Free Republic

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White released his income tax returns Tuesday for the entire time he served as Houston mayor, disclosing $11.8 million in adjusted gross income over six years, largely related to his energy career, including investments, fees and sales of stock in companies on whose boards he served. ...White previously had released his 2009 return and said he released the 2004 to 2008 returns to “call his (Perry's) bluff.” ...“This partial release of some tax returns creates further questions about how Bill White profited while serving Houston as a part-time mayor,” Miner said, citing work by BTEC Turbines,...

MCALLEN - Jurors today will hear about maintenance and safety practices of charter bus company Global Limo Inc. but not about the bus fire that killed 23 nursing home residents evacuated from Houston last year as Hurricane Rita bore down. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa granted a defense motion to limit testimony to alleged mismanagement that occurred during a four-month period before last year's accident. James H. Maples, president and director of Pharr-based Global, faces charges he falsified driver time records and failed to adequately inspect and maintain his fleet of buses. The company was shut down for safety violations...

CAMERON – The rest of the United States should realize that rebuilding southwest Louisiana after Hurricane Rita is crucial to the nation’s economy, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday. Southwest Louisiana processes much of the nation’s oil and gas, catches a large share of its seafood and exports the nation’s goods to the rest of the world through its ports, Blanco said. America’s WETLAND and the Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce staged a symbolic cattle drive Saturday to demonstrate that the region is recovering and also to commemorate the first anniversary of Rita. “We have so much value here in Louisiana....

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Michigan businessmen, who purchased a truckload of relief supplies for Hurricane Rita victims and drove down to Louisiana to deliver them, are suing the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Department, certain sheriff department deputies, Harrah's Entertainment (the owner and operator of a local gambling casino), and certain Harrah's employees for assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, willful misconduct, and deprivations of civil and constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. The Michigan businessmen have retained the Birmingham, Michigan-based law firm of Norman Yatooma & Associates, P.C. (NYA) to represent them and manage the litigation...

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A steady procession of congressmen and U.S. senators have visited the Gulf Coast this month, inspecting Hurricane Katrina damage. But they didn't show up here, one of the places devastated by Hurricane Rita, Louisiana's "other" storm. Four months after Rita caused $4.7 billion in damage, people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas say they're concerned the storm has been erased from the country's memory, overshadowed by Katrina's assault on New Orleans. While New Orleanians fret about "Katrina fatigue," people here say they've been victims of "Rita amnesia." "We don't want anyone to lose sight of the...

It's at least the 26th time so far this year, that Lake Charles Police respond to a call at Lakeview Motel where FEMA pays to house people displaced from the hurricanes; people like Stacy Arceneaux and her mother Charlotte Broussard. The frightened women who live here have this notice on the door: "Identify yourself, do not disturb, gun in room." Arceneaux says, "I will shoot you if I do not know who you are, period. If you look at my family wrong, I will shoot you." "I'm expecting a bullet to come right through the walls. There's a bullet right...

A car rests against a mound of sand and debris Wednesday in Holly Beach. The destruction caused by Hurricane Rita on Sept. 24 in coastal Cameron Parish is still evident in the background. Mandatory evacuation in place as cleanup mucks along HOLLY BEACH -- The north-south route through Cameron Parish west of the Calcasieu Ship Channel is cleared and open, though crumbling in places. But the only structure still standing in the Holly Beach community that it once led to is the water tower. A full month and a half has passed since Hurricane Rita scoured coastal Cameron Parish...

Rita sends rural Texans back to 'caveman days' By PAM EASTON Associated Press Writer WOODVILLE, Texas — Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, some East Texans took baths and brushed their teeth using water from the Neches River while others affected by the storm waited in line for federal assistance and gas. Crumpled tin roofs and canopies in Woodville's town square still littered parking lots Wednesday. Downed power lines and trees were in people's yards and lined nearly every road. Many people were still without power or water. "We went from normal life back to caveman days in a...

AVERY ISLAND, La. (AP) — On a salt dome that rises from the Cajun flatlands like an island from the sea, the plant which makes Tabasco sauce was safe from floods caused by Hurricane Rita. And it had enough stock on hand to ship out until the factory regained power. Many of its workers weren't as lucky. "We've got a lot of employees that live in Delcambre and Erath and Lydia and low-lying areas around Avery Island," Paul McIlhenny, chief executive of McIlhenny Co., said Wednesday. [snip] Power had been out since Friday night, when the storm was still offshore....

...Hurricanes are...bigger...meaner...more numerous than many people have seen...[not]global warming,experts warn. ...Mayfield,director,National Hurricane Center...period of heightened hurricane activity"...since'95...natural fluctuations...cycles...driven by the Atlantic Ocean itself...not enhanced substantially by global warming"...recent studies about global warming and hurricanes raise more questions than they answer...indicate global warming could increase hurricane wind speeds...5%---100 years from now. ...Union of Concerned scientist...[said]making them more intense...recent studies...carbon dioxide is raising ocean temperatures."...converting low-grade storms into powerful hurricanes..." ...not all hurricane experts...link...global warming and hurricanes...saying,past two seasons signal a return to normal. "From 1970-95...weren't...many hurricanes,[except]nice,well-mannered,housebroken hurricanes that stayed out to sea and didn't make a mess,"Willoughby,hurricane researcher... "This year...nature is...

Despite statements to the contrary from the director of the National Hurricane Center, Barbra Streisand is declaring a "global warming emergency." "We are in a global warming emergency state and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," the singer, actress and liberal activist told Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already. An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are...

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Hurricane Rita smashed into a region that is wealthier, more mobile and much less densely populated than the one devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Most of Rita's victims are by no means wealthy. But they are less likely to live in poverty, more likely to own a car, and less likely to be a member of a minority group than were Katrina's victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data. Experts said the wealth and mobility of people in Rita's path combined with a new sense of urgency following Katrina led to...

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already. An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are...

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Utility operator Entergy Corp., which provides electricity to much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, on Friday said its New Orleans subsidiary has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Entergy New Orleans filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, saying that the storm "dealt a body blow" to the unit, destroying facilities, disrupting revenue, and impairing the ability of its customer base to pay bills. The company asked the court to approve debtor-in-possession financing that includes $200 million in loans to...

Rita steams toward Gulf Coast; Rains breech New Orleans levy HOUSTON - A slowly weakening Hurricane Rita steamed toward the Texas and Louisiana coast with 125 mph winds Friday, taking direct aim at the nation's oil-refining industry. As many as 24 people were killed when a bus carrying elderly evacuees caught fire in a traffic jam. "We're going to get through this," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said. "Say a prayer for Texas." (snip) Texas' emergency management coordinator, Jack Colley, predicted Rita would destroy nearly 5,700 homes in the state and cause $8.2 billion in damage. President Bush headed for his...

Heading back to Mexico, while they still can Mexicans on the Texas Gulf Coast head for home ahead of Rita’s landfall The Associated Press Updated: 8:51 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2005 MONTERREY, Mexico - Hundreds of Mexicans living on the Texas Gulf Coast were rushing home Thursday to avoid Hurricane Rita, while authorities in northern Mexico readied shelters and prepared for heavy rains. Nuevo Leon state tourism director Jorge Cantu said Monterrey hotels are lowering rates 20 to 30 percent for people fleeing the Texas Gulf Coast. In Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, Mexican families coming from Houston, Galveston,...

Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul has joined Texas Governor Rick Perry in requesting a federal state of emergency declaration for the entire state of Texas. Under a federal declaration of emergency, federal assistance in many forms becomes available to the people of Texas. This assistance includes Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Hazard Mitigation, SBA disaster loans, and USDA loans, in addition to assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security in general. President Bush declared the emergency today, pledging a stepped-up federal response to what may be the biggest Hurricane ever to hit Texas....

Water gushes into NO 9th ward.

DEATHS: Bus carrying Hurricane Rita evacuees has exploded on Interstate 45 near Dallas...

Excerpt - President Bush will visit Northern Command in Colorado Springs this week to monitor Hurricane Rita as it bears down on the Texas coastline. It will be Bush’s first look at Northern Command since it was created in October 2002 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. White House spokesman Allen Abney said Bush will land sometime after 6 p.m. tomorrow and depart Saturday. “The purpose is to come and monitor the storm and get a firsthand look at the military response effort and where those (assets) are being directed,” Abney said. White House spokesman Scott McClellan...

Wilma Skinner would like to scream at the officials of this city. If only someone would pick up their phone. ''I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain't none. No one answers,'' she said, standing in blistering heat outside a check-cashing store that had just run out of its main commodity. ''Everyone just says, 'Get out, get out.' I've got no way of getting out. And now I've got no money.'' With Hurricane Rita breathing down Houston's neck, those with cars were stuck in gridlock trying to get out. Those like Skinner -- poor, and...

Extremely dangerous Category Four Hurricane Rita continues to move toward landfall along the northwest Gulf of Mexico shoreline. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations continue across Texas and Louisiana coastal areas. Lake Charles LA is providing evacuations by bus for residents who have no transportation. Traffic gridlock in the greater Houston area was compounded by gasoline stations without fuel, long lines at those stations still carrying fuel, and record breaking temperatures on the first day of autumn. Offshore drilling platforms and rigs, as well as oil refineries, petrochemical and natural gas plants are in the path of the storm. Wave heights recorded...

WASHINGTON (AP) - With satellite phones, hospital beds, buses and gasoline on the way, President Bush promised on Thursday his administration would react "swiftly and effectively" to Hurricane Rita. House Republicans, meanwhile, began examining why the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was slow and disorganized. Hundreds of thousands of people were fleeing in anticipation of the latest mammoth storm. They took seriously the threat as it roared through the Gulf of Mexico. Landfall was expected on the Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday. Officials aware of the deadly consequences of leaving thousands behind when Katrina hit nearly a month...

Could a Nuclear Device stop a Hurricane in its track? I wonder if a large explosion of very high temperature of dry heat would break up a hurricane? Is there any freeper endowed with physics knowledge could tell us whether this is possible? Just thinking!

I thought it might be constructive to bring the fine minds of Free Republic to bear on measures that might be taken, even at this late hour, to expedite the evacuation of Houston in the wake of Hurricane Rita. Free Republic gets enough eyeballs on a daily basis that it's entirely possible that good ideas may find their way to the right people. As an example, might communications via simple AM radio channels be employed to faciliate the flow of traffic? A sign traveling against traffic down the shoulder of the road could instruct drivers to tune to a specific...

Aaaahhh... Lovely Rita hurricane Lovely Rita hurricane Lovely Rita hurricane Look at the Gulf between us Come to my aid and kindly fade away Listen to the frightened shrimpers Making little frightened whimpers Looking for a harbor where they can be saved Your whitecaps are running higher See the fear that you inspire You were once a warm little tropical storm Lovely Rita hurricane May I inquire discreetly (Lovely Rita) Would you refrain from dumping rain on me? (Lovely Rita, storm, ah) Rita! Finally got my windows boarded Gasoline and water hoarded Thought I maybe could be crazy and stay...

"A few miles away from the French Quarter, another wealthy New Orleans businessman, James Reiss, who serves in Mayor Ray Nagin's administration as chairman of the city's Regional Transit Authority, brought in some heavy guns to guard the elite gated community of Audubon Place: Israeli mercenaries dressed in black and armed with M-16s. Two Israelis patrolling the gates outside Audubon told me they had served as professional soldiers in the Israeli military, and one boasted of having participated in the invasion of Lebanon. "We have been fighting the Palestinians all day, every day, our whole lives," one of them tells...

Texans are taking no chances as a force more powerful than Katrina sweeps across the Gulf of Mexico to Houston. MORE than a million people were preparing to leave Houston and southern Texas last night as Hurricane Rita, a 300-mile wide Category 5 storm, headed for the oil-rich Gulf Coast. As the death toll from Hurricane Katrina passed 1,000, oil prices hit $68 a barrel and Rita, potentially more powerful, bore down on the Texas coast. It is expected to hit land on Saturday. Officials in New Orleans issued a warning that even 3in of rain could overwhelm the damaged...

DALLAS — City officials across Texas braced Wednesday for a possible onslaught of in-state evacuees as Hurricane Rita neared. Some jumped at the chance to help, while others hoped to avoid the crowds and confusion just weeks after they welcomed thousands of Gulf Coast residents uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. "We're hopeful that the federal government can be more creative and more innovative in the use of federal installations ... that the state might come up with other alternatives that would use state resources" rather than city facilities, Dallas city spokesman Celso Martinez said. The city's Red Cross shelters, which recorded...

If you've got room for a FReeper and/or their family, please sign in.

DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT AT 623 PM CDT...2323Z...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO BELOW 899 MB...OR 26.55 INCHES. THE DROPSONDE INSTRUMENT MEASURED 32 KT/35 MPH WINDS AT THE SURFACE...WHICH MEANS IT LIKELY DID NOT RECORD THE LOWEST PRESSURE IN THE EYE OF RITA. THE CENTRAL PRESSURE IS PROBABLY AT LEAST AS LOW AS 898 MB...AND PERHAPS EVEN LOWER. FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES... A PRESSURE OF 898 MB IS ASSUMED... WHICH NOW MAKES RITA THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN. SOME ADDITIONAL DEEPENING AND INTENSIFICATION IS POSSIBLE FOR...

Update: Category 4 Hurricane Rita - Live Thread, Part II   Hurricane Rita Freeper Sign In Thread  Rita may be 'national disaster': oil CEO      Rita now a Category 3 hurricane    Hurricane Rita Live Thread -- it has actually become rather comical because, in typical style, they ignore facts.  Case in point: my attempt to educate an acquaintance about the fact that more hurricanes struck the US by decade in the late Nineteenth Century than in recent times. This person acts as if hurricanes were a new phenomenon and happening at a greater rate than ever before. I...

Extremely dangerous and large Category Five Hurricane Rita is churning westward across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. Air Force Reconnaissance indicated the central pressure has dropped to 904mb, making Rita the fifth most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin. Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches have been issued from Northern Mexico through the South Louisiana coastline. Galveston TX used school buses to evacuate residents. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations are in effect along the Texas coastline. The following links are self-updating: Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET NHC Discussion Published every six hours...

Bush Administration Touts Rita Readiness WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eager to avoid the public pounding he got for his response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush pledged on Wednesday to be "ready for the worst" as another big hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast. Across the federal government, officials were advertising the Bush administration's stepped-up response plans for Hurricane Rita as it swept across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coastline. Bush pleaded with people in the region to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued in New Orleans and Galveston. And he said that federal, state and local governments were in...

Anticipating Hurricane Rita (still in the Gulf of Mexico, but a Category 5 'cane with winds at 165 MPH), President Bush declared a state of emergency for Texas and Louisiana, mobilizing federal assistance. He spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalitions Anniversary Luncheon in Washington, and also met with R and D Senate leaders to discuss the upcoming O'Connor USSC vacancy (as he did before nominating Judge Roberts). Bush met with the speaker of Iraq's Transitional National Assembly, Hajim al-Hassani, in the Oval Office. Welcome to Sanity Island!

MIAMI (Reuters) - Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Rita lashed the low-lying islands of the Florida Keys on Tuesday as the U.S. Gulf Coast began preparing for a possible encore to devastating Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans started evacuating as the National Hurricane Centre said Rita could become a Category 4 storm, the second highest grade on the five-stage hurricane scale. Katrina was a Category 4 when it roared ashore on August 29, swamping the historic jazz city and crushing Mississippi coastal towns. Rita grew from a tropical storm to a strong Category 2 hurricane with 105-mph (170-kph) winds within hours as it...

Officials have called for mandatory evacuations ahead of Hurricane Rita. The order is for every one living in Galveston County. People in medical centers and nursing homes to start at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Residential evacuations start at 6 p.m. The county's evacuation plan calls for the evacuation of residents in phases. Several of the cities within Galveston County had called emergency sessions of their councils and commissions Tuesday evening to make declarations of emergency. Under an emergency declaration the mayors of the cities can impose a curfew, restrict access to areas of the community that may suffer storm damage as...

Excerpt - GALVESTON - With the National Hurricane Center's official forecast naming Galveston as Rita's most likely Gulf Coast target later this week, island officials are calling for a voluntary evacuation and considering a mandatory evacuation. Activating its emergency management plan this afternoon, Galveston asked residents to voluntarily leave in preparation of Rita, which is a tropical storm now but is expected to strengthen into a hurricane when it moves into the Gulf later today. By the time it hits the Gulf Coast on Saturday morning, it is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane. The evacuation is to begin...

Since President Bush has now cited Tropical Storm (soon to be Hurricane) Rita as a reason why citizens of New Orleans should not be allowed back into the city yet and... Since loony libs think Bush and Karl Rove have some sort of weather machine that steered Hurricane Katrina into Louisiana to kill all the black people... Shouldn't we test this theory? If Rita hits Louisiana, it means Bush and Rove can control the weather and steered another hurricane into Louisiana to kill the rest of the black people. But if Rita hits somewhere else, then either Bush and Rove...

000 WTNT43 KNHC 190307 TCDAT3TROPICAL STORM RITA DISCUSSION NUMBER 5 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 11 PM EDT SUN SEP 18 2005 THE LAST RECON REPORT AT 17/2324Z INDICATED MAXIMUM RELIABLE 850 MB FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS OF ABOUT 55 KT...OR ROUGHLY 44 KT SURFACE WINDS. THERE WAS ONE FLIGHT-LEVEL REPORT OF 67 KT...BUT THIS OCCURRED DURING CLIMBOUT TO A HIGHER ALTITUDE TO AVOID TURBULENCE...AND IS THEREFORE NOT DEEMED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ACTUAL WIND FIELD. SINCE THE LAST RECON FLIGHT...CLOUD TOPS HAVE WARMED NEAR THE CIRCULATION CENTER...SO THE INTENSITY IS BEING HELD AT 45 KT. THE INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE IS 300/09....