![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This is just brilliant. Enjoy--or get mad--but I don't think it will leave you cold.
America's Battered Wife Syndrome
America's Battered Wife Syndrome
The comparisons are not pretty....
Sep. 10th, 2005 12:12 pmMaking Light guest blogger writer Jim MacDonald has drawn some interesting parallels between two disasters for the USA--Hurricane Katrina and Pearl Harbor.
( Take a look. )
( Take a look. )
This seems like confirmation to me...
Sep. 6th, 2005 01:51 pm...that FEMA is actively fighting the efforts of others to help in this crisis and keep things moving. Planes are ready to evacuate refugees from the Astrodome (those who are ready to go--some people are so overwhelmed, and so worried about finding relatives, they really don't want to leave yet.) Three cruise ships are ready to take on refugees. And FEMA has stopped everything in its tracks, with no explanation at this time.
http://my.ev1.net/english/news/newsarticle.asp?articleID=49926934&subject=headlines
http://my.ev1.net/english/news/newsarticle.asp?articleID=49926934&subject=headlines
Local failure caused by FEMA?
Sep. 6th, 2005 12:24 pm"That is the meme we need to push to counter the latest Bush PR campaign.
In the case of Katrina we need to make clear that we are not complaining that FEMA did not arrive in NO. Clearly, the leadership of FEMA was on the scene immediately and took charge of the situation. The problem was that the leadership was so incompetent that it succeeded in interfering with local relief efforts but failed to provide any federal relief efforts. It kills me to see that the meme of "local failure" could take hold when story after story indicates that "local failure" was largely caused by FEMA."
Read the story
In the case of Katrina we need to make clear that we are not complaining that FEMA did not arrive in NO. Clearly, the leadership of FEMA was on the scene immediately and took charge of the situation. The problem was that the leadership was so incompetent that it succeeded in interfering with local relief efforts but failed to provide any federal relief efforts. It kills me to see that the meme of "local failure" could take hold when story after story indicates that "local failure" was largely caused by FEMA."
Read the story
It just gets worse. I think I need to go do something else for awhile. And be grateful I can.
Pinched from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
suricattus.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/koimistress/39469.html
Pinched from
suricattus.http://www.livejournal.com/users/koimistress/39469.html
Not only incompetent--obstructive....
Sep. 5th, 2005 02:57 pmSee this amazing list that naomikritzer is compiling of all the ways that groups are trying to aid and FEMA is blocking.
Pinched frompegkerr, thanks.
The only question I now have is, can we impeach Bush AND Cheney?
naomikritzer is compiling of all the ways that groups are trying to aid and FEMA is blocking. Pinched from
pegkerr, thanks.The only question I now have is, can we impeach Bush AND Cheney?
Pinched from sartorius, I believe. A writer known here as trollprincess has been amusing herself with Photoshop and other fun toys.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/trollprincess/817403.html
sartorius, I believe. A writer known here as trollprincess has been amusing herself with Photoshop and other fun toys.http://www.livejournal.com/users/trollprincess/817403.html
Musings....
Sep. 4th, 2005 06:33 pmI just took several boxes of hotel soap and shampoo down to the Salvation Army. They're already on automatic down there. The man who took the things said: "Hygiene?" And then looked past me to the next person.
I'm immune suppressed, so I cannot volunteer directly, but I think the closets are next. My feet finally outgrew my shoes, so I have several pairs around a half size smaller than I can wear.
I hear the population of Baton Rouge has doubled in the last three days. I don't see how we can avoid a recession at this rate.
I just hope that the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia remember who didn't send help, when the next election rolls around.
I'm immune suppressed, so I cannot volunteer directly, but I think the closets are next. My feet finally outgrew my shoes, so I have several pairs around a half size smaller than I can wear.
I hear the population of Baton Rouge has doubled in the last three days. I don't see how we can avoid a recession at this rate.
I just hope that the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia remember who didn't send help, when the next election rolls around.
A Sign of the Times....
Sep. 3rd, 2005 11:40 pmReported as seen in New Orleans:
Words On A Window
Boarded over with plywood, it displays the following warning:
"Don't Try. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two
shotguns and a claw hammer..."
Words On A Window
Boarded over with plywood, it displays the following warning:
"Don't Try. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two
shotguns and a claw hammer..."
Actually, a lot of people did...
Sep. 2nd, 2005 12:50 am "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
- President Bush, September 1, 2005
"It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.
"But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however--the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.
"The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level--more than eight feet below in places--so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.
"Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.
"When did this calamity happen? It hasn't--yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City."
- National Geographic, October, 2004
- President Bush, September 1, 2005
"It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.
"But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however--the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.
"The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level--more than eight feet below in places--so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.
"Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.
"When did this calamity happen? It hasn't--yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City."
- National Geographic, October, 2004
NOW they get around to it.
Sep. 1st, 2005 07:49 pmThe Congress has just voted emergency funds of 10.5 billion dollars for relief efforts dealing with Hurricane Katrina.
An interesting quote, taken from http://www.andrewsullivan.com (a conservative who is willing to admit liberals and moderates occasionally have a point).
"'I'm not saying it wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have,' said Michael Parker, a former Republican Mississippi congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from October 2001 until March 2002, when he was ousted after publicly criticizing a Bush administration proposal to cut the corps' budget." - from the Chicago Tribune, noted by Josh Marshall.
( Warning--Rant Follows )
Idiots. We're being governed by idiots. I know this won't reach the people who voted for Bush, but IF YOU DIDN'T VOTE, REGISTER, DAMMIT! There ARE choices between better and worse.
An interesting quote, taken from http://www.andrewsullivan.com (a conservative who is willing to admit liberals and moderates occasionally have a point).
"'I'm not saying it wouldn't still be flooded, but I do feel that if it had been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have,' said Michael Parker, a former Republican Mississippi congressman who headed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from October 2001 until March 2002, when he was ousted after publicly criticizing a Bush administration proposal to cut the corps' budget." - from the Chicago Tribune, noted by Josh Marshall.
( Warning--Rant Follows )
Idiots. We're being governed by idiots. I know this won't reach the people who voted for Bush, but IF YOU DIDN'T VOTE, REGISTER, DAMMIT! There ARE choices between better and worse.
Passing this on--
Sep. 1st, 2005 05:40 pmLifted from noiseinmyhead.
From someone on the ground in New Orleans--
http://mgno.com/
Warning--this is scary stuff. The NO police are impotent, unable to communicate with each other, their vehicles underwater. Gangs roam the streets, looting, raping, killing people. It's not Beirut yet, but it's ugly, and getting worse.
noiseinmyhead.From someone on the ground in New Orleans--
http://mgno.com/
Warning--this is scary stuff. The NO police are impotent, unable to communicate with each other, their vehicles underwater. Gangs roam the streets, looting, raping, killing people. It's not Beirut yet, but it's ugly, and getting worse.
Two of three--
Sep. 1st, 2005 05:23 pmWe've heard that Bob Aspirin is currently alive, and waiting for evacuation. Those who have been checking out the news know that this is not entirely comforting.
New Orleans folk have been shooting at helicopters trying to get the sickest people out of hospitals. Or shooting at boats trying to deliver emergency supplies. I know they are terrified, but the people of New Orleans aren't handling this as well as the people of New York handled 9/11. Granted, there was only one catastrophe in NYC that day (NO has faced first a Category 4 Hurricane and then massive flooding)--but the people of NY didn't know that. They didn't know if the next stage was gonna be bombers, in the air or on the ground.
New York did us proud. I grieve for the people of New Orleans. They've lost more than their city.
New Orleans folk have been shooting at helicopters trying to get the sickest people out of hospitals. Or shooting at boats trying to deliver emergency supplies. I know they are terrified, but the people of New Orleans aren't handling this as well as the people of New York handled 9/11. Granted, there was only one catastrophe in NYC that day (NO has faced first a Category 4 Hurricane and then massive flooding)--but the people of NY didn't know that. They didn't know if the next stage was gonna be bombers, in the air or on the ground.
New York did us proud. I grieve for the people of New Orleans. They've lost more than their city.
