Blog for Relief Weekend

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast is unbelievable. Talk Show America is joining other blogsthis weekend to join together to raise funds for various charities assisting the victims.

I have chosen to use the Red Cross whose banner is already at the top of the page. As a police officer, Emergency Mangement Director, and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen in my town, I have seen the Red Cross at work during disasters, they do a great job and do it right.

Please dig deep and make a donation to help your fellow Americans.

When you make a donation, please go over to NZ Bear's donation tracking page and fill out the small form so that donations across the blogosphere can be tracked. If you already made one earlier today you can still go back and fill out the form.

Blog for Relief Day has now been turned into Blog for Relief Weekend and will last through Labor Day. If you haven't donated, please consider doing so now. If you have, please record it at the donation tracking page.

A flood of Bush-bashing

Debra J. Saunders

IT IS ONLY a matter of hours now that, after any catastrophe anywhere in the world -- a tsunami, a hurricane, a terrorist bombing on the London tube -- Bush haters find ways to blame President Bush. Hurricane Katrina? Bush haters have pointed their fingers at global warming, the war on terrorism, the Bush tax cuts, the national dependence on oil -- and in every category, Bush is the root of the evil.

Forget nature. George W. Bush is more powerful.

The German environment minister and U.S. enviro Robert F. Kennedy cited global warming as a cause for the hurricane. It doesn't matter if data show, as James Glassman of TechCentralStation pointed out, the peak for major hurricanes came in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Columnist Molly Ivins criticized Bush for cutting $71 million from the New Orleans Corps of Engineers -- even though the levee that broke had just been upgraded.

Are National Guardsmen in Iraq? Yes, some 35 percent are, but more are in Louisiana, and nearby police and firefighters can pitch in.

Bush haters who want to appear less rabid than their quick counterparts wait a whole day or so. Thursday the New York Times editorial page hit Bush for delivering a bad speech about the hurricane's aftermath, for grinning while he spoke and for asking Americans to donate cash but not asking them to sacrifice.

The day before, the paper opined "this seems like the wrong moment to dwell on fault-finding, or even to point out that it took what may become the worst natural disaster in American history to pry President Bush out of his vacation."

Say what you will, but all of the above arguments are a luxury.

They aren't stranded because of politics, SUVs or climate change. They are stranded because a planet that graces us with sunshine and warmth also makes storms.

They are stranded because a powerful storm cut a swath through their universe. They thought they could handle it. They survived Camille, or some other storm, and they thought they'd be better off at home. They wanted to be near their families and their pets. They never knew it could get this bad. They had made the same choice before, and it worked for them.

This time, what worked before failed. At times like this, Americans need to help each other.

Where are the Guardsmen?

James S. Robbins

So is the war in Iraq causing troop shortfalls for hurricane relief in New Orleans?

A look at the numbers should dispel that notion. Take the Army for example. There are 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard. Of them, 261,000 are deployed overseas in 120 countries. Iraq accounts for 103,000 soldiers, or 10.2 percent of the Army.

That�s all? Yes, 10.2 percent. That datum is significant in itself, a good one to keep handy the next time someone talks about how our forces are stretched too thin, our troops are at the breaking point, and so forth. If you add in Afghanistan (15,000) and the support troops in Kuwait (10,000) you still only have 12.6 percent.

So where are the rest? 751,000 (74.2 percent) are in the U.S. About half are active duty, and half Guard and Reserve. The Guard is the real issue of course � the Left wants you to believe that the country has been denuded of its citizen soldiers, and that Louisiana has suffered inordinately because Guardsmen and women who would have been available to be mobilized by the state to stop looting and aid in reconstruction are instead risking their lives in Iraq.

Not hardly. According to Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, 75 percent of the Army and Air National Guard are available nationwide. In addition, the federal government has agreed since the conflict in Iraq started not to mobilize more than 50 percent of Guard assets in any given state, in order to leave sufficient resources for governors to respond to emergencies.

In Louisiana only about a third of Guard personnel are deployed, and they will be returning in about a week as part of their normal rotation. The Mississippi Guard has 40 percent overseas. But Louisiana and Mississippi are not alone in this effort � under terms of Emergency Management Assistance Compacts (EMACs) between the states, Guard personnel are heading to the area from West Virginia, D.C., New Mexico, Utah, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Alabama, Washington, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, and Michigan. Thousands have already arrived, and more will over the next day or so.

The New York Times has called the military response �a costly game of catch up.� Catching up compared to what, one wonders. National Guard units were mobilized immediately; 7,500 troops from four states were on the ground within 24 hours of Katrina � a commendable response given the disruptions to the transportation infrastructure. The DOD response is well ahead of the 1992 Hurricane Andrew timetable. Back then, the support request took nine days to crawl through the bureaucracy. The reaction this time was less than three days officially, and DOD had been pre-staging assets in anticipation of the aid request from the moment Katrina hit. DOD cannot act independently of course; the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the lead agency. Requests for assistance have to be routed from local officials through FEMA to U.S. Northern Command and then to the necessary components. In practice, this means state officials have to assess damage and determine relief requirements; FEMA has to come up with a plan for integrating the military into the overall effort; DOD has to begin to pack and move the appropriate materiel, and deploy sufficient forces. This has all largely been or is being accomplished. Seven thousand mostly Navy and other specialized assets are currently in the area directly supporting hurricane relief, and a much larger number of other forces are en route. The process has been functioning remarkably smoothly under the circumstances

It is hard to understand what more should, or realistically could have been done up to this point. A disaster of this magnitude is certain to be politicized, but it seems early in the game to be assessing blame for a response effort that has only been underway a few days in a crisis that is still developing; particularly such a rapid response. Moreover, it is simply not plausible to use the situation to critique the force structure in Iraq. The Guard is demonstrating that it can fulfill both its state and federal responsibilities, as it was designed and intended to do. Of course, it is impossible to win in these situations; critics will always find a way. A year ago after Hurricane Charley, the president was accused of responding too quickly, allegedly to curry favor with Florida voters. Back then only a few fringe characters tried to make the Iraq/Guard connection. It is a shame that the Times has drifted in their direction.

� James S. Robbins is senior fellow in national-security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council, a trustee for the Leaders for Liberty Foundation, and an NRO contributor.

WHY DIDN'T YOU DEPLOY THE BUSES DURING THE MANDATORY EVACUATION, MAYOR?...

An aerial view of flooded school buses in a lot, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, in New Orleans, LA. The flood is a result of Hurricane Katrina that passed through the area last Monday.

FEMA Chief: 'Urban Warfare' Slowed Rescue

Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Michael Brown said Friday that rescue efforts in New Orleans were hampered when relief workers came under attack by the city's criminal element, prompting conditions that resembled "urban warfare."

"We are working under conditions of urban warfare," Brown told CNN, explaining why his agency was unable to act more quickly to save those left behind by evacuation efforts.

New Orleans Police Chief Edwin Compass echoed Brown's complaint, telling NBC's "Dateline":
"We have never had an urban warfare battle like this on any front in the history of our nation . . . You're fighting in buildings that are pitch black with darkness. These individuals have root - the criminal element have looted all the gun shops and gun stores in this city, so they're armed, they're dangerous."

Though the city's crime rate is ten times the national average, U.S. news reports downplayed the connection between New Orleans' outsized criminal element and delays in rescue efforts.

Saturday's London Times, however, painted a bleak picture of the challenges faced by local police as they tried to restore order.

"One New Orleans police officer wept as he described seeing bodies riddled with bullets, and the top of one man's head shot off. He said some looters were armed with AK-47 rifles, and compared the situation with Somalia, with police outnumbered and outgunned by gangs in trucks. . . .

"An effort to remove patients and staff from Charity Hospital, in the city centre, was suspended after it came under sniper fire . . .

"It's a war-zone, and they're not treating it like one," he said, referring to the federal government . . . Gunmen continued to fire on troops and rescue helicopters, and police officials said that many officers had stopped reporting for duty, cutting manpower by 20 per cent."

Clinton, Bush slashed spending on levees

For 10 years, preventive maintenance was cut

While the Bush administration is sure to get most of the heat for cuts in proposed expenditures to maintain and upgrade New Orleans flood control system, the Clinton administration repeatedly cut congressional allocations for the projects and the recommendations on spending by the Army Corps of Engineers.

10 years ago, the Clinton administration cut 98 flood control projects, including one in New Orleans, saying such efforts should be local projects, not national.

A $120 million hurricane project, approved and financed annually from 1965 was killed by the Clinton administration after being approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was designed to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal.

On June 9, John Zirschky, the acting assistant secretary of the Army and the official who refused to forward the report to Congress, sent a memo to the corps, saying the recommendation for the project "is not consistent with the policies and budget priorities reflected in the President's Fiscal Year 1996 budget. Accordingly, I will not forward the report to the Office of Management and Budget for clearance."

In 1999, Congress and the Clinton administration agreed to spend only $47 million on New Orleans area hurricane flood control projects � half of what local officials had requested.

Again, in 2000, Congress approved a $23.6 billion measure for water and energy programs, with sizable increases for several New Orleans area flood-control projects.

Clinton, however, promised to veto the annual appropriation for the Energy Department and Army Corps of Engineers, not because it was $890 million larger than he proposed, but because it did not include a plan to alter the levels of the Missouri River to protect endangered fish and birds.....



This probably why you don't hear Clinton criticising the President about this diasater.

J.R.

New Orleans had many warnings

Just a year ago, Hurricane Ivan caused disaster plan review

A year ago, New Orleans reviewed its hurricane disaster plans after Hurricane Ivan gave the city a major scare forcing the evacuation of nearly 1 million people from the area.

What happened last September bears striking similarities to the problems encountered before Hurricane Katrina struck. The only difference was Ivan missed the city.

There were hours-long traffic jams. Those who had money fled, while the poor stayed. The warnings were the same: Forecasters predicted that a direct hit on the city would send torrents of water over the city's levees, creating a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste.

"They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Latonya Hill, 57, told the Associated Press at the time. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either."

With Ivan, city officials first said they would provide no shelter, then, just hours before the storm was set to hit land, they agreed that the state-owned Louisiana Superdome would open to those with special medical needs.

"Our main focus is to get the people out of the city," she said.

But again, in 2004, no city or school buses were used to take people to safety.


Callers to talk radio complained about the late decision to open up the dome, but the mayor said he would do nothing different.

And, indeed, he didn't do much different last weekend before Katrina struck.

Even the problems that occurred at the Superdome this week had a precedent � during a threat by Hurricane Georges in 1998. An estimated 14,000 poured into the stadium, but theft and vandalism were rampant.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged after the Ivan near miss they needed a better evacuation plan......

So then where was it and why wasn't it implemented? If it was not updated, why not? Im telling you folks, these two so called leaders were the weak link in the chain and that chain BROKE ! They should resign their positions once things are stabliized. THEY are responsible for the chaos in New Orleans not FEMA or President Bush !
J.R.

New Orleans Mayor no Giuliani

The leadership skills of New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin have been put to the ultimate test this week, a test some critics say he is failing as his storm-ravaged city descends into chaos, violence, looting and despair.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune's Web site has become a clearinghouse for residents of the Crescent City to communicate with their neighbors, and many are taking the opportunity to express frustration with their mayor.
"Where are you?" one person asked on the Web site. "Be a man and take care of your people."

Another person said he liked Mr. Nagin but wondered, "Where is command central? Can we get some sort of plan, any plan, other than busing the refugees from dome to dome?"

"On television this week, the mayor has shown no clear inclination to take charge and direct post-Katrina rescue and recovery efforts for his population, as Mayor Giuliani did in New York after 9/11," wrote Nicole Gelina, a columnist for New York's City Journal......

Emergency Management response starts at the local level folks, the Mayor did not implement the city's emergency plan properly and that is one of the biggest reasons why things were in total chaos. The govenor of Louisiana is the second reason why that chaos resulted. Both these leaders FAILED to lead. You'll see evidence of that posted soon folks.

J.R.

Mayor: Katrina May Have Killed Thousands

The mayor said Wednesday that Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans.

"We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and others dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."

The frightening prediction came as Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans' breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, while authorities drew up plans to move some 25,000 storm refugees out of the city to Houston in a huge bus convoy and all but abandon flooded-out New Orleans.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said the situation was desperate and there was no choice but to clear out.

"The logistical problems are impossible and we have to evacuate people in shelters," the governor said. "It's becoming untenable. There's no power. It's getting more difficult to get food and water supplies in, just basic essentials."

The Pentagon, meanwhile, began mounting one of the largest search-and- rescue operations in U.S. history, sending four Navy ships to the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, along with the hospital ship USNS Comfort, search helicopters and elite SEAL water- rescue teams. American Red Cross workers from across the country converged on the devastated region in the agency's biggest-ever relief operation.

The death toll from Hurricane Katrina has reached at least 110 in Mississippi alone. But Louisiana has put aside the counting of the dead to concentrate on rescuing the living, many of whom were still trapped on rooftops and in attics.

A full day after the Big Easy thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees broke and spilled water into the streets Tuesday, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or months.

"We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in," Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America, "and the other issue that's concerning me is we have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue."

With the streets awash and looters brazenly cleaning out stores, authorities planned to move at least 25,000 of New Orlean's storm refugees _ most of them taking shelter in the dank and sweltering Superdome _ to the Astrodome in Houston in a vast exodus by bus.

Around midday, officials with the state and the Army Corps of Engineers said the water levels between the city and Lake Pontchartrain had equalized, and water had stopped rising in New Orleans, and even appeared to be falling, at least in some places. But the danger was far from over.

The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to use heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags Wednesday into the 500-foot gap in the failed floodwall. But the agency said it was having trouble getting the sandbags and dozens of 15-foot highway barriers to the site because the city's waterways were blocked by loose barges, boats and large debris.

Officials said they were also looking at a more audacious plan: finding a barge to plug the 500-foot hole.

"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," the governor said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

New Orleans Cops Join in Looting

A handful of police in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans joined with looters yesterday in cleaning out store shelves and pilfering merchandise that had nothing to do with survival.

While the overwhelming majority of Big Easy cops were performing admirably under staggeringly difficult circumstances, an NBC camera crew filming looters at a local Walmart captured two policewomen filling a shopping cart to the brim with shoes.

Asked what she was doing, one of the unidentified officers told reporter Martin Savidge: "I'm just doing my job" - before abandoning her shopping cart to resume her patrol. Her partner apparently continued looting unfazed by NBC's presence.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune also carried reports of police looting, noting in Wednesday editions:

"Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inch flat screen television. Officers claimed there was nothing they could do to contain the anarchy, saying their radio communications had broken down and they had no direction from commanders."

"We don't have enough cops to stop it," one beleagured cop told the paper. "A mass riot would break out if you tried."

While smaller merchants guarded their storefronts with shotguns, others made excuses for the lawlessness.

"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," a bystander told the New York Post.

Some New Orleans residents were less sanguine about the deteriorating civil order.

"You know what sucks," one local tavern owner told the Times-Picayune. "The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see."

Forbes: Oil Bust Will Dwarf Dot-Com; $35 Oil

Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, predicts that skyrocketing oil prices are just temporary -- and a massive price collapse will dwarf the Dot-Com crash that began in 2000.

In Sydney, Australia this week for a global conference of CEOs, the respected financial editor said the that the price of oil has inflated into an unsustainable and speculative market bubble - and he says that when this bursts, it will make the Dot-Com crash "look like a picnic."

The paper quotes Forbes as saying that the price of oil (which rose above $70 this week) had been inflated by speculators and would soon begin a rapid slide.

"While there is a lot of talk in my country, the U.S., about the housing bubble, I think the real bubble, to be blunt, is in the price of oil," he said.

"It's a huge bubble. I don't know what's going to pop it, but eventually it will pop. The price has to be bought down to earth, and when it does there's going to be a lot of yelping from the hedge fund managers."

Forbes said that speculation on oil hitting $100 a barrel was misplaced.

"(But) if it does, the crash is going to be even more spectacular and will make the tech bubble look like a picnic," he said.

He also believes that the price of oil will decline significantly in 2006.

"I'll make a bold prediction: I think in 12 months, you're going to see oil down to $35, $40 a barrel," Forbes said. "In the meantime, it's a huge drain, more a psychological drain (on the economy), but it's not forever. This thing is not going to last."

Forbes blames the oil price spike on rising inflation and aggressive buying on the part of burgeoning Pacific Rim countries.

"China and India are buying more of the stuff. As the global economy expands, more energy will be consumed," he said.

"But if you look at the price of oil three years ago, it was $20 or $25 a barrel. Supply and demand might have shot it up to $30, $35 a barrel. The rest of it is inflation."

Forbes spoke to The Australian just as news was drifting in regarding the damage sustained to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Industry observers say that energy companies such as BP, Chevron and Shell have been forced to shut down offshore platforms, which account for 25% of U.S. domestic oil and gas output.

White House to Release Oil From Reserves

Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said Wednesday the Bush administration has decided to release oil from federal petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The move, which was expected later in the day, is designed to give refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to take the place of interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service said Tuesday that 95 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output was out of service. Oil prices surged back above $70 in European markets on Wednesday but slipped quickly to $69.56 after disclosure of the decision involving the release of supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Eight refineries were shut down due to Katrina _ half of them producing gasoline.

The government's emergency petroleum stockpile _ nearly 700 million barrels of oil stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast _ was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions.

Bush, 'global warming' to blame for hurricane?

RFK Jr., others suggest climate change responsible for intensity of disaster

Do President Bush and so-called "global warming" have anything to do with the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina?

Yes, according to some politicians and public figures, who are already politicizing the disaster.

Among them is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer and environmentalist who is a host on the Air America Radio network.

"The science is clear," writes Kennedy, son of slain New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in a commentary at HuffingtonPost.com. "This month, a study published in the journal Nature by a renowned MIT climatologist linked the increasing prevalence of destructive hurricanes to human-induced global warming."

Kennedy cites a 2001 memo sent to President Bush from Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi � a state devastated by Katrina � arguing against the regulation of carbon-dioxide gases, saying Barbour himself derided the idea of regulating CO2 as "eco-extremism."

Climatologist Patrick Michaels of the University of Virginia, a well-known critic of the theory of global warming, appeared on Fox News' "Special Edition" to dispel the notion of that any alleged climate change had anything to do with Hurricane Katrina. He said if global warming were indeed a global phenomenon that increased hurricane activity and strength, then the change would be measurable in storms across the entire planet.

A New York Times article quoted hurricane forecaster William Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, as saying the recent onslaught "is very much natural."

The severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean, the article noted.

648 Dead, 322 Hurt in Iraq Bridge Stampede

At least 648 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge Wednesday when panic engulfed a Shiite religious procession amid rumors that a suicide bomber was about to attack, officials said. It was the single biggest confirmed loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

Scores jumped or were pushed to their deaths into the Tigris River about 30 feet below the bridge, while others were crushed in the crowd. Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.

Tensions already had been running high in the procession in Baghdad's heavily Shiite Kazimiyah district because of a mortar attack two hours earlier against the shrine where the marchers were heading. The shrine was about a mile from the bridge.

Abdul-Rahman said 648 were killed and 322 injured, although figures from other official sources varied slightly. Survivors were taken in ambulances and private cars to several hospitals, where officials scrambled to compile accurate casualty figures.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiites had been marching across the bridge, which links a Sunni and Shiite neighborhood, heading for the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kadhim, a 9th century Shiite saint

"We were on the bridge. It was so crowded. Thousands of people were surrounding me," said survivor Fadhel Ali, 28, barefoot and soaking wet. "We heard that a suicide attacker was among the crowd. Everybody was yelling, so I jumped from the bridge into the river, swam and reached the bank. I saw women, children and old men falling after me into the water."

Health Minister Abdul-Mutalib Mohammed told state-run Iraqiya television that there were "huge crowds on the bridge and the disaster happened when someone shouted that there is a suicide bomber on the bridge."

"This led to a state of panic among the pilgrims and they started to push each other and there was many cases of suffocation," he said.

Police, however, said they found no explosives - either on any individual or in any cars parked nearby.

Blame Bush Crowd At It Again

By J.R.

The recent hurricane, Katrina, that devastated parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, not to mention parts of Florida, is being blamed on President Bush. As evidenced by these recent articles: Lib Bloggers: Katrina Bush's Fault , GERMAN PAPERS:Katrina Should be A Lesson To US on Global Warming and Bush, 'global warming' to blame for hurricane?

The leftist liberals and greenies are out there spewing their ridiculous theories, conjecture and opinion to anyone who will listen. Their message: Global Warming caused Katrina and it's President Bush's fault because he has done nothing to stop Global Warming. Their rhetoric is not based on any scientific data or proof, just theory and conjecture, but that doesn't matter, if they can get a chance to slam the President, it's good enough for them.

First of all, this not the time to be spewing rhetoric during a disaster of possible epic proportions. What they should be doing is finding a way to help the victims of this devastating storm, volunteer for the Red Cross, donate money to an organization that will help the victims. There will be plenty of time to play the blame game later.

Second of all, in a recent article in the N.Y. Times, William Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season, states that the recent ferocity of some hurricanes "is very much natural".

The article says in part:

Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.

But that is not the case, scientists say.

Instead, the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean.

Global warming may eventually intensify hurricanes somewhat, though different climate models disagree.

In an article this month in the journal Nature, Kerry A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote that global warming might have already had some effect. The total power dissipated by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years, he wrote.

But even that seemingly large jump is not what has been pushing the hurricanes of the last two years, Dr. Emanuel said, adding, "What we see in the Atlantic is mostly the natural swing.".....

So, even if you buy into the global warming theory, and I don't, then this has been going on for 30 YEARS, according to Dr. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at MIT. So how can the liberal leftists blame President Bush for something that has been going on for decades if that were the case. Futhermore, if Dr. Emanuel is right, then you would have to blame former Presidents Ford, CARTER, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and CLINTON too, for not doing enough to stop global warming, if you believe his theory.

In the end, Dr. Emanuel agrees with Professor Gray, "What we see in the Atlantic is mostly the natural swing.".....


So, Let's stop this ridiculous political nonsense of blaming President Bush for a NATURAL disaster, an ACT OF GOD, and get on with helping our fellow American citizens who have been devastated by this catastrophic hurricane.

I know what I am going to be hearing soon via email, etc., "An act of god, J.R.?, How ridiculous !"

No more ridiculous than blaming President Bush for hurricanes, folks.


J.R. is the host of the Talk Show America Show heard M-F 4-5 PM live and 24/7 recorded.

Volunteers Mobilized Nationwide to Support Katrina Relief

The American Red Cross has mobilized thousands of volunteers to respond in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which completely devastated parts of Louisiana and left at least 55 people dead.

The Red Cross plans to send close to 2,000 volunteers in the area to begin the initial response in the next few days.

The best way to help is by making an online contribution to the Disaster Relief Fund at www.redcross.org.

If you are interested in volunteering for the American Red Cross, the place to start is your local chapter Red Cross. There you can learn about the training courses necessary to become a disaster volunteer. For more information, visit your local Red Cross chapter online.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of this disaster and thousands of other disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

Online Donation Form

Poll: 'Peace Mom' Has Changed Few Minds

Cindy Sheehan's Crawford, Texas, Vigil Wins Sympathizers, But Few Change War Stance

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan has won some sympathizers, but hasn't changed many minds: As many Americans say Sheehan has made them more likely to support the war as to oppose it, and the vast majority says she hasn't changed their views at all.

One thing Sheehan has accomplished is broad exposure: Three-quarters of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll have heard or read about her highly publicized protest outside George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She does receive support: Fifty-three percent support what Sheehan's doing and 52 percent think Bush should meet with her again, as she's requested.

Sheehan supporters are very disproportionately those who oppose the war. (In an ABC/Post poll earlier this summer, 53 percent said it was not worth fighting.) Nevertheless, Sheehan has not changed the basic equation � or many minds at all. About eight in 10 Americans say she hasn't changed their overall opinion of the war. Among the rest, as many say they're more likely to support the war because of Sheehan (10 percent) as say they're more likely to oppose it (9 percent).

Intensity is about equally strong on either side: Twenty-nine percent of Americans strongly support Sheehan; 26 percent strongly oppose what she's doing. And three-quarters of her supporters come from the ranks of those who say the war was not worth fighting.

Basic views of Sheehan are no different among people in military families than in non-military households � a little more than half in both groups support her, and about half in both groups think Bush should meet with her. Still, Sheehan looks to have touched more of a nerve in military households; such people are more apt to say she's affected their opinions, about equally in both directions. Twenty-two percent say she's made them more apt to support the war, 17 percent say she's made them more apt to oppose it. That compares to 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in non-military households.

Given their views on the war, Democrats and Independents are more apt than Republicans to support Sheehan; this is particularly true among Democratic and Independent women. Republicans � men and women alike � broadly oppose her activities.

Intrigue Over Able Danger Grows

The Pentagon appears to have reversed its position on Able Danger, the Army intelligence collection team.

A Pentagon spokesman now says "there's no reason to doubt the specific recollections" of the growing number of team members. The team members say the project had pre-Sept. 11 intelligence on al Qaida, which Defense Department lawyers prohibited them from sharing with the FBI.

Members of the team say they identified the lead Sept. 11 terrorist Mohamed Atta as a cell leader more than a year before the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.

"You could touch the picture and literally drill down and it would give you all the facts that we had from whatever source we had, we identified our sources and then why we had made a link," says defense contractor J.D. Smith, describing how Able Danger's computer software program worked.

The team collected and analyzed information gathered by the "deep" data mining operation.

Smith says data was gathered from a variety of sources, including about 30 or 40 individuals, but one day it all came to a grinding halt. So why did that happen?

"The I.G. (inspector general) came in and shut down the operation because of a claim that we were collecting information on U.S citizens," says Smith.

It turned out to be more than just a claim.

"On some of my charts I had links to U.S citizens," he says.

Smith notes that it's illegal for the military to collect intelligence on U.S. citizens.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., has alleged a Pentagon coverup regarding Able Danger and is seeking congressional hearings on the matter. Weldon has said coverup will "shake the country to its roots."

A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

Maj. Joe Leahy is a civil engineer with the U.S. Army's Engineer Brigade. He has been stationed at Camp Victory, outside of Baghdad, since November 2004--enough time to get frustrated. "We all know it's a dangerous place," he says. "But the thing that I want people to understand is that they only see those one or two instances in the country that are negative. You don't really hear about the 100 things that have gone good."

He adds, "One thing we've got to understand is that it's not going to happen tomorrow, but we are doing something that's getting better every day."

Leahy's good-bad ratio may be debatable, but many servicemen and their families and friends back home, not to mention the general public, have been getting frustrated lately with the media coverage of Iraq--enough so to cause some limited, though still welcome, soul-searching among major media outlets. Whether the coverage will improve as a result remains to be seen. In the meantime, here are the past two weeks' worth of stories, some of which you might have missed.

Bush assures military in Coronado that U.S. will persevere in war

President Bush assured thousands of Navy sailors, officers and Marine troops Tuesday that America would not rest until it defeats the enemy that attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

Against a backdrop of military men and women dressed in Navy whites, Bush drew parallels between the war on terror and World War II as he commemorated the 60th anniversary of Japan's surrender during his speech at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, outside San Diego.

"As we mark this anniversary, we are again a nation at war. Once again war came to our shores with a surprise attack that killed thousands in cold blood," he said under overcast skies. He said that as in the time of World War II, the United States now faces "a ruthless enemy" and "once again we will not rest until victory is America's and our freedom is secure."

Following his 35-minute speech, Bush stopped at San Diego Naval Medical Center to award a Purple Heart to a wounded corpsman and talk with hospital staff and wounded servicemembers.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joe Ring of San Diego, who has served 16 months in the Middle East in the midst of the Iraq war, said the president's message was the right one.

"The Japanese bombed our fleet but the terrorists bombed our businessmen and businesswomen at work," Ring said. "It's the same threat."

Eugene Farrell, an 87-year-old who was one of many World War II veterans to attend the speech, said Bush's remarks would boost troop morale.

"Things like this completely overshadow what people outside the gates will do. Everyone here will walk out a little taller because of what the commander in chief told them," he said.

Navy Petty Officer Orlando Ortiz, who is stationed at Naval Air Station North Island and is heading to the Persian Gulf in February, agreed, saying that Bush's remarks were reassuring.

"I know it's not a popular war, but we still need to get it done," said Ortiz, 22, of Los Angeles.

Ben Harris, an 88-year-old retired Navy captain who flew blimps during World War II, praised the president for his determination to stay in Iraq.

"We've go to hang in there and get the job done," he said. "It's almost there. We can't give up."

Cindy Sheehan to protest against Blue Angels air show in Maine

The woman leading protests against President Bush's conduct of the Iraq war will protest a Blue Angels air show in Brunswick, Maine, next month.

Bruce Gagnon (GAHNG'-yuhn) of Maine Veterans for Peace says Cindy Sheehan will be the featured guest at a protest outside the Brunswick Naval Air Station on September tenth.

U.S. Warplanes Back Unprecedented Sunni-Led Offensive

Sunni Tribe Battles Zarqawi's Group on Ground

U.S. warplanes bombed alleged safe houses being used by Abu Musab Zarqawi's insurgent group near the Syrian border Tuesday during what one local leader called an unprecedented push by a Sunni Arab tribe to drive out Zarqawi's foreign-led forces.

The bombings occurred along the Euphrates River in two towns that U.S. officials and Iraqis describe as haven and transit points for insurgents moving weapons, money and recruits into Iraq from Syria. Ali Rawi, an emergency room director in the border city of Qaim, said at least 56 people -- the majority of them apparently followers of Zarqawi -- were killed in Tuesday's airstrikes and ground fighting. Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, said in a statement posted in local mosques that it had lost 17 men.

Neither U.S. nor Iraqi officials gave death tolls.

The clashes between Sunni Arab tribes and insurgents, coupled with growing vows by Iraq's Sunni minority to turn out in force for national voting in the coming months, coincided with U.S. hopes for defusing the two-year-old insurgency. U.S. military leaders have repeatedly expressed optimism that public anger at insurgent violence would deprive insurgents of their base of support.

A tribal leader near the Syrian border, Muhammed Mahallawi, said his Albu Mahal tribe began the latest fighting against Zarqawi's insurgents after they kidnapped and killed 31 members of his tribe to punish them for joining the Iraqi security forces.

"We decided either we force them out of the city or we kill them," with the support of U.S. bombing, Mahallawi said by telephone.

Sunni Arab tribes in the western province of Anbar have clashed sporadically with Zarqawi's organization at least since May, usually in revenge for killings of tribe members accused of collaborating with U.S. forces or the Iraqi government. This month in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, tribes took up arms to block Zarqawi's group from enforcing his ultimatum for all Shiite Muslim families to leave the city. Fighting there killed several fighters on both sides.

Local officials said Tuesday that Mahallawi's tribe and the insurgents had been fighting near the border for at least three days. Rawi, the emergency room director, said at least 61 people had been killed since the fighting began. The majority of the dead Tuesday were in the Western-style clothes and athletic shoes often worn by Zarqawi's fighters, Rawi said.

The U.S. military confirmed six airstrikes at dawn Tuesday on two residences in and around Husaybah believed to house insurgents. When survivors of those attacks drove three miles to another residence in Karabilah, the U.S. warplanes hit that house with two bombs, a U.S. military statement said.

The military said it believed the precision-guided bombs killed several insurgents.

Residents said one of the airstrikes hit a weapons cache, setting off explosions in the house. Another targeted building was a former clinic that had been taken over by Zarqawi, residents said.

There was no word from the U.S. military on whether the airstrikes were coordinated with Zarqawi's tribal opponents. On Friday, a U.S. military statement credited strikes by Marine F-18D fighters on an alleged Zarqawi safe house in Husaybah to tips by telephone from local citizens. With Zarqawi and his allies trying to consolidate control of the border towns, "local leaders and sheikhs are resisting AQIZ's murder and intimidation campaign," a military statement said, using an acronym for Zarqawi.

Four years after 9/11, terror's hold is loosening

Next week will mark the fourth anniversary of Al Qaeda's aerial attack on two New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon in Washington.
Let's take stock of what has happened so far in the war on terrorism triggered by those acts:

The Taliban in Afghanistan have been decimated and the people of that country have been freed and are moving down the road to some form of democracy. Osama bin Laden remains at large, as do pockets of his Al Qaeda followers, but many hundreds have been eliminated.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein has been toppled and millions of liberated Iraqis have elected for freedom. Saddam's old guard, fearing the force of democracy, seeks to thwart that process and its suicide-bombers and gunmen are killing a sizable number of American troops, and many more Iraqis. Amid chaos and danger, Iraqi politicians have been struggling to produce a constitution acceptable to the diverse political and religious factions of their country, and have so far been unable to get Sunnis to sign on to it.

In part because of what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Islamic world is in ferment. Intellectuals are speaking up against despotism. Opposition parties are burgeoning, although they must maneuver carefully. The press is becoming cautiously more adventuresome. Freedom is in the air and rulers in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, and even Iran are wrestling with its meaning - and in some cases taking small steps to support it.

For President Bush, spreading democracy and waging war against terrorism go hand in hand. Last month Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair called on Muslim leaders to combat terrorism's "twisted logic." Last week Pope Benedict XVI urged Muslims in Germany to oppose the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism "that shows contempt for the sacred right to life."

The Pew Foundation surveyed six Muslim countries and found that support for terrorism in defense of Islam has declined dramatically. Moreover, in testing support for democracy in these countries, respondents in Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, and Indonesia were overwhelmingly (in the 77-83 percent category) in favor of it.

Donna Lee Bowen, a professor of political science and chair of the Middle East studies program at Brigham Young University in Utah, has collected 31 pages of statements by many Muslim leaders condemning the violence. The condemnation comes from followers of Islam in the Arab world, as well as from countries outside the region. She says the vast majority of devout Muslims are deeply troubled by the perversion of their faith.

Those who have spoken out include Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, grand imam of the Al-Azhar Seminary in Cairo, a highly respected Islamic authority. He's been quoted as saying the Koran "specifically forbids the things the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are guilty of," and that Osama bin Laden's "jihad" against the US "is invalid and not binding on Muslims."

After the London bombings, Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group issued a fatwa, or religious edict, condemning the suicide attacks. The Koran, said the Sunni Council, forbids them. In Spain, where some 250,000 Muslims live, leading Muslim clerics issued a fatwa against Osama bin Laden, declaring him an apostate who has forsaken Islam. In Russia, where Muslims number some 20 million, High Mufti Talgat Tadjuddin called for the extradition of bin Laden.

Governor says entire city 0f New Orleans needs to be evacuated

With conditions in the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans rapidly deteriorating, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday that people now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers need to be evacuated.

"The situation is untenable," Blanco said during a news conference. "It's just heartbreaking."

Because two levees broke Tuesday, the city was rapidly filling with water and the prospect of having power was a long time off, the governor said. She said the storm also severed a major water main, leaving the city without drinkable water.

"The goal is to bring enough supplies to sustain the people until we can establish a network to get them out," Blanco said.

Blanco's comments came after she flew to New Orleans with FEMA director Mike Brown and other officials. They stopped at the Superdome, where Mayor Ray Nagin outlined the dire situation: hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still need rescuing from rooftops and attics, he said.

The governor said that at midnight, all of the boat operators trying to rescue people from rooftops were told to take a break.

"They refused. They couldn't do it," Blanco said.

Blanco said rescuers were unable to get to people stranded in one tall building because so many other people were "calling to them and jumping from rooftops" into the water to be rescued first.

Things are so bad, Nagin said, that rescue boats are bypassing the dead.

"We're not even dealing with dead bodies," Nagin said. "They're just pushing them on the side."

Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, adjutant general for the Louisiana National Guard, said search and rescue teams are still picking up people throughout the city, leaving them on island-like highway overpasses and on the Mississippi River levee to wait until they can be moved again.

GERMAN PAPERS:Katrina Should be A Lesson To US on Global Warming

Seems like everything is President Bush's fault. One day after Katrina hammered the Gulf Coast, German commentators are laying into the US for its stubborn attitude to global warming and Kyoto.

Hurricane Katrina is big news for German commentators, whatever their ilk. For some, the powerful storm which slammed the Gulf Coast on Monday, is a symbol of the sort of environmental terrors awaiting the world thanks to global warming and proof positive that America needs to quickly reverse its policy of playing down climate change. For the more conservative, it is simply another regrettable natural catastrophe.

Melanie Morgan: 'You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy'

A group of pro-Bush, anti-Cindy Sheehan demonstrators set out from San Francisco last week, gathering supporters as their "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" caravan headed toward Crawford, Texas.

"We had over 4,000 people who came to Crawford, a good majority of them joining our caravan literally as we were coming up from Dallas," Morgan added.

"We had a very small crowd that started out in San Francisco a week ago, but as mile by mile went by, more people joined us and we had some extraordinary stories of people who were Gold Star Families who lost their sons in Iraq. Dozens of these people came to the rally and when we asked Cindy Sheehan, who had said she would meet with any parent who lost a child in Iraq, to meet with them she refused. Just another of Cindy's growing list of lies," Morgan concluded.

Family members came by the thousands - including ordinary Americans who didn't have children involved in the war - people who know that if we cut and run now, the deaths of all these young men and women will be for naught," Morgan said.

Morgan added, "We've got to remember that the reason we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is because of September 11, 2001. All the rhetoric coming out of Camp Cindy was about how there was no connection between what happened on 9/11 and what we did in Iraq.

"Try telling that to Deena Burnett, who flew to Crawford on her own dime to be with us and speak to the crowd and tell them how her husband Tom died and that his death will not go in vain because of a lack of support for the troops and our military in this mission."

Burnett's husband, Thomas E. Burnett Jr. became an American hero when on the morning of the terror attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the plane on which he was a passenger was hijacked.

According to Jack Douglas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as many as an estimated 4,000 people attended the Crawford rally waving flags and pledging allegiance to U.S. troops last Saturday. At times, he wrote, they accused Sheehan of dishonoring the death of her son, Casey.

It was, Douglas wrote, the first time President Bush's supporters have outnumbered war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan.

Jeannine McEwin, 69, told Douglas that she and her husband, Harold, made the six-hour trip from their home on Toledo Bend Lake, a mile from the Louisiana border, to help conservatives overcome the numeric dominance that anti-war demonstrators have had in Crawford since Sheehan came to town Aug. 6.

"The left has had so much publicity, and we have sat back and done nothing," McEwin said. "We have allowed them to take over."

Her husband, Harold McEwin, 70, added that he came to support Bush and the war in Iraq. "When I was 8 years old, I walked the streets of Shreveport picking up metal coat hangers to be used to build bombs and bullets" for World War II, he said. "I started out my patriotism right there."

Douglas reported that some of those who lost children to the war wanted to enter the war-protest camps and pull up crosses bearing their children's names.

"We want to so bad we can taste it," Sandy Watson of Phoenix, whose son, Michael Williams, was killed in Iraq in 2003, told Douglas. "We don't want [Sheehan] to have our son's cross out there."

Another Bush supporter, Shawn Wroblewski of Jefferson Township, N.J., said she asked the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to look for a cross bearing the name of her son, John Thomas, a Marine killed in Iraq last year.

"Two weeks ago I called the Crawford sheriff and asked him to kindly remove my son's cross if it was there. He assured me that he would," Wroblewski told the Star-Telegram .

21 Terrorists Became U.S. Citizens

Two new reports released today by the Center for Immigration Studies examine the role of immigration control in our efforts to prevent further terrorist attacks on American soil. Both point to the profound security challenges posed by a federal government policy of mass immigration and lax enforcement of the law.

The first paper, "Immigration and Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorist Travel," illustrates how 94 Islamist terrorists used the immigration system to infiltrate and embed in the United States. The author is Janice L. Kephart, counsel for the 9/11 Commission and an author of the Commission staff's report on terrorist travel.

Other than the 9/11 hijackers included in the study, almost all of the terrorists examined have been indicted or convicted for their crimes. The report builds on prior work done by 9/11 Commission and the Center for Immigration Studies, providing more information than has been previously been made public.

The report highlights the danger of our lax immigration system, not just in terms of who is allowed in, but also how terrorists, once in the country, used weaknesses in the system to remain here. It makes clear that strict enforcement of immigration law - at American consulates overseas, at ports of entry, and within the United States - must be an integral part of our efforts to prevent future attacks on U.S. soil.

Among the findings:

Of the 94 foreign-born terrorists who operated in the United States, the study found that about two-thirds (59) committed immigration fraud prior to or in conjunction with taking part in terrorist activity.

Of the 59 terrorists who violated the law, many committed multiple immigration violations - 79 instances in all.

Temporary visas were a common means of entering; 18 terrorists had student visas and another four had applications approved to study in the United States. At least 17 terrorists used a visitor visa -- either tourist (B2) or business (B1).

There were 11 instances of passport fraud and 10 instances of visa fraud; in total 34 individuals were charged with making false statements to an immigration official.

In at least 13 instances, terrorists overstayed their temporary visas.

In 17 instances, terrorists claimed to lack proper travel documents and applied for asylum, often at a port of entry.

Fraud was used not only to gain entry into the United States, but also to remain, or "embed," in the country.

Seven terrorists were indicted for acquiring or using various forms of fake identification, including driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and immigration arrival records.

Once in the United States, 23 terrorists became legal permanent residents, often by marrying an American. There were at least nine sham marriages.

In total, 21 foreign terrorists became naturalized U.S. citizens.

Washington moves to help Katrina's victims

Federal emergency agencies moved to help victims of Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday

The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water into the disaster areas.

The president made emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had spoken with the governors of those states "to make sure they were getting what they needed from the federal government."

Bush, on a visit Monday to Arizona and California, pledged extensive federal help for victims of Katrina to "get your lives back in order." The government put into effect a massive emergency assistance program that included rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs. He said about 6,500 National Guard troops were available in Louisiana, about 7,000 in Mississippi, nearly 10,000 in Alabama and about 8,200 in Florida.

The 1st U.S. Army, based at Fort Gillem near Atlanta, has 1,600 National Guard troops who were training to go to Iraq. They will be available to assist the states, if necessary.

METEOROLOGIST SAYS HURRICANE CYCLE IS NORMAL...

Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.

But that is not the case, scientists say.

Instead, the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean. The recent onslaught "is very much natural," said William M. Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season.

From 1970 to 1994, the Atlantic was relatively quiet, with no more than three major hurricanes in any year and none at all in three of those years. Cooler water in the North Atlantic strengthened wind shear, which tends to tear storms apart before they turn into hurricanes.

In 1995, hurricane patterns reverted to the active mode of the 1950's and 60's. From 1995 to 2003, 32 major hurricanes, with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater, stormed across the Atlantic. It was chance, Dr. Gray said, that only three of them struck the United States at full strength.

Historically, the rate has been 1 in 3.

Then last year, three major hurricanes, half of the six that formed during the season, hit the United States. A fourth, Frances, weakened before striking Florida.

"We were very lucky in that eight-year period, and the luck just ran out," Dr. Gray said.

Global warming may eventually intensify hurricanes somewhat, though different climate models disagree.

In an article this month in the journal Nature, Kerry A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote that global warming might have already had some effect. The total power dissipated by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years, he wrote.

But even that seemingly large jump is not what has been pushing the hurricanes of the last two years, Dr. Emanuel said, adding, "What we see in the Atlantic is mostly the natural swing."

Sharpton hitches to airport after 110-mph chase

9-mile pursuit came after Rev. Al just met with Cindy Sheehan

A weekend meeting with Cindy Sheehan was followed by a high-speed, nine-mile police chase for Rev. Al Sharpton.

A car carrying the former presidential candidate to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was clocked at 110 mph in a 65-mph zone on Interstate 35-E west of Waxahachie, Texas.

"That nine-mile chase is news to me," Sharpton told the Associated Press. "All I know is that the police pulled us over because they wanted to talk to the driver about speeding.