Subj : Re: Um...no comment? To : alt.tv.farscape From : John Iwaniszek Date : Fri Sep 02 2005 14:41:47 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Nick wrote in news:Xns96C54F0526C17ndtcm@204.153.244.170: > John Iwaniszek wrote: > >> "RR" wrote in >> news:a0QRe.210679$0f.188639@tornado.texas.rr.com: >> >>> John Iwaniszek wrote: >>> >>>>> In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one >>>>> of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush >>>>> administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent >>>>> to pay for the Iraq war. >>>>> >>>>> A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how >>>>> New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but >>>>> the Bush administration ordered that the research not be >>>>> undertaken. >>>>> >>>>> After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the >>>>> Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the >>>>> Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping >>>>> stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency >>>>> issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was >>>>> one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a >>>>> terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding >>>>> for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was >>>>> drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut >>>>> funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army >>>>> Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake >>>>> Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the >>>>> beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of >>>>> 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the >>>>> Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding >>>>> funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late. >>>>> >>>>> The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane >>>>> published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose >>>>> presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they >>>>> didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst >>>>> storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of >>>>> preparation." >>>>> >>>>> By Sidney Blumenthal >>>>> Salon.com Wednesday 31 August 2005 >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Here's a timeline for the gutting of FEMA, starting, you guessed >>>> it, in 2001. >>>> >>>> http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_ >>>> 09/007023.ph p >>> >>> Is is just me, or - based on the above info - does this smack of >>> heaping amounts of bullshit insult to injury?: >>> >>> http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/index.html >>> >> >> I would say that it's just about par for the course. And I don't >> golf. > > Here is a story that I find most disturbing because it will affect me > both personally and long term. > http://tinyurl.com/afb5h > > Overnight Baton Rouge Becomes Largest City in Louisiana > > By Ann Gerhart > Washington Post Staff Writer > Thursday, September 1, 2005; 2:36 PM > > BATON ROUGE, Sept. 1 -- Seventy miles west of New Orleans, the state > capital of Baton Rouge and its surrounding parish received its own > storm surge overnight: a huge wave of displaced people, dragging their > anger, misery and desperation along with them. > > In a day, this city has become the largest in Louisiana, and grim > local officials here predicted it would double in size, to about > 800,000, permanently. "The Baton Rouge we live in and grew up in is no > longer," said city councilman Mike Walker. "These people are here to > stay, perhaps forever." > > City police chief Jeff Leduff said buses and volunteer drivers > Wednesday evening began picking up stranded New Orleans residents from > the highways and then "just dropping them off wherever they see a > gaggle of lights, any neighborhood, any store." > > About 3,000 refugees suddenly appeared about midnight on the campus of > Louisiana State University, where a shelter already was at capacity. > They were turned away. Most of those 3,000 eventually made their way > to the emergency rooms of the area's three biggest hospitals, where > "they created extreme chaos and disturbance" throughout the night, > said Dr. Louis Minsky, medical director for East Baton Rouge parish. > > There were reports of attempted carjackings at 24-hour gas stations. > Authorities decided to impose a 10 p.m. cutoff for gas sales. > > Sheriff's deputies were dispatched as armed guards for grocery > warehouses, and police stepped up around-the-clock controls downtown, > where Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and > FEMA director Michael Brown are hunkered down. > > Shortly before noon Thursday, police and SWAT teams with automatic > weapons moved to secure several city blocks near the largest shelter, > the River Center, which houses about 5,000 refugees. > > Officials made a decision to allow non-essential workers from the city > government building to go home for the day, said Michael Smith, a > spokesman for the emergency operations center here, and officers > escorted those who left to their cars. > > "We called for additional sheriffs and city police to secure the area > and let those people out," he said. He said rumors of looting and > mayhem were unfounded and were spread through local talk radio. > Officials here, he said, hope the display of force would show that > government here, unlike in New Orleans, was in control. > > The parish has several Red Cross-run shelters already filled up with > at least 10,000 people, and security is an increasing problem in them, > as well as a strain on paramedic responders. > > "Everybody in the River Center," the largest shelter, "has a cell > phone, and when they run out of medicine, they just call 911," said a > spokesman for the city's emergency services department. > > With a new month beginning Thursday, hundreds of the newly homeless > and poor crowded up the area's food-stamp offices to start > applications. > > In addition, others are coming to town looking for opportunity. > "People are showing up with suitcases and suitcases of cash, offering > to buy houses and real estate on the spot," said Walker, who is also a > real estate broker. > > On top of all that, 55,000 customers remain without power throughout > the parish, the schools remain closed through Tuesday and traffic is > jammed and stores are overrun. > > In a morning briefing at the Emergency Command Center near the > airport, nearly two dozen officials from every public agency gave > updates and shared information, as they have each day since before > Katrina struck. > > Every change in plans has a ripple effect into every other agency, > said Irma Plummer, the chief administrative officer for East Baton > Rouge Parrish, in unanticipated ways. "People come here and find they > have no money, and all the agencies on this corridor are going to be > affected," she told the group. > > "The domino effect is tremendous. We can't move fast enough to rebuild > our infrastructure to respond, so you have to be creative." It seems like time to marshall the able-bodied refugees, form work gangs, and start a public works program where they go ino the disaster zones and start the clean up/assistance work that dosen't seem like is getting off the ground. use the Federal money to pay/feed/house them and get them doing something. .