Ahhh, lunch break.

I point out again and again: If you really want to argue that FEMA needs a national media firestorm to find its hindquarters with both hands and 40.2 billion dollars, here please, by all means. Take as much rope as you need to hang yourself, er, from the goal-post as it were.

Now:

"blew the TV news meme out of the water "

Thats just howash. You know that nobody can find out the details of what was on TV during the 727th, 28th, 29th etc. Not everyone posts transcripts, and only a few objects rise to the level of preservation in video/audio formats.

Its neither-nor evidence to say there is 'no record of TV coverage'. No go-ahead. Claim all you want, but simple gradeschool reasoning indicates that you don't have a case. You may or may not be right- but you have given nobody (but deluded ideologues) a reason to believe one way or the other.

"and pointed out that the Center was not a pre-planned shelter anyway"

Oh, I see- You think people just randomly wandered into the convention center in droves? Like some sort of day of the dead flick? Or maybe the Hurricaine just washed them up there.

I will grant that the NOLA convention center does not appear in an offical document that I know of- but it was publicized before the storm as an evacuation point and high-ground refuge. People were trucked there (remember those news stories from the 30th? the ones that you said did not exist? Check my links, there is a source in there that points this out). So it WAS publicized widely as an evacuation cite, and the local authorities were trucking people there in droves.

So, basically, THOUSANDS of people knew about it and went there seeking safety (the proof there is in the THOUSANDS of people, are you going to challenge this? A dataset of thousands?), NOLA offials were aware of it, and were trucking people there in droves.

So you mean to tell me that the NOLA OFFICALS and THOUSANDS of people knew about that location as a refuge, but that it didn't appear 6 months ago on an offical plan excuses FEMA for not being able to figure this out for 2-4 days?

Please, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. This is beyond stupid.

" and you switched to newspapers."

I looked in newspapers, Tom, because they are the ONLY data source that is archived on the internet for long periods of time and searchable. I used PAPERS, Tom, because it was the only objective way to establish the facts.

" You managed to dig up two references, neither of which discussed the convention center as anything other than an evacuation transfer point, and one reference where the center was mentioned in the same line as a hospital and an arena."

This is flat out dishonest. I found HUNDREDS of links to stories. I spent 5 minuteds pulling excepts from THREE. I posted those.

I challenge anyone to do this: Go to google news. Do advanced search. Exclude the words "Economy" (to filter stories about the economic impact of lost NOLA conventions). Include the exact phrase "convention center". Include the word "Katrina". Set the Data params from Aug 17th through September 1st. Sort first by relevance. Then sort by date. Count the links that come up. Depending on the time/day you run it you'll find from 350+ to 500+

Sift through, you'll find a lot of duplication because of the AP feed (Blows away the 'not widely reported idea'? Eh?).

This is patently absurd. No matter how much fact I breing to the table, you'll criticize it as paltry and incomplete... Slanted and 'not specific enough'. You have nothing, Tom.

"The latest line now? That the existence of the news stories doesn't matter, since FEMA shouldn't HAVE to find out from the media."

No, I said that line LAST WEEK, days ago- on the 23rd when the bulk of this discussion took place. That is no 'Latest Line'. Again, you are not being honest.

But, I ask you- do you really want to make the argument that FEMA requires a media malestrom to find out about something? Really? Be my guest. Please, no. Don't throw me in that briar patch!!

DL