Posted on 03/02/2006 6:10:47 AM PST by slowhand520
March 02, 2006
Katrina Tape Transcripts Show Media Hack Job For those who want to see the transcripts themselves of the video conferences, the New York Times has them for the August 28th and August 29th briefings. The transcript for the 29th makes one garbled mention of the levees around New Orleans (page 6). After making the point that the storm surge would cause the greatest devastation in the Gulfport area of Mississippi, going as high as 21 feet, Max Mayfield then turns to New Orleans:
MAX MAYFIELD: ... The rest of the track we have 10 to 15 feet, in a few areas up to 16 feet. At least glimpsed it out, and Louisiana can talk a little bit more about this than I can, but it looks like the Federal levies [sic] around the City of New Orleans will not have been (incomprehensible) any breaches to. That certainly doesn't sound like a warning -- and this was on the day the levees broke. That transcript clearly shows that the conference considered the storm surge and precipitation runoff to be the major threats of flooding in New Orleans. The possibility of breaches, even on the 29th, had been discounted.
The transcript from the August 28th meeting talked more about levees, but in the same vein, and this time no one mentions the word "breach". Starting on page 5, Max Mayfield again talks about the dangers of Lake Pontchartrain, but only in the context of the winds created a surge that could overtop the levees:
One of the valleys here in Lake Pontchartrain, we've got on our forecast track, if it maintains its intensity: about 12 1/2 feet of storm surge in the lake. The big question is going to be: will that top some of the levies? And the currrent track and the forecast we have now suggests there will be minimal flooding in the city of New Orleans itself, but we're -- we've always said that the storm surge model is only accurate within 20 percent. If that track were to deviate just a little bit to the west, it would -- it makes all the difference in the world. I do expect that there will be some of the levies over top even out here in the western portions where the airport is. We've got valleys that can't overtop some of the levies.
The problem we're going to have here -- remember, the winds go counterclockwise around the center of the hurricane. So if the really strong winds clip Lake Pontchartrain, that's going to pile some of that water from Lake Pontchartrain over on the south side of the lake. I don't think any model can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levies will be topped or not, but that's obviously a very, very grave concern.
Again, the entire briefing that related to levees only focused on the effects of the wind on Lake Pontchartrain and its effect in pushing water over the top of the levees. Mayfield never even addressed the possibility of breaches in the levee walls. And in fact, the storm track shifted eastward in the final hours before Katrina hit, which eliminated much of the predicate for even the worries Mayfield expresses in this transcript.
The media got it wrong yet again on Katrina. The notion that the experts warned of levee breaches is nothing more than a hack job initiated by the AP and continued by the rest of the Exempt Media even after the source material has proven it false.
Zogby did his drive by shooting in the 2000 election to confuse voters and give the illegal voting of the Rats cover.
The media tried to sour the mood of Republican voters and get them to stay home (all is lost).
The media bang the drum for the first 10 minutes after the East Coast polls closed. They said that Bush had lost because of the economy. After 10 minutes it was clear that Bush would NOT be blown out on election night.
Anyone can check the threads from election day and there are a number of "real time" discussions of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity's daytime radio shows assuring voters that all was not lost and that the election day polls were tilted in favor of Democrats.
The ONLY poll that ever matters is the one at the ballot box. All else is spin.
Anyone who has participated in a state EMA disaster preparedness training seminar could tell you this. I have participated in state EMA training in two different counties. The training is geared towards municipal, county and state resource utilization. FEMA is not even in the equation for first responders.
I disected the media coverage of the 2004 election in this thread (used the article as a springboard to link together a number of concepts).
Jim Emerson: On celebrities, Politics, and movie critics (shilling for Roger Ebert) (October 14, 2004 | Jim Emerson, Editor of RogerEbert.com Posted to FR on 11/06/2004)
Talk about angry - I thought I was past it, too - but accidentally let my TV channel stay too long on ABC this morning while doing something else.
The View was on and they showed the windowless room tape and that horrid Joy Behar (ooops, spelled it "Bejar" in my email) started screeching that Bush is a liar over and over and getting the audience worked into a frenzy of applause and cheering! It was horrendous! "See? He knew about the levees."
Once again, Elisabeth tried to reason with the numbskulls, but got shouted down, as always. I finally fired off an email to her with the talking points - to please note that the tape said "TOPPING the levees was possible" - I explained the difference between "topping" and "breaching" and why the breaches happened.
If nothing else, I feel better for having screamed my head off while typing that. Wish *someone* somewhere would say it to the national media -- "topping" means "overflowing" - "breaching" means "breaking"!!
Great point. But given that the federal government (oops I meant the Insurance company) had paid for you to have the proper repairs done, nobody at the federal government (oops I meant Insurance company) could have anticipated that your bathtub would breach this time.
...she's an idiot. I'm no great fan of "W" (as many fellow FReepers know) but, IMHO, he's the least culpable in Katrina...the only gaffe he made was "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job!" Just glad he didn't utter "Naggie or Blankie, you're doin' a heck of a job!"
Notice how the moveon email contains this very important and very deliberate LIE. The scientist said that there is no way to predict whether or not the levees will be TOPPED, but it is "obviously a very very grave concern." By saying that the scientist was warning that a major levee breach with this quote, the MoveOn letter is deliberately making a fraudulent statement.
Identify all of "General" Nagin's ribbons(Photo Phun)
Generalisimo Nagin reminds me of these guys:
And from that thread:
"Here's what I get -- but I'm just a silly-vilian, so I am *NOT* an expert:"
Antarctica Service Medal (Army) | Expert Pistol Shot Medal? (Navy) | Air ReserveForces Meritorious Serve Medal ? |
Distinguished Service Cross (Army) | Navy Cross? | NATO Medal (Army) |
Vietnam Campaign Medal (Navy) But it's missing a pin ?? | Joint Service Commendation Medal (Army) | |
Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal OR Mexican Service Medal (Navy) |
Vietnam Commendation Medal (Army) ? | |
Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal | Defense Merchant Marine Medal | Navy E Issue? |
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award | Navy Sea Service?? | American Defense Service Medal? |
Air Force Achievement Medal? | Philippine Campaign Medal |
BUMP
Clinton was accused of rape by several women. Therefore it was not an uncommon event.
ping
Army Distinguished Service Cross and Navy Cross rank just below Medal of Honor in presedence...rest are pretty much what servicemen and women term as "geedunk medals" (everybody gets them for mission, deployment service, etc.). Achievement and commendation medals, however, have to be earned.
Um, just thought I'd ask...How's Mississippi doing these days?
An off-topic question perhaps: At one point it was stated that hurricane winds move clockwise. I was wondering, is that from the perspective of one looking at a map from "above" or from the perspective of one living on the ground and looking up? Sorry, don't know why that came to mind, but I suspect that the perspective is from "above." If you are on the ground though, it would seem different. (Must be these sunflower seeds I am eating)
I knew better, but turned up the sound (from "mute"), anyway, when they showed the Katrina tape, just to see how Elisabeth Hasselbeck handled it--mostly to see if she caught the word "topped." She didn't.
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