Posts Tagged ‘katrina

01
Sep
15

A Tweet Or Two

By Nerdy Wonka 134 Comments
Categories: All Photos
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Magic

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Sometimes, we truly do live in a sick country

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The. BURN.

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Bad move, WSJ. Disgusting

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 *SNORT*

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Must Read Piece

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Awesome

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27
Aug
15

President Obama Shows Love To New Orleans

By Nerdy Wonka 113 Comments
Categories: All Photos and All Videos
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U.S. President Barack Obama is welcomed by local residents of an area reconstructed after Hurricane Katrina during a presidential visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, August 27, 2015. Obama on Thursday will highlight the "structural inequality" that hurt poor black people in New Orleans before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, during a visit to celebrate the city's progress 10 years after the storm. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

“Where the jazz makes you cry, the funerals make you dance, and the bayou makes you believe all kinds of things.”

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President Barack Obama, accompanied by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, holds a child as he greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Barack Obama holds a child as he greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America

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A presidential flag on a presidential limo can be seen as President Barack Obama, greets a resident in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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President Barack Obama greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a visit to an area reconstructed after Hurricane Katrina, accompanied by New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu (L), during a presidential visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, August 27, 2015. Obama on Thursday will highlight the "structural inequality" that hurt poor black people in New Orleans before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, during a visit to celebrate the city's progress 10 years after the storm. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

President Barack Obama with Mayor Mitch Landrieu

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President Barack Obama, accompanied by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, right, teases a shy girl as he greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, left, holds a young girl as he greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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President Barack Obama, accompanied by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, third from right, greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America, which borders the French Quarter just north of Downtown. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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U.S. President Barack Obama sits for lunch at Willie Mae's restaurant near downtown during a presidential visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, August 27, 2015. Obama on Thursday will highlight the "structural inequality" that hurt poor black people in New Orleans before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, during a visit to celebrate the city's progress 10 years after the storm. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

President Barack Obama sits for lunch at Willie Mae’s restaurant with young men from My Brother’s Keeper initiative

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President Barack Obama participates in a roundtable on Hurricane Katrina at the Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, while visiting for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The roundtable highlighted advancements in national preparedness, showcase Gulf Coast resiliency, mark the achievements of the New Orleans community over the past 10 years with opportunities to build future resilience.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Barack Obama participates in a roundtable on Hurricane Katrina at the Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center in New Orleans

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President Barack Obama speaks during an event to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 27, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. President Obama spoke at the Andrew P. Sanchez & Copelin-Byrd Multi-Service Center located in the Lower 9th Ward, a largely African-American neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit by the storm

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Four young men who's lives were affected by Hurricane Katrina listen as President Barack Obama delivers remarks at Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The young men had lunch with the president and discussed resiliency in the face of adversity. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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11
Jul
14

Truths Do Not Cease To Exist Because They Are Ignored

By Nerdy Wonka 119 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

POTUS Chair

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Carolyn:

Also remember how that picture became one of the biggest jokes and travesties of his term. Maybe a short term positive, but after a month, people knew that was a lie. Part of his downfall later, I think.

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Cindy:

Happy Friday Carolyn,
I am so convinced that the main reason, the repukes and MSM want a picture of President Obama at the border, is to place it next to Bush “real” Katrina moment (Bush in plane looking down on those who were suffering), and run with some eye catching headline;

Bush/Obama Katrina moment and they both did nothing.

Of course they would photoshop the picture by inserting crying babies and mothers at the border with the President standing there.

They want to redeem Bush by comparing the President to him; hoping that a picture of President Obama at the border would destroy him.
“AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN” and they are losing their minds because they can’t manipulate him to do it.

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Lovepolitics2008:

“They want to redeem Bush”… THIS.

There’s no question that republicans are never able to deal with not being in power. The minute a democrat ascends to the Oval Office, they begin the campaign to destroy him. Democrats, who are more mature politically, and are not authoritarians, don’t do the same.

But in the case of Barack Obama, we’ve seen the resentment and the hate reach new levels. Race is a factor of course. But another one is that republicans have been SO HUMILIATED by the Bush presidency, they want Bush’s successor to be humiliated to. To leave office with approval numbers as low as Bush’s numbers were. Just so they can comfort themselves in the fact that it’s not just republican presidents who can be rejected by the population.

I’ll go further. I wonder if unconsciously, the pundit class wants the same thing. Let me explain…

They’re so obsessed by the political game, they seem to be totally uninterested by policies and their effects on the american people. They have big salaries and don’t need any help; they absolutely don’t CARE about what happens to people. So the fact that Barack Obama is working to help people DOESN’T IMPRESS them at all. The fact that Barack Obama is working to repair the damage of the Bush years DOESN’T IMPRESS them at all. Since they don’t care, the integrity, empathy, hard work of this president doesn’t generate in them positive sentiments. They judge him, SOLELY, on the way he plays the political game and on the way he interacts with them, the “media stars”. They would like him if he was friendly towards them, if he flattered their egos, if he made them feel important.

So the media class doesn’t like the president. And since they want interesting “narratives”, since they’re entertained by watching a politician’s numbers go up and down, I can’t help feel that deep down inside, they wish they’ll be able to tell the story of a rock-star politician who ascended to the Presidency after an historical, exciting campaign… but left office with as low approval numbers as his republican predecessor.

(And of course, let’s not forget JEALOUSY. They don’t want to feel inferior to this very brilliant president who is , on top of everything, a better WRITER than all of them.)

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Cindy:

You nailed it Lovepolitics2008,

The other side to this ugliness, the raw side of this hate; truth be told – to have a “black man” running this country has rocked their world.

What they are operating from, is the premise of; “Let’s put this N______ in his place.” Nothing else would spew this kind of hatred, than an African American rising to the “TOP.” That is why we have continually heard the words; uppity, arrogant, who does he think he is, cocky etc.

Their behavior reminds me of the scene from Malcolm X, when Malcolm and the people were waiting outside of the hospital, after the police had beaten a black man. When they received word that he was going to live, the Police Chief said; this is too much power for one man to have.

They lost their ruling power to President Obama – so sue him to put him in his place. HA!

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obama-victory

17
Nov
13

Rise and Shine

By Nerdy Wonka 138 Comments
Categories: All Photos, All Videos and Articles
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On This Day: President Obama looks out a window of Air Force One during the flight from Canberra to Darwin, Australia, Nov. 17, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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The Week Ahead:

Today: The First Family will attend the game between the University of Maryland and Oregon State University at College Park, Md

Monday: The President will attend meetings at the White House

Tuesday: Will deliver remarks at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council’s annual meeting

Wednesday: The President will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the First Lady will also attend

Thursday: The President will attend meetings at the White House

Friday: The President will host King Mohammed XI of Morocco at the White House

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Jason Sattler: SHOCKER: Obamacare Is Working Best In States That Aren’t Trying To Sabotage It

Of the 106,185 people who have completed an application for health insurance, nearly 75 percent came from 14 states and the District of Columbia that both set up their own exchanges and expanded Medicaid. Unsurprisingly, California and New York combined for the bulk of the enrollments, 51,769. But the most promising news from the Golden State wasn’t even included in this report.

Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, reported Wednesday that as of Tuesday, 60,000 Californians had signed up for insurance. Signups have increased to a rate of almost 2,500 enrollees per day in November. At that pace, the state could be expected to enroll 402,500 people by March 31 but Lee says that he expects to hit a goal of 500,000 to 700,000 people by then, which means he expects the pace to pick up by at least 640 people a day to over 3,000 enrollees.

Red Kentucky is the only state in the union that voted for Mitt Romney and set up its own exchange, thanks in large part to Democratic governor Steve Beshear. The state’s site signed up a total of 32,485 Kentuckians, with 5,586 enrolling in private plans, in its first month of operation. This reduces the state’s uninsured population —estimated at 640,000 — by just over 5 percent.

More here

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The Boston Globe: Obama, Clintons To Visit JFK Gravesite Wednesday

President Barack Obama will visit John F. Kennedy’s gravesite and honor two of Kennedy’s lasting initiatives as the nation observes the 50th anniversary of his assassination in the coming week. Obama and his wife, Michelle, will be accompanied by former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon. Also that day, Obama will be joined by scores of prominent Americans who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in paying tribute to Kennedy’s legacy.

Obama will present the award Wednesday to the 2013 recipients, including Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, the late astronaut Sally Ride, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, country music singer Loretta Lynn and 10 others. On Wednesday evening, Obama plans a speech on Kennedy’s legacy of service with a dinner at the Smithsonian American History Museum attended by current and past recipients of the medal, including baseball’s Hank Aaron, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, singer Aretha Franklin, economist Alan Greenspan, activist Jesse Jackson and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, is to introduce Obama at the dinner.

More here

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Tara Culp-Ressler: Hurricane Katrina, The Obamacare Rollout, And Allowing Privilege To Shape Our Politics

On Friday, the media got swept up in an unhelpful comparison between the rocky Obamacare rollout and the botched clean-up efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina …

But …. there is one obvious point of comparison. It doesn’t have anything to do with the political career of the sitting president, though. It has to do with the privilege that continues to dominate the United States’ political priorities.

It’s about who is worth rescuing.

…. Intent on resisting Obamacare at every turn, Republican legislators in over 20 states have refused to expand Medicaid, leaving many of their low-income residents with no good options…. But the current discussion is centered on a relatively small group of people who do currently have insurance, but whose plans don’t meet the minimum standard for benefit requirements put forth by the health reform law.

…. If we must draw comparisons between Obamacare and previous national disasters, consider this one. As a collective society, we still haven’t really learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina – but not because of a broken website or a broken promise about keeping your plan. We haven’t figured out how to prioritize that Louisiana mother’s life.

Full post here

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The Salt Lake Tribune: Dying For Coverage: Utahn Lobbies To Expand Medicaid

Sherilyn Horrocks’ body is under siege. Her immune system is attacking her tissues and organs, causing her esophagus, stomach and liver to harden. “I’ll die of [systemic sclerosis] like my brother did,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time.” Hoping to buy more time, and quality of life, the 61-year-old career homemaker is dropping by Gov. Gary Herbert’s annual health summit on Thursday to try to persuade him to expand Medicaid.

She’s among 123,000 uninsured Utahns who would qualify for Medicaid under an optional expansion of the low-income health program through the Affordable Care Act. There is no cure for her autoimmune disease. “But there are medicines and procedures that would prolong my life if I could afford them,” she said. “I have a feeling I’m going to be one of those who falls through the cracks.”

Utah has yet to opt into an expansion, despite analyses showing it would bring billions in federal funding to the state during the next 10 years, create jobs and reduce the charity-care burden on hospitals. Republican legislators remain adamantly opposed, and Herbert is weighing the pros and cons of partial expansion scenarios to be discussed at Thursday’s summit.

More here

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Laura Rozen: Iran Nuclear Deal Close, US Officials Say

US negotiators say they feel they are close to finalizing a nuclear agreement with Iran for the first time in a decade. “For the first time in nearly a decade we are getting close to [reaching agreement on] the first step towards a comprehensive agreement that would stop Iran’s nuclear program from advancing, and put time on the clock to reach a negotiated agreement that addresses all of our concerns,” a senior U.S. administration official told journalists at a background briefing at the State Department Friday.

“I don’t know if we will get agreement,” in Geneva next week, the U.S. official said. “It’s quite possible we can. But there are tough issues to negotiate.” The reason the last meeting ended in Geneva at 1am last weekend was that Iran, after receiving the consensus P5+1 draft proposal only late in the evening of November 9th, “felt it needed to look at the document and come back to the negotiations.”

More here

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Charles Blow: Disrespect, Race, And Obama

In an interview with the BBC this week, Oprah Winfrey said of President Obama: “There is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs. And that occurs, in some cases, and maybe even many cases, because he’s African-American.” With that remark, Winfrey touched on an issue that many Americans have wrestled with: To what extent does this president’s race animate those loyal to him and those opposed? Is race a primary motivator or a subordinate, more elusive one, tainting motivations but not driving them?

To some degree, the answers lie with the questioners. There are different perceptions of racial realities. What some see as slights, others see as innocent opposition. But there are some objective truths here. Racism is a virus that is growing clever at avoiding detection. Race consciousness is real. Racial assumptions and prejudices are real. And racism is real.

More here

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@NoGOPNo

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Michelle Carl: People Like Me

Jennifer Herrera and her family are always on the move. She and her husband, Fredy, enjoy hiking in the mountains near their Southern California home and cheering on their children in one of their many sports — golf, football, volleyball or basketball.  She was glad she had insurance recently when her son badly cut his face during a basketball game. “It was off to the emergency room we go,” she recalls. “Obviously, I had to pay for some of it, but thank God I didn’t have to come up with that $3,000 [for the full cost of the visit].”

Her family has always had health insurance, mainly because of hearing the story of Jennifer’s grandmother and the effect that not having insurance had on the family. It was the late 1940s, and Ethel and Chuck Meyer were proud parents of their first child, Bill (Jennifer’s father). “[Ethel] was hanging the laundry one day and just all of a sudden collapsed,” Jennifer says. “She didn’t know why. She had been kind of tired but chalked it up to having an active child.” Ethel eventually learned she had polio, a debilitating virus that reached epidemic levels in the United States prior to the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s.

More here

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Jamelle Bouie: No, The Rollout Of HealthCare.gov Is Nothing Like Hurricane Katrina

Right now, the problem with the website is that it can’t accommodate everyone who wants to buy health insurance. That is a serious issue, but not the worst mistake ever made by a president.By contrast, George W. Bush’s response to Katrina comes close. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the United States. It killed more than 1,800 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes, caused billions of dollars in property damage, and nearly sank a major American city.

And the Bush administration’s response was criminally negligent, a basic failure of duty that should haunt everyone involved. Despite several days of memos and warnings to administration officials that Katrina would be a major storm, that the levees had been breached, that flooding had began, it took two days for President Bush—who was on vacation, spawning a series of photo-ops that would look awful in retrospect—to begin to organize the federal response.

More here

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Joshua DuBois: Anyone Who Counts Obama Out Hasn’t Reckoned On His Survival Skills

It’s been a week of football metaphors in politics. President Obama said this week that the administration “fumbled” the health care rollout. A lot of folks believe that this turnover is decisive, handing the ball to Republicans in Congress and opponents of health reform with the second half well underway. And now we’re starting to see frightened Democrats on the sidelines hovering over Obama like uneasy linemen, wondering if their QB has enough left in him to turn the game around.

Not me. I’ve seen this game–and this particular quarterback–far too many times before. And as sure as I know never to count out Peyton Manning when he’s down by a couple scores heading into the fourth quarter, I never bet against Obama when the press and pundits have declared game-over. It rarely, if ever, is–this guy knows how to win.

This is a president, and a country, who have been counted out more times than we remember, and bounced back in ways we quickly forget. The reality is, if we take the long view, we’ll see that our country has been on an upward trajectory over the last 5 years. The ball may have been fumbled, and momentum may be in the other direction. But if history tells us anything, it’s this: the smart money’s on the gray-haired, steady-handed guy in the White House, who has been down this field a few times before.

More here

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On This Day:

Embassy staff members listen to President Obama at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, Nov.17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama tours the Forbidden City in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama is reflected in a window while touring the Forbidden City in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama watches a performance at a state dinner with President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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One of the most beautiful moments:

President Obama meets survivor Mary Lee after laying a wreath at the memorial of the USS Peary in Darwin, Nov 17, 2011. Mary was 9 at the time of the bombing by Japanese aircraft which resulted in the sinking of the Peary on February 19, 1942

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People react as President Obama walks by on his way to address the Australian Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Nov.17, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard greet members of the Royal Australian Air Force after delivering remarks on the U.S. and Australian Alliance, in Darwin, Australia, Nov.17, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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31
Oct
12

This and That

By Chipsticks 195 Comments
Categories: All Photos and All Videos
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Thursday (all times ET)

9:20: President Obama departs the White House

10:35: Arrives Green Bay, Wisc.

10:40: Delivers remarks at a campaign event

11:45: Departs Green Bay

12:45: VP Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event at West Middle School in Muscatine, Iowa

4:15: PBO arrives Las Vegas

5:0: VP Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Opera House at Fort Museum

5:10: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event at Cheyenne Sports Complex in Las Vegas

6:25: Departs Las Vegas

7:55: Arrives Denver

9:0: Delivers remarks at a campaign event

(Will double-check these times in the morning)

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Coming up:

President Obama and Bill Clinton will appear at rallies in Prince William County, Virginia and Concord, New Hampshire on Saturday

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President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie look at storm damage along the coast of New Jersey on Marine One, Oct. 31, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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We take care of our own….

Gov Christie’s office

(Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today’s campaign videos:

Click to see the rest of the post

28
Aug
11

the latest

By Chipsticks 124 Comments
Categories: All Photos and All Videos
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President Obama speaks about damage done by Hurricane Irene next to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate in the Rose Garden of the White House, August 28

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President Barack Obama meets to discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Irene with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Chief of Staff Bill Daley in the Oval Office, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

28
Aug
11

update

By Chipsticks 77 Comments
Categories: All Photos
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President Barack Obama receives an update on Hurricane Irene in the Situation Room of the White House, August 27, 2011.

Clockwise from left, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Richard Reed, Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; Nick Shapiro, senior policy advisor to John Brennan; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; and Chief of Staff BIll Daley. Onscreen are FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Joing by phone are Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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The President convened a video teleconference at 10:30AM this morning in the White House Situation Room so that he could receive an update on the impact of Hurricane Irene.

Vice President Biden, Chief of Staff Daley, DHS Secretary Napolitano, Treasury Secretary Geithner, Transportation Secretary LaHood, Energy Secretary Chu, FEMA Administrator Fugate, Homeland Security Advisor Brennan and other senior White House officials participated in the call.

The President was updated on the response and recovery efforts that are currently underway in coordination with state and local officials as well as the status of critical energy and transportation infrastructure in areas that have been impacted as well as areas that continue to be impacted by this storm.

He was updated on FEMA’s support to state and local partners as important damage assessments begin in areas where the storm has passed.

The President asked Secretary Napolitano and Administrator Fugate to continue to be in touch with Governors and local leadership up and down the East Coast. The President directed that all federal efforts on response and recovery operations underway continue, and he will reconvene the team this evening.

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Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Sunday that federal, state and local governments are working together better in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“We’ve learned to really work as one team, not as separate levels of government, and to put everything together early before the storm hits,” Fugate said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think the big [lesson] — and this is one Congress recognized and passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act – was that we shouldn’t have to wait until a state is overwhelmed to begin getting ready, that we should be able to go in before the governor’s made a request, have supplies ready, have our teams in the state and work as one team, not waiting for damages to occur and that formal request to come,” Fugate said.

27
Aug
11

take care – and that’s an order

By Chipsticks 167 Comments
Categories: All Videos and Music
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Keep safe Eastcoasters, see you tomorrow 😉

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Compare. Contrast.

BBC, 2006

Thanks Meta

24
Aug
11

as promised….

By Chipsticks 25 Comments
Categories: Articles
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Politifact: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the federal government (along with state and local help) committed more than $14 billion to develop a levee and pumping system around New Orleans capable of protecting against a 100-year storm. It would be the biggest civil works project in the history of the Army Corps of Engineers. And Obama promised it would be completed by 2011.

As promised, nearly six years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, that goal has largely been accomplished.

According to a May 29, 2011, story by Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “The new system represents an unprecedented engineering feat that took six years to build, with more than $8 billion spent so far on design and construction. And it required a complete rewriting of the rules used by the corps to build both levees and hurricane levees.”

…. the second part of Obama’s campaign promise …. “the ultimate goal of protecting the entire city from a Category 5 storm”.

To that end, a federal task force sent the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Study to Congress last year including several options to reach that longer term goal …. John Barry, vice president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, said the levees designed to protect against a 100-year storm are “pretty much finished” and that he’s satisfied the corps has met that part of its goal….

More here

01
May
11

‘under obama, fema’s doing great’

By Chipsticks 4 Comments
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Steve Benen: In general, the ability of government agencies to respond to a natural disaster only draws attention when agencies fall short. The media tends to look for “the next Katrina” to demonstrate that feckless bureaucracies and government incompetence are the new norm.

But they don’t have to be, and with an effective administration, they’re not. The New York Times has a report today on the emergency response in the Southeast …. but in this case, the governmental response is earning praise, not condemnations: see here for details on the FEMA and White House response to the disaster

….President Obama and the First Lady were also on the ground in Alabama barely 40 hours after the storm struck. One local resident, who house was obliterated by a tornado, told the NYT, “It ain’t like Katrina. We’re getting help.”

What’s more, Kevin Drum notes some larger context: “Under Bush Sr., FEMA sucked. Under Clinton, FEMA was rehabilitated and turned into a superstar agency. Under Bush Jr., FEMA sucked again. Under Obama, FEMA’s doing great and responding quickly. I know, I know, we’re not supposed to politicize natural disasters. Not when that politicization makes Republicans look bad, anyway. So I’ll just let you draw your own conclusions from these four data points.”

I don’t imagine we’ll hear much about the Obama administration’s response in the Southeast; the media tends to only find these stories interesting if the government is failing instead of succeeding.

But it’s worth keeping in mind anyway. If it’s important when a federal response falls short, it’s worth appreciating what competent governance is capable of.

Full article here

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  • Former Labor Secretary warns of banking dangers and recession possibility
  • Air Mail: George Santos, Boris Johnson, Restoration Hardware and Putin 
  • 'White supremacist genius': GOP resort to anti-semitic, racist attacks to defend Trump prosecution
  • The paradoxical relationship between America and poverty

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