by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that the Canadian government is undertaking a judicial inquiry into whether four Canadian citizens were detained in NYC and then flown by U.S. government planes to Jordan and Syria for interrogation, possibly under torture, by the U.S. and Canada.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Mayor Nagin says parts of NOLA will be reopening in phases and people should return, as reported here. Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the new director of the NOLA relief effort, says "Not so fast," as reported on CNN.com and FoxNews.com

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN.com reports here that Congress ordered FEMA in 1997 to study an evacuation plan for NOLA in case of a Category 3 or greater hurricane or levee break but that it apparently never happened.

by TChris

For all the promises to cut through red tape, there are still thousands of evacuees who aren't receiving the services they need. In fact, government officials still can't get a handle on the number of survivors and they don't know where many of them ended up.

"I don't see much evidence of overall planning and guidance," said Richard Murray, a public policy expert in Houston, which is hosting thousands of evacuees.

by TChris

Two hundred prisoners may be participating in the hunger strike at Guantánamo (discussed by TalkLeft here and here and here), although the military admits to only about half that number. According to the NY Times, the hunger strike "has unsettled senior commanders there and produced the most serious challenge yet to the military's effort to manage the detention of hundreds of terrorism suspects."

One law enforcement official who has been fully briefed on the events at Guantánamo said senior military officials had grown increasingly worried about their capability to control the situation. A senior military official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as greatly troublesome for the camp's authorities and said they had tried several ways to end the hunger strike, without success.

Here's a suggestion: charge and prove the offenses they committed against the United States or let them go home.

by TChris

The Republican chairs of the House and Senate intelligence oversight committees have joined Democrats in asking the CIA to make public a report that criticizes former senior CIA officials, including George Tenet, for their actions (and inaction) regarding terrorism prior to 9/11.

They add to the pressures on [CIA Director Porter] Goss, who has made clear that he would prefer not to make the report public, at least in part because its publication could be damaging to the agency's morale.

by TChris

In 1991, hundreds of retail stores sued three companies for conspiring to drive up the price of infant formula. Pursuant to a 1993 settlement agreement, $91 million was paid to consumers who were victimized by the conspircy. Another $940,000 was set aside to pay late claims. As of 2000, after payment of expenses, $700,000 remained in the settlement fund.

Judge Maurice Paul in Tallahassee ruled at that time that the remaining money should be distributed "for a purpose similar to that represented by those who sued." His reasoning may be stretched, but his heart was in the right place when he ruled on Sept. 8 that the money should be donated to the Red Cross to benefit Hurricane Katrina survivors.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Showing that his four heart attacked golden heart is in the right place, VP Dick Cheney was not totally hiding during Katrina. He directed that power be restored to a pipeline pumping station in Southern Mississippi, at the expense of restoring power to a rural hospital first. The repair crews were diverted.

by Last Night in Little Rock

James Lee Witt, former FEMA director and current Louisiana recovery director and director of his own disaster recovery firm, said in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he opposes President Bush's plan to militarize parts of FEMA's mission:

by Last Night in Little Rock

The lights came on in the New Orleans warehouse district, near Jackson square, on Thursday night, and the people rejoiced. Their City was coming back to life.

But, when the President's speech was over, somebody was told to pull the plug. Brian Williams reports for NBC's Nightly News:

by Last Night in Little Rock

Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN tonight was a wealth of information tonight, and the transcript is here. Not to slight all the other stories, including a great shouting match between Kenner city officials on tape accusing each other of incompetence and racism, the main story to me was the FEMA employee union president accusing those in charge of ignoring their own dire warnings and botching the relief efforts while the rank and file felt helpless:

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Saturday NY Times has an article, on its website late Friday night, that the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency still cannot get it right: FEMA, Slow to the Rescue, Now Stumbles in Aid Effort.