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Nothing much to report on a personal level today. I called a bunch of folks to check on them. I'm finally to the point where I have some time in the evenings to call people, so things must be calming down. I'm going to take a little break this weekend, so the next blog entry won't be until Tuesday. Watch for it.

If you don't think she deserves to be impeached, watch the CNN video. Blanco is busted on CNN admitting fault to her aide on the satellite feed. She didn't know she was on air.

The New Orleans city council will ask Governor Kathleen Blanco to extend daylight savings time past the October 30 date when it was supposed to end.

Picture Caption: Ernest Murry of the Army Corps of Engineers sets up to bitch slap Jesse Jackson who wouldn't know a tidal wave if one washed him away.

Well, that's not really the picture caption, but it should be. You see, Mr. Jackson believes that a runaway barge caused one of the levee breaches. Keep that in mind when you read this quote:

Well, it's called tidal surge. It's not a tsunami. Either the tidal surge came up and topped the levee or a 'runaway barge' crashed into the levee. I don't suppose Jesse knows that barges don't have engines, and therefore can't 'run away'.

Jackson believes a big barge crashed through the floodwall here, bringing the tidal surge into this neighborhood, causing the devastation.

But Ernest Murry of the Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t agree with Jackson’s assessment.

Obviously Jesse must know a lot more than a Corps engineer...right? Hmmm... That's not even the best part of the article. This is:

Despite the ID number painted on the side of the vessel, the Corps of Engineers said it's not sure who owns the barge.

Yep. The Corps doesn't know too much, do they? I mean, they're silly enough to meet with Jesse in the first place. Sheesh. If he came around and started telling me what he thought of my job, I'd bitch slap him for sure...

I must have missed this one. I know the screen capture is hard to see, but scenes are being played. On the left, a body is being recovered. On the right, a man is walking through flood waters. As you can read on the closed captioning, Wolf is saying, "All of them that we se, are soo poor, and they are so black, and..." I know what 'so poor' means. What the hell does, 'so black' mean? Damned racist, that what I think.

Today I found the FEMA website for kids. http://www.fema.gov/kids/ I don't know if it's just me, but it's extremely bizarre. Play some of the games if you don't believe me. Games invented by government bureaucrats... It's obvious that the people who made these games also manage the whole system. Very scary.

Lest you think I have forgotten my new-found obsession of documenting the incompetence and insanity of Aaron Broussard, here's an article for you:

Engaging in the first public battle in what had been a mostly composed government reaction to Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson Parish Councilman-at-large John Young and Parish President Aaron Broussard traded verbal blows Wednesday over the decision to evacuate local pump operators to Washington Parish and to return them only after thousands of homes had flooded.

Young, who said he bore no responsibility for evacuating pump personnel Aug. 28, called for a policy change that would keep those workers inside Jefferson Parish during powerful hurricanes rather than shipping them 110 miles north to Mount Hermon, where some 200 operators rode out Katrina. They returned Aug. 29 about 7 p.m. -- about nine hours after the storm made landfall -- to find many neighborhoods inundated.

"Whatever we do in the future, I think it is imperative that we have the pump operators remain in Jefferson Parish," Young said, suggesting the workers be assigned to West Jefferson Medical Center and East Jefferson General Hospital, where thousands of patients and medical staff -- along with Broussard, Young and Councilman Byron Lee -- weathered Katrina.

Now, I heard Mr. Young's remarks, and while I don't know the man from Adam, I found his remarks reasonable. He wasn't talking about what had happened this time, he was talking about what to do next time. Aaron didn't respond reasonably. He threw a little fit.

Broussard, at times roaring his response, derided Young's recommendation as a "death sentence" for pump workers forced to stay in Jefferson, where no building is certified to withstand a Category 4 or 5 storm, including the public hospitals. He further called Young's comments at Wednesday's council meeting a "sanctimoniously hypocritical" maneuver to gain political favor that contrasted with Young's silence Aug. 28 as Broussard decided to evacuate pump station staff.

"At no time do I remember you telling me that we should not send the pump operators away," Boussard said. "I think you're politically perfect. . . . However, in an emergency situation, you were invisible.

"It will be a rainy day in hell . . . before I tell a pump operator that they will stay in any structure . . . during a Category 4 or 5 storm," Broussard said. "You say you're sensitive to life. I say you're full of s- - -."

Now, I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I really don't understand why Aaron thinks that these pump operators are so incredibly delicate. It was perfectly acceptable for LOTS of other people to stay - cops, firemen, doctors, nurses, etc., not to mention all the people that stayed in their homes. Aaron HIMSELF stayed here. His statements don't make any logical sense. If it is a "death sentence" to stay here, was Aaron suicidal? He's certainly committing political suicide...

The exchange, which drew gasps from an audience accustomed to civility in the council chambers, cast wide open the growing public debate over why the parish's "doomsday" plan calls for pump operators to retreat to Mount Hermon, near the Mississippi border, and whether their protracted return after Katrina exacerbated house flooding and jeopardized the lives of residents who did not evacuate.

In pitting two of the parish's most powerful elected leaders, it also raised the question of who was in charge as Katrina hurtled toward Jefferson Parish and how information about the status of canals and pump stations was gathered as winds strengthened and water levels in canals and Lake Pontchartrain rose before the storm.

During major storm events, Broussard generally has stationed himself at the parish's Emergency Operations Center in Marrero, assuming additional executive authority granted by law during a declared emergency such as Katrina. Meanwhile, he has assigned the council's seven members to monitor conditions inside the parish or supervise satellite government operations elsewhere in case Jefferson is washed away.

Broussard said Wednesday that in the hours leading up to Katrina, he relied on Young to provide status reports on levees and pump stations in East Jefferson. Broussard said he assumed that responsibility himself on the West Bank. Young, however, disputed the point and said Wednesday was the first time Broussard had buttonholed him to that task.

"You know very well that you did not assign me to the pump stations during this hurricane," Young said.

Later, Young said he was based in East Jefferson to provide updates at Broussard's request, eventually hunkering down at East Jefferson General Hospital.

Based on this, and according to Broussard's statement that remaining is was a 'death sentence', I guess Aaron should be arrested for the attempted murder of Mr. Young since Aaron asked him to stay.

While Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said he ordered pump operators out of harm’s way as Katrina approached – a decision that some residents have roundly criticized – a small group of employees at the parish’s water treatment plant rode out the storm.

Broussard said that all employees were evacuated save for a handful, including himself, who rode out the storm in the parish.

He said he didn’t know that the water treatment employees had stayed and he said he’s angry about that.

“I didn't know that until today,” he said. “They risked their lives, they're lucky they're alive and if I had to bury somebody, then I would have fired whoever put those people in their station.”

Broussard admitted that he's ultimately responsible for keeping track of his employees, but says he's too busy right now to focus on why some stayed and others didn't.

“I think they're stupid for staying. I think whoever told them to stay there is stupid,” he said.

But Aaron stayed. I guess that makes him stupid. Gee. I'd have never figured it out if he hadn't said so himself.

In the days after the storm, he said: "We have been abandoned by our own country." Well, we were abandoned by our own parish.

But wait! It gets better! Aaron is going to take out 4 full page ads in the newspaper to 'explain' his actions. Gee, I can do that in just a few sentences. He floods the eastbank, floods the westbank, takes over Meadowcrest hospital, evacuates parish employees to Mt. Herman that has no room for them and is too far for them to return quickly, lies on national TV, uses foul language at a council meeting while being dressed for yard work, only hires companies that gave money to his campaign, and now he is going to use parish money to pay for a four page add in the newspaper to try to save his political behind.

No images of the day. Instead I will refer you to a blog that's more interesting than mine: