posted August 31, 2008 01:19 AM            

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 17 minutes ago

HAVANA - Gustav slammed into Cuba's tobacco-growing western tip as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane Saturday, destroying homes and roads as it roared toward the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, where the authorities order an evacuation of the city.

Forecasters said Gustav was just short of becoming a top-scale Category 5 hurricane when it hit Cuba's mainland after passing over its Isla de la Juventud province. At least 300,000 people were evacuated from the storm's path in Cuba.

On the Isla de la Juventud, an island of 87,000 people south of mainland Cuba also known as the Isle of Youth, Gustav's screaming 140 mph (220 kph) winds toppled telephone poles, mango and almond trees and peeled back the tin roofs of homes.

Civil defense chief Ana Isla said there were "many people injured" on the Isla de la Juventud, but no reports of deaths. She said nearly all of the island's roads were washed out and that some regions were heavily flooded.

"It's been very difficult here," she said on state television.

By late Saturday night, Gustav's eye had crossed over Cuba into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Gustav had weakened slightly, but was expected to regain strength on Sunday, possibly becoming a Category 5 hurricane with winds above 155 mph (249 kph) as it spins toward the U.S. coast, where it was expected to make landfall on Monday.

A hurricane watch was issued from Texas east to the Florida-Alabama border.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the mandatory evacuation of the city, turning informal advice to flee from the approaching Gustav into an official order to get out.

More than a million Americans made wary by Hurricane Katrina took buses, trains, planes and cars as they streamed out of New Orleans and other coastal cities, where Katrina killed about 1,600 people in 2005.

Nagin called Gustav the "mother of all storms" and told residents to "get out of town. This is not the one to play with."

City officials began putting an estimated 30,000 elderly, disabled or poor residents on buses and trains for evacuation.

Gustav already has killed 81 people by triggering floods and landslides in other Caribbean nations.

The center said Gustav was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Havana late Saturday night and it was moving northwest near 15 mph (24 kph).

Cuba's top meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, said the hurricane's massive center made landfall in mainland Cuba near the community of Los Palacios in Pinar del Rio — a region that produces much of the tobacco used to make Cuba's famed cigars. There, the storm knocked down power lines, shattered windows and blew the roofs off some small homes.

Rubiera said the storm brought hurricane-force winds to much of the western part of Havana, where power was knocked out as winds blasted sheets of rain sideways though the streets and whipped angry waves against the famed seaside Malecon boulevard.

Felled tree branches and large chunks of muddy earth littered roads that were largely deserted overnight.

Cuba grounded all domestic flights and halted all buses and trains to and from Havana, where some shuttered stores had hand-scrawled "closed for evacuation" signs plastered to their doors.

Authorities boarded up banks, restaurants and hotels, and residents nailed bits of plywood to the windows and doors of their houses and apartments.

"It's very big and we've got to get ready for what's coming," said Jesus Hernandez, a 60-year-old retiree who was using an electric drill to reinforce the roof of his rickety front porch.

In tourist-friendly Old Havana, heavy winds and rain battered crumbling historic buildings. There were no immediate reports of major damage, but a scaffolding erected against a building adjacent to the Plaza de Armas was leaning at a dangerous angle.

Lidia Morral and her husband were visiting Cuba from Barcelona, Spain. She said Gustav forced officials to close the beaches the couple wanted to visit in Santiago, on the island's eastern tip earlier in the week. The storm also prevented them from catching a ferry from Havana to the Isla de la Juventud on Saturday.

"It's been following us all over Cuba, ruining our vacation," said Morral, who was in line at a travel agency, trying to make other plans. "They have closed everything, hotels, restaurants, bars, museums. There's not much to do but wait."

In the Gulf of Mexico, where about 35,000 people work staffing offshore rigs and production facilities, among other tasks, oil companies wrapped up evacuations in preparation for the storm.

As of midday Saturday, more than three-fourths of the Gulf's oil production and nearly 40 percent of its natural gas output had been shut down, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore activity.

The U.S. Gulf Coast accounts for about 25 percent of domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output, according to the MMS. The Gulf Coast also is home to nearly half the nation's refining capacity.

Analysts say prolonged supply disruptions could cause a sudden price uptick for gasoline and other petroleum products.

On Friday, Gustav rolled over the Cayman Islands with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines while destroying docks and tossing boats ashore, but there was little major damage and no deaths were reported.

Haiti's Interior Ministry on Saturday raised the hurricane death toll there to 66 from 59 and Jamaica raised its count to seven from four. Gustav also killed eight people in the Dominican Republic early in the week.

Meanwhile, the hurricane center said Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to near the Turks and Caicos Islands late Sunday or on Monday, then curl through the Bahamas by early next week before possibly threatening Cuba.

As it spun over open waters, Hanna had sustained winds near 50 mph (85 kph) Saturday evening and the hurricane center warned that it could kick up dangerous rip currents along parts of the southeastern U.S. coast.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans to be aware of the risks caused by Hanna to people traveling to the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It urged U.S. citizens lacking safe shelter to consider leaving while flights are still available.

posted August 31, 2008 08:59 AM            

By all accounts, it's going to be a monster by the time it traverses the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, parts of which contain 90* water.

I'm glad that this time the Mayor of New Orleans is taking the President's advise and the new Republican Governors advice too.

I never thought I'd run across anyone in America who would find joy in a major hurricane striking the United States but I was wrong. Some people are just too corrupt and dark to be part of a civilized society.

To find this kind of darkness in members of the upper levels of a major political party is just sick.

Fowler Fouls: Hurricane is God's Favor to Democrats
Plus, it's totally funny!

Posted by: absentee

Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 01:17PM

96 Comments

UPDATE (see below for SC GOP Statement)

On a plane from Denver to Charlotte following the Democrats' convention, I found myself seated behind former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler and Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina. Their conversation was interesting to say the least.

For example, they made fun of Sarah Palin for several minutes, Fowler calling her "Dan Quayle" on steroids and Spratt creatively describing her as "just terrible." They both agreed that, "Other than the simple fact that she's a female," she has nothing to offer.

Then there was this gem of a moment from Fowler:

"So you see, it's funny. That New Orleans will get a hurricane. That's funny because it is due to hit when President Bush is scheduled to speak. Isn't that cool?" Fowler isn't the only one who thinks so, just ask Michael Moore.

We all know Democrats used and use Katrina as a political football as callously as possible. Here's a candid moment showing some can hardly wait for another one.

All Class.

BREAKING: Statement from SCGOP Chairman Katon Dawson

"The outrageous behavior of two of the Obama campaign's highest profile supporters in the south is despicable, a cynical politization of life and death. I call on Barack Obama to immediately denounce Fowler and Spratt and demand sincere apologies from these members of the Democratic leadership."
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/absentee/2008/aug/30/fowler-fouls-hurricane-i s-gods-favor-to-dem/

posted August 31, 2008 11:02 AM            

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
8/30/2008 12:13:18 AM

Sometime you really have wonder at what cost some are willing to see their political ideology advanced.

To liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, the bounds are seemingly endless. Moore has made a recent career out of attacking President George W. Bush, bashing conservatives and criticizing business. His latest outrage occurred on MSNBC’s August 29 “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and when he commented about the coincidental timing of an unfortunate disaster – the potential for Hurricane Gustav to make landfall at the beginning of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said, laughing. “To have it planned at the same time – that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”

After that comment, Moore backed off a bit and did say he hoped nobody got hurt and he hoped everybody is taking cover. However, he failed to make note of the $43.625 billion in damage the last hurricane to strike New Orleans caused – Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – and the billions of dollars the storm cost taxpayers.

Moore also took the opportunity to take a dig at President George W. Bush and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.

“I can’t see what you showed,” Moore said to “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann about a video clip including Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. celebrating McCain’s birthday. “I don’t know if you showed the cake there that they had there, three years ago today – with McCain and Bush. When Marie Antoinette – when she said, ‘Let them eat cake,’ I think she was speaking figuratively. They literally were while New Orleans was drowning – eating cake. So, it’s, um, I don’t know – let’s hope things get better.”

Olbermann, whose opinions tend to fall on the same far left end of the ideological spectrum as Moore, said it was even weirder than Moore observed. Olbermann said “one of” Focus on the Family preachers connected to Chairman Dr. James Dobson’s was allegedly calling for everyone to pray for rain during Sen. Barack Obama’s Democratic convention speech.

Moore told Olbermann he feared McCain would continue the wars that we are in and would start a new one with Iran. He defended Iran’s aggressive tactic with nuclear weapons by suggesting that if Iran invaded Mexico and Canada, as we had with Iraq and Afghanistan, even he and Olbermann would “build whatever we could do defend ourselves.”

Both Olbermann and Moore were full of praise for Obama’s speech and Moore chalked McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to cynicism on part of the Republican Party.

posted August 31, 2008 11:20 AM            

As to those Dems that are making assinine comments about the hurricane being a sign from God against the Republicans or the best thing to happen to the Dem party- they are disgusting, ugly little worms. I would love to duct tape them to lawn chairs right in the path of Gustav. How dare them say such stupid things knowing full well the destruction and death a hurricane can cause!

posted August 31, 2008 01:36 PM            

quote:

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Focus on the Family is asking for "abundant, torrential" downpours to flood Denver and silence Senator Obama when he accepts the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on August 28.

"Would it be wrong to ask people to pray for rain of Biblical proportions," asks an umbrella wielding Stuard Shepard in a video put out by the ultra conservative evangelical group. He asks for the rain to start "two minutes before the acceptance speech begins." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4520147.ece

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posted August 31, 2008 02:44 PM            

In fact acoustic, I don't even know who the hell Stuard Shepard is, having never so much as heard of him.

For an elected or appointed official of the United States to cheer for a category 4 or 5 hurricane...or any hurricane to strike the United States shows the depths of the vipers pit from which they operate.

As usual, they're both demoscats and so is the fathead Michael Moore. They're all "your boys" acoustic.

Now acoustic, would you like to add your prayer to theirs for Hurricane Gustav to strike New Orleans?

posted August 31, 2008 03:30 PM            

quote:

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Olbermann said “one of” Focus on the Family preachers connected to Chairman Dr. James Dobson’s was allegedly calling for everyone to pray for rain during Sen. Barack Obama’s Democratic convention speech.

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That was the context of Moore's assertion about God being on the side of Democrats (and the call wasn't alleged).

Did you watch that video on your site?

quote:

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That just demonstrates that God's on our side. - Fowler

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Did you make that out? Doesn't that speak to the same context of the reaction to the Focus on the Family call for torrential rain on the Democrats?

I, myself, have nothing to do with this issue whatsoever. I merely wished to point out that Christian Conservatives had wished and prayed for as much during the Democratic convention.

Personally, I'm impressed that they're now talking about putting off the Republican convention until this is over. It's empathetic on one hand, and it cuts off a potential political disaster on the other hand.

to you for dragging me personally into this.

posted August 31, 2008 03:55 PM            

The same party who stood idly by while katrina ravage the gulf coast.

Serves the Bushies right to have their satan fest disrupted...

posted August 31, 2008 04:59 PM            

Second, I don't take the word of Michael Moore or Keith Olbermann, both serial liars about anything.

Third, I don't trust the..."connected to Dobson" connection you and your leftist friends are attempting to make.

Fourth, I don't know any Christians who would pray for a deluge on people sitting out in the open.

I do know this acoustic. Members of the democrat party...in positions of authority, one Congressman and the other a former head of the DNC who were returning from the DNC convention were gleeful that a hurricane was on the way to strike the area around New Orleans...with the loss of life and property damage that will entail.

It's a given there are crazy lunatics on the fringes of political parties...read the lunatic Michael Moore but these two guys are plugged in tight to the leftist demoscat establishment, as tight a connection as could be made.

Lastly, this is not a soundbite. It's an utterance straight out of the ass of top demoscat party members.

posted August 31, 2008 06:18 PM            

quote:

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Third, I don't trust the..."connected to Dobson" connection you and your leftist friends are attempting to make.

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So look it up! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ohxdvio9n2Q

Stuart Shepard, director of digital media at Focus Action requests Prayers for it to rain on Barack Obama?

Focus on the Family guy Stuart Shepard is asking people, in a video he made, to pray for rain on the day Barack Obama gives his speech in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. Shepard, a one-time TV meteorologist according to KOAA, wants it to start raining two minutes before Obama's speech starts, and he wants that rain to be so hard that it will block out network TV coverage so no one will be able to see or hear Obama's speech during the DNC.

quote:

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I do know this acoustic. Members of the democrat party...in positions of authority, one Congressman and the other a former head of the DNC who were returning from the DNC convention were gleeful that a hurricane was on the way to strike the area around New Orleans...with the loss of life and property damage that will entail.

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Actually, you do NOT know this, as you weren't there. The video provided as evidence for that claim shows with certainty that those comments were in response to the Christian Conservatives call for rain during Obama's speech.

quote:

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Lastly, this is not a soundbite.

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posted August 31, 2008 06:35 PM            

The RNC reaction is reason enough to believe it happened as reported.

Let me repeat acoustic. These a$sholes are demoscat party bigwigs, one a congressman and the other the former Chairman of the DNC.

There's absolutely no excuse for this...coming from party officials of any political party.

posted August 31, 2008 10:18 PM            

Fowler knew exactly what he was saying and saying gleefully. It didn't matter to this as$hole that a major hurricane is going to devastate an area of the Gulf coast that's already seen enough trouble to last citizens there a lifetime.

If the demoscat congressman, John Spratt of South Carolina had a decent bone in his body, he'd have punched Fowler's lights out.
South Carolina citizens have seen their coastal areas torn up by hurricanes too but Spratt was enjoying it too much.

August 31, 2008
Dem apologizes for joking about hurricane
Posted: 08:06 PM ET

From CNN's Alexander Mooney and Alan Silverleib

A YouTube video shows Fowler joking about Gustav.
(CNN) — Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler apologized Sunday for recently joking Hurricane Gustav's expected landfall on the same day as the opening of the Republican National Convention suggested God was on the Democrats' side.

A YouTube video of the comments posted by the conservative blog RedState.org and showed Fowler joking with South Carolina Rep. John Spratt about the timing of the hurricane while on a flight from the Democratic National Convention back to South Carolina. The person who filmed the conversation is not identified.

“The hurricane is going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. The timing is, at least it appears now, it will be there Monday. That just demonstrates God is on our side,” Fowler said, while laughing. Fowler also told Spratt that “everything’s cool.”

Speaking to the Associated Press Sunday, Fowler said his comments were intended to make light of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's remark that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was God's punishment for abortion and homosexuality.

On Sunday, Fowler told The Associated Press that he was making fun of comments made by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said the attacks were God's punishment for abortion, homosexuality and other sins.

"I don't believe in a God that's vengeful," Fowler said. "I believe in a God that's compassionate."

"This is a point of national concern. I think everybody of good will has great empathy and sympathy for people in New Orleans," Fowler also said. "Most religious people are praying for people in New Orleans. There is no political connotation to this whatsoever. This was just poking fun at Jerry Falwell and the nonsensical thing he had said several years ago."

South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson sharply criticized Fowler's comments, saying, “The outrageous behavior of two of the Obama campaign's highest profile supporters in the south is despicable, a cynical polarization of life and death. I call on Barack Obama to immediately denounce Fowler and Spratt and demand sincere apologies from these members of the Democratic leadership.”

Anonymous August 31st, 2008 8:21 pm ET

It was in poor taste, however until McCain denounces some of his swift bost ads, the remark was apologized for, and that is more than enough! Another Republican smokescreen at work.

A house divided August 31st, 2008 8:22 pm ET

What a bad effect Obama has had on the democrats- and he is still ONLY campaigning.

Since when do democrats joke about the misery and suffering of others? Oh yeah, since the Obama strong-armed his way into the scene.

Since when do democrats hate other democrats and ridicule, mock and jeer them? Oh yeah, since Obama inspired millions to hope and unity via a strategy of vitriol and disrespect.

Michael Moore is guilty of the same insensitivity and glibness the democrats have criticized Bush and Cheney for.

This is the OBAMAnation.

It is a sorry day for the democratic party.

We will never again unite after this horrible travesty this year.

Moderate and Balanced August 31st, 2008 8:33 pm ET

Listening to this you immediately know that he was not making fun or even referrencing somebody else….he was saying the same thing Michael Moore was saying and it's pathetic. Democrats are always committing the sin and then lying saying Republicans are doing it. He should apologize to the thousands of people who are going to be suffering and he should admit that he "inhaled".


Peter E August 31st, 2008 8:34 pm ET

Disgusting! Plain disgusting!


No Hillary = No Obama August 31st, 2008 8:35 pm ET

The party of the people, huh?


Peter E August 31st, 2008 8:35 pm ET

Yes… God punishes the republicans… by destroying a mostly democratic city? It wasn't just a mean comment, it was also plain stupid.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/31/dem-apologizes-for-joking-about-hurr icane/

quote:

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Prove it...acoustic

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posted September 01, 2008 12:09 AM            

quote:

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This enough proof for you acoustic?

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No, as a matter of fact, it's not!

quote:

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“The hurricane is going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. The timing is, at least it appears now, it will be there Monday. That just demonstrates God is on our side,” Fowler said, while laughing.

On Sunday, Fowler told The Associated Press that he was making fun of comments made by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said the attacks were God's punishment for abortion, homosexuality and other sins.

"I don't believe in a God that's vengeful," Fowler said. "I believe in a God that's compassionate."

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I told you it was in response to Republican comments, and he confirmed it. As he cited Falwell, perhaps Falwell should never have made his assanine comments, which prompted Fowler's comments.

Further, I saw the Olbermann/Moore discussion, and Olbermann was asking Moore what he thought of the irony that a Focus On The Family guy called for prayer for rain on the night of Obama's speech, while instead a hurricane was scheduled to hit during the Republican convention.

The root of all of this was in Republicans making moronic comments.

quote:

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So quick to make a seemingly clever comment without seeing the whole picture, lol.

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posted September 01, 2008 12:24 AM            

It's a clear-cut case of original sin!

silly me...

posted September 01, 2008 12:29 AM            

This isn't about who hit who first.

posted September 01, 2008 04:43 PM            

“The hurricane is going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. The timing is, at least it appears now, it will be there Monday. That just demonstrates God is on our side,” Fowler said, while laughing. Fowler also told Spratt that “everything’s cool.”

Oh, but wait. Fowler didn't mean it, he apologizes...because he's such a sensitive guy.