Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation.
Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation.
Yesterday in a local report on KTRK-TV in Houston, TX, reporter Wayne Dolcefino revealed that media have been blocked from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation. In a press conference, Dolcefino pressed Gov. Rick Perry on why media aren’t even allowed to fly over parts of Galveston Island, noting that media access was far better in Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Perry tried to brush off Dolcefino’s concerns, but eventually passed blame to federal officials:
DOLCEFINO: That is unprecedented and quite honestly not appropriate because it’s our job to inform people. Why can’t we go to Bolivar and West End?
PERRY: I think when the local officials decide it was appropriate, whether it’s the media or first responders or what have you. The fact of the matter, that is actually a local decision, Wayne, that is made by the local county judge and by the mayor of those —
DOLCEFINO: They don’t control that area.
PERRY: Last time, the state of Texas doesn’t even.
DOLCEFINO: So it’s the federal government?
PERRY: I don’t know.
Watch it:
(HT: TP reader PD)
Transcript:
REPORTER: Wayne, we know you are covering that press conference that took place in Galveston with Gov. Rick Perry. Could you give us some perspective as to what was going on in that press conference?
DOLCEFINO: Actually, we covered the press conference in Galveston. I was in Ellington field when the Governor stopped there.
Ispecifically drove down from Houston after coming back from Galveston earlier this morning to sort of ask the Governor the question and put him on the spot. We’ve been trying ever since the storm to get somebody to take some responsibility for who is in charge, who has decided that the public does not have the right to see the devastation essentially in our hometown. The folks in Bolivar worried about friends and family and their businesses have a right to see it. [...]
[PRESS CONFERENCE]
DOLCEFINO: The lack of media access and information from Bolivar and the West End is unprecedented. We’ve covered many storms. We were in Mississippi and Louisiana the very next day. What is the situation in bolivar how many fatalities are there and why has the media — hasn’t been allowed because it’s our job, be in to show what people is going on with their homes?
GOV. RICK PERRY: Well, Wayne, I don’t know where you’ve been. We just got back from Galveston and there was huge room of media there. Looked to me like –
DOLCEFINO: I’ve been down there three days. I’m talking about the Bolivar Peninsula and West End, where we’ve been denied access and denied permission to be in helicopters. That is unprecedented and quite honestly not appropriate because it’s our job to inform people. Why can’t we go to Bolivar and West End?
PERRY: I think when the local officials decide it was appropriate, whether it’s the media or first responders or what have you. The fact of the matter, that is actually a local decision, Wayne, that is made by the local county judge and by the mayor of those —
DOLCEFINO: They don’t control that area.
PERRY: Last time, the state of Texas doesn’t even.
DOLCEFINO: So it’s the federal government?
PERRY: I don’t know. You are delving into issues — I don’t control federal airspace.
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“CERTAIN DEATH”
The National Hurricane Weather Center Saved Countless Lives This Weekend! GUESS GOVERNMENT WORKED HUH?
A few hours after we were off the air Friday, Hurricane Ike roared ashore in Texas. The city of Galveston today is ‘uninhabitable’.
We are wrestling for control of our nation. The conservative mindset that believes nothing good can come from the government. If they have their way, FOR PROFIT Weather Companies will issue warnings. FOR PROFIT First Responders won’t come unless you can afford to pay? Protect and Defend FOR PROFIT?
Think about what you’ve seen that the US Government has done over the past few days…the warnings, the rescues, the relief….and then think of the Grover Norquists who insist government should be so small and irrelevant that it should be ‘drowned in a bathtub’. Where will YOU be drowned?
Enough. We look at Ike and see that government can and does work. Think of how much better it will work for us in so many other areas….with caretakers who have faith in Of The People, By The People, For The People.
http://therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?/archives/83-Monday,-Septemeber-15,-2008.html
many great links there.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:13 pmHow many people were told they faced certain death, but decided to ‘ride it out’??
They just don’t want us to know…
September 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pmI think there is more behind this story regarding preparations, the difference in how economic demographics played into the response and the concern about future real estate values.
All of these would not reflect well on Perry or his he-roe, Dubya.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:17 pmThings must be much worse down there than we know…
September 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pmHeck of a job, Perry.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:22 pmi love how the governor says “well, you’re delving into some questions and issues that, uh……”
what? that he’s *supposed* to delve into? those pesky little issues are just too much to delve into, eh?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pmGuido the Loving OBGYN Says:
Maybe the Mothership has come to take Bush/Cheney back home…
September 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Don’t get my hopes up like that, Gus. :D
September 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pmWhen officials do something like this, us paranoids can only jump to the absolute worst conclusions. Therefore I think it’s a huge mistake for those in power to try and control where the media can and can’t go.
We used to call this “communist” in the 80’s. “Look they hate freedom so much they control what the press can do and say!”.
Welcome to the new world, same as the old.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pmdarladooner Says:
i love how the governor says “well, you’re delving into some questions and issues that, uh……”
what? that he’s *supposed* to delve into? those pesky little issues are just too much to delve into, eh?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
It’s as if he’s surprised that reporters are asking him questions. What a maroon.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:27 pmAs an avid weather watcher, I was curious about this.
Staying up until 4am Saturday watching the Texas coast get nailed, it appeared to me like this was going to be one helluva storm.
Yet, we are fed limited information and pictures.
Why?
Just to let you know how big this storm was, southwest Michigan had continuous rain for 3 days straight. 2 days because Ike decided to “push” a front more northward, to which it stalled while Ike made landfall. Then 1 day of Ike itself, with more torrential down pore, this time with heavy gusts of winds. There are areas of massive flooding around here. To cause that, it had to be a monster storm to reach its anguish this far north.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pmBut again, why so silent?
Any oil refineries in the area that may have been damaged?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:35 pmI’m not sure that they should be covering a hurricane from inside the hurricane. I was watching a clip last night where the talking head was literally blown off his feet into the bushes. If it wasn’t so scary it might have been hilarious. When he finally got himself out of the bush, his voice was pretty shaky.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:37 pmBliss,
Apparently there were at least 10 oil production rigs destroyed. Who knows how many were damaged enough to be out of production?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:38 pmIs Dolcefino alluding to the fact we have a fascist government?
Holding info back on Ike, info the people have a right to know and need, is a bit obvious.
What are the feds hiding and are we now going to hear fabricated stories concerning Big Oil in their interest?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pmBilbo, I’ve been through hurricanes — mild and severe — and the main thing that kept me inside, besides the wind and rain, was the flying debris. A tin roof could fly off one of those houses, and slice you clean in half.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:41 pmThere are two logical reasons why the feds would bar reporters from the area.
1. Corpses.
2. Oil spills.
Either one would undercut the GOP party line but I lean towards the oil spills. It would explode the “clean, safe, oil” myth from the “drill now” crowd. It might even force a popular drive for (gulp) health, safety, and environmental, regulations on off-shore drilling. Or a push to relocate refineries out of vulnerable, low-lying, areas.
Though, I suppose, one can’t rule out the limitless bat-scat crazy reasons Bushco “logic” depends on. They might just be mad at the media.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:42 pmIf only there was a republcan convention this week, everything would be fine.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pmi asked the other day,
after hearing some dude state that galveston tops the list of cities that are built in the wrong place,
how soon will galveston be rebuilt? again…
how white is galveston?
am i out of line?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pmIt’s pretty clear that they don’t want us all seeing how little they’ve learned since Katrina, and that FEMA and DHS are STILL the incompetent cluster-fu!ks they have been during the majority of the BushCo years…
BTW, Zooey, nice to see you with us during the daytime for a change!!
September 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pmkaty,
I would bet that you are very close to the truth. Not out of line at all, as far as I’m concerned.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm“Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation.”
– – Apparently, China is not only buying us, but we’re becoming them.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pmThank you, Dogfather! I’m taking a little break from the homework right now. :)
September 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pmKaty: no, you’re not out of line — in fact, I said the same thing a week ago on TP, but coupled it with how Dumbya would no doubt immediately come to the aid of Texas when he couldn’t give a rat’s a$$ (still) about NoLa…
September 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pmHow can they wrap up the Bush legacy in a neat and shiny package with stranded people in need of water, food and shelter.
Free press, hardly. Free speech, diminishing. Right to vote, disappearing. Welcome to BushWorld!
September 15th, 2008 at 3:49 pmRepublicans love censoring and covering up their own stupidity, their own lies, their own incompentance and their own greed.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:55 pmI heard some radio coverage on Saturday morning, and the guy said that Galveston Island is basically wealthy and white. He also said that around 80,000 people refused to evacuate.
Don’t know how accurate that is, but if the storm is as bad as they said, well…there are probably a whole lot of (white) corpses floating around.
Strikes me that it was perfectly acceptable for the media to show the floating corpses of the poor black people of New Orleans, but when the floaters are rich white folk…that’s not decent, is it? (And yes, I’m being damned snarky.)
September 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm“He also said that around 80,000 people refused to evacuate. ”
I think that’s pretty interesting given how often people like to cite that the people not leaving NO were being stupid. I wonder how many people across the country would be willing to leave behind everything they’ve managed to put together for themselves.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pmannie – i think it was 20,000 that i heard…
still a great many people…
some opined, on TODAY this morning, that it was past experience with rita that many in texas decided to stay… guess they felt it was a wasted effort back then…
’cause, everybody know, ALL storm are the same…
September 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pmI don’t know that much about Texas, but I heard the governor say at the end that the reason reporters couldn’t fly over Galveston was that it was “federal air space”? Is this true?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pmBadmoodman Says:
- – Apparently, China is not only buying us, but we’re becoming them.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
______
We may even be out-China-ing China. As I recall, foreign reporters had pretty unrestricted access to the areas of Sichuan Province hit by the earthquake this year.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pmWayne A. Schneider Says:
I don’t know that much about Texas, but I heard the governor say at the end that the reason reporters couldn’t fly over Galveston was that it was “federal air space”? Is this true?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Looks like it. The airspace over the Texas coastline up to 2,000 feet was declared a restricted area effective today:
September 15th, 2008 at 4:14 pmhttp://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_8_8191.html
I was out of town this weekend and had limited access to media. I caught some headlines here and there, but somehow I missed the part where the people who decided to stay in Galveston were derided and abused by righwingnut radio. It did happen, though. Right?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:15 pmgood question, cmac…
haven’t heard though… any time now… surely…
September 15th, 2008 at 4:21 pmOf course, the alerts from the press are highly instrumental in letting the public know where and when to evac etc. and thus responsible for saving a large number of lives. IN short, a responsible press reporting on the news is a public good.
So how does it make sense to throttle the press ?
Or like many recent events, will we first get a few days of the exclusive WH delusion only for the press later to find they were duped ?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:29 pmFrom Fox News/AP, (with additional comments)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,422543,00.html
Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said Monday that the city could no longer safely accommodate the population due to the lack of water, sewerage and gas services. He predicted it would take “days, weeks and months” to clean up the island.
“Quite frankly we are reaching a health crisis for the people who remain on the island,” LeBlanc said. At least a third of the community’s 60,000 residents remained in their homes.
(So that’s 20,000 people who apparently chose to stay despite all the buses made available this time, compared to the thousands who had no choice in NOLA. And this is three years after the DHS has had advice on their web site since Katrina that people should have “at least three days supply of fresh water” in such circumstances).
Michael Geml has braved other storms in his bay-front neighborhood in Galveston, where he’s lived for 25 years, though none quite like Ike. The 51-year-old stayed in the third-story Jacuzzi of a neighbor’s house, directly on the bay, with family pets as waves crashed across the landscape.
(With his neighbors permission? Is that ‘looting’ )
“I’ll never stay again,” Geml said. “I don’t care what the weatherman says — a Category 1, a Category 2. I thought I was going to die.”
(The message wasn’t about the Cat level of the hurricane but it’s size and the consequences of that size—the steady push of huge amounts of concentrated waves and rainfall creating significant flooding over a 500 mile radius, or about 16,000 square miles. Idiot.)
More than 48 hours after Ike swamped the Gulf Coast, rescuers flew into a hard-to-reach area Monday and uncovered a swollen landscape: Hurricane Ike had swamped entire subdivisions, and emergency crews feared they would find more victims than survivors.
It was the first time anyone had gotten a look at the damaged resort barrier island of Bolivar Peninsula, just east of hard-hit Galveston.
(That’s rescuers and emergency crews’ first look, NOT the media. Geraldo Rivera and Anderson Copper were on the ground at the stadium in NOLA the next day. Where are they now? )
Jones did not have information on whether anyone had died on the island, mainly because leaders still don’t know how many people stayed through the storm that struck early Saturday.
(Knowing who thus far has died or not has nothing to do with how many people stayed unless Jones wants to quote a percentage; if 5 people died then 5 died, if a 100 then 100.)
A line of at least 30 cars formed early Monday at a strip mall in Orange, a Texas town on the Louisiana state line east of Beaumont, a day after food and water were distributed there by the National Guard. But the line dispersed after state troopers told the gathering that supplies would be passed out elsewhere.
(Beaumont is about 25 miles inland and apparently a lot of those residents stayed as they were indeed inland. So FEMA can’t get them supplies, when it should be quite a bit easier that Galveston and Bolivar? Or is Beaumont less prioritized? And again do these people not have their own three day supply of water? Is three days supply actually not enough?)
Wanda Hamor, 49, of Orange, was fifth in line with her 21-year-old son William. They were trapped in their house by floodwaters until Monday morning before they could venture out. They had run out of food Sunday night. They left for Hurricane Gustav on Labor Day and say they couldn’t afford to leave for Ike or buy any more than $60 in food.
(I happen to have 5 days supply of food—breakfast, dinner, plus broth, dried milk and coffee—for two that cost me about $60. I have a hexamine stove with 5-days fuel supply, a weeks worth of water-purification tablets , a pot and a filtering bottle good for two months which cost altogether another $50 and I don’t even live in a hurricane/flood/tornado/earthquake/forest-fire zone. I’m unimpressed.)
Michael Stevenson, 37, had wandered from shelter to shelter since the storm struck before ending up at the convention center. At one shelter, he said, he barely ate.
“They give you a little cup of water every four hours. They feed us one peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We were in there for about 18 hours before we could go outside and get some air,” he said.
(Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Some chaos is inevitable even with “lessons learned” and the scale of Ike hasn’t helped at all but it does appear that the aftermath of Ike has dropped off the media radar significantly. Why? Well, the press is apparently being muzzled and there’s competitive news–the continuing collapse of the US economy).
Crews had no idea what they would find on Bolivar Peninsula, which from the air, revealed house after shattered house.
(Again, it is crews not the press who are the witnesses)
In Galveston, oil was coating the water and beaches with a sheen, and residents were ordered off the beach. Dozens of cement vaults popped up out of the water-swollen ground, many disgorging their coffins. Several came to rest against a chain link fence, choked with garbage and trinkets left behind by mourners.
(So there’s the environmental damage as well as disinterred corpses floating around).
Altogether it would appear Ike IS being handled differently from Katrina. At first blush it seems the “lessons learned” from Katrina are being applied which is to control the coverage, not the raw consequences.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:31 pmYay! My first featured comment! :)
September 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pmAaron Brown from cnn did an outstanding story on the aftermath of Katrina, I believe day 2. He and another news person actually went out at night in a boat filming the stranded on roof tips, those coming out of attics at the same time trying to alert rescuers… a story I will never forget. Was he removed from cnn because he exposed this side of the horrific event? Did he not walk in lockstep as ordered by the corporate media/BS administration?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pm5th Estate Says:
Altogether it would appear Ike IS being handled differently from Katrina. At first blush it seems the “lessons learned” from Katrina are being applied which is to control the coverage, not the raw consequences.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
______
Looks like DHS has been using The Shock Doctrine as a textbook…
September 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pmI found this site which has video of the devastated areas. Some of the videos are raw, some have commentary but most don’t.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282706
September 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pmwell done, toasterhead! :)
September 15th, 2008 at 4:55 pmAs original tipster, I can share with people interested in this a considerably longer clip and more detail on this story over here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6rdl6_ike-aftermath-fema-nightmare_news
Clip is 17 minutes.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:58 pmI guess the real question is…
“what are they hiding from us, and why???
Who owns this country, the government or the people?
This is a no brainier people!
September 15th, 2008 at 5:01 pmSo, can someone explain why the prep and response have been so different between Gustav and Ike? Here in New Orleans, we were ordered to evacuate, and resources were made available to anyone who needed them and registered – even last minute – to get out via bus, plane and train. The reports on the conditions at the shelters to which they were evacuated have not been all Pollyana, but an overwhelming majority of positive experiences.
I am no great fan of Mayor Nagin or Gov. Jindal, but they actually did a decent job warning the public, helping them leave and keeping them informed.
I am truly afraid at what we may learn of Galveston and other parts of TX in the days, weeks and months ahead. My thoughts are with those folks.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:08 pmUnfortunately, this exchange with the reporter is pretty representative of Perry’s style of governing. He has been even worse than Bush, IMO. If he knows what’s going on, which is debatable, he’s certainly not going to share it with anyone who might disagree with him.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pmprogressive homeschooler Says:
great link. I haven’t figured out precisely whether that’s Galveston’s West End or Bolivar (my PC sound is n/a at the moment) but the utter eradication of so many buildings is impressive. Some appear to be businesses but others are obviously domiciles.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:13 pmbarracks9 Says:
So, can someone explain why the prep and response have been so different between Gustav and Ike?
The Republican National Convention.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pmIn Galveston, the city is 25.5% black. This is a higher percentage than the county, which goes into the mainland.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4828068.html
22% are below the poverty line. Both statistics are higher than the Texas average.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pmbarracks9 Says:
So, can someone explain why the prep and response have been so different between Gustav and Ike?
Katrina paved the way for more corporate gain in New Orleans but not Galveston… and anticipating Ike will do that job.
Half kidding. but half not.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pmActually the problem came from each area’s prior experience with a major hurricane. Katrina turned New Orleans into a toxic gumbo, so people rightly left before Gustav.
Hurricane Rita missed Houston, leaving the huge metro area on the clean side of the storm. More suffered from a botched evacuation and didn’t want to go through a storm on the side of an interstate.
So people wisely left New Orleans, while they hunkered down in the Houston/Galveston/Brazoria area. Millions need help and the Bush administration seems flat footed once again.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:31 pmstateofthedivision Says:
In Galveston, the city is 25.5% black.
thanks… way more than i thought… at first…
hope i don’t sound too horrible when i say, then i realized all those tourist hotels and restaurants needed staffed…
September 15th, 2008 at 5:32 pmWell I saw one photo where the area was covered with an oil slick. I’m sure part of it is they’re protecting their boy McCain and his “Drill, Drill, Drill” theme.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:42 pmZooey, the comedian Ron White says, “It’s not that the wind is blowing, it’s WHAT the wind is blowing.” And he’s from Texas or Oklahoma or something nearby.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:44 pmKaty, I lived for five years in Brazoria County, the next one down the coast from Galveston. I helped evacuate our hospital before then record Hurricane Gilbert. Fortunately, it didn’t make the predicted turn and hit Mexico.
Also, I worked in a river flooded hospital in Roanoke, Virginia. We lost all power, except for one ICU. The place became a stinking hell hole within 24 hours.
My point is, it takes very little time for a place of healing and recovery to become a death trap. I watched New Orleans hospitals after Katrina and was appalled by the Bush administration’s response. It seems there may be a redux in Southeast Texas.
There are lots of folks to evacuate, lots of people to get water, food and safe shelter. Bush remembers how enraged the public got with media feeds from New Orleans. He wants to stifle that as he tries to package a successful Presidency.
Galveston has slave trading in its history. I wonder who is suffering in fetid conditions outside the view of the media lens. Wayne Dolcefino was an investigative reporter back in my time there, some twenty years ago.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pmKaty, Galveston is the site of the worst natural disaster in this country. But all the faces I’ve seen were lily white. Where are all the Rethugs talking about how they don’t want their tax dollars rebuilding there?
September 15th, 2008 at 5:46 pmI am trying not to be so cynical, but hey, we are dealing with Bushco here. The first sets of images out of Galveston, the bays, and coastlines all contained horrible scenes of an ecological disaster with thousands of gallons of oil slicked everywhere. There is no way, at this point in time with Congress debating an energy policy change to promote offshore drilling, that Bushco will allow these sorts of images to reach the public. They can’t, because that would be sacrificial to their long term financial security, necessary to continue to hide indefinitely from the ICC and War Crimes Tribunals.
September 15th, 2008 at 6:38 pmGood point about BushCo wanting to hide any major spills.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/us/16galveston.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
I recall a refinery in Jefferson Parrish spilling lots of crude oil after Katrina. Murphy Oil spilled 1,000,000 gallons of oil.
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/litigation/993450-1.html
Texas City (in Galveston County) has lots of refineries. I used to play soccer in a public park at the foot of those facilities.
Not far is the Texas City dike. If Ike did the same thing as Katrina, there could be lots of oil spread around the Galveston Bay. That the island has a toxic mix means the receding surge could have oil products mixed in.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:58 pmThe Galveston city folks did an about face on media access:
http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=47d67de20539ea2c
From another report:
Entire subdivisions obliterated. Oil and chemical slicks in the surf where vacationers once frolicked. Longhorn cattle roaming desolate streets. But, most stunning of all, no more deaths.
Officials warned people to stay off the beaches and out of the water after spotting what appeared to be floating oil or chemical slicks offshore.
They had no flood insurance because their home on the outskirts of Bridge City supposedly wasn’t in a flood zone. Although the water had receded, the floors, walls and furniture were coated with a foul mixture of mud and refinery oil.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:11 amPerhaps dozons of news choppers, electronic vultures flying around a rescue recovery effort was getting a little dangerous? No news choppers ever crash into each other chasing police pursuits, mush be a BUSHMCCHIMPHILTER conspirasy. Yeah, that’s got to be it. lol. Let the Coast Guard finish working then you guys can have your disaster porn. By the way, so far one jack up rig was lost, one jack up rig lost its derrick and drill package, two semi-submersibles floated off their moorings, and 10 rigs are reported damaged. Not the end of the world, but what’s gonna hurt you are the refineries that are down,. So if I was you I would pray to whatever multiheaded deity your worship that those rednecks get your fuel flowing.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:15 amThe Dallas Morning News had this to say about refinery damage:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/091608dnbusrefineries.18bb9c2.html
September 16th, 2008 at 12:42 amPERRY: “…The fact of the matter, that is actually a local decision, Wayne, that is made by the local county judge and by the mayor of those —
DOLCEFINO: They don’t control that area.
PERRY: Last time, the state of Texas doesn’t even.
DOLCEFINO: So it’s the federal government?
PERRY: I don’t know. You are delving into issues — I don’t control federal airspace.”
Gov. Perry fails to mention that he, as Texas governor, lost control of Texas, and became governor in name only, as soon as George W. Bush declared an emergency upon Hurricane Ike’s approach. Local officials don’t have any say. State officials don’t have any say. Basically, DHS head Chertoff’s in charge.
You see, after the former Democratic governor of Louisiana, Gov. Blanco, repeated refusal during Hurricane Katrina to surrender control over her state’s national guard units, and state security, to BushCo, about a year later BushCo got their lapdog Republican pals in Congress to pass a law stripping all of our nation’s governors of their authority in case there was a declaration of a state of emergency by BushCo (or whomever may be in the White House next).
All fifty state governors, both Democrats and Republicans (including Rick Perry), vigorously protested this usurption of their authority as governor of their state, but to no avail.
So, I can understand Perry’s seemingly obtuse answers. He knows that he is just a figurehead and has no real authority over Texas anymore, now that BushCo has declared a state of emergency in Texas following Hurricane Ike. Just as Jindal of Louisiana lost all of his authority over Louisiana during Gustav. Just as the Midwest governors lost all authority over their states during the recent flooding.
On a side note, the Texas Governor’s Mansion got firebombed recently. A skeleton security crew was assigned to guard it while it was undergoing renovations. One security guard was on duty when the arson happened. Multiple security monitors were down. Someone got close enough to throw something flammable against the front door.
Gov. Rick Perry, during renovations, had moved out to the lake, into another mansion, paying $10,000 a month in rent. He took a DPS security detail with him out to the multi-million dollar lake house, to guard him and it. (No one has yet reported on the size of this DPS security detail, especially in relation to the skeleton crew left to guard the governor’s mansion.)
Plus, last Fall, the Governor’s Mansion security office recommended that during renovations there should be one supervisor and four DPS security personnel on duty, guarding the governor’s mansion, at all times.
The security office was overruled. No one has yet said who did this. It had to have been someone high up in Gov. Rick Perry’s chain of command. Odds are, with Gov. Perry being the one moving, he would have been consulted…making it highly likely that he was the one who overruled the Governor’s Mansion security office, saying that why have that many security personnel on guard at the governor’s mansion since he was going to be out at the lake.
Poor guy. Having his authority stripped from him during Hurricane Ike (and who knows for how long) while committing a knuckle-headed “security lapse” that resulted in the governor’s mansion being torched…with the second part, the “security lapse,” strangely reminding me of the “security lapse” committed by the Bush administration before the 9/11 attacks.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:49 amyou people need tinfoil hats. Galveston was only about 70,000 people. So there was NO WAY 80,000 rich white people stayed behind. IGNORANT. There was large Black population, mostly people completely welfare and government dependent. To be sure there was a contingent of White trash and some Mexicans with a hand out there also. There was a core of White people who kept the city going mostly through tourism. tourism went quite well except for the Black weekend, which shut down the city, then the thugs and idiots arrived with their booming cars, stealing from stores, shutting down streets parking in the road. They had no regard for the people who lived in Galveston, blocking roads, tons of litter, drunk driving, speeding. Galveston is set up to handle large groups, take the Lone Star Motorcycle Rally, 50,000 show up, rent rooms, act like civil people, pay for trash clean up by buying tickets to attend events.
They did not want news choppers flying over Bolivar peninsula until the Coast Guard was sure the rescues were complete. Houston has about 10 of those news choppers and I have seen then swarm over a news story. They didn’t need them in the way of all the CG and military choppers. The peninsula is going any where, it will look just the same in a month and they can get their pictures.
I lived on Bolivar for yrs and it wasn’t a RICH white peoples enclave, it was white folks living and enjoying the good life because there wasn’t a large Government social network that attracts Blacks looking for a new ghetto. No public housing to foster gangs or thugs. You could leave your door unlocked, walk at night, expect your neighbors to help you with out being ask, no break in your house to rob, rape and murder.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:18 pmReally? Governor Rick Perry is comparing his experience with temporary housing in the golf club community of Barton Creek to that of 22,000 people living in shelters, many of whom will have absolutely nothing to return home to. Perry was quoted in the September 19th Austin American-Statesman as saying “I absolutely understand they want to get back to their homes…I’d like to get back to the mansion.”
I’m certain that if Rick and Anita Perry were actually living on an inflatable mattress in a gymnasium alongside 200 additional refugees with limited bathing facilities and no hot meals, they would be eager to return home. Being separated from friends, jobs for income and schools for their children is an extreme hardship. But can Perry seriously compare this experience to his own temporary living arrangements in a 4,602-square-foot house with a swimming pool and nearby PGA golf course that is costing Texas taxpayers $9,900 a month?
While refugees escaped the devastating hurricane with few belongings, Governor Perry left the mansion for renovation purposes and had the luxury of moving and storing belongings to safety, which thankfully prevented much of our Texas history from being damaged during the later mansion fire. The more than 45,000 Galveston residents who evacuated are uncertain what destruction they will return to find in their own neighborhoods. Governor Perry should be more thoughtful before comparing his mansion renovation to the trauma suffered by the thousands of refugees who have lost homes, pets and memories.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:29 amTo Remohes:
We had a 2nd home in Crystal Beach that is now gone and your comments about “whites there living and enjoying the good life” in Bolivar because no blacks were there looking for a new ghetto is probably the most IGNORANT yet hilaroius statement I’ve heard this week. Yep, there were whites there driving up and down the beach acting like fools, flying there confederate flags, and blasting rap music. How GHETTO and utterly ridiculous is that?? We are African-Americans who are doing extremely better than most of the whites we met during our many weekends in Bolivar so your comments are sad to say the least. Don’t believe everything the media shows you about non-white people. Not all blacks, or Mexicans, or even low income whites are as you describe them to be. Your comments are just another very sad portrayl of the vast amount of racism and bigotry that consumes the minds of obviously undereducated individuals such as yourself. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:24 amThis is another example that the “old world jounalism of Murrow, Cronkite and Rather is dead and buried. In the case of the Time Magazine reporter Ms Tumulty, she seems to think the finding out the who, what, where, when and how have been replaced with a steno pad, which she records what ABC said in rebuttle to the complaint of Congressman Kucinich. There is a great disconnect with what happened and the points made by ABC. She asks little of no questions to ABC. She takes what is handed to her and repeats it vebatim and then calls that reporting. I call is stenography. Lida Sohbet sohbet sesli chat Gelinlik Modelleri
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