Subj : Re: Um...no comment? To : alt.tv.farscape From : Nick Date : Fri Sep 02 2005 20:10:32 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Nick wrote: > Chaya wrote: > >> Nick wrote: >> >>> Chaya wrote: >>> >>>> Nick wrote: >>>> >>>>> 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.h >>>>>>> tml >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> 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." >>>> >>>> >>>> So, what is your life like right now? Are you going to work? Do >>>> you feel safe when you leave the house (or, DO you leave the >>>> house)? >>>> >>> >>> Not too bad. There are 10 people living at my house right now. >>> Besides us there is my mother and my sister and her family. >>> Hopefully, they will have power back early next week. I came back >>> to work yesterday. I'm ok leaving the house but I am not too crazy >>> about letting Deb go out with the kids. >> >> >> Rightly so. I wouldn't want to take one step outside if I were in >> that area (but what do I know? I study crime for a living). >> >> We just found out last night that all of our extended family in NO >> didn't get out in time, and of course we have no way to make contact >> with them... > > What part of town did they live in? > I, of course, mean waht part of town do they live in. I am just assuming they aren't currently at home. .