From Reuter's.

Today's super scary terrorist plot. The first paragaph of today's Reuter's story.

New York tunnel bomb plot uncovered
A plot to bomb the tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported on Friday.

Sounds pretty scary. Flooding the financial district is really scary. I'm scared. Are you?
That is, until you skip way down to the end of the story.

More on the flip...

The South Carolina National Guard isn't too thrilled about being on border patrol this fall. Could the Guard be streched a little too thin?

South Carolina officials want the National Guard to reconsider a request for 150 troops from the Palmetto State to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.

And, to drive home the point:

"`Whoa, I think we've done enough,'" Maj. Gen. Stan Spears, the state's adjutant general, recalled saying when he was called by the National Guard Bureau on Tuesday.

Sounds like there isn't much planning going on either.

The request caught Spears and his commanders off guard because leaders of the National Guard Bureau had said earlier that troops from coastal states like South Carolina would not be tapped for the border duty during the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

From The State newspaper, Columbia, SC.

Quotes lifted from from today's Middle East Online.

Our guest today is the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey.

General Casey, how are things in Iraq?.

General George Casey warns conditions may worsen in Iraq ....

Oh, how are things looking for the constitution?

Casey predicted in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the constitution would likely be approved in the October 15 vote even if, as expected, Sunnis vote against it by a large majority.

That's better, the constitution will pass. That should help the situation. Right?

But when asked whether the situation could worsen in Iraq even if the constitution is approved but with a large Sunni "no" vote, Casey said, "I think that's entirely possible."

Oh, that's not good.

Shouldn't fixing FEMA be the MOST important issue in Washington next week? Or do we tell people in Miami, Jacksonville, Baltimore, Houston: Don't worry about it. Just hope we get any more big hurricanes this year.  

A question for Chertoff: Has FEMA planned for a Cat 4 hurricane hitting Miami? Why is that different from NO?

From the NOAA site: Link

From the NOAA site:

NOAA RAISES THE 2005 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON OUTLOOK
Bulk of This Season's Storms Still to Come

Aug. 2, 2005 -- A very active Atlantic hurricane season is underway, and with more storms projected, NOAA today increased the number of storms in its 2005 hurricane season outlook. NOAA expects an additional 11 to 14 tropical storms from August through November, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, including three to five major hurricanes. In total, this season is likely to yield 18 to 21 tropical storms, with nine to 11 becoming hurricanes, including five to seven major hurricanes.

I was watching the WWLTV live feed on the web around 3 EST and they got the strangest call. It was surreal. It was from BeBe Mc<something> who was assistant manger in the ICU at Charity. She went down a list of how well things were at the hospital. The news anchors would ask about the Nurses needing IV's, BeBe said she never heard of it. The anchors said a manager at the hospital said the evacuation was stopped for a while yesterday. Bebe said she hadn't heard of that either. They asked if any patients had died. Bebe made a joke: none that wouldn't have died anyways. She added she's 52 and has no problems running up and down the steps to the 9th floor ICU. By this point, the anchors were shaking their heads in disbelief. This was live TV and they were trying hard to keep their cool. They asked her about food and water. Bebe said they were on half rations with a couple of days left. They asked about the flooded first floor. Bebe said, no, the first floor wasn't flooded. This went on for what seemed like 10 minutes. The anchors would ask a question and BeBe would say. No, I hadn't heard that.

My first diary! This whole week has been so depressing. My Red Cross donation was one bright spot. At least I had done something to help.

Then, after reading dKos and the other blogs all week and seeing over and over again comments that that FEMA and the NG were no where to be seen from the people on the ground in NO, I was wondering where the Red Cross was in all this. They were never mentioned. It was like they didn't exist. And, after yesterday's drama at the convention center, the Brown and Chertoff lies, the Red Cross was still MIA. Then, earlier today, I saw a note that the Red Cross was not allowed to enter NO. Hmm, that's doesn't make sense. This simmered for a couple hours.

So I called the Red Cross and asked them if its true....

[Update #1] updated to more blatant title.

[Update #2] DHS confirms this: Shock's Diary on this.