( continues...) )

Dr. Matthew Bellew, Charity Hospital: We still have 200 patients in this hospital, many of them needing care that they just can't get. The conditions are such that it's very dangerous for the patients. Just about all the patients in our services had fevers. Our toilets are overflowing. They are filled with stool and urine. And the smell, if you can imagine, is so bad, you know, many of us had gagging and some people even threw up. It's pretty rough.(Mayor's video: Armed addicts fighting for a fix -- 1:03)

Violence and civil unrest

Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.

CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street. (Watch the video report on explosions and gunfire -- 2:12)

The federal response:

Brown: Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.

Homeland Security Director Chertoff: Now, of course, a critical element of what we're doing is the process of evacuation and securing New Orleans and other areas that are afflicted. And here the Department of Defense has performed magnificently, as has the National Guard, in bringing enormous resources and capabilities to bear in the areas that are suffering.

Crowd chanting outside the Convention Center: We want help.

Nagin: They don't have a clue what's going on down there.

Phyllis Petrich, a tourist stranded at the Ritz-Carlton: They are invisible. We have no idea where they are. We hear bits and pieces that the National Guard is around, but where? We have not seen them. We have not seen FEMA officials. We have seen no one.

Security

Brown: I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face. ( See Jack Cafferty's rant on the government's 'bungled' response -- 0:57)

Chertoff: In addition to local law enforcement, we have 2,800 National Guard in New Orleans as we speak today. One thousand four hundred additional National Guard military police trained soldiers will be arriving every day: 1,400 today, 1,400 tomorrow and 1,400 the next day.

Nagin: I continue to hear that troops are on the way, but we are still protecting the city with only 1,500 New Orleans police officers, an additional 300 law enforcement personnel, 250 National Guard troops, and other military personnel who are primarily focused on evacuation.

Lawrence: The police are very, very tense right now. They're literally riding around, full assault weapons, full tactical gear, in pickup trucks. Five, six, seven, eight officers. It is a very tense situation here.

The numbers are down.

**********

Hot off the presses, today's numbers in this tracking poll have just been crunched.

SurveyUSA. 9/2. 1,200 respondents each day.

Is the federal government doing too much? Not enough? Or just the right amount to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

9/2 9/1 8/31
Not enough 68 59 50
Right amount 26 32 40

Thinking just about the President of the United States ... Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina?

9/2 9/1 8/31
Approve 40 46 48
Disapprove 53 44 39

Bush's numbers are tanking. The American people were willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt on 8/31, but his rank incompetence has quickly whittled that away. These numbers should only continue to sink.

Would it be possible for people to call me this weekend and check up on me?

Sure. Just email me your phone number (hillaryre at gmail.)

What's happened in New Orleans will resonate as a direct indictment of Bush's leadership. And that's pretty much all he's got going for him.

I saw that the New Hampshire Union-Leader hammered him, saying the leadership he showed during 9/11 was nowhere to be found with this hurricane.

First off, the Union-Leader is hella conservative. Second off, they wrote this in Wednesday's edition.

Just. Wow.

Horse's mouth news - this is really good stuff: [link]

I'm just so disgusted I could spit. I haven't been this mad in ages. Most of what I would otherwise say has already been said here a few times. The whole response is just mind-boggling. I am especially pissed at how some are trying to blame this on the poor people who couldn't make it out and are doing their best to survive. My God. They knew there were lots of poor people without access to transportation out of there. Why the *&^%$ didn't they provide busses BEFORE the hurricane. Why weren't the hospitals evacuated before the hurricane? It's one thing when people refuse to evacuate, but honestly, shouldn't people who are willing to evacuate but don't have the means be helped out a bit?!

And who the *&&%$%#$ turns down help in a case like this?! It sure wasn't the people who are begging for it. If we can handle this ourselves, WHY AREN'T WE?

Sorry for the rant, but while there are sympathetic people here, I can't yell out loud at work, so some virtual yelling was necessary.

Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

The hell. If you are supposed to be in charge of something like this, you fucking do not "just learn" that "we" are in the process of doing anything. You do not get to be part of that "we," and you damn well better be questioning why you're not.

Tom, I would be happy to call this weekend. Just email my profile addy with your phone number.

What the fuck's up with this exchange?

*********

REPORTER: You talk about fixing what's wrong and you talk about the results not being acceptable. There are a lot of people wondering why you weren't fixing the problems yesterday or the day before, and why the richest country on earth can't get food and water to the people who need it.

PRESIDENT: Uh...the levee was broken on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday...uh...on Thursday we started evacuating people.(smiles) A lot of people evacuated that city - a lot of people left on buses.(smiles) It's...uh...You know, I am...uh...satisfied with the response, but I'm not satisfied with the results.(smiles)

What the fuck's up with this exchange?

Dammit, is Bush infected with spyware again?