Subj : Re: Um...no comment? To : alt.tv.farscape From : Chaya Date : Fri Sep 02 2005 21:36:07 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.farscape Chaya wrote: > 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. Just searched Switchboard for a couple family names--one uncle lives on Loyola, about midway between the Superdome and Canal St. I'm praying he & his wife left before the storm hit--I can't imagine anything in that area is currently safe. .