by TChris

New Orleans police officers have experienced the same tragedy as the rest of the city's residents. Some have responded in heroic fashion. Others have quit.

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "Go to hell -- it's every man for himself."

The Chief of the Louisiana State Police says New Orleans officers have told him that they don't want to risk their lives for looters. It is presumably that kind of sentiment that has led to talk of "shoot to kill." Some looters are opportunistic, to be sure, but many are just trying to get basic supplies from stores that are in no position to sell them what they need.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday:

Vice President Cheney, who has spent part of August at his home outside scenic Jackson, Wyo., remains there today -- although his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, doesn't call it vacation. "He's working from Wyoming today," McBride told me this morning.

And when is he coming back? "He will certainly be coming back. I'm not able to tell you the day right now. I don't have that handy."

Via America Blog.

I've been hearing all day that the Republicans are going to try to deflect criticism from Bush by blaming Louisiana Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco. While I think Bush bears far more blame, it won't bother me a bit. She gave "shoot to kill" orders to the National Guard tonight.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters in New Orleans on Thursday that National Guard troops are under her orders to "shoot and kill" to end the rampant violence in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Announcing the arrival of 300 Arkansas National Guard troops in New Orleans fresh from service in Iraq, Blanco said, "these troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded." "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will," she said.

[Via Raw Story.]

Australia News: "It was like a concentration camp in there."

A must read from Arthur at Light of Reason and Atrios:

From CNN:

It’s hard to describe. It’s something I never could conceive of ever seeing in a major city like New Orleans. It is hard to believe. This is New Orleans, Louisiana we’re talking about. We spent the last few hours at the convention center where there are thousands of people just laying in the street. They have nowhere to go. These are mothers. We saw mothers. We talked to mothers holding babies. Some of these babies are 3, 4, 5, months old living in these horrible conditions. Putrid food on the ground. Sewage, their feet sitting in sewage. We saw feces on the ground. These people are being forced to live like animals. When you look at some of these mothers your heart just breaks. We’re not talking about a few families or a few hundred families. Thousands of people are gathered around the convention.

These are mirrors of emergency radio traffic off of a scanner in New Orleans, for anyone looking for unfiltered news: here and here

[Via Dale Murphy, Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service]

I've got to head out for a few hours. Please take over with news, thoughts, links (in html format), whatever. There are Katrina donation links up on both sides of TalkLeft, one to the Red Cross and one to a liberal blogoshpere Katrina fundraising effort, so there is no need to repost those.

Anderson Cooper was so great just now on CNN. He laced into Sen. Mary Landrieu saying people who have witnessed the devastation don't want to hear politicans congratulating other politicians for how they've responded.

He was yelling, basically, "Don't you get it yet?" He mentioned seeing a woman's body on the ground being eaten by rats. Landrieu told Anderson she understood what he was saying and then thanked the President again.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the video, you have to watch this, it's one of few truly raw moments on television. I've always liked Anderson Cooper, but he absolutely shines tonight.

Update: Think Progess has the transcript.

Received by e-mail from Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid's office:

Senate to Convene at 10:00 p.m., Thursday, September 1, 2005

The Senate will convene briefly tonight, Thursday, September 1, at 10:00 p.m., to vote on the emergency supplemental bill in support of relief efforts due to Hurricane Katrina. Vote will be done by Unanimous consent because most members are not in DC.

The bill provides an extra 10 billion for FEMA and $0.5 billion to DOD to provide for relief efforts.

by TChris

The immediate impact of Hurricane Katrina, compounded by the government's inadequate preparation and response, is devastating. The long term effects are incalculable. This excerpt from an email sent by a law professor in Baton Rouge discusses the impact on Louisiana's judicial system -- one small aspect of the enormous consequences that the Gulf Coast will endure:

5,000 - 6,000 lawyers (1/3 of the lawyers in Louisiana) have lost their offices, their libraries, their computers with all information thereon, their client files - possibly their clients, as one attorney who e-mailed me noted. As I mentioned before, they are scattered from Florida to Arizona and have nothing to return to. Their children's schools are gone and, optimistically, the school systems in 8 parishes/counties won't be re-opened until after December. They must re-locate their lives.

Our state supreme court is under some water - with all appellate files and evidence folders/boxes along with it. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals building is under some water - with the same effect. Right now there may only be 3-4 feet of standing water but, if you think about it, most files are kept in the basements or lower floors of courthouses. What effect will that have on the lives of citizens and lawyers throughout this state and this area of the country? And on the law?

Law Prof Eric Muller of Is That Legal has set up blogs for Tulane and Loyola law students.

Law schools around the country are offering to admit the Tulane and Loyola students, without tuition. Williamette in Oregon has place for 20 students. UConn as well. Check the blogs.

Many faculty and other community members are offering their homes to the displaced students. What welcome gestures. Albany, NY attorney Terry Kinlon, known to many TL readers for his great posts on how the Administration is failing our veterans, e-mails he and his wife, Law Prof Laurie Shanks, are taking in a law-student and medical student from Tulane and providing their extra car to them:

...there will be a lot of law student-refugees from New Orleans who will need places to live while they're camped out in other law schools and members of the criminal defense bar, everywhere, would probably be delighted to help out with food and lodging and maybe some dry socks for our younger brothers and sisters.

On a sadder note:

The Los Angeles Times reports:

A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers.

"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.

At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock, on the road for 4 days, MM447, NY Thruway

I don't know about you, but the New Orleans disaster has rocked me to the center of my being, almost to the degree of 9/11. Why? It is a different type of loss, brought on by an "enemy," but the property damage and loss of life will be greater and it was brought on by budget cuts to fund tax cuts for the rich. Instead of dying in an instant or an hour, thousands will die a slow death. The pathetic response we are seeing from the federal government, both Executive and Legislative branches, should make us want to revolt that the government has failed us because we have squandered people, lives, resources, and money in Iraq.

Remember the Preamble to the Constitution that we had to learn in the Fifth Grade?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Bush Administration apparently never read it.

FEMA is now just another bureaucratic level within the Department of Homeland Security. It has become a dinosaur stuck in the tar pits, and it is dying before our eyes.