Day: September 7, 2005

I was drawn into this post over at Boing Boing; a report from a Serbian native named Jasmina Tesanovic in the Astrodome containing observations and an interview with a couple of evacuees. It started out interesting but after the first few paragraphs, I couldn’t believe the crap I was reading. Here’s the worst of it (and forget about any sense of context, that doesn’t seem to matter to Jasmina).

“Barbara Bush, the wicked grandma, gave an interview only yesterday, chuckling how poor people will abuse the hospitality in Texas and never go back home. Is THIS what she meant? Her cynical remark was not meant to be cynical; it was a threat, for Johnetta and Warnetta who want to rent a place and stay in Austin until somebody fixes their town PROPERLY.”

The wicked grandma? What the ?

“I’d better play the refugee after all, it is the safest place in this messy country I guess: not that I am far from that condition. I’ve been a refugee in my own country. This time I am refugee in somebody else’s country. I can tell the difference now.”

This messy country? If you don’t like it, leave.

“But then, they start playing the American national anthem, people stand straight and a big applause ends it. Is that their patriotism? Is this America?”

What? Are you amazed that these refugees can still be patriotic? Do you think that the people who are in the Astrodome are foreigners in a foreign land? Who are the volunteers around them? Oh, yeah – AMERICANS. Geez, this chick is really infuriating.

“What about the global warming that made all this happen, what about Iraq?”

Oh, there you go. The two identifiers. Environmentalist Wacko + Anti-(Iraq)War = MOONBAT. What else are you hiding?

“Everybody could tell this disaster was going to happen, why didn’t anybody do something about it? Corruption, racism, classism…. Bush is a spoiled rich kid and behaves as such….”

Ah, of course. Bush hater. Perfect.

“No, I say, he is a war criminal: all the money the world is giving now to US, money from the poorest countries in the world, may as well be used for the wars against the same countries that are giving the money. What a thought? You should secede… from Bush.”

I had no idea they taught Michael Moore-ism 101 in Serbia.

“Some military guys appear behind a neatly set desk. Next to them is a desk with a sign; We Support Our Troops, veterans. Well, good thing that troops are supporting those people here, if indeed they are.”

Riiiight – and those guys back in New Orleans wearing the fatigues, pulling the dead out of the water, rescuing the people from their homes, providing medicine, security…oh and pumping out the water, repairing the levee, etc. They can’t possibly be supporting anyone but themselves huh?

An anti-American “reporter” with a huge chip on her shoulder spewing trash in the great State of Texas. You certainly know freedom when you see it, Darling. Now go on back home to Serbia…

Blanco doesn’t agree with Nagin and has not yet “signed off” on his decision to force residents from New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco seemed at odds with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Wednesday, hours after the mayor ordered the mandatory evacuation of the crippled Crescent City by force if necessary.

Nagin late Tuesday authorized law enforcement officers to force the evacuation of the estimated 10,000 residents who refuse to heed orders to leave.

But in a Wednesday interview with FOX News, Gov. Blanco said she had not signed off on the decision.

“The mayor certainly has ordered that but the governor, and that would be me, would have to enforce it or implement it. We are trying to determine whether there is an absolute justification for that,” she told FOX News.

“I think the most important thing driving that decision would be the possibility of disease. If indeed the disease problem is evident, is inevitable, we’ll have to move to the next stage,” she said.

Meanwhile, every other news report I see talks about how dangerous the standing water is in New Orleans. According to the CDC, 5 people have died from bacteria infections caused by the dirty, disease ridden H2O.

So, what’s it gonna take for you to “sign off” Governor? More deaths?

MORE: Mudville Gazette has more on the Nagin/Blanco relationship strain.

Related: Delusional, Dysfunctional, Divisive, and Defiant

Government seized fashion clothing arrived at the Astrodome today for distribution to Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection delivered about 100,000 items of summer clothing, with an estimated value of $2.3 million, and said much more is on the way to evacuees elsewhere.

“We normally would either sell this merchandise or destroy it,” said Robert Trotter, the agency’s director of field operations. “Or we would donate it on a smaller scale.”

Some of the items are fakes, but Trotter said most are legitimate.

The hurricane relief operation, aimed at the more than 1 million Gulf Coast residents displaced by Katrina last week, will involve a total of $168 million worth of clothing.

The items delivered on Tuesday, much of it with designer labels like Fubu and Code Blue, were handed to the Red Cross and local church officials who were to distribute it.

“They will be able to tell us specifically what they want and a personal shopper will go back and get it for them,” said Mike Firenza of St. Luke’s Methodist Church. “It will be one of the finest-dressed shelters that there’s ever been.”

Kind of sad actually.

Some lights are on tonight in the city of New Orleans. Power is slowly being restored to the area still besieged by flood water.

Flickr set here. More here.

Xeni Jardin has the story over at Boing Boing. Jacob Appelbaum has been live blogging inside the Astrodome interviewing Hurricane Katrina evacuees. There is a consistency to their stories. I don’t know how much of this is true or not.

UPDATE: Lots of people telling me this is all bunk. I have no reason to doubt that. John Hawkins with more.

This is the wrong thing to do.

The federal government plans to hand out debit cards worth $2,000 each to families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff, under fire for his agency’s response to the disaster, held a conference call with governors of states with evacuees and described the plan. While many details remained to be worked out, the plan was to quickly begin distributing the cards, starting with people in major evacuation centers such as the Houston Astrodome.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the cards are aimed at providing “some immediate cash assistance to those who are in shelters, those that were evacuated.”

Perfect. Two companies will end up benefiting most from this government handout. Phillip Morris and Anheuser-Busch.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, said he had concerns about the potential for abuse.

“That’s a lot of money. The question is how do you separate the needy from those who just want a $2,000 handout,” he said.

Exactly. In the same way that I don’t give a $20 dollar bill to the guy on the street corner with a sign that says “Will Work for Food”, the government will simply be wasting tax payer dollars if they proceed with this idea. No doubt there is a group of people back in Washington D.C. who believe this is the great “feel good, shot-in-the-arm” program that is just the kind of story the media will jump upon.

Here’s a better idea. Issue vouchers to Hurricane Katrina victims for places like Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, or Target. Help them buy personal necessities, food, diapers, formula and like goods. Help them purchase tools and other home repair supplies so (if they are lucky enough to still have a livable home) they can do a quick patching of a roof, temporary window replacement, or rent equipment like fumigation machinery and carpet cleaners.

Yes, we need to help the displaced, the homeless, and the penniless during these immediate days after the hurricane, but giving people cash with no strings attached is a bad move. There will be those who are responsible with the funds, but a majority will not. It is highly likely that they’ll be back next month asking for more, and the government will be hard pressed to deny them.

And think of the bad press that would generate!

The folks at FEMA don’t want you to see pictures, video, or artists renditions of Hurricane Katrina’s victims as they are recovered from New Orleans.

Forced to defend what some critics consider its slow response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from New Orleans.

FEMA, which is leading the rescue efforts, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims, Reuters reported.

A FEMA spokeswoman told the wire service that space was need on the rescue boats and assured Reuters that “the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect.”

“We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media,” the spokeswoman told Reuters via e-mail.

I was against the censorship of “sensitive” photos from 9/11 because I think they serve as a reminder for all Americans to never forget that day and to guard against similar events from happening again. But when it comes to natural disasters, or plane crashes, or the local newspaper publishing a photo of the house fire victim, I don’t think a public viewing is necessary. It’s voyeurism, and right now, looking at bodies that have been soaking in water and baking in 100 degree heat isn’t a “have to” in my book.

Years from now someone can publish a big coffee table book with glossy photos, a historical timeline, and a bunch of satellite maps (ala LIFE Magazine). For now though, stuff the death pictures in a drawer. 

Say that five times really fast.

Jacob Appelbaum follows up on reports of communications jamming in New Orleans.

A new blog – FEMA Failures.