O.C. Sheriff Indicted on Federal Corruption Charges

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona broke the law by failing to disclose that he had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts for himself, his wife and his former "longtime mistress," according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday.

The women, Debbie Carona and Deborah Hoffman, were described as co-conspirators and were also indicted.

The gifts -- primarily from former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl -- included cash payments of as much as $112,000, a boat, a trip to Lake Tahoe and ringside tickets to the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad title fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the indictment says.

The alleged conspiracy stretched from the months before Carona's election in 1998 until August, when he is accused of attempting to "corruptly persuade" Haidl, in a tape-recorded conversation, to withhold testimony from the grand jury.

The 10-count document also says Carona "corruptly used his office" to lobby county supervisors to change hiring processes so that Haidl, who was "not otherwise qualified," could be appointed assistant sheriff. He is also accused of using his influence to give "preferential treatment" to Haidl's son, who was facing drug charges and was later sentenced to prison.

The indictment says the purpose of the alleged conspiracy was to get Carona elected sheriff and for him to "corruptly use his office to enrich himself," his mistress, his wife, Haidl and George Jaramillo, a former assistant sheriff who is now serving jail time on unrelated corruption charges.

Carona faces 105 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.

Kanye West - Top Hip-Hop Artist

Fresh from a performance at the Dubai Country Club, Kanye West fit right in at Sunday's gala opening of the Takashi Murakami retrospective at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The sharp-dressed rapper-artiste, who enlisted the Japanese art star to create videos and album art for his latest release, "Graduation," would have been perfectly comfortable mingling with the designers and socialites packed into the exhibition's Louis Vuitton store. But by performing a super-compressed set that had that crowd setting their Motorola V3 cellphones alight, he claimed his own place within Murakami's neo-Pop movement.

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This is a delusion of a rapper on Myspace. I don't think Kanye West or any other rapper has anything to worry about. Myspace cannot launch a music career for a 41 year old unemployed loser. After all, it is just Myspace; not a miracle worker.

Habitat to build 30 Town Houses in 5 Days

The Jimmy Carter Work Project, which aims to build houses in a different city each year, will build 30 town houses and rehabilitate 70 more in the San Pedro and South Los Angeles areas in five days.

Los Angeles was selected because of its acute shortage of affordable housing, said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive of Habitat International.

It's "as tough a place as anywhere in the United States for a family of low to moderate income to find decent, affordable housing," he said.

According to Habitat International, 1.6 billion people need affordable housing worldwide, including 6 million in the United States. In Los Angeles County, about a quarter of all families of four earn $20,000 to $40,000 a year. In a market where the median home price is about $535,000, that income level puts owning a home out of reach.

On hand to help build the houses will be a few dozen celebrities, including Patricia Arquette, Garth Brooks, Ricky Martin, Barry Pepper and Trisha Yearwood, according to event organizers.

Former President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, attended a kickoff celebration Sunday at the Port of Los Angeles.

Habitat families will pay $150,000 for their town houses, with 30 years to pay off their interest-free mortgages to the nonprofit organization. Each of the families is required to invest 500 hours of "sweat equity" over two to three months in the planning and building of their homes.

Habitat selected San Pedro and South Los Angeles because of their urban settings. The organization has traditionally focused on building single-family homes but is now also looking to construct more duplexes and triplexes because of the scarcity of land in urban areas.

The units in Los Angeles will be the first in the Jimmy Carter Work Project to implement "green building elements," such as solar panels, energy-saving windows and drought-resistant landscaping.

The 16-unit San Pedro development in the 300 block of North Palos Verdes Street, which will be called Harborside Terrace, will have a view of the harbor. The 14 South Los Angeles town houses, on Vermont Avenue at 112th Street, will be called Vermont Village and include a playground.

Firefighters Optimistic About Curbing Wildfires

Firefighters say they're optimistic they can make more gains today against Southern California wildfires even though the weather will be hotter and drier.

Calmer winds and even a little drizzle yesterday helped crews tighten the noose on the major fires after a week of blazes that killed seven people, destroyed more than a half-million acres of land and burned nearly 1,800 homes.

Four fires in San Diego and San Bernardino counties are nearly fully contained.

However, more than 21,000 structures are still threatened and more than 15,000 firefighters are on the lines.

Several churches in fire areas will be holding Sunday services for fire victims. The congregation of a church in San Diego County will worship even though their church was gutted by fire.

Meanwhile, San Diego fans are getting ready to cheer the Chargers football team at a game today in Qualcomm Stadium. Two days ago, the stadium was housing thousands of fire refugees.

Rage urges 'Big Easy' residents to Fight government

Reunited rock-rap group Rage Against The Machine brought its militant politics to New Orleans on Friday, and urged the citizens of the ravaged city to fight alleged government belligerence.

The Los Angeles foursome, known for its leftist politics and anti-corporate tirades, was the top draw on the opening night of the three-day Voodoo Music Experience festival.

Partially reunited modern rock stalwarts the Smashing Pumpkins head the bill on Saturday, and alternative country-rock band Wilco will close the event on Sunday.

For most of Rage's set, frontman Zack de la Rocha said little more than introduce the band. Just before the encore, he finally addressed the raucous crowd, saying that visiting the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on the poor and mostly African-American Ninth Ward neighborhood convinced him that the U.S. government was at war with New Orleans.

"You represent all the beauty that still exists in this city. Wake up and fight them," he urged fans, seemingly unaware that few denizens of the Ninth Ward were likely present in the overwhelmingly white audience.

Rage reunited earlier this year after a seven-year hiatus, initially for one show only at the Coachella festival in southern California. But more festival dates were added in the United States over the summer and fall, and now the band is scheduled to play in Japan and Australia next year.

At Voodoo, Rage performed such 1990s hits as "Killing in the Name," "Bulls on Parade" and "Freedom." De la Rocha whipped the audience into a jumping frenzy when he repeatedly screamed the lyric "All hell can't stop us now!" during the climax of the anthemic "Guerrilla Radio."

On the second stage, Sri Lankan female rapper M.I.A. pranced and gesticulated alongside a sidekick dressed in a matching colorful spandex outfit. Other performers included Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Porcupine Tree and Kings of Leon. Continued...

FEMA blasted for news conference

No one had any hard questions for the deputy administrator of FEMA, an agency deeply tarnished by its delayed action after Hurricane Katrina, when he held a news conference Tuesday to talk about the California wildfires.

"Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" someone asked.

Indeed, the deputy administrator was. "I am very happy with FEMA's response so far," responded Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr.

The news conference looked like a success in the Bush administration's effort this week to demonstrate it could respond competently to a disaster.

On Friday, however, the agency admitted that the softball questions were posed by FEMA employees, not reporters.

The White House was not happy with FEMA's response.

"It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House," said Press Secretary Dana Perino, mentioning three times that it was an "error in judgment." "It's not something I would have condoned, and they, I'm sure, will not do it again."

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, was less happy.

"This is inexcusable and offensive, and stunts like this will not be tolerated or repeated," said spokeswoman Laura Keehner. "It was a lapse of judgment, and we find it offensive, and it won't happen again."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency apologized for the event, but protested that it was not intended to deceive. FEMA announced the news conference with 15 minutes' notice and provided an 800 number for reporters, but it was not set up to take questions. When no reporters showed up, FEMA provided stand-ins to ask questions and a video feed. Several channels broadcast parts of the event live.

"FEMA's goal is to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment," Johnson acknowledged in a statement. "Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received. We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straightforward and transparent."

Perino also said that the agency was just trying to provide information: "There were so many questions pouring in. It was just a bad way to handle it, and they know that."

FEMA's "error in judgment" comes just more than two years after its agonizingly slow-motion response to thousands of displaced New Orleans residents who waited for help in dreadful conditions at the Superdome. Michael D. Brown, the agency's head, resigned under fire after he became an embarrassment to President Bush, who appeared out of touch when he praised Brown with the memorable comment: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Johnson, a retired Coast Guard officer who came to FEMA after the 2005 hurricane, started the briefing Tuesday with a brief statement and took six questions from FEMA employees. On the video, however, it was unclear who was asked the questions.

The questions focused on FEMA's relief efforts for Southern California wildfire victims and whether FEMA had been doing an adequate job.

"I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership," Johnson said, "none of which were present in Katrina."

A firestorm, A Deluge and a Sharp Political Dig

All week, as Southern California’s canyons have burned, the images of the orderly, well-coordinated evacuation effort have stood in sharp contrast to the chaotic memories of Hurricane Katrina, where evacuees, many of them poor and black, were trapped in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans for days without adequate food and water.

President Bush long ago accepted responsibility for the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. But now his administration and its allies are using the California disaster, with its affluent victims and reverse 911 telephone-warning system, to revisit Louisiana’s handling of the 2005 hurricane — and, in the process, to rewrite the story of one of the Bush administration’s biggest setbacks.

There is no doubt that state and local officials were partly to blame for the slow and inefficient response to Hurricane Katrina. And people on all sides of the hurricane vs. wildfires debate agree the storm, which put nearly an entire city under water, flooding evacuation routes and knocking out vital communications links, was a disaster of far greater magnitude, and thus California and New Orleans cannot be compared.

Yet the president drew the contrast on Thursday in California when, appearing with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, he said, “It makes a significant difference when you have somebody in the Statehouse willing to take the lead.” The remark was widely viewed as a veiled swipe at Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Louisiana Democrat, who says she resents it.

Other swipes have not been so veiled. The conservative columnist Rich Lowry, writing in the National Review Online, drew the contrast more pointedly. “The California wildfires will produce no Blancos,” he wrote, adding, “California’s government isn’t as addled with corruption and incompetence as Louisiana’s and that has made the difference.”

In interviews, allies of the administration have made much the same point; some have asserted that a Republican state administration, like that of Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, who was Florida’s governor when Hurricane Katrina hit, might have handled the situation better.

“I’ll go to my grave insisting that if Katrina had hit Florida instead of Louisiana, with that particular mayor and that particular governor, the outcome would have been different,” said Pete Wehner, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bush.

And the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said that if reporters were going to compare the federal responses to the hurricane and the wildfires, they should compare the state and local responses as well.

“There have been unfair swipes taken at President Bush on this issue for two years, and remember that he is the one who stepped forward and said, ‘I’ll take responsibility, personal responsibility for the federal response,’ ” Ms. Perino said Friday in an interview. “But that does not let state and local responders off the hook for being responsible for their part as well.”

But people on the Gulf Coast say that even if the state and local response had been perfect, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina might not have looked much different. So far, there have been roughly 1,875 homes destroyed by the California wildfires; a White House report says 300,000 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the storm. In California, fires consumed roughly 475,000 acres; more than 52 million acres were affected in the Gulf Coast, said Senator Mary L. Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat.

“I think you’re comparing a paper cut to an amputation,” said Sally Forman, the former press secretary to Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans and author of a new book, “Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina.” “We had no communication capability, we could not drive on our roads, we had 80 percent of our city under water, we had no power.”

Mr. Bush’s remarks in California have clearly struck a nerve. Governor Blanco complained to The Times-Picayune of New Orleans that she had spent nearly a week as “the only game in town,” leading without the president’s help. Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and Louisiana native who has been active in that state’s recovery effort, and who has in the past praised Mr. Bush, could barely contain her outrage.

“This is a president who flew over the state while people were on their roofs,” Ms. Brazile said. “The president, of all people, should be very careful not to criticize and reopen that wound, a wound that was so deeply felt by the people of Louisiana.”

Bush administration officials have long believed that if Ms. Blanco had immediately allowed the federal government to assume control of the military response in Louisiana, the outcome would have been different. That debate is playing out again and getting caught up in state politics.

With the election last week of Representative Bobby Jindal, a Republican, to succeed Ms. Blanco, who did not seek re-election, Bush administration allies argue that the people of that state have rendered their own judgment.

“There’s a reason she’s former Governor Blanco,” said Mr. Wehner, the former Bush adviser, who is now a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. “It’s not an effort to shift blame, because the federal government made mistakes, too. But I think with the distance of time and history, the truth will emerge, and the truth is that it was a massive failure at the state and local level.”

Yet Mr. Wehner concedes that the distance of time and history is not yet upon the Bush administration. He says the view of the hurricane as a federal failure is, for now, at least, the one that will stick in the public mind.

Ms. Landrieu says she intends to keep it that way.

“I’m not, and I’m sure many other people will not let them rewrite the history,” she said Friday. “It’s a legacy they’re going to have to live with, for better or for worse.”

Bush Impressed by response to wildfires in California

President George W. Bush said he was ``impressed'' by the performance of first responders to the wildfires in California, and vowed continued help.

``State and local authorities in California were well prepared for this crisis, and they responded quickly and effectively,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address. Bush pledged to Californians that ``we will help you put out the fires, get through the crisis, and rebuild your lives.''

Wildfires have scorched at least 719 square miles (1,869 square kilometers) since Oct. 21, causing the largest evacuation of residents in the state's history and as much as $2.5 billion in damage. Estimates of the number of people ordered from their homes or who left voluntarily ranged from 800,000 to 1 million.

Given the criticism of his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the South Asian tsunami in 2004, the White House this week has been touting the quick engagement of federal emergency operations, including efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bush flew to California Oct. 25 and declared a ``major disaster'' in the region, meaning the federal government will assist in fighting fires and rebuilding. The government also has made available the full resources of federal aid, equipment and fire-fighting help for the Southern California region.

``Shortly after the fires broke out, we started mobilizing and providing assistance, including the deployment of federal firefighters and aircraft to drop fire retardant on the fires,'' Bush said in his radio address. The president also said, ``things may look dismal now, but there is a better day ahead. And we will not forget you in Washington, D.C.''

Some Evacuees return home while firefighting continues

Thousands of evacuees from the wildfires that have ravaged San Diego County for five days began trickling back to their neighborhoods on Friday prompting authorities to begin closing down the huge San Diego Chargers football stadium as a shelter.

Only about 350 people remained in Qualcomm Stadium, which served as a temporary home for more than 10,000 people at the height of the wildfires.

For many, however, there was little to go home to as they returned to neighborhoods leveled by the raging fury of the wind-driven wildfires.

Officials have opened assistance centers in the hardest-hit communities, where displaced residents can get help with insurance, rebuilding and even mental health counseling.

Meanwhile, four charred bodies were found Thursday in an apparent migrant camp burned by one of the wildfires raging across Southern California, authorities said Thursday.

If the fire was responsible for the deaths — which authorities said was not immediately certain — it would mean seven people have died in the flames.

In all, fires raced across 490,000 acres — or 765 square miles, an area half the size of Rhode Island. They were fanned early in the week by Santa Ana winds that produced gusts topping 100 mph.

Of the 1,800 homes lost so far, 80% were in San Diego County. The property damage there alone has surpassed $1 billion.

Although some evacuees were able to return home, and all fires near Los Angeles have been contained, at least eight major blazes continued to rage in a three-county area.

San Diego County remained hardest hit. The 198,000-acre Witch Fire in the northern parts of the county was not expected to be contained until Sunday, according to the California Office of Emergency Services.

At least four other fires in the county were only 30% contained or less as of Friday morning. One fire was also active in Orange County and two wildfires were burning in San Bernardino County.

One blaze in San Diego County had crested Palomar Mountain and was threatening the landmark Palomar Observatory.

Friday's flare-ups underscored the wildfires' continuing threat, even as crews were making rapid progress.

An Associated Press investigation revealed that nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two cargo planes were grounded by government rules and bureaucracy as flames spread.

The Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters were grounded for a day partly because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the high winds made flying too dangerous.

Additionally, the National Guard's C-130 cargo planes were not part of the firefighting arsenal because long-standing retrofits have yet to be completed. The tanks they need to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant were promised four years ago.

On Thursday, President Bush took a four-hour tour of the region with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, visiting burned-out neighborhoods and consoling victims.

He walked down a street of the hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, where homes have been burned to rubble, seeking at one point to offer comfort to Jay and Kendra Jeffcoat, standing near where a single spiral staircase rested amid rubble that used to be their home and near their burnt-out car melted into the scorched earth.

He was asked to compare the federal response to the widely criticized U.S. efforts in the wake of 2005's Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of New Orleans. "There's all kinds of time for historians to compare this response to that response," Bush responded.

Schwarzenegger said Bush called him even before he could reach out to the president for help. "I call this quick action — quicker than I expected, I can tell you that," the governor said.

"We're not going to forget you in Washington, D.C." Bush said after the tour in a short speech. "We want people to know that there's a better day ahead."

Bush declared the fires a major disaster on Wednesday, setting in motion long-term federal recovery programs, some requiring matches from the state, to help state and local governments, families, individuals and certain non-profit organizations recover. The assistance varies from direct aid for uninsured losses to help with rebuilding infrastructure.

Break in weather slows California wildfires

California wildfires that have destroyed 1,300 homes and forced the evacuation of 500,000 people raged into a fifth day on Thursday, but firefighters seized on a break in the weather to largely halt the march of destruction.

Some 15 fires still blazed across the southern part of the state, lighting up the night sky, but officials said cooler temperatures and weaker winds allowed them to win a measure of control for the first time and that the worst was behind them.

President George W. Bush, who declared California's wildfires a "major disaster," triggering extra federal help, was due to survey the damage with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday and check on the government's response.

"It's a sad situation out there in southern California. I fully understand that the people have got a lot of anguish in their hearts and they just need to know a lot of folks care about them," Bush said before leaving the White House.

He said he wanted to make sure that California was receiving the help it needed to deal with the wildfires.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, criticized along with Bush for a slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had 1,000 people on the ground in badly scorched San Diego County.

Though fire officials were relieved that the hot, dry Santa Ana winds driving the flames had weakened, they conceded that offshore breezes replacing them presented a danger. Even those milder winds could trigger dangerous runs by some of the fires, which were being fought by some 9,000 weary men and women.

The wildfires, which broke out over the weekend after the Santa Ana winds began to blow, have blackened nearly 800 square miles (2,072 sq km), claimed six lives and injured dozens of people, many of them firefighters.

'DESTINED TO BURN'

San Diego County has suffered losses in excess of $1 billion, and three of the largest fires were still burning out of control.

"It is just like a chess game as to which area is the highest priority. We are the highest priority now," said Jeff Terpstra, a fire chief at the nearly 200,000-acre (80,940- hectare) Witch fire. "Some of this area hasn't burned for 25 to 45 years. It is destined to burn."

But after the largest evacuation in California's modern history, some residents were allowed to go home and find out if their houses still stood.

One of the most desperate fights was in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, where the 20,000-acre (8,094-hectare) Santiago fire for a time menaced homes in a gated community.

Authorities said federal agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms joined local authorities in investigating the Santiago fire as arson.

"Those are crime scenes," said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, adding that a $70,000 reward was posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Los Angeles County has reported the most progress, canceling wind warnings for the first time since the weekend.

San Diego County officials said that even when the fires were extinguished they would face a major cleanup and huge costs. Based on initial estimates, just the homes damaged will be worth more than over $1 billion, said Ron Lane, San Diego County's emergency services director.

Have lesson of Katrina been learnt?

As wildfires force more than 500,000 people to flee their homes in California, inevitable comparisons are drawn with the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Has the US learnt the harsh lessons of New Orleans?

The ramifications of the bungled response to Katrina are still felt two years later in the US, both politically and by the people living in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

It has quickly become clear that the White House has no intention of letting events unravel in a similarly chaotic - and public - fashion in California.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and David Paulison, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), are already on the scene.

"What we see now that we did not see during Hurricane Katrina is a very good team effort from the local, the state and the federal government and across the federal agencies," Mr Paulison said.

President George W Bush wants to "witness first-hand" the situation and is due to visit on Thursday, as well as swiftly pledging federal aid to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After Katrina, he was widely criticised for merely flying over the hurricane-affected areas two days later on his way back from his holiday in Texas to Washington DC.

Big questions

However, while the administration's public response and California's evacuation efforts have clearly been better managed than in New Orleans, other questions remain:

* given the awareness that dry conditions had created a risk of serious fires, was enough done to prepare?

* have California's fire services been given enough funding for staff and equipment?

* has the deployment of National Guard troops to Iraq led to a shortage of manpower and firefighting kit?

Donald Kettl, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, is certain the response could have been better, had part of California's National Guard not been deployed to Iraq.

"We are simply not as well prepared as we used to be to react to these kinds of disasters because the forces we used to have here are in Iraq, and some of their equipment is too," he said.
Back in May, Mr Schwarzenegger himself acknowledged that "a lot of equipment has gone to Iraq, and it doesn't come back when the troops come back" to California.

At the same time, Lt Col John Siepmann, a spokesman for California's National Guard, told the San Francisco Chronicle that half the equipment needed to respond to a major disaster was not in the state.

However, Lt Gen Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, has denied that deployments to Iraq have overstretched California's resources.

Some 1,500 of the state's National Guard troops have been involved in firefighting and humanitarian efforts.

Mindful of criticisms of a sluggish response after Katrina, the Pentagon has also been quick to put active-duty troops on standby and to lend firefighting aircraft.

"One of the lessons we, as a nation, learned is that in a crisis, you don't wait to be asked," said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defence for homeland defence.

'Very different'

Dr Kettl agrees that what has been seen in California so far represents "vast improvements" as regards the federal government response.

A community centre used as a shelter in San Diego County, 24 Oct 2007
Many shelters have been set up for people forced to flee their homes

"In terms of leaders on the scene, it is far better - that was an enormous problem in the case of Katrina," he said.

But what will ultimately count will be the state and federal authorities' ability to organise aid effectively for those in need, Dr Kettl says.

Assessing the response so far, he said: "The evacuation procedures have been relatively smooth, the shelter and food have been relatively good."

But, he adds, it is difficult to draw direct comparisons between Katrina and what is happening in California because of the different nature and scale of the problems faced.

The hurricane and flooding cut off access to emergency shelters in New Orleans, where thousands became stranded without supplies, in a way that has not happened in California.

Also, many of the affected areas in California are wealthier - with residents better able to flee - than was the case in New Orleans, where many of those trapped were poor or elderly.

'Baby steps'

Steve Erie, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, is much blunter in his criticism of San Diego County's authorities.


We have volunteer fire departments that use bake sales to raise money
Professor Steve Erie

He believes the county's preparedness in terms of firefighting was woefully inadequate - particularly compared to nearby Los Angeles - and that its fire service is seriously under-funded.

Four years ago, after fierce wildfires in southern California cost 15 lives, a number of recommendations were made to try to improve emergency readiness.

But, says Prof Erie, San Diego's voters rejected tax increases that would have boosted fire service funding and the authorities "adopted all the resolutions except those that cost money".

A burned-out house and car in California, 24 Oct 2007
With 1,500 homes razed, a long road to reconstruction lies ahead

As a result, communications systems and inter-agency coordination have improved, he said, but much more is needed to bring San Diego County's many small fire services up to scratch.

"We have volunteer fire departments that use bake sales to raise money, and we are just taking baby steps towards consolidating them, professionalising them and giving them better equipment - and that's four years later," he said.

With more than a dozen fires still blazing and a long path to reconstruction ahead, it may be too early to judge whether all the lessons of Katrina have been taken to heart.

But for some observers, at least, the report card will be mixed.

Katrina and the Beast

(CBS) This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.


The big news headline for the fires now called The Beast is this: "Few Die In Massive Southern California Wildfires."

It is that rare thing, a good news headline, if only in a silver-lining kind of a way. It is also the polar opposite (and, yes, I know the poles are melting and that’s why we have wildfires and floods, etc.) of the news headline that flooded out of Hurricane Katrina: "Many Die, Suffer In Massive Katrina Flooding Due To Local, Federal Failure."

One possible lesson from this is that all levels of government learned the hard way from Katrina that they can’t blow the big ones. After the disastrous handling of that disaster, there was a flood of punditry proclaiming that "competence" would become the primary demand made by political consumers. The idea was that the polarized and schizophrenic vox populi might stop arguing over whether government should be big or small and focus instead on making it minimally able to do the basics. Candidates would emphasize that management function and steer away from ideology and high-flying rhetoric.

That, of course, did not come to pass. Yes, President Bush learned enough to act involved and he headed to California right away. But that is stagecraft not statecraft. It is politics not governing.

Ray Nagin was re-elected mayor in New Orleans. Republicans did lose their hold in Congress, but because of the Persian Gulf not the Gulf of Mexico. None of the major presidential candidates in this cycle are campaigning on government competence and efficiency more than usual. Office-seekers always promise clean and able government. This Congress has passed little substantial legislation and has not addressed the deficit, entitlements or tax reform.

The amorphous beast known as Government - state, local and federal - is no more or less competent than usual in any generalized way. The truth is more prosaic. Most of the time large organizations face a crisis the response is chaotic and the outcome is neither failure nor success, but somewhere in the middle. The more organizations that are involved, the more chaos ensues.

The disaster of Katrina was exacerbated by political corruption in Louisiana and Mississippi, cronyism at FEMA, chronic under-funding of infrastructure maintenance and emergency preparedness. But a response that was deemed a stunning success would have been an anomaly, a shocker.

That is all good reason to be especially attentive to and grateful for the more skillful handling of The Beast. Over the next few days and weeks, there will be investigations and news stories that will uncover acts of stupidity, ineptness and bureaucratic bone-headedness. I would suggest focusing on the stories of bravery, ingenuity and cooperation instead.

The team that looks good on paper does not always win, as the Colorado Rockies have proven so perfectly this year. Part of what makes a winner is confidence, guts and attitude. We the voters, the political consumers of America, have allowed a generation of politicians to de-motivate and degrade government and public service.

It is not just an issue of small budgets and pork-barrel politics, though that matters greatly. Candidates get elected by declaring that "government is the problem, not the solution." And they attack each other relentlessly. We in the news business rarely are willing to cross the street to find an example of public servants who aren’t in the military doing something well. I’m guilty as hell of this myself.

And in this period of political climate change, we -- the spoiled, litigious and generally ungrateful citizens - expect sacrifice, perfection and accountability from our public servants. We resent our tax bills and berate not just politicians but government workers. When things go wrong, we are shocked and outraged and want scalps.

This no way to create a winning government. We’re like George Steinbrenner and our government plays like the Yankees, not the Rockies.

Good behavior in government and in bureaucracies is rarely rewarded, especially in public. The fact that so few people died amidst a "perfect storm" of fire and the evacuation of over a million people is astounding. It’s the headline.

Haunted by Katrina, Bush keeps eye on Calif. Fires

Haunted by the legacy of Hurricane Katrina, the White House is scrambling to make sure the Southern California wildfires don't become another public relations nightmare for President George W. Bush.

His administration, faced with the worst U.S. natural disaster since Katrina, has shifted into high gear to show it learned its lesson from the federal government's botched handling of the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Mindful of the severe damage the Katrina response caused to Bush's image and popularity, the White House has taken pains to depict him as deeply engaged in tracking the latest crisis.

He was quick to declare a state of emergency in California, even going as far as anticipating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request by leaving behind a pre-approved order before leaving the Oval Office on Monday evening.

He has ordered top officials to the scene, a far cry from the sluggish Katrina response symbolized by his oft-ridiculed remark to then-disaster chief Michael Brown: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

And Bush, widely criticized for taking too long to visit storm-ravaged New Orleans, canceled plans to travel to St. Louis and will instead make a day trip to California on Thursday.

"Yes, Katrina was not handled well," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said curtly when peppered with questions about lessons learned. "The president accepted responsibility for that, and then he took action to fix it."

As Bush sweeps in for a first-hand look at the damage, one thing is sure -- there will be no photo of the president gazing out the window of Air Force One at the devastation below.

Bush's overflight of flooded New Orleans still stands as the emblematic post-Katrina picture of his second-term woes.

In the aftermath, public confidence, already declining due to his handling of the Iraq war, took a major hit, and his approval ratings have never recovered.

CONSOLER-IN-CHIEF

With less than 15 months left in office, Bush has started to acknowledge his struggle to remain relevant. Playing consoler-in-chief, a role perfected by Bush's Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, remains an important way for a lame-duck president to stay in the public eye.

"I want the people in Southern California to know that Americans all across this land care deeply about them," Bush told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. "We offer our prayers and hopes that all will turn out fine in the end."

But even before he sets foot in California, Bush's visit is stirring controversy. Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi called it a "public relations" move.

"I've got some doubt about the value of President Bush coming out here," he told MSNBC's "Hardball." "I just hope ... he brings more than he brought to New Orleans."

Garamendi also voiced concern that Bush's trip could distract from firefighting efforts in southern California, where more than half million people have been driven from their homes.

On the East Coast, radio talk show callers had a different complaint. Many pointed out how eager Bush seemed to visit California, where the fire victims in many cases are affluent suburbanites, compared to his earlier reluctance to join New Orleans' mostly poor urban dwellers.

Thousands of evacuees have sought shelter in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, evoking memories of the thousands left stranded in the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina in 2005.

In contrast to the chaotic scene at the Superdome, however, Qualcomm offered yoga and acupuncture for stressed-out adults, clowns and candy for bored kids and even kosher meals.

With Katrina Fresh, Bush Moves Briskly

It was not quite 2:30 a.m. in Washington on Tuesday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California asked President Bush to declare an emergency because of the wildfires raging in his state. An hour or so later, the request — pre-approved by Mr. Bush before he left the Oval Office on Monday evening — was granted.

By the time most Californians awoke on Tuesday, the Pentagon had sent helicopters and troops to California and the homeland security secretary and head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were on their way. By Tuesday evening, the White House announced that Mr. Bush himself would go on Thursday. He canceled a trip to St. Louis, planning to send Vice President Dick Cheney instead.

For a presidency still haunted by memories of Hurricane Katrina, the forceful round-the-clock response was a political no-brainer — the “anti-Katrina,” in the words of Peter Wehner, a former domestic policy adviser to Mr. Bush.

And if actions were not enough, Mr. Bush also served up words, interrupting a speech on Tuesday morning about the global campaign against terrorism to talk about the disaster. After warning of the threat of a ballistic missile attack, he segued into the wildfires, saying, “We send our prayers and thoughts with those who’ve been affected, and we send the help of the federal government as well.”

Mr. Bush has dealt with natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina, but the California fires are clearly the administration’s biggest challenge since the storm flooded New Orleans. Beyond demonstrating that the White House has learned its lesson, the rapid response shows how Mr. Bush, late in his presidency, is relying on his executive powers — veto threats, presidential orders and his bully pulpit — to keep himself in the news and convey an image of being in charge.

It should be noted that,

Mr. Bush was photographed flying over the devastated city of New Orleans, an image that sticks with him to this day. Now, with more than 500,000 people ordered to leave their homes, Mr. Bush will go to California on Thursday to “witness firsthand what people are going through,” said Scott Stanzel, the deputy White House press secretary.

Bush moving on California Wildfires

President Bush mobilized federal emergency assistance Tuesday on behalf of Southern California officials struggling with devastating wildfires, and scheduled a visit to the stricken region on Thursday.

"The president wants to travel to California to witness firsthand what the people there are going through with these wildfires," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "He wants to ensure that the state and local governments are getting what they need from the federal government and he wants to make sure to deliver a message in person to the victims that he has them in his thoughts and prayers."

To make the trip, Bush is canceling a previously scheduled trip to St. Louis, where he was to deliver remarks on the budget and headline a fundraiser for the national Republican Party. Vice President Dick Cheney was going to fill in for the president, but the White House later decided to reschedule the events.

Homes Leveled in California Mountain Fires

The extent of the destruction wrought so far by wildfires in this popular mountain vacation spot will not be known until Tuesday, when crews are scheduled to make the first full tally of destroyed homes. The devastation came four years after a 90,000-acre fire burned 300 Lake Arrowhead homes and was responsible for six deaths.

At least 168 houses have been destroyed in two fires that erupted Monday in and around Lake Arrowhead about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Firefighters were hampered by strong winds, as the blazes continued to burn out of control early Tuesday.

Lion Roars, In US with Tackaberry

As part of its ongoing stateside expansion, Lion Television has named Tony Tackaberry its first U.S.-based CEO.

The British production company also has expanded Lion executive vp Tracy Green's duties and hired two development executives.

In addition, the company said it has received renewals for its series "Cash Cab" from Discovery Channel and "History Detectives" on PBS.

Tackaberry, who most recently oversaw the company's stateside growth in New York as executive vp, will oversee the company's operations in New York and Los Angeles and take on the strategic role of planning and leading Lion's growth. Nick Catliff had been Lion's CEO, based in London, and continues as co-managing director of Lion Television and president of Lion.

"In just five years, Tony has transformed Lion's New York operations from a startup into a highly successful business making over 100 hours of primetime programming for American cable and terrestrial broadcasters," Catliff said. "He is the ideal person to take on the challenge of bringing the New York and Los Angeles operations together as a single creative business."

No Quick End Seen to Southern California Wildfires

Ten wind-driven wildfires raged across Southern California on Monday, keeping thousands of evacuees from returning home for a second day, while authorities forecast two more days of extreme fire conditions.

At daybreak in the seaside celebrity enclave of Malibu, flames licked up against the sides of palatial homes and helicopter reporters estimated at least 20 homes were in danger. Ten buildings were lost on Sunday, including a landmark castle and a church.

"It's been very touch-and-go for the last 24 hours. It was literally right up to the doorsteps yesterday afternoon," Malibu resident Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation, told Reuters.