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DISASTER ARCHIVES
DISASTER NEWS HISTORY ARCHIVE
Disaster News Archive - Archives
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Alberto
R Gonzales - 
Secret
- Emergency
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- 
Eavesdropping
- 
Law
- 
Enforcement
- 
Politics
- "F.B.I.
Chief Gives Account at Odds With Gonzales’s." ...
"The director of the F.B.I. offered testimony Thursday that sharply conflicted
with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s sworn statements about a 2004
confrontation in which top Justice Department officials threatened to resign
over a secret intelligence operation." ... "The director, Robert S. Mueller
III, told the House Judiciary Committee that the confrontation was about
the National Security Agency’s counterterrorist eavesdropping program,
describing it as “an N.S.A. program that has been much discussed.” His
testimony was a serious blow to Mr. Gonzales, who insisted at a Senate
hearing on Tuesday that there were no disagreements inside the [Republican
President] Bush administration about the program at the time of those discussions
or at any other time." ... "The director’s remarks were especially significant
because Mr. Mueller is the Justice Department’s chief law enforcement official.
He also played a crucial role in the 2004 dispute over the program, intervening
with President Bush to help deal with the threat of mass resignations that
grew out of a day of emergency meetings at the White House and at the hospital
bedside of John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general." ... "Doubts about
Mr. Gonzales’s version of events in March 2004 grew after James B. Comey,
the former deputy attorney general, testified in May that he and other
Justice Department officials were prepared to resign over legal objections
to an intelligence program that appeared to be the N.S.A. program." ...
"In addition, in testimony last year, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was the
N.S.A. director when the program started and now heads the Central Intelligence
Agency, said the March 2004 meeting involved the Terrorist Surveillance
Program." -By David Johnston and Scott Shane
-NYTimes
Government
- 
Environmental
- 
Health
- 
Science
- Politics
- 
Children
- 
Air
- Safety
- Hurricane
Katrina - Emergency
- Manufactured
- 
Homes
- Construction
- 
Louisiana
- 
California
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims:
Agency Rejected Environmental Testing on Formaldehyde Gas Levels." ...
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency [run by the Republican President
Bush administration] has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field
workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may
be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided
trailers, lawmakers said today." ... "Committee Chairman [California Democratic
Representative] Henry L. Waxman (D-Calif.) called FEMA's bureaucratic neglect
of storm victims "sickening."" ... "Nearly 5,000 pages of documents turned
over to the committee "expose an official policy of premeditated ignorance,"
Waxman charged. "Senior officials in Washington didn't want to know what
they already knew, because they didn't want the legal and moral responsibility
to do what they knew had to be done."" ... "In May, FEMA said its own tests
of 96 new trailers near Baton Rouge [Louisiana] last September and October
found formaldehyde at 1.2 parts per million, but levels dropped to 0.3
parts per million after four days of ventilation. FEMA said that is the
accepted threshold used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
for its manufactured homes." ... "But Mary C. DeVany, an occupational health
and safety engineer advising the Sierra Club, testified that that exposure
limit of 0.3 parts per million is 400 times greater than the normal limit
for year-round exposure set by the CDC-affiliated Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Register. It is also three times the daily exposure limit recommended
by the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health, she said."
... ""This misapplication and skewing of scientific results is at best
unethical and grossly misrepresents and attempt to minimize the adverse
health effects being experienced by thousands of travel trailer residents,"
DeVany said." ... "Formaldehyde is a common wood preservative used in construction
materials such as particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic
and countertops." ... "The chemical can cause vision and respiratory problems.
It has been linked to higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies
in children with long-term exposure." (1, 2,
3)
-By Spencer S. Hsu -WashingtonPost
Police
- 
Fire
- Emergency
- 
Communications
- 
Money
- Politics
- "US
Works to Fix Emergency Communications." ... "The
government will distribute nearly $1 billion to states and cities to fix
communications problems that still hamper police and fire departments six
years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks." ... "A total of $968 million
for interoperable communications grants was announced Wednesday by the
heads of the departments of Homeland Security and Commerce, after a review
earlier this year found that of 75 major U.S. cities, only six received
a top grade in emergency communications." ... "The money, said Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, will answer "the urgent need for firefighters,
police and other first responders to be able to communicate effectively
with one another."" ... "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said
the money should get the entire country up to a basic standard of effective
emergency communication by 2009 -- but only if the local authorities coordinate
with each other and avoid turf fights." -By Devlin
Barrett -AP
via -Salon
US
- 
Iraq
- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Emergency
- Money
- "Petraeus
Says Iraq Plan Won't Succeed By September (Update2)."
... "The odds of building a stable Iraqi government by September are slim,
even with the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to give lawmakers in Baghdad
[Iraq's capital] security, said the top U.S. general in the Middle East
country." ... "The ``aggregate level'' of violence has not diminished since
the troop increase began five months ago, General David Petraeus said in
an interview on ``Fox News Sunday.'' Asked whether he thought the strategy
could succeed by early September when he's due to report to Congress, Petraeus
was negative." ... "``I do not, no. I think we have a lot of heavy lifting
to do,'' he said. ``This is a tough effort.''" ... "Congressional Democrats
were rebuffed in their earlier attempt to force Bush to change Iraq policy
when the president [Republican George Bush] vetoed about $100 billion in
emergency war spending because it was tied to a withdrawal of U.S. troops."
-By Demian McLean -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- 
Military
- Emergencies
- "Guard
running low on equipment." ... "National Guard units
in 31 states say four years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have left them
with 60% or less of their authorized equipment, a USA TODAY review found."
... "Eighteen of those 31 states report having half or fewer of the vehicles,
aircraft, radios, weapons and other items they are authorized to have for
home-front uses, the 50-state review found." ... "Some of the Guard's equipment
has been destroyed or left behind in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the
review found." ... "Paul Brown, deputy chief of logistics for the Army
National Guard, said the Guard has 53% of the equipment it needs for domestic
emergencies." [CHART:
State - Equipment available Preparedness status] -By
William M. Welch -USATODAY
US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- 
Arizona
- 
Iowa
- 
New
Mexico - Disaster
- "How
ready is your state's National Guard?" ... "Most
representatives from National Guard units across the USA say they are ready
to handle whatever domestic disaster comes along. Some, however, are concerned
about equipment missing due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well
as the need to replace aging equipment." ... "Correspondents from across
the USA spoke with governors, National Guard commanders and public affairs
officers to determine each unit's equipment and preparedness levels for
dealing with national disasters." [CHART:
State - Equipment available Preparedness status] " ... "Maj. Paul
Aguirre, spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said they have 35% of
their equipment on hand for national emergencies. Aguirre emphasized that"
... "Iowa National Guard officials are more concerned about having enough
equipment available for combat training than for disaster response. Lt.
Col. Gregory Hapgood, the guard's spokesman, says Iowa has 45% of the equipment
on hand that the state needs." ... "The New Mexico National Guard has the
lowest equipment inventory level of any state or territory, according to
a report from the Government Accountability Office about Guard readiness
[34%]." -USATODAY
Emergency
- LA
- California
- "Woman
dies in ER lobby as 911 refuses to help: Tapes show
operators ignored pleas to send ambulance to L.A. hospital." ... "A woman
who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital
died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance
to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency
calls reveal." ... "In the recordings of two 911 calls that day, first
obtained by the Los Angeles Times under a California Public Records Act
request, callers pleaded for help for Rodriguez but were referred to hospital
staff instead." ... "“I’m in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the
nurses don’t want to help her out,” Rodriguez’s boyfriend, Jose Prado,
is heard saying in Spanish through an interpreter on the tapes." ... "“They’re
watching her there and they’re not doing anything. They’re just watching
her,” Prado said." -AP
via -MSNBC
Rudolph
Giuliani - Election
2008 - 
New
York
- Emergency
- Police
- Firefighter
- 
Workers
- Air
- Health
- Terrorism
- Families
- "Mystique
of 'America's Mayor' Tarnished: 9/11 Firefighters,
Families Protest Giuliani's Rise." ... "The mystique of "America's mayor"
shows signs of fraying." ... "The nation's largest firefighters' union
is planning to send out 280,000 videotapes attacking former New York Republican
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani [and 2008 election Presidential candidate] and his
pre-9/11 record -- including his decision to place New York City's emergency
operations center in the World Trade Center before Sept. 11, 2001." ...
"In recent months, families of 9/11 victims have planted themselves outside
Giuliani fundraisers, and several critical books and documentaries have
been released." ... "Reports have emerged sharply questioning Giuliani's
response to the 9/11 attacks, with critics portraying a bullying mayor
who, in his zeal for a quick cleanup, brushed aside health concerns about
the air at ground zero." ... "And Giuliani's former emergency management
director, Jerome Hauer, is now a prominent Giuliani critic, questioning
the former mayor's handling of the turf wars that divided the police and
fire departments before 9/11." ... ""In terms of preparedness, response
and leadership, Rudy fell down," said Jeff Zack, a spokesman for the International
Association of Fire Fighters, which is preparing the video for distribution
to its members." ... ""Rudy has created an image of himself that he likes
to expand upon: that he's the hero of 9/11," Zack said. "And it's not true,
especially from the point of view of the firefighters who lived through
that day and the families of those who died on that day."" (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Rick Klein -ABCNEWS.com
Weather
- Emergency
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
facing questions on '07 hurricane plans." ... "The
Federal Emergency Management Agency will come under fire again Tuesday
from coastal lawmakers concerned about its failure to come up with a national
response plan before the start of the 2007 hurricane season." -By
Ana Radelat -USATODAY
Government
- Weather
- Disaster
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
says it's ready for hurricanes." ... "The government
has fixed most of the problems that undermined its response to Hurricane
Katrina, even though an updated federal disaster plan is not completed,
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief R. David Paulison told lawmakers
Tuesday." ... "At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Paulison
said the plan should be finished next month. He had previously notified
Congress that it wouldn't be ready by the June 1 deadline, the start of
the hurricane season." ... "This year's hurricane season, which runs through
Nov. 30, threatens to be "very active," according to forecasters at Colorado
State University, who predict as many as 17 tropical storms." -By
Brad Heath -USATODAY
Rudolph
Giuliani - Election
2008 - Politician
- New
York
- Terrorism
- Disaster
- Money
- Government
- Construction
- Firefighters
- Workers
- Air
- Environment
- Science
- Health
- 
Safety
- Enforcement
- Lawsuit
- "Ground
Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani’s Legacy." ... "[2008
election Republican Presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani] Administration documents and thousands of pages of legal
testimony filed in a lawsuit against New York City [New York], along with
more than two dozen interviews with people involved in the events of the
last four months of Mr. Giuliani’s administration, show that while the
city had a safety plan for workers, it never meaningfully enforced federal
requirements that those at the site wear respirators [at the World Trade
Center cleanup]." ... "At the same time, the administration warned companies
working on the pile that they would face penalties or be fired if work
slowed. And according to public hearing transcripts and unpublished administration
records, officials also on some occasions gave flawed public representations
of the nature of the health threat, even as they privately worried about
exposure to lawsuits by sickened workers." ... "“The city ran a generally
slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental
concerns,” said David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York
Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a labor group." ... "City
officials and a range of medical experts are now convinced that the dust
and toxic materials in the air around the site were a menace. More than
2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory
problems. Seventy percent of nearly 10,000 recovery workers screened at
Mount Sinai Medical Center have trouble breathing. City officials estimate
that health care costs related to the air at ground zero have already run
into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one knows whether other
illnesses, like cancers, will emerge." ... "From the beginning, there was
no doubt that Mr. Giuliani and his team ruled the hellish disaster site.
Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps
of Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, all
with extensive disaster response experience, arrived almost immediately,
only to be placed on the sideline. One Army Corps official said Mr. Giuliani
acted like a “benevolent dictator.”" ... "Despite the presence of those
federal experts, Mr. Giuliani assigned the ground zero cleanup to a largely
unknown city agency, the Department of Design and Construction. Kenneth
Holden, the department’s commissioner until January 2004, said in a deposition
in the federal lawsuit against the city that he initially expected FEMA
or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup operation. Mr. Giuliani
never let them." ... "Records show that the city was aware of the danger
in the ground zero dust from the start. In a federal court deposition,
Kelly R. McKinney, associate commissioner at the city’s health department
in 2001, said the agency issued an advisory on the night of Sept. 11 stating
that asbestos in the air made the site hazardous and that everyone should
wear masks." ... "Much has been said and written about Christie Whitman,
then the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and her statement
a week after the towers fell that the air in New York was safe. But even
then, the air above the debris pile was known to be more dangerous than
the air in the rest of Lower Manhattan." ... "Whatever they were saying
publicly about the safety of the air, Mr. Giuliani and his staff were privately
worried. A memo to Deputy Mayor Robert M. Harding from his assistant in
early October said that the city faced as many as 10,000 liability claims
connected to 9/11, “including toxic tort cases that might arise in the
next few decades.”" ... "The warning did not lead to a crackdown on workers
without respirators. Rather, a month later, Mr. Giuliani wrote to members
of the city’s Congressional delegation urging passage of a bill that capped
the city’s liability at $350 million." (1, 2,
3)
-By Anthony DePalma -NYTimes
Missouri
- Weather
- Disaster
- 
History
- "Failing
Levees Spur Major Missouri Floods: Water Tops At
Least 20 Levees In Worst Flooding Since 1993." ... "At least 20 levees
have been overtopped as flood waters make their way down Missouri streams
and rivers, authorities said." ... ""It's a major flood," Suzanne Fortin,
a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, said
Wednesday. "It won't be a record breaker, but it will be in the top three.""
... "The floodwaters would rank among the top three on the 102, Platte,
Grand and parts of the Missouri River near the cities of Sibley and Glasgow,
Fortin said." ... "And historic river levels have been reached on the Tarkio
River at Fairfax." ... "The Missouri River is at its highest level since
the 1993 floods, threatening small towns and even parts of Kansas City
and St. Louis, reports CBS
News correspondent Peter King (audio) [MP3]." (1, 2)
-AP via -CBSNews
Kansas
- Greensburg
- Tornado
- 
Vehicles
- Police
- "Kansas
Tornado Death Toll Rises: 11 Deaths Now Reported
After Injured Police Officer Taken Off Life Support." ... "Search and rescue
operations continued Tuesday in Greensburg [Kansas], where emergency responders
have struggled to determined if any of its 1,600 residents are missing
because many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters."
... "The 1.7-mile-wide, Category F-5 enhanced tornado, with wind estimated
at 205 mph, destroyed about 95 percent of this farming town Friday." ...
"The government's response to the disaster was
undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East,
[Kansas Democratic Governor] Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said." ... ""I don't
think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters
that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims
here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be
at a slower pace."" -AP
via -CBSNews
US
- Iraq
- Kansas
- National
Guard - Disaster
- Vehicles
- "Wartime
Shortages Hamper National Guard: Iraq Deployments
Are Leading To A Lack Of Equipment At The State Level." ... "Kansas' governor
says tornado cleanup efforts are being hamstrung because the state National
Guard is on a mission in Iraq." ... "But the Kansas National Guard isn't
alone with its equipment shortages. According to the chief of the National
Guard, it's a national epidemic." ... "Listen to what he told a Senate
committee last month about the state of a Guard unit that had just returned
stateside from Iraq." ... ""He doesn't have a problem of old equipment.
He has a problem of no equipment," Lt. General H. Steven Blum said. "His
unit, when it came back in November, came back to two Humvees that were
left because they were not good enough to go to war — not suitable to go
to war — and that's the equipment that he has in his unit today."" ...
"The rest of the Humvees were either destroyed, damaged or left behind
in Iraq." ... ""You name it, we are short of — this is meat-and-potatoes
basic items," Blum said. "I'm talking about 'dozers, graders, loaders,
backhoes, dump trucks."" -CBSNews
Kansas
- Tornado
- Disaster
- US
- National
Guard - Iraq
- "Deadly
Kansas Tornado; Town Wiped Out." ... "The plains
states are recovering after a weekend of violent weather. Tornadoes left
10 people dead in Kansas, 9 of those from a twister Friday that nearly
destroyed the entire town of Greensburg [Kansas]." ... "[Kansas Democratic]
Governor Sebelius says that the situation is being made even harder by
the absence of Kansas National Guard soldiers and equipment due to the
war in Iraq." ... ""Not having the the National Guard equipment which used
to be positioned in various parts of the state to bring immediately is
really going to handicap this effort to rebuild.""
-KTTC.com
Kansas
- Emergencies
- US
- National
Guard - Iraq
- "Iraq
War Hampers Kansas Cleanup." ... "[Kansas Democratic]
Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually
positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone." ... "The
Kansas National Guard has about 40 percent of the equipment it is allotted
because much of it has been sent to Iraq."
-AP via -KCBS.com
Health
- Science
- Consumer
- 
Food
- Drug
- Safety
- Terrorism
- Emergencies
- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Animal
- Pets
- 
Pennsylvania
- 
Colorado
- 
Michigan
- Calif
- Kan
- 
Mass
- "FDA
plan to close field labs draws fire." ... "A Food
and Drug Administration plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories has
angered some lawmakers, government workers and safety advocates, who fear
the move will chase away skilled veteran employees and hurt the FDA's ability
to respond to public health emergencies." ... "The FDA's field labs inspect
and analyze food, drugs, animal medications and feeds, medical devices
and other health products." ... "The labs check for compliance with federal
guidelines, protect consumers from unsafe, ineffective and mislabeled products,
and help investigate public health threats such as product tampering, bio-terrorism,
food-borne illnesses and contaminated blood supplies." ... "Several of
the facilities helped investigate the recent pet food scare and E. coli
and salmonella outbreaks in spinach and peanut butter. On the heels of
these crises, the proposed lab closings have been met with strong suspicion."
... "Over the next several years, the FDA wants to close labs in Philadelphia
[Pennsylvania]; Denver [Colorado]; Detroit [Michigan]; Alameda, Calif.
[California]; Lenexa, Kan.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Winchester, Mass
[Massachusetts]. Those operations and an estimated 250 employees would
then be moved to five multi-purpose "mega-labs" that could handle all types
of FDA testing." ... "But some fear that fewer labs would delay the testing
of food, biological medical products or drugs in the event of a public
health emergency." -By Tony Pugh
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
New
Orleans - Louisiana
- 
Flood
- Disaster
- Technology
- Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- 
Fla
- Government
- Politics
- Law
- "Corps
placed faulty pumps in New Orleans." ... "The Army
Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect
New Orleans [Louisiana] by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed
defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert
that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained
by The Associated Press." ... "But the Corps and the politically connected
manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty
pumps working properly." ... "The 34 pumps — installed in the drainage
canals that take water from this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city and
deposit it in Lake Pontchartrain — represented a new ring of protection
that was added to New Orleans' flood defenses after [hurricane] Katrina."
... "The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6
million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries
Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla." ... "MWI is owned by J. David Eller and
his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has
donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican
Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics." ...
"The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently
helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced
and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved."
-By Cain Burdeau -AP
via -Yahoo
New
York
- Terrorism
- Emergency
- Firefighter
- Workers
- 2008
Election - "Firefighters
Claim Giuliani Ignored Needs After 9/11 (Update2)."
... "[New York Republican] Rudy Giuliani, who has parlayed his identity
as the hero of Sept. 11 into a front-running presidential candidacy [2008
Election], was attacked by the nation's firefighters union for rushing
to remove debris at New York's World Trade Center site before many remains
had been recovered." ... "The International Association of Fire Fighters
union said it wants its 260,000 U.S. members to know the ``real story''
of the former New York mayor, contending that Giuliani sought to curtail
search-and-recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site after the attacks
on Sept. 11, 2001, that claimed the lives of 2,752 people, including 343
union fire fighters." ... "``Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters
and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever,
with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited
at the Fresh Kills Landfill,'' said union President Harold Schaitberger
in a draft letter to affiliates." -By Kim Chipman
-Bloomberg
Firefighter- Workers
- 2008
Election - New
York
- Terrorism
- Emergency
- Money
- "Firefighters
union assails Giuliani." ... "One of the nation's
largest firefighters' unions has accused Republican presidential contender
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of committing "egregious
acts" against firefighters who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks."
... "In a letter to its members Friday, the International Association of
Fire Fighters excoriated Giuliani for his November 2001 decision to cut
back the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for
the remains of some 300 fallen comrades." ... "The 280,000-member union
accused him of carelessly expediting the cleanup process with a "scoop-and-dump"
operation after the recovery of millions of dollars in gold, silver and
other assets from the Bank of Nova Scotia that had been buried."
-AP via -CNN
Noteworthy
- Secret
- Military
- Law
- Enforcement
- Government
- Civil
Liberty - Disaster
- Health
- Terrorism
- Politics
- History
- "Making
Martial Law Easier." ... "A disturbing recent phenomenon
in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy
have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly
tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s
behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of
law enforcement and declare martial law." ... "The provision, signed into
law in October [2006 under the Republican controlled Congress], weakens
two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that
bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging
in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after
the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military.
The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions
to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military
in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion,
where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional
rights." ... "The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance.
They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to
restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president
may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a
natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other
condition.”" ... "Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a
thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped
into the law without hearings or public debate."
-NYTimes
Mississippi
- Hurricane
Katrina - Homeowner
- Disaster
- Business
- Wind
- Water
-Weather
- "Katrina
storm surge damage not covered by homeowners insurance, judge rules."
... "A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an insurance company's policies
do not cover damage from wind-driven water in a decision that could affect
hundreds of upcoming cases related to property damage from Hurricane Katrina."
... "U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled that a Mississippi Gulf
Coast couple cannot collect damages from storm surge caused by Katrina
because Nationwide Mutual Insurance's policies do not cover wind-driven
water damage." ... "Senter Jr. said Paul and Julie Leonard of Pascagoula
could be compensated for damage that they could prove was caused by high
winds." ... ""This reading of the policy would mean that an insured whose
dwelling lost its roof in high winds and at the same time suffered an incursion
of even an inch of water could recover nothing under his Nationwide policy,"
he wrote." -AP
via -USATODAY
California
- 
Elderly
- Disaster
- 
Energy
- Food
- Work
- Water
- Animal
- 
Oregon
- Wildfire
- "At
least 132 deaths likely linked to heat Calif. heat wave."
... "At least 132 deaths, mostly elderly residents, were likely linked
to a nearly two-week heat wave in California, county coroner's offices
reported Friday." ... "Both Northern and Southern California had been gripped
by triple-digit temperatures since July 16, with the Central Valley suffering
the most with temperatures as high as 115." ... "Before this week, the
utility's highest peak energy use was recorded at 5,661 megawatts. The
heat wave created a demand of 6,165 megawatts — shocking officials who
predicted usage wouldn't top 6,100 megawatts for another four years." ...
"In Northern California, a wildfire near the Oregon state line was threatening
major power transmission lines between California and the Pacific Northwest."
... "Farmers have been struggling as well, trying get work crews into the
fields in the early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat and running
water misters to keep cattle from dying. Vegetables, fruit and even wine
grapes could be affected." -By Olivia Munoz
-AP via -SFGate.com
Global
- Industry
- Climate
- Disaster
- Politics
- 
Earth
- Environment
- 
Entertainment
- 
UN
- Seattle
- 
Washington
- "Does
Gore overheat global warming?" ... "Al Gore's documentary,
"An Inconvenient Truth," continues to trigger heated discussions about
global warming, as well as Mr. Gore's political ambitions, real or imagined."
... "But how close to the mark is his representation of the science tying
humanity's industrial activity to changing climate aka anthropogenic global
warming?" ... "In short, say several climate researchers, he basically
gets it right, although one can question some aspects of the presentation."
... ""I worry that the movie is a little heavy on disaster scenarios,"
says David Battisti, professor of atmospheric science at the University
of Washington in Seattle and director of the university's Earth Initiative.
Over the course of the coming century, he says, average conditions are
likely to change in ways that should prompt action now; it doesn't require
extreme examples to make the point." ... "After viewing the film, he says,
his impression is that nothing in it "misstated the science in a qualitative
way."" ... "Indeed, his colleague Eric Stieg, also with the University
of Washington, has noted that the film includes research that is only a
few months old and clearly relevant to the discussion - research that won't
appear in the next UN summary of climate science, slated for release early
next year. The newest studies were too late to be included in the next
UN summary, which is published about every six years and widely cited in
public debates." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
Indonesia
- Earthquake
- Homeless
- Food
- U.N.
- "Trickle
Of Aid Reaches Quake Survivors: Death Toll Tops 5,400;
About 200,000 People Made Homeless In Indonesia." ... "A trickle of aid
began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more
than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said the meager deliveries
were not enough." ... ""We have 300 families in this village and have only
gotten two sacks of rice," said Lastri, 27, begging beneath the blazing
sun, a 5-month-old baby in her arms. "It's not enough."" ... "More aid
was on the way — a U.N. World Food Program was scheduled to arrive near
the quake zone on Java island on Tuesday with high-energy biscuits and
blankets, tents and generators, and U.N. trucks traveled roads lined with
increasingly desperate children, women and elderly seeking handouts."
-AP via
-CBSNews
- John
Edwards - Cheney
- Noteworthy
- 2008
Election - "Edwards
Bashes Cheney, Bush: 2004 vice presidential contender
blasts Bush and readies to run again." -With George
Stephanopoulos -ThisWeek-ABCNEWS.com
US
- Iraq- Edwards
- Cheney
- Disaster
- Energy
- Health
- Government
- Intelligence
- Law
- History
- 2008
Election - 
NC
- "Edwards:
Bush Worse than Nixon." ... "Former Sen. John Edwards,
D-N.C., says George W. Bush is the "worst president of our lifetime," and
"absolutely" worse than Watergate-tainted President Richard M. Nixon."
... "In an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,"
the former presidential and vice presidential contender said of Bush, "He's
done a variety of things -- things which are going to take us forever to
recover from." ... ""You have to give Bush and Cheney and gang credit for
being good at politics -- you know, good at political campaigns," Edwards
added. "They're very good at dividing the country and taking advantage
of it. What they're not good at is governing, and it shows every single
day in this administration. And the country is paying a huge price for
that."" ... ""It is not an accident that he's [Vice President Cheney] unbelievably
poorly thought of," Edwards said. "He is one of -- if not the --principal
architects of this disaster in Iraq. He put us on an energy path that the
American people are paying an enormous price for right now. He paid little
to no attention to making sure the government was prepared to respond to
the kind of disaster that hit our Gulf Coast. We've got a health care crisis
going on, he's had no proposal of any kind that I know of. And people don't
trust him anymore, which is understandable. I wouldn't trust him."" ...
"Edwards made the pitch for a Democratic president in 2008, claiming the
Bush has "intentionally ignored" the law and constitution in the NSA wiretapping
controversy." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Ed O'Keefe-ABCNEWS.com
Emergency
- Air
- 
West
Virginia - Labor
- "Mine
blast survivor says some men's air packs didn't work."
... "The sole survivor of the Sago Mine explosion says some of the emergency
air packs his fellow miners carried didn't work." ... "In his most detailed
account of the Jan. 2 blast, Randy McCloy describes in a letter how four
miners sought to share emergency air supplies with others trapped in the
mine when it appeared theirs malfunctioned." ... "In the letter, McCloy
refers to the emergency air packs, called self-contained self-rescue devices,
as "rescuers."" ... "Federal and state officials said the air packs, which
were tested after the blast, were functional." -By
Emily Bazar -USATODAY
Mississippi
- Trent
Lott
- Government
- Emergency
- Military
- Transportation
- Hurricane
Katrina - Money
- "Mississippi
Senators' Rail Plan Challenged: War Bill Includes
Millions to Move Just-Rebuilt Line." ... "Mississippi's two U.S. senators
included $700 million in an emergency war spending bill to relocate a Gulf
Coast rail line that has already been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at
a cost of at least $250 million." ... "Republican Sens. Trent Lott and
Thad Cochran, who have the backing of their state's economic development
agencies and tourism industry, say the CSX freight line must be moved to
save it from the next hurricane and to protect Mississippi's growing coastal
population from rail accidents. But critics of the measure call it a gift
to coastal developers and the casino industry that would be paid for with
money carved out of tight Katrina relief funds and piggybacked onto funding
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." ... "Budget watchdogs are already
tagging the Lott-Cochran provision the "railroad to nowhere."" -By
Jonathan Weisman -WashingtonPost
Terrorism
- Emergency
- 
Airport
- Transportation
- Communications
- Technology
- Money-
"Report:
TSA Got Little for $1 Billion." ... "A company awarded
a $1 billion contract for airport security equipment performed so poorly
that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general recommended that
the project be put out for bid again." ... "The inspector general, Richard
Skinner, found in a report released Thursday that Unisys received most
of the $1 billion without providing the Transportation Security Administration
much of the equipment "critical to airport security and communications.""
... "The federal officials who head airport security at hundreds of airports
complained that Unisys supplied antiquated equipment and that their radios
didn't always communicate with each other inside the same concourse _ a
crucial function during an emergency." -By Leslie
Miller -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Government
- Terrorism
- Disaster
- Hurricane
Katrina - Money
- Politics
- "Bush
Orders DHS to Create Center for Faith-Based Aid."
... "President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday
to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45
days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to
providing federal funds to religious groups to deliver social services,
the White House announced last night." ... "Pressed both by churches that
have not received privately raised Hurricane Katrina relief funds as promised
and by the outpouring of help of religious groups to Gulf Coast storm victims,
Bush also called on the department by September "to identify all existing
barriers . . . that unlawfully discriminate against, or otherwise discourage
or disadvantage the participation" of such groups in federal programs."
-By Spencer S. Hsu with contributions by Jacqueline
L. Salmon and Michael A. Fletcher-WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - Government
- Disaster
- "Brown
shouldn't be administration's scapegoat, experts say."
... "Bolstered by Wednesday's release of a videotape and transcripts of
federal disaster response sessions in the days just before and after Katrina,
Brown and his hurricane team are seen as sounding the alarm of an impending
disaster. In contrast, President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff appear impassive the day before Katrina struck as officials predicted
that the levees around New Orleans could fail. The president asked no questions."
... "Now the Bush administration is stepping up the attacks on the former
Federal Emergency Management Agency director for sidestepping the chain
of command, and the same disaster experts who excoriated Brown, some even
cracking jokes about his previous experience with the International Arabian
Horse Association, are coming to his side." ... "On Thursday, Knight Ridder
interviewed 12 longtime disaster experts, and most believe Brown should
not be the scapegoat for the administration." -By
Seth Borenstein -KnightRidder
via -MercuryNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- Government
-