Katrina's aftermath

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http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,373047,00.html

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

Mayor Nagin is now saying it's possible that as many as 10,000 people died.

gear (gear), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

in case you're curious how conservatives excuse the president's incompetence

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_090105/content/truth_detector.guest.html

Rush, Monday, 5 September 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

Francis! Dude, where ya been!

Ned elsewhere (rogermexico), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

You've got three days to set up a rescue operation system that saves everybody.

Yeh, so I start setting it up even before the hurricane hits, you know, when the state of emergency is declared, not when the inner-beltway starts grumbling.

stet (stet), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:37 (twenty years ago)

Ned, buddy, my ghost lingers on (assorted net forums)!
I just dropped by to throw that link at y'all. Not that surprising to find an actual informative article on the NOLA crisis at a German news source rather than CNN or some other mediocre news outlet (excluding the countless blogs all over). I've been extremely bothered by this whole debacle, as everyone else has, yet what really terrifies me, the hypochondriac, is the chance of disease spreading. This is so much more beyond New Orleans being turned into a wasteland overnight. It is one of my favorite cities anywhere and yes, I'm also looking for friends I have lost contact with, so...

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Monday, 5 September 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

one of the many things that bothers me is that the power company Entergy had the foresight to bring in hundreds of trucks to different staging areas, anticipating the damaged power lines. I remember seeing on television one of the staging areas in parking lot of the Hammond mall the Sunday night before Katrina hit.

If Entergy could foresee the damage, why not FEMA?

badgerminor (badgerminor), Monday, 5 September 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

just in case some people didn't know this about the disastrous head of FEMA (and i'm not checking this long-ass thread to see if it has been mentioned much):

"Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association..."This was his full-time job...for 11 years," [a spokeswoman] added.

Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. "He was asked to resign," Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night.

Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign."

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 5 September 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Does Control + F not work on your computer, Scott?

It's okay. Pointing out that the head of FEMA is an Arabian Horse specialist who obviously doesn't know how to keep an entire city from drowing does bear repeating.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 5 September 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

Don't you think the U.S. government knows a few things you don't? Maybe Bin Laden is planning on invading the U.S. on horse-back.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

Him and those three other horsemen.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 00:48 (twenty years ago)

http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/jacko-hurricane-scam.jpg

O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

I've had a couple of emails today asking for money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and in these sort of things I usually do attempt to do something by giving cash or whatever, but the fact that this is America makes me feel differently. I'm reluctant to donate funds to the world's most powerful nation, when they should be looking after their own.

What do people think? Am I being callous and cold-hearted?

-- Lovelace (futilecrime...), September 4th, 2005.

Honestly, I think this is a silly rationalization. The money is being donated to charities like the Red Cross, not the US government. The people of New Orleans and the gulf coast were largely poor - maybe not tsunami victim poor, but much poorer than most of us.

If you don't want to give money, fine. No one is forcing you. But don't use thin political excuses.

Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

But also see the post right above.

k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 21:59 (twenty years ago)

hey PP, did you ever get any more response/flack from that email?

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

The way around that political rationalization against donating--and I do, on some level, understand the disgust and embarassment that would lead to that rationalization--is this: we ARE the richest nation and we ARE taking care of one another. By donating and volunteering and doing whatever is possible. The people who were supposed to do something about this, relied upon to help the people, are not doing anything. So we, as the richest nation on earth not just nationalistic terms but on, overall, individual basises (?? wrong word), have to step in and do it and help our own.

Like everyone's said, you don't HAVE to give money. If you're really reluctant to donate to Salvation Army or Red Cross because of the political ramifications, you could consider giving a little to the Humane Society, since really the government isn't expected to be THAT responsible for the welfare of puppies. The Humane Society is trying to go in and rescue all the abandoned animals, and that would be a good way to still help while keeping to your political reservations.

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

you can donate to the American Humane Society here and the ASPCA here

again, even after all the talk about broken families and destroyed lives, hearing about somebody who lost their dog on TOP of all that that just makes me want to die.

I don't know why, but that's how it is.

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

Yeah. I'd quote some more of them here, but my blood pressure is a lot lower when I don't mention it. However, I got many more "Right on!" e-mails than I could've possibly fathomed.

Today, I got a letter from a non-work acquaintance who went off on how if the city of New Orleans had "laid off on the Kwanza celebrations and Gay Pride parades, and spent more time building a better fucking levee..." ... and I think that I ruptured a blood vessel in my eye.

It's silly. I know that I'm more or less right about this. If Paula Zahn and Geraldo Riveria can figure it out, then it's not too difficult to see. However, I still feel like a combination of these two guys:

http://www.dvdnett.no/img/i322972494.jpg + http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/character5.article.jpg

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of which, The Onion's pretty funny this week.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

Oh dear.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

3:41 P.M. - GONZALES (From WBRZ-TV, Baton Rouge): Ascension Parish authorities are investigating a shooting involving two Arizona sheriff's deputies.
Sheriff Jeff Wiley says it was "road rage" and deputies feared for their safety. The shooting occurred on Louisiana Highway 74 near Prairieville.
Wiley says the deputies, who were coming off duty from assisting in New Orleans, were in unmarked vehicle, when a pickup truck with one person tried to cut them off as the highway narrowed to two lanes.
Wiley says pickup's driver made obscene gestures and made abrupt stops and swerved in front of the deputies.
Finally,the Maricopa County deputies turned on their red lights, but pickup did not stop.
A short time later, Wiley says the deputies found the pickup stopped in the middle of the road, and the river was standing outside his truck. He says the passenger deputy got out and drew his weapon, identified himself as a police officer and told the guy to stay where he was.
Wiley says the guy in the pickup started coming toward the deputy and allegedly said -- quote -- "I don't care who your are, if you pull that gun your better use it."
The deputy fired one shot, intending to fire over the guy's head, but struck him in the face.
The pickup driver was taken to a hospital in Gonzales with a non-life threatening wound.
Wiley did not identified the victim.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

Oh no:

5:18 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): Michael Jackson has written a song to help raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and will soon record it.
Tentatively titled, "From the Bottom of My Heart," the singer plans to ask other musicians to join him in recording it.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

OK having lived in Maricopa County, I would put money on the idea that the cops actually started that altercation themselves. Just sayin'. We are talking about the county in America that houses nonviolent offenders in non-AC'd tents in the MIDDLE OF THE DESERT and feeds them rotten balogna.

xpost

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

7:02 P.M. - ATLANTA (AP): Hundreds of firefighters have been sitting in Atlanta, playing cards and taking FEMA history classes, instead of doing what they came to do: help hurricane victims.
The volunteers traveled south and west from around the country, leaving their homes in places like Washington state, Pennsylvania and Michigan. They came after FEMA put out a call for two-thousand firefighters to help with community service.
Firefighters arrived, as told, with lifesaving equipment and sleeping bags.
But one of the waiting volunteers says it might have been better if they'd brought paper and cell phones. That's because some of the emergency responders are being told they will go to South Carolina, to do paperwork.
Others don't know where they'll be put in action.
The FEMA director in charge of firefighters says he's trying to get the volunteers deployed ASAP, but wants to make sure they go to the right place.
One firefighter points to nightly reports of hurricane victims asking how they were forgotten. He says, "we didn't forget, we're stuck in Atlanta drinking beer."

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:15 (twenty years ago)

The right place? Is it really that difficult to figure out where they're supposed to go?

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:17 (twenty years ago)

Well, those FEMA history classes are very important.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40305

holy shit, PP, you're right

Area Man Drives Food There His Goddamned Self

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

The way I heard it from a local fire department employee is that they're NOT actually bringing the firefighter teams in to rescue people. They're bringing them in to do documentation, reports, body counts, etc., and the only reason they're using firefighters instead of normal government employees is that they're trained in what to do in case something does go wrong ('cause the area is such a danger zone, obv.).

Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

Refugees Moved From Sewage-Contaminated Superdome To Hellhole Of Houston

HOUSTON—Evacuees from the overheated, filth-encrusted wreckage of the New Orleans Superdome were bussed to the humid, 110-degree August heat and polluted air of Houston last week, in a move that many are resisting. "Please, God, not Houston. Anyplace but Houston," said one woman, taking shelter under an overpass. "The food there is awful, and the weather is miserable. And the traffic—it's like some engineer was making a sick joke." Authorities apologized for transporting survivors to a city "barely better in any respect," but said the blistering-hot, oil-soaked Texas city was in fact slightly better, and that casualties due to gunfire would be no worse.

Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

as Arthur wonders, what happens when you pump the untreated sewage and toxic morass that is Lake George straight back into the Gulf of Mexico?

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 06:18 (twenty years ago)

hey the food in houston is really good!

ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

not if you're from new orleans.

duhhh, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

Haven't these people suffered enough already?

O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

some refugees are going to a scary church camp, where its rumored that FEMA won't let them leave for 5 months. No official confirmation on that last part, of course, but...

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

Too bad for Eugene Levy & hooray for Eugene Levy. (Horrible movies, still he deserves the fame.)

when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

That link ain't working, kingfish.

k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 23:57 (twenty years ago)

shit, hang on....

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/fema.html

there we go

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

that's okay, I prefer the site it linked to before.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 8 September 2005 00:18 (twenty years ago)

LIES

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

i suspect there's going to be a lot of stories like these

3 Duke students drove down from North Carolina to help, wound up sneaking into the city(in their Hynundai, FFS), and got 7 people out in two trips. They swiped an AP reporter press ID, made copies at a Kinkos, and made it past the guards with a car loaded with water.

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

again, this is all in their two-wheel-drive Hyundai. Remember all those official proclaimations about help not going to the city since it "couldn't get inside"?

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

two chopper pilots for the U.S. Navy got in trouble for delaying their return to base in order to save 110 victims.

The order to halt civilian relief efforts angered some helicopter crews. Lieutenant Udkow, who associates say was especially vocal about voicing his disagreement to superiors, was taken out of the squadron's flying rotation temporarily and assigned to oversee a temporary kennel established at Pensacola to hold pets...

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

oh and i'm getting all these from the "Heroes of Katrina" section at Pandagon

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 01:56 (twenty years ago)

Britons caught up in the hurricane continued to arrive back in the UK yesterday. One family said American police took snapshots of trapped tourists instead of helping them.

Gerard and Sandra Scott were stranded in their New Orleans hotel with their young son but police did nothing as they shouted for help from the hotel windows. "I couldn't describe how bad the authorities were," Mr Scott told Radio 4's World at One. "Just the little things like taking photographs of us ... for their own personal photo albums, little snapshot photographs.

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you have got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When they said no, they said 'Fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1563466,00.html

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 8 September 2005 02:57 (twenty years ago)

more pet donation links:

Houston SPCA -- they're holding onto the evacuees' pets

Noah's Wish
-Noah's Wish is a not-for-profit, animal welfare organization, with a straightforward mission. We exist to keep animals alive during disasters. That's it.

Louisiana SPCA

Petfinder.com

BestFriends.com

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 05:26 (twenty years ago)

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/08/katrina_account_from.html

robertw, Thursday, 8 September 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

Pleasant Plains, your email response is inspirational.

That's one of the few things that I've read in the past 3 days that actually made me feel better rather than worse, thanks.

Hunter (Hunter), Thursday, 8 September 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

Meanwhile, CNN.com had a thing up about how Tropical Storm Ophelia(east of mid-Flordida) just attained Hurricane status.

Great.

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.kmlb.shtml

check that shit out.

also, Mexico to the rescue!

from that:

The first green tractor-trailers, with Mexican flags attached to the tops of their cabs, crossed the international bridge at Laredo at about 8:15 a.m. The rest of the 45-vehicle convoy was in a staging area on the U.S. side in about 15 minutes.

And i can't help but think of the Mexicools

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2005 21:06 (twenty years ago)

So, we all ready to pray on September 16?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 September 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)


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