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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
 Posted - 08/31/2005 : 20:04:12
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What are your impressions of what's going on?
It's a sad situation and keeps getting sadder. I just heard now that it will be at least two months before ppl can go back and live in New Orelans.
I have never been to New Orleans. I always took it for granted I could go.
I am so sorry for all the people impacted by this disaster.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
Edited by - Daisy Girl on 09/01/2005 21:00:05 |
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Broken Face
-= Forum Pistolero =-
USA
5155 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2005 : 20:18:24
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my cousin lost his pet, house, car and recording studio (not a home studio, his pro studio that is his second line of work). he's homeless and fucked pretty much.
-Brian
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 20:59:37
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Broken Face, I am so sorry to hear about your cousin. I cannot fathom what that must feel like. Sending good thoughts his direction.
I spent most of tonight writing letters to people in a position to speak out... it just seems like the rescue efforts are few and far between. It's the only other thing I can think of other than giving $ to help.
Otherwise, its a helpless feeling. So little I can do to help.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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Superabounder
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1041 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 21:13:36
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I can't believe how bad the situation is, and what it must be like for all the poor people stuck there who have lost whatever they had and are having to deal with such miserable conditions. I loved New Orleans the handful of times I got to visit. It was just a unique place, and I wonder what it will be like whenever it is habitable again. It will surely be incredibly different.
The Lexus dealership I work for has a store (Cadillac & Chevrolet) in downtown New Orleans and we have been able to get word from most of the 85 employees, but there are still several that they haven't been able to reach yet, including the general manager from what I've heard. The store is obviously ruined.
I remember hearing the governor of Mississippi say that this was "our tsunami" and thinking that was bullshit because of the loss of human life in the tsunami vs this hurricane when I heard it Tuesday, but when you see the pictures of some of the areas, I can totally see why he said that. Fortunately, we have warning about hurricanes that prevented even more people from dying, but I still believe the death toll will probably rise much more than we think, especially with warnings about cholera, etc.
It is so damn hot here in this area, and that is with amazing air conditioning to live in. What those poor people are gong through with the heat/bad humidity anyway, no air conditioning/water/food. It is mind-blowing.
All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies |
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Sir Rockabye
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1158 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 22:09:33
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What Daisy said is true. I can't fathom the situation. I'm having difficulty coming to terms with what occured and what is still happening. It just seems too unreal.
You run all kinds of red lights except the ones on the street.
When you run out of exits you can always count sheep. |
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Surfer Rosa
> Teenager of the Year <
4209 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 00:50:28
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Every report I hear on this just makes it all the more difficult to comprehend.
Fire made it good. |
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TRANSMARINE
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
2002 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 08:18:35
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This is just too awful to comment on. The scope of it is overwhelming, the relief at a snail-pace, now the National Guard sent in with orders to shoot at will at people who are desperate...sure these orders are directed at those involved in crime...but most crimes commited are tied with desperate survival...completely numbing.
The horror of hearing people cry out "if we can send aid to other country disasters, why can't we help ourselves?" when in actuality our stupid administration has relied on other countries to build relief programs so we can sign it and take credit...ugh. It's completely grotesque. I'm just glad I got to visit New Orleans two years ago. Next to New York, it's my favorite city in America...or was.
I was alone...in my BIG BED
-bRIAN |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 10:47:48
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From today's NY Times
A Can't-Do Government
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. "The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.
So why were New Orleans and the nation so unprepared? After 9/11, hard questions were deferred in the name of national unity, then buried under a thick coat of whitewash. This time, we need accountability.
First question: Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.
There will and should be many questions about the response of state and local governments; in particular, couldn't they have done more to help the poor and sick escape? But the evidence points, above all, to a stunning lack of both preparation and urgency in the federal government's response.
Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"
Maybe administration officials believed that the local National Guard could keep order and deliver relief. But many members of the National Guard and much of its equipment - including high-water vehicles - are in Iraq. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," a Louisiana Guard officer told reporters several weeks ago.
Second question: Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."
In 2002 the corps' chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration's proposed cuts in the corps' budget, including flood-control spending.
Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.
Last year James Lee Witt, who won bipartisan praise for his leadership of the agency during the Clinton years, said at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."
I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.
At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.
Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.
So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.
Sometimes, no matter how shitty things get, you have to just do a little dance. - Frank
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:16:21
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For anyone reading this that needs INFORMATION or wants to HELP, I'm doing my tiny best to compile links to sites that are collecting reports on loved ones, requests for info on loved ones, and places where you can offer your home or your assistance to those in need.
www.discordis.com/blog
My sick Grandfather and my Grandmother are supposedly going to try to fly out of Picayune, Mississippi tomorrow. I don't know how they can pull this off, but all I can do is hope against hope. Whether or not I had family or loved ones in the midst of this, this devasting situation is utterly horrific, the human loss and destruction are soul and mind-bending. These people are victims of the worst kind. |
Edited by - apl4eris on 09/02/2005 11:19:11 |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:16:58
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Well I have written letters to several current and former politicans to express my feelings that the treatment of the refugees is abhorent. If those were rich white people, they would have been evacuated Tues.
Thank goodness the national guard finally arrived with supplies! There should be a grand jury investigation of why this took so long. Bush and his administraion should be held accountable.
I am suprised people are acutally hugging Bush. I would expect them to give him a piece of their minds instead!
Hopefully the worst is over! I wish there could be better housing situations found other than housing people in Superdomes in Texas. I expect more of this country.
Also, Bush has ignored offers of the UN to come and offer any type of assistance needed. I wish he would realize we're over our heads and we need help!
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:18:27
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quote:
Originally posted by apl4eris
For anyone reading this that needs INFORMATION or wants to HELP, I'm doing my tiny best to compile links to sites that are collecting reports on loved ones, requests for info on loved ones, and places where you can offer your home or your assistance to those in need.
www.discordis.com/blog
My sick Grandfather and my Grandmother are supposedly going to try to fly out of Picayune, Mississippi tomorrow. I don't know how they can pull this off, but all I can do is hope against hope. Whether or not I had family or loved ones in the midst of this, this devasting situation is utterly horrific. These people are victims of the worst kind.
Apl, best thoughts for your grandma and grandpa.
I just saw on CNN that they will be airing a special tonight of people giving their names and locations so family can know where their family is. CNN is also starting a list of names of surviors and their locations.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:22:08
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Thanks Daisy.
Please, anyone that can, please offer whatever support you can. We have to pick up where our government has failed. The worst is NOT OVER. TOTAL ANARCHY is spreading out from the epicenter QUICKLY.
Again, please check the info and sites I have listed here:
www.discordis.com/blog |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:26:10
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Thanks Apl. We plan to help. We hope our companies are offer matches to our donations as they did the Tsunami, so we are waiting a little to see if that is an option. But we will donate. (As a reminder, donations are tax deductable.)
You are so right Apl.
The sad thing is the Bush administration said this was likely in 2001. He instead chose to spead money on war. If he was a CEO of a major US corporation, he would be forced to resign for this lapse in judgement!
(sorry I had to vent.)
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
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starmekitten
-= Forum Pistolera =-
United Kingdom
6370 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 11:45:35
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| I'm only really learning the extent of all of this now as I move out of my study bubble, I have a lot of positive vibes heading to all involved. It's unreal. I hope it eases soon and I hope all of your kind and kin are safe. |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:00:27
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Apl, I heard that interview. I just never believed that a Mayor would have to be begging for assistance. I also can't believe that since they saw this coming as early as 2001 that they were so poorly organized.
Here's a small plug for some charaties I like:
http://www.secondharvest.org/
Here's Oxfam's Fund for Katrina:
https://secure.ga3.org/02/katrina_fund
There is also a group from Lousiana, it might be the Lousisiana chapter of PETA to help the pets and animals impacted by this.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
Edited by - Daisy Girl on 09/02/2005 12:02:43 |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:02:58
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This picture, well, what can you say?
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Llamadance
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2543 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:12:19
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quote:
Originally posted by apl4eris
You can listen to the audio of an amazing interview with New Orlean's Mayor Nagin:
(right-click, save link as to save this person's bandwidth if you can - it's only 3MB)
http://www.zen41771.zen.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/WWL-AM%20Interview%20Nagin.mp3
The interview is fantastic, and you can only hope that Bush is listening. Nagin will have gained a lot of support from this, and hopefully that can have a positive effect on a situation which is almost beyond belief.
No power in the 'verse can stop me
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:12:58
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wow... that's powerful.
this guy i know works for a major cable news agency.
i saw a report he wrote.
the first line that I wrote was, "I do not have the vocabulary to describe what I see here."
it really took my breath away. he's so normally upbeat and I knew if he could find something good to say about the situation he would. and it's only gotten worse since then. It also shook me that he was speachless.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
Edited by - Daisy Girl on 09/02/2005 12:13:31 |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:19:51
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I heard the radio interview with Mayor Nagin, he was great, but I couldn't help but think he was responding to criticism about his leadership. I hope that was not his motivation. These are the times I actually watch CNN (blood sucking negative energy vampires), where they were pretending they could ask tough questions of FEMA and Governor Blanco, they are so out of practice they are amateurish. They still don't, and I don't have a clear idea of the damage done. I suppose this wont be known until the city is pumped. The estimate has gone from "whew, that was close" to anarchy.
"a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up"
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Edited by - hammerhands on 09/02/2005 12:23:54 |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 12:33:57
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I just heard a report on cnn that the boston globe reported that what's taking so long is 1/2 of the normal national guard resources are in Iraq or Afganistan.
So they raised the question... what if there is another national disaster, how would we cope.
Then they raised discussion of bringing national guard troops home to fight this and then start drafting non millatary to fight in Iraq!!!!!!!!!!
I shit you not!
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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Erebus
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1834 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 13:32:08
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With a world of comment to link to, of course please quote that intellectual joke Krugman of the yellow New York Times. There’s a diversity of political opinion out there, most of it obviously premature, at least from the perspective of the average middle American. Show a little (oh no!) discrimination. Try http://www.memeorandum.com/ , and read opposing opinions. Krugman is pabulum, appropriate for children but unworthy of adults. There’s so much to this tragedy that only fools will rush in, like flies on shit, with “opinions”.
Here’s just a sampling of what a survey beyond the NYT, Daily Kos, and the Democratic Underground may have yielded.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050901corps,1,7189346.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Corps officials: Funding levels not to blame for flooding
Advertisement
By Andrew Martin and Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
September 1, 2005, 8:39 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane-protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
In a telephone interview with reporters, corps officials said that although portions of the flood-protection levees remain incomplete, the levees near Lake Pontchartrain that gave way--inundating much of the city--were completed and in good condition before the hurricane.
However, they noted that the levees were designed for a Category 3 hurricane and couldn't handle the ferocious winds and raging waters from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 4 storm when it hit the coastline. The decision to build levees for a Category 3 hurricane was made decades ago based on a cost-benefit analysis.
"I don't see that the level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the corps. "Had this project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of this storm that the flooding of the business district and the French Quarter would have still taken place."
Strock also denied that escalating costs from the war in Iraq contributed to reductions in funding for hurricane projects in Louisiana, as some critics have suggested. Records show that corps funding for the Louisiana projects has generally decreased in recent years.
Several critics, including a former head of the Corps of Engineers, suggested in a Tribune story Thursday that the flooding in New Orleans could have been less severe had the federal government fully funded projects to improve the levees and drainage in the city.
Congress in 1999 authorized the corps to conduct a $12 million study to determine how much it would cost to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane, but the study isn't scheduled to get under way until 2006. It was not clear why the study has taken so long to begin, though Congress has only provided in the range of $100,000 or $200,000 a year so far.
Al Naomi, senior project manager in the corps' New Orleans District, said it would cost as much as $2.5 billion to build such a system, which would likely include gates to block the Gulf of Mexico from Lake Pontchartrain and additional levees. If the project were fully funded and started immediately, Naomi said it could be completed in three to five years.
A project to build up the levees to withstand a Category 3 hurricane was launched in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy and was supposed to be completed in 10 years, but it remains incomplete because of a lack of funding.
In recent years, funding has dropped precipitously, which some officials attributed in part to the escalating costs of the Iraq war. Funding for a drainage project in New Orleans went from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in the current fiscal year, while funding for such hurricane-protection projects as levees around Lake Pontchartrain declined from $10 million in 2001 to $5.7 million this year, according to figures provided by the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
Funding for these projects has generally trended downward since at least the last years of the Clinton administration. Congressional records show that the levee work on Lake Pontchartrain received $23 million in 1998 and $16 million in 1999. It was not clear how much the drainage project received in 1998, but records show it received $75 million in 1999.
Neither the White House nor the Corps of Engineers would confirm the numbers, nor would they provide funding levels dating to previous administrations.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/090205F.html
Breaks in the Levee Logic
By Duane D. Freese5
The news and opinion spin cycle is moving faster than the winds of a category 4 hurricane. Barely have we had the opportunity to feel denial about the terrible tragedy, feel sympathy for victims and begin lending our support than we've leapt to the stage of recrimination: Who's to blame?
And the rush to judgment is running ahead of appropriate investigation and facts.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, raised the question "Did the New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?" He quoted Louisiana officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the New Orleans area in old Tiimes-Picayune's stories complaining about cuts by the Bush administration in federal funding for levees and flood protection, particularly ACE's Alfred Naomi, stating in June 2004:
"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement. The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."
The New York Times, in its lead editorial Thursday titled "Waiting for a Leader," churlishly went after President Bush for his first speech which it called terrible. It went on to pretend it knew what New Orleans' problem was -- a lack of federal funding. Specifically it called for the House to restore $70 million in funds for the levees next year.
The Washington Post, in an editorial that talked about not casting blame now, nonetheless couldn't resist casting some, saying the "president's most recent budgets have actually proposed reducing funding for flood prevention in the New Orleans area, and the administration has long ignored Louisiana politicians' request for more help in protecting their fragile coast."
USA Today did a better job in a pair of edits -- one on the disaster response and one on the energy supply -- by recognizing that the state and local government had a roll in building Louisiana's infrastructure. On energy, it even went so far as to say some things some anti-oil groups hate to hear -- how obstructionists to development of new refineries, offshore and Alaskan energy supplies share the blame for the nation's reliance on Gulf Coast supplies.
But it, too, got caught up in the drumbeat about the levees, arguing: "[P]eople living along the Gulf Coast have grown up hearing about what could happen if the 'big one' hit the region. Yet the levees weren't raised or strengthened sufficiently to prevent flooding. Initial plans for evacuating the city and ensuring civil order were haphazard at best."
Indeed, if editorial writers had a comment to make it was to say something about the levees.
And why not? The levees broke, didn't they? That's what helped mess up the rescue effort, didn't it? And there were cuts in federal help, weren't there?
The answers to all these questions are yes. But, the fact is, they miss an important point, which The New York Times editorialists might have discovered had they read their own news story by Andrew Revkin and Christopher Drew. The reporters quoted Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, about how surprising it was that the break in the levee was "a section that was just upgraded."
"It did not have an earthen levee," he told them. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feet thick."
Worse for the editorial writers were statements by the chief engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen Carl Strock: "I don't see that the level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case. Had this project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of this storm that the flooding of the business district and the French Quarter would have still taken place."
The reason: the funding would only have completed an upgrade of the levees to a protect against a level 3 hurricane. Katrina was a level 4 plus.
And the reasons for this goes back decades.
Since the 1930s, when levee building began in earnest, Louisiana has lost a million acres of its coastal wetlands, and faces the loss of another 640,000 additional acres -- an area the size of Rhode Island -- by 2050.
A new study based on satellite measurement released in May found that the wetlands area was sinking at a half-inch to two-inches a year as of 1995, or up to more than a 1.5 feet a decade.
"If subsidence continues and/or sea level rises and human action fails to take place, the entire coast will be inundated," Roy Dokka of the Louisiana Spatial Reference Center at Louisiana State University and an author of the study noted in July.
And he went on in a Times-Picayune piece that columnist Bunch apparently failed to examine:
"The current plans to save the coast are focused on fixing wetlands, which is incredibly important, but the problem is that subsidence is affecting the entire coast. We need to combine those plans with regional hurricane levees and sand shoals. We have to find some way to protect the people and valuable infrastructure we have on the coast."
This echoes a point that was raised by the White House Office of Management and Budget in a review of the Corps of Engineers levee and flood work back in 2003. It noted that while the Corps managed projects that reduced flood damage to specific areas, annual flood damages to the nation were increasing. As such, it wanted the Corps -- though well-managed -- to broaden its approach by coordinating with federal flood mitigation efforts -- to be "more pro-active in preventing flood risks rather than reacting to them."
The regional Corps head so often quoted by the media himself said in 2003 that a project to protect the city from a category 4 or 5 storm would take 30 years to complete, with the feasibility study alone costing $8 million and taking six years to complete. At the time he opined, "Hopefully we won't have a major storm before then."
As for the $14 billion plan called Coastal 2050 for wetlands restoration that Louisiana politicians have been pushing for the last two years for the federal government to provide a stream of funds -- up to 65% of the cost -- some experts say it was only a stop-gap.
"We are not going to stop marsh loss. Subsidence is too dominant," James Coleman, a professor of coastal studies at Louisiana State University, told the Times Picayune a few years ago. Coastal restoration "is a temporary fix in terms of geological time. You will see results of massive coastal restorations in our lifetime, but in the long run they are also going to go."
Indeed, those interested in getting a taste of the complexity of New Orleans situation, a good place to start is to read "The Creeping Storm" by Greg Brouer in the June 2003 Civil Engineering Magazine:
"During the past 40 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent hundreds of millions of dollars constructing a barrier around the low-lying city of New Orleans to protect it from hurricanes. But is the system high enough? And can any defense ultimately protect a city that is perpetually sinking -- in some areas at a rate of half an inch (editor's note: Or up to 2 inches) per year?"
We know the answer to the first question now -- obviously not. The answer to the second question will require more investigation. It would be nice if some editorial writers would perform a little more. Snap judgments in this situation are worse than no judgment at all.
To see more of the extensive coverage of Hurricane Katrina from TCS, click here.
Copyright © 2005 Tech Central Station - www.techcentralstation.com
WORTH READING [Jonah Goldberg]
Interesting email, from my new Tank-truck guy:
Mr. Goldberg: I'm sick and tired of the media's treatment of the Katrina relief efforts. I run a trade association of tank truck carriers trying to assist in the relief efforts by transporting food and potable water. I'm in regular contact with many of the companies, and here are some "on the ground" facts:
1) Large trucks (80,000 lbs. gross weight) almost always have to use the Interstates. For trucks attempting to come in from outside the area, most of those roads (approaching the disaster area) are either closed or have bridges out. The so-called secondary roads may be somewhat passable, but their bridges (over rivers and streams) are not built to sustain such loads. Simply stated, you can't get there from here.
2) Trucks domicled in those areas (because that's where the companies traditionally serve customers) are still underwater, thus the equipment is not accessible;
3) Nobody in their right mind is going to take loads of gasoline and fuel oil into a city controlled by unfriendly folks carrying automatic weapons. A tank truck loaded with 8,000 gallons of gasoline can produce a very impressive fire;
4) Those local trucking companies can't contact their drivers. There's no power, thus (even) cellular is unavailable, and many of the drivers homes (in places like Kenner, Slidel, Metarie, etc) have been destroyed and families dispersed. I have one member with about 120 drivers and mechanics in that immediate area. To date, management has been able to contact 12. Those in the National Guard have been mobilized and are not available to drive.
5) Pumps -- needed to load the vehicles -- don't work because there's no power;
Finally, it's very interesting to see the media not-so-subtly inferred racism. NO's neighboring communities, noted above, and others are mostly composed of middle-class white neighborhoods. They too were flooded with the same level of devastation and face the same food/water shortages. So far, they've been "off camera". I'm genuinely puzzled by this.
If only George Bush could join the Governor in a photo-op "cry-a-thon" all of these problems would go away.
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 13:51:37
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Thanks Erebus... I have been glued to CNN so thanks for rounding out the perspective.
Thank you.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 14:20:58
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I just heard back from my Mayor's office. They told me that they are working to bring evacuees here. There are ways I can volunteer here to help. They are also working to get goods to help victims too. I feel better hearing this.
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't" |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 15:43:00
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Since the 1950's the flood protection here is built for a 1-in-500-year flood and since 1998 is being upgraded to a 1-in-a-1000-year flood, and there is hardly anything worth saving.
The first thing a visitor thinks about in the US is the massive infrastructure. When I drive to North Dakota there are overpasses every two miles, for what? So the combines don't have to cross the highway. Maybe I have a longer memory but I recall the discussion last year about New Orleans and hurricanes.
This is criminal ineptitude. I hope the urban planners who have worked for La. since Betsy go to jail. |
Edited by - hammerhands on 09/02/2005 15:43:36 |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:25:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Erebus
Finally, it's very interesting to see the media not-so-subtly inferred racism. NO's neighboring communities, noted above, and others are mostly composed of middle-class white neighborhoods. They too were flooded with the same level of devastation and face the same food/water shortages. So far, they've been "off camera". I'm genuinely puzzled by this.
http://yahooracists.ytmnd.com/
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:51:09
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sorry. i thought they were funny.
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Edited by - PixieSteve on 09/02/2005 16:52:36 |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 16:53:36
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Not that page, not at the moment, and not in the context you placed it.
I appreciate your attempts to find humor, but sometimes it's really poorly thought out. This is one of those times.
Interesting sig though. And the tetris page. |
Edited by - apl4eris on 09/02/2005 16:55:21 |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 17:05:56
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it's hard to be mature
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Edited by - PixieSteve on 09/02/2005 17:07:14 |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 17:11:08
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It's really astonishing to see part of America in this condition. My thoughts go out to anyone living there or with friends and relatives in any of the regions affected. And there's another storm on the way! Will New Orleans ever be the same again?
Bush actually admitted the government responded too slowly. He's been criticised for popping up with the arrival of aid, in that it looks like a publicity stunt. Certainly, he seemed to be putting on a phoney, concerned face while he was mingling with and grasping people. |
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 20:00:08
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Carl, thanks for your concern. It's funny Bush admitted that the aid has taken too long to arrive, only to find out he turned around shortly after and commented those that were organizing the efforts.
Oh well. 
There is some good news. The 2 month old baby given up to someone on a bus who was not let on the bus herself has been reunited with her baby.
I have also been worried about all the pets...
Here's some good news:
SPCA help for animals
Friday, 9:50 p.m.
There's hope for stranded pets in the New Orleans area. The Louisiana SPCA, New Orleans' animal control agency, has begun rescuing pets from owners houses.
Louisiana SPCA director Laura Maloney said shelter workers follow other agencies and crews through neighborhoods and rescue pets, some that are locked in houses. At the owners' request, "we break in," she said.
Owners have to call or email the operation and give their name and address and information about where the pet is confined.
The hotline number is: 1-225-578-6111. E-mail should be sent to Katrinaanimalrescue@yahoo.com.
The hotline already is in effect, Maloney said. "It's busy an awful lot. We are trying to get a bank of telephones"
"I ain't goin to be what I ain't"
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Edited by - Daisy Girl on 09/02/2005 20:01:15 |
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astrology
= Cult of Ray =
Saint Lucia
252 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 00:07:05
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hope this will help
links to whats really happening,
http://wiki.nola-intel.org/index.php/Main_Page
also links to relief ops and photos..
here is this blog last entry
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
Sunday, September 4th, 2005
12:48 am
Rest
Ok, gonna go get some sleep.
Last update for the night. Lots of police patrolling in their cars tonight, shining those high intensity spotlights at anyone on the street. The only civilians out are the homeless, one of whom you've all seen on the cam day after day -- the guy who set up his little stolen clothes shop on the sidewalk under the Pan Am building. We've got four regulars out there now -- the guy I just mentioned, a drunk who carries a cane and beats on every object he passes, a woman who wears a leather skirt and thinks everyone is a cop and offers herself for arrest, and her man who basically yells at her all day. At least the police aren't bothering them. I hope they can get some professional help, but I'm sure that's unlikely.
Oh well, hopefully things will continue to improve. It would be nice to have some pleasant news to report.
I'm a pistolero, i'm not shakin in my boots
I'm the ruler of this moon, if u move I shoots
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Broken Face
-= Forum Pistolero =-
USA
5155 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2005 : 09:39:09
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add Alex Chilton (Big Star) to the list of the missing...
-Brian
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The Big Easy and the Gulf Coast
