NOLA: Two Years On

When the Saints Go Marching In
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Monday August 29, 2005, time line (via Think Progress):

7AM CDT — KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]

7:30 AM CDT — BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH: The administration finds out that a levee in New Orleans was breached. On this day, 28 “government agencies, from local Louisiana parishes to the White House, [reported that] that New Orleans levees” were breached. [AP]

8 AM CDT — MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE: “I’ve gotten reports this morning that there is already water coming over some of the levee systems. In the lower ninth ward, we’ve had one of our pumping stations to stop operating, so we will have significant flooding, it is just a matter of how much.” [NBC’s “Today Show”]

11:13 AM CDT - WHITE HOUSE CIRCULATES INTERNAL MEMO ABOUT LEVEE BREACH: “Flooding is significant throughout the region and a levee in New Orleans has reportedly been breached sending 6-8 feet of water throughout the 9th ward area of the city.” [AP]

MORNING — BROWN WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION OF KATRINA: In a briefing, Brown warned Bush, “This is, to put it mildly, the big one, I think.” He also voiced concerns that the government may not have the capacity to “respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe” and that the Superdome was ill-equipped to be a refuge of last resort. [AP]

MORNING — MAYFIELD WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE TOPPING OF THE LEVEES: In the same briefing, Max Mayfield, National Hurricane Center Director, warns, “This is a category 5 hurricane, very similar to Hurricane Andrew in the maximum intensity, but there’s a big big difference. This hurricane is much larger than Andrew ever was. I also want to make absolutely clear to everyone that the greatest potential for large loss of lives is still in the coastal areas from the storm surge. … I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.” [AP]

MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue [immigration], so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.” [White House]

MORNING — BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN [White House]

11AM CDT — MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE: “Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ‘this near catastrophic event’ but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ‘Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.’” [AP]

LATE MORNING — LEVEE BREACHED: “A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north.” [Times-Picayune]

11AM CDT — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [White House]

4:30PM CDT — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.” [White House]

8PM CDT — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.” [Editor & Publisher]

8PM CDT — GOV. BLANCO AGAIN REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM BUSH: “Mr. President, we need your help. We need everything you’ve got.” [Newsweek]

LATE PM — BUSH GOES TO BED WITHOUT ACTING ON BLANCO’S REQUESTS [Newsweek]

Un-Happy Anniversary: Hiroshima and PDB

Sixty-two years ago today, the United States dropped the first deployed nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Japan commemorates Hiroshima dead (via Reuters)

Japan marked the 62nd anniversary of Hiroshima's atomic bombing with a solemn ceremony on Monday as the city's mayor criticized the United States for refusing to give up its nuclear-weapons program.

Tens of thousands of elderly survivors, children and dignitaries gathered at the Peace Memorial Park, near ground zero where the bomb was dropped, to remember the more than 250,000 people who ultimately died from the blast.

"Even to those who managed to survive, it was hell where they envied the dead," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba told the crowd, describing scenes from the bombing such as charred faces and torn clothes.

Six years ago today, President Bush received a Presidential Daily Briefing, called "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

(Blogswarm call via Blue Gal and Zen Cabin)

August 6, 2001: Bush Administration Warned 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States' (via Center for American Progress April 8, 2004):

Two and a half years after 9/11, the American public learned today that President Bush received explicit warnings that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States – including activities "consistent with preparations for hijacking." Yet, there was no domestic follow-up by the Bush administration. No high level meetings. No sense of urgency. No warnings to FBI agents across the country.

Ghouliani Healthcare

Shark-fu (aka Angry Black Bitch in a great post today) turned her focus on to Rudy Guiliani's health care scare (proposal) against "socialized medicine":

Mayor Giuliani has called universal healthcare “Socialist” and those who propose universal healthcare for all Americans “Socialists”.
...
First of all, Americans are not all a part of a family unit. Some of us are single. Too many of us are uninsured. How the fuck does that tax deduction help us?

Oh, wait!

He has no details for this magnificent defense against socialized medicine!

Of course!

Let me guess…a bitch should trust you on this, right?

Lawd, have mercy.

The average American family is drowning in debt. Wages have not increased but costs have. If you give the average American family a $15,000 tax deduction they’ll probably need that cash for pesky shit like food and credit card payments.

This inspired me to dig up a few statistics for how this might help the average American family in actual dollars. I posted the following as a comment:

We know there are just so many things wrong with Ghouliani's "healthcare" plan it's hard to pick where to start addressing how bad it is. So, allow me to hit on the following aspect.

The $15K tax deduction presumably is only applicable if applied toward the purchase of health insurance, although there may be some fall over for deducting medical expenditures up to a $15K total (without details who can possibly decipher the "money left over from one year could be used the following year to cover health care costs" statement).

The $15K deduction is for a family, is that independent of family size? What is the deduction for an individual? What is the deduction for a married couple without children or other dependents? What about families in a civil union or gay marriage in states that allow them, but is not recognized by the federal government?

Also, realize that a $15K deduction does not equate to $15K cash back or reduction in taxes owed. A tax deduction lowers the amount of your taxable income -- the point being that even if you received a $15K tax deduction for spending $15K on insurance/healthcare the actual reduction (or refund) in your tax statement would vary according to rates on your taxable income, which was the following for 2005:

• 10% up to $7,300
• 15% up to $29,700
• 25% up to $71,850
• 28% up to $150,150
• 33% up to $326,450
• 35% over $326,450

The median family income for 2005 was $55,832. So, for the average family their taxable income after a standard deduction of $10,300 if married filing a joint tax return (or $7,550 as head of household) plus Ghouliani's $15K deduction would place them in the 25% bracket. What does this mean in real $$$ to the average family? Rough (really rough) calculations would take the median family from an approximate $11,383 tax bill (25% of $55,832 - $10,300) to a tax bill of $7633 (25% of $55,832 - $25,300). That's a savings of $3750 on their taxes assuming they spend $15K on health insurance -- 27% of their total income if they could afford it and get coverage. For comparison purposes, a family earning $200K could spend 7.5% of their total income and would see their taxes lowered by about $4,950.

Ghouliani displaying his GOP credentials by proposing those that are most in need and can least afford something should pay more for it.

None of this addresses the issue that most if not all of this money will not be going to actual healthcare (treatment), but to insurance companies who can continue to happily take in money, now supported by tax dollars, while doing their utmost to deny payments for actual treatment.

For some additional analysis, a family earning $45K would drop down from the 25% to 15% tax bracket if they could afford to shell out $15K (33% of their total income) for heath coverage and would receive a reduction (using the same calculation from above) of about $5720 in their tax bill. It is doubtful that there would be any benefit for families earning less than $45K because even with a tax deduction the cost of coverage would remain unaffordable. For the ridiculous at infinitum factor, a family earning $25,300 (or less) a year that managed to pay for $15K of coverage (59% or more of their income) would see their tax bill drop to zero from $2250 (or less), thus paying (at least) $2700 more for the same coverage as a wealthy family earning $200,000, while families with taxable incomes in the top bracket (35%) would save an additional $300.