The New York Times has an exhaustive article on Government foul-ups in the Katrina castastrophe. The lead-in:

An initial examination of Katrina's aftermath demonstrates the extent to which the federal government failed to face domestic threats as a unified, seamless force.

Left Coaster sums up the article and notes::

Bush told the Governor on Friday, four days after the crisis began, that he would send in more National Guard forces, but only if Governor Blanco transferred control to him. After seeing the Feds botch their job the entire week, Blanco would be justified in being hesitant to hand Bush the keys to her car, let alone handing him control over her state’s affected areas, at a time when the Feds couldn’t even deliver upon their basic responsibilities.

The Times also has new article on how Mike Brown came to be relieved of Katrina duties.

This should be another public relations disaster for the Bush Administration - playing favorites with Katrina contracts:

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

This White House thinks it's untouchable. As TChris pointed out earlier today, Bush's poll numbers continue to drop. Sooner or later, the American public is going to say "enough."

I'm watching React Now, MTV's hurricane relief concert now. Bon Jovi is on (I could watch his face for hours), Sheryl Crow was just on. Coldplay too. Jon Stewart is one of the hosts. Tune in and give. If you're not by a tv, you can watch it on the computer.

Fast moving show, Bono's on now.

Once again, those with a criminal history are treated like second class citizens. Utah is conducting criminal background checks on evacuees.

No one has been expelled yet, and Utah says the evacuees have been exemplary in their conduct. Still, this is troubling.

Update: As Mike Ditto points out in comments below, Colorado also is doing background checks. But I'll give them a bit of a pass for this statment:

"The community does not have to be concerned," said Chief Jones. "We think people are safe because all of these evacuees have served their sentences.

by TChris

This is why some were unable to leave New Orleans:

Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.

Officers reportedly shot over the heads of people who resisted their command to turn back. According to four witnesses, an officer told 200 evacuees to leave their encampment, then confiscated their food and water.

"The police kept saying, 'We don't want another Superdome,' and 'This isn't New Orleans,' " said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that police officers from neighboring states and from around the nation have taken leave at home and come to NOLA with cars and equipment from their departments to aid NOLA Police in restoring order: Duty Binds Officers Who Have Come to Help After Storm.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Maureen Dowd's op ed piece in the NY Times today is priceless: "Neigh to Cronies." She weighs in, too, on trusting the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency, which used to be an important position, to utterly experienceless cronies.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The man who shouted to VP Cheney live on the CNN and MSNBC interviews (Fox follows Cheney's every word. Where were they?) "Go f**k yourself, Mr. Cheney" is an ER physician named Dr. Ben Marble as noted here. He lost his home, too. What was Cheney's security's response to free speech? They found him at his half destroyed home and handcuffed him.

Marble's story is recounted on the above link. A friend videotaped it all, including the damage to Marble's house, and the DVD is for sale on eBay to help Marble rebuild his life. Price at this moment: $1935. The author of the linked article bid on it himself.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Ever the lovable jokester, Rep. Tom ("The Hammer") DeLay (R-TX,22) visited (i.e., made a photo op trip) evacuees in Houston. As noted on Domeblog of the Houston Chronicle and picked on Raw Story he talked with two young boys:

While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.

This is another example of Rep. DeLay's commpassion for his fellow man in time of crisis which proves his leadership.

As Last Night in Little Rock noted here, Time Magazine has the details of Mike Brown's alleged resume padding. Mark Schmitt at TPM Cafe wonders whether the info wasn't put out by the Bush Administration to justify letting him go - kind of like Bernie Kerik's "non-existent nanny problem."

More padding details from the Time article:

Brown's FindLaw profile lists a wide range of areas of legal practice, from estate planning to family law to sports. However, one former colleague does not remember Brown's work as sterling. Stephen Jones, a prominent Oklahoma lawyer who was lead defense attorney on the Timothy McVeigh case, was Brown's boss for two-and-a-half years in the early '80s. "He did mainly transactional work, not litigation," says Jones. "There was a feeling that he was not serious and somewhat shallow." Jones says when his law firm split, Brown was one of two staffers who was let go.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that the NOLA Police have begun seizing guns from civilians as also noted below.

Local police officers began confiscating weapons from civilians in preparation for a forced evacuation of the last holdouts still living here, as President Bush steeled the nation for the grisly scenes of recovering the dead that will unfold in coming days.

by TChris

Paul Krugman:

It might make sense to hold off on the criticism if this were the first big disaster on Mr. Bush's watch, or if the chain of mistakes in handling Hurricane Katrina were out of character. But even with the most generous possible assessment, this is the administration's second big policy disaster, after Iraq. And the chain of mistakes was perfectly in character - there are striking parallels between the errors the administration made in Iraq and the errors it made last week.