Sooner or later, local agencies are going to say "To hell with FEMA, we're going down there on our own recognizance."

dailykos:

Senate Finance Committee members were informed this morning that Sen. Bill Frist will move forward with a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax next week, likely on Tuesday, ThinkProgress has learned.

One stands in awe of Sen. Frist's timing. Permanently repealing the estate tax would be a major blow to the nation's charities. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has "found that the estate tax encourages wealthy individuals to donate considerably more to charity , since estate tax liability is reduced through donations made both during life and at death." If there were no estate tax in 2000, for example, "charitable donations would have been between $13 billion to $25 billion lower than they actually were."

"I am surprised at the Republican leadership's insensitivity toward the events of the last week. With thousands presumed dead after Hurricane Katrina and families uprooted all along the Gulf Coast, giving tax breaks to millionaires should be the last thing on the Senate's agenda. I understand that the Senate shouldn't grind to a halt as a result of Hurricane Katrina, but there are issues that are of much greater importance both to the people directly affected by the hurricane as well as the nation as a whole than estate tax repeal.

“This shouldn't even be a choice. Families have been torn apart and homes have been washed in four states. These victims deserve the Senate's time, not the handful of millionaires repealing the Estate Tax will affect. I once again urge Senator Frist to reconsider his decision. Gulf Coast families are counting on us. They are suffering, and they have no where else to turn. We owe it to them to make their safety and survival our top priority, and we should give them nothing less. Regardless of how one feels about the estate tax, we should all be able to agree that the Senate's attention should be on the victims of this crisis.

Why have Brown and Chertoff not been fired yet?

Create your own reality now, fuckos! These guys are a waste. Where's Guliani? He and Daley can team up. Or anyone who can actually plan, command and make decisions?

The video for the Koppel/FEMA director interview from last night is here.

he really looks like a jackass.

Where's Jon Stewart when we really need him? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you....

Frist is beyond disgusting.

ETA: So is Lou Dobbs, who keeps harping on the fact that "if there's a racial element to this, why aren't people focusing on the black mayor?" and noting the "contrast between how the people of NY reacted after 9/11 and the people of New Orleans."

le nubian, who is speaking in the quote marks in that post?

Man, I loved the part where Brown said "We are going to get these people's lives back in order," and Koppel said "Mr. Brown, some of these people are *dead.* They're beyond your help."

Go, Ted!

Cindy, Democratic leader Harry Reid is the person quoted.