Repub Talking point du jour: "Nobody knew this storm was going to be bad"

[Walt Starr]

Check it out, that was the blast fax talking point memo today!

EVERY LAST DAMN ONE OF THE IDIOTS ARE USING IT!!!

Nobody knew, EXCEPT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND EVERY LAST NEWS AGENCY IN THE COUNTRY!!!!

They've hoisted themselves on the petard of their own blast fax talking point memos!

[On the Road]

1. They Knew it Would Dump Lots and Lots of Rain

and no one thought to shore up the levees? Or answered when the mayor called in a panic? Please.

[etherealtruth]

2. Every one with a brain and contact with the outside world KNEW

(the fact that the chimp lacks a brain and contact with reality is no excuse)

[mattclearing]

Well, no one ever accused Republicans of being well-informed.

"What, you use science to predict the weather? I thought God was in charge of that?"

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

3. no could could ever think a CAT 5/4 hurricane the size of Florida

cause cause such damage at all. no one! :sarcasm:

:grr:

[RandomKoolzip]

4. It was a category 5 hurricane.....

That was headed DIRECTLY towards a major city that had been built UNDERWATER, fer crissakes! How much "heads up" time do you NEED?!?


Then again, they had no idea "planes could be flown into buildings," either. :eyes:

[elehhhhna]

5. Blast this out:

This was issued on Sunday afternoon, BEFORE KATRINA HIT.


WWUS74 KLIX 282139
NPWLIX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA...
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN
AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY
THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR
HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS.

LAZ038-040-050-056>070-MSZ080>082-290300-
ASSUMPTION-HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-
LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-
ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-
TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-
UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...

HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 26 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL
ONSET AROUND MIDNIGHT NEAR THE COAST AND BY 3 AM CLOSER TO THE NEW
ORLEANS METRO AREA AND PERSIST FOR 9 TO 15 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS
AROUND 175 MPH ARE LIKELY IN THE WARNED AREA BY DAYBREAK MONDAY.

DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET!

$$

LAZ034>037-039-046>049-MSZ068>071-077-290300-
AMITE-ASCENSION-EAST BATON ROUGE-EAST FELICIANA-IBERVILLE-
PEARL RIVER-PIKE-POINTE COUPEE-ST. HELENA-WALTHALL-WASHINGTON-
WEST BATON ROUGE-WEST FELICIANA-WILKINSON-
413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT...

HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE AREA. TROPICAL STORM
FORCE WINDS ARE CURRENTLY MOVING INTO THE COASTAL MARSHES AND WILL
SREAD NORTHWESTWARD INTO THE GREATER BATON ROUGE AREA AND
SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI LATER THIS EVENING. TROPICAL STORM FORCE
WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO ONSET AROUND 9 PM TONIGHT AND PERSIST
FOR 22 TO 26 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL ONSET AROUND
DAYBREAK AND PERSIST FOR ABOUT 5 TO 10 HOURS. MAXIMUM WIND
GUSTS OF 80 TO 90 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN EAST-CENTRAL LOUISIANA
AND SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI.

DO NOT VENTURE OUTDOORS ONCE TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ONSET
__________________

[LunaSea]

18. Mine says Sunday morning...

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KLIX/0508281550.wwus74.html

490
WWUS74 KLIX 281550
NPWLIX

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

..DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED


HURRICANE KATRINA
A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

theres more.

[kenny blankenship]

6. yeah, nobody knew water was so wet!

Time to get some people in Washington who KNOW something and aren't surprised by events and challenges they failed to plan for.

[SoCalDem]

7. Category 5 ?? What don't they understand about hurricanes?

Ludicrous..

[peekaloo]

8. Funny how the bullshit rises faster than the water.

This shall be their undoing. What part of "catastrophic" don't they understand?

Even as a Cat 1 this storm did a lot of damage to So. Fl.

[melting the beehive]

22. I don't think Katrina hit as a Cat 4, it looks like a Cat 5, did they lie?

It looks much worse than Camille, and Camille packed 200 mph winds. Why does the weather service insist it came ashore as a Cat 4? Would they lie about this, why would they lie, or is the Cat 4 report correct? Any opinions?

[peekaloo]

25. All along the weather experts were warning of "storm surge"

and its likely devastation. Water being pushed by excessive wind was the biggest concern for the coastline.

[Mass]

9. So why was the title of the news that it was not as quite bad as expected

As for the damns, they described all that happened sunday on CNN (and probably elsewhere).

[dave123williams]

10. The Army Corps of Engineers sure knew...

...when they had their budget slashed. Who'd have guessed that the tax-cut for the rich would have consequences on the poor?

[zbdent]

11. News agencies turn a light breeze into "the end of the world" - every

time.

Biggest "Cry Wolf" in modern history.

MadTV a few years back spoofed this. Something to the effect of a weatherman reporting that there would be a light, 2-5mph breeze coming through. As the show went on, there would be breaks in the "show" for reports on the growing threats, building up "Windstorm 19nn", to the point that, although all it was was a gentle breeze, the "Windstorm" news story drowned out the story that "Ladies and gentlemen, the president has been assassinated."

Funny how all the news agencies were claiming that a large hurricane was heading toward the gulf coast for several days . . . and the "intelligentsia" had pointed out the problems of low-lying NO YEARS AGO . . .

[Journeyman]

12. Here's an article from 11/2004 that accurately foretells . . .

exactly what has happened to New Orleans. . .


http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/nov04/nov04c.html



Disasters Waiting to Happen . . . Sixth in a Series

What if Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author’s Note: This column was originally intended to be the final disaster in the “Disasters Waiting to Happen” series. As I was developing the hypothetical situation depicting a devastating hurricane striking New Orleans, Louisiana, the disaster waiting to happen threatened to become a reality: Hurricane Ivan, a category 4 hurricane (with 140 mph winds) fluctuating to a category 5 (up to 155 mph winds), was slowly moving directly toward New Orleans. Forecasters were predicting a one-in-four chance that Ivan would remain on this direct path and would be an “extreme storm” at landfall. In reality, the storm veered to the north and made landfall east of Mobile Bay, Alabama, causing devastation and destruction well into the central Gulf shoreline and throughout the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic states.

What if Ivan Had Hit New Orleans?

New Orleans was spared, this time, but had it not been, Hurricane Ivan would have:

* Pushed a 17-foot storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain;

* Caused the levees between the lake and the city to overtop and fill the city “bowl” with water from lake levee to river levee, in some places as deep as 20 feet;

* Flooded the north shore suburbs of Lake Pontchartrain with waters pushing as much as seven miles inland; and

* Inundated inhabited areas south of the Mississippi River.


Up to 80 percent of the structures in these flooded areas would have been severely damaged from wind and water. The potential for such extensive flooding and the resulting damage is the result of a levee system that is unable to keep up with the increasing flood threats from a rapidly eroding coastline and thus unable to protect the ever-subsiding landscape.

(more. . . much more)

[wtmusic]

16. Wow

Prophetic. How much would it have cost to shore up the levees, if we measure money in Iraq/days? :shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Thank you. We need a collection of articles of this nature and articles

about ** cutting funding and turning the National Guard into the INTERnational guard.

[seabeyond]

13. fuck that shit. no more excuses. tired of all the damn excuses

and people dying.

literally, fuck that shit

[rman]

14. Then why was NO was evacuated ahead of time?

We issue warings, they slash the budgets, and then when it happens they're all like "we could not have known!"

[Ganja Ninja]

15. Once again they state the obvious as if it excuses them.

They didn't know because they weren't concerned with the welfare of American citizens. It's called being "asleep at the switch". They weren't paying attention because they were too busy playing politics. "We didn't anticipate the levies would break." "We didn't know a category 4 hurricane would be this bad." WTF kind of excuse is that?
:mad: :nuke:

[Karmadillo]

19. Chris Matthews last night: No one could have predicted this.

Nice to know who the Repubs have on their mailing list.

[Cha]

20. They don't know much

do they? You plan for the worst and listen to Scientists who know about weather patterns and PREPARE with funds that HAVE NOT been SLASHED to go to a phoney War On Iraq..that gets innocent people killed and Soldiers in Harm's Way who Die for your GREED!

[Lexingtonian]

21. Yeah, we're all stupid.

I hate how they insult our intelligence.

They seem to be doing it every f-ing day now. Nobody has seemingly ever known anything- because Dubya Is Infallible, didntchaknow.

The only people who knew it could get this bad...oh, the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, New Orleans, NOAA, NWS, the people who lived through the last couple of major hurricanes in the region, their Congressfolk, anyone who read a newspaper or watched much TV, people who live in the Caribbean in general, Jeb Bush, everyone who knows what a Category 4 or Category 5 classification of a hurricane is supposed to mean. Anybody who knows anything about the climate and natural catastrophes of the Southeastern U.S.

Yeah, anybody who knows how to read.

What a f-ing wimpy and stupid Administration.

[WePurrsevere]

23. Keep It up... stupid comments just show them

as the pathetic uneducated, totally ignorant, lock stepping fools that they are and they will come across that way to any person with an IQ and awareness above that of pond scum.

ANYONE who has paid even the slightest bit of attention to the news a knew this beast was coming, knew it's HUGE potential and yet nothing was done to prepare. The government has been told over the YEARS that more needed to be done, that it was not a matter of "if" this type of hurricane ever happened but WHEN and yet Bush CUT aid that was desperately needed to shore up the levy's and for disaster mitigation. Now that it has occurred the govt is FAR behind getting these victims and the cities the assistance they need.

What pizzes me off the most is we're supposedly soooo much safer and sooo much better prepared for disasters NOW then on 9-11 which was supposedly an even BIGGER surprise. It's like guarding the front door while we're being attacked from the back and all the windows... it may not be "terrorists" but we still darn well should have been MUCH better prepared.

Unflippin' believable...

[CJCRANE]

24. But the first talking point

on the day was that it WASN'T as bad as predicted!

[gollygee]

26. They thought it was going to be worse than it was

everything I saw the day before and day of the storm thought it was going to be a cat. 5 and a direct hit on NO.

[Walt Starr]

28. DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING

One presidential order on Saturday would have alleviated 90% of the suffering today.

All Dimwit* had to do on Saturday was order round the clock flights into NO to take people out. Instead, the bastard let the airlines decide to stop flying because it was no longer profitable for the,

[MrBenchley]

27. In fact, it was thought on Saturday that it would be a class five

and that it would hit New Orleans head on....

Instead it was a class four, and hit east of the city....