Via Atrios, former first lady Barbara Bush on NPR:

Former First Lady Barbara Bush said Monday that living in the Astrodome in Houston was working out well for many of the 15,000 hurricane victims there because they were underprivileged anyway.

Her exact words:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this [she chuckles slightly] is working very well for them."

Crooks and Liars has the audio .

Update: Billmon.

This is pretty incredible:

The Chicago Tribune reported that a huge assault ship, the USS Bataan, had been deployed in the Gulf of Mexico when the hurricane struck. Despite the fact it had six operating rooms and 600 hospital beds, and was willing to help, Fema did not use it all week.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Earlier today Talkleft posted Plenty of Blame to Go Around. The NY Times has a devastating article today entitled After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game.

The Neo-Cons talk about personal responsibility of the victims to go on, completely forgetting about the personal responsibility of every government official who had his or her hands on the NOLA District Corps of Engineers budget cuts or the budget of the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency.

by Last Night in Little Rock

AOL users: AOL has a 3:19 video clip from CNN that I could not find on CNN's website entitled Chertoff Fact Check. It has video clips of the various positions taken by DHS Secretary Chertoff and FEMA Director Michael Brown before and after Katrina struck where they are caught, shall we say, flip flopping? Some would say flip flopping, but I'm going to say lying to CYA, forgetting that everything a public official says or does is on videotape.

They deny that this scenario could occur, yet they studied this specific scenario months before Katrina struck, etc. The list painfully goes on forever, and we don't have to recount it any more. CNN.com also has a story Clinton: Government 'failed' people with a video link.

If we can find "Chertoff Fact Check" on CNN's website, we will post it here as an update.

The LA Times:

In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.

Not everyone has praise for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Law Prof Michael Froomkin at Discourse Net says, "Long before FEMA dropped the ball, local authorities decided they didn't need one." [hat tip to Making Light.]

Say hello to the new blog Fema Failures, by a doctor in Washington, DC who writes:

I am outraged at the response of FEMA to Hurricane Katrina. Consequently, I have created a site expressly designed to list these failures. Users are welcome to use this site to: 1) Better inform themselves regarding the remarkable negligence and dissimulations of FEMA and the Bush Administration 2) Add information of their own.

New information will be added as it comes to light.

by TChris

Disregarding his mother's admonition not to speak ill of the dead, Alan Dershowitz discusses the legal legacy of Chief Justice Rehnquist.

So here’s the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won’t hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation.

Update: Laurence Tribe takes a friendlier, but still realistic, view:

NBC's Brian Williams blogs about the official warning on Sunday, August 28 from NOAA. [Via Atrios]

I remember it well, since TalkLeft and several other bloggers posted it that night. Here it is again:

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.

by TChris

Thousands of people (perhaps as many as 10,000) have died in New Orleans. Frustrated by the Bush administration's strategy to blame state and local governments for the failure to save more lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Mary Landrieu is ready to lace up the boxing gloves:

Underscoring the strain of the disaster, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., lashed out at federal officials who she said have denigrated local efforts to deal with the catastrophe.

"If one person criticizes them or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me," she said on ABC's "This Week."

"One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."

For your afternoon reading:

• Bob Herbert, A Failure of Leadership

• Why Fema Was Missing In Action

• Rescuers Going Door to Door Met With Silence and Stubborness

Crooks and Liars has results of a CBS poll from last week:

In a shift from July, the public now thinks the Senate should consider a Supreme Court nominee’s positions on issues in addition to his or her legal background. According to last week’s poll, 57% said a nominee’s opinions on issues should be considered, while 33% thought the Senate should consider only a nominee’s legal qualifications and background. Even more Americans said a nominee’s position on the issues should be considered than did so during the nomination processes of Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork