Here comes hurricane Rita (athough it's a tropical storm and I'm getting ahead of myself) taking aim on Texas! Even Louisiana is facing a possible hit given that hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have much lateral room to go anywhere where it can go.
Now, last month hurricane Katrina damaged lot of the shipping ports in Louisiana rending them mostly unsuable to serve as shipping prots. Cargo ships had to find alternative ports to unload the goods. Ports in Texas received much of the redirected shipping traffic away from Louisiana's ports.
The possibility that some of the important ports in Texas may get savagely beaten by hurricane Rita. Just as well, oil refineries and platforms may also feel the wrath of hurricane Rita should it become worse than a Category 2 hurricane.
What will happen if the one of the gulf ports of Texas get slammed by a Category 3 hurricane or higher? Are you willing to pay for the increased price on goods and materials that may need to be unloaded elsewhere? Can Miami or Fort Lauderdale ports be able to handle it if ports in Texas and Louisiana go down? Can the Louisiana ports recover in time? Can we withstand another drama of more hurricane disasters wrecking our industrious ports?
Holy Rita, Batman!
Stay tuned for more battiness...
Monday, September 19, 2005
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Incredible Wastful Spending of Fed Money Meant for Studies on Saving Lives
Absolutely incredible. Examples on the abuse of Federal money meant for studies on finding ways to help improve plans for evacuation.
Here's one story of FEMA dollars that was meant to improve evacuation plans for New Orleans:
And now we have the state of Louisiana's abuse of Federal money
Wait it gets better.
And you say it was all President Bush' fault? You're dreaming aren't you?
Here's one story of FEMA dollars that was meant to improve evacuation plans for New Orleans:
As far back as eight years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for evacuating New Orleans during a massive hurricane, but the money instead went to studying the causeway bridge that spans the city's Lake Pontchartrain, officials say.
The outcome provides one more example of the government's failure to prepare for a massive but foreseeable catastrophe, said the lawmaker who helped secure the money for FEMA to develop the evacuation plan.
"They never used it for the intended purpose," said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "The whole intent was to give them resources so they could plan an evacuation of New Orleans that anticipated that a very large number of people would never leave.".
.
Frustrated two years later that nothing materialized, Congress strengthened its directive. This time it ordered "an evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm, a levee break, flood or other natural disaster for the New Orleans area."The $500,000 that Congress appropriated for the evacuation plan went to a commission that studied future options for the 24-mile bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said.
The hefty report produced by the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission "primarily was not about evacuation," said Robert Lambert, the general manager for the bridge expressway. "In general it was an overview of all the things we need to do" for the causeway through 2016. Lambert said he could not trace how or if FEMA money came to the commission. Nor could Shelby LaSalle, a causeway consulting engineer who worked on the plan.
And now we have the state of Louisiana's abuse of Federal money
For instance, a Nov. 30, 2004, report by Tonda L. Hadley, a director in the Denton field office, examined $40.5 million sent to the Louisiana agency, mostly for the Hazard Mitigation program. The report found that the state's emergency office did not have receipts to account for 97% of the $15.4 million it had awarded to subcontractors on 19 major projects.
Wait it gets better.
In addition to alleged misspending reported in the two audits, FEMA has asked for the return of $10.7 million allocated to a program for buying property in high-risk flood areas. Most of that money was passed on to local communities to determine which property owners would benefit.
FEMA alleged the Louisiana agency had not properly monitored expenditures, and failed to ensure that properties receiving the funds were eligible.
About $2.8 million of the refund sought by FEMA went to consultant fees. Most of that money went to Aegis Innovative Systems, a Baton Rouge firm hired by many parishes to administer the flood buyout program. Aegis owners include Mark Howard, a former official at the Louisiana agency.
State Sen. Reggie Dupre said it appeared that parishes employing Aegis were especially successful in winning money from the state emergency preparedness agency.
"It smells like a horrible brother-in-law deal to me, " he said in a phone interview.
And you say it was all President Bush' fault? You're dreaming aren't you?
Friday, September 16, 2005
When Cindy Sheehan Loses It.
As a final grasp for dire attention to her withering self-styled celebrity status of the pandering left, Cindy Sheehan finally loses it after her channeling experience with her dead son:
Cindy, you're losing it. And, no, you cannot compete with the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina.
I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.
Cindy, you're losing it. And, no, you cannot compete with the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina.
Deaf to Sue to Allow Stock Trades Over Relay
A hearing impaired client at Morgan Stanley (MWD) is expected to file a lawsuit later Tuesday claiming the securities firm discriminated against him because it doesn't accept stock trade orders using a system that allows the deaf to communicate by telephone.Read more here. Pesky sign-up is required for free reading. Some companies' habits die hard.
The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed in federal court in the District of Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon, is seeking class-action status under the Americans with Disabilities Act for Donald A. Brunner Jr., who is deaf, and other similarly situated individuals.
The complaint asks that Morgan Stanley be ordered to accept stock trade orders via a relay system for the deaf or hard of hearing as a "public accommodation" under ADA.
Gary Phelan, Brunner's lawyer, initially said Brunner is no longer a client of Morgan Stanley, but later clarified that Brunner continues to have accounts at the firm. Brunner no longer makes trades with Morgan Stanley because of the rule, Phelan said.
A Morgan Stanley spokesman didn't immediately have a comment on Tuesday. According to the complaint, Brunner claims Morgan Stanley allowed him to make trades from 1999 to June 2004 using a teletypewriter, also known as Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, and Telecommunications Relay Services, or TRS. A teletypewriter, also known as a TTY, combined with TRS allows the deaf or hard of hearing to communicate via telephone by typing messages back and forth instead of talking and listening, according to the lawsuit.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Remember 9/11 and Those Who Fight for Our Security and Freedom
Today is the fourth year since the senseless attack by Islamic terrorists who believes that killing non-Islamic believers is the answer in their fight. On that day 9/11 sparked and galvanized the United States and the world to fight terrorism on all fronts, in every country that harbor and support these terrorists.
We must remember the victims of those who sacrificed their lives to rescue those who needed help.
We must remember the innocent children of God who had nothing to do with this world.
We must remember the valiant heros who helped so many knowing that they were already at death's door.
We must remember.
We must see the videos of the planes crashing into the towers again and again.
We must remember seeeing the victims jump out of the buildings in sheer desperation to end their own way of dying.
We must remember those who were widowed, fatherless, motherless and without their siblings because of the senseless attacks and those who fought overseas.
We must remember.
We must remember those who fought to help keep America free from tyranny and help those who need our help so they can be free of tyranny.
We simply must remember that 9/11 is the turning point and the start of World War III.
We are in the battle for our lives. And we join the fight with others across the earth to fight the battle on terrorism.
It is better to do something than nothing at all than to make ourselves vulnerable.
Before President George W. Bush we had so many Islamic terrorists attacks we did nothing to pursue and eliminate those terrorists on the war on terrorism.
In 2000 the bombing U.S.S. Cole was attacked killing 17 sailors and yet we did nothing. (Clinton's time)
In 1998 the bombing of two U.S. Embassies were attacked killing 224 and yet we did nothing. (Clinton's time).
In 1996 the bombing of the Khobar Towers military complex killed19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
In 1995 a car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
In 1993 bomb exploded in basement garage of the World Trade Center killing 6 and injuring thousands, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
But in 2001 on 9/11 we sure as hell did something about it. Finally, we are now fighting terrorism. Thank you President Bush.
This is who we are dealing with, the Islamic terrorists:
Small minds have no room to grow. So, we must fight these people who will always see death as the only answer and never about peace.
Be ever so vigilant. And always remember 9/11.
We must remember the victims of those who sacrificed their lives to rescue those who needed help.
We must remember the innocent children of God who had nothing to do with this world.
We must remember the valiant heros who helped so many knowing that they were already at death's door.
We must remember.
We must see the videos of the planes crashing into the towers again and again.
We must remember seeeing the victims jump out of the buildings in sheer desperation to end their own way of dying.
We must remember those who were widowed, fatherless, motherless and without their siblings because of the senseless attacks and those who fought overseas.
We must remember.
We must remember those who fought to help keep America free from tyranny and help those who need our help so they can be free of tyranny.
We simply must remember that 9/11 is the turning point and the start of World War III.
We are in the battle for our lives. And we join the fight with others across the earth to fight the battle on terrorism.
It is better to do something than nothing at all than to make ourselves vulnerable.
Before President George W. Bush we had so many Islamic terrorists attacks we did nothing to pursue and eliminate those terrorists on the war on terrorism.
In 2000 the bombing U.S.S. Cole was attacked killing 17 sailors and yet we did nothing. (Clinton's time)
In 1998 the bombing of two U.S. Embassies were attacked killing 224 and yet we did nothing. (Clinton's time).
In 1996 the bombing of the Khobar Towers military complex killed19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
In 1995 a car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
In 1993 bomb exploded in basement garage of the World Trade Center killing 6 and injuring thousands, and yet we did nothing (Clinton's time).
But in 2001 on 9/11 we sure as hell did something about it. Finally, we are now fighting terrorism. Thank you President Bush.
This is who we are dealing with, the Islamic terrorists:
Islamic governments have never and will never be established through peaceful solutions and cooperative councils. They are established as they [always] have been by pen and gun.
Small minds have no room to grow. So, we must fight these people who will always see death as the only answer and never about peace.
Be ever so vigilant. And always remember 9/11.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
"Crescent of Embrace" - a Memorial for Flight 93?
They have got to be kidding!! The National Park Service is in the midst of selecting one of the few architectural design to honor and remember the heros on Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvannia fighting and preventing al Qaeda nutheads from reaching Washington D.C., which many believed that the White House was the target. One of the design is called "Crescent of Embrace."
Credit: Zombie
Go here for another intersting look at the suggested Flight 93 memorial park.
For a powerpoint presentation of the Flight 93 memorial park, go here.
The color red are the trees that make up the crescent that would change to a bloody red during the autumn season. The design is so large, because of the numerous trees that make up the crescent shape, would be easily seen from above from a passing airplane!
This is a total outrage. The National Park Service has not yet selected the design. If you want to lodge a protest go here which will automatically submit your comments to the National Park Service. Be sure to read Michelle Malkin's blogsite on this. She is keeping a close eye on this as well as hundred other bloggers.
Here's my complaint:
We need to stop this utter idiocy by this one supremely stupid architect designer. Let's hope that the National Park Service won't embarrass themselves further by selecting the crescent-shaped, red colored memorial park. Let the National Park Service know about your displeasure in this memorial design.
Credit: Zombie
Go here for another intersting look at the suggested Flight 93 memorial park.
For a powerpoint presentation of the Flight 93 memorial park, go here.
The color red are the trees that make up the crescent that would change to a bloody red during the autumn season. The design is so large, because of the numerous trees that make up the crescent shape, would be easily seen from above from a passing airplane!
This is a total outrage. The National Park Service has not yet selected the design. If you want to lodge a protest go here which will automatically submit your comments to the National Park Service. Be sure to read Michelle Malkin's blogsite on this. She is keeping a close eye on this as well as hundred other bloggers.
Here's my complaint:
As a U.S. taxpayer with a conscious, I object strenuously to the crescent design to be used (if selected) as a memorial park for the heros on Flight 93.
The Crescent shaped memorial does a disservice to those who were killed by Islam fanatics who will kill innocent people under their Crescent flag. So does the red color that colors the crescent. And the killer of it all is the title of the Flight 93 memorial, "Crescent of Embrace." It was the believers of the CRESCENT flag who EMBRACED murderous deaths upon innocent people in the name of their fanatical religion!
This memorial would be nothing but a constant reminder (ie. the red crescent) of Islam and the fanatics who murdered 40 people on Flight 93. Some memorial I tell you.
Please, let this not be another victory for Islam fanaticism. Let's not the quaint 40 windchimes overlook the bigger picture. The, red Crescent shaped memorial with the title is disgusting and dishonorable to those who know better.Mike McConnell
New Mexico.
We need to stop this utter idiocy by this one supremely stupid architect designer. Let's hope that the National Park Service won't embarrass themselves further by selecting the crescent-shaped, red colored memorial park. Let the National Park Service know about your displeasure in this memorial design.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Don't Blame Bush for Hurricane Katrina
A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.
6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.
7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.
8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.
9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.
10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care. God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1479739/posts
1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.
2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.
3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.
4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.
5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.
6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.
7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.
8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.
9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.
10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.
11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.
12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care. God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1479739/posts
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Hyperbole and Exaggeration
Hyperbole and exaggeration are the mainstay of such people whose livelihood is based on the constant complaining and whining about other people in their own blog. It's incredible. This is who they are. This is their personality. You can't change it. You can only sit by with your mouth open and shake your head. This is what they love to do.
Now, why would people ever snicker at other innocent people's plight or deaths such as the survivors of Hurricane Katrina or the deaths of lightning victims? Let's be a bit more specific here, why would a Deaf man's "melodramatic" facial expressions (or other deaf people's "melodramatic" and descriptive behaviors) seen in the CNN videotape on deaf survivors of Hurricane Katrina elicit such a snicker, a smile, or a short guffaw response? Does anybody ever show any sense of sympathy or moral support for those who survived such a terrible ordeal? Is making contorted facial features from survivors in a show of grief or the horrors of surviving such an ordeal be worthy of a snicker or two? Is that how people contribute to the Hurricane relief effort to those who need help? A snicker and a laugh or two, and you're on your way?
The person I am referring to if you're able to follow the link above said he snickered, and now says his friend snickered. "Snickered" means funny as in "ha ha" and not as in "strange," "weird" or "something funny going on." Or else he wouldn't put in "I had to snicker."
Yeah. I certainly can understand that. He had to. Really. He had to laugh. It was so funny. Facial expressions from traumatized Hurricane Katrina survivors are a real knee slapper moment. Whooeeee! It even rival the "funniness" of Bozo the Clown, too! Kids laughing at the odd and funny looking clown's face. Hee hee! EVERYBODY understands that. Surrreee. Yessiree Bob! Perhaps someday the traumatized Deaf guy who doesn't even know where his mother is and cried into the shoulders of a concerned Deaf friend will meet "R" and have him explain why the videotape of Deaf survivors of Hurricane Katrina was so funny? Yeah, more backpeddling moment there folks. He has a genuine feel for this guy and the people who survived the storm. Laughing about it is proof enough.
That is what many people have commented to me lately and so I now blog this as a confirmation of my own earlier response to that appalling behavior.
As for Patti Raswant, "R" initiated first contact to me via email (for the very first time!) after I removed his comment in deafsurvivors blog about him looking for Patti along with some snide comments about a different subject not related to deaf survivors. So, I banned him. It was my fault not to put the IP address of "R" in the first place and this whole thing would have been avoided. Supposedly so.
I neatly and calmly explained to "R" that he's simply "persona non grata" on all of my blogsite. He knows why. He just won't accept it. I've explained to him several times why. If you have a rule breaker, would you trust him? You got it, bro. No more of him in my blog comments.
Now, if he wanted to, he could request help via email to me if it's Hurricane Katrina related such as looking for a missing deaf person which I understand completely. That is what I said to him. But with his past abusive commentaries in my blog comment box toward me, attacked other commenters, and the use of foul language numerous times, I simply don't trust him to post comments in my blog because I've warned him several times to not do those things. He never bothered to respect my house rules. So, he's history on all of my blogs. It was a simple request. He never followed it to a "T". So, his only option was to email me.
However, in fairness and against my better judgement, I will "unban" him on deafsurvivors blog if he issue a public apology on his blog for making an offhand remark toward me in the blog comment that had nothing to do with Deafsurvivors topic. Everybody can contribute, even with those who disagree, on helping Deaf/deaf/hh survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Being disrespectful to the owner of the blog who is trying to help by making back-handed remarks is not the way to go.
Now, I want to help these survivors, both deaf and hearing, of which I have contributed donations (toys for children), supplies and effort to this. I don't need people mucking up in my blog comment just because he or she holds a past grudge against me. This is not about politics but about helping people get back on their feet. And "R" never helped at all when he posted that first comment that had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina. Nothing! Other than looking for somebody. I can't get any plainer than that.
Now, in the second email to me after my first to his didn't fare well with his laced profanities and name calling. And so, bye bye. Didn't even bother to read the 3rd one which is probably laced with profanities and name calling like always. Like a spurned 5 year old kid. And so he lost his chance, again. He can't reach me via email no more. Better let a grown up do his job if he's looking for somebody. It's a matter of principle here, folks.
So there you go folks. Sometimes only a half a story with half-truths told by other people. This will also be my last blog (or anything related to his blogsite) about him. Yes, I have that willpower. He doesn't have it. We've seen it happen again and again and again. He essentially claims that every story he comes up with in his blog was all his idea. Fine. Whatever. Such as the CNN video is one example in his email to me. But, as I explained it to him in my last email, I don't read his blog first in the morning. I read Deafreedom.com (and other news blogs such as Michelle Malkin, Little Green Football, Kos, Huffington, Powerline..etc) first. A DF reader pasted a link about the video and so I thanked her and put it on my blogsite. I never knew about "R" CNN video until later when I finally got around to his blogsite a day or two later. Paranoidal delusion is a sick thing to watch.
OK.
And that's it as the world turns with "Hyperbole and Exaggeration."
Now, why would people ever snicker at other innocent people's plight or deaths such as the survivors of Hurricane Katrina or the deaths of lightning victims? Let's be a bit more specific here, why would a Deaf man's "melodramatic" facial expressions (or other deaf people's "melodramatic" and descriptive behaviors) seen in the CNN videotape on deaf survivors of Hurricane Katrina elicit such a snicker, a smile, or a short guffaw response? Does anybody ever show any sense of sympathy or moral support for those who survived such a terrible ordeal? Is making contorted facial features from survivors in a show of grief or the horrors of surviving such an ordeal be worthy of a snicker or two? Is that how people contribute to the Hurricane relief effort to those who need help? A snicker and a laugh or two, and you're on your way?
The person I am referring to if you're able to follow the link above said he snickered, and now says his friend snickered. "Snickered" means funny as in "ha ha" and not as in "strange," "weird" or "something funny going on." Or else he wouldn't put in "I had to snicker."
I'm Sorry But I Had To Snicker: I know the tragedy in Gulf Coast communities are difficult and crazy but Deaf people sometimes are so melodramatic.
Yeah. I certainly can understand that. He had to. Really. He had to laugh. It was so funny. Facial expressions from traumatized Hurricane Katrina survivors are a real knee slapper moment. Whooeeee! It even rival the "funniness" of Bozo the Clown, too! Kids laughing at the odd and funny looking clown's face. Hee hee! EVERYBODY understands that. Surrreee. Yessiree Bob! Perhaps someday the traumatized Deaf guy who doesn't even know where his mother is and cried into the shoulders of a concerned Deaf friend will meet "R" and have him explain why the videotape of Deaf survivors of Hurricane Katrina was so funny? Yeah, more backpeddling moment there folks. He has a genuine feel for this guy and the people who survived the storm. Laughing about it is proof enough.
That is what many people have commented to me lately and so I now blog this as a confirmation of my own earlier response to that appalling behavior.
As for Patti Raswant, "R" initiated first contact to me via email (for the very first time!) after I removed his comment in deafsurvivors blog about him looking for Patti along with some snide comments about a different subject not related to deaf survivors. So, I banned him. It was my fault not to put the IP address of "R" in the first place and this whole thing would have been avoided. Supposedly so.
I neatly and calmly explained to "R" that he's simply "persona non grata" on all of my blogsite. He knows why. He just won't accept it. I've explained to him several times why. If you have a rule breaker, would you trust him? You got it, bro. No more of him in my blog comments.
Now, if he wanted to, he could request help via email to me if it's Hurricane Katrina related such as looking for a missing deaf person which I understand completely. That is what I said to him. But with his past abusive commentaries in my blog comment box toward me, attacked other commenters, and the use of foul language numerous times, I simply don't trust him to post comments in my blog because I've warned him several times to not do those things. He never bothered to respect my house rules. So, he's history on all of my blogs. It was a simple request. He never followed it to a "T". So, his only option was to email me.
However, in fairness and against my better judgement, I will "unban" him on deafsurvivors blog if he issue a public apology on his blog for making an offhand remark toward me in the blog comment that had nothing to do with Deafsurvivors topic. Everybody can contribute, even with those who disagree, on helping Deaf/deaf/hh survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Being disrespectful to the owner of the blog who is trying to help by making back-handed remarks is not the way to go.
Now, I want to help these survivors, both deaf and hearing, of which I have contributed donations (toys for children), supplies and effort to this. I don't need people mucking up in my blog comment just because he or she holds a past grudge against me. This is not about politics but about helping people get back on their feet. And "R" never helped at all when he posted that first comment that had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina. Nothing! Other than looking for somebody. I can't get any plainer than that.
Now, in the second email to me after my first to his didn't fare well with his laced profanities and name calling. And so, bye bye. Didn't even bother to read the 3rd one which is probably laced with profanities and name calling like always. Like a spurned 5 year old kid. And so he lost his chance, again. He can't reach me via email no more. Better let a grown up do his job if he's looking for somebody. It's a matter of principle here, folks.
So there you go folks. Sometimes only a half a story with half-truths told by other people. This will also be my last blog (or anything related to his blogsite) about him. Yes, I have that willpower. He doesn't have it. We've seen it happen again and again and again. He essentially claims that every story he comes up with in his blog was all his idea. Fine. Whatever. Such as the CNN video is one example in his email to me. But, as I explained it to him in my last email, I don't read his blog first in the morning. I read Deafreedom.com (and other news blogs such as Michelle Malkin, Little Green Football, Kos, Huffington, Powerline..etc) first. A DF reader pasted a link about the video and so I thanked her and put it on my blogsite. I never knew about "R" CNN video until later when I finally got around to his blogsite a day or two later. Paranoidal delusion is a sick thing to watch.
"It's my idea! You can't have it! Liar! Liar! I thought of it first! You stole my idea! Mine! Mine! Mine! Miiinnneeee!"
OK.
And that's it as the world turns with "Hyperbole and Exaggeration."
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Pre-empts Cindy Sheehan's March
Looks like Cindy Sheehan cancelled her "Peace" march in Brunswick, Maine since she cannot compete against the destructiveness of Mother Nature against humanity and the tragedies that follow it. The MSM is more interested in Katrina's destruction than Sheehan's blatherings.
Organizers of a peace march from the Brunswick Mall to Brunswick Naval Air Station on Saturday morning — the first day of the Great State of Maine Air Show — hope to call attention to the role of the military in American society.
Cindy Sheehan — the woman who has been pressing President Bush for an answer to why her son died in the war in Iraq and who spent most of August camped with supporters outside Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch — had been scheduled to march with protesters and to speak, but has canceled and will not march.
And the group was understandably disappointed without their leader.
Peace groups in Maine were disappointed this week to hear that Cindy Sheehan had called off her plan to appear in Brunswick on Saturday.
Awwww....
A spokeswoman for Sheehan said last week that she had canceled a trip to Italy to participate in Brunswick. But a new spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that Sheehan had opted to join a bus caravan in Atlanta.
Cancelled a trip to Italy for a bus tour to Maine??
Sheehan also canceled a scheduled appearance in Colorado, Buffa said.
Three cancelled appearances? Why? Could it be that there wouldn't enough MSM reporters trying to get a shot of her?
Sheehan apparently agreed to visit Brunswick before she drew the spotlight during her vigil in Texas. Last winter, she appeared on a public access cable show hosted by Gagnon in Brunswick. Doug Rawlings, president of Veterans For Peace in Maine, speculated that Sheehan's choice to join the caravan in Atlanta was strategic, based on her ability to draw media attention.
No kidding? I'm sure Cindy Sheehan is angry at Hurricane Katrina for messing up her media frenzy tour. I'm upset at Hurricane Katrina, too, but not for that reason. She'll effectively blame President Bush for the hurricane that messed up her destiny for the tour spotlight.
Go back home, Cindy.
Al Franken if Now Officially Knee Deep in a $875,000 "Loan"
Michelle Malkin uncovers a very revealing side of Al Franken's sloppy lying side (Part I, see Brian Maloney's Part II), who, ironically, wrote a book called "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." But even more telling is his new book called "The Truth" already on sale.
Al Franken was on Air America telling listeners that he had nothing to do with the $875,000 loan:
He may be a "comedian" but he is certainly an idiot the way he keeps digging himself a hole everytime he opens his mouth.
Keep up the good work Michelle and Brian!
More on Air America scam at:
When Randi Rhodes is Actually the Star of Air America...not Al Franken
When NYTimes Gets Busted for Lying to Help Cover Up Air America's Scandal
A Live Air America Radio Band Aid Solution
When Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover Air America Scandal
Lawyers Weigh In on Air America If "Stealing" of Kiddie Funds Actually Existed
Air America Stealing Money from Poor-Inner City Kids and Elderly?
Al Franken was on Air America telling listeners that he had nothing to do with the $875,000 loan:
So I'm trying to be as responsible as I can, to know as much as I can about this, but I really have nothing to do with it. (laughter)But, perhaps Al Franken need to revisit his own signature on a legal document signed on November 22, 2004 that specifically outlined the loans to Gloria Wise and required Air America to pay them back. In short, Al Franken knew. And he got caught with his pants down...all the way down to his ankles.
He may be a "comedian" but he is certainly an idiot the way he keeps digging himself a hole everytime he opens his mouth.
Keep up the good work Michelle and Brian!
More on Air America scam at:
When Randi Rhodes is Actually the Star of Air America...not Al Franken
When NYTimes Gets Busted for Lying to Help Cover Up Air America's Scandal
A Live Air America Radio Band Aid Solution
When Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover Air America Scandal
Lawyers Weigh In on Air America If "Stealing" of Kiddie Funds Actually Existed
Air America Stealing Money from Poor-Inner City Kids and Elderly?
Monday, September 05, 2005
When Hurricane Katrina Donations Exceeded Tsunami and 9/11 Donations
The bigger the catastrophe in the United States, the bigger outpouring of love, donations, and money to those affected by a disaster because it could happen to us. According to "The Chronicle of Philothrophy" total donations so far is $404 million dollars.
What's more, it hasn't been 10 or 11 days so far. It's barely a week old and we're still collecting donations. Besides money, there is an unknown amount of donations of food, clothing, toys, medicine and other essential supplies. A good donation is better than having no donation at all.
Way to go. This is how America works, neighbors helping neighbors.
Give a hoot! Please contribute.
The pace of giving is unprecedented in recent American history. In the 10 days after September 11, Americans donated $239-million to charitable causes, and in the 9 days after the tsunamis hit, major American relief groups raised $163-million.
What's more, it hasn't been 10 or 11 days so far. It's barely a week old and we're still collecting donations. Besides money, there is an unknown amount of donations of food, clothing, toys, medicine and other essential supplies. A good donation is better than having no donation at all.
Way to go. This is how America works, neighbors helping neighbors.
Give a hoot! Please contribute.
Being Good Neighbors
People need to understand that there are people who need our help. This goes beyond partisan lines. No time to hold grudges. If they can't let themselves go and get past their inner hatreds, then those are the people we cannot trust to help others regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and such in times of needs.
Right now, I have two boxes of toys, children books, coloring books and crayons that my daughters have decided to give away after I told them about one family's house that was hit by the storm. The toys are to be donated to two little girls age 5 and 2. I don't even know whether the family is white or not. Nor do I care. It's the little ones that remember the horrors the most because they simply do not have the capacity to understand why it happened. What greater joy in seeing other children open up a box from strangers seeing toys, dolls, stuffed animals, coloring books, crayons and children's reading books? A little bit of Christmas and birthday all rolled into one.
Now, if people want to complain, point fingers all the time, choose not to help, and subject themselves to their own obnoxious pettiness to continue with their little political hackings as much as possible, then be my guest. Fine. I'd rather be neighborly as possible at a time like this to help bring a little bit of hope into their lives after losing everything. There are two types of people, those that want to help, those that do not.
Some people will NEVER learn!! They need to get over their stupid petty differences! What have they done lately besides complain and hold grudges about what happened in the past? Be a "man" and let it go. Let your big ego and pride go.
And start helping.
Right now, I have two boxes of toys, children books, coloring books and crayons that my daughters have decided to give away after I told them about one family's house that was hit by the storm. The toys are to be donated to two little girls age 5 and 2. I don't even know whether the family is white or not. Nor do I care. It's the little ones that remember the horrors the most because they simply do not have the capacity to understand why it happened. What greater joy in seeing other children open up a box from strangers seeing toys, dolls, stuffed animals, coloring books, crayons and children's reading books? A little bit of Christmas and birthday all rolled into one.
Now, if people want to complain, point fingers all the time, choose not to help, and subject themselves to their own obnoxious pettiness to continue with their little political hackings as much as possible, then be my guest. Fine. I'd rather be neighborly as possible at a time like this to help bring a little bit of hope into their lives after losing everything. There are two types of people, those that want to help, those that do not.
Some people will NEVER learn!! They need to get over their stupid petty differences! What have they done lately besides complain and hold grudges about what happened in the past? Be a "man" and let it go. Let your big ego and pride go.
And start helping.
When Disaster Preparedness at the Local Level Fails
We know that the city of New Orleans had some time to work on improving their Disaster Plan but the more we look at it the more questions we have for officials at the state and local government levels. Even after a near hit with Hurricane Ivan last year the city of New Orleans was still trying to improve it's disaster preparedness plans. Only after realizing that Ivan pointed out flaws in Louisiana's disaster plan.
Perhaps a second time is a charm to make things work the next time, unfortunately.
However, nothing in the Disaster Preparedness plan talked about evacuating those without any means of transportation (ie. public school buses). Mayor Nagin failed to give an order on implementing the hundred of school buses to help evacuate those who have no means of transportation. How could he? The city never had a disaster plan in place specifically for that.
What's more interesting is that in April of 2003 Mayor Nagin proudly introduced the city's "IntelliCast Target Notification" to add to the city's safety plan. The ITN is an emergency warning system used to notify citizens of New Orleans for a wide spectrum of crises from hurricanes to missing children.
The irony continues,
Yet, those yellow school buses never moved once. Why?
And let us not forget the U.S. Coast Guard post-hurricane rescue efforts who have plucked almost 16,000 stranded people off of their roofs when those yellow school buses could've done the job before the storm hit:
In more ways than one, the city of New Orleans was woefully inadequate to help people evacuate at the very beginning which would have alleviated many of the problems down the road.
For more information on other state and local preparedness plans, along with a partial timeline, and the outline on responsibilities of state and local governments, go here:
Everything start at the local level to help people evacuate. Then it goes to the state for more help and then finally a request to the White House for federal help from the Governor. But it is the Governor who has the power to request Federal help in disaster emergencies, not the Mayor.
Residents and travelers looking to flee the wrath of Hurricane Ivan in Louisiana ran into traffic jams that lasted hours. Yet others could not afford to leave the city and had to find their own shelter. While the state avoided a direct hit from the storm, it exposed what experts call major flaws in the state's civil disaster plans -- especially in New Orleans.
"If the government asks people to evacuate, the government has some responsibility to provide an option for those people who can't evacuate and are at the whim of Mother Nature," Joe Cook of the New Orleans ACLU told The Associated Press.
It's always been a problem, but the situation is worse now that the Red Cross has stopped providing shelters in New Orleans for hurricanes rated above Category 2. Stronger hurricanes are too dangerous, and Ivan was a much more powerful Category 4. With Ivan just hours away, the city decided to open the Louisiana Superdome to the public.
The main safety measure -- getting people out of town -- raised its own problems. More than 1 million people tried to leave the city and surrounding suburbs, creating a seven-hour-long crawl for the 60 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Eventually, police opened inbound lanes to outbound traffic.Gov. Kathleen Blanco acknowledges the need to improve traffic flow and said state police should consider reversing highway lanes earlier. They also promised meetings with governments in neighboring localities and state transportation officials to improve evacuation plans.
Perhaps a second time is a charm to make things work the next time, unfortunately.
However, nothing in the Disaster Preparedness plan talked about evacuating those without any means of transportation (ie. public school buses). Mayor Nagin failed to give an order on implementing the hundred of school buses to help evacuate those who have no means of transportation. How could he? The city never had a disaster plan in place specifically for that.
What's more interesting is that in April of 2003 Mayor Nagin proudly introduced the city's "IntelliCast Target Notification" to add to the city's safety plan. The ITN is an emergency warning system used to notify citizens of New Orleans for a wide spectrum of crises from hurricanes to missing children.
IntelliCast Target Notification is a telephone-based emergency notification tool used by public safety officials to rapidly identify, notify and instruct affected individuals in crisis situations. Intrado is a new corporate partner of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Mayor Nagin is the Chair of the Business Council for the Conference.If the ITN is so cost effective and has the ability to mass notify the thousands of "right individuals" within minutes, then were the names of bus drivers included in their database as part of their hurricane evacuation preparedness plan? If not so, why not? And if so, did the city use ITN to try and round up bus drivers or emergency volunteer drivers to help evacuate the people of New Orleans?
IntelliCast Target Notification is a cost effective, mass notification service for rapidly distributing critical information. It is a more comprehensive service than competitive systems because of its high calling capacity, and the accuracy of is telephone number and geographic information system (GIS) database. As a result, New Orleans officials will be able to contact thousands of the right individuals within minutes, delivering instructions on precisely how to respond to any emergency.
The irony continues,
George Heinrichs, president and CEO of Intrado, maker of ITN, about the recent contract win from the city of New Orleans said, "Mayor Nagin's decision to implement IntelliCast Target Notification underscores that even in times of tight municipal budgets, our service is a must have public safety tool for New Orleans' safe city arsenal."Here's another one:
"Public safety continues to be a top priority for mayors in this country," said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, chairman of The Mayors Business Council, USCM. "We need to maintain our focus on keeping citizens secure. Public/private partnerships such as this one with Intrado (make of Intellicast Target Notification help us to further the USCM’s stated goal of working hand-in-hand with members of the business community."
Yet, those yellow school buses never moved once. Why?
And let us not forget the U.S. Coast Guard post-hurricane rescue efforts who have plucked almost 16,000 stranded people off of their roofs when those yellow school buses could've done the job before the storm hit:
But, within hours of Hurricane Katrina striking the city, and even before the deadly floods began, Coast Guard helicopters from Mobile and other stations were flying rescue missions over the city.
By Sunday evening, the helicopter missions operated out of the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile had saved 4,243 lives from Katrina, officials said. The entire Coast Guard-wide effort had reached 15,655 lives saved, and Chief Petty Officer Paul Rhynard reported, "This is unprecedented for the Coast Guard."
Rhynard said further,"These are continuous flights, around-the-clock, 24-hours-a-day."
The howling winds of the hurricane had barely died down Monday evening when helicopter crews began being dispatched from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center at Mobile to pluck Katrina's victims out of the water and off the rooftops.
In more ways than one, the city of New Orleans was woefully inadequate to help people evacuate at the very beginning which would have alleviated many of the problems down the road.
For more information on other state and local preparedness plans, along with a partial timeline, and the outline on responsibilities of state and local governments, go here:
Everything start at the local level to help people evacuate. Then it goes to the state for more help and then finally a request to the White House for federal help from the Governor. But it is the Governor who has the power to request Federal help in disaster emergencies, not the Mayor.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
When Decadence Day is a Dud at New Orleans
With all the horrors and ravages of Hurricane Katrina ruining New Orleans, one such annual festival will certainly not transpire this week is the "Southern Decadence Day" which is nothing more than a Gay Mardi Gras day. This is where gays, lesbians and transgendered would decend upon the French Quarters like moths to a flame.
Amid the tragedy, about two dozen people gathered in the French Quarter for the Decadence Parade, an annual Labor Day gay celebration. Matt Menold, 23, a street musician wearing a sombrero and a guitar slung over his back, said: "It's New Orleans, man. We're going to celebrate."Nothing to cry about for this event. No biggie.
When a Democrat Mayor of New Orleans and Democrat Gov. of Louisiana Mess Up
It's all President Bush' fault and yet people refuse to look at Louisiana Governor Blanco's (white, Democrat) and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans (black, Democrat) who have basically fumbled in this whole evacuation process.
From the home page of http://www.drudgereport.com
Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00
From the home page of http://www.drudgereport.com
Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00
'The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...
Why didn't Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans use school buses that are now sitting damaged and useless in floodwaters? Remember, the brunt of Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana on August 27.
But thanks to Governor Blanco, she belatedly signed an Executive Order releasing school buses for evacuation uses on SEPTEMBER 1, 2005!! Leaving those behind unable to leave New Orleans and condemning them to their own fate to the raging storm and rising floodwaters.
Date: 9/1/2005
Contact:Denise Bottcher or Roderick Hawkins at
225-342-9037Governor Blanco Announces Executive Order Baton Rouge, LA
Governor Blanco today announced the following Executive Order:Executive Order NO. KBB
2005- 31- provides that pursuant to the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq., grants emergency powers to the governor, where, she has in consultation with school superintendents, utilized public school buses for transportation of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. As you are aware most public school districts will not begin school until Tuesday, September 6th 2005. The full text of the above mentioned
proclamation is available on the Internet at www.gov.state.la.us.
And you still think it's President Bush' fault?
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday (August 26!), the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law.
Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. “Quite frankly, if they’d been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,” said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush (see here when Congress actually has this authority) has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and
the New Orleans mayor.Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wedesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
“The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana,” White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. “The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana.
Gee, a funny thing happened on August 30, 3 days later after President Bush talked to Governor Blanco, Mayor Nagin declared Martial Law for New Orleans AFTER consulting with Governor Blanco. Although a Mayor nor a Governor can declare Martial Law. They can, however, declare a state of emergency. Declaring Martial Law is a Federal action.
The Governor of Louisiana was thinking politics while President Bush was thinking ahead for the safety and protection of people of Louisiana. Now, if ya'll thinking impeachment, better look at Louisiana Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin of New Orleans first.
Geez, those loony Lefties right off the bat condemning President Bush without even looking at the regional and local levels of incompentency surrounding New Orleans.
Right now, we need to rescue people stuck out in New Orleans out of New Orleans so clean up can begin.
U.S. Forest Service Waives Camping Fees for Hurricane Victims
Looks like everybody is doing their part to temporarily help relieve the transititioning for Hurricane Katraina survivors. The U.S. Forest Service is waiving camping fees for those people:
The USDA Forest Service is taking another step to assist survivors of Hurricane Katrina by temporarily rescinding the fee requirement for campgrounds and the 14-day stay limit for camping on some National Forest System lands in the Southern Region. The normal fee range is $4.00 to $25.00 depending on the location.
The forests offering free camping include the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, the National Forests of Alabama, the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas, the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma and the National Forests and Grasslands of Texas. In all, 106 campgrounds are open without charge to victims of Hurricane Katrina as they transition through these first weeks of the disaster.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Donations Exceed $287 Million
The surging amount of donations is surpasing $287 million dollars in 6 days. Compare that to the tsunami and the 9/11 donation efforts.
Thanks for the donations. Please, keep it coming. Contact your favorite charity for donations.
In an unprecedented surge of giving, individuals and companies donated more than $125 million in the past two days to help those devastated by Hurricane Katrina, bringing the total to more than $287 million, charities reported Friday.
The pace of donations has exceeded the outpouring after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which tracks charitable giving.
Thanks for the donations. Please, keep it coming. Contact your favorite charity for donations.
If You Are Complaining, You Are Not Helping
I've noticed on several blogs lately where instead of finding ways to help victims of Hurricane Katrina whether it's through donation, blogging, or volunteering help, these bloggers want to complain and politicize every conceivable actions against people who are trying to help. Actions are worth more than words alone. Roll up your sleeves and start doing something. Anything.
Now, I understand there were some terrible lapses but then again we have never dealt such a situation as this, nor the enormous logistical nightmare that lay before us in the first few days after Hurricane Katrina. The breaching of Lake Ponchartrain just made things worse adding more to the logistical nightmare.
Again, the internet has once again proven its power to help and move people around the world.
Help the victims of Hurricane Katrina anyway you can. Even posting a simple link to the American Red Cross. Contribution effort is the heart of the soul.
Now, I understand there were some terrible lapses but then again we have never dealt such a situation as this, nor the enormous logistical nightmare that lay before us in the first few days after Hurricane Katrina. The breaching of Lake Ponchartrain just made things worse adding more to the logistical nightmare.
Again, the internet has once again proven its power to help and move people around the world.
Help the victims of Hurricane Katrina anyway you can. Even posting a simple link to the American Red Cross. Contribution effort is the heart of the soul.
Group of Deaf People Found at Houston Astrodome
GROUP OF DEAF PEOPLE FOUND AT HOUSTON ASTRODOME!
Please contact deafsurvivors@hotmail.com to submit names of people you are looking for.
Visit Deaf Survivors Blog for more info and instructions.
Please contact deafsurvivors@hotmail.com to submit names of people you are looking for.
Visit Deaf Survivors Blog for more info and instructions.
Friday, September 02, 2005
NOLA Aerial Photos of Destruction
Go here and check out a 31-picture slideshow showing the destruction of Hurricane Katrina's wrath and the vulnerability of Lake Ponchartrain's levee system had on the city of New Orleans. One of the slideshow, #30, shows New Orleans yellow school buses sitting, unused, in floodwaters when the Mayor of New Orleans could have put them into live saving use in the evacuation efforts for those who had no means of transportation.
Approximately 95 yellow school buses seen
sitting in floodwaters.
Now, each bus is capable of carrying approximately 40 people. One trip alone evacuating New Orleans would evacuate 3800 people (using the 95 buses seen in the picture, and we may be talking about several hundred yellow school buses sitting unused, now forever damaged by floodwaters) multiplied however many trips needed throughout the day in shuttling those out of New Orleans. With all of the yellow school buses already available, they can easily transport 30,000 to 40,000 evacuees every two hours out of New Orleans fish bowl for those who do not own cars or have other means of transportation. Why didn't the Mayor of New Orleans choose to do this? Hey, better look a bit closer at New Orleans than President Bush.
No, Michael Moore, those are not Twinkies. Remember, Twinkies are no longer being made.
Approximately 95 yellow school buses seen
sitting in floodwaters.
Now, each bus is capable of carrying approximately 40 people. One trip alone evacuating New Orleans would evacuate 3800 people (using the 95 buses seen in the picture, and we may be talking about several hundred yellow school buses sitting unused, now forever damaged by floodwaters) multiplied however many trips needed throughout the day in shuttling those out of New Orleans. With all of the yellow school buses already available, they can easily transport 30,000 to 40,000 evacuees every two hours out of New Orleans fish bowl for those who do not own cars or have other means of transportation. Why didn't the Mayor of New Orleans choose to do this? Hey, better look a bit closer at New Orleans than President Bush.
No, Michael Moore, those are not Twinkies. Remember, Twinkies are no longer being made.
Using Currently Closed Military Bases as Semi-Permanent Refugee Centers
Here's an idea. Use currently closed military bases that can be used as semi-permanent city for Hurricane Katrina refugees? I think people are already starting to suggest this.
Here's one site that list the "Planned Property Disposals at 23 Bases Closed in the 1993." 1993 was the most recent BRAC closing of military bases.
Check out the "Timeline for 2005 Base Closures"
So, we might have an answer on where to put these refugees over the next 3 to 4 months. How fast can this go for President Bush to enact an emergency measure to use closed military bases, current and future, for Hurricane Katrina refugees?
Using closed military bases for homeless people, click on the link, scroll down and read the "Base Closure Process" and
"Recommendations for Acquiring Property to Serve the Homeless."
In fact, use Walter Reed hospital , slated to be closed, which have beds, cafeteria, other amenties and dormitories!
Michelle Malkin, are you listening? President Bush, are YOU listening??
Here's one site that list the "Planned Property Disposals at 23 Bases Closed in the 1993." 1993 was the most recent BRAC closing of military bases.
Check out the "Timeline for 2005 Base Closures"
September 8, 2005: Deadline for the Base Closure Commission to transmit its recommendations to the President. The President has until September 23, 2005, to approve or disapprove the recommendations. If he approves, he transmits them to Congress. The list is binding unless both Houses of Congress pass a joint resolution of disapproval within 45 legislative days.
So, we might have an answer on where to put these refugees over the next 3 to 4 months. How fast can this go for President Bush to enact an emergency measure to use closed military bases, current and future, for Hurricane Katrina refugees?
Using closed military bases for homeless people, click on the link, scroll down and read the "Base Closure Process" and
"Recommendations for Acquiring Property to Serve the Homeless."
In fact, use Walter Reed hospital , slated to be closed, which have beds, cafeteria, other amenties and dormitories!
Michelle Malkin, are you listening? President Bush, are YOU listening??
More Updates On Deaf Survivors Blog
Please check out Deaf Survivors Blog for more information on emergency contacts, missing deaf and hard of hearing people, more names or organizations to contact, and other people who can help with proper communication emergency help for deaf and hard of hearing people. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is testing everybody's resolve.
Also, check out Michelle Malkin's list of Texas bloggers doing their best to help out.
UPDATE: Got a neat idea suggested by Eve and Lantana. Why not use the now already closed military bases to relocate refugees to and get them out of those crampy Astrodome and relief centers? Michelle Malkin, are you listening??
UPDATE 2: Oh, yeah, and relocate those Hurricane Katrina refugees before President Bush ultimately decides to convert closed military bases into future oil refineries. A smart thing to do when oil refineries are out of commission in Louisiana to Hurricane Katrina.
UPDATE 3: Of course, just don't send the Hurricane Katrina refugees here. Michelle Malkin et al, are you listening??
Also, check out Michelle Malkin's list of Texas bloggers doing their best to help out.
UPDATE: Got a neat idea suggested by Eve and Lantana. Why not use the now already closed military bases to relocate refugees to and get them out of those crampy Astrodome and relief centers? Michelle Malkin, are you listening??
UPDATE 2: Oh, yeah, and relocate those Hurricane Katrina refugees before President Bush ultimately decides to convert closed military bases into future oil refineries. A smart thing to do when oil refineries are out of commission in Louisiana to Hurricane Katrina.
UPDATE 3: Of course, just don't send the Hurricane Katrina refugees here. Michelle Malkin et al, are you listening??
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Deaf Survivors Blog - Where are you?
There is a new blog dedicated to help deaf and hard of hearing friends and loved ones find each other after catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina. Communication is the biggest hurdle to overcome for these people. Please visit Deaf Survivors Blog to submit names of friends and loved ones that you are looking for hoping. Please spread the word so that others won't be left wondering where these people are.
Before and After Satellite Photos of New Orleans, and Deaf Survivors of Hurricane Katrina
See the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in before and after satellite photos.
Where are deaf and hard of hearing survivors of Hurricane Katrina survivors? Has anyone heard of Suzy Ledet who lives just outside of New Orleans? What about Biloxi or other hard hit areas? Did any deaf people stay behind to try and ride out the storm?
National Association of the Deaf is keeping a close eye on areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Communication issues will be addressed as soon as possible when it becomes practicable. But is this "wait-and-see" attitude a good thing?
Deaf Coffee of New Orleans, Louisiana, survivors of the storm?
Louisiana Commission for the Deaf has a list of offices throughout the state where assistance or direction for deaf/hh survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Will they be helping out to provide services and other needs to deaf/hh survivors?
Will Sorenson VRS help with the communication part? Perhaps set up interpreters via their product?
Are deaf/hh bloggers doing anything to help? Are they covering news on deaf/hh people that may be missing or need help? Are they helping them find other lost or missing people find each other? Or are they sitting on their duffs and politicizing the whole thing and do the whole blame game instead?
Contact the American Red Cross for help or donation for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
If you don't have a Sorenson, use the Sprint Relay from your computer to make phone calls to the American Red Cross or other charities, or contact services for more information regarding people or areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Where are deaf and hard of hearing survivors of Hurricane Katrina survivors? Has anyone heard of Suzy Ledet who lives just outside of New Orleans? What about Biloxi or other hard hit areas? Did any deaf people stay behind to try and ride out the storm?
National Association of the Deaf is keeping a close eye on areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Communication issues will be addressed as soon as possible when it becomes practicable. But is this "wait-and-see" attitude a good thing?
Deaf Coffee of New Orleans, Louisiana, survivors of the storm?
Louisiana Commission for the Deaf has a list of offices throughout the state where assistance or direction for deaf/hh survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Will they be helping out to provide services and other needs to deaf/hh survivors?
Will Sorenson VRS help with the communication part? Perhaps set up interpreters via their product?
Are deaf/hh bloggers doing anything to help? Are they covering news on deaf/hh people that may be missing or need help? Are they helping them find other lost or missing people find each other? Or are they sitting on their duffs and politicizing the whole thing and do the whole blame game instead?
Contact the American Red Cross for help or donation for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
If you don't have a Sorenson, use the Sprint Relay from your computer to make phone calls to the American Red Cross or other charities, or contact services for more information regarding people or areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Bloggers, Liars, Survivors, Naysayers, and Oil
The horrors seen so far on the devastation from hurricane Katrina are just unfathomable. The hurricane slammed into the Gulf states' coastline as a Category 4 hurricane at 140mph. Now, bloggers from around the United States are doing their best to keep people informed on who to go to for donation (e.g. money, food, clothings, shelter) or where to go to volunteer for help. Michelle Malkin draws up a list showing that people have begun to roll up their sleeves for this multi-year rescue effort. Survivors have a long way to go and they need our help. But the first sign of international "help" may come abroad in the form of oil:
Nearly 95 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output was out of service among the 4000+ oil rigs and platforms that dot the offshore waters known as the Gulf of Mexico Central waters. Or click here for a much larger map. It is assumed that much of the 33,000 miles of underwater pipelines that carry the oil were also affected. Most of the oil rigs and platforms are concentrated near Louisiana, Missississippi and Alabama resting above the Continental Shelf as well as on the outer Continental Shelf. But compared to hurricane Ivan in 2004 the damage was much less extensive where only 150 structures out of the 4000 and 33,000 miles of pipelines were affected. This was a storm when wind speeds were around 140 mph versus Katrina's at 175 mph .
You can check up on the latest date on "Hurricane Katrina Evacuation and Production Shut-in Statistics" on number of evacuated, damaged or destroyed rigs and underwater oil pipe lines caused by hurricane Katrina by clicking on the link near the upper right corner of website. Compare Katrina's with that of Ivan's. Or click here to see the history of hurricanes or tropical storms impact on oil production.
Currently, the number of US structures in the Gulf is roughly 4,000, with 819 manned platforms. And those numbers are only expected to grow according to Minerals Management Service (MMS), which regulates the oil industry in federal waters.
Hurricanes do have the potential to impact oil production should they come close to oil facilities or structures. Hurricane Katrina is believed to be the worst ever by shutting down U.S. domestic oil production as much as 95 percent. But offshore oil rigs and platforms have improved their survivability in hurricane force winds exceeding Category 1. However, a Category 5 hurricane is another story.
Next we have is this silliness from the yahoo left who have (falsely) remembered or believed that there were no increased gas prices during the 1980s despite the rash of "deadly" hurricanes that tore into offshore oil rigs and platforms out on the Gulf of Mexico waters. Allow me to educate some of these myths thinking that supply and demand are not the case but rather mostly corporate oil price gauging. A Funny bunch of little kiddies they are.
Throughout the 1980s hurricane seasons were relatively quiet in the Gulf of Mexico. A few Category 1 or 2 hurricanes hit the Gulf of Mexico causing minor disruption to oil production near Louisiana or its onshore oil refineries. But the late 1980s? Hardly any hurricanes, much less a tropical storm, ever hit the Louisiana/Missississippi/Alabama/Texas area. But when a large enough hurricane does hit offshore rigs/platforms and inland oil refineries, the impact is immediately felt.
The Chalmette Refinery, located about 10 miles east of downtown New Orleans, processes 190,000 barrels of oil a day. It was shut down by Exxon Mobil and Petróleos de Venezuela, its co-owners in anticipation of hurricane Katrina. Valero Energy shut down its St. Charles refinery in Louisiana, and Chevron shut down a refinery in Pascagoula, Miss., on the coast near the Alabama border. The largest capacity refinery shut down by the storm was an Exxon Mobil refinery in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital which is about 80 miles Northwest form New Orleans. The plant can process 493,500 barrels of oil a day. Oil exporation and production continues to grow in the Gulf of Mexico and we can thank President Clinton for signing "The Deep Water Royalty Relief Act" (DWRRA) into law in November 1995. This law improved the economics of deep-water production allowing oil rigs and platforms to spring up all over the Gulf of Mexico. Today these offshore oil rigs and platforms provide more than 25% of all U.S. domestic oil and gas production.
Besides the impact on U.S. oil affecting internationally, a few international government are taking advantage of the environmental and personal tragedy exacted by hurricane Katrina to bash President Bush on global warming. QandO has the details about Germany's unthoughtful rhetorics. Perhaps we should send the 75,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany over to devastated areas impacted by hurricane Katrina, and maybe Germany will finally feel their own economic impact for the time being. Also, Captain's Quarters have more info on RFK jr's hot air on global warming and hurricane Katrina.
However, there are a few "relief funds" being set up by international businesses (plural?). International help to assist devastated communities in the United States is vastly small compared to the U.S. own generous charities by private citizens and businesses.
Check out "The Bad Hair Blog" on which countries outside of the United States are wanting to help and contribute to the cause of Hurricane Katrina victims.
Michelle Malkin makes a similar observation, too.
Remember, this hurricane relief effort will be long term and will be felt for years. Much longer than the impact felt by Hurricane Andrew when it hit Florida in 1992. The year 2005 is the year of killer Katrina.
the US, Europe and Japan have enough strategic emergency stockpiles of crude oil to wait a week to assess the damage before having to decide whether to release oil to damp prices,But Japan nixes the idea. Saudi Arabia is getting in on the act to boost oil production.
Nearly 95 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output was out of service among the 4000+ oil rigs and platforms that dot the offshore waters known as the Gulf of Mexico Central waters. Or click here for a much larger map. It is assumed that much of the 33,000 miles of underwater pipelines that carry the oil were also affected. Most of the oil rigs and platforms are concentrated near Louisiana, Missississippi and Alabama resting above the Continental Shelf as well as on the outer Continental Shelf. But compared to hurricane Ivan in 2004 the damage was much less extensive where only 150 structures out of the 4000 and 33,000 miles of pipelines were affected. This was a storm when wind speeds were around 140 mph versus Katrina's at 175 mph .
Of the 4,000 structures and 33,000 miles of pipelines in the gulf....150 platforms and 10,000 miles of pipelines were in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan. A substantial amount of the deferred production is directly attributable to damage that has occurred along pipeline routes rather than actual structural damage to the producing platforms. Pipelines in mud slide areas off the mouth of the Mississippi River experienced failures and will take a significant effort to locate and repair because the pipelines are buried by as much as 20 to 30 feet of mud.
You can check up on the latest date on "Hurricane Katrina Evacuation and Production Shut-in Statistics" on number of evacuated, damaged or destroyed rigs and underwater oil pipe lines caused by hurricane Katrina by clicking on the link near the upper right corner of website. Compare Katrina's with that of Ivan's. Or click here to see the history of hurricanes or tropical storms impact on oil production.
Currently, the number of US structures in the Gulf is roughly 4,000, with 819 manned platforms. And those numbers are only expected to grow according to Minerals Management Service (MMS), which regulates the oil industry in federal waters.
Hurricanes do have the potential to impact oil production should they come close to oil facilities or structures. Hurricane Katrina is believed to be the worst ever by shutting down U.S. domestic oil production as much as 95 percent. But offshore oil rigs and platforms have improved their survivability in hurricane force winds exceeding Category 1. However, a Category 5 hurricane is another story.
Next we have is this silliness from the yahoo left who have (falsely) remembered or believed that there were no increased gas prices during the 1980s despite the rash of "deadly" hurricanes that tore into offshore oil rigs and platforms out on the Gulf of Mexico waters. Allow me to educate some of these myths thinking that supply and demand are not the case but rather mostly corporate oil price gauging. A Funny bunch of little kiddies they are.
I'm stating the fact that when hurricanes hits the region in late 1980s, no gas prices had increased at all! Right now, anything happened, the gas prices increased! It is an excuse after an excuse. Don't you get it? Or are you that young to notice something amiss?A fact? Something's amiss? Perhaps it's the guy who made the comment is missing something here and ought to do some serious checking on facts. Anybody can do a simple check on hurricane history in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and compare the immense impact of 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. But hurricane Katrina was the worst of all with a Category 5 slamming into many of the offshore oil rigs and platforms just as Hurricane Ivan did near Louisiana, Missississippi and Alabama coastlines but only with winds in the 130-140mph category.
Throughout the 1980s hurricane seasons were relatively quiet in the Gulf of Mexico. A few Category 1 or 2 hurricanes hit the Gulf of Mexico causing minor disruption to oil production near Louisiana or its onshore oil refineries. But the late 1980s? Hardly any hurricanes, much less a tropical storm, ever hit the Louisiana/Missississippi/Alabama/Texas area. But when a large enough hurricane does hit offshore rigs/platforms and inland oil refineries, the impact is immediately felt.
The Chalmette Refinery, located about 10 miles east of downtown New Orleans, processes 190,000 barrels of oil a day. It was shut down by Exxon Mobil and Petróleos de Venezuela, its co-owners in anticipation of hurricane Katrina. Valero Energy shut down its St. Charles refinery in Louisiana, and Chevron shut down a refinery in Pascagoula, Miss., on the coast near the Alabama border. The largest capacity refinery shut down by the storm was an Exxon Mobil refinery in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital which is about 80 miles Northwest form New Orleans. The plant can process 493,500 barrels of oil a day. Oil exporation and production continues to grow in the Gulf of Mexico and we can thank President Clinton for signing "The Deep Water Royalty Relief Act" (DWRRA) into law in November 1995. This law improved the economics of deep-water production allowing oil rigs and platforms to spring up all over the Gulf of Mexico. Today these offshore oil rigs and platforms provide more than 25% of all U.S. domestic oil and gas production.
In an effort to promote the exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil in deep water, the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (DWRRA) implemented a royalty-relief program that relieves eligible leases from paying royalties on defined amounts of deep-water production. After its expiration in 2000, the DWRRA was redefined and extended to promote continued interest in deep water. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) defines a "deep-water" lease as having a minimum water depth of 200 meters (656 feet). To be eligible for relief, the lease must be located in the Gulf of Mexico and west of 87 degrees and 30 minutes West longitude (the Florida-Alabama boundary).How ironic. President Clinton? An oil man?
Besides the impact on U.S. oil affecting internationally, a few international government are taking advantage of the environmental and personal tragedy exacted by hurricane Katrina to bash President Bush on global warming. QandO has the details about Germany's unthoughtful rhetorics. Perhaps we should send the 75,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany over to devastated areas impacted by hurricane Katrina, and maybe Germany will finally feel their own economic impact for the time being. Also, Captain's Quarters have more info on RFK jr's hot air on global warming and hurricane Katrina.
However, there are a few "relief funds" being set up by international businesses (plural?). International help to assist devastated communities in the United States is vastly small compared to the U.S. own generous charities by private citizens and businesses.
Check out "The Bad Hair Blog" on which countries outside of the United States are wanting to help and contribute to the cause of Hurricane Katrina victims.
Michelle Malkin makes a similar observation, too.
Remember, this hurricane relief effort will be long term and will be felt for years. Much longer than the impact felt by Hurricane Andrew when it hit Florida in 1992. The year 2005 is the year of killer Katrina.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Hurricane Bloggers, Please Let Us Know How You Fared
Kokonut Pundits is asking hurricane bloggers to tell us how you are doing and whether your homes or friends and relatives survived the killer hurricane Katrina storm. Please trackback here as well as Michelle Malkin's website.
Rising floodwaters have trapped many people in their homes near coastal waters forcing them into the attics during the height of the storm's wrath. It is unknown if any of them have drowned in their own attics or they were able to punch their way into the roof. The damage is appalling and castrophic. Martial law has been declared for the city of New Orleans where breached levees continue to pour water into the city.
Help with the donations by sending supplies and monies to the American Red Cross.
The damaging effects from Hurricane Katrina will be felt for years. Right now, people will have to survive over the next several weeks or few months. What's worse, hurricane season is not over, yet.
Rising floodwaters have trapped many people in their homes near coastal waters forcing them into the attics during the height of the storm's wrath. It is unknown if any of them have drowned in their own attics or they were able to punch their way into the roof. The damage is appalling and castrophic. Martial law has been declared for the city of New Orleans where breached levees continue to pour water into the city.
Help with the donations by sending supplies and monies to the American Red Cross.
The damaging effects from Hurricane Katrina will be felt for years. Right now, people will have to survive over the next several weeks or few months. What's worse, hurricane season is not over, yet.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Hurricane Bloggers in the Path of Killer Hurricane Katrina
Here are a list of hurricane bloggers who are in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
What I Tend to Believe - Lives in Gulf Port, MS. He's sticking it out. Probably a fool.
Darth Oogie Boogie - 40 miles? southwest of New Orleans.
Ash Kahchan - lives in Baton Rouge, LA.
Hattie's Blog - Hattiesburg, MS. About 80 miles north of Gulf Port, MS.
IPWOLOGY - Hattiesburg, MS.
Morning Sickness - Lives near Mobile Bay, AL.
Altjiranga Mitjina - Slidell, LA
John's Online Journal - lives near Lake Ponchartrain, Covington, LA. This is an area most concerned for flooding from Lake Ponchartrain.
Dummocrats - lives in New Orleans.
Wizbang - popular blogger lives in New Orleans.
The Virtual Dollhouse - lives near New Orleans.
Rabid Pixie - lives in New Orleans. She already evacuated and made her last blog.
Ophelia Muffet - lives 125 miles north of the coast in Missississippi.
Izzy Mo's Blog - a Muslim (anti-war) live blogging from the New Orleans International Airport Garage.
Kaye's Hurricane blog - near Lousiana State University.
Unapologetic - blogs on the road. Will cover the 100K people unable to get out.
The Subconcious Machine - a barkeep in New Orleans. Plans to stay in storm. Famous last words.
Modblog - planned to stay at his house, but knew better. Staying at some hotel on the 2nd floor outside of New Orleans(?).
Insomnia - has a good list of Livejournal bloggers with many of them staying in the path of the storm although not exactly sure where they are located. Haven't looked at each individual journal.
Shyblue - Lives in LaPlace, LA, which is about 20 miles west of New Orleans near the southwestern edge of Lake Ponchartrain. Lives in a trailer. Plans to evacuate a little further out.
Libertas - lives in Baton Rouge, LA. Will try and blog as long as power is on.
Live Causeway Cam New Orleans, LA
Bourbon Street webcam - how long will this camera be on?
NOLA (New Orleans, LA) Cams - lot of them are functioning...so far. You can get live video feed as well. Best site for cams in New Orleans on the hurricane.
Contact me for more Hurricane Katrina bloggers that are in the path of the hurricane, whether they've evacuated or not. Keep coming back to check up on my growing list of bloggers...some of them crazy or have no choice, so to speak.
Pray for them.
UPDATE: Some very serious and ominous notes from NOAA for those who are close to the coastline to even 20-40 miles inland.
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER.
AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED.
ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE.
ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION.
PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED.
WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069
What I Tend to Believe - Lives in Gulf Port, MS. He's sticking it out. Probably a fool.
Darth Oogie Boogie - 40 miles? southwest of New Orleans.
Ash Kahchan - lives in Baton Rouge, LA.
Hattie's Blog - Hattiesburg, MS. About 80 miles north of Gulf Port, MS.
IPWOLOGY - Hattiesburg, MS.
Morning Sickness - Lives near Mobile Bay, AL.
Altjiranga Mitjina - Slidell, LA
John's Online Journal - lives near Lake Ponchartrain, Covington, LA. This is an area most concerned for flooding from Lake Ponchartrain.
Dummocrats - lives in New Orleans.
Wizbang - popular blogger lives in New Orleans.
The Virtual Dollhouse - lives near New Orleans.
Rabid Pixie - lives in New Orleans. She already evacuated and made her last blog.
Ophelia Muffet - lives 125 miles north of the coast in Missississippi.
Izzy Mo's Blog - a Muslim (anti-war) live blogging from the New Orleans International Airport Garage.
Kaye's Hurricane blog - near Lousiana State University.
Unapologetic - blogs on the road. Will cover the 100K people unable to get out.
The Subconcious Machine - a barkeep in New Orleans. Plans to stay in storm. Famous last words.
Modblog - planned to stay at his house, but knew better. Staying at some hotel on the 2nd floor outside of New Orleans(?).
Insomnia - has a good list of Livejournal bloggers with many of them staying in the path of the storm although not exactly sure where they are located. Haven't looked at each individual journal.
Shyblue - Lives in LaPlace, LA, which is about 20 miles west of New Orleans near the southwestern edge of Lake Ponchartrain. Lives in a trailer. Plans to evacuate a little further out.
Libertas - lives in Baton Rouge, LA. Will try and blog as long as power is on.
Live Causeway Cam New Orleans, LA
Bourbon Street webcam - how long will this camera be on?
NOLA (New Orleans, LA) Cams - lot of them are functioning...so far. You can get live video feed as well. Best site for cams in New Orleans on the hurricane.
Contact me for more Hurricane Katrina bloggers that are in the path of the hurricane, whether they've evacuated or not. Keep coming back to check up on my growing list of bloggers...some of them crazy or have no choice, so to speak.
Pray for them.
UPDATE: Some very serious and ominous notes from NOAA for those who are close to the coastline to even 20-40 miles inland.
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA 413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER.
AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED.
ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE.
ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION.
PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED.
WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069
Democrat Activist Rev. Fred Phelps
A loony Democrat activist Rev. Fred Phelps and his church is up to no good.
anti-war anti-American rhetorics to the funerals of slain U.S. soldiers? And ultimately have the unmitigated gall to disregard family member's requests for privacy and respect for the slain U.S. soldier? But they don't and often without their permission to film such somber and private funeral events. A simple request for decorum and respect are all they ask, and they cannot even do that.
Liberals can have their loony Democrat Rev. Fred Phelps and his extended loony family members. The Phelps share the same hateful rhetoric and contempts as do Liberals when it comes to not supporting U.S. troops, respecting funerals and the keen ability to spout utter nonsense.
Democrats, go ahead and enjoy your own Democrat activist Rev. Fred Phelps. Republicans abhore him and his family with his hateful rhetorics. We'll take Democrat Sen. Zell Miller if you don't mind.
Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.
The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws. The church members carried signs and shouted things such as "God hates fags" and "God hates you."
Those that know better showed their true American patriotism by showing their support for U.S. troops:
The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming "God bless America."Of course, who but the liberal Democrats would bring their
Liberals can have their loony Democrat Rev. Fred Phelps and his extended loony family members. The Phelps share the same hateful rhetoric and contempts as do Liberals when it comes to not supporting U.S. troops, respecting funerals and the keen ability to spout utter nonsense.
Democrats, go ahead and enjoy your own Democrat activist Rev. Fred Phelps. Republicans abhore him and his family with his hateful rhetorics. We'll take Democrat Sen. Zell Miller if you don't mind.
Hurricane Katrina - the Real Deal Folks. A CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE!
Hurricane Katrina is now a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 175 mph (281 kmh) near the eye makes this storm extremely dangerous and catastrophic! The eye is currently 30 miles by 30 miles, clearly visible from space in satellite photos. President Bush has now declared a state of emergency fo the state of Louisana and Missississippi. Already Hurricane Katrina has killed 7 people in Florida when it was a mere Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds at 80 mph and dumped as much as 18 inches of rain. We're facing the grim prospect of a Category 5 hurricane making a direct hit, most likely, to Louisana or Missississippi. Sustained winds could very well get up to 180 mph. These winds are not gusts but SUSTAINED winds with likely gusts over 200 mph. This is effectively a 35 - 65 mile wide tornado! Only this time, Hurricane Katrina is no mere tornado.
Damages are expect to be enormous. Expect oil prices to go up markedly because much of the offshore oil production rigs and oil refineries are in Louisana where Hurricane Katrina will interrput oil flow, probably for some time because of the ferocity and size of Hurricane Katrina.
Another concern is the city of New Orleans sits several feet below sea level and any water that goes into the city from rainfall has to be pumped out. With Hurricane Katrina the fear is that the city may not have the ability nor the capacity to handle Katrina with the combined ocean surge of 18 feet along with incoming rainfall. Combined the deadly winds, rainfall and ocean surges, New Orleans may be in fact be facing "THE BIG ONE."
If the storm makes a direct hit on the city we could be looking at 40,000 to 60,000 casualties according to one official making comments on The Weather Channel just moments ago taking cue from FEMA computer modeling scenaria for a slow moving Category 4 or 5 storm submerging New Orleans.
New Orleans would not be the only city impacted but the surrounding communities inland, towns and smaller cities, perhaps far north as Tennessee or Virginia, may well feel the deadly impact from the hurricane spawing tornadoes, torrential winds and winds, though much diminshed when the eye of the hurricane goes inland and loses strength. Currently the two biggest cities at risk for destruction are New Orleans and Biloxi.
The last time a Category 5 hurricane hit land fall was the 1992 Hurricane Andrew. Only 3 Category 5 hurricanes made landfall ever since records were kept.
Batten down the hatches (better yet, move!) for the people of the coastal states from Louisana to the Florida pan handle. This includes people far inland as well! This sucker is huge! We're praying for you folks. Please, take this seriously! JUST GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Hurricane Katrina. Category 5. August 28, 2005. ~7AM EST
Damages are expect to be enormous. Expect oil prices to go up markedly because much of the offshore oil production rigs and oil refineries are in Louisana where Hurricane Katrina will interrput oil flow, probably for some time because of the ferocity and size of Hurricane Katrina.
Another concern is the city of New Orleans sits several feet below sea level and any water that goes into the city from rainfall has to be pumped out. With Hurricane Katrina the fear is that the city may not have the ability nor the capacity to handle Katrina with the combined ocean surge of 18 feet along with incoming rainfall. Combined the deadly winds, rainfall and ocean surges, New Orleans may be in fact be facing "THE BIG ONE."
Amid this maelstrom, the estimated 200,000 or more people left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter in New Orleans for people too sick or infirm to leave the city. Others will end up in last-minute emergency refuges that will offer minimal safety. But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground.
Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days.
"If you look at the World Trade Center collapsing, it'll be like that, but add water," Eichorn said. "There will be debris flying around, and you're going to be in the water with snakes, rodents, nutria and fish from the lake. It's not going to be nice."
If the storm makes a direct hit on the city we could be looking at 40,000 to 60,000 casualties according to one official making comments on The Weather Channel just moments ago taking cue from FEMA computer modeling scenaria for a slow moving Category 4 or 5 storm submerging New Orleans.
New Orleans would not be the only city impacted but the surrounding communities inland, towns and smaller cities, perhaps far north as Tennessee or Virginia, may well feel the deadly impact from the hurricane spawing tornadoes, torrential winds and winds, though much diminshed when the eye of the hurricane goes inland and loses strength. Currently the two biggest cities at risk for destruction are New Orleans and Biloxi.
The last time a Category 5 hurricane hit land fall was the 1992 Hurricane Andrew. Only 3 Category 5 hurricanes made landfall ever since records were kept.
Only 3 Category Five Hurricanes have made landfall in the United States since records began: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille (1969), and Hurricane Andrew in August, 1992. The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane struck the Florida Keys with a minimum pressure of 892 millibar--the lowest pressure ever observed in the United States. Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast causing a 25-foot storm surge, which inundated Pass Christian. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 made landfall over southern Miami-Dade County, Florida causing 26.5 billion dollars in losses--the costliest hurricane on record. In addition, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988 was a Category Five hurricane at peak intensity and is the strongest Atlantic tropical cyclone on record with a minimum pressure of 888 millibar.Please folks, this is the real deal here. Nothing to get excited about and we are praying for the people that they will survive the storm if they cannot get out in time, or simply cannot leave because they have no means or money to do so. Take refuge in large structure such as the Superdome. As for evacuation numbers, we're talking about millions of people trying to move out the way to the North, East or West. Officials even predict that part of East-West I-10 highway will be submerged by the surging coastal waters coming as high as 25 feet as a worse case scenario. This is a storm not to be laughed about or wished upon. No hurricanes or storms should be rooted for but people do that nowadays with sickening appall. If the storm hits New Orleans or Biloxi, the city and surrounding areas will be unrecognizable. Everything just scoured and peeled away. This is a storm that is expected to bring 18 ft high ocean surges, dangerous flooding, catstrophic wind speeds, and spawned tornados.
Batten down the hatches (better yet, move!) for the people of the coastal states from Louisana to the Florida pan handle. This includes people far inland as well! This sucker is huge! We're praying for you folks. Please, take this seriously! JUST GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Hurricane Katrina. Category 5. August 28, 2005. ~7AM EST
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Switching Genes In Female Fruit Fly to Act Like Male Fly
An interesting article in The Raw Story concerning gene switching in a fruit fly in a scientific journal called "Cell" reported a gene study where
Not necessarily, unless you're the paranoid type. It just that geneticists discovered a switching mechanism in the genes of fruit flies to make heterosexual female flies perform mating rituals like a male fly. However, The Raw Story goes on to state their fears about the study, which, to me if you don't mind the pun, is completely fruitless. If the gene can be found to switch sexual behaviors in fruit flies, then certainly the opposite is true by switching a fly's sexual behavior from heterosexual to gay, or vice versa. In other words, loosen up dudes, it's just a study.
switching one single gene in a female fruit fly (the common name for Drosophilia) turned her gay. A previously heterosexual fruit fly suddenly began performing the mating ritual as if she were a male.The article makes a note that
If, after all, we identify a gay gene in humans, does that mean that society strikes out on a mission to eliminate homosexuality? Would it mean that homosexuality would just be characterized as a disability, or a negative inherited trait like alcoholism or higher chances of cancer?
Not necessarily, unless you're the paranoid type. It just that geneticists discovered a switching mechanism in the genes of fruit flies to make heterosexual female flies perform mating rituals like a male fly. However, The Raw Story goes on to state their fears about the study, which, to me if you don't mind the pun, is completely fruitless. If the gene can be found to switch sexual behaviors in fruit flies, then certainly the opposite is true by switching a fly's sexual behavior from heterosexual to gay, or vice versa. In other words, loosen up dudes, it's just a study.
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