You know all those web sites like Amazon.com and JR.com and countless others where you see "Add to your wish list". Well, here's a thought: Anything that you might have thought about giving to me for my birthday or Christmas send the same amount for Katrina Diaster Relief and send me a note showing you donated in place of any presents. And, if you want to wait until near the occasion, that's fine too, I'm sure money will be needed for a good long while in the future. Quite possibly you could do this for a number of other people as well, just a thought.
Numbers to Call and Web Sites for Relief Donations
The first one of you to reduce this to MP3 should then take the CD's and trade them for cash. And, if you have to ask me what to do with the cash, we really need to talk.
devoted both to the collection of packs and the history of package artwork is avaialbe in both French and English. What memories some of these images bring back. Hopefully we did not dose ourselves long enough with the evil toxins from the contents of these packs to do any real harm, hopefully.
It all changes so quickly, but sometimes just to circle back to the same place again also. The piece I want to point out is more historical now than timely, but still very good
Reporters Give Voice to Post-Katrina Desperation
NPR.org, September 2, 2005 · You don't have to listen very closely to the news to register the striking tone coming from many of the journalists involved in covering the floods along the Gulf Coast. They're passing along public anger.
They are slicing through talking points, reflecting instead -read more-
For some brilliant and brief insight into the current situation try
The Brown Maneuver
The Daily Blague, September 10, 2005 · Anybody who's wondering how Michael D Brown can be relieved of his"Gulf Coast duties" while remaining head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't been paying attention. The White House has been so profoundly reconceived that the President, while remaining the Chatterbox-In-Chief, was relieved of his duties from the start. This arrangement allows -read more-
And, finally another friend writes from Austin, Texas recently
CNN just reported that Michael Brown, the acting head(ache) of FEMA has just been removed from his post in charge of the Katrina Gulf coast relief (disaster) efforts. A multiple choice question is appropriate here. Check to see how politically you savvy are...
Question:
Was Michael Brown removed from his FEMA charge as head of the Katrina disaster relief efforts because?
a. he was incompetent
b. he was a little "light in the loafers" , if you know what I mean
c. he was the "throwdown" scapegoat for "W" and his clan (could this be true?)
d. all of the above
The answer of course is D. all of the above. If you answered it correctly, you win a prize. I will buy a free beer for all winners on the second Tuesday of next week at 10pm. See you there...
*********
Don’t get whinny. I just checked the FEMA website, there are 2 Tuesdays next week... don’t believe me...
Go to the following site:
FEMACAN’TFINDITSASSWITHBOTHHANDS.COM
See, I'm not alone in thinking this is a mess. Unfortunately, the FEMACan'tFindItsAssWithBothHands.com URL doesn't exist but it should. From what I hear, and painfully know from decades back, the bozos at FEMA could cook an agenda with two Tuesdays in next week, if it suits their purposes. If you want some truly enlightening reading try the enabling legislation for FEMA. The link I've just given is hardly complete but it does point up how things have and have not changed in some ways.
FEMA's enabling legislation, the Stafford Act, provided FEMA officials with powers that the bureaucrats didn't exercise. "We found that without state requests, FEMA could assess the catastrophic area, assess what assistance the state needed, start mobilizing that relief, present its recommendations to the governor, and, if necessary--as Andrew Card did--get in the governor's face to force the issue of accepting federal help. Before Hurricane Andrew, FEMA officials took almost none of these steps. Consequently, when a disaster occurred, FEMA's relief efforts were inevitably too little, too late." -read more-
I will try to follow up this week or next with more complete references to the actual bills and laws that are available online. From my experience nearly forty years ago with early bureaucratic and administrative structures that would coordinate government post disaster actions among military and civilian agencies FEMA is connected at the highest levels to government apparatus with the most frightening powers. FEMA can if necessary rule the USA under the right conditions, the conditions being a simple declaration by whatever authority survives a civil emergency to make such a declaration. That an agency which is vested with power and supposedly resources beyond the comprehension of the average American could perform so poorly in the current situation is simply appalling. No face saving weasel like recall of some department head from the field to Washington, D.C. will fade the heat on this one. You would think that the nutless bean counters, silver tongued spin masters and Machiavellian Mother Rapers that stand behind Bush would have had enough sense to at least fire Michael Brown. What a bunch of spineless weenies, or are they? Perhaps they have bigger plans, eh? Tune in! Turn on if you like, but I think at this advanced age it's counter productive. Do not drop out, tune in and stayed tuned in, the next few months up to November 2006 are very important.
If one person criticizes them, or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me. One more word about it... and I -- I might likely have to punch him." -- Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., on ABC's 'This Week' defends sheriff's department.
"They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God's sakes, shut up and send us somebody." -- Aaron Broussard Jefferson Parish president pleads for help on NBC's 'Meet the Press' Sunday.
I don't care much for the word evacuee to describe the Americans displaced by Katrina. The word is bandied about so much in the media. It adds an uncomfortable distance and shields us from a reality. If I have a buzzword, I can talk about it with little sensitivity, without thinking so much about what an American evacuee really feels. We have become so accustomed to soundbites in America and their numbing effect.
So, let me say, I met several Americans today who have survived the aftermath of Katrina that flooded their homes, their community, their city, and their lives. The experience humbled me.
They made their way to Austin by bus and plane. Some by choice, others had run out of choices. They all had a story to tell and every story was a mixture and harsh reality and hope. That they had hope seemed a miracle to me. Another thing: they were all full of gratitude.
I woke up this morning to the sound of my youngest daughter reminding me of my commitment to go with her to volunteer at Brackenridge Hospital for the relief efforts set up for victims of Katrina. She had signed me up to be with her and one of her good friends, a Muslim American, whose youth group had organized to help out. At 9:00 am I am standing in the midst of 25-30 Muslim youth from across the city whose average age could not have been more than 19-20. All eager, all orderly and anxious to help wherever they could. The effort was a little bit disorganized at first, because there has been an overwhelming outpouring of volunteers in Austin. An overabundance of volunteers at 9 on a Sunday! All the volunteer stations in Austin were filled with back up lists. Austin is responding. But the need will go on for months. The donations throughout the city the last few days were everywhere, so much of the early help was sorting an organizing the clothes, the bedding, the toiletries, the food. Literally mountains of donations! The kids took off to do just that. The group leader asked me to help out in greeting, consoling, and welcoming the displaced as they were cleared by the medical triage teams. The next step in their journey being the ride down to the Convention Center to a more permanent facility. At first, I didn't consider the position of greeter- counselor to a good fit for me, but I didn't show up with requirements that I be used for certain tasks. I showed up to help where the help was needed.
Ill fitting or not, for the next 4 hours I got close to some of the survivors. I listened and they talked. A few were still visibly frightened and very uneasy with being in a place that was not home, with a future out of their control and in doubt, at best. Because I was at the Brackenridge station, the people I saw either had medical issues or had family with them that had medical problems. They were white, brown, black. They were of Asian, Mexican, central American descent and some, second and third generation Louisianans. You name it. If there was a common thread, it was socioeconomic. It wasn't race, nor religion, nor color. The people I met didn't get out because they literally had no place to go to. To my amazement, I read yesterday that 19% of the residents of New Orleans make $ 10,000.00 or less per year. Today, I met some of them.
I met real volunteers too. There was Mary Fran, Terry, and Sabiha. All social workers here in Austin and all expert at what we were assigned to do. They tutored me and I watched and followed their lead. We owe much to these people. I don't know how they do it day in and day out. But I am grateful they do.
I listened as man around 25 tell me he tried to stay and help as long as he could, but the smell of the death finally got to him just before the National Guard came into his area. He said he had floated to higher ground a few elderly people on an air mattress through his streets that had become a lake. Barney showed up with his 20 year old daughter, Stacy, who had cerebral palsy. His house had been broken into by 3 men in the middle of the night . They stole his TV and VCR. Another man of about 45 told me of how he had rushed to his parents home in lower N.O. and had moved them steadily higher to the second floor, then the attic and described a harrowing night of not knowing whether the water would reach the attic in which they had then become trapped. The good news is that it did not and both he and his parents are now in Austin. A young mother and her 5 year old, told of how they camped out with others on I-10 between Baton Rouge and N.O. with little food or water for 3 1//2 days before being rescued. Yet another showed me his Harrahs' employee card and said in broken English that his direct deposited paycheck for September 1 had not made it to his bank. He had no savings, no home and no job to go to after Katrina.
These Americans need our money and our help. The rebuilding of homes, communities and lives will take months. I urge each of you to volunteer a few hours per week, or as much as you can
You can call the Red Cross Hotline:
American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW
There is nothing that can be added to this good report except to encourage you as strongly as possible to contribute in someway to the relief effort. Pray, volunteer, send money, take in a displaced person, provide a job, do something, please.
I'm not the only one irritated by what I've seen recently in the Katrina disaster. A friend writes from Austin
There's "W" on the TV with his appearance a day or two late and several million dollars short. We have grown to expect his lack of leadership. His speech yesterday provided more proof that he is disconnected and, too many times, clueless. He is supported by a cacophony of politicians and administration wonks first wringing their hands then telling us that all the forces that the US can muster are "on it" as they speak. But of course, the media shows vividly that the catastrophe is broadening, that lawlessness prevails in many parts of N.O., that Americans—our relatives and our friends—are suffering greatly. Is that really America or some third world impoverished country? It is sad to acknowledge that it reminded me of pictures from the tsunami crisis just a few months ago.
You are not "on it", Mr. President. You are –"behind it and in the way of it", just as you were in the weeks and months preceding 911. Being "on it" is providing the leadership that would not have cut the millions in spending that was needed to shore up the levee system in N.O., leadership that would not consistently challenge as heresy the settled world scientific view of global warming, leadership that has too strain to find National Guard troops to help out because you have sent these American men and women to fight a war in Iraq that your own children will not.
It is just a suggestion, but you might consider that the presidency is not just another job where you get perks like flying around on Air Force One and take extended vacations in Crawford. Throw away your tired moniker as a Compassionate Conservative. The media pictures of what is actually happening on the ground and your canned response to a true American crisis prove otherwise.
Yes, America will rise to this challenge. We will beat this crisis in spite of poor leadership. But let us not forget in November 2006 and November 2008.
Thanks, friend, for another clear voice. Indeed, let's not forget our outrage over the current situation in the area devastated by Katrina, especially New Orleans. Take your outrage to the polls, make a difference, vote to change this sorry administration as soon as possible from the ground up at every level. It's not too soon to begin ramping up to the November 2006 elections.
I am in total agreement with Mayor Bill White of Houston, but the sad facts are, the city of Houston will be sued. The groups and lawyers will line up looking for money from the far right to the far left. Bill White should run for President and show the country what true leadership looks like. Instead of these hem haw around lets not look bad politicians. Look George W. This is your last time in office stand up and act like you should. -read more-
See, I'm not the only one irritated by the mess in NOLA and the rest of Katrina'a path. A few million more of like LoonyTunes and we'll be heard loud and clear. Loony has taken the words right out my mouth today, I couldn't have said it better, "Look George W. This is your last time in office stand up and act like you should." And, knowing LoonyT as I do, I can tell you from personal experience he knows about stand up guys, being one himself. Believe me, you would go anywhere with LoonyT. If LoonyT is telling Dubya it's time to be a stand up guy, we just might be headed in the right direction, right LoonyT?
Bill White, the mayor of Houston, today talking about commandeering facilities that have events booked said, ' ... if it entails someone suing us, well, OK, sue us and explain why money is more important than lives ...'. This is the new Gulianni, perhaps even a new presidential contender, if he chooses. White certainly demonstrated leadership today in Houston with words that ring clear as a bell about what's to be done, who will do it and why. White's statements and actions stand in stark contrast to the vague mealy mouthed rhetoric of the national leadership in Washington D. C. today, and stand in even starker contrast to Dubya's remarks at the NOLA airport today which were just so much sound bite and little else. It would be nice. even if you didn't agree with his policies and actions, to have a leader in national office who is as forthcoming and clear as Mr White was today.
Marketplace has done an exemplary job in covering all aspects of the Katrina disaster and well deserves a listen from anyone who wants a balanced and broad view of the situation.
Quote of the day:"If we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.
Iraqianna, New Iraqoleans, that's what it looks like today. Truly deplorable, that is the only way to characterize the situation in New Orleans. A fine historic city and what once was a vibrant modern city has been reduced to absolute anarchy beyond my wildest nightmares of civil collapse. Although it would be nice to place all the blame on the national administration in Washington D. C., and much of the blame likely belongs there, it appears that the city, the county and the state all simply failed to make even the most simple prudent plans or preparations for the current situation. Compared to New York City after 9/11 and Florida after last year's storms the situation in NOLA is nothing less than deplorable. The State of Texas much to its credit has responded promptly and in a highly organized way to take in and take care of massive numbers of refugees from Louisiana. It all is a truly sad situation that will reverberate through our national history and the lives of millions along the Gulf Coast for decades to come. All I can do is send money for now. But come the midterm elections I will not forget these issues or the issues to come and I encourage everyone to do the same, send money and pay attention. Help and do not forget.
