Katrina Coverage

Landrieu says illegal workers hurt La.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is asking the Bush administration to send immigration enforcement officers to the Gulf Coast to investigate whether federal contractors are hiring undocumented workers to do Katrina recovery work.
"While my state experiences unemployment rates not seen since the Great Depression, it is unconscionable that illegal workers would […]

Bear in mind we aren't just talking about alleged illegal aliens taking jobs that should go to those Americans affected by the storm. We're also talking about them working on a U.S. Navy base, so there's that little extra kick in the teeth.
Dateline Alabama
Immigration agents detained a large number of illegal immigrants working for a […]

And here I thought we already had one. However, this is a different kind of plan: the new one involves the military taking control during a natural or other disaster. From the AP's "Bush Told U.S. Needs Post-Disaster Plan":
Bush got an update about the federal hurricane response from military leaders at Randolph Air Force Base. […]

A local paper has a subscriber-only article:
A former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Friday that he’s uncomfortable with President Bush’s proposal to give the armed forces a broader role in disasters after the federal government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.
James Lee Witt, an Arkansas native who is advising Louisiana’s governor on that […]

From "Military May Play Bigger Relief Role":
President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on U.S. soil.
…Bush did not define the wider role he envisions for the military…
At question, however, is […]

The article "Key military help for victims of Hurricane Katrina was delayed" says that Bush already had enough military powers to do what was necessary, he - and Michael Chertoff - simply failed to act quickly enough. The military has taken part in past disasters, and that's allowed as long as they don't perform police […]

Piecing together the unconfirmed timeline presented in "Key military help for victims of Hurricane Katrina was delayed" we get:
- Aug 29: landfall; "levee breaches" occur
Aug 29 3:22:00 PM - Navy says USS Bataan is standing by.
- Aug 30: Michael Chertoff goes to Atlanta for a "previously scheduled briefing on avian flu"
- Aug 30: "[Chertoff] aides […]