Katrina's aftermath

This is exactly what I wanted Paula Zahn to say last night when FEMA head claimed to have only recently found out about the Superdome situation.

Hey Pete. Yeah, Derek is still in his apartment as far as I know. I'll find out if anyone has been able to get ahold of him today.

Are you thinking of Jack Brass on the Rebirth message board? That's not me actually, that's Mike Olander from a brass band in Minneapolis. But yeah, he's doing the right thing.

I'll e-mail you if I hear anything this weekend. I'm going to see if I can get together some drums to ship to Derrick and Keith this weekend so they can keeping rolling. Thanks for keeping up and writing about this stuff.

Aid is reaching these people now it seems, but not enough to overcome the notion of scarcity and obvs these folks are desperate to be sated first.

I lived in NYC on 9/11 and although the levels of hysteria on 5th Ave below 14th were high that morning, nothing approached this level of pandemonium. My thoughts have been with New Orleans nonstop since the coverage of the storm preparation began. I can't help but think of this family of a man, his girlfriend and her three year old riding it out on a shrimpboat. It was all they had. The unspeakable horror!

Airlines to Fly Up to 25,000 Refugees Out of New Orleans

By MICHELINE MAYNARD
The nation's airlines have been mobilized to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans beginning today, under an emergency plan put into effect for the first time by the Department of Homeland Security.

Under the department's national response plan, 15 airlines, including 10 major commercial carriers, will transport up to 25,000 refugees from Louis Armstrong Airport outside New Orleans to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, airlines taking part in the plan said this morning.

The airlines are volunteering their aircraft and crew for the program, which is scheduled to begin at noon and run until this evening. The airlifts also will take place tomorrow and Sunday, the airlines said.

The Transportation Security Administration will secure the airport, according to a memo sent to the airlines. But airlines are being told to "bring everyone and everything you need," the memo said. They were told the status of jet fuel at the airport is "unclear" while power is intermittent.

The airlines have been asked to provide narrow-bodied planes, like Boeing 737 and Airbus A-320 models. The T.S.A. will screen passengers, as it normally does at airports, and it will create passenger lists for the airlines.

The airlines are donating their services without charge, participants said. It is the first time that the Department of Homeland Security has activated the plan, which is being supervised by Michael Jackson, a former Transportation Department official who is the assistant secretary for homeland security. Airlines have been told the airport can handle seven to nine flights per hour, and that the airport will operate under visiual flight rules. That means that flights must take place in relatively good weather, so that pilots can see the airport from a distance as they approach.

Rest of the article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02cnd-air.html

Of course, they still have to get people from the convention center/superdome/their houses to the airport....

upon reading this, my first thought was, oh great, the anti-terra fuckheads are at it again.

Then i realized that "passenger lists" is the important bit. Passenger Lists can get posted on websites, send to newspapers, etc.

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "'Go to hell — it's every man for himself.'"

Like you I am disgusted by what is taking place and what has not taken place in New Orleans. We'll see how the apparent genocide of the poor of New Orleans plays out today.

To the point, as many of you know, Quintron and Miss Pussycat lived in New Orleans' 9th Ward. CNN characterized the homes in the neighborhood as "humble" - these are a lot of the people that we're all seeing on TV. The folks who for economic or health reasons did not evacuate. Fortunately, Quintron and Miss Pussycat did make it out of New Orleans before the hurricane hit. Their van was loaded up with their instruments and puppets - but their house, the Spellcaster Lodge and ALL of their belongings are casualties of Hurricane Katrina. Pretty much all Q and P have is what they need to tour... This is a DEVASTATING turn of events for our friends.

They need your help. Those with paypal accounts can send donations to Quintron and Miss Pussycat's Rhinestone Records account. Their paypal id is: [email protected]

I realize that many of you out there don't have lots of money to spare - that's the general makeup of our music scene - but if everyone getting this email sits there and thinks they are unique and "others" will contribute, nothing is going to happen. It is YOU I'm reaching out to. This is terribly important. If you don't have a paypal account, I'll gladly accept donations here at Skin Graft, make them payable to the label, make it clear that it's for Q and P and I'll see that they get it.

Also, I'd be doing RUINS a tremendous disservice if I didn't mention that their "Pallaschtom" CD has arrived and I'm sending orders out as soon as I get them. It is an incredible album. Everything in the Skin Graft catalog is on sale at the moment (and will be through September 12th), so now is a good time to pick up any of those Quintron and Flossie And The Unicorns titles you've been meaning to get.

Please spread the word. Thanks everyone,

Mark
http://www.skingraftrecords.com

On the one hand, Interdictor's kinda crazy. On the other hand, he reports stuff like this, from half an hour ago:

10:01 am The City is ON FIRE
Teams Alpha and Bravo finished the medium range recon and there are 3 separate locations on fire. We have pictures coming shortly.

During the recon, I spoke to some Federal Marshalls and NOPD. Morale is LOW. Very low. They're not seeing the military presence they say they were promised. I told those guys they can't possibly imagine how much we (the world) appreciate their dedication. I asked what civil rights the citizens have and the US Marshalls looked at me like I just fell off the turnip truck and chuckled. I asked if citizens can have guns for protection and he said if someone thinks he needs a gun, he should have already evacuated. He also said they are setting the city on fire.

The NOPD wants to know where "the two active duty brigades" were that he says they were told were supposed to arrive today. When I asked him what he would want to tell the world, he said Everyone keeps talking about the military presence in the city, and then asked me," Do you see any military around here" in dusgust.

We reconned our roof also, to get a better view of the city and took... I hesitate to call them "amazing" pictures. My city... it has been punched in the face and is on the canvas being counted out.

And yes, that's smoke you see out of the windows. The city is under a haze from the fires. Smoke and ash are floating miles away from the fires.

9:53 A.M. - LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hilary Duff has pledged to donate $250,000 to help Hurricane Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast. The 17-year-old singer-actress will give $200,000 to the American Red Cross and $50,000 to USA Harvest, which is supplying food to shelters, according to a statement released Thursday by publicist Cece Yorke. The latter donation will amount to more than 300,000 cans of food being provided to victims.

Duff encouraged fans to bring canned food donations to her concerts and to give money to charities.

Jordan, that pictures is fires burning in NO.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

Fuck you hater, Hilary Duff recorded a song by song cover of "Loveless"!

Lo, I am shamed.

10:37 A.M. - Bush: First we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation.

10:33 A.M. - (AP) A large fire erupted today in an old retail building in a dry section of Canal Street. There's no immediate reports of injuries.Earlier today, an explosion at a chemical depot rocked an area of New Orleans east of the French Quarter.

I LOVE U HILARY DON'T LET THE HATERS KEEP U DOWN

Great. Super.

"If you own a bus, bring it. We'll find a way to get it in to New Orleans," she said.

If everyone were armed, within the first moments of any looting/violence, the good people could have picked off the violent ones. Had they not been sitting around on their asses expecting help from the government

The mind boggles.

By midmorning Friday, despite a constant buzzing of military helicopters overhead, there was still no sign of the relief to the tens of thousands lined up outside the convention center.

"I'm trying to keep hope alive, but slowly my hope is fading," said refugee Carl Clark. "Believe it or not, these people are human. Right now they're crowded like animals. They're trying to keep their dignity. ... I don't even know what the Red Cross looks like."

Raymond Whitfield, 51, watched a National Guard truck drive by the convention center, but like most other official vehicles, it did not stop.

"The National Guard just drives around and around. I know the police, the National Guard, they got generators, so they can sleep and eat," he said.

"Look at them," he said of the men inside the truck, "they're not even sweating."

"Everybody's on the edge right now," said 28-year-old Kenya Green. "Every day, it's `The bus is coming, The bus is coming,' but still nothing. ... They don't give us no information."

Conditions were dire at the Superdome as well. By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. Evacuees from across the city swelled the crowd to about 30,000 because they believed the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town.

i really feel for him.

Subject: My Hurricane Story -- Medical staff from Superdome now in
Hyatt

Story: My mother is a doctor, and works for the city of New Orleans.
She was told to report to work at the Superdome at 7AM on Sunday 8/28.
Over my objections, she did. We have gotten 4 calls from her on her
cell phone since then. The first was Monady afternoon, when she was very
reassuring. The second was Thursday morning when she called to notify
us that they had moved the medical staff to the Hyatt Regency because
"the security situation was deteriorating in the Superdome". She
thought they were going to send an armored bus to evacuate them to Baton
Rouge, where I am. She was still quite calm, but she said she was the only
person there with a cell phone that still worked. The third was
Thursday night around 9PM, at which time she asked us to try to put pressure
on the governor's office, or somebody, to try to get them out. She
called back again at 4:30 on Friday to ask that we try to do something to
get food and water to the Hyatt. Apparently the State Police are in
charge of the people at the Hyatt.

ROBINETTE: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because
apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks
because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless
requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.

NAGIN: Really?

ROBINETTE: I know you don't feel that way.

NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?

You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did
they ask us to go in there?

What is more important?

And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch
of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even
funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this
interview is over.

ROBINETTE: You and I will be in the funny place together.

NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq
lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.

Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.

(xpost cnn.com is now streaming the nagin interview in its completion as well.)

No, it isn't.

Lt. Gen Steven Blum of the National Guard said that as many as 2,600 National Guard troops were expected to arrive in Louisiana Friday to join the nearly 2,000 who went in Thursday.

That was actually a Senator, not the Governor.

(xpost)

"Reeemembah, Dahlings...it's better to looook goood than to feeel goood"

Greetings All,

Interesting and encouraging article below from RADIO BUSINESS REPORT about Radio and TV efforts nationwide.

It is normal to think that only “we” are helping, but be encouraged by the knowledge that stations from Philly to San Diego, and Spokane to Boston and all sized markets in between are reaching out, just as we are.

And before anybody works up a full sweat bashing the Feds, do a little newspaper archive research and you’ll find that EVERY administration since the 60’s (when FEMA was developed) has been bashed for being slow or non-existent – even the 8 years of “I feel your pain. . . “.

And none of them were guilty of being slow. By all means call FEMA and tell them where to land the cargo planes full of people and supplies; Oyeah, I forgot the storm wiped out all the airports near enough to do any good. So call’m and tell’m about all the super highways they can use……whoops, I forgot, ALL the highways are gone, too. I-10 east of N.O. is gone for about a hundred miles.

The truth is that six months from now when 90% of those who receive this e-mail have forgotten about Katrina’s victims, FEMA will STILL be there helping.

Anyway, check out the article and be at peace that broadcasters everywhere are doing all they can.

Respectfully,

Stewart Robb, C.R.M.C.
Account Executive

This went out to everyone who works here. I hit "Reply All" and sent this:

Greetings, Stew.

Please keep your cute opinions about the Federal government to yourself. I could go on about federal funding cut from the budget to shore up the levees to NATIONAL guardsmen who have been called away from their post to go fight a war in a different country. The Head of FEMA, Michael Brown, admitted to Brian Williams last night on NBC’s news that he wasn’t aware that the situation was so serious, or that people were waiting for buses at the Convention Center. If it was your parent sitting dead on a highway median or your relative being raped in the Louisiana Superdome, I wonder how sing-songy you’d be about FEMA.

I miss the days of presidents saying “I feel your pain” rather than “don’t buy gas if you don’t need to.”

Tre Baker, American

I may be fired now, but I don't care.

holy fuck, man. rock.