Help Lizard Breath Save Bush from Hurricane Katrina

Tell that to the people of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and almost everyone in Israel.

tal, the country is starting to wake up and smell the bullshit,

"The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing. The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures"Bush goes on to say: "Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.""The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts...in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides,
Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn."

On Monday, Aug 29, Bush issued another declaration, which again declares "a major disaster in the State of Louisiana," and this time does include all the coastal and NO-area parishes. But the specifics of this declaration deals only with making federal relief funds available to individuals and state and local governments, not coordinating relief efforts.

By Wednesday, Aug. 31, the White House was clearly saying that the federal government was in charge of the disaster response: "The President Has Given The Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) Authority To Coordinate The Response. The President announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff will chair the interagency task force while Michael Brown, DHS Undersecretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, is serving as the Administration's lead on the ground."Again, this seems unambiguous. The federal government is taking responsibility for leading the relief effort, in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. Now, if the Bushists want to quibble and shuffle and dance on the head of a pin, saying, "The Aug. 27 declaration didn't include New Orleans! So the Leader's not responsible for anything that happened before Aug. 31!" that's OK. I don't think that's true -- but even if you grant that premise, we know that those days now indisputably under the federal umbrella -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -- were some of the most horrific of the entire week, when countless lives were needlessly lost, and tens of thousands of people languished without food, water, shelter or any other aid which could have easily been provided by that time.

NYC and Boston and San Francisco and Chicago have been run by liberals for quite a lot of their respective histories, and they are some of the greatest cities in the country. NYC is one of the greatest cities in the world, an has been traditionally liberal for a long time.

Myth: 1. Poor women have more children because of the "financial incentives" of welfare benefits.Repeated studies show no correlation between benefit levels and women's choice to have children. (See, for example, Urban Institute Policy and Research Report, Fall/93.) States providing relatively higher benefits do not show higher birth rates among recipients.In any case, welfare allowances are far too low to serve as any kind of "incentive": A mother on welfare can expect about $90 in additional AFDC(Aid to Families with Dependent Children) benefits if she has another child.Furthermore, the real value of AFDC benefits, which do not rise withinflation, has fallen 37 percent during the last two decades (The Nation,12/12/94). Birth rates among poor women have not dropped correspondingly.The average family receiving AFDC has 1.9 children -- about the same as the national average.

As Congress considers reauthorization of welfare, we consider it imperative that any welfare legislation consider the particular needs of welfare recipients who are victims of domestic violence. Research demonstrates both the high prevalence of domestic violence among Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients as well as the importance of TANF in helping women to escape abuse.” Studies consistently show that at least 50 to 60 percent of women receiving welfare have experienced physical abuse by an intimate partner at some point during their adult lives, compared to 22 percent of the general population; some studies indicate rates as high as 82 percent. A significant number of women receiving welfare also report a history physical and sexual abuse in childhood.” As many as 30 percent of women on welfare report abuse in a current relationship.” In addition to domestic violence, many welfare recipients face additional barriers to employment, including, mental and physical health problems, disabilities, substance abuse, lack of child care, housing instability and lack of transportation.” In a recent study of two California counties, Kern and Stanislaus, welfare recipients had lifetime abuse rates of 80 percent and 83 percent, respectively.” Most battered women work or want to work if they can do so safely. Many women use welfare andwork as a way to escape an abusive relationship.” Abusive partners often sabotage women’s efforts to become more financially self-sufficient by preventing women from working, attending interviews, or studying. By starting fights or inflicting visible injuries before key events, abusers also may prevent women from attending job interviews or going to work. Abusers may also threaten to kidnap the children or fail to provide promised child care or transportation.” Some abusive partners may try to stop women from working by calling them frequently during the day or coming to their place of work unannounced. Research indicates that about 50 percent of battered women who are employed are harassed at work by their abusive partners.