Probably Medal of Freedom from Bush.
landerson@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
I begged him to let me continue, said Perlmutter, who left his home and practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania to come to Louisiana and volunteer to care for hurricane victims. People were dying, and I was the only doctor on the tarmac (at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) where scores of nonresponsive patients lay on stretchers. Two patients died in front of me.
I showed him (the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge) my medical credentials. I had tried to get through to FEMA for 12 hours the day before and finally gave up. I asked him to let me stay until I was replaced by another doctor, but he refused. He said he was afraid of being sued. I informed him about the Good Samaritan laws and asked him if he was willing to let people die so the government wouldn't be sued, but he would not back down. I had to leave.
FEMA issued a formal response to Perlmutter's story, acknowledging that the agency does not use voluntary physicians.
We have a cadre of physicians of our own, FEMA spokesman Kim Pease said Thursday. They are the National Disaster Medical Team. ... The voluntary doctor was not a credentialed FEMA physician and, thus, was subject to law enforcement rules in a disaster area.
A Coast Guard spokesman said he was looking into the incident but was not able to confirm it.
Perlmutter, Dr. Clark Gerhart and medical student Alison Torrens flew into Baton Rouge on a private jet loaned by a Pennsylvania businessman several days after Katrina hit. They brought medicine and supplies with them. They stayed the first night in Baton Rouge and persuaded an Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot to fly them into New Orleans the next day.
I was going to make it happen, the orthopedic surgeon said. I was at Ground Zero too, and I had to lie to get in there.
At the triage area in the New Orleans airport, Perlmutter was successful in getting FEMA to accept the insulin and morphine he had brought. The pharmacist told us they were completely out of insulin and our donation would save numerous lives. Still, I felt we were the most-valuable resource, and we were sent away.
Gerhart said the scene they confronted at the airport was one of hundreds of people lying on the ground, many soaked in their own urine and feces, some coding (dying) before our eyes. FEMA workers initially seemed glad for help and asked Gerhart to work inside the terminal and Perlmutter to work out on the tarmac. They were told only a single obstetrician had been on call at the site for the past 24 hours.
Then, the Coast Guard official informed the group that he could not credential them or guarantee tort coverage and that they should return to Baton Rouge. That shocked me, that those would be his concerns in a time of emergency, Gerhart said.
Transported back to Baton Rouge, Perlmutter's frustrated group went to state health officials who finally got them certified -- a simple process that took only a few seconds.
I found numerous other doctors in Baton Rouge waiting to be assigned and others who were sent away, and there was no shortage of need, he said.
Perlmutter spent some time at the Department of Health and Hospital's operational center at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries before moving to the makeshift Kmart Hospital doctors established at an abandoned store to care for patients. After organizing an orthopedics room and setting up ventilators there, Perlmutter went back to the Swaggart Center and then to the LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center's field hospital to care for patients being flown in from the New Orleans area.
We saw elderly patients who had been off their medicine for days, diabetics without insulin going into shock, uncontrolled hypertension, patients with psychosis and other mental disorders, lots of diarrhea, dehydration and things you would expect. I slept on a patient cot there every night until I came home.
Gerhart said he felt the experience overall was successful and rewarding, although frustrating at times. You don't expect catastrophes to be well organized. A lot of people, both private citizens and government officials, were working very hard.
Perlmutter did not return home empty-handed. He brought a family of four evacuees back with him and is still working with Baton Rouge volunteer Hollis Barry to facilitate the relocation of additional hurricane victims to Pennsylvania.
He also returned with a sense of outrage. I have been trying to call Sen. Arlen Specter (of Pennsylvania) to let him know of our experience.
I have been going to Ecuador and Mexico (on medical missions) for 14 years. I was at ground zero. I've seen hundreds of people die. This was different because we knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA showed up late and then rejected help for the sake of organization. They put form before function, and people died.
Both FEMA and the Coast Guard operate under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has been widely criticized for its disjointed, slow response to the devastation caused by Katrina. Federal officials are urging medical personnel who want to volunteer to help with disaster relief to contact the Medical Reserve Corps or the American Red Cross for registration, training and organization.
2nd Colorado Pastor Resigns sm
The founding pastor of a second Colorado church has resigned over gay sex allegations, just weeks after the evangelical community was shaken by the scandal surrounding megachurch leader Ted Haggard.
Haggard, a gay-marriage opponent, admitted to unspecified sexual immorality when he resigned last month as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs. A male prostitute had said he had had sex with Haggard for three years.
On Sunday, Paul Barnes, founding pastor of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel in this Denver suburb, told his evangelical congregation in a videotaped message he had had sexual relations with other men and was stepping down.
Dave Palmer, associate pastor of Grace Chapel, told The Denver Post that Barnes confessed to him after the church received a call last week.
The church board of elders accepted Barnes' resignation on Thursday.
On the videotape, which The Post was allowed to view, Barnes told church members: I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy. ... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away.
Barnes, 54, led Grace Chapel for 28 years. He and his wife have two adult children.
Palmer said in a written statement that While we cannot condone what he has done, we continue to support and love Paul.
Chairman of Missing and Exploited Children Caucus Resigns...sm
But not before he solicited at least two teenagers via email/internet. See articlee (be sure to read on and see what he says to them).
Maybe FEMA? Oye!
Sorry but there is so much more that FEMA does
that you aren't even reporting. You make it sound like FEMA did nothing or they really slacked off. What about the national guard and disaster medical teams that are staged in close states before the storms. What about all the supplies that are staged. What about the local EOC that are always in place. What about the incredible warning systems we have. We have AF pilots who fly into the storm even!!! What about the funding that is already in place and the loans FEMA gives to people and biz to rebuild their life. The people criticizing FEMA have no experience with disasters, it's so obvious from the way they criticize the timing of the disaster declaration and when the politicans showed up in the area.
As far as being cold, they
tell people to always keep 72 hour kits, because that is the minimum time it takes for any help to arrive. It's not just a number someone found on a fortune cookie. If you know a storm is coming, common sense tells you to prepare for as long as you can. If healthy able bodied people refuse to prepare there isn't anything the government can do to help them. Again it was a hurricane during hurricane season and there was warning.
Compare Katrina to Ivan or Andrew. For some reason New Orleans was given more press & political attention than other places like FL, MS and AL.
Oregon Christian Coalition Head Resigns - Family Sexual Abuse
If these are *family values* then the right is RIGHT. I'm proud to say I
don't have 'em!
These people get scarier and scarier every day, and I'm keeping my children
away from them!
Christian Coalition head to withdraw from political life
10/10/2005, 5:50 p.m. PT
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The longtime head of the Christian Coalition of Oregon
said Monday that he is withdrawing from public life, a day after news reports
detailed accusations of sexual abuse against him by three female relatives.
I am thankful for a family that loves and supports me, and intend to withdraw
from public life until this is resolved, Lou Beres wrote in a statement posted
on the organization's web site, at http://www.coalition.org
Beres has denied any criminal misconduct and wrote that he will pursue the
Biblical response and do all within my power to reconcile with that person.
Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk told The Oregonian
newspaper that officials are investigating the complaints against Beres.
The three women — now adults — allege they were abused by Beres as preteens.
Their families called the child abuse hot line last month, after the three
openly discussed the alleged abuse for the first time.
I was molested, one of the women, now in her 50s, told The Oregonian. I was
victimized and I've suffered all my life for it. I'm still afraid to be in the
same room with him.
Beres, 70, has blamed personal and political enemies for the complaint.
Only one of the three cases appears to fall under Oregon's statute of
limitations on sex abuse, which expires after six years. Authorities said that
case involves a young woman who was allegedly abused by Beres when she was in elementary school.
A nephew of Beres' is standing up for the three women.
My family has gone through hell, said Richard Galat, 41, of Oakland, Calif.,
who told detectives that his uncle had molested several female relatives over
the years.
Lives have been ruined. Those of us who have come forward have been
ostracized, verbally abused and the victims of character assassination...It must
stop, he said.
In response to Galat's statements, Beres said on the Christian Coalition web
site Monday, I am grieved by the false allegations of my nephew, Richard Galat.
I am attempting to determine the source of each claim.
Beres, who did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated
Press, is the former head of the Republican Party in Multnomah County, the
Democratic stronghold that includes Portland.
Jim Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest
Grove, said Monday that Beres has not been particularly influential in Oregon
politics.
In fact, under his leadership, the Christian Coalition in Oregon has gone
downhill.
In state legislative races in 2004, for example, Moore said that, we found
that Christian Coalition candidates basically did not do as well as they did in
the past.
Oregon Republican Chairman Vance Day said Beres hasn't been much of a factor
in state GOP politics since he stepped down as Multnomah County chairman about 10 years ago.
I don't view this as having any major impact on politics here in Oregon; I
don't think the Christian Coalition has a big footprint here at all, he said.
The group did support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage that
passed handily with voters in November of 2004, but support for that cause was
rallied by another conservative-leaning group, the Defense of Marriage
Coalition.
Tim Nashif, the political director of that group, said he has few details
about the allegations, and added that his group is not associated with the
Christian Coalition.
Anytime any family goes through anything like this it's a pretty grievous
situation and our hearts go out to them, he said. The truth has a tendency to
come out.
Head of FEMA fired from previous job
Take a look at THIS info:
(source http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/2/34622/68348)
Yes, that's right... the man responsible for directing federal relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sharpened his emergency management skills as the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horses Association... a position from which he was forced to resign in the face of mounting litigation and financial disarray.
And what of that misleading White House press release?
'From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the national governing organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee.'
I can't even begin to fact check the dates or IAHA's alleged relationship to the US Olympic Committee, because of course, the IAHA doesn't exist anymore, so there's nothing to Google. But it begs the question... how the hell did his prior job experience prepare Brown to head FEMA?
Well, judging by his agency's performance over the past few days... it didn't.
[Cross-posted at HorsesAss.org]
_______________
Apparently, experience had nothing to do with Bush's bid for the presidency, and so he hands out agency posts like lollipops to his friends regardless of their competence or experience also.
The result is that thousands die unnecessarily on many continents. No one ever gets punished for this. Instead they get the Medal of Honor or civilian equivalent. They get promoted.
Excuse us Mr. Bush, can FEMA have your attention?
Katrina & Recovery
Woes at Embattled FEMA Spur Employee Exits
by Laura Sullivan
Tim Sloan
The FEMA command center in Washington, D.C., Aug. 30, 2005, shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. AFP/Getty Images
Mark Wolfe
Bill Carwile, in an October 2005 photo taken before he retired from FEMA. Days after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the head of hurricane response in Mississippi e-mailed FEMA headquarters: System appears broken. FEMA
All Things Considered, January 13, 2006 · FEMA is having trouble holding on to its best people. Several FEMA staffers have told NPR that people are leaving because the agency is in trouble and no one appears to be addressing the problems. These departures are raising concerns about FEMA's ability to respond to the next disaster.
Leo Bosner, a union chief and manager of the emergency operations desk at FEMA, says morale was bad Katrina, but it's only gotten worse. He notes there have been several retirement parties at the agency in recent weeks.
They're getting out not because they're tired and want to work in the garden but because they're just sickened by the agency's failure -- very public failure -- and just sickened to see nobody doing anything to lift a finger to fix the problems, Bosner says of the departing employees.
According to half a dozen other current or former FEMA managers who did not want their name used for fear of retribution, more than 50 people have left FEMA in the past four months. One official inside FEMA who has seen the agency's attrition data says 56 people have left in the past five weeks alone.
But FEMA says only 20 people have left. FEMA spokesman Nicole Andrews says the information Bosner and other employees shared with NPR is either incomplete or imprecise. She says there's an influx of applications to work for the agency, adding, To suggest that there is any sort of a trend related to Katrina and attrition would be absolutely false.
One recent retiree is Bill Carwile, a 10-year veteran of FEMA and former Army colonel who left in November. Carwile led FEMA's hurricane response in Mississippi.
Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Three days into Katrina recovery operations in Hancock County, Miss., Carwile couldn't get any food, water or even body bags. System appears broken, he wrote in an e-mail to FEMA headquarters. Carwile says it was the worst moment of his FEMA career.
The exhaustion frustration he felt in Mississippi wasn't the only thing pushing him to retire. Carwile says he was upset watching FEMA's training programs get cut year after year, leaving his teams unprepared.
Meanwhile, volunteers are *begging* FEMA not to shut down camps in Louisiana. sm
Katrina Volunteers Beg FEMA Not to Shut Down Camps
By Mark Martin
CBN News Reporter
CBN.com – ST. BERNARD PARISH, New Orleans - Carolyn Pitre is grateful to find her Bible among her belongings, piled up in the street in front of her home in St. Bernard Parish.
Carolyn says, “I'm drawn to try and find something of value because we have nothing left... (cries)… Because we have nothing left... Everything was gone. Everything.”
All along Carolyn's street, and in the entire area, it is the same: Destruction everywhere you look. Piles and piles of trash and debris. Gutted homes.
Lt. Colonel David Dysart is the director of recovery for St. Bernard Parish, which is near New Orleans. Dysart stated, “I have no residents living here right now, and I have had absolutely no businesses which have been able to return.”
The Marine reservist also had a part in the rebuilding of Fallujah, Iraq. He says there are several similarities. Both were completely evacuated, and both had their infrastructures completely wiped out.
The Lt. Colonel says it is going to take another six months to finish gutting thousands of homes to remove health and safety hazards. And that's where volunteers come in.
Dysart says it takes 10 to 12 volunteers a day to a day-and-a-half to gut just one house.
Asked if he needed volunteers right now, Dysart replied, “Absolutely. It's critical that we keep this up. We have approximately 800 homes to date that we've managed to move these items, out of the approximately 5,000 that applied.”
Volunteers need a place to stay. Right now, they live in base camps set up by fema. The problem is, local relief coordinators say, fema wants to close them soon -- in just a few weeks.
FEMA told Dysart that it wants to close these base camps because, Dysart said, “It is not FEMA's responsibility to provide support to volunteer agencies.”
Operation Blessing Disaster Relief Manager Jody Herrington says that not being able to provide a home means turning away a volunteer.
“Each volunteer that we turn away is another home that's not gutted, another resident that's not helped,” Jody declared. “It's another neighborhood that's not coming back. It's another city that's not restored. The reality is the volunteer help is crucial and critical to the success of recovery out in these parishes.”
Brenda Puckett is a missionary to nearby Plaquemines Parish. “There's so much to do,” Brenda stressed. “There's so much devastation. The need for volunteers is tremendous.”
She, too, says the camps need to stay.
Around 500 people live in one camp alone. A FEMA representative says it one houses contractors, people who are here to clean up and rebuild. I asked him where they would stay if these tents were not here. He said in their vehicles, wherever they could find.
Brenda said, “It just breaks my heart. We need the contractors here, we need the volunteers here in order to build our Parish back.”
Pastor Randy Millet helps run a disaster relief center in St. Bernard Parish. He says the volunteers are vital in making sure that residents get the food and clothing they need to survive.
“Please don't close the base camps,” Randy urged. “Allow us to house our volunteers. They're not looking for a Holiday Inn. They're looking for a cot with a pillow and a meal.”
In addition, Randy says that without warning, fema stopped providing ice and filling up their generators with fuel.
“What we’ve got to do in order to get diesel fuel right now -- we have to go across the street to fill up our buckets,” Randy explained, “and bring them back to fill up our generators... three or four... and that takes four or five trips.
Obstacles, these workers say, that are making it tough to serve others.
“The sheer economic recovery of this parish is dependent upon the volunteer effort,” Dysart commented.
Herrington said, “Our plea would be to please consider extending the closing of the base camps so that would give us time for transition and preparation to come up with some other accommodations.”
Carolyn Pitre does not want to see volunteers turned away. She's grateful for those who helped remove her belongings from her home.
“We need all the help we can get. It's not over... not by a long shot,” Carolyn stated.
CBN News tried to contact a fema representative to ask about the base camp closings and other issues facing volunteers, but no representative was available.
OMG. How brown-nosed is that?
Quick! Go grab a washcloth!
not ALL monkeys are brown....
http://images.cafepress.com/image/6194195_125x125.jpg
Put them in some brown shirts and you know what
ya got! All hail the leader....
Hey! Brown Trout!
While you swim in your own personal toilet bowel of life, I wish you the ability to look up before it is too late and you swirl down into the great abyss where you will join others, just like you, who could never look up, either.
I'd do better than that! I think I'd send the brown
*
What did you think of PM Brown's speech
Don't get me wrong. I love England a lot (many of my family came from that country, have visited it and the people of England are wonderful people), but I caught PM Brown's speech the other day and I though it was... well "lame" for lack of a better term. He was kissing the behinds of the people to get funding from America his nose was covered in feces. I see he has also been studying President Obama's speeches and it was so blatantly obvious. President Obama is probably one of the greatest in giving speeches. No doubt about that, but this was clearly an imitation of Obama's past speeches. (We are not blue states and we are not red states, we are the United States). Here Mr. Brown says "There is no old Europe, there is no new Europe, there is only your friend Europe". The way he presented his speech all I could think of was that Obama's speech writers wrote it for him. All I thought of was how lame.
Just curious what your opinions are. Mine is that America does not have the funds to be sending money over to England. Unemployment is rising, home loss is on the rise and they are trying to have us send money to them??? Maybe I'm wrong about this but I just think it's very arrogant, as was his speech to congress.
I also heard that I guess it didn't go as well as England had planned because now The Queen is having a private meeting with Mr. Obama.
Just wondered what others opinions are.
Plus PM Brown is going blind. nm
xxx
and miffed over the way Campbell Brown
nm
Whew!! Brown eyes here. (sm)
But ya know what they say about people with brown eyes, so we're not safe, either. 
Brown shirts optional
x
Brown-noser, suck-up. Kind of like sm
Britain's Blair does with Bush.
wow, wipe your nose off, the brown is showing!
I would rather send a bunch of brown envelopes..
against people like you showing how full of (insert word here) you are.
You can click on any of the brown places in the post and it will take you to the link.nm
x
I saw the video of the interview with Bounds and Campbell Brown...
are you saying there is a clip of McCain throwing a fit?
You just don't get it. There are black, white, brown and purple Christians...sm
Muslims, Jews, etc. Some want McCain to win and some want Obama to win, hopefully not based on color, ethnicity or religion but on what they envision is best for our country.
Practice your lockstep and iron your brown shirt...
BTW, he won't be but a 1-term president.
Brown's Economic Plan in England Mirrors Obama's
As you read the piece (see link below) in the London Times, substitute "Obama" for Brown, and "Geithner" for "Darling". Then multiply the billions in pounds by 1.5 to change them to US dollars. You'll think you're reading about the US plan - and the same catastrophic results, among which the worst are:
1. A burden on future generations of unparalleled and unprincipled proportions.
2. An outflow of investment capital to other countries that do not penalize the engines of the economy.
What struck me about Brown's plan was his "soak the rich" approach, which exactly mirrors Obama's - i.e., hitting the "upper 2%" of the "wealthy". It is more than passing strange to me that this is the precise percentage that Obama proposes - and is equally doubtful. Given Brown's recent meetings with Obama, no one will ever convince me that he didn't get some tutoring from our superclown...er, I mean, superpresident.
Another thing that's striking is how Brown's proposals are structured so that the real pain will be imposed after the elections in GB next year. In Obama's case, most of the real pain has also been scheduled for the "out years" - meaning that the public won't begin to feel them until beyond 2011.
And finally, there is the criticism that Brown's program is based on a lot of rosy "recovery" predictions which are very doubtful. Exactly the same criticism has been leveled at Obama's program, and in our case the criticism has come not from the opposition party but from within the government itself, i.e. the Office of Management and Budget - which is considered to be a very credible source of information on this sort of thing
Cut and paste, or follow the link at the bottom: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6168950.ece?Submitted=true
.
Each brown place in the link takes you to a different article that supports this article...nm
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