Katrina

All right, take a deep breath, here we go. Please be gentle. What do you all make of Roy Hattersley's comments in the Monday September 12, issue of the Guardian Ul? Could he have a point?

www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1567604,00.html

Here is the provocative byline:
"We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings..."

Regarding relief efforts from Katrina:

"Notable by their absence are teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs and atheists' associations - the sort of people who not only scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity but also regard it as a positive force for evil."

WG

Vjack, a blogger in Hattiesburg, MS, and owner of Atheist Revolution, was off the net for several days following being hit by Katrina. Fortunately he is alive and well, and once again posting. He has a fascinating "Katrina log" up.

President G.W. Bush on September 1, 2005:

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breech of the levees,"

Mark Fischetti, writer for Scientific American, in an October 1, 2001 article:

[link] The boxes are stacked eight feet high and line the walls of the large, windowless room. Inside them are new body bags, 10,000 in all. If a big, slow-moving hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico on the right track, it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans under 20 feet of water. "As the water recedes," says Walter Maestri, a local emergency management director, "we expect to find a lot of dead bodies."

Read the rest.

Offered without comment. Perhaps you have one? Or two?

Is our freedom of the press being forceably suppressed by armed troops? Is the First Amendment under attack by an incompetent and confused government?

From Operation Flashlight, a blogger on the outskirts of New Orleans:

[link] We are in Jefferson Parish, just outside of New Orleans. At the National Guard checkpoint, they are under orders to turn away all media. All of the reporters are turning they’re TV trucks around.

Things are so bad, Bush is now censoring all reporting from NOLA. The First Amendment sank with the city.

From Brian Williams at MSNBC:

[link] While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States.

At that same fire scene, a police officer from out of town raised the muzzle of her weapon and aimed it at members of the media... obvious members of the media... armed only with notepads. Her actions (apparently because she thought reporters were encroaching on the scene) were over the top and she was told. There are automatic weapons and shotguns everywhere you look. It's a stance that perhaps would have been appropriate during the open lawlessness that has long since ended on most of these streets. Someone else points out on television as I post this: the fact that the National Guard now bars entry (by journalists) to the very places where people last week were barred from LEAVING (The Convention Center and Superdome) is a kind of perverse and perfectly backward postscript to this awful chapter in American history.

All I know is that under Martial law, these types of things are bound to happen. It seems like it's a staggeringly bad case of "too much, too late". The government appears to be trying to offset accusations of late and light response with heavy-handed tactics.

I hope that this doesn't become a precedent that gets used in the future for less dire situations.

What are your thoughts?

Ed Brayton is one of the most objective political voices in the Blogosphere I know of. He doesn't cut anyone slack based on blind party loyalty or ideological agenda. I've seen him eviscerate democrats, republicans, and independents in a heartbeat. Whenever I want to take the pulse of the independent mindset I look forward to reading Dispatches from the Culture Wars:

[Link] Even someone as cynical as I am about government can't help but be stunned at this kind of incompetence. Several states had offered to send National Guard troops to New Orleans to help out before the storm hit, but the paperwork didn't get through Washington until days after the storm. The Department of Homeland Security refuses to allow the Red Cross into the city to help people because that might encourage people to stay (how's that for twisted logic?). It's incredible.

I try, every morning to catch up on the news on the web. This morning I found this and it bothered me greatly. The link contains other links that are not present in the text below:

September 01, 2005 -- 08:50 PM EDT // link // print)

Sploid.com noted something odd earlier today on the FEMA page which lists reputable disaster relief organizations for Katrina-related giving.

After the American Red Cross, which is listed first and, I guess, by common consent the primary domestic disaster relief organization, comes Operation Blessing.

And if you don't know, Operation

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Blessing is the relief organization run by professional wingnut Pat Robertson.

After that on the list came America's Second Harvest.

And then below that, everyone else, in alphabetical order.

The apparent rationale for the two-tiered set up is that the first three are places to "Donate Cash" and the rest are to "Donate Cash and/or Volunteer". I'm not sure whether arranging them in that way makes a great deal of sense. But judge that for yourself.

Yet, apparently, someone pointed out that giving Operation Blessing higher billing than the reality-based alphabetical system might not look so good. So as of today Operation Blessing has been bumped down to #3.

Cut and pasted from World Wide Rant, via Overtaken by Events:

I am in desparate need for help. I am looking for my dad's best friends. They live in slidell, la, and there is no cell phone use yet. If Leslie Elisar and his wife Dana, and Whane Venus and his wife Lynn, are heard from, please let David Chauffe know in Lafayette. Also, Tom musser. These are like my father's brothers. They are closer than most families are. He is getting desparate, and wants to go to Slidell to look for them, but we need him to stay in Lafayette. We have other family members also that we have not heard from. Ethan Chauffe, Christian and Ashley Banke, and their son Ezekial. Yvonne, if you hear from Ethan, please call our family in Lafayette. If anyone knows anything, please email me at CmCdoodle@aol.com. Thank you and God bless everyone in this
horrible disaster. Everyone is in my prayers.

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We are concerned for the welfare of Michael and Meredith Higgins, of Laurel St., New Orleans. Anyone knowing of their whereabouts, please post! Many thanks! Mike, come back to Chicago! (rfox631@yahoo.com)

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I am looking for Roberta and Dewey Crosby of 19 Oak Grove Way, Slidell, LA. If you have any information, please contace Lori Chauvin @ 225-744-4855. Thanks.

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I am looking for Leslie Petty. She lives alone in New Orleans and there is no one there looking out for her. Please, please if anyone finds her contact me at this email. (courtgilma@aol.com)

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I'm hoping someone out there can help me. I'm looking for my dad and step mom. There names are Rusty (William) and Diann Bellefy of Covington, LA I haven't heard a word from anyone about their whereabouts. If anyone has any kind of information please contact me by e-mail. Thanks and my prayers go out to all of you. (SnowWitch01@aol.com)

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I'm looking for my grandmother, Tina Cassimus who lives on Fleetwood Place in Ocean Springs. The family has not heard from her since before the hurricane hit and at that time she was refusing to evacuate. Pleas contact me with any information about her or the area in which she lives. Thank you. olson1460@aol.com

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I'm looking for my Aunt Elaine. Last I heard she was living on the Point somewhere but had family in Gulfport and Jackson. Her last name could be Jordan, or Ezell. If you have any information please contact me at this e-mail address. elizabeth.goedert@usafa.af.mil

Please email me, or leave a comment on this post, if you have someone you're looking for on the Gulf Coast and I'll feature it as a post on UTI.