[art_director]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/na...rtner=homepage


"Some people there have not eaten or drunk water for three or four days, which is inexcusable," acknowledged Joseph W. Matthews, the director of the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness.

"We need additional troops, food, water," Mr. Matthews begged, "and we need personnel, law enforcement. This has turned into a situation where the city is being run by thugs."

"We're just a bunch of rats," said Earle Young, 31, a cook who stood waiting in a throng of perhaps 10,000 outside the Superdome, waiting in the blazing sun for buses to take them away from the city. "That's how they've been treating us."

Chaos and gunfire hampered efforts to evacuate the Superdome, and, Superintendent P. Edward Compass III of the New Orleans Police Department said, armed thugs have taken control of the secondary makeshift shelter at the convention center. Superintendent Compass said that the thugs repelled eight squads of 11 officers each he had sent to secure the place and that rapes and assaults were occurring unimpeded in the neighboring streets as criminals "preyed upon" passers-by, including stranded tourists.

Mr. Compass said the federal government had taken too long to send in the thousands of troops - as well as the supplies, fuel, vehicles, water and food - needed to stabilize his now "very, very tenuous" city.

Col. Terry Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans, concurred and he was particularly pungent in his criticism. Asserting that the whole recovery operation had been "carried on the backs of the little guys for four goddamn days," he said "the rest of the goddamn nation can't get us any resources for security."

"We are like little birds with our mouths open and you don't have to be very smart to know where to drop the worm," Colonel Ebbert said. "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane." FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by art_director

"Some people there have not eaten or drunk water for three or four days, which is inexcusable," acknowledged Joseph W. Matthews, the director of the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Well, that guy needs firing for starters. What's his department been doing for the rest of the year? Playing Solitaire? If they were doing their job, wouldn't the city have been prepared for this without having to go cap in hand to the feds?

[art_director]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Well, that guy needs firing for starters. What's his department been doing for the rest of the year? Playing Solitaire? If they were doing their job, wouldn't the city have been prepared for this without having to go cap in hand to the feds?

Our taxes go to FEMA for a reason.

More from the news:

Seeking to deflect rising criticism of the federal response, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Friday: "In this catastrophic event, everything that we had pre-positioned and ready to go became overwhelmed immediately after the storm.'"

Brown said the agency just learned about the situation at the convention center Thursday and quickly scrambled to provide food, water and medical care and remove the corpses.

---

FEMA learned of the problem on Thursday? What, they don't have the Internet, TV, radio or newspapers?

This is a disgrace.

[art_director]

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "'Go to hell — it's every man for himself.'''

To make matters worse, the chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers — many of whom from flooded areas — turning in their badges.

"They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives,'' Col. Henry Whitehorn said.

[art_director]

I pledge alligiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic that will turn it's back on me in a pinch,
one nation, under thumb, clearly divisible, with liberty and
justice for wealthy communities


The President, the Congress, the Senate, Republicans and Democrats have let the victims of Katrina down.

[Millennium]

You're blaming FEMA for not being Superman? Listen; just getting to New Orleans is proving more hazardous than anyone could have foreseen. You can't use trucks because the roads are flooded, you can't use helicopters because there's no dry land to drop anything, you can't use large boats because the floodwaters just aren't deep enough for that, and although you can use small boats, this severely limits your carrying capacity and they don't have as many of these as they do trucks. Of course, it doesn't help that some idiots are actually shooting at the rescue workers, but the natural hazards of this storm are simply not something FEMA could have possibly foreseen.

[art_director]

Help me understand why FEMA learned about the crisis at the dome just yesterday? Hell, the entire planet knew earlier than that.

Your points about the inherent difficulties are understood but by this time more aid should be in place. We have layer, after layer of government offices in place to deal with things like this –– among them FEMA and the Deprtment of Homeland Security. Those, taxpayer-funded agencies, should have been better prepared. Additionally, Congress should not have waited four days to approve emergency aid. Fact is the federal government is letting these people down.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by art_director

I pledge alligiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic that will turn it's back on me in a pinch,
one nation, under thumb, clearly divisible, with liberty and
justice for wealthy communities


The President, the Congress, the Senate, Republicans and Democrats have let the victims of Katrina down.

Yeah? What have you done? Exploit tragedy for some political statement? Even morons have freedom of speech. God Bless America.

Do you understand the logistics of this particular search and rescue? New Orleans has been through hurricanes before. They simply got caught with their pants down on this one. These things happen. We have to pull ourselves up, get them out of there, address their needs, and begin building a new shoreline. BTW, read on what's going on and ask yourself what you'd have done differently. This armchair quarterbacking by a bunch of morons watching CNN on their 55" DLP televisions within their gated communities eating popcorn and drinking Periet is getting on my friggin' nerves!

[art_director]

Fact is the federal government is letting these people down. -- That's paraphrasing what the mayor of NO is saying. He's on the frontline, I'm not. And, given that you're on this forum, I'd guss you're not either.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

Yeah? What have you done? Exploit tragedy for some political statement? Even morons have freedom of speech. God Bless America.

Do you understand the logistics of this particular search and rescue? New Orleans has been through hurricanes before. They simply got caught with their pants down on this one. These things happen. We have to pull ourselves up, get them out of there, address their needs, and begin building a new shoreline. BTW, read on what's going on and ask yourself what you'd have done differently. This armchair quarterbacking by a bunch of morons watching CNN on their 55" DLP televisions within their gated communities eating popcorn and drinking Periet is getting on my friggin' nerves!

Defend the government if you must. They're failing the victims of Katrina.

[art_director]

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
[email protected]

[art_director]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

This armchair quarterbacking by a bunch of morons watching CNN on their 55" DLP televisions within their gated communities eating popcorn and drinking Periet is getting on my friggin' nerves!

At least you can aknowledge that Republicans are pissed too.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by art_director

Fact is the federal government is letting these people down. -- That's paraphrasing what the mayor of NO is saying. He's on the frontline, I'm not. And, given that you're on this forum, I'd guss you're not either.

Truth be told, if anyone is to blame he could enjoy a bit of it as well. It's not surprising to me that he's pointing fingers elsewhere. He could've helped by telling the National Guard that people were told to collect in a Convention Center. He could've helped by urging leadership to spend some of the massive amounts of money collected from tourism to build up the levies. The only justice in this is the fact that he'll be living with his part of the responsibility as well.

I like how you conveniently ignored what you'll be doing to aid disaster relief. No really, by all means keep enjoying the news coverage.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by art_director

At least you can aknowledge that Republicans are pissed too.

This is what it's all about to you isn't it? Republicans, Democrats, and Michael Moore. Thanx for that glimpse into your sick, twisted, indoctrinated 16 year old mind.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by ebuddy

Thanx for that glimpse into your sick, twisted, indoctrinated 16 year old mind.

Thank you for letting me know early on that you're not worthy of decent conversation.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by art_director

Your points about the inherent difficulties are understood but by this time more aid should be in place. We have layer, after layer of government offices in place to deal with things like this

Hey, you even have local offices for this:

the city's Office of Emergency Preparedness

If the local layer failed (by not being prepared, which is weird seeing as it's their whole point), then how exactly do you expect the other layers to suddenly jump up and respond? Magic carpets?

[dreilly1]

I've read in multiple places that while FEMA had plans in place for rising flood waters in New Orleans, they all assumed that the levees will hold. Bush even said as much recently, basically saying that the emergency management effort did not take into account the levees not holding. I find this inexcusable, given all that I read about the geography of New Orleans. The levees are all that are holding the lake and river back, and is an obvious point of failure. We've all heard that a major hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast is one of the things that even before 9/11, Federal officials cited as one of the biggest threats to the continental U.S. It astonished me that a "doomsday scenario" would not take obvious points of failure like the levee system failing into account. It also floors me that emergency management officials are so willing to admit this gross oversight. At least they're bring honest.

I understand that the logistics of getting aid workers and materials into New Orleans are very complicated right now. But the role of an agency like FEMA is to figure out in advance how to take care of situations like this. It's more than one city or area can handle on its own; it's something that needs to be done on the federal level in order to marshall all the resources that this country can spare in a small amount of time. In that respect, it appears to me based on all the reports that I'm reading that FEMA has failed, and by extension, the Federal Government. And while right this minute is not the time to hold the Federal government accountable, there needs to be a time after the critical need for assistance has passed when President Bush and Congress can answer for this failure, and investigate why a disaster which we all knew was coming eventually caught this country so off-guard.

[F_Elz]

we are failing them

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by art_director

Thank you for letting me know early on that you're not worthy of decent conversation.

it was never "decent conversation" to begin with, it was flame bait. There were already too many hurricane threads. Do something to help, instead of sitting back and whining and looking for excuses to bash and point fingers. Send $ to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, UCCF, etc.. FWIW, I stroked a $5K check, surely each of us can give some amount. Or, maybe volunteer some time and get together a water, food, or clothing drive. My whole weekend is planned doing that stuff, starting this evening when I leave work, just like I did last night and the night before.

Quit bitching and do something.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by F_Elz

we are failing them

I'm not failing them, I'm doing something about it. You, and everyone else around here, can too.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

I'm not failing them, I'm doing something about it. You, and everyone else around here, can too.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by art_director

Help me understand why FEMA learned about the crisis at the dome just yesterday? Hell, the entire planet knew earlier than that.

I don't know. I do know that it sounds implausible enough that this is probably not what's really going on, and there has been some kind of misconnumication.

Your points about the inherent difficulties are understood but by this time more aid should be in place.

How do you expect it to get there? I've already explained the problems with getting aid to this area. Or is this the magical liberal "Do More (tm)" without having any clue as to what really needs to be done but dammit this is so unpleasant that something must be horribly wrong because The Government Can Do Anything?

We have layer, after layer of government offices in place to deal with things like this –– among them FEMA and the Deprtment of Homeland Security. Those, taxpayer-funded agencies, should have been better prepared.

How do you prepare for that which you cannot foresee? Nobody can truly prepare for every eventuality. To prepare for something like this, we'd need a fleet of small ultralight boats and hovercraft which would be unlikely to be used for any other purpose. Even the government doesn't have the resources to just keep a thousand hovercraft on hand and properly maintained when they get used maybe once every decade. The Coast Guard has a fair number of craft like this, and they were mobilized immediately after the disaster. They don't really have enough in the area to completely cover something like this -they do have other duties, after all- but they can at least get things started. And that is what they did.

Additionally, Congress should not have waited four days to approve emergency aid.

Emergency aid is called emergency aid for a reason; spending starts before approval is obtained precisely because it's an emergency. The approvals come later, and need to take what's been spent thus far into account while trying to estimate the total which will be needed over the course of the emergency. Congress cannot act instantaneously, but emergencies call for instantaneous action. That's why things are set up this way: to take the pressure off of legislators and keep them from overreacting or underreacting, while the aid can get started right away.

Fact is the federal government is letting these people down.

Fact is, someone needs to learn how governments work in situations like this.

[spacefreak]

I've stated this in other threads... I can understand the communications and mobility problems. I understand that the focus for the first 2-3 days was to rescue as many people as possible. I understand that the disaster didn't just hit New Orleans, but also good portions of 3 states, I understand that it takes a day or two to get huge shelters that can support entire portions of a major city set-up.

BUT, I do not understand why a constant flow of water and food drops couldn't have been made near the Superdome.

Perhaps there are genuine concerns about major riots or something similar (like the 800 dead in that Iraq stampede) if water and food weren't secured and distributed in an orderly way. But at this moment, that is what I want to know. And the reason(s) better be good.

[dreilly1]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

I'm not failing them, I'm doing something about it. You, and everyone else around here, can too.

No, we (meaning the Federal Government, wich gets its power from The People, i.e. us) already have failed them by letting the situation in new Orleans get this bad. All our assistance, as necessary as it may be, is coming after the critical time they needed us most.

[Doofy]

Yesterday:

[goMac]

Army needs to be in there NOW.

Sadly they're all somewhere else right now.

[von Wrangell]

I agree with spacefreaks last part and just to expand on it.

If it's true that the government has lost control over the second refugee camp (probably the best word for it at the moment) then something has gone seriously wrong. These high density areas should have been the priority areas in securing and for distributing food. After that they could start trying to reach out from there.

But there is something seriously wrong about that and the issue spacefreak mentioned.

To end this I just want to add one thing. Things will always go wrong in emergency situations no matter what the scale is. So lets not judge everyone working on this for not being able to stop all looting at once.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by goMac

Army needs to be in there NOW.

Sadly they're all somewhere else right now.

Yes, because that's not a picture of an army truck delivering relief to NO yesterday, is it?

[dreilly1]

Originally Posted by Millennium

How do you prepare for that which you cannot foresee? Nobody can truly prepare for every eventuality.

But we all knew that eventually a strong hurricane would hit the Gulf Coast area. As far as natural disasters go, this was one of the more plausable scenarios. It's one the Federal Government should have been preparing for for years.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by dreilly1

No, we (meaning the Federal Government, wich gets its power from The People, i.e. us) already have failed them by letting the situation in new Orleans get this bad. All our assistance, as necessary as it may be, is coming after the critical time they needed us most.

We I'm not in the Gov't and I really don't care, never trusted any Feds to begin with. My effect on the world begins and end with my actions. I'll point fingers later, but this ain't the time for it. Gripe and grouse all you want AFTER we get the people some help.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Yes, because that's not a picture of an army truck delivering relief to NO yesterday, is it?

Relief? We have a whole convention center of refuges that is being run by thugs who are raping young children. That is what I'm talking about Doofy.

[budster101]

I'm too busy watching a classic movie to be bothered. "Dodge Ball".

[goMac]

Originally Posted by budster101

I'm too busy watching a classic movie to be bothered. "Dodge Ball".

Is that you Mr. Bush?

[budster101]

No, but he is here having a Beer and some Pretzels watching it with us. He said to tell you all, he'll get going after the movie.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by budster101

No, but he is here having a Beer and some Pretzels watching it with us. He said to tell you all, he'll get going after the movie.

Tell him to have more Pretzels.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by goMac

Army needs to be in there NOW.

Sadly they're all somewhere else right now.

The army's not going to do a lot of good. They're ground-based, remember? They'd be a very large school of fish out of water. It's a rare problem indeed that can be solved just by throwing people at it, and this isn't one of those problems.

The ones who need to be in there NOW are the Coast Guard. They have the sorts of vehicles and equipment which are needed for exactly this sort of thing. Oh, but wait; they're already there. They were mobilized mere hours after the storm hit. Hmm; guess we need to somehow magically Do More (tm), huh?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by goMac

We have a whole convention center of refuges that is being run by thugs who are raping young children.

Link?

[budster101]

I wasn't expecting that... <sarc>

[art_director]

NEW ORLEANS -- President Bush, under mounting criticism for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina that left tens of thousands homeless in the Gulf Coast, said today that relief efforts have been "not acceptable."

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by spacefreak

BUT, I do not understand why a constant flow of water and food drops couldn't have been made near the Superdome.

Perhaps there are genuine concerns about major riots or something similar (like the 800 dead in that Iraq stampede) if water and food weren't secured and distributed in an orderly way. But at this moment, that is what I want to know. And the reason(s) better be good.

Then here's a quick answer: where would they perform the drops? You can't just drop this stuff into the water, and nobody knows how stable the roof is. It's already broken in a few places, and so dropping the packages there stand a very real chance of collapsing larger sections. Of course, the presence of the roof also prevents you from dropping the goods onto the playing field, and that's assuming the playing field is still otherwise suitable (i.e. not filled with polluted swamp water).

Disaster relief during a flood like this is hard. I very much doubt there is any organization on Earth that was prepared for these sorts of conditions.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by art_director

NEW ORLEANS -- President Bush, under mounting criticism for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina that left tens of thousands homeless in the Gulf Coast, said today that relief efforts have been "not acceptable."

Yeah; the situation sucks. Even I'm not trying to argue otherwise. But notice that even Bush isn't suggesting what more could have been done.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Link?

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...katrina02.html

One of the most squalid and desperate situations unfolded Thursday at the city's fetid Ernest M. Morial Convention Center, where thousands had assembled over the preceding two days but which, as of Thursday evening, still had no visible government presence. A half dozen buses arrived at one point to take a small number of refugees, but no buses had come since, according to the stranded residents and tourists.

The center itself, dark and powerless, was rank with sewage and trash and avoided by most of the crowds, who milled around outside. As many as seven corpses lay out in the open amid wailing babies and other refugees, according to witnesses and news reports, including one dead man covered in a blue tarp in the middle of a street.

Desperate refugees at one point broke into the center's food service area to retrieve water and other goods, and the crowds have been roiled by fights and at least one gunshot, according to interviews. Some food rations finally arrived Thursday, dropped by helicopter.

With no buses in sight earlier Thursday, Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a nearby bridge to dry ground in search of aid. The mayor also issued a plea for help on CNN: "Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don't anticipate enough buses. We need buses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we're running out of supplies."

there is more out there if you want.

[Spliffdaddy]

Well, statistically, 80% of those folks in New Orleans *did* vote for Kerry.

Perhaps they should let Kerry rescue them.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Do More (tm)

That's a good thing to come up with. Fits the situation perfectly.

As I've mentioned in other threads, I really really tired of folks with no experience or context on this (including people here, and in the media) commenting about "speed" and "response".

As for what I'm doing, as of the other day: I sent my Coast Guard, and Navy, and my FEMA, and National Guard, and opened my interstate highway system, and my Astrodome. And I paid for the levies around N.O. that DIDN'T break, but could have if left to LOCAL TAX DOLLARS as they should have been.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Then here's a quick answer: where would they perform the drops? You can't just drop this stuff into the water, and nobody knows how stable the roof is. It's already broken in a few places, and so dropping the packages there stand a very real chance of collapsing larger sections. Of course, the presence of the roof also prevents you from dropping the goods onto the playing field, and that's assuming the playing field is still otherwise suitable (i.e. not filled with polluted swamp water).

Disaster relief during a flood like this is hard. I very much doubt there is any organization on Earth that was prepared for these sorts of conditions.

They are able to drive buses there as far as I've heard so it shouldn't be a problem to get food there.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by von Wrangell

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...katrina02.html

Nope, nothing in there about children being raped in convention centres.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

We I'm not in the Gov't and I really don't care, never trusted any Feds to begin with. My effect on the world begins and end with my actions. I'll point fingers later, but this ain't the time for it. Gripe and grouse all you want AFTER we get the people some help.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Nope, nothing in there about children being raped in convention centres.

"Thousands of people have been stranded at the Ernest Morial Convention Center with little help and surrounded by corpses, trash and human waste. "They've more or less corralled us in two places: The convention center and the Superdome, with no food, no water, you could say almost 90-degree heat inside," said evacuee Alan Gould.

"We've got small children and sick and elderly people dying every day, small children being raped and killed, people running around with guns -- I'm scared for my life, my wife and my 5-year-old daughter's life. We don't even want to live here anymore.""

Stay informed.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/kat...act/index.html

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Nope, nothing in there about children being raped in convention centres.

You could have searched as I pointed out to you but since you are for some reason unable to do that here you go.

Chaos and gunfire hampered efforts to evacuate the Superdome, and, the New Orleans police superintendent said, armed thugs have taken control of the secondary makeshift shelter at the convention center. The thugs repelled eight squads of 11 officers each that he sent to secure the place, the superintendent, P. Edwin Compass III, said, adding that rapes and assaults were occurring unimpeded in the neighboring streets as criminals "preyed upon" tourists.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/news/ci_2995147

[spacefreak]

Whoa... I'm watching Bush now... he got off his plane and and went to the hangar (he's going to board his helicopter)...

Anyway, he met with the some officials.. the first guy was that FEMA director Michael Brown, and Brown was giving his assessment of New Orleans. He started with the usual "this is an unprecedented disaster... we've rescued 5 thousand trapped folks... cell phone towers have been down, making the situation difficult... the same stuff he says to the press ... GWB wouldn't even look this guy in the eye, and looked pretty pissed off. The guy looked like he started stuttering a little, and his face started to get shiny with some sweat.

When the other officials began talking to him (Miss. Governor, Alabama. governor?, coast guard officials, etc.), GWB's demeanor was noticeably more polite. After those next 4-5 men spoke with the president, the FEMA guy Michael Brown started to say something to the press and GWB immediately cut him off in mid-sentence and began to address the press. Then before headed to board the helicopter, Bush literally turned his back on Brown and proceeded to shake everyone else's hands and pose for a few courtesy shots.

Knowing that GWB will generally accept honest mistakes, I got the impression that this Michael Brown perhaps misled or deceived GWB in some way. I've never seen Bush act like that, even around his most fervid opponents. Something is up, and I can't imagine that it was just some bad decisions on Brown's part. Who knows...