Subj : Re: Um...no comment? To : alt.tv.farscape From : Chaya Date : Fri Sep 02 2005 21:27:55 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Nick wrote: > 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. I know--it's hard to know if their homes even exist anymore. I think the folks in Metarie are all out. I only know the rest of the family has New Orleans mailing addresses--I've never visited, only seen them at weddings & stuff. It's my husband's family. I believe the family synagogue is Temple Sinai (6227 Charles St according to their web page), and I think some of our relatives live nearby. .