go-o-o-o-o-d plan....
"Shortly after Brown was recalled to Washington last week, officials close to the FEMA director said he would probably resign. They said that even before Katrina, Brown had been planning on leaving the administration late this fall to go into the private sector."
um, yeah -- i'm sure lots of you folks out there are feeling this: "GREAT! Now this guy can come and work for us!!"
9.12.2005
9.09.2005
9.08.2005
one citizen's voice
a post from Joshua Mann Pailet, owner of A Gallery for Fine Photography on Chartrest Street in the French Quarter, New Orleans:
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Dear Friends
TRUTH and BEAUTY and LOVE are UNIVERSAL.
CHILDREN FIRST
Immediate and very direct help, go to
http://www.braf.org
http://www.habitat.org
http://www.girlscoutsaudubon.org
http://maps.google.com - Type in New Orleans address and click Katrina link
New Orleans is my home and birthplace. I remained in downtown New Orleans
during the difficult first five days. In the French Quarter, downtown, and
along the Mississippi River, I witnessed the SURVIVORS of this powerful
storm struggle to maintain dignity and life.
Along this narrow unique corridor of the original city boundaries, there
was NO FLOODING. All around us, the waters rose and the struggle roared
louder than the hurricane winds of that historic storm.
During this time, communication was non-existent. Rumors ruled the
street. The outlaws were bad, but a tiny percentage.
The community worked together to have the stamina to remain calm and
alive. NO water or food was delivered into these historic quarters until
late Friday afternoon.
NO evidence was seen of Authority or control.
We were not destroyed through looting or shooting.
In fact, I witnessed a far more remarkable scene than TV or radio was able
to report.
The other less famous, but EQUALLY IMPORTANT neighborhoods of this
remarkable City, were deluged with water, fear, anger, bullies, and HEROES.
Our policeman, fireman, and individual citizens used their wits and
struggled to rescue many thousands of stranded friends and families while
their own lives had been shattered.
The historic French Quarter and Riverfront community up St. Charles Avenue
and along the Mississippi River survived intact and can be ready for your
return soon after the electricity and running water is restored.
We are eager to see the misery calmed and life and vitality restored.
Despite the visual images you are seeing, you will be surprised in the
upcoming weeks. As we unite, together we can move forward to bring us
together again.
The Daily Challenges are being addressed in a manner that requires
everyone to remain flexible, cooperative, resourceful, inventive and
respectful. ALL displaced CITIZENS must have the Opportunity to return to
their original neighborhoods. These unique neighborhoods must be rebuilt.
The complex and multi-dimensional problems of this event are going to be
solved, step-by-step, day by day, brick by brick. THE PEOPLE who are the
heart and soul of this great city will be back. It is essential to bring
ALL home to let the magic that you love about New Orleans blossom in the
SPRING.
The great gumbo of New Orleans requires that ALL our friends and families
have a chance to return to their roots. The unique qualities that we love
will shine if we continue to act with true dignity and bring back to EVERY
NEIGHBORHOOD the artists, cooks, workers, musicians, professionals,
carpenters, and more. This is TRUTH for NEW ORLEANS and EVERY community
that surrounds it for miles and miles and miles.
Tonight, we are scattered and battered.
Each day, the outpouring of concern has kept us going forward. We will
clean it up and want everyone back to their neighborhoods and homes.
For some of us, this will be soon.
For the vast majority, it will be much longer.
WE NEED YOUR HELP and the fantastic response from around the world and
especially across the USA must continue.
THE LOVE for New Orleans is evident.
WE sincerely THANK YOU.
We know the stress is spreading and touching all of you.
EVERYONE in the entire region has been affected. I am presently in Baton
Rouge organizing and helping people find a place to live, work, and send
their children to schools. Baton Rouge has taken in over 350,00 people
and nearly doubled in size.
Some of us are in hotels, friends' homes, strangers' homes, shelters,
churches, temples, arenas, gymnasiums, vehicles, tents, and every
available resource you can imagine.
The generosity and kindness of the great people of Baton Rouge, Houston,
and every town and state for hundreds of miles is remarkable to witness.
They are nurturing my fellow CITIZENS of New Orleans, Mississippi, and
Alabama. It will continue.
Many of you have asked to HELP.
We need your resources and immediate attention to a multitude of tasks.
We must continue rescuing, protecting, housing, and restoring health all
at once. This test and challenge will require stamina and willpower,
infrastructure, money, and planning. Timing is truly critical.
Everywhere I look, the efforts and overtime are phenomenal. Imagine.
My fellow survivors continue to inspire others. No doubt major mistakes
have been made. This can be debated at a later date.
I ask all of you to continue focusing on NEW ORLEANS and the entire GULF
COAST and pushing this effort forward. Each of you have a role to play as
this situation stabilizes.
Tonight, I feel that the children need our most immediate attention. In
Baton Rouge alone, there are over 35,000 new children of kindergarten to
high school age who are in dire need of stability and EDUCATION.
This TRUTH is repeated in numerous communities all over Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Arizona, New Mexico, and many more.
Tomorrow should be a school day for these beautiful children. We must
begin to provide and prepare them for the future. NOW!
Schools, teachers, personnel, and supplies need to come together quickly.
An Education Relief Task Force is organizing this effort. I strongly urge
you to continue supporting ALL charitable efforts with your donations.
I believe that the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (www.braf.org) is the
proper place to direct your financial contributions at this very moment.
The EDUCATIONAL CRISIS is critical. The New Orleans School System is
wiped out and bankrupt.
As you think about this, if we can get our children on a positive track,
then parents will begin to rest easier and thus able to solve all the
problems we need to address. From this will spring forth all the other
great projects needed.
At times this emotional roller coaster we are all on, causes us to briefly
stop. It is paramount that we work together diligently for a very long
time to achieve this GOAL for our CHILDREN.
It can and must be done. With this will follow the jobs and the dignity we
all need to rebuild.
CHILDREN FIRST.
Send your donations to BRAC.ORG
My dear friend Marc Sternberg, a Baton Rouge native,
(marc@bronxlabschool.org) is a vital part of this effort.
Bring your energy, ideas, and donations NOW.
Throughout all of this, I have heard my mother's words echo in my sky.
"Pick up the pieces and get on with it."
Thank you for your prayers, positive thoughts, and energy. You keep me and
many others moving forward on this path to recovery. Every moment of
everyday we encounter a changing reality.
FOCUS on the FUTURE by immediately providing the resources needed to get
these NEW SCHOOLS up and running. The CHILDREN need you more than ever.
It will take more than 150 million dollars for this effort in Baton Rouge
alone. All the communities of the great Gulf Coast and Deep South region
have the same challenge.
I will continue to be here to help.
WE ARE ONE.
CHILDREN FIRST
[You may have read my] eyewitness account sent earlier to many of you.
I know it only applies to this tiny historic piece of land I was blessed
to be in at the moment this storm arrived.
I am keenly aware that other neighborhoods in New Orleans and all around
the GULF COAST experienced a nightmare of biblical proportions that seems
to grow daily.
THANK YOU
I am the luckiest man in New Orleans and this planet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
thanks to Chuck Taggart for the link.
a post from Joshua Mann Pailet, owner of A Gallery for Fine Photography on Chartrest Street in the French Quarter, New Orleans:
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Dear Friends
TRUTH and BEAUTY and LOVE are UNIVERSAL.
CHILDREN FIRST
Immediate and very direct help, go to
http://www.braf.org
http://www.habitat.org
http://www.girlscoutsaudubon.org
http://maps.google.com - Type in New Orleans address and click Katrina link
New Orleans is my home and birthplace. I remained in downtown New Orleans
during the difficult first five days. In the French Quarter, downtown, and
along the Mississippi River, I witnessed the SURVIVORS of this powerful
storm struggle to maintain dignity and life.
Along this narrow unique corridor of the original city boundaries, there
was NO FLOODING. All around us, the waters rose and the struggle roared
louder than the hurricane winds of that historic storm.
During this time, communication was non-existent. Rumors ruled the
street. The outlaws were bad, but a tiny percentage.
The community worked together to have the stamina to remain calm and
alive. NO water or food was delivered into these historic quarters until
late Friday afternoon.
NO evidence was seen of Authority or control.
We were not destroyed through looting or shooting.
In fact, I witnessed a far more remarkable scene than TV or radio was able
to report.
The other less famous, but EQUALLY IMPORTANT neighborhoods of this
remarkable City, were deluged with water, fear, anger, bullies, and HEROES.
Our policeman, fireman, and individual citizens used their wits and
struggled to rescue many thousands of stranded friends and families while
their own lives had been shattered.
The historic French Quarter and Riverfront community up St. Charles Avenue
and along the Mississippi River survived intact and can be ready for your
return soon after the electricity and running water is restored.
We are eager to see the misery calmed and life and vitality restored.
Despite the visual images you are seeing, you will be surprised in the
upcoming weeks. As we unite, together we can move forward to bring us
together again.
The Daily Challenges are being addressed in a manner that requires
everyone to remain flexible, cooperative, resourceful, inventive and
respectful. ALL displaced CITIZENS must have the Opportunity to return to
their original neighborhoods. These unique neighborhoods must be rebuilt.
The complex and multi-dimensional problems of this event are going to be
solved, step-by-step, day by day, brick by brick. THE PEOPLE who are the
heart and soul of this great city will be back. It is essential to bring
ALL home to let the magic that you love about New Orleans blossom in the
SPRING.
The great gumbo of New Orleans requires that ALL our friends and families
have a chance to return to their roots. The unique qualities that we love
will shine if we continue to act with true dignity and bring back to EVERY
NEIGHBORHOOD the artists, cooks, workers, musicians, professionals,
carpenters, and more. This is TRUTH for NEW ORLEANS and EVERY community
that surrounds it for miles and miles and miles.
Tonight, we are scattered and battered.
Each day, the outpouring of concern has kept us going forward. We will
clean it up and want everyone back to their neighborhoods and homes.
For some of us, this will be soon.
For the vast majority, it will be much longer.
WE NEED YOUR HELP and the fantastic response from around the world and
especially across the USA must continue.
THE LOVE for New Orleans is evident.
WE sincerely THANK YOU.
We know the stress is spreading and touching all of you.
EVERYONE in the entire region has been affected. I am presently in Baton
Rouge organizing and helping people find a place to live, work, and send
their children to schools. Baton Rouge has taken in over 350,00 people
and nearly doubled in size.
Some of us are in hotels, friends' homes, strangers' homes, shelters,
churches, temples, arenas, gymnasiums, vehicles, tents, and every
available resource you can imagine.
The generosity and kindness of the great people of Baton Rouge, Houston,
and every town and state for hundreds of miles is remarkable to witness.
They are nurturing my fellow CITIZENS of New Orleans, Mississippi, and
Alabama. It will continue.
Many of you have asked to HELP.
We need your resources and immediate attention to a multitude of tasks.
We must continue rescuing, protecting, housing, and restoring health all
at once. This test and challenge will require stamina and willpower,
infrastructure, money, and planning. Timing is truly critical.
Everywhere I look, the efforts and overtime are phenomenal. Imagine.
My fellow survivors continue to inspire others. No doubt major mistakes
have been made. This can be debated at a later date.
I ask all of you to continue focusing on NEW ORLEANS and the entire GULF
COAST and pushing this effort forward. Each of you have a role to play as
this situation stabilizes.
Tonight, I feel that the children need our most immediate attention. In
Baton Rouge alone, there are over 35,000 new children of kindergarten to
high school age who are in dire need of stability and EDUCATION.
This TRUTH is repeated in numerous communities all over Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Arizona, New Mexico, and many more.
Tomorrow should be a school day for these beautiful children. We must
begin to provide and prepare them for the future. NOW!
Schools, teachers, personnel, and supplies need to come together quickly.
An Education Relief Task Force is organizing this effort. I strongly urge
you to continue supporting ALL charitable efforts with your donations.
I believe that the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (www.braf.org) is the
proper place to direct your financial contributions at this very moment.
The EDUCATIONAL CRISIS is critical. The New Orleans School System is
wiped out and bankrupt.
As you think about this, if we can get our children on a positive track,
then parents will begin to rest easier and thus able to solve all the
problems we need to address. From this will spring forth all the other
great projects needed.
At times this emotional roller coaster we are all on, causes us to briefly
stop. It is paramount that we work together diligently for a very long
time to achieve this GOAL for our CHILDREN.
It can and must be done. With this will follow the jobs and the dignity we
all need to rebuild.
CHILDREN FIRST.
Send your donations to BRAC.ORG
My dear friend Marc Sternberg, a Baton Rouge native,
(marc@bronxlabschool.org) is a vital part of this effort.
Bring your energy, ideas, and donations NOW.
Throughout all of this, I have heard my mother's words echo in my sky.
"Pick up the pieces and get on with it."
Thank you for your prayers, positive thoughts, and energy. You keep me and
many others moving forward on this path to recovery. Every moment of
everyday we encounter a changing reality.
FOCUS on the FUTURE by immediately providing the resources needed to get
these NEW SCHOOLS up and running. The CHILDREN need you more than ever.
It will take more than 150 million dollars for this effort in Baton Rouge
alone. All the communities of the great Gulf Coast and Deep South region
have the same challenge.
I will continue to be here to help.
WE ARE ONE.
CHILDREN FIRST
[You may have read my] eyewitness account sent earlier to many of you.
I know it only applies to this tiny historic piece of land I was blessed
to be in at the moment this storm arrived.
I am keenly aware that other neighborhoods in New Orleans and all around
the GULF COAST experienced a nightmare of biblical proportions that seems
to grow daily.
THANK YOU
I am the luckiest man in New Orleans and this planet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
thanks to Chuck Taggart for the link.
will we change??
will we finally get it? will we ever get it?? what is the fucking deal, people?? was responding to an email from one of my staff and realized that she is the ONLY person in my office who even mentioned the hurricane, and the sadness she felt over the aftermath. what the fuck is with people? "outta sight, outta mind"???
i hope your lives, and homes, and loved ones are never stricken by a tragedy like this one.
how come i care?
I think I expect way too much from humans.
will we finally get it? will we ever get it?? what is the fucking deal, people?? was responding to an email from one of my staff and realized that she is the ONLY person in my office who even mentioned the hurricane, and the sadness she felt over the aftermath. what the fuck is with people? "outta sight, outta mind"???
i hope your lives, and homes, and loved ones are never stricken by a tragedy like this one.
how come i care?
I think I expect way too much from humans.
more coverage
pics from Sigmund at directNIC.com.
"This is Sigmund Solares, I am the CEO of Intercosmos Media Group, Inc., the operators of directNIC.com in Downtown New Orleans. For the past week we have continued to operate our data center while just about everyone else has left."
more pics
blogs:
this rant from Steve at The News Blog. the dude's over the top, and, yet, right on. go ahead and splurge and read the comments, too -- they have a life of their own:
"Steve: I understand your anger, but this is not the time for finger pointing. It's the time for calm, moderate, actions like putting the entire Bush administration on a chain gang and sentencing them to clean the streets of NOLO on their hands and knees for the rest of the their miserable, ugly, wasteful lives."
"Citizen K, the only suggestion I would make to your proposal is that none of those incompetent fucks should be given brushes."
"DJ: You must be some bleeding heart liberal. The idea of giving those slimeballs brushes never crossed my mind."
"blamed everything but herpes on Bill Clinton
And they would have done that, too, had it not been for Neil Bush pretty well having the herpes franchise locked up."
Ray in Austin is covering the goings on.
The Interdictor, news straight from the ground.
pics from Sigmund at directNIC.com.
"This is Sigmund Solares, I am the CEO of Intercosmos Media Group, Inc., the operators of directNIC.com in Downtown New Orleans. For the past week we have continued to operate our data center while just about everyone else has left."
more pics
blogs:
this rant from Steve at The News Blog. the dude's over the top, and, yet, right on. go ahead and splurge and read the comments, too -- they have a life of their own:
"Steve: I understand your anger, but this is not the time for finger pointing. It's the time for calm, moderate, actions like putting the entire Bush administration on a chain gang and sentencing them to clean the streets of NOLO on their hands and knees for the rest of the their miserable, ugly, wasteful lives."
"Citizen K, the only suggestion I would make to your proposal is that none of those incompetent fucks should be given brushes."
"DJ: You must be some bleeding heart liberal. The idea of giving those slimeballs brushes never crossed my mind."
"blamed everything but herpes on Bill Clinton
And they would have done that, too, had it not been for Neil Bush pretty well having the herpes franchise locked up."
Ray in Austin is covering the goings on.
The Interdictor, news straight from the ground.
9.06.2005
mourning music
"During the disaster 700,000 people were displaced, including 330,000 African-Americans who were moved to 154 relief camps. Over 13,000 refugees near Greenville, Mississippi were gathered from area farms and evacuated to the crest of an unbroken levee, and stranded there for days without food or clean water, while boats arrived to evacuate white women and children. Many African-Americans were detained and forced to labor at gunpoint during flood relief efforts." -- Wikipedia entry on the floods of 1926-1927
Robert Russa Moton's report on the Treatment of Black Americans after the 1927 floods
Louisiana 1927
What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it starts to rain.
Rained real hard, it rained for a real long time,
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
The river rose all day, the river rose all night.
Some people got lost in the flood,
Some people got away alright.
The river have busted through, clear down to Plaquemines --
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a notepad in his hand.
The President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame? -
what the river has done to this poor crackers land."
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
-- Randy Newman
I Wish I Was in New Orleans
Well, I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams.
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy,
a bottle and my friends and me.
Hoist up a few tall cold ones
play some pool and listen to that
tenor saxophone calling me home.
And I can hear the band begin
"When the Saints Go Marching In."
By the whiskers on my chin
New Orleans, I'll be there.
I'll drink you under the table
be red nose, go for walks,
the old haunts, what I wants
is red beans and rice.
And wear the dress I like so well
and meet me at the old saloon.
Make sure there's a Dixie moon
New Orleans, I'll be there.
And deal the cards, roll the dice,
if it ain't that ol' Chuck E. Weiss
and Clayborn Avenue, me and you,
Sam Jones and all --
And I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams.
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy,
a bottle and my friends and me,
New Orleans, I'll be there.
-- Tom Waits
"During the disaster 700,000 people were displaced, including 330,000 African-Americans who were moved to 154 relief camps. Over 13,000 refugees near Greenville, Mississippi were gathered from area farms and evacuated to the crest of an unbroken levee, and stranded there for days without food or clean water, while boats arrived to evacuate white women and children. Many African-Americans were detained and forced to labor at gunpoint during flood relief efforts." -- Wikipedia entry on the floods of 1926-1927
Robert Russa Moton's report on the Treatment of Black Americans after the 1927 floods
Louisiana 1927
What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it starts to rain.
Rained real hard, it rained for a real long time,
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.
The river rose all day, the river rose all night.
Some people got lost in the flood,
Some people got away alright.
The river have busted through, clear down to Plaquemines --
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a notepad in his hand.
The President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame? -
what the river has done to this poor crackers land."
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
Louisiana, Louisiana --
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away,
They're tryin' to wash us away.
-- Randy Newman
I Wish I Was in New Orleans
Well, I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams.
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy,
a bottle and my friends and me.
Hoist up a few tall cold ones
play some pool and listen to that
tenor saxophone calling me home.
And I can hear the band begin
"When the Saints Go Marching In."
By the whiskers on my chin
New Orleans, I'll be there.
I'll drink you under the table
be red nose, go for walks,
the old haunts, what I wants
is red beans and rice.
And wear the dress I like so well
and meet me at the old saloon.
Make sure there's a Dixie moon
New Orleans, I'll be there.
And deal the cards, roll the dice,
if it ain't that ol' Chuck E. Weiss
and Clayborn Avenue, me and you,
Sam Jones and all --
And I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams.
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy,
a bottle and my friends and me,
New Orleans, I'll be there.
-- Tom Waits
9.03.2005
bring it
here we go. cleveland's dennis kucinich:
maybe we're waking up.
here we go. cleveland's dennis kucinich:
“The President said an hour ago that the Gulf Coast looks like it has been obliterated by a weapon. It has. Indifference is a weapon of mass destruction."and, by any chance did you see this??
maybe we're waking up.
9.02.2005
heartbreaking, infuriating
heartbreaking.
New Orleans Mayor Ron Nagin, interviewed on the radio on 9/1/2005 (stream / transcript).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
infuriating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wake of the Flood
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 02 September 2005
This will come as no surprise, but columnist Molly Ivins has again nailed it to the wall. "Government policies have real consequences in people's lives," Ivins wrote in her Thursday column. "This is not 'just politics' or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies."
Try this timeline on for size. In January of 2001, George W. Bush appointed Texas crony Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA, despite the fact that Allbaugh had exactly zero experience in disaster management. By April of 2001, the Bush administration announced that much of FEMA's work would be privatized and downsized. Allbaugh that month described FEMA as, "an oversized entitlement program."
In December 2002, Allbaugh quit as head of FEMA to create a consulting firm whose purpose was to advise and assist companies looking to do business in occupied Iraq. He was replaced by Michael D. Brown, whose experience in disaster management was gathered while working as an estate planning lawyer in Colorado, and while serving as counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association legal department. In other words, Bush chose back-to-back FEMA heads whose collective ability to work that position could fit inside a thimble with room to spare.
By March of 2003, FEMA was no longer a Cabinet-level position, and was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary mission was recast towards fighting acts of terrorism. In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans was cut by a record $71.2 million. Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri said at the time, "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."
And then the storm came, and the sea rose, and the levees failed. Filthy sewage-laced water began to fill the bowl of New Orleans. Tens of thousands of poor people who did not have the resources to flee the storm became trapped in a slowly deteriorating city without food, water or electricity. The entire nation has since been glued to their televisions, watching footage of an apocalyptic human tragedy unfold before their eyes. Anyone who has put gasoline in their car since Tuesday has come to know what happens when the port that handles 40% of our national petroleum distribution becomes unusable.
And the response? "Bush mugs for the cameras," says Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly, "cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden."
Newsweek described it this way: "For all the president's statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans - a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. [see also here] There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city's Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore - on Navy ships for instance - in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city."
Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert twisted the knife on Thursday by bluntly suggesting that we should not bother rebuilding the city of New Orleans. "It doesn't make sense to me," Hastert said to the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask. We help replace, we help relieve disaster. But I think federal insurance and everything that goes along with it ... we ought to take a second look at that." This sentiment was echoed by the Republican-American newspaper out of Waterbury, CT: "If the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property."
This is it, right here, right now. This is the Bush administration in a nutshell.
The decision to invade Iraq based on lies has left the federal government's budget woefully, and I daresay deliberately, unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude, despite the fact that decades worth of warnings have been put forth about what would happen to New Orleans should a storm like this hit. Louisiana National Guard soldiers and equipment, such as high-water Humvees for example, are sitting today in Iraq while hundreds or even thousands die because there are not enough hands to reach out and pull them from the water. FEMA - downsized, redirected, budget-slashed and incompetently led - has thus far failed utterly to cope with the scope of the catastrophe.
Actions have consequences. What you see on your television today is not some wild accident, but is a disaster that could have been averted had the priorities of this government been more in line with the needs of the people it pretends to serve. The city of New Orleans, home to so much of the culture that makes America unique and beautiful, is today drowning underneath an avalanche of polluted, diseased water. This, simply, did not have to happen.
Remember that the next time you hear Bush talk about noble causes, national priorities and responsibility. This has been an administration of death, disaster, fear and woe. The whole pack of them should be run out of Washington on a rail. Better yet, they should be air-dropped into the center of New Orleans and made to see and smell and touch and taste the newest disaster they have helped to create.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally
bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
heartbreaking.
New Orleans Mayor Ron Nagin, interviewed on the radio on 9/1/2005 (stream / transcript).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
infuriating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wake of the Flood
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 02 September 2005
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about my baby and my happy home.
-- Led Zeppelin, "When the Levee Breaks"
This will come as no surprise, but columnist Molly Ivins has again nailed it to the wall. "Government policies have real consequences in people's lives," Ivins wrote in her Thursday column. "This is not 'just politics' or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies."
Try this timeline on for size. In January of 2001, George W. Bush appointed Texas crony Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA, despite the fact that Allbaugh had exactly zero experience in disaster management. By April of 2001, the Bush administration announced that much of FEMA's work would be privatized and downsized. Allbaugh that month described FEMA as, "an oversized entitlement program."
In December 2002, Allbaugh quit as head of FEMA to create a consulting firm whose purpose was to advise and assist companies looking to do business in occupied Iraq. He was replaced by Michael D. Brown, whose experience in disaster management was gathered while working as an estate planning lawyer in Colorado, and while serving as counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association legal department. In other words, Bush chose back-to-back FEMA heads whose collective ability to work that position could fit inside a thimble with room to spare.
By March of 2003, FEMA was no longer a Cabinet-level position, and was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary mission was recast towards fighting acts of terrorism. In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans was cut by a record $71.2 million. Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri said at the time, "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."
And then the storm came, and the sea rose, and the levees failed. Filthy sewage-laced water began to fill the bowl of New Orleans. Tens of thousands of poor people who did not have the resources to flee the storm became trapped in a slowly deteriorating city without food, water or electricity. The entire nation has since been glued to their televisions, watching footage of an apocalyptic human tragedy unfold before their eyes. Anyone who has put gasoline in their car since Tuesday has come to know what happens when the port that handles 40% of our national petroleum distribution becomes unusable.
And the response? "Bush mugs for the cameras," says Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly, "cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden."
Newsweek described it this way: "For all the president's statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans - a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. [see also here] There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city's Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore - on Navy ships for instance - in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city."
Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert twisted the knife on Thursday by bluntly suggesting that we should not bother rebuilding the city of New Orleans. "It doesn't make sense to me," Hastert said to the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask. We help replace, we help relieve disaster. But I think federal insurance and everything that goes along with it ... we ought to take a second look at that." This sentiment was echoed by the Republican-American newspaper out of Waterbury, CT: "If the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property."
This is it, right here, right now. This is the Bush administration in a nutshell.
The decision to invade Iraq based on lies has left the federal government's budget woefully, and I daresay deliberately, unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude, despite the fact that decades worth of warnings have been put forth about what would happen to New Orleans should a storm like this hit. Louisiana National Guard soldiers and equipment, such as high-water Humvees for example, are sitting today in Iraq while hundreds or even thousands die because there are not enough hands to reach out and pull them from the water. FEMA - downsized, redirected, budget-slashed and incompetently led - has thus far failed utterly to cope with the scope of the catastrophe.
Actions have consequences. What you see on your television today is not some wild accident, but is a disaster that could have been averted had the priorities of this government been more in line with the needs of the people it pretends to serve. The city of New Orleans, home to so much of the culture that makes America unique and beautiful, is today drowning underneath an avalanche of polluted, diseased water. This, simply, did not have to happen.
Remember that the next time you hear Bush talk about noble causes, national priorities and responsibility. This has been an administration of death, disaster, fear and woe. The whole pack of them should be run out of Washington on a rail. Better yet, they should be air-dropped into the center of New Orleans and made to see and smell and touch and taste the newest disaster they have helped to create.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally
bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bless them all
this is the difference between sad and pathetic. the tragic aftermath of katrina is wearing me down. i haven't felt this sad and distracted since 9|11. for anyone who's followed my saga for the past months -- this feeling makes more clear what i was experiencing when i was dealing with the brunt of my heartbreak of last winter -- that was pathetic. a sort of weak, self-pitying, ugly state of mind. miserable, yes, but nothing like this feeling.
a feeling of overwhelming loss. of connection. of awe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WGUS84 KLIX 021902
FLSLIX
LAC051-071-031845-
FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS-BATON ROUGE LA
ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
200 PM CDT FRI SEP 2 2005
...WATER LEVELS IN NEW ORLEANS HAVE STABILIZED...
...UNPRECEDENTED FLOODING WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA FOR
THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE...
OFFICIAL REPORTS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THAT NEW ORLEANS WATER LEVELS
HAVE STABILIZED. HOWEVER...CATASTROPHIC FLOODING CONTINUES OVER A
LARGE PART OF THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA.
OBVIOUSLY...THE FLOODING IS NOT LIMITED ONLY TO THE CITY OF NEW
ORLEANS. AREA RIVER FLOOD INFORMATION (INCLUDING SOUTHEASTERN
MISSISSIPPI) IS BEING PASSED ALONG IN THE PRODUCTS NEWFLWLIX AND
BHMFLWMOB. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MOBILE ALABAMA IS
ALSO UPDATING THE NEW ORLEANS AREA FLOOD SITUATION VIA THE DAILY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PRODUCT NEWHWOLIX.
IN THE EVENT THAT A SITUATION ARISES FOR A CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
...PLEASE SEE THE PRODUCT NEWCEMLIX.
THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED APPROXIMATELY EVERY 12 TO 24 HOURS...OR
IMMEDIATELY ...IF LATE BREAKING FLOOD INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
MEDLIN
$$
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it's all so awful. i was on this page, and i was clicking on the various links to parish information. they're frozen -- if you can get to a page at all, it's stopped in time -- the last updates happened before katrina struck.
calendars still show events scheduled for the rest of the year.
no one alive ever expects life to change immeasurably, to be transformed so completely, so terribly, in so little time.
it reminds me too much of the days and weeks immediately following 9|11. you click on a link to a site you used to visit, and you get that error message, which you typically can ignore. if you didn't know any better, you'd just think the server was down.
but now, you get it. and you can see images. the server's down, alright. it's gone. the building it was in is gone. everything's wet, or crushed, or covered in water, completely submerged. it's awful. destroyed. uprooted.
schools are closed "until further notice."
it's all too awful.
this is the difference between sad and pathetic. the tragic aftermath of katrina is wearing me down. i haven't felt this sad and distracted since 9|11. for anyone who's followed my saga for the past months -- this feeling makes more clear what i was experiencing when i was dealing with the brunt of my heartbreak of last winter -- that was pathetic. a sort of weak, self-pitying, ugly state of mind. miserable, yes, but nothing like this feeling.
a feeling of overwhelming loss. of connection. of awe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WGUS84 KLIX 021902
FLSLIX
LAC051-071-031845-
FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS-BATON ROUGE LA
ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
200 PM CDT FRI SEP 2 2005
...WATER LEVELS IN NEW ORLEANS HAVE STABILIZED...
...UNPRECEDENTED FLOODING WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA FOR
THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE...
OFFICIAL REPORTS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THAT NEW ORLEANS WATER LEVELS
HAVE STABILIZED. HOWEVER...CATASTROPHIC FLOODING CONTINUES OVER A
LARGE PART OF THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA.
OBVIOUSLY...THE FLOODING IS NOT LIMITED ONLY TO THE CITY OF NEW
ORLEANS. AREA RIVER FLOOD INFORMATION (INCLUDING SOUTHEASTERN
MISSISSIPPI) IS BEING PASSED ALONG IN THE PRODUCTS NEWFLWLIX AND
BHMFLWMOB. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MOBILE ALABAMA IS
ALSO UPDATING THE NEW ORLEANS AREA FLOOD SITUATION VIA THE DAILY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PRODUCT NEWHWOLIX.
IN THE EVENT THAT A SITUATION ARISES FOR A CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
...PLEASE SEE THE PRODUCT NEWCEMLIX.
THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED APPROXIMATELY EVERY 12 TO 24 HOURS...OR
IMMEDIATELY ...IF LATE BREAKING FLOOD INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
MEDLIN
$$
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it's all so awful. i was on this page, and i was clicking on the various links to parish information. they're frozen -- if you can get to a page at all, it's stopped in time -- the last updates happened before katrina struck.
calendars still show events scheduled for the rest of the year.
no one alive ever expects life to change immeasurably, to be transformed so completely, so terribly, in so little time.
it reminds me too much of the days and weeks immediately following 9|11. you click on a link to a site you used to visit, and you get that error message, which you typically can ignore. if you didn't know any better, you'd just think the server was down.
but now, you get it. and you can see images. the server's down, alright. it's gone. the building it was in is gone. everything's wet, or crushed, or covered in water, completely submerged. it's awful. destroyed. uprooted.
schools are closed "until further notice."
it's all too awful.
9.01.2005
katrina, correspondences
On 8/31/05, someone wrote:
"Some of you may have seen this, but for those of you that haven't, here is a tale of two pictures. This really pisses me off. Read the captions.
black
white
Regardless of the fact that much of the "looting" going on in New Orleans is purely just to, you know, SURVIVE, to me, this just adds to the problem. It implies, if you're white, it's "finding bread in a grocery store", but if you're black, it's "looting". Words are powerful weapons, and in a tragedy of such proportions, the problem of "looting" should be low on the priority list. People, of all races, and all creeds, etc., are in a "liquid hell" right now, as water keeps pouring into an overflowing bowl called New Orleans. There is no drinkable water, food is very scarce, and thousands of people are trapped, just trying to survive. That's the story here. Not trying to draw up racial stereotyping through journalism.
I watched on CNN today as a (white) reporter was asking someone (who was African-American) why they were taking food from a store. At first they didn't answer. Then the reporter self-righteously asked, "Don't you know that stealing is wrong?" Then the person answered, "I'm just trying to survive. I have eaten in two days, and I'm hungry."
Yes, taking appliances in a disaster like this could be defined as looting. But it seems to me that people taking food, bottled water, and clothes from stores, are trying to SURVIVE. The realities and niceties of "modern society" and "civilization" are on temporary hiatus, as the city of New Orleans slowly sinks underwater, and any hope of help or rescue is uncertain at best. Are there members the media really holier-than-thou, that they would on principle, starve to death, rather than take a food from an abandoned grocery store, to live, because stealing is 'wrong'?"
someone else wrote:
"'....the Mayor has now pulled 1500 police off of search and rescue and ordered them to restore order. Whatever that means.
Order in the midst of starvation and crisis. This is a disaster and pretty poor reflection on all of this Homeland Security junk that billions have been spent on. These plans don't have evacuation procedures, or don't the procedures include the poor?...
...What can we do about this? Do we just have to sit here and be angry and cry (like me). How do we make a difference and be heard."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my response:
We're all feeling the impact of this tragedy. It's an awful, awful thing.
If I may say something: One of the many lessons I learned when our nation went through its last tragedy was that it does no good to add to the outrage, regardless of one's intentions. When people are suffering, they need help and support. Everything else is irrelevant.
Do what you can do and what you need to do. In the weeks and months after 9|11, I remember my own absolute -- I don't know what to call it -- confusion, disbelief, shock -- at how many people I met and talked to at the time really didn't seem to feel anything at all. Their experience appeared to me to be limited to understanding that our nation had been attacked, that many people had died, and that it was a shame -- but that it was over, so let's get on with life. To this day, I don't know if this behavior was some form of denial -- an emotional shield instinctively erected by their subconscious to protect them from the sheer pain and sorrow of the event -- or whether they were too caught up in their own lives at the time, or whether they just didn't know how to talk about it, or whether they'd never dealt personally with any kind of emotional trauma, or whether I lack some normal set of filters that would otherwise have given me the tools to process it differently, some might say "normally" -- I don't know.
What I know: About a month after the attacks, I went to New York. I walked the streets. I saw the signs. I breathed the air, which still smelled like wet, burnt newspaper. It helped me to see the people of the city, bravely moving on, facing the days after, carrying on despite knowing that their city, and their lives, had been changed irreparably forever. I saw the sorrow and the loss in the faces of the police who were guarding the perimeters, trying to keep order so workers and volunteers could do their critical and terrible jobs, and to protect a massive crime scene. I saw the site from blocks away, and I cried. I left flowers, and I paid my respects. It didn't help anything, but it helped me.
When I got back, some of the people I told about my experience couldn't understand why anyone would go to the site. I didn't understand them then, and I still don't understand them now. Theirs was not my experience; it took me months to stop feeling the pain, to stop obsessively following the news, and about two years to stop actively grieving. But I still feel it. And I like to think that I carry some pieces of some of those lost souls with me, that by being there, by paying witness and breathing the air, that I helped them to move on.
As for the media: remember who we're dealing with, and what their objective is. Sure, they deserve criticism -- but no more today than any other day. Remember that they don't really care if they offend you, or piss you off -- as long as they have your eyes, they have achieved their objective. No amount of reporters and cameras can come close to conveying the extent of what is happening. There is simply too much. There are too many people, there are too many stories. If you're truly interested, fortunately, there are lots of alternative sources of information available (search Google for blogs related to Katrina, for starters). I merely wish to suggest that you try -- hard as it is -- *not* to have your true feelings influenced by the words and images you see and hear in the media -- because it is only a part of the story. A small, small, detached and diluted part.
Hang in there. We're Americans. God bless our brothers and sisters as they face this mess.
Namaste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a response to me from the initial correspondent:
"Very well said. Very well said, indeed. Yes, as many of you know, it doesn't take much to set my outrage alarm off. And yesterday, as with 9/11, I was in full outrage mode, at the media, which as you rightly point out, is only bits and pieces of the full picture. The full picture is a catastrophe of literally "unbelievable" proportions. Even now, whatever picture I have in mind, is probably only half as terrifying, half as harrowing, and half as horrible as the real-life struggles of thousands of people going on in the Gulf States as we speak.
As to what can be done, you are right. Do what you can. I don't know what I can do personally to help all the people affected, (Realistically I know I can't help everyone), but I can only concentrate on what I can do to help. I donated some money to the Red Cross. I will probably do so next week, or in a few weeks. If the call comes for canned food and water, I will send what I can. That's all I can do in the end.
Despite my Don-Quixote-like proclamations, there are times I can see reality staring at me in the face. This is one of those times. I'm not Superman, I'm just [me]. It's tough enough being me, so all I can do is help out the best I can with the talents and resources available to me. My heart and my soul weeps for the thousands of people who lost their lives, who are hurt, and who are struggling through what seems like something out a post-apocalyptic movie. I am with them in spirit, and I know that's not enough, but it's what I can do. So that's what I'll try to do.
I can carry my outrage at certain things with me, but what this boils down to is a human tragedy, and a trial of the human spirit in general. Humanity can be a great and terrible thing. Let's hope that out of this tragedy, ultimately, the greatness of the human spirit, and love, and generosity will rule the day over the terribleness and destructiveness part of the human spirit.
Despite what's going on in our country today, I still believe in the fundamental belief that humanity, despite all its flaws, it at its core an agent for justice and love. So I'll do what I can, and keep that fire of belief in my heart that the goodness of humanity will shine through, and ultimately help everyone recover and rebuild from this terrible tragedy.
Peace."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
would that all dialogues ended this way.
On 8/31/05, someone wrote:
"Some of you may have seen this, but for those of you that haven't, here is a tale of two pictures. This really pisses me off. Read the captions.
black
white
Regardless of the fact that much of the "looting" going on in New Orleans is purely just to, you know, SURVIVE, to me, this just adds to the problem. It implies, if you're white, it's "finding bread in a grocery store", but if you're black, it's "looting". Words are powerful weapons, and in a tragedy of such proportions, the problem of "looting" should be low on the priority list. People, of all races, and all creeds, etc., are in a "liquid hell" right now, as water keeps pouring into an overflowing bowl called New Orleans. There is no drinkable water, food is very scarce, and thousands of people are trapped, just trying to survive. That's the story here. Not trying to draw up racial stereotyping through journalism.
I watched on CNN today as a (white) reporter was asking someone (who was African-American) why they were taking food from a store. At first they didn't answer. Then the reporter self-righteously asked, "Don't you know that stealing is wrong?" Then the person answered, "I'm just trying to survive. I have eaten in two days, and I'm hungry."
Yes, taking appliances in a disaster like this could be defined as looting. But it seems to me that people taking food, bottled water, and clothes from stores, are trying to SURVIVE. The realities and niceties of "modern society" and "civilization" are on temporary hiatus, as the city of New Orleans slowly sinks underwater, and any hope of help or rescue is uncertain at best. Are there members the media really holier-than-thou, that they would on principle, starve to death, rather than take a food from an abandoned grocery store, to live, because stealing is 'wrong'?"
someone else wrote:
"'....the Mayor has now pulled 1500 police off of search and rescue and ordered them to restore order. Whatever that means.
Order in the midst of starvation and crisis. This is a disaster and pretty poor reflection on all of this Homeland Security junk that billions have been spent on. These plans don't have evacuation procedures, or don't the procedures include the poor?...
...What can we do about this? Do we just have to sit here and be angry and cry (like me). How do we make a difference and be heard."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my response:
We're all feeling the impact of this tragedy. It's an awful, awful thing.
If I may say something: One of the many lessons I learned when our nation went through its last tragedy was that it does no good to add to the outrage, regardless of one's intentions. When people are suffering, they need help and support. Everything else is irrelevant.
Do what you can do and what you need to do. In the weeks and months after 9|11, I remember my own absolute -- I don't know what to call it -- confusion, disbelief, shock -- at how many people I met and talked to at the time really didn't seem to feel anything at all. Their experience appeared to me to be limited to understanding that our nation had been attacked, that many people had died, and that it was a shame -- but that it was over, so let's get on with life. To this day, I don't know if this behavior was some form of denial -- an emotional shield instinctively erected by their subconscious to protect them from the sheer pain and sorrow of the event -- or whether they were too caught up in their own lives at the time, or whether they just didn't know how to talk about it, or whether they'd never dealt personally with any kind of emotional trauma, or whether I lack some normal set of filters that would otherwise have given me the tools to process it differently, some might say "normally" -- I don't know.
What I know: About a month after the attacks, I went to New York. I walked the streets. I saw the signs. I breathed the air, which still smelled like wet, burnt newspaper. It helped me to see the people of the city, bravely moving on, facing the days after, carrying on despite knowing that their city, and their lives, had been changed irreparably forever. I saw the sorrow and the loss in the faces of the police who were guarding the perimeters, trying to keep order so workers and volunteers could do their critical and terrible jobs, and to protect a massive crime scene. I saw the site from blocks away, and I cried. I left flowers, and I paid my respects. It didn't help anything, but it helped me.
When I got back, some of the people I told about my experience couldn't understand why anyone would go to the site. I didn't understand them then, and I still don't understand them now. Theirs was not my experience; it took me months to stop feeling the pain, to stop obsessively following the news, and about two years to stop actively grieving. But I still feel it. And I like to think that I carry some pieces of some of those lost souls with me, that by being there, by paying witness and breathing the air, that I helped them to move on.
As for the media: remember who we're dealing with, and what their objective is. Sure, they deserve criticism -- but no more today than any other day. Remember that they don't really care if they offend you, or piss you off -- as long as they have your eyes, they have achieved their objective. No amount of reporters and cameras can come close to conveying the extent of what is happening. There is simply too much. There are too many people, there are too many stories. If you're truly interested, fortunately, there are lots of alternative sources of information available (search Google for blogs related to Katrina, for starters). I merely wish to suggest that you try -- hard as it is -- *not* to have your true feelings influenced by the words and images you see and hear in the media -- because it is only a part of the story. A small, small, detached and diluted part.
Hang in there. We're Americans. God bless our brothers and sisters as they face this mess.
Namaste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a response to me from the initial correspondent:
"Very well said. Very well said, indeed. Yes, as many of you know, it doesn't take much to set my outrage alarm off. And yesterday, as with 9/11, I was in full outrage mode, at the media, which as you rightly point out, is only bits and pieces of the full picture. The full picture is a catastrophe of literally "unbelievable" proportions. Even now, whatever picture I have in mind, is probably only half as terrifying, half as harrowing, and half as horrible as the real-life struggles of thousands of people going on in the Gulf States as we speak.
As to what can be done, you are right. Do what you can. I don't know what I can do personally to help all the people affected, (Realistically I know I can't help everyone), but I can only concentrate on what I can do to help. I donated some money to the Red Cross. I will probably do so next week, or in a few weeks. If the call comes for canned food and water, I will send what I can. That's all I can do in the end.
Despite my Don-Quixote-like proclamations, there are times I can see reality staring at me in the face. This is one of those times. I'm not Superman, I'm just [me]. It's tough enough being me, so all I can do is help out the best I can with the talents and resources available to me. My heart and my soul weeps for the thousands of people who lost their lives, who are hurt, and who are struggling through what seems like something out a post-apocalyptic movie. I am with them in spirit, and I know that's not enough, but it's what I can do. So that's what I'll try to do.
I can carry my outrage at certain things with me, but what this boils down to is a human tragedy, and a trial of the human spirit in general. Humanity can be a great and terrible thing. Let's hope that out of this tragedy, ultimately, the greatness of the human spirit, and love, and generosity will rule the day over the terribleness and destructiveness part of the human spirit.
Despite what's going on in our country today, I still believe in the fundamental belief that humanity, despite all its flaws, it at its core an agent for justice and love. So I'll do what I can, and keep that fire of belief in my heart that the goodness of humanity will shine through, and ultimately help everyone recover and rebuild from this terrible tragedy.
Peace."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
would that all dialogues ended this way.