparison here, but that's what's waiting for them ... only what follows could be a sequel with an astronomical budget and a "this time it's personal" tagline. I pray the troops can contain the violence and that their efforts are not met by an escalation in violence. I would like to say I'm hoping for the best or fearing the worst, but the fact is I have no idea and, right now, that's all the more terrifying.

Our friend whose father is a doctor in St. Bernard Parish told us her dad's doing fine, but he says they're just taking patients away and bringing him new ones - he has no idea where they're coming from. He says people are shooting at rescue boats, that the casualties are staggering. He's been up for five days and doesn't know when he'll get to leave.

These are pictures from St. Bernard Parish. Look to the left and you'll see houses that have floated off their foundations.

Miraculously, Matt Martin's house in Slidell got through relatively unscathed and his family is meeting up in South Carolina.

It seems the word of the day on news sites is "Anarchy". As always, the word of the day at LGO is "pray". 'Night.

Just got back from watching the Saints drop a game to the Raiders 13-6 and from getting taunted by Raiders at a Raider bar. They wanted to know why we were playing bad (we weren't really). They also told me that they feel bad about what happened, but "when the game starts, I hate you." Nothing new, I guess:

11:41 P.M. - (AP): After accepting more than 11,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees, officials said the Astrodome was full and began sending buses to other shelters in the Houston area Thursday night.

"We've actually reached capacity for the safety and comfort of the people inside there," American Red Cross spokeswoman Dana Allen said. She said people were "packed pretty tight" on the floor of the Astrodome.

Buses that continued to arrive were being sent on to other shelters in the area and as far away as Huntsville, about an hour north of Houston.

"We're asking that people be patient. Ultimately they are going to be comfortable," Allen said.
The total of 11,375 inside the Astrodome was less than half the estimated 23,000 people who were expected to arrive by bus from New Orleans in Houston.

11:29 P.M. - (AP): Col. Henry Whitehorn, chief of the Louisiana State Police, said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers - many of whom from flooded areas - turning in their badges.

"They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives," Whitehorn said.

10:49 P.M. - (AP): Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared war on looters as 300 National Guard troops landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will," she said.

10:15 P.M. - (AP): Helicopters hauled hundreds of patients from New Orleans-area hospitals Thursday, but the job wasn't half done, according to the ambulance executive coordinating the evacuation.

Richard Zuschlag, president and CEO of Acadian Ambulance Service Inc., estimated that helicopter crews evacuated 400 to 600 patients Thursday. "We still have probably somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 to get out," he said that evening.

The patients were taken to New Orleans' international airport, triaged, and put into C-130 aircraft with 60 to 80 patients in each, he said.

From there, he didn't know where they went.

8:10 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Military helicopters on Thursday dropped sandbags into the levee breach that allowed flood waters from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans, Louisiana's top transportation official said.

The sandbags are part of a temporary plan aimed at plugging the hole in the levee. The next part: drop about 250 concrete road barriers into the area and seal the spot where swirling waters undermined and toppled the floodwall, said Johnny Bradberry, head of the state Department of Transportation and Development.

"We'll start putting in the concrete when we run out of sand," Bradberry said.

The lake's levels have dropped about 2 1/2 feet over the past two days, about equal to the water level in flooded areas on the other side of the levee, Bradberry said. Contractors also had finished building a road that will make it easier to get heavy equipment to the levee area that needs to be repaired.

7:39 P.M. - AUSTIN (AP): Texas agencies will work to ensure Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina receive food and health care benefits while in Texas.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said today its offices in some Texas cities will extend office hours to help refugees with Medicaid, food stamp benefits and other aid.
Pharmacies have received instructions on how to help Louisiana Medicaid recipients who need prescriptions filled in Texas.

Louisiana food stamp recipients can use their electronic benefit cards at large retailers such as HEB and Wal-Mart. The agency also is working to provide Louisiana clients of the Women, Infants, Children Program those benefits in Texas.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services also is helping place Louisiana foster care children, including 49 children from a New Orleans facility.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services is working to find nursing facility beds. So far, the Texas agency has served more than 2,500 Louisiana families displaced by the hurricane.

To the Anti-Rebuilding Crusaders,

Just a reminder to make sure you stay on message throughout the rest of your lives. In the wake of any natural disaster, anywhere, you must be vigilant. Do not be tempted by that thing faintly thumping in your chest. Do not be seduced by the rhetoric of the "compassionate" and "unreasonable." You must fight! You must fight them where they live so that you don't have to fight them where you live. Reason is on the march! Los Angeles, San Francisco, the midwest floodplains, the Gulf Coast, the lower East Coast, Iran, China, Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia -- these places are all asking for it like a drunk floozy in a miniskirt on Ladies' Night. They were stupid to build there in the first place. You must not let them make the same mistake twice!

Be strong! Be consistent! Be rational! March On! Common Sense Uber Alles!

I'm about to start watching the Saints game, got my Deuce jersey on and am going to hold a four-month old baby tight. Be back at halftime. Geaux Saints.

7:29 P.M. - (AP): Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Jimmy Field says about 800 thousand people are without power and more than 800 thousand phone lines are out of service.

7:11 P.M. - (AP): The Internal Revenue Service is weighing in on the impact of Hurricane Katrina on both donors and victims.

It's reminding people who'd like to contribute cash to the relief effort to make sure the charities qualify for tax-exempt status. If so, then donors can deduct the contribution from their federal income taxes. The IRS is also setting up a hotline for hurricane victims, offering information on tax relief programs, tax return information and disaster tax loss kits.

It says those who've suffered personal and business losses in the storm shouldn't worry about tax deadlines or lost paperwork. The agency says anyone in the disaster areas who is sending correspondence or payments should write "Hurricane Katrina" in red ink at the top of any documents.

7:08 P.M. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of consumers are flooding a government hotline to complain about alleged gas-price gouging. Some lawmakers are demanding an investigation into the steep spike in prices this week.

7:04 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military expects to put 30,000 National Guard troops on duty in the Gulf states as demands grow for more security and relief assistance, the commander in charge of military relief and rescue efforts said Thursday.

About 24,000 of those will be on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi in the next three days, Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore said in a telephone interview with reporters at the Pentagon. He also ordered the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan from the Louisiana coast to waters off Biloxi, Miss., to assist with hurricane relief operations there.

The additional Guard units, plus active duty troops responding to the disaster, brings the total military complement to more than 40,000.

6:54 P.M. WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., issued the following statement today in response to comments in the suburban Chicago Daily Herald by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. The paper reported Speaker Hastert as saying "It doesn't make sense" to rebuild New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Sen. Landrieu said:

"While I disagree strongly with Speaker Hastert's comments regarding the city of New Orleans, he raises a debate that we can address at some time in the future. Right now, however, we have important work to do. I encourage Speaker Hastert and our colleagues to focus time and attention today and tomorrow on providing Louisiana with the local, state and federal security resources necessary to support Governor Blanco's efforts to stabilize this very challenging situation.

"When we do discuss the long-term rebuilding of New Orleans and the parishes of St. Tammany, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and Jefferson, I will do everything I can to express that southeast Louisiana is filled with the most extraordinary of people and blessed with the most extraordinary of resources. Not only are they worth saving, but they are worth every penny of a complete rebuilding effort.

"I thank Speaker Hastert for his concern and look forward to speaking with him in person as soon as we are able."

6:46 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress rushed to provide a $10.5 billion down payment in relief aid for Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina on Thursday as President Bush ordered new action to minimize disruptions in the nation's energy supplies.

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he urged consumers already hit by sharply rising prices.

6:28 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six truckloads of medical materials from the Strategic National Stockpile are headed to hurricane-stricken Louisiana and Mississippi, and 10 temporary hospitals should open at area military bases by Friday night.

The government said emergency medical shelters are being established at Fort Polk, La., the Mississippi Air National Guard Station in Jackson, Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Fla., and the Naval Air Station in Meridian, Miss.

The shelters are in addition to one at Louisiana State.

Local bloggers are running out in full force.

Jeffrey has one of the most heartwarming (and stomach-growling) stories to date. Who would guess that Cajuns and Creoles went up to Ground Zero to cook for the needy there? Probably only people in Louisiana, judging by today's coverage.

Jude is taking a much-earned break tonight.

Michael lets Hastert know where his state's exports go when they go down south.

And our main man Oyster is alive and well in FLA and he triumphantly returns to blogging with the most appropriate use of "filthy canine vulva" in the history of letters. We are all working on the best name for the Blame Nawlins First Coalition and are taking suggestions. Enjoy this gem from Oyster:

Mister Speaker, you are twice as dirty as the watery sewage which has flooded my home.

Hugs, big ups and all that jazz.

5:33 P.M. - AUSTIN (AP): Texas has agreed to accept another 25,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees -- and they'll be heading for Dallas. Officials earlier announced refugee groups estimated at 25,000 apiece will be housed in Houston and San Antonio.

5:30 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue says it's unlikely the Saints will play in New Orleans this season after the devastation Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath inflicted on the city.

The Saints will move into a hotel in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend and practice in San Antonio in preparation for their regular-season opener at Carolina September 11. They have spent this week in San Jose, California, and played their final exhibition tonight in Oakland.
But it still hasn't been decided where they will play their regular-season opener September 18 against the New York Giants or play the rest of their games.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs Giants Stadium, has offered to host the upcoming Giants-Saints game there. It would likely be played Monday, September 19 because the Jets will play Miami that Sunday at Giants Stadium.

Tagliabue said moving the game to New Jersey is one possibility.

He also said games could be played at another NFL stadium or at a non-NFL stadium. He didn't name any specifically, but the Alamodome in San Antonio seats 65,000 for football.

5:27 P.M. - (AP): House Speaker Dennis Hastert says it makes no sense to spend (b) billions of dollars to rebuild New Orleans, which is seven feet under sea level.

Hastert, in a transcript supplied by the newspaper, said there was no question that the people of New Orleans would rebuild their city, but noted that federal insurance and other federal aid was involved.

Hastert's press secretary, Ron Bonjean, said Hastert was not suggesting New Orleans should be abandoned or relocated.

Hastert announced today that the House, currently at the end of its summer break, would return for an emergency session tomorrow to approve some $10 billion in federal aid for hurricane victims. SAY IT WITH ME (SOPRANO VOCE): "COOOOOOOOOOOP OUUUUUUTTT!" Like other wingnuts who have said dumb things recently, they take to Clintonian word-mincing ("I never said assassination" becomes "I never said abandon the city ... I just said don't rebuild it."). Guess this is better than "I was out of town when that happened." Next time Hastert does go out of town, how about setting up a fund that allows him to stay out?

5:24 P.M. - (AP): Even when Katrina's floodwaters are pumped out of New Orleans -- a process that could take weeks -- the city will be anything but dry.

Buildings, vehicles and their contents will be waterlogged and covered with mud. Whatever debris is currently sloshing around in the floodwaters will be strewn about the city in enormous piles.

Everything will be waterlogged, most of it ruined. It will be a monumental task just coordinating the collection and disposal of debris and trash.

Virtually everything worth keeping will have to be washed off, decontaminated and dried out.
The city's drinking water distribution system will need to be flushed out and disinfected, a process that could take weeks or even months.

Buildings will have to be stripped down to their studs and dried out with dehumidifiers, a process that can't even begin in New Orleans until electricity is restored weeks or months from now.

For many homeowners, the expense and effort may not even be worth it. The median home in New Orleans costs about $87,000 -- by the time you figure in debris removal, demolition, drying and rebuilding, it may be cheaper simply to knock the whole house down and build a new one on its foundation.

5:18 P.M. - WWL-TV: Seven children, ages 7-years to 4-months-old, were rescued this afternoon and are waiting at an evacuee station for their mother, who is missing.

5:11 P.M. - WWL-TV: Robert M. Gates , President of Texas A&M University, said the Galveston campus will welcome 1,000 displaced students for up to one year. They will be charged the state minimum for tuition ... and will be absolved from any Aggie name-calling.

5:08 P.M. - WWL-TV: The Oakwood Mall is on fire. Emergency crews are on the scene, but water pressure is so low, firefighters are having a tough time keeping the blaze under country.

5:04 P.M. - Cecil Picard, State Superintendent of Education: All Department of Education meetings have been cancelled for the month of September. He urged displaced families to get their children registered in school systems outside Louisiana. Picard said he wants to make sure that every displaced teacher, bus driver, cafeteria worker, counselor and custodian has a job.

4:58 P.M. - (AP): The New Orleans suburb of St. Bernard Parish is little more than "water, water everywhere" with a few rooftops sticking above the floods of Hurricane Katrina, a government official who escaped the devastated region said Thursday. Click here.

Who needs Dennis Hastert's money (the money he doesn't dip in salsa and eat, that is)?

4:45 P.M. - (AP): In a dramatic turnabout, the United States is now on the receiving end of help from around the world as some two dozen countries offer post-hurricane assistance. Click here.

Dear Speaker Hastert:

I cannot believe that you had the gall to publicly say that New Orleans should not be rebuilt, but I guess I should believe it because you said the same thing about people in your own state when their towns were flooded in 1993.

Many cities in America are built in places vulnerable to the elements - is your solution to demolish all of these cities and relocate much of the country?

Or perhaps I should just leave you with a simple question: how do you think your comments are helping to make things better?

Sincerely,
South Louisiana Native living in Burbank, CA with a dozen family members and as many friends now homeless.

Send your email here.

4:31 P.M. - BAGHDAD (AP): National Guard troops from Louisiana and other Gulf states will not be withdrawn from Iraq ahead of schedule, despite devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

Some units already are due to leave next month, ending a year in Iraq, but the process could take weeks to complete.

The U.S. Command says it has installed help lines for troops trying to contact family members. NOT THAT ANY PHONE LINES WORK. Still, pressure appears to be building for an early pullout allowing troops to return to their home states battered by Katrina.

More than 18,000 National Guard troops in the United States have been dedicated to Katrina relief and security. This could be the largest military response to a natural disaster.

4:40 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): Some Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston are getting food, a place to shower -- and a chance to go online.

Companies and non-profit agencies are working to give thousands of evacuees at the Astrodome more access to the outside world. Donated computers with high-speed Internet connections are planned as part of the effort described as "Technology For All."

A center is being set up with 40 desktop computers loaded with office productivity software and connected to the Internet.

The sprawling stadium already has a bank of telephones set up. D isplaced residents from the Superdome in New Orleans are getting ten-minute blocks of time to make free local and long-distance calls.

4:36 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes says he and thousands of other evacuees from New Orleans are being housed in Roman Catholic churches, schools and gymnasiums in Baton Rouge.

He told CNN that the Baton Rouge area's population of 350,000 is expected to double as refugees continue to arrive from New Orleans.

The archbishop says a special collection will be taken up at Catholic churches nationwide this Sunday for hurricane relief. Hughes notes that contributions also can be made to Catholic Charities or to the American Red Cross.

4:34 P.M. - (AP): Supplies ran dry at a small-but-growing number of gas stations across the United States on Thursday as Gulf Coast refiners and pipelines remained hobbled by Hurricane Katrina and motorists nervous about tightening supplies lined up to top off their tanks.

Most of the stations with "Out of Gas" signs and yellow caution tape draped across their pumps were concentrated along the East Coast and in Midwest states. Station owners said many of the shortages were temporary, exacerbated by panic buying and delayed deliveries.

A few stations turned off their pumps because wholesale prices were rising so fast that they were selling fuel at a loss -- even as prices spiked overnight to levels well above $3 a gallon.
Governors in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania urged motorists to conserve fuel and they warned retailers about alleged price gouging. President Bush also called for conservation and sought to calm motorists, saying that Hurricane Katrina would only cause a "temporary disruption" to the supply of gasoline.

Gas stations ran dry in many states, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia West Virginia and Wisconsin.

That's right: fuck you. Or, if you prefer, go fuck yourself. Eat shit, lick my gooch, taste my dirty Sanchez.

4:07 p.m. - WASHINGTON (AP): It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans.

Do what you have to do to let this guy know that his "insight" is not appreciated. Maybe even contact your Representative to have him censured if not worse.

If this is the GOP's idea of repaying the South for getting their asses elected and in power, they have no idea how much of a shitstorm they will inherit if they shoot down federal aid.

And it ain't good.

4:22 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): The Times-Picayune of New Orleans will resume printing a newspaper -- days after Hurricane Katrina forced it to abandon a printed edition. The newspaper has been available online. Officials hope to print 50-thousand copies, using the facility of The Houma Courier, a newspaper 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.

4:19 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): The Rev. Jesse Jackson was expected to arrive in Louisiana on Thursday to visit with evacuees forced into shelters by Hurricane Katrina and then to see the devastation the storm has wrought on New Orleans.

4:15 P.M. - (AP): Police say storm victims are being raped and beaten inside the New Orleans Convention Center.

About 15,200 people who had taken shelter at the convention center to await buses grew increasingly hostile.

Police Chief Eddie Compass says he sent in 88 officers to quell the situation at the building, but they were quickly beaten back by an angry mob.

Compass says, "We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten."

He says tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon.

In hopes of defusing the unrest at the convention center, Mayor Ray Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a bridge to the city's unflooded west bank for whatever relief they can find. But the bedlam appeared to make leaving difficult.

4:11 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): More patients from hurricane ravaged hospitals in New Orleans and other medical facilities along the Gulf Coast arrived today in Texas.

Many of the patients are being transported to Houston by planes landing at Ellington Field.
Doctors and nurses at the airport are offering the evacuees preliminary care before sending them to Houston-area hospitals. Some hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth areas also have been receiving patients from Louisiana.

3:09 P.M. - (AP): The Bush administration intends to seek more than $10 billion to cover immediate relief needs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, congressional officials said Thursday, and lawmakers made plans to approve the request by the weekend. "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the Illinois Republican said in an interview Wednesday with The Daily Herald of Arlington, Ill.

Several officials said $10 billion would cover immediate costs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the government's front-line responder in cases of natural disasters. Several hundred million dollars would also be provided to fund the Pentagon's disaster relief efforts, congressional aides said.

3:06 P.M. - (AP): Fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said.

Anger mounted across the ruined city, with thousands of storm victims increasingly hungry, desperate and tired of waiting for buses to take them out.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and the and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing -- no food, no water, no medicine.

2:48 P.M. - Gov. Blanco: "Thousands" are believed to be dead. And between 200 and 300,000 people still need to be evacuated from the city. 2,400 people are still waiting to be evacuated from the Superdome.

One official said the Army Corps of Engineers are currently driving pilings, dumping sand, into the breaches in the levee. Concrete barriers will go up after the sand is laid down. They will assess the pumps, and it could take as long as one month before the water is completely drained from the city. The Army Corps is being escorted to the levees by State Police.

Blanco said 12,000 National Guard troops from various regions in the nation are being deployed to the area, bringing the total number of troops to 40,000. The Governor added that looters will be dealt with. Blanco said Baton Rouge has its own concerns with refugees, who have reportedly been causing similar trouble in the state capital.

Hospital evacuations are going well. Chalmette and Tulane Hospitals are emptied.

No casualty list reported yet.

2:37 P.M. - CNN Reports that snipers have fired shots on Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

2:20 P.M. - Airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc: There have been hundreds of helicopter operations over the past 3 days as the helicopter are bringing in people that are being rescued from throughout the region to transfer to civilian and military aircraft to take them to points of safety.

2:14 P.M. - Airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc: Armstrong International Airport did become operational on Tuesday, August 30 for humanitarian relief flights and civilian and military rescue efforts. Since opening the airfield, several of our commercial air carriers, including American, Southwest, Northwest, Continental, United, and Delta have all sent in aircraft with relief supplies and have taken out the stranded travelers as well as all others who wanted to depart the Airport. In total over 100 employees, 200 stranded passengers and 400 others were flown out of Armstrong International.

2:13 P.M. - Duffourc: The Airport has been on generator power since Monday, August 29 with the bare power necessities. CA One Services, our Food & Beverage Concessionaire has been providing meals to those stranded in the terminal.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has set up a triage center in the Airport's West Terminal near the Delta and Continental Ticket Counters and has been treating people that have been evacuated from the Superdome in Downtown New Orleans and other locations.

2:06 P.M. - Corps of Engineers: Lake water continues to go down. Dropped two to two and a half feet in the past two days. Work progressing on plugging break in levee. Sandbags dropped and pilings being driven. Engineer says progress is "looking good."

2:11 P.M. - Blanco: Please stop broadcasting that there is "shooting in the Superdome." She said everyone brought inside was checked for weapons before entering. "There is no shooting inside the Superdome." She says the incorrect reports are upsetting the people inside of the dome who have been very calm.

Shit:

2:04 P.M. - (AP) Fights and trash fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and he and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing -- no food, no water, no medicine.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the government is sending in 1,400 National Guardsmen to help stop looting and other lawlessnes in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

1:54 P.M. - Emergency Operations spokesman: Hospitals overwhelmed.

1:53 P.M. - Emergency Operations spokeswoman: 49,800 people in shelters in this state right now. Room for 70,000 more.

1:48 P.M. - Blanco: troopers from Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky coming in to help restore order. Sheriff's deputies from as far away as Michigan.

1:47 P.M. - Blanco: I've requested 40,000 troops.

1:47 P.M. - Governor Blanco: Superdome now under control, evacuations resume.

1:37 P.M. - (AP): Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that 1,400 National Guard troops per day are being sent in to control looting and lawlessness in New Orleans, quadrupling the regular police force in the city by the weekend.

Already, 2,800 National Guardsmen are in the city to help local police since Hurricane Katrina produced devastating floods in New Orleans, Chertoff said at a news conference with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Another 1,400 Guard troops and military police units are being added daily, he said.

1:32 P.M. - New Orleans Homeland Security Chief Terry Ebbert calls FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina an embarrassment.

1:28 P.M. - WWL-TV's Dennis Woltering describes driving over the Crescent City Connection to go into town for an interview, and seeing the silhouette of the city as "eerie."

1:20 P.M. - (AP): South Carolina is sending 300 Army National Guard soldiers to Louisiana to help efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonial Pete Brooks says officials have started assembling a military police company, a water purification company and a transport unit.

Wisconsin is also sending 500 troops. From a lot of reports coming out now, this is what we need as much as money and food.

Everyone knows where his house is (if not, look for the big "FD" on the facade), so I hope they get him out.

1:09 P.M. - (AP): The singer known for "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That A Shame" has been missing since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

His agent says Fats Domino planned to ride out the storm at his house in a low-lying area of the city with his wife and daughter.

Al Embry says he spoke with Domino Sunday night by phone, but hasn't been able to contact him since. Embry says he would think Domino is safe because "somebody said he was on top of the balcony."

Domino is 77 and has rarely appeared in public in recent years.

I also heard Irma Thomas may be unaccounted for, but if someone's heard otherwise, let us know.

12:43 P.M. - Kim Nunemaker, St. Bernard Ave. Specialty Hospice: 26 bed-ridden patients and 40 staff members have to evacuate from the building. They need assistance moving these patients down several flights of stairs because the elevator is broken. Anyone who can help is asked to come to 3700 St. Charles Avenue immediately.

The generator powering the building is on the verge of running out of fuel. Nunemaker said it was raining outside and there were some strong winds. Catherine Sweisgood, a co-worker, said they need to get the people out of there before dark. The patients need to be brought to Touro so they can be airlifted out of harms way.

12:38 P.M. - (AP): Two French Quarter hotels says federal officials have foiled their plans to hire buses to ferry guests to higher ground.

The general manager of the Astor Hotel at Astor Crowne Plaza says the hotels teamed to hire ten buses to carry some 500 guests.

But Peter Ambros says federal officials commandeered the buses, and told the guests to join thousands of other evacuees at the New Orleans convention center.

One man says he and others had paid $45 a seat for the buses, and that they were "totally stunned" when the buses never arrived. Another woman said the crowd had waited 14 hours for the buses. She says the idea of walking to the convention center scared her because of reports of looting.

The woman says it appears Louisiana officials have forgotten about tourists, and are just intent on getting their own residents out.

Yes, the service in a hurricane is terrible and you shouldn't stay at the Crowne Plaza again, and New Orleans is notorious for valuing its own residents over tourists (yeah, right!). Why aren't they irate at the Crowne Plaza charging them $45 to save their lives? I think such a hotel can afford renting a fucking bus. The truth is, it's easier to evacuate everyone if they're all waiting in the same spot. I hope a group of 500 people going together would be safe from looters. If not, it's time to call Rambo, MacGuyver and the A-Team.

12:30 P.M. - WWL-TV: Charity Hospital is almost finished evacuating all their patients. Minimal food and water remains.

Here's some Saints info. Can't say I'm happy that they're setting up shop in San Antonio, one of the cities discussed in a permanent Saints move.

And here's what's happening to the Hornets:
12:11 P.M. - (New York Times): The NBA may move the Hornets out of New Orleans for the entire season. Click here.

11:44 A.M. - St. Bernard Parish official Walter Leger - thousands still trapped in St. Bernard. Thousands more are staying on the levee and are being taken by ferry to Algiers.

11:42 A.M. - Leger: For friends and family of people in St. Bernard - help is on the way.

11:42 A.M. - Leger: "We will rebuild."

11:41 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis: There is no gasoline in St. Tammany Parish. If you enter, you will be stranded if you run out of fuel. Do not attempt to cross St. Tammany to reach any areas on the south shore. ALL bridges are closed. Most have severe structural damage or are closed indefinitely for safety reasons. THERE IS NO ACCESS TO NEW ORLEANS OR ITS IMMEDIATE SUBURBS FROM ST. TAMMANY PARISH.

The father of a friend of ours is the coroner for St. Bernard Parish. There are people there - in an area that has been completely obliterated - who have stayed to help and are doing a tremendous job. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Just heard from Ricky Prado that looters are now interfering with rescue efforts. Apparently, people cannot get out of Charity Hospital because gangs have tried to hijack the busses to get themselves out. I don't know if there are many worse displays of what human beings are capable of than something like that. To brighten things up, I think it's clear that if you open your eyes just about everywhere along the Gulf Coast you will find thousands of people showing the world what tremendous good people are capable of.

11:26 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims, the White House said Thursday.

11:13 A.M. - WHITE HOUSE (AP) -- President Bush says while Nine-Eleven was a man-made attack and Hurricane Katrina natural, their aftermath is "just as serious."

Bush tells ABC "New Orleans is more devastated than New York was." But, he promises the city will rise again.

He says seeing the destruction from Air Force One was emotional. Bush plans to tour devastated areas tomorrow.

The New Orleans Saints take on the Oakland Raiders tonight on Channel 2 in L.A., which means it's with your local CBS affiliate. Broadcast is at 6PM PST, but I could be wrong because I've got DirecTV.

It's September 1. Pay those rent checks and take a moment to appreciate electricity. Lots of news this A.M.:

10:52 A.M. - Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said 15,000 people are now without a home in his city. Morris said incidents of looting have occurred.

10:48 A.M. - Davis: Schools will not open until at least October 1.

10:47 A.M. - Davis: Looting still prevelant.

10:46 A.M. - Davis: A couple thousand people still in shelters. More shelters may open up as times goes on.

10:45 A.M. - Davis: Water, food and ice available at the Target parking lot on Highway 21 in Covington, and the old Wal-Mart on Gause Blvd. in Slidell.

10:41 A.M. - Kevin Davis, St. Tammany Parish President: Cleco has 1,400 crew members working to establish power in some areas of the parish. Davis said he needs between 15,000 and 40,000 temporary housing units.

10:34 A.M. - Hoss: Stories of armed, roving gangs going around town looting every business they come across have been overexaggerated by the national media. YOU THINK? I can't see how they could be exagerrating ... when reporting from a place called the fucking Situation Room!

10:26 A.M. - Hoss: What's frightening is that city leaders cannot give a concrete answer regarding the time it will take to rescue people from their roofs and get them to safety.

10:24 A.M. - Hoss: Those rescued didn't care where they were going. They were happy to be off their roofs, with food to eat.

10:14 A.M. - Hoss: "It was very surreal" - on describing the looting. People were relying on word of mouth to get information. People were still walking to the Superdome even after the dome had already begun evacuating.

10:10 A.M. - Michael Deroche, Terrebonne Parish E.O.C.: Utility companies working to restore power in the area, and the first people had their electricity turned on last night. Asks patience from those who fled who want to come back to town.

150 residents still in shelters in the parish. More than a thousand Orleans Parish refugees in Terrebonne, but they can’t take many more, unless the National Guard sends troops to provide security.

No reports of flooding.

“People have been very generous and helping. Our civic organizations are stepping up,” he said.
Deroche said public and private schools will open Tuesday.

10:05 A.M. - WWL-TV's Mike Hoss: The camera cannot truly capture what transpired in New Orleans. "You have no idea how bad it is," he said.

10:01 A.M. - (AP) -- The military plans to increase the number of National Guard troops on duty in Louisiana and Mississippi from a combined 7,400 to about 18,100, the senior commander in charge of military relief and rescue efforts said Thursday.

9:45 A.M. - Dave Matthews Band is expected to announce a concert today benefitting the hurricane victims. Great. Next headline: Nutty Crunchies flood New Orleans, Patchouli Epidemic.

9:36 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP): Harry Connick Jr., who grew up in New Orleans, says the city will rebuild and that its residents are "freakishly strong." Just like his kind bud.

9:20 A.M. - President Bush will tour the devastated areas Friday. This is not a vacation trip to the Big Easy. No word on whether or not he will bring his geetar.

9:15 A.M. - Gordon Burgess, Tangipahoa President: Some electrical power throughout the parish…North Oaks Hospital is operating, part of Pontchatula is working, but Amite has no power…No loss of life due to the storm…Advises residents to stay out of the parish to allow all relief effort to go unimpeded...A curfew is established.

8:53 A.M. - (AP): Companies move to give millions in relief.
WHAT'S BEING OFFERED
-- Companies are donating money and goods for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
-- American Red Cross says at least 30 companies had made donations by Wednesday morning.
-- The number is expected to climb.
-- U.S. Chamber of Commerce says initial corporate donations could total more than $100 million.
SOME MONETARY DONATIONS
-- Chevron: $5 million.
-- JPMorgan Chase: $3 million.
-- Citigroup: $3 million.
-- Walt Disney Co.: $2.5 million.
-- Pfizer: $2 million.
-- Abbott Laboratories: $2 million.
-- State Farm: $1 million.
-- EDS: Will match employee contributions up to $1 million.
HEALTH CARE DONATIONS
-- Eli Lilly: 40,000 vials of refrigerated insulin.
-- Wyeth: antibiotics and nonprescription pain relievers.
-- Merck: antibiotics and hepatitis A vaccines.
-- Johnson & Johnson: Pain relievers, wound care supplies and kits containing toothbrushes, soap and shampoo.
-- Abbott Laboratories: At least $2 million in nutritional and medical products.
SOME OTHER DONATIONS
-- Nissan: 50 trucks for Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
-- General Motors: 25 cars and trucks to the Red Cross.
-- Sprint Nextel: 3,000 walkie talkie-type phones for emergency personnel.
-- Qwest Communications: 2,000 long-distance calling cards.
-- Kellogg: Seven truckloads of crackers and cookies.
-- Culligan International: Five truckloads of water.
-- Anheuser-Busch: more than 825,000 cans of water. Water? This is New Orleans, dude. You could at least throw in a sixer ... and get rid of that "head for the mountains" slogan.
-- Office Depot: Contents of its five New Orleans stores, valued at $4 million.

8:50 A.M. - (AP): -- The world is reacting to America's disaster. Saudi Arabia says it's ready to increase crude oil production to replace market shortages. Venezuela is offering humanitarian aid and fuel. (Provided Pat Robertson doesn't kill their leader.) Canada's Red Cross is assembling volunteers. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent messages of sympathy to President Bush.

Pope Benedict says he's praying for victims of the "tragic" hurricane while China's President Hu Jintao expressed his belief that the American people would "rebuild their beautiful homeland."
But not all responses were positive. Islamic extremists are rejoicing. Internet chatter referred to the storm as "Private" Katrina, and said it had joined the global holy war against the U.S. Islamic Extremeists, meet Repent America.

8:40 A.M - WWL-TV: The Wisconsin National Guard will provide 500 troops to New Orleans.

8:13 A.M. - Mike Madison, CEO Cleco: It's going to be weeks, and for some, months in getting the power back to the Northshore.

8:01 A.M. - St. Tammany spokesperson: All routes from the Northshore to Metairie and New Orleans are closed. People are trying to get to those areas through the Northshore and are running out of fuel.

7:46 A.M. - St. Tammany spokesperson: No emergency worker or parish official or law enforcement official was hurt during the storm.

7:45 A.M. - St. Tammany spokesperson: People trying to return are getting stuck in parish because there is no fuel to get out.

7:44 A.M. - St. Tammany spokesperson: Every building in Madisonville had water inside.

7:37 A.M. - (AP) The evacuation of the Superdome was suspended Thursday after shots were fired at a military helicopter, an ambulance official overseeing the operation said. No immediate injuries were reported.

"We have suspended operations until they gain control of the Superdome," said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the Superdome.

He said that military would not fly out of the Superdome either because of the gunfire and that the National Guard told him that it was sending 100 military police officers to gain control.

"That's not enough," Zeuschlag. "We need a thousand."
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

This shit is crazy. I think it's time to call Mad Max.

7:00 A.M. - "For the next two or three months, in this area, there will not be any commerce, at all. No electricity, no restaurants. This is the real deal. It's not living conditions." -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

6:17 A.M. - (AP) - Responding to reports of widespread looting, the president says there should be "zero-tolerance" for lawbreakers during the disaster. Bush says he's told law officials to move against anyone who engages in looting, price-gouging, insurance fraud or any other crime to take advantage of the situation.

6:15 A.M. - (AP) Managers at the Covenant Home nursing center were prepared to cope with power outages and supply shortages following Hurricane Katrina. They weren't ready for looters. The nursing home lost its bus after the driver surrendered it to carjackers. Groups of people then drove by the center, shouting to residents, "Get out!"

On Wednesday, 80 residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.

"We had excellent plans. We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

6:12 A.M. (AP) - WASHINGTON -- President Bush says he understands the frustration of people wanting help along the Gulf Coast and promises "the most massive federal relief effort ever."

6:03 A.M. (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of Americans are now refugees. Some say they'll return to the homes they abandoned because of Hurricane Katrina, but others are calling it a day.

One New Orleans man sheltering in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, says "We got nothing."

A poker dealer from Biloxi says it's "just awful" and that she wants to get out of Southern Mississippi, where she's stranded.

Shonna Riggs says her forced exodus to Texas from a small town in Louisiana has been "very expensive" and she's not "used to the hustle and bustle" of Houston.

Another Louisiana woman staying in Houston says, "We're all a mess." Hoanne Hobson says she doesn't know what to do next.

5:55 A.M. - State of Louisiana Military Department: The Governor's office has requested the use of school busses from Louisiana schools to help with the evacuation of New Orleans, please advise your viewers to check with their local school systems in regards to closures today.

5:33 A.M. - (AP) -Service station manager Randy Schuette is getting quite a workout changing the gasoline prices on his station's large sign.

"I bet I'm not done, either," he said Wednesday, hoisting price placards with a 20-foot pole at his station in Bismarck, N.D. At one point, he ran out of decimals, so a gallon's cost read $317.

"I don't have any three's with decimal points," he said. "Never needed them. I'm assuming people know that it's not $317 a gallon, but the day's not over yet, either."

Price hikes were evident at stations nationwide Wednesday as gasoline costs breached $3 a gallon in numerous states, the result of fuel pipeline shutdowns and delayed deliveries since Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi earlier this week.

Gas prices jumped by more than 50 cents a gallon Wednesday in Ohio, 40 cents in Georgia and 30 cents in Maine. The increases followed price spikes on wholesale and futures markets Tuesday after the hurricane knocked off-line refineries and pipeline links along the Gulf Coast that provide about a third of the country's gasoline supplies.

2:20 A.M. - AP: Four more buses have arrived in Houston with Superdome refugees.

1:11 A.M. - AP: The weary, disheartened residents of the sweltering Superdome began making their way to Houston's Astrodome on Wednesday, with the first group of about 50 arriving about 12:30 a.m. CDT Thursday.

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said the 40-year-old Astrodome is "not suited well" for such a large crowd long-term, but officials are prepared to house the displaced New Orleanians as long as possible.

"This is a city of 20,000 people that is going to be here for a while," Eckels said. "The Dome will be fine for a few days. It could even go for weeks for some of these folks."

1:08 A.M. - AP: Late Wednesday, Tenet Healthcare Corp. asked Louisiana State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard to help evacuate one of its hospitals in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals was held up by gunmen.

"We have to close it down because we can no longer ensure the safety of our patients or our staff in that hospital," Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini said of the 203-bed Meadowcrest Hospital.

He said there were about 350 employees and between 125 to 150 patients inside the hospital, which is not flooded and is functioning.

1:06 A.M. - CNN: Officials are confirming that the second Orleans Parish school bus to arrive at Houston's Astrodome was another "renegade bus" and not from the Superdome. The Astrodome will take in refugees from all three buses.

This hurricane and the aftermath is about as bad as it can get ... only it's getting worse. It's just awful and there's not much we can do about it. Sorry to be a bummer, especially to those evacuated readers because I know you don't need me to help you feel bummed, but I am terribly bummed. All of our people made it out okay, but we don't know when they'll get to go back home.

Don't listen to the big cable networks because they don't know shit and their condescending, careless ignorance is an insult to not only the state and journalism but to human compassion. WWL in New Orleans is a great place to go, or WBRZ in Baton Rouge. Their picture is grim but more accurate and not coming from the lobby of a five-star hotel. For a real insider's view, you can get some info from Jeffrey at Library Chronicles , Michael at 2Millionth Weblog and from frequent commentor JBoo at his evacuee blog. JBoo is doing an amazing job and culling from all the best NOLA news sources.

If you're trying to reach people with a New Orleans cell phone number and can't get through, text messaging seems to be workin