Katrina info thread II

[VetLegion]

State Rep. Steve Scalise told CNN a private Maryland company was coordinating flights of unmanned heat-seeking drones for the Navy to search for survivors in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes.

Finally a use for this technology other than war

[My Wife Hates CIV]

'But im sure there are areas within walking distance of YOUR home, MWHC, where YOU could pick up some litter, and make a real difference'

and there are plenty of stores i could bust into and steal... lets see - all the things i need to survive... TV's, guns, booze, radios, video games... a good number of young able bodied people didnt have a problem causing issues (even with all that water)... and all the rest had plenty of energy to complain when the camera was in front of them.

I'm not saving the people down there don't need help - but hey, help yourself at least a little before you start complaining to the world that no one else is helping.

[Patroklos]

Here's a guy who wants to start putting his life together after a disaster and you're b!tching at him because he won't take a free handout.

You're whining that he's ungrateful for the help offered to him that he doesn't want.

You're angry because he wants to decide how to live his life rather than letting the government decide for him.

You're surprised that people who were forced to stay in the Superdome are reluctant to go on a ship where they would have no control over where it goes.

Amazing.

We have you whining about someone who wants to find a job and other posters complaining that the evacuees are lazy.

Truly amazing.

Maybe it is time for you to show some admiration for your fellow countrymen instead of insulting them.

Maybe it is time for my countrymen to take a dose of ****ing reality and come to grips with the actual situation.

You won't find me arguing with anyone that most Americans are spoiled brats who take everything for granted.

This gentleman is a perfect example.

Soo spoiled that his aid isn't good enough, though it would be better than regular lives of half the people on the planet.

[lightblue]

Was reading in the paper today that the total cost of Hurricane Katrina to the US economy will be between $180-200bn, which is nigh on 10 times the cost of 9/11 ($20bn) and going on 8 times Andrew ($25bn). Serious money.

[Ming]

Another reminder... this is a NEWS thread... NOT an OPINION thread... there are more than enough threads where you can post all the opinions you like. I'm getting tired of posting these reminders... so here's the deal... If you post an opinion, or a political statement, you are toast... no more warnings. If you have doubts about how your post will be perceived, don't post it.

It's that simple... I see a bunch of people who I can toast already since my last warning....

Who want's to be first?

remember.... this is only a

NEWS THREAD

[Jon Miller]

by the way.. the only one on these forums who is actually there (and posting) is No Longer Trippin

see thread at CG

http://www.counterglow.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30562&pagenumber=2

JM

[Jon Miller]

interestingly

he said a prison rioted...

but that it made sense, since the first floor was left to (And did) drown...

JM

[chequita guevara]

My mother-in-law's congregation raised $14,000 on Sunday in one hour.

[Ninot]

edit: nevermind, i figured it out what the Fyrom flag is.

Happy Independance Day

[The Mad Monk]

From No Longer Trippin', on Counterglow:

As I'm typing this a certian NATIONAL news channel that I'm able to catch is going on about people saving animals from the waters. What the ****? **** them for their cowardice and incompetence in reporting - this is just the last ****ing straw for me with them. They now hold NO ****ing credibility in my eyes. None. Neither does the government.

**** the government. I've said it many times, but never before I have I meant it with such conviction and belief to back it up. I don't think I've ever had so many ups and downs in my life as over the past week. Getting people food and water or ferrying them elsewhere is nice, but then seeing the corpses floating in the water or stuck to a tree or whatnot isn't. Animals have gotten to the dead in many areas - dogs and cats in the city and after seeing quite a few highly bloated gators that didn't even budge when we came within feet of them, I'm sure they did as well. It is just sickening. This is what my alledged government thinks we deserve. **** them.

I made it into Chalmette and it has about a 2-3 inch thick oil sludge over the entire place - plus water too high to stand in at some spots. New Orleans, parts of Jefferson, and Chalmette are going to need Superfund site type cleanups. No doubt in my mind. I really don't want to talk about what I've seen graphically or done other than what I've briefly mentioned - I did some good, so did others - sadly my government wasn't one of them. But it wasn't enough and the government made sure it's help never made it anywhere needed. This just feels wrong. These are or were people and they've been treated worse than ****ing animals by the government. Why? Really, why?

As for being below sea level, yes - but for years and years we've been saying the levees won't hold a cat 3 - let alone something like Katrina. The corps said a different story. The government has failed probably around a quarter million people who didn't get out because of funds or stupidity. Now they are saying that they knew a cat 3 moving slowly would top it easily - before they said it'd be improbable but could happen under very specific conditions - they were wrong and they knew it.

Those who were saved were saved by neighbors, volunteers and donations from across the states (thank you, really thank you) and if they survived for 4 or 5 days, the federal government to some extent. Albeit slow as it possibly could ****ing do it. Knock down a Red Cross feeding camp (for thousands) to deliver them coffee creamer (not ****ting you) is damned ridiculous. Oh, we didn't know a CHINOOK helicopter would pick up a dozen or so tents and send them and the poles they are attached to flying around just waiting to impale somebody. That was a site I was in disbelief about, especially when they could have landed a hundred yards away instead of less than TWENTY! What the **** do we need creamer for when we have no food or water? How about stopping the only ice/water delivery into the eastern parishes since the storm hit because FEMA wanted the trucks (all two of them from what RC reps relayed to me). Let's let the entire first floor of OPP's prisoners drown because we left them there then wonder why the upper floors rioted and took control of the prison. Yes, all together the local and state has done a good job (minus a fwe glaring ****ups) given the fact that FEMA took ALL there working communications away for themselves, that made each parish a fiefdom protecting itself from New Orleans per se in some ways for quite a while until communications could get up and running and then did ****ing nothing with it from what I've gathered until only recently. State and federal officials are sparring over control of everything, and I hope the state gets it - while as ****ed up as this state is - it didn't try to cull the poor like stray dogs.

The situation is so dire here that the usual 6 hour RC training session is cut into 30 minutes and they just basically tell you what pages to read for what. I talked to one from New York running a shelter and he's never heard of it being cut shorter than 3 hours. The government does not care about us - if you want to do anything to help and you live in the states, write your representatives, get your friends to and have them do the same - but pressure on your reps. Seriously. Only a voice from places that the government cares about will they listen to - and that's a big maybe. Donating would help as well - the Red Cross is overwhelmed as I've illustrated but they've been the most competent relief organization that is down here that I can stand behind. I maybe got 8 to 10 hours sleep the past several days (in 15-30 minute periods usually) and I'm still wired but exhausted. I don't know what else to say or what to say other than **** the government and **** all those who think of us as rodents and Katrina an effective exterminator.

Please help us. What you are seeing on TV isn't what is really happening - it is far worse, far far worse (at least from what I've heard from friends outside the region watching tv and even the regional coverage). Thanks for your prayers/wishes, etc. They are appreciated.

I don't know what else to say, ****, after all this, I don't even know how to feel.

Again, thank you for your wishes and such. They are needed for more than me quite easily at this time, but thank you.

http://www.counterglow.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30562&pagenumber=2

(yes, it's the same link Jon posted, but I think this bears pasting)

[Chemical Ollie]

The Gulfsail blogger has "borrowed" a canoe and visited his sister's house in the flooded areas. A moving eyewitness report:

http://gulfsails.blogspot.com/

This was the most surreal experience of my life. The neighborhood that I've lived in for fifteen years is under water. A lot of water.

My father and I took a ride out to the Lakefront today, I had been yesterday and he had to see the neighborhood that he grew up in first hand. He needed to see it for himself.

We made the circuitous journey through marinas and condos until we reached the intersection of West End and Robert E. Lee. There were two soldiers from Massachusetts (Thanks Massachusetts) and a search and rescue guy from Oakland, CA (Thanks Oakland). The guy from Oakland had been in the city since the first Tuesday after the storm. He told us that they were still even now picking up survivors from the Lakefront -- but that phase was winding down. Today alone they had pulled out six bodies... from Lakeview.

As we walked around, we discovered a canoe. So we went canoeing. Our house is down on Catina near Harrison, about 10 or so blocks. We started out paddling through the Robert's (pronounced Roe-bears) Grocery parking lot, passing between around seven or eight cars left in the lot. The water was up to the windows and they were parked on the raised divisions between the rows. One car had the license plate DGOOZER.

The water is disgusting. It stinks. It's soupy. Their are different colors in it. The freakiest was the areas where it was clay grey on top, but when the paddle would disturb it, a black plume of nastiness would fight its way to the top only to be forced back under by the grey. Other parts were more typical of Lake water, but it was all foul.

Remember that our family has four generations in Lakeview - we love that neighborhood and acted in NO way disrespectfully - As we paddled down our street, the truly bizarre nature of this new world was hitting us in the face.

Oddly enough, in many ways, it was kind of beautiful. We were paddling through the canopies of majestic oaks, their reflections still in the water until we passed. The only problem was the rooftops and second stories. Seriously your mind has a hard time grasping what it's witnessing. For moments it would appear that we were simply paddling down a bayou or an engorged river. I even started having memories of the last time I had paddled around with my Dad on a trip in North Louisiana when I was 10 or so.

Those memories would crash though the second we would snag on something, and after a moment, realize it was the roof of a van, or someone's grandmothers antique chair.

There were several boats around, floating. We saw at least three jetskiis bobbing around. Even a Hobie Cat. And garbage, lots of crazy floaty stuff, DVD's, gas cans, little keep-safe type boxes, books - I was hard pressed not to pick one or two of those up in order to check out the title, looking for some mystical message. I dared not. The water is ill.

On several occasions, our expedition got thrown off by enormous downed trees blocking our path, and twice we had a blackhawk hover over us making sure we weren't in need of saving or in need of being shot for looting. Without the helicopters, it was dead quiet, other than the sound of birds who will probably all die from drinking this water.

As we finally approached our house, I expected for both of us to breakdown... but I think we're all past that now down here. We've hardened I think, or maybe are still not comprehending what we're seeing. The permanence of it. The massiveness of it.

We paddled straight up to the front porch, and just sat for a few minutes. My grandmother's antique brass planter that we use as a mailbox sat next to the door quietly, lapped by water. The window immediately to my left looks into my three month old Godchild's room. All the clothes for him until he's three, all of his stuffed animals and future toys, his antique crib sat right there through that window. I didn't look in. I couldn't.

We paddled our way through to the backyard. A large woodsy area where I've had countless crawfish boils. Crazy beer drinking parties. Barbecues. Or simply just sat and read the Sunday paper over coffee. The brand new porch that was finished three weeks ago sat and looked back at us. The only damage on the entire house from the actual hurricane was one torn screen on that porch. One torn screen. ONE TORN SCREEN.

This house that we've lost. This home that has sheltered four generations of my family has been lost due to a levee breach.

I thought of many things while paddling back to higher ground... I worried for the grand oaks and pines, our mature urban forest, how long can they survive with their trunks covered by 14 feet of water? How toxic is this water? Will the EPA demand it all be bulldozed? After the water recedes, will any family be allowed to return and collect their silver, their heirlooms that could be salvaged? How many dead had we paddled by in those short ten blocks? Would we ever see any of our neighbors again?

After returning back onto Lake Marina Ave., we spoke with several groups of soldiers, most from Massachusetts and all young. They treated us with the utmost respect. They were kind. They were watching out for our safety and the safety of our homes. They were all heros.

When I shook the hand of one soldier, probably 20 years old, and thanked him - he replied to me... "We're honored to be here."

As we walked back on the levee towards the Jeep, Dick Cheney's helicopter was landing. On the top of the levee journalists and reporters were starting to line up for his photo-op. My Dad and I didn't even have to ask each other if we wanted to stay and watch.

[chequita guevara]

On a video I watched, someone shouted during that press conference, "F*** You! Mr. Vice-President."

[Boris Godunov]

Actually, it was a doctor shouting "Go **** yourself, Mr. Cheney! Go **** yourself!" He had just lost his home and was returning to the neighborhood to assess the damage. Cheney's entourage was causing a lot of problems for the victims there, so I'm sure he captured a lot of people's sentiments nicely.

Oh, and Cheney's goons tracked him down 20 minutes later and handcuffed him and questioned him for a half hour before letting him go.

[Chemical Ollie]

If you read between the lines in the Gulfsail blog, clearing the legal details of real estate ownership could be almost as messy as cleaning the yucky filth floating around.

FYI -- The entire collection of documents recording real estate transfers, mortgages, liens, etc. - current and back to the beginning of the city - is housed in the basement of City Hall.

Which is... can anyone guess?

Under water.

FYI -- All documents, evidence, etc. regarding the pending criminal prosecutions by the District Attorney of New Orleans is...

Can anyone guess?

Under water.

[SlowwHand]

FINALLY, our friends Jeff and Jeanie got hold of us Thursday night.
They live 30 miles west of New Orleans. Lot of damage.
They're there though.

Amazingly, Jeff tells us the shipyards are going to reopen, with all haste.
Military was to escort him and a guy that works for him to the site today.