911, Iraq, & Katrina.

3 Massive Disasters

Thousands upon thousands of citizens DEAD.

The possibility that thousands, maybe millions of more citizens may die under this administration's careless behaviour.

It's not hard to imagine a coup taking place as a result in many, many places around the world.

When are Americans going to get this angry?!!! Believe me, the world would understand.

Don't you think Beelzebush likes this shit

When disaster strikes, it is the only time he is clear speaking

Wonder why this is?

What makes it 100x worse, is that they got in by stealing elections!

These fringe radicals wouldn't even be in there!

"What didn't go right?"

Newsflash for Bush: EVERYTHING DIDN'T GO RIGHT, YOU GOD DAMN FUCKUP!

Get rid of Tom Delay and Hastert by forcing their recusal. They are the praetorian guard, the reason impeachment is getting stonewalled.

They broke the law by accepting bribes, so get rid of them by force.

End the voting machines, NO MORE CRIME! http://www.votersunite.org
And I think I already stressed this earlier: Nancy Pelosi and the rest better follow John Conyers and Walter Jones, because that is leadership. If they don't, we the people will be coming for all their jobs.

Doug E.

Brad,

Why is it all of a sudden you have stopped calling for impeachment? If you are serious about it, you should be calling for it RIGHT NOW, since Bush's current idiocy is criminal negligence which ought to result in thousands of counts of manslaughter against him for watching the people of New Orleans die under his nose.

I am afraid if you don't start calling for impeachment now, you will lose all credibility as a Bush opponent and should send your resume in to FOX News asap.

Love your blog, but impeachment now must become the message!

Negligence leading to manslaughter is finally something big enough to bring the house down, and the insurance companies that own much of Wall Street will back it if people like you have the guts to scream for it.

I second that, Bob --- NO QUESTION!!!

IMPEACH! ASAP!!!

Not only that, there should be massive --- AND I MEAN MASSIVE --- protests on a weekly basis in every city across America.

How can this NOT be happening?!!!

My GOD!!! I'm hearing these cute little catch-phrases like "blame-game". BLAME-GAME!!!! BLAME GAME!!! We have an administration that has had 4 years to get its act together and we see a f@#king Monty Python performance by a superpower.

It is CLEAR that this administration is a threat to the security of the world. It's time to start treating them as such!!!!

Bob,

Impeach them all

You're damn right its time to scream for it: TIME TO BOYCOTT EXXON, AND CIRCULATE THOUSANDS, MILLIONS OF IMPEACHMENT SIGNATURES!

I have no idea why Bradblog and the rest of the left, or still sane conservatives isn't doing it right now.

Also get rid of the praetorian guard. You have the facts on Delay and Hastert, they must be FIRED. Forced into resignation and either jailed or indicted. They accepted illegal bribes from Big Oil related crooked lobbyists. Its time for them to go down!

Get rid of em! Out with Delay and Hastert

No more guards for the Bush admin....Get rid of em asap and come with the impeachments......Your resignation was yesterday, George W. Fuckup.

Doug E.

Wow. According to Gallup, about 70% of Americans don't even think anybody at Fema should be fired.

IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY!! But first they should have to spend a day in Bagdad and New Orleans! Two major cities in ruins because of them!
Did you ever stop to think that Bush seemed to feel that nothing went wrong because to him it didn't. This was his/their plan! Haliburton Stock is way up, bussiness in Houston is booming, Oil Companies, and most certainly Drug Companies will profit, and the Country will be divided and distracted while they REALLY screw us (Iraq, Supreme Court) etc.
This truelywas his "Perfect Storm"!!!!!

Phil:

Here's another poll that gives the same results.

What is wrong with this country??!!!

Gallup/Rasmussen also polls almost exclusively republicans so it doesn't mean shit.

Those who are defending Bush swallowed the spin which is total excrement. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HAVE NO CONTROL OVER A FEDERAL EMERGENCY. Of course, the Locals get blamed INSTEAD because the FEDERAL branch is full of fascist children and introduced laws so states would take over their own disasters. But if they don't have any funding, it doesn't matter.

Doug

Doug #7

I went to your "Impeach them all" link. At first it looked like the petition to be signed was only to impeach Bush.. and I thought, well, what about Cheney & co.? Then I clicked on the part of the page that said "articles of Impeachment", and it looked like it did indeed include more than Bush thus:

---snip
Articles of Impeachment

of

President George W. Bush

and

Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from
Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors. - - ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

------

Unfortunately, the page that has this information on others named has the same URL as the Impeach homepage, so there's no use in linking.

Just wanted to clarify that, because I did pause for a moment-- the actual petition says Impeach Bush, but the articles indicate Impeach Bushco. So, I guess I can sign, without worrying about getting Cheney as prez!!!!

.pdf to print out petition hard copy

FYI- in case someone wants to go this non-internet route.

Why are you guys so upset? The government has offered all of the people who lost loved ones, homes, health, wealth, and prosperity a whopping $2,000 (two thousand) dollars for their trouble (link here).

Now what red blooded american would not jump at that? Especially from "that part of the world".

Never mind that we have spent about $20,000 dollars on each Iraqi to bring them this good life the people of New Orleans enjoy. I mean, hey, if you are an american you gotta bow down and jump when the prez says jump thru the holy hoop.

Complain and bitch ... complain and bitch ... hey you go to war with the army you got and you take the storms with the levees you got ... why don't all you folks "in that part of the world" get this doctrine? I mean jeez, George told us God is leading him and we are following him to the promise land ... right?

The House brings charges and the Senate convicts, but that is if you have something other than a Republican majority.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside. (Maybe that is why he wants Roberts as Chief Justice pronto) And no person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present (I think we're outnumbered).

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust, or Profit under the United
States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment, according to Law.

If I read that right, I think he can be put on trial after he is impeached. It would be a shame if all that happened was impeachment. Who wants to stop there? Try the bastards! None of this just leaving office in disgrace which isn't much damned punishment.

Too bad our fore fathers didn't imagine that the government would one day be taken over by one party. If they had seen that they might have allowed for us citizens to impeach him if the Senate did not.

You have to remember though that BushCo has made almost everything top secret and stripped most of Congress of their security clearances. Therefore, facts would be very difficult to obtain.

kol:
The facts can be briefed and seen in the International Relations committee.

That would make the required facts relatively simple. You are correct in the 2/3 majority part.

However lets say the GOP & democrats find the spine to demand it. It could easily pass by 2/3 or just below it if the people are fed up.

All that matters to politicians is their jobs. If they see the admin as an albatross, they'll get rid of it. Either way, with a repub majority house or a democrat majority house it still has to be convicted in the Senate.

The Senate is a tougher dilemma. Majoirty Leader Bill Frist is a rabid fundie. He would have to hear from his base and be completely alligned with the idea.....its possible if everyone is outraged, he will be too and convict. Unlikely, however.

Even if impeachment proceedings could only be started, they could be finished by 2006 early on with a democrat majority Senate.

But lets say the unimaginable happens: Lets say he and Cheney are impeached and Rumsfeld resigns. Chief Justice of the court would be presiding.....John Roberts as chief justice. A bush friend.

If John Roberts became confirmed before impeachment was finished, Bush COULD overturn the impeachment for himself and bribe his way back in.

This is more than likely why Roberts is going in....and he wants to ramrod him in. Bush is now afraid his cabinet could be impeached and needs Roberts in NOW

However, a CITIZENS impeachment would be impossible for Bush to avoid. If just ONE part of the impeachment was done, it could be possible for the citizens to FINISH the impeachment themselves and with the help of a prosecutor (Fitzgerald?) remove him permanently and then try him.

All of these thought processes must be examined carefully.

Doug

The only ones that failed the people of New Orleans are the people that are kept down by the leaders that make a living on their misery. They are told they are owed something because of their race or their economic standing. They keep voting in the folks like the Mayor, the Governor of LA, Marion Berry, John Conyers and all those that would have the most to lose should the poor people of the inter-cities move into the main stream of economic benefits that are the reward for education and hard work of that class. And when those leaders fail those people, they have learned to quickly shift the blame or play their race card. The disbursing of those victims of the hurricane and the new life they will start away from those dens of despair will be the success story of our life time.

When does Fitzgerald wind up ,October ?

DANGEROUS by golly a little beam of
truth. now keep going....push the ball

THANK YOU MS. PELOSI

MMIX: That's correct. The first step is blowing a hole in the echo chamber however and getting the media everywhere, not just the internet to do polls for impeachment/resignation.

I think it is neccesary for us to do everything possible to appoint an additional special prosecutor also, since the Bush team is already building its defense. We have to build our offense on all fronts, and right away.

As you can see people like hcodcr and other racist, ignorant viotrols will not change their mind and will stick to bullshit lies from the talking points. We don't need to reach them, we just have to reach everyone else about the facts of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Doug E.

Nancy Pelosi should be ashamed and really you should leave this great country of ours. She does nothing but stir up problems while she could be helping when America needs help.
We in America do not need her kind, she is just getting the media attention and making a complete fool of herself. Shame on you Nancy Pelosi.

Jan Mondy: The right-wing lies are over, you don't blame the victims and their people for the disaster. You blame the bush administration for once again dropping the ball and allowing thousands to die. Locals couldn't have prevented that, only the federal government had the resources.

The buck stops there, once again.

Doug E.

Jan Mondy #21

You speak only for yourself, do not say WE Americans.

Jan Mondy do you sleep well at night with America's Infant Mortality at 43% higher than 1958?
Or that Poverty has doubled with Bush in office?
Do you think that with EPA standards lowered the air you breathe isn't the same air all of us breathe?

It blows me away that some of you think you are
above the disasterous policies this selfish administration has pulled off.

THANK YOU NANCY PELOSI FOR SAYING WHAT WE AMERICANS WANT TO SAY. I DON'T CARE IF POLITICS ARE BEHIND IT OR NOT. IT IS TRUE.

Jan Mondy and those who think by critizing this administration is "creating" problems.

With gas prices making people choose between eating or getting to work, when a GOVERNMENT AGENCY, FEMA, set up to work in disasters, DOESN'T WORK.

WHEN THE LEADER DOESN'T THINK THERE IS A PROBLEM WHEN THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS DIED.
WE ARE WAY PAST CRITIZING AND TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE.

Someday Jan Mondy, your house or houses may be the ones hit by a disaster and FEMA will be just a little late in helping, and you are sleeping in a tent in a K-Mart parking lot with nothing you will wish someone would be questioning who is leading this nation.

There were alot of white faces who lost everything too.

PELOSI 2008

For a Reality Based America

Let's set the record straight – FEMA is not a first responder. In fact FEMA is not responsible for:

Rescuing people or serving as "first-responders" in a disaster,
Building dams or levees or sand-bagging activities,
Taking "charge" of a recovery effort,
Running temporary shelters or disaster feeding stations,
Making weather predictions or predicting floods,
Ordering evacuations of communities due to natural disaster,
Setting building standards or zoning regulations, OR
Calling out the National Guard.

Hence, that’s why Nancy Pelosi couldn’t answer the President when he asked for her reason to fire Michael Brown. Next, she'll be blaming the beavers for not building a backup dam system.

Oh yes, Lets set the record straight. The President can make one phone call and order the military to let the USS Bataan who was waiting just miles off shore help people with food, water and medical supplies.

The President can NOT cut funding to repair and strengthen levees which he was told needed repair
for years and years.

The President CAN put an experienced person in charge of FEMA instead of firing those who do not agree with him.

Michael Brown didn't have to wait 5 hours and then ask only for 1000 people to train, and the rest of the staff could come in TWO DAYS LATER.

AMERICA WANTS TO KNOW WHY SO LITTLE WAS DONE IMMEDIATELY AFTER AND STILL TODAY.
PEOPLE ARE STILL NOT SEEING FEMA AND
GETTING FOOD OR WATER.

THANK GOD NANCY PELOSI HAS THE BALLS TO ASK QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED.

You know the next disaster could be your home or homes, sure hope your tax cut will cover the damages.

You left wingers are all the same with your left hand out and your right finger pointed at someone else. Your hate runs so deep that you praise a woman with ball but no brains. When the truth comes out (and it will) the Governor and the Mayor, responsible for evacuating the poor, will be run out of office by the red state they just created.

Please save your hate for Election Day and donate something of value to the needy.

Steve #28 - there is enough blame to go around...but like it or not as Scott McClellan said yesterday, "the buck stops here." When asked if he mean't the President, he replied, "yes".

#28 Better the left hand out giving help to those who need it than both hands in taxpayers pockets to fund Halliburton and yet another tax cut for the very, very rich.

Texaslady27 - The facts are the facts.

The president pleaded with the Governor on Friday (before the hurricane) to federalize the impeding disaster with military troops. The Governor didn’t agree until Thursday – 6 days too late. Unfortunately, the President does not have the right to send in the troops unless invited by the Governor or ordered by congress (who was on vacation). Even if congress had been in secession, it would have been imposable to convince them to supersede a Governor’s rights.

All that said, I do agree that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. However, the problem is the system not the President. The question will be – Who is responsible for a State disaster when the Mayor and the Governor refuse to take the appropriate action.

I’m not sure the President should have that right.

Steve: Once its your home, and your town destroyed and everything ruined your tune will either be changed 180 degrees or you will throw yourself to the death in a fit of insanity.

You can not honestly believe the local officials control disaster relief. They had NOT the funding nor the resources to control disaster relief. That was Bush and his federal pals job. They deliberately failed.

And the BUCK stops right there.....Even spinning Robert Ziegler aka Scott Mclellan knew this was Bush administration's fault...Cut your vacation 2 days short to earn some political points, but don't bother ordering everyone to save the city and rescue the people with those unused crafts.

Doug E.

Rich that was a right wing lie too. She sent the letter on August 26th, and FEMA plus Bush did not respond. Finally Bush said "Let me take control of the whole state and I'll help" something to that affect. Blanco refused, but they did point to the constitution that the government MUST bring their assets and provide relief immediately to save the city. It was written in the law.

Bush and his cronies refused, of course. It was nothing less than a power grab. He then tried to take control of the state again via martial law, there is ample evidence of the entire meeting. He wanted political points, the disaster itself and so on were meaningless. There is proof of everything the Federal branch did to not help out....The same as it was for MS and AL.

Doug

Proof the Government of Louisiana was not in charge of the Disaster, and the Federal Government failed to respond.

Doug E.

Rich I direct you to Katrina TimeLine here on this website. Check it out.

You can check it further...the letter from the Governor to the White House is on LA website.

Please let me know where you read that Bush was pleading with the Governor...I haven't found proof of that...Joe Scarborough, a conservative, dismissed that rumor.

During the disaster :
The photo ops of Bush show, eating cake, strumming the guitar, visiting veterans. Rice was shoe shopping, Ferragamos, and watching a play, which she was booed at when the lights came on.
Rumsfeldt was at a ballgame, and Cheney well, no one is certain, except maybe buying that 2.9 million house...could be the Halliburton trust money going to be useful.

Oh, were you aware the photo ops of Bush touring the Gulfstates were set ups? The firemen were commandeered to walk with him. The food distribution was taken down as soon as Bush left the area, although there were people needing food.
Helicopters were ordered down while Bush was "visiting" so people who maybe could have been rescued had to wait.
Rich, it goes on and on...just avail yourself to Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, and even your favorite Melanie Malkin has called for Michael Brown's resignation.

Rich it is not hateful to demand accountability for actions when you are being paid for accountability.
Hateful would be letting innocent children die because you can't ask your leader to protect the people. Bush even said, it was his place to protect Americans.

And yes, everyone on this blog, would be just as angry if Gore or Kerry were in the White House.

Doug - You’re dreaming.

Thanks for admitting that Blanco refused federal help. You might also note that she failed to call in her own National Guard – Was she afraid that her own National Guard would take over the state too? How about the 450 school buses she could have used to transport the poor who were stuck in the city?

As for what Blanco signed on the 26th, it had nothing to do with ordering troops OR first responders. Your facts are simply wrong. Then you said “they did point to the constitution that the government MUST bring their assets and provide relief immediately to save the city." Who are” they” and where in the constitution does it say that?

Here are some facts for you:

Here you will find Louisiana’s own Evacuation Plan. Note that they didn’t follow their own plan and that they were required to bus the poor to safety.
http://www.loep.state.la.us/plans/plansindex.htm

Here you will find what FEMA is required to do. Note that they are not considered to be a first responder.
http://www.fema.gov/library/fff02.shtm

Regards
Rich

How can anyone read this letter from Blanco and believe that she was in control. http://gov.louisiana.gov...r%20Relief%20Request.pdf

She waited until the evening of the 28th (SUNDAY) to request Federal disaster relief when the President had ALREADY declared New Orleans a disaster area on Friday.

In her letter she asked for “Crisis Counseling, Unemployment Assistance, loans, and funding…” BUT nowhere does she ask for military troops, food, transportation, water, or anything that might save one life. She didn’t agree to Federal front line support until Thursday the 1st.

Now, given that the Mayor AND the Governor did not protect their citizens, you need to ask yourself this question:

Should the President be given the authority to override the Governor in order to protect the citizens of that state, keeping in mind that the President could be someone you like or someone you don’t like? In other words, should the President be given war powers over a natural disaster?

Regards

Rich you just proved everyone right.

Blanco wasn't in control, she wasn't SUPPOSED to be in control during a national emergency. That was the national guards job, who arrived by the way 48 hours later heavily understaffed.

She was only supposed to control her COMMUNITIES, not the entire relief effort. It was Bush and his callous disregard which wanted control of the entire state. And she didn't let him have it, obviously knowing it was idiocy.

Bush and FEMA had the responsibilty to move, it is the law

Bush and FEMA failed miserably and played tiddly winks instead. There could be numerous problems with the local government, but they don't have the jurisdiction or the MONEY to take care of national emergencies. So the blame on the federal government is ENTIRELY warranted and shows how Bush didn't care.

Doug E.

The problem is that you have no elected president only a guy who has been propped up by the backroom boys ,who's family would be lynched if the American people know all the crimes they had committed (as confesssed by Snr. himself).Going back a long way (see link).How can any sane person trust a meat head who can not even run a small company to run a country like America .
The reader will recall Mr. Samuel Pryor, the `` Merchant of Death. '' A partner with the Harrimans, Prescott Bush, George Walker and Nazi boss Fritz Thyssen in banking and shipping enterprises, Sam Pryor remained executive committee chairman of Remington Arms. In this period, the Nazi private armies (S.A. and S.S.) were supplied with American arms--most likely by Pryor and his company--as they moved to overthrow the German republic. Such gun-running as an instrument of national policy would later become notorious in the `` Iran-Contra '' affair.

and to repost.
2000 should have warned people that something like this was going to happen.
Not a hurricane and its resultant floods ,wind damage and appalling loss of life but the then damaged "Infra-structure" of the USA.
Only a fool would think a government "by the people ,for the people" would be obtained as a result of a decision by a small group of "atypical" Citizens ,namely the Supreme Court .
To stop the vote count and award the results AS THEY DEEMED FIT was surely a "red flag" to anybody paying attention that the "Infra-structure" of the USA was serverly damaged ,no matter their political leanings.
A "red flag" confirmed on 911 ,twice ,the terror attacks by hi-jacked air craft and the publishing of the fact that Gore won the popular vote in 2000.

If you cannot be guaranteed that any member of government was truly elected "by the people", how can you guarantee the alleged winner represents "the people"?

Is the anger able to be focused at the heart of the problem ,corruption of ethics for power and financial gain?

Louisiana NOT responsible for national emergencies- according to the laws.

Each state is required to be given federal assistance in times of national emergency

It was all a pack of lies like Iraq. Notice how "they" didn't blame the other states for their callous response, they only blamed louisiana.

Doug E.

What a horde of uneducated socialists you are. Like it or not, the truth will triumph - The inept Governor of Louisiana AND the Mayor of New Orleans (BOTH Democrats) will be exposed for failing to evacuate the poor and the weak who elected them.

To the local officials of Alabama and Mississippi: Congratulations for a job well done!

To the evacuees from Louisiana: God speed and best wishes for a better life. We are all Americans and we support you.

To the inept Governor of Louisiana AND Mayor of New Orleans: You have let your citizens down and you have failed to protect the needy. Most of your voters have migrated to republican states, promising never to return. New Orleans will be rebuilt and transformed into a beautiful cultural center by the very business community you so desperately despise.
And, out of the ashes and flood waters will rise a Republican state by the people and for the people – God bless America!

To the President: I trust you will get to the bottom of this matter posthaste. The citizens of this nation should not have to suffer when the local or state Governments fail to respond in a prudent manner to protect their citizens.

I depart this blog now so that you can wallow in your own pity, decadence and hedonism while I focus my time on helping the needy hurricane victims.

Please send your donations to the American Red Cross or a charity of your preference.

Regards,
Rich ®
San Diego

Funny, MS and AL had the same LACK OF RESPONSE and no federal assistance yet they are PRAISED???

Seems to me you see things the same way, as in Rs and Ds.

Don't be an idiot. Mayor Nagin needs to resign, Bush needs to resign, Chertoff needs to resign and so does Cheney for all being COMPLETELY CALLOUS and disregarding the lives of thousands of people. For NOT taking action, when the general of NORTH COMMAND ordered them too.

They all need to resign, you incompetent ingrate. Can you not see that your idiotic federal president watched them all die on the news, while he strummed guitar? Can you not see they were ORDERED to provide assistance, and never did?

That's the reality here bud, the buck stops here. All of the money squandered in Iraq could have protected the Gulf Coast, and the relief efforts could have been 5 days earlier. Instead, it was squandered and drowned in the bathtub: And you know it too.

Doug E.

This disaster is a ghastly showcase of the total intellectual bankruptcy of the concept of starving FEMA of funds in favor of big tax cuts for the wealthiest and folding FEMA into DHS where it operates on a shoestring budget and is headed by political hacks who know less about disaster relief management than they do about horse breeding and being a White House asskisser, where it has been reduced to a shell of its former self and operates at the discretion of DHS director Chertoff, another incompetent political hack. This horrible event brings the woefully inadequate, callous and criminally negligent concept of "privatized civil defense" into clear focus.

Searching for truthful answers -

Is FEMA actually considered a first responder?

Did the Mayor of New Orleans send his police and their familied to a state paid Vegas vacation when they were need the most.

Why didn't congress cut their vacation short, get back to DC and order the troops to New Orleans?

Would the President have more power to act after a terrorist attract as opposed to a natural disaster and why?

Is it true that Governor Blanco sent a letter to Bush requesting 130 million dollars for Counseling, Unemployment Assistance, loans, and funding, etc. but NOT requesting troops, transportation, water, or other front line support.

Who is in control of New Orleans now, the Feds or the State.

Did the police actually let people out of the local jails?

Did caretakers actually leave 30 or so people in an old fokes home to die alone and they did?

Is it true that police were seen looting?

Is it true that the Mayor of New Orleans has high level connections with org. crime in Vegas?

Is it true that Louisiana’s Evacuation Plan required the state to provide pick-up staging areas and buses for busing stranded citizens to safety but hundreds of buses sat idle and got flooded?

Is it true that the President can not send troops in without the Governor’s request or by an act of congress?

I am not a political person so please try to be truthful.

Thanks so much

Kandyce

Here is a somewhat complete time line that may help you.

http://www.nola.com/news...ives/2005_08.html#074564

I think you are all wrong. The main reason there was a late start in New Orleans is because everyone thought New Orleans wasn't that bad off. In fact, many bars and clubs were still open in New Orleans. It wasn't until Tuesday that everyone realized how bad it was. Read the article below:

Big Easy dodges bullet

By ADAM NOSSITER - Associated Press Writer Monday- August 29, 2005

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with shrieking, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that submerged entire neighborhoods up to the rooflines and peeled away part of the Superdome, where thousands of people had taken shelter. The storm unleashed more chaos as it moved into Mississippi, hurling boats into buildings and ripping billboards to shreds.
Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and made a slight turn to the right before hitting land at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the bayou town of Buras. It passed just to the east of New Orleans as it moved inland and later dropped to a 105-mph Category 2 storm, sparing this vulnerable city its full fury.

But destruction was everywhere along Gulf Coast, including an estimated 40,000 homes flooded in St. Bernard Parish just east of New Orleans, said state Sen. Walter Boasso.

Katrina recorded a storm surge of at least 20 feet in Mississippi, where windows of a major hospital were blown out, utility poles dangled in the wind, and casinos were flooded. In some areas, authorities pulled stranded homeowners from roofs or rescued them from attics. In Alabama, exploding transformers lit up the early morning sky as power outages spread.

"Let me tell you something folks. I've been out there. It's complete devastation," said Gulfport Fire Chief Pat Sullivan, who ventured into the hurricane to check threatened areas.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries as of midday, but emergency officials have not been able to reach some of the hardest-hit areas. Gov. Haley Barbour said he feared loss of life among those who chose to ignore evacuation orders.

"We know some people got trapped and we pray they are OK," Barbour said.

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned that New Orleans would be pounded throughout the day and that Katrina's potential 15-foot storm surge, down from a feared 28 feet, was still enough to cause extensive flooding. Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the hurricane center, estimated that the highest winds in New Orleans were about 100 mph.

"I'm not doing too good right now," Chris Robinson said via cellphone from his home east of the city's downtown. "The water's rising pretty fast. I got a hammer and an ax and a crowbar, but I'm holding off on breaking through the roof until the last minute. Tell someone to come get me please. I want to live."

On the south shore of Lake Ponchartrain, entire neighborhoods of one-story, homes were flooded up to the rooflines. The Interstate 10 off-ramps nearby looked like boat ramps amid the whitecapped waves. Garbage cans and tires bobbed in the water.

Two people were stranded on the roof as murky water lapped at the gutters.

"Get us a boat!" a man in a black slicker shouted over the howling winds.

Across the street, a woman leaned from the second-story window of a brick home and shouted for assistance.

"There are three kids in here," the woman said. "Can you help us?"

Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, the storm flung boats onto land in Mississippi, lashed street lamps and flooded roads in Alabama, and swamped highway bridges in the Florida Panhandle. At least a half-million people were without power from Louisiana to Florida's Panhandle, including 370,000 in southeastern Louisiana and 116,400 in Alabama, mostly in the Mobile area.

At New Orleans' Superdome, home to 9,000 storm refugees, the wind ripped pieces of metal from the golden roof, leaving two holes that let water drip in. People inside were moved out of the way. Others stayed and watched as sheets of metal flapped and rumbled loudly 19 stories above the floor. Outside, one of the 10-foot, concrete clock pylons set up around the Superdome blew over.

Elsewhere in the city, the storm shattered scores of windows in high-rise office buildings and on five floors of the Charity Hospital, forcing patients to be moved to lower levels. At the Windsor Court Hotel, guests were told to go into the interior hallways with blankets and pillows and to keep the doors to the rooms closed to avoid flying glass.

In suburban Jefferson Parish, Sheriff Harry Lee said residents of a building on the west bank of the Mississippi River called 911 to say the building had collapsed and people might be trapped. He said deputies were not immediately able to check out the building because their vehicles were unable to reach the scene.

At 1 p.m. EDT, Katrina was centered moving to the north at 17 mph.

Katrina was a terrifying, 175-mph Category 5 behemoth - the most powerful category on the scale - before weakening.

By midday, the brunt of the storm had moved beyond New Orleans to Mississippi's coast, home to the state's floating casinos, where Katrina washed sailboats onto a coastal four-lane highway. The Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino, one of the premier gambling spots in Biloxi, had water on the first floor, and Barbour said other casinos were flooded as well.

Katrina was the most powerful storm to affect Mississippi since Hurricane Camille came in as a Category 5 in 1969, killing 143 people along the Gulf Coast.

"This is a devastating hit - we've got boats that have gone into buildings," Gulfport, Miss., Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said as he maneuvered around downed trees in the city. "What you're looking at is Camille II."

In New Orleans' historic French Quarter of Napoleonic-era buildings with wrought-iron balconies, water pooled in the streets from the driving rain, but the area appeared to have escaped the catastrophic flooding that forecasters had predicted.

On Jackson Square, two massive oak trees outside the 278-year-old St. Louis Cathedral came out by the roots, ripping out a 30-foot section of ornamental iron fence and straddling a marble statue of Jesus Christ, snapping off only the thumb and forefinger of his outstretched hand.

At the hotel Le Richelieu, the winds blew open sets of balcony French doors shortly after dawn. Seventy-three-year-old Josephine Elow of New Orleans pressed her weight against the broken doors as a hotel employee tried to secure them.

"It's not life-threatening," Mrs. Elow said as rain water dripped from her face. "God's got our back."

Elow's daughter, Darcel Elow, was awakened before dawn by a high-pitched howling that sounded like a trumpeting elephant. "I thought it was the horn to tell everybody to leave out the hotel," she said as she walked the hall in her nightgown.

For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that is up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and relies on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry from the Mississippi River on one side, Lake Pontchartrain on the other.

The fear was that flooding could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, as well as waste from ruined septic systems.

The National Weather Service reported that a levee broke on the Industrial Canal near the St. Bernard-Orleans parish line, and 3 to 8 feet of flooding was possible. The Industrial Canal is a 5.5-mile waterway that connects the Mississippi River to the Intracoastal Waterway.

Crude oil futures spiked to more than $70 a barrel in Singapore for the first time Monday as Katrina targeted an area crucial to the country's energy infrastructure, but the price had slipped back to $68.95 by midday in Europe. The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity.

Calling it a once-in-a-lifetime storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation over the weekend for the 480,000 residents of the vulnerable city, and he estimated about 80 percent heeded the call.

The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Officials said the cause was probably dehydration.

New Orleans has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Katrina hit the southern tip of Florida as a much weaker storm Thursday and was blamed for 11 deaths. It left miles of streets and homes flooded and knocked out power to 1.45 million customers. It was the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in just over a year.

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Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Holbrook Mohr, Brett Martel and Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.