1454 The debate/blame is just starting

Is this a natural disaster or a man-made [i.e. Bush] disaster is just one of the debates starting up (the blame-Bush wing got a head start). I've been looking through the environmental documents and recommendations, and it seems to be a given that what the Corps of Engineers did in the 1960s to divert and control the Mississippi River was a huge mistake. Since we can't dig those guys up and whack them, I'm not surprised at some scepticism at experts wanting more millions to fix the wetlands that have been destroyed by that action. It seems to be a given that corruption in Louisiana was so rampant that the millions or billions sunk into the levees for a category 3 hurricane [the recommendations] might as well have been dropped directly on the water. The corruption and crime in the area seems to transcend both parties and washes across both sides of the aisle.

But there was one tiny tidbit of information I noticed last night in an interview with Steve Harvey, a Christian actor who has a foundation to help the poor and had arrived on scene to survey the situation before sending aid. The reporter asked him who he'd been talking with (seems to be a common question to ask celebrities), and he mentioned a man who had chosen to stay with his home during the hurricane. After it had passed and the family left the house (on dry ground) to survey the damage, he saw two grain barges had broken loose and they smashed through the levee wall. Immediately (he lived next to the levee) the neighborhood was up to their rooftops in water. His wife was in a wheelchair and he was unable to save her and other members of his family.

So if a hurricane wave or wind pushes a barge through an inadequate levee, is it part of a natural or a man-made disaster?

Another disaster, this one more man-made, is the sea of rules and regulations each agency worker, volunteer and victim must swim through. I heard one interview where Red Cross workers did not have the authority to give people dry clothes, diapers and medications, so they weren't. I heard that Wal-Mart was giving each flooded out employee (I think they have over 100 stores and distribution centers closed) three days wages and a $250 food benefit, and I'm willing to bet that it will be docked from their government unemployment benefits, when and if they work through that maze without ID or evidence. There were "police" from one parish keeping people from leaving the convention center area (that's what some of the flooded out people said who were trying to walk out to another parish after days of no buses). Bus drivers headed to a particular evacuee destination 8 or 9 hours away were not allowed by local police to drop people off in cities where they had relatives because their centers were full.

When fear of government regulations drowns out common sense, I think I'll name it "man-made."

1453 What they were saying in 2000 about New Orleans

Was anyone listening?

"New research by the U.S. Geological Survey, however, indicates that New Orleans is sinking faster than many realize and could be under water within 50 years. The city is facing a series of issues--disappearing wetlands that protect from hurricanes, levees that are too low to hold back flood waters, rising water tables, to name a few--that if not addressed soon could have New Orleans suffering the same fate as Atlantis.

Dramatic, yes. But not unlikely, according to Shea Penland, geologist and professor at the University of New Orleans. "When we get the big hurricane and there are 10,000 people dead, the city government's been relocated to the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, refugee camps have been set up and there $10 billion plus in losses, what then?" he asks." Risk and Insurance, Dec. 2000.

So do you go with the "old" plan, the one that prepares for a category 3 storm, or to you go back to the drawing board with the new information?

1452 Vacuum up the cat hair

That's what I did during the President's speech this morning. I'm so frustrated. The most powerful woman in the world is not a white woman from New York, Hillary Clinton, she is a black woman from Alabama, Condoleeza Rice, and all she is allowed to say when the criticism pours in, even from a mayor who had a full week to prepare, is something like, "Now, now, it's going to be OK." It was so bland, I can't even find it on Google. Meanwhile she lets the media shred the administration. It is so frustrating.

No Republican politician wants to say that letting states decide what to do during a multi-state catastrophe probably isn't a good idea. That would be very bad for their base. No state government wants to acknowledge that their bloated bureaucracies are just that--filled with incompetents. No Democrat in Washington wants to point fingers at a Democratic mayor and a Democratic governor so they point to a Republican president. No FEMA employee wants to say, you local folks ought to know how to do your job so we can do ours. But no one elected me, so I say, "a plague on all your houses."

1451 At last, someone acknowledges. . .

An African American reporter on Fox News is interviewing a New Orleans black woman who was in New York to care for an elderly relative. She is seeking information about her family who had not evacuated and is showing photographs. The reporter asked her why they didn't leave. I'm paraphrasing: "You have to understand these people in the south. Their home is everything to them. They are afraid looters will come in and steal if they leave."

1450 Nevertheless, we need to address in this country. . .

Blah, blah, blah. That's what is said when the talking heads discuss why all these people waiting on bridges and in sports palaces in a town built on the shaky economic base of tourism are African American. It couldn't be that the city is 70% black or that they elected people who were inexperienced or incapable of addressing the problem.

No, it is white racism. No one has said, at least not that I've read, "Where are the men?" I saw so many touching, heart warming scenes of women helping women--pushing an elderly relative in a grocery cart, or four women floating a mother or auntie through the sewage filled water on an air mattress. Yes, I did see some men, many of whom looked like they may have been homeless before the flooding (they were mostly white, btw), but overwhelmingly the cameras picked up on the faces of the women. There would be groups of 10 or 15 making their way to safety with only 2 or 3 men. Now is that TV bias to get our sympathy, or is it reality? I'm sure someone will raise this issue and blame CNN and Fox or whoever provided the feed.

Another thing I didn't see (doesn't mean it didn't happen) was the flooded out people attempting to organize themselves to help each other. Families were helping family members, that much was clear, but did anyone create safe areas, or latrine areas, or organize in any way to protect the larger group against thugs? Yes, they were expecting help momentarily, but it was also 90+ degrees, the town was flooded and on fire. Was there no one in those crowds who could have at least provided some organization until help arrived?

1449 They are not refugees, they are peeps

That's my suggestion. I can't tell you how many irate people I've seen on TV complaining about the word "refugee." Some were just purists--it's a French word meaning to go to a foreign country for refuge. Others thought it was a way to dehumanize and demonize blacks. Well, lots of trendy people, like Paula, use the friendly word "peeps" to refer to a general clutch or group of people--sort of like using the word "they." And if you know peeps personally, I think they become "freeps."

I'm not sure if "peeps" can replace "refugees." It's sure to make someone mad. Where I grew up, peeps were baby chickens. They are sort of helpless and scatterbrained, and various groups will take offense. Also there is a confectionary product called marshmallow peeps, sweet and sticky with an easy melt down which comes in pink, yellow and green.

Language is very tricky--who can say what. A rapper I've never heard of who probably uses the words Ho and Niggar regularly in his music and takes buckets of money to the bank doing it, announced at an NBC fund raiser yesterday that "George Bush hates black people" because there was footage of looters on TV. Where are the film editors when you need them?

1448 The next group of looters

will be the lawyers descending on New Orleans. They probably won't be representing the poor, but will rush in to "help" the upper range income folks who lost everything, but still have assets. Yes, they'll make a luke-warm effort to sue the President, but I think they'll go after private companies with deep pockets that didn't provide enough security and an employee was killed, or which released toxic fumes when things exploded and someone got sick. They'll even try to sue the clean up companies a year from now when mold grows. Yes, I see them on the horizon now, brief cases loaded, text messaging their offices, sending faxes, a little spittle in the corner of their mouths.

1447 Write two checks

If you can spare it, write two checks. One for disaster relief and one to an organization locally you also support. I suspect there are just so many relief dollars to go around, and some local agencies that do good work in your own community might be hurt. I'm sending a check to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Fund, North American Mission Board, P.O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543 to help the Katrina victims and one to our local Pregnancy Decision Health Center to save some unborn babies.

1446 A volunteer gets no response

Be sure to read Matthew's comments on my blog about his efforts to volunteer either in a medical clinic (he's a nurse as well as a librarian) or in the morge. No one's home in Louisiana. Read it here.

1445 Dear Rep. Elijah Cummings

Dear Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md),

I see the Black Caucus has finally emerged five days after the hurricane--to criticize the federal government’s response to the disaster in New Orleans. One of your members, Stephanie Tubbs from my state, said this is not about race--right now. Meaning it will be later. But I think it is.
Stephanie Tubbs, (D-Oh)
It’s about ethnic and party loyalties, and sometimes it’s a two-fer. Your Black Caucus has been afraid to criticize the Mayor of New Orleans who is an African American Democrat. I think he did the best he knew how, but wasn’t up to the job. I don’t know how he got this office, or what experience he brought to it, but he was certainly no Rudy Giuliani, and that’s what the city needed--several, considering the breadth of the disaster. It was the mayor’s responsibility to have a plan to get the poorest and most vulnerable to safety, not the President of the United States, not the military, not the governor. It was his responsibility to ensure that the security forces of New Orleans had radio frequencies that could work together. It was his responsibility to have search and rescue plans in place, and equipment on hand to repair levees. These are local issues, and the people of New Orleans have been taxed for that.

And Louisiana’s governor is a Democrat. Again, I’m sure she is a nice person and means well. She speaks beautifully, as many politicians do (our president does not), but does not appear to be up to the task of facing down hurricanes. She just cries and asks people to pray. Someone said today she hasn’t yet called in the Louisiana National Guard. Surely that isn't true. Gracious!

Too much emphasis on looters? Really? Does Rev. Jackson mean the guys stealing bread and milk for their families or the thugs who were killing, stealing, holding firemen hostage and keeping rescue boats and helicopters from bring people to safety? Why shouldn’t anarchy in the streets, streets that should be under local control, be pinpointed by the media as a huge problem in a city crippled by a storm and poor preparedness. Why should the people of New Orleans have had to endure such a high crime rate by these same thugs all these years?

I’m not surprised the Democrats are running and hiding from this with wild theories about global warming, troops over extended in Iraq, and President Bush being on vacation. But you can’t hide forever. You’ll need to roll up your sleeves and do some house cleaning, and I don’t mean flood waters and sewage.

Update: I was just listening to George Pataky (Gov, NY) and he says his National Guard was there in LA Monday night. Could that be or did I not hear him right? Just googled it. Yep. They were there.

I'm an ugly American and I wanted it yesterday

That's what some of these reporters talking to the President sound like to me.

I've been watching this since we got home Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday morning the TV news was telling us that New Orleans had missed the worst and they showed people who'd stayed in their homes walking around in the street waving at the cameras.

Then the water started to rise as the levees were breached. So then the people started the walk through the water and sewage to the sports stadium that was already full of the people who had followed the order to evacuate. Many people made it to their roofs, and apparently many have drowned in their attics. On Tuesday I was watching the Coast Guard rescue people from roof tops.

On Wednesday morning the President returned to Washington. His enemies were already grumbling that it wasn't soon enough. I think it was the same people who thought he'd waited 7 minutes before processing the horror of September 11 and was working out where to go.

By Wednesday Baton Rouge and Houston officials already were putting into place emergency plans and were opening their doors--probably because those same officials had planned ahead, something the N.O. officials hadn't done.

By Wednesday, what had been looting for food and beer on Tuesday turned ugly and the urban terrorists began to rob, kill and rape. By Wednesday night refugees were arriving by bus in other locations.

The urban terrorists stopped all rescue efforts by early Thursday. Then the fires started, and we still don't know if they were set or were started by natural gas or people cooking on grills. By Thursday National Guard troops were completely mobilized and growing in the three affected states. This was to serve an area larger than Idaho. By Friday more troops are arriving, and I think they will be shooting to kill, just like Mosul and Fallujah.

By Friday there were 250 refugee centers up and running taking care of people, feeding them, clothing them, giving medical care and comfort. The Black Caucus finally made an appearance today waving fingers and pounding tables, but none of them have shown up in the areas hit. I think they kept a low profile because the city government of New Orleans is black and Democratic. But once the Feds were really up and active, then they launched their criticism. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are no where to be seen. . . yet. One is courting a dictator; the other is mining an anti-war motherlode.

But Americans are an impatient people. We want it fixed yesterday.

1443 Reviewing New Orleans plans for protecting the city

As the "who's responsible?" list grows, Belmont Club points to an article in Civil Engineering Magazine in 2003, "The creeping storm." It's a fascinating article with a lot of history and good clarification of the problems the area deals with.

Also, follow up on in Google with the links about that Coast 2050 Plan to protect the coastal wetlands (it will be quite a struggle to work through the moonbats, but if you are persistent, you'll find good stuff). I think this is the $14 Billion plan the RFKites have been complaining has been underfunded by Bush--by some millions. It is a plan supported by environmentalists, city planners and evil oil interests, and is important, but wouldn't have kept the levees from being breached. Wouldn't have stopped an act of God. From what I read, it has a history of not being been fully funded, millions short also in Clinton's administration. Although with government funds, it is hard to tell since what is promised isn't what is spent. But in a program that size, millions mean little. It would hardly build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska ($223 million for an island with 50 inhibitants).

1442 Bad political moves

Who is managing these politicians? The Louisiana congress people (with the exception of Jindal who seems to actually be in a refugee center) are appearing on TV in suits and ties clucking over the devastation in their home state. On a split screen they look ridiculous!

I think I heard that President Bush was going to stop by for a look. Bad idea. He's not a touchy-feely Bill Clinton, and he can't put on that "I feel your pain" look. His visit will be a logistical nightmare; the Democrats are going to bad mouth him no matter what he does, so that cause is lost. But his visit might just endanger the lives of the people as security forces are diverted to protect the President. When he has come to Columbus, the back-ups are awful. Mr. President, go back to Crawford, talk to Cindy if you must, but stay out of hurricane zones until they get the people out.

1441 Goal setters and problem solvers

The U.S. is failing in Iraq says Andrew Krepinevich, Jr. in his Foreign Affairs article because it has goals (a democratic Iraq after exiting), but no strategy to defeat the insurgency. Democrats and the anti-Bushies also have a goal for Iraq--get out quick, no matter how many deaths of innocent Iraqis it causes. Republicans say, when we turn it over to the Iraqis, it will be their problem, then we'll leave. We have a huge home-grown example of how well that works.

Yes, look at New Orleans all you goal setters and problem solvers. It has a Democratic city administration and state governor's office who told the people to "get out immediately," but had no strategy. Now the city has been taken over by home-grown insurgents (terrorists would be a good term here, just as in Iraq). The mayor seems to be sincere, articulate and well spoken, but totally unprepared. The state government appears to be about evenly split with a Democratic governor, and again, Ms. Blanco looks like she is trying. I don't want to criticize them personally. But Louisiana politics, like Iraq, has a long history of corruption and ineptness, with a crime rate 10 times the national average. So I think it is probably a wash as far as which party would have been prepared. But there have been enough studies and reports federal and local (by problem solvers) to paper the city two or three inches deep. This is not a money problem, it is a no strategy problem created by goal setters.

New Orleans has been living with hurricanes from the time it was established. Ask yourself, how were thousands of poor people supposed to get out? They use public transportation. What was the long term strategy? The city had a mass transit system and that certainly couldn't have handled it. There are buses for every church and school. At best, using every bus in the city you'd evacuate a few thousand, but you'd need an armed guard on every bus because the huge criminal element living there. Where would you get them?

What is needed is a thousand groups like the Central Ohio Southern Baptist Chain Saw Team ready to roll at a moment's notice. Every city needs a strategy to handle evacuees with pets; a strategy for nursing homes; a strategy for short term holding areas; a strategy for mobilizing citizens with guns to protect their neighbors (yeah, that'll happen); a strategy to call up every retired nurse to help with medical crises; a strategy to have potable water and non-perishable food stored. I can't think of any use for retired librarians, but I'm a problem solver so I'll think on that one.

But all you "get out of Iraq now" people and you "when the Iraqis can take over" people just go turn on the TV and think about how well getting out of one city of under one million in one democratic country went with no strategy.

1440 Dear Mr. Kennedy

Here is the site of the National Weather Service's United States Hurricane information by decade. Please begin with the 1940s decade (34 hurricanes). You'll see hurricanes are decreasing in number and intensity. Your exploitation of the Katrina tragedy is too low for words. It is exceeded only by your desire to destroy our economy.

1439 Product Differentiation

When I went back to the supermarket to pick up my photos of the lake, developed with a special deal which included a disc, they were not quite ready. "Just 2 minutes," she said cheerily. So I wandered through the health and beauty aisles, and stopped at Crest toothpaste. Twenty seven varieties. I could hardly believe my eyes, so I counted them. Cinnamon. Baking soda. Mint. Peppermint. Cool mint. Regular (whatever that is). Striped. Tartar fighting. Whitening. Small. Medium. Large. Supersize. Child friendly. Oval shape. Long shape. Then mix and match those. It mystifies me that economists and marketers think this is a big deal, but they do. It seems it is very important to our economy. I just googled the term and got a college course in it.

Today I was at the drug store. I like to look at greeting cards. More product differentiation. Becoming a citizen. Mom and her new husband. Dad and his new wife. Driver's license. Leaving for college. Going to camp. Loss of a child. Loss of an infant. Divorce. Sympathy for a sudden loss. Entering the service. Father to be. Setting up an anti-war camp in Texas (just kidding on that one, but the others are real).

I buy sugar free cookies. What I like about them is that within a brand, there are only a few choices, and there aren't very many brands. Archway has chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, peanut butter and Rocky Road. Voorhis has a shortbread and a raspberry and some sandwich cookies. There's another brand I look for that has really good oreo type in chocolate, vanilla and lemon. They are more expensive, but much easier on the brain.

1438 The liberals see only race

In a city that is probably 70% African American, Jack Shafer wonders: "Nearly every rescued person, temporary resident of the Superdome, looter, or loiterer on the high ground of the freeway I saw on TV was African-American." They are humans; they are people. They are black. They are suffering. Shades of the 19th century, Mr. Shafer. Shame on you.

"Race remains largely untouchable for TV because broadcasters sense that they can't make an error without destroying careers." Gee, Mr. Shafer. Who helped that along? Who screamed for Esterbrook's scalp. Who wanted Rush Limbaugh fired when he honestly pointed out that the media wouldn't criticize a black quarterback? What if CNN and Fox had sent only their African American reporters? Now wouldn't that be racist? Send blacks to report on blacks? Then they could be accused of protecting their white newspeople--or at least Fox would be accused of that.

"To the question of looting, an informed reporter or anchor might have pointed out that anybody—even one of the 500 Nordic blondes working in broadcast news—would loot food from a shuttered shop if they found themselves trapped by a flood. . ." And the shoes, and jewelry, and stealing cop cars and breaking into hospitals and nursing homes? Is it possible in a city nearly 70% black that the bad gangs of looters might also be black? Hmmmm?

1437 Gratitude-impaired

"My thing is they took too long to come to get our people," a woman with a disabled daughter is quoted in today's USAToday. Let's see. First volunteers risked their lives to rescue her by boat, then she was picked up by a bus, and then by helicopter. Must be some of that cradle-to-the grave gratitude.

1436 Disaster Blame

No one in the media seems to be taking the global warming drivel seriously, but it is awash in blame. 85% of a sprawling city living in and on its past is covered up, and "they" should have done something. USAToday comes this close <-----> to blaming President Bush with a long list:

lack of coordination is inexcusable
evacuation was haphazard
halting response from Bush on Tuesday (keep in mind that Tuesday morning the media was announcing that NOLA had been spared)
leadership void
puny efforts
what's the plan
woefully inadequate
was anyone in charge

The Wall Street Journal is also critical of the flaws and failures in the crisis planning, but with specifics that other cities can use:

1) "All the cunning of man cannot defeat the greatest fury of nature."
2) guidelines for coordination between state, federal and local agencies were incomplete.
3) The most vulnerable were not evacuated.
4) There was no search and rescue plan.
5) Conflicting radio frequencies for emergency units defeated workers.
6) Plans were in place for a category 3 hurricane.
7) Florida's plans in 2004 were far superior to Louisiana's, but other states had not learned from it.
8) Heavy equipment needed to repair breaches was not in place.
9) No fuel for emergency generators.
10) Federal gov't must wait for the governor to invite it in for diasaster relief.

However, Joel Kotkin's article in today's WSJ about the city itself is very informative. Not sexy and unprovable like global warming, but local decay seems to be in part the problem. He points out that New Orleans was once the premier city of the south with a vital economy, but Houston and Miami long ago surpassed it. He attributes active immigration from South America and the Caribbean as pluses for those cities bringing in trade, investments, services, and businesses with corresponding higher paying jobs for workers. New Orleans now sells its past--or did until Tuesday morning when the levees were breached. Kotkin said it was a city of underemployment, crime and poverty with a murder rate 10 times the national average, a city of least resistance.

1435 Disaster Relief

Monday night our local TV news carried a story about the Southern Baptist Chain Saw team from Central Ohio. They were loading up their vans and getting ready to go south to help out in one important niche--clearing roads and getting trees off homes. We're looking at agencies for disaster relief. I'd sent my tsunami check to the Mennonites but later learned it basically went through Church World Service which is part of the National Council of Churches. That may be adequate for relief but it won't answer any deeper spiritual needs. So I looked at the site for the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. Finally, I settled in at the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Homepage, an agency of its North American Mission Board. Not only did they have the information for their most recent Dennis help posted, but right at the top they had "Sharing Christ." All these agencies cooperate--the Baptists are working with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army at their kitchen sites, for instance. But I'd like to know the volunteers are not going to be shy about spreading the good news while they serve the hot food and clear away trees.