CBS News Hits Rock Bottom
September 5, 2005 – 16:22 pmOk folks, here is Ms. Nancy Giles’ resume:
Resume of Nancy Giles’
Unions: SAG, AFTRA, AEA
Commercial
Many commercials and national voiceovers. List and conflicts upon requestTelevision
Dream On Recurring HBO
Fresh Prince Guest Star NBC
LA Law Guest Star NBC
China Beach Co-star ABC
Delta Co-star ABC
PB&J Otter (animated) Aunt Nanner Disney Channel
Spin City Guest Star ABC
CBS News Sunday Morning Contributor CBS News
The Jury Guest Star Fox
Fox After Breakfast Co-host FoxFilm
New York Stories Touchstone Pictures , Woody Allen (Dir.)
Me and Him Constantin Films , Doris Dorrie (Dir.)
Loverboy Independent , Kevin Bacon (Dir.)
Big 20th Century Fox , Penny Marshall (Dir.)
Angie Caravan Pictures , Martha Coolidge (Dir.)
Everything’s Jake Independent
True Crime Warner Bros. , Clint Eastwood (Dir.)
Working Girl 20th Century Fox , Mike Nichols (Dir.)Radio
The Jay Thomas Morning Show Jay’s Sidekick WTJM-FM, New York City
Giles & Moriarty Co Host WPHT-AM, PhiladelphiaTheater (NY, Chicago)
Hey, Stay A While Goodman Theater
The Best Of Second City Nat’l Touring Co.
A Raisin In The Sun Goodman Theater
Mayor Village Gate
Urban Blight Manhattan Theater Co.
Police Boys Playwrights Horizons
Black Comedy: The Wacky Side Of Racism Dixon Place, Passage Theatre, Naked Angels
Notes Of A Negro Neurotic Dixon Place, ESTEducation
B.A. Oberlin College
Now I am sure most of you are saying “Who the hell is Nancy Giles?” and “Why do I care about her resume?”. Of course that is understandable since her involvement in a few minor television shows, movies and plays doesn’t exactly maker her famous. After her commentary on the CBS News Sunday Morning, she is still not famous – but she has achieved the status of being infamous. However, before we move on, try to figure out what aspect of her resume qualifies her to evaluate the quality of an emergency response to a natural disaster?
I hate to keep doing this to you but you really need to read the commentary to understand why she pissed me off enough to devote a blog entry to her comments. Please click here to read her commentary.
Now that you have read her commentary, the first thing I want to point out is even Jesse Jackson had the good sense not to make such wild and unsubstantiated accusations as those that were made by Ms. Giles. I can’t help but wonder what on earth would lead a major network news organization to permit someone like Ms. Giles to go on television and make such inflammatory comments.
Ms. Giles said, “When I saw pictures of black people taking things from stores, my first thought was: “How are those Air Jordans necessary for your survival?” She is right that when folks find themselves trying to survive, they may have to do some things that they might not ordinarily do. One of the things that FEMA Under Secretary Brown admitted early on was they had not anticipated the extent of lawlessness that developed. This lawlessness went well beyond looting for food or items that were needed for survival. How does Ms. Giles justify the numerous incidents of rape or the murder of a police officer which occurred during this crisis? Could it be that the criminal element that stayed behind to loot may have contributed to the slow response? I am sure that it is difficult to render aid when you are being fired upon.
Although no one wants to say it right now, we can’t lose sight of the fact that all of the citizens of New Orleans were warned to evacuate several days in advance of Katrina. Everyone with a television was glued to the Weather Channel watching as the storm’s intensity increased as it traveled through the Gulf. Many of the victims were still in New Orleans because they chose to remain behind and ride out the storm as they had many times before.
I am confident that when this crisis is under control, congress and every other oversight committee known to man will be conducting hearings and pointing fingers. There will be plenty of blame to go around at the local, state and federal level. However, now is not the time to do so.
It amazed me that CBS would give Ms. Giles a platform to make such unfounded accusations but given their past history with the Dan Rather incident, I don’t suppose it should. To insinuate that the logistical problems that were experienced during this unprecedented natural disaster were somehow connected to race, economic status or political affiliation is irresponsible journalism at its worst. The good news for CBS and Ms. Giles is that the quality of their news operation has got to improve since they have no where to go but up – they have reached rock bottom.
10 Responses to “CBS News Hits Rock Bottom”
I can’t believe the pass the Mayor and Governor have been given here. For all those who didn’t have the means to get out the city did precious little to help them. Hit the link for a satellite image showing 255 buses left to the flood waters.
By Greg on Sep 6, 2005
I came here for another reason but this comment just pissed me off.
Greg, You’re a moron. You and all the other, lather at the mouth, neo-con apologists completely ignore the simple facts on the ground.
Sure there were hundreds of buses available. There were around 500 if the photos floating around the net are all legit.
Were all the buses operational? The pictures are of the Bus Yard. It’s quite possible that many of the buses were out of service.
Who would drive the buses? Does the Mayor have the authority to order the bus drivers to work? They may be civil servants but they don’t have the obligations of fire fighters and police.
How would you fuel them – buses don’t get great mileage. There were lots of reports of several hour waits to get gasoline.
Where would they drive? Where do you house tens of thousands of evacuees? You can’t just drop them off in a corn field.
Even with 500 buses there still weren’t enough to evacuate everybody. Who determined the priority?
The highways were completely jammed. Complete gridlock. By the time they cleared the slow moving bus brigade wouldn’t have been able to beat the storm. It would have become a floatilla instead of a convoy.
Of course all of this was predicted and planned for. In 2003 with a drill called Hurricane Pam (look it up jackass). That’s why the OFFICIAL plan was to house the people in the SuperDome.
After getting all of the people into the SuperDome FEMA was supposed to show up with supplies. They did not.
We all know that Brownie and Chertoff failed. But since your man Dubya appointed these bozos he is ultimately responsible.
Gov Blanco called up the Guard on August 26. Mayor Nagin recommended a voluntary evacuation. Blanci asked for additional troops on the 28 and again on the 2nd. Within an hour of getting the best-guess forecast of the storm path from the Hurricane Center in Miami Mayor Nagin put the official emergency plan into action and ordered a mandatory evacuation
So when you blame the local officials you are actually quite wrong. Sure, they could have done better. But at least they weren’t off playing country music star while people were dying.
By Hans Fischmann on Sep 13, 2005
I was repeatedly dismayed at the story as it got worse and worse in the superdome. Why did the same events not unfold in other areas that were just as dammaged (daresay worse) as New Orleans. The looting probably would have been worse if the floods had not come. Those who will be calling for the heads of political foes will use the “horrible injustice” of the response to Katrina to spearhead political change. Socialist ideals were spread through the “Triangle Shirt Fire” of 1911. Socialist communists and revolutionaries banded together to form a “response” to this “injustice”. In the end, the facts will be tossed to the side and the emotional banners will be lifted to the sky. The clarion call will be government assistance, government response, etc. THe next big hurricane to hit a major city will involve a larger chunk of the military than neccecary. Drug addicts, the homeless and those solely looking for a handout will pour out of the woodwork DEMANDING to be evacuated, clothed and fed.
You aint seen nothing yet. Prepare for the fractured socialist minority to gain strength, taking the left of the left with them, once again absorbing the revolutionaries and unintelligent rabble rousers shouting “no justice, no peace”. Thank God the Neocons are here to tell them to shut the hell up.
http://animehound.com/index.php/journal/2005/09/02/the_cold_hard_facts_of_life_after_katrin
By vegasbright on Sep 13, 2005
Hans,
The questions you bring up regarding the buses should have been considered long ago, considering their use was called for in the state’s emergency operations plan. It’s in there, look it up.
By Greg on Sep 13, 2005
Greg,
That document is outdated. It was superceded by the plans drawn from FEMA’s Operation Pam in 2003. I apologize for not having a planning doc available. If I find one I will post it at my site.
Walter Maestri is the man to go to for NOLA disaster planning, since it’s his job, stated unequivocally that everything was followed to FEMA specs. Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin have made similar statements. You can find supporting documents at their respective websites.
FEMA screwed up. I think the re-assignation and resignation of FEMA head Michael Brown are clear indications that the Agency did not hold up it’s end of the bargain.
And Dubya said as much today. In an amazing turn of events, he actually took responsibility. I applaud him. Now if we could only talk about WMD, Iraq and Rove’s outing of a CIA operative.
Bush is responsible because there was a massive failure of the beuracracy that Dubya, and his neo-con advisors, set up. Bush established the Dept of Homeland Security. Bush put FEMA under DHS control. This isn’t some lingering problem from a former Democrat administration.
EVERYTHING was re-written after 9/11. Hurricane Katrina was the first test of the massive department Bush established to handle securing the homeland and managing disasters.
The President’s plan failed. Miserably. Where does the buck stop?
To try and blame local officials when the storm was the size of three states and was declared a NATIONAL emergency by the President, two full days before it hit, is just ludicrous.
Best,
Hans
By Hans on Sep 13, 2005
These are the most recent plans posted by Louisiana. FEMA is not responsible for developing local or state emergency operation plans. We haven’t gotten so bad thankfully that the feds tell us how to react to every incident (but it’s coming fast).
FEMA is not a rapid reaction agency. It’s not meant to be. We will never solve a failure of bureaucracy by adding more layers of bureaucracy. Now obviousely the President feels that he shoulders some of the blame. Maybe so, but to the point of my original post (which didn’t mention him) if I lived in a city 20 feet below an ocean, a big river, and a huge lake, I’d hope my mayor had more up his sleeve than which curse words to spout off on national tv.
By Greg on Sep 13, 2005
Greg,
As I have repeatedly said those plans you offered are out of date. The current ones can be found at http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26
Here is the pertinent section…
It does not say that NOLA has to bus the people out. It does not say that taking care of the evacuees is the responsibility of local authorities. It says that local authorities have to provide shelter and access to representatives from relief agencies.
In other words, get your people out of the storm. That is the entire obligation of state and local officials. The rest is up to FEMA.
And you are completely wrong on FEMA’s purpose. FEMA is responsible and is THE rapid response agency, it’s their mission….from their website.
It’s amazing what you can find when you go to the source and look past the Fox News spin.
Hans
By Hans on Sep 14, 2005
I forgot to address your attempt to wiggle out from under the weight of idiotic remarks.
You didn’t have to mention the President. Your lame first post was pure GOP/Rove talking point. You could be Ken Mehlman or Novakula with that crap.
Why are you trying to cover for him? He has completely failed you and the country.
You attempted to smear the state and local authorities. Blame them for the disaster response.
In fact, they did exactly as they were told. It is the Feds that failed to hold up their end of the deal.
You bitch about layers of bureaucracy but it is George W Bush that is responsible because he created that bureaucracy. Dubya, and his neo-con advisors, set up the whole department.
EVERYTHING was re-written after 9/11. Bush established the Dept of Homeland Security. Bush put FEMA under DHS control. This isn’t some lingering problem from a former Democrat administration.
Hurricane Katrina was the first test of the massive department Bush established to handle securing the homeland and managing disasters.
The President’s plan failed. Miserably. Where does the buck stop?
You think the mayor was out of place? If I were the Mayor and saw bodies floating in the water, people collapsing from exhaustion and losing all hope…If I had been promised support, supplies and relief that never arrived…If I was watching a bunch of idiots, including the President, holding Press Conferences and patting each other on the back…You’re doing a heck of a job Brownie…If the President was too busy playing country music star to see the devestation first hand…
You know what, I would be mighty pissed off too. I would say all kinds of things to bring some attention to the plight of my citizens. Whatever it would take.
God, you are such a jackass.
By Hans on Sep 14, 2005
“Can’t we all just get along?” – take a deep breath guys – I don’t think either of you are going to sway the other so you may have to just agree to disagree.
By rschumaker on Sep 14, 2005
Hello, I just found this site, interesting commentary.
Hans I hope you can hear this, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. I sincerely applaud your response to this post. With power comes great responsibility and accountability. Those with power failed now the time of accountability is here. How will they weather under the storm.
By Pam on Sep 19, 2005