Wow….

these are just plain spooky. Plus as THS and I were talking about yesterday, the place is going Escape from New York, too. Pray for the poor souls that were unable to evacuate, and are still in what is left of the city, as it is going to get worse before it gets better for them.

To find the cheapest gas (other than Taco Bell)…

check here, In times like this, you have to know where to go.

Am I Hearing Bob Livingston Right?

That the governor of Louisiana has NOT declared Martial Law in New Orleans?
UPDATE: Well I’ll be damned. The mayor JUST DID, at 7:32 local time TONIGHT. WTF was his first CLUE he had a problem???

7:32 P.M. – N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin declares Martial law in the city and directs the city’s 1,500-person police force to do “whatever it takes” to gain back control of the city. He will also enlist the aid of troops.
7:12 P.M. – (AP) — New Orleans Mayor Ray says he’s not taking any criticism from people stranded in New Orleans personally.
Nagin says he understands the city’s residents are frustrated, hot, angry and in a state of shock.
But Nagin insists he wants everyone out of the Superdome by tomorrow (Thursday) because they have been stretched to the breaking point and he can’t stand to see them in that condition any longer.
7:11 P.M. Governor Blanco on looting: We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area. This is not a place for that behavior. I’m furious. It’s intolerable.

Instead of bitching about the ACoE’s to everyone and their mother, maybe he ought to have been watching the freaking news. And she’s ‘furious‘? That’s the best she can do? She’s the sorriest excuse for a state executive officer I’ve ever seen outside New Jersey.
She’s furious. Oh, that’s rich.
UPDATE: They’re both seriously negligent, incredibly stupid and totally incompetent.

Managers at a nursing home were prepared to cope with the power outages and had enough food for days, but then the looting began. The home’s bus driver was forced to surrender the vehicle to carjackers.
Bands of people drove by the nursing home, shouting to residents, “Get out!” Eighty residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were being evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.
“We had enough food for 10 days,” said Peggy Hoffman, the home’s executive director. “Now we’ll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot.”

To allow it to deteriorate to this level before acting…damn!

This is not the sort of retro I like…

as our gas orices here have jumped $.50 today, and appear to be going higher Thursday. I filled up the Mitsu after lunch today for $2.69, and there was not another soul at the station (this being around 2:30), but at 6:30 the same station was up to $2.99, and there were line like I have not seen since Gerry Ford was the prez. And one station I went by to top of the CAGs Honda was already sold out. And we are in Concord, North Cackalackie, no where near the Gulf.
Personally, I would love to see the gas tax reduced to only that part which actually is spent on road maint ( meaning it would almost be eliminated, as so much of it is diverted to socialist programs of little/no benefit to those who actually pay it) and the EPA/Feds to mandate that ALL states use the Same 3 ( or 4, as there are some higher octane grades out there) grades of gas, so that we could maximize what refining capacity that we have. Vehicles these days run much cleaner, and people don’t drive the older cars near as much, so I just don’t see evidence that it would be the end of the world for the environment. It’s about time that the enviro-whackos get pushed back a bit to some sane middle ground.
Now I know that both thses things will happen when but I can still dream, I suppose.

Hurray For Texas

This is how americans help each other out, by gum:

5:10 P.M. – AUSTIN, TX (AP): Texas public schools will enroll children of Hurricane Katrina refugees sheltered within each district.
The Texas Education Agency has been directed to provide all needed support for districts having to absorb children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. TEA has said the refugee children can qualify as “homeless” and may enroll without proof of residence.
Also, normal immunization requirements for attending school or child-care facilities in Texas will be temporarily waived for children displaced by the hurricane. Schools are allowed to waive the 22-to-one teacher-student requirement.
Districts with an influx of 50 or more students can get an immediate funding increase, rather than waiting until the end of the school year.
Austin schools are working to ensure the students get backpacks, school supplies and clothes.

Prescience is a Bitch

During a strong hurricane, the city could be inundated with water blocking all streets in and out for days, leaving people stranded without electricity and access to clean drinking water. Many also could die because the city has few buildings that could withstand the sustained 96- to 100-mph winds and 6- to 8-ft. storm surges of a Category 2 hurricane. Moving to higher elevations would be just as dangerous as staying on low ground. Had Camille, a Category 5 storm, made landfall at New Orleans, instead of losing her punch before arriving, her winds would have blown twice as hard and her storm surge would have been three times as high.
Yet knowing all this, area residents have made their potential problem worse. “Over the past 30 years, the coastal region impacted by Camille has changed dramatically. Coastal erosion combined with soaring commercial and residential development in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have all combined to significantly increase the vulnerability of the area,” says Sandy Ward Eslinger, of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center in Charleston, S.C.

Popular Science. September 11…2001.

Get Your Gas Now

And use it in the most expeditious, conservative fashion possible. News has been showing lines in Atlanta (UPDATE: One station $5.57/gal)and fisticuffs in northern Mississippi. All in the face of almost $1 jump in gallon prices since this morning. Here in Pensacola, we’ve been a Third World country since Ivan, but it doesn’t make it any easier to bear. Took Ebola 1 1/2 hours today to top off. He was going to be late for a sales appointment an hour away because of it, so he was planning on asking the clients if, once he got there, he could get gas to get home.
Also, purchase any public transportation passes you might use in your commute. You can bet those prices will be skyrocketing.

TCS Says “Bite Me, Bob”

Katrina has nothing to do with global warming. Nothing. It has everything to do with the immense forces of nature that have been unleashed many, many times before and the inability of humans, even the most brilliant engineers, to tame these forces.
Giant hurricanes are rare, but they are not new. And they are not increasing. To the contrary. Just go to the website of the National Hurricane Center and check out a table that lists hurricanes by category and decade. The peak for major hurricanes (categories 3,4,5) came in the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, when such storms averaged 9 per decade. In the 1960s, there were 6 such storms; in the 1970s, 4; in the 1980s, 5; in the 1990s, 5; and for 2001-04, there were 3. Category 4 and 5 storms were also more prevalent in the past than they are now. As for Category 5 storms, there have been only three since the 1850s: in the decades of the 1930s, 1960s and 1990s.
But that doesn’t stop an enviro-predator like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from writing on the Huffingtonpost website: “Now we are all learning what it’s like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and – now — Katrina is giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children.”

From another guy who lived and loved in New Orleans. Baby Bobby Kennedy is the Cindy Sheehan of the Katrina story. I’m waiting for him to include the Israelis in his Barbour bashing blitherings.
A Swill Salute to Mark in Mexico for finding this gem.

How Horribly Ironic

I was Googling for the City’s elected officials and the address for the Mayor’s office showed up.

Mayor’s Office – 1300 Perdido St # 2E10, New Orleans, 70112

The English translation for ‘Perdido’ is ‘lost‘.

‘Hundreds” And Rising

1:20 P.M. – (AP) Mayor Ray Nagin says at least hundreds of people are dead — maybe thousands — in New Orleans. “We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” and others dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: “Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands.”
2:20 P.M. – From Weezie Porter: WWL-TV Sales account executive. I evacuated with my family to Nashville. The people we are staying with have a relative in the Chateau Living Center in Kenner 716 Village Road. Their phone is working from time to time 504-464=0604. They report that all of the nurses have left, Only a few aides left there that have been working since Friday. They were supposed to be evacuated by bus but they did not show up. No medications have been given since Sunday,. 4 patients have died.
Plaquemines Parish pictures.
Other pictures

On a Lighter Note

Brits can be thieves, too.

Read more »

We’ll Stand Alone

As THS refers to below, the silence is deafening…and disheartening. After the bombings in Bali, bloggers in the US poured out their support for the Aussies. After the bombings in London, we all stood and screamed out our support for our British brothers and sisters. And after Katrina, an informal and very unscientific survey of a variety of pro-Coalition sites in both the UK and Australia shows a complete lack of any similar support, let alone a friggin mention of sympathy, for the folks in her path. Nothing.
And that makes me very sad.
Look, I’m not looking for a handout, I’m not looking for pledges of material goods from someone, but my God folks, we’re abandoning a major american city, abandoning a major american city and one of our major ports is inoperable, and not one of these these supposed allies can say “our thoughts are with you and let us know what we can do.”
And the next time they need aid, we will be there to provide it, like the good faithful puppy that keeps coming to lick your hand no matter how often you kick it, because that’s the way we are, and I hope that never changes.

Observation of the Day

Mary Landrieu, whom I’ve always thought of as a vapid sort of Senate chair filler, is truly the only competent sounding individual in the entire New Orleans/LA political hierarchy. The mayor’s whining, the ACoE is tap dancing, the governor can’t stop crying, the other Senator stands by until called on to babble. Ms. Landrieu stands up there and bluntly makes her points. Corrects previous information, gives no nonsense answers and sounds like the only man on the platform. Wowsahs. I’m impressed and humbly adjust my attitude. Considering the general gaggle of incompetent twits running the show so far, they are lucky to have her.
Amazing who steps up when the chips are down.

Air Force One…

…just doing a fly over on the way home to D.C. I know the President and First Lady’s heart will be breaking. But I want them to know what the sight of that blue and white plane overhead after Ivan did for us.

“There’s Air Force One! The President’s here!”

We were hot, beat-up and miserable. But that seeing plane, dang. You felt like the outside world knew we needed them. I hope it does that for some of those folks.

CNN Is Reporting

The Superdome crowd is being bused to the AstroDome in Houston. That’s the plan, anyway.
316 Miles.
Tens of thousands of people.
And the freeway overpasses surrounding the downtown area are filled with people heading for the Superdome, in sight of it, but who can’t get to it because of the water. And when the buses make it to the Superdome, getting the folks out is still up in the air. Right now they talking ferrying them out from the Dome to the buses.

We’ll Be Busy Here

Four Navy amphibious ships were to leave Norfolk, Va., over the next few days for deployment on the Gulf Coast. The Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida will be a base for the relief effort.

And that’s a good thing, helping your neighbors.

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army’s Hood said the effort will be long and expensive. “Our position is we stay until all the needs are met, and that will be a long time,” he said. “Our typical philosophy is, let’s go in, do the work, stay as long as needed and then figure out how to pay for it, and so far the American public has never let us down.”

I know we won’t. The blogosphere has a 1 September fundraiser organized, but don’t even wait that one day more. Please. Whatever you can do, wherever your heart leads you to send it.

Today, years ago, at different times….

two people who have truly bleesed my life were born. One, sixty years ago, with his music. The other, thirteen years ago, just with his (older picture) being here. Happy Birthday Van and Crusader II.
Poor CAG, we’ll prolly be on the XBOX most of today, too.

FoxNews Just Spoke to Senator Shelby…

…”After the tsunami, the United States mobilized immediately to help. It’s been a couple of days now and the international and corporate silence is deafening. Have you heard anything?”
Senator Shelby: “In the international community they worry more about what America can do for them…”
UPDATE: Yeah. What he said.

The Silence is Deafening by Neil Cavuto
Maybe I missed it, but I have a question: Where’s the global relief effort for us today?
New Orleans is under water. Mississippi is a disaster. Scores are dead. Homes are destroyed. Businesses are shut down.
When this kind of stuff happens to other folks, we’re there. When this kind of stuff happens to us, who’s here?
I know we’re a rich country. But I think it a bit rich so few call to wish us well in this country. Perhaps some have and perhaps I’ve missed it.
Still, others never miss a chance to bash us if we’ve done something wrong or done nothing at all.
All I know is a lot of poor folks here got hit here. Would it kill the same foreigners we’ve helped there, to offer support here?
I don’t expect a telethon. But how about a call on a telephone?
Maybe some countries have offered rescue personnel. I just haven’t seen them. I’ll keep looking. I’ll keep waiting. I’ll keep wondering.
All I know is for now, the silence is deafening. And the water in New Orleans isn’t the only thing that stinks.

What An Asshole

Only word for it. I knew it wouldn’t take long for the left to blame the storm on the Republicans. What’s amazing is how little time it took. I left the following comment.

What a despicable piece of opportunistic tripe. For someone who has experienced tragedy in their own life to take such advantage of the unholy suffering of hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans only to make a cheap (and hotly disputed) point defies all boundaries of taste, compassion and humanity. All your vast and mighty resources might be better spent assisting in places the average American, one of not so lofty privilege and place, would give their eyetooth at this moment to be able to help. My neighbor is on his way from our own Ivan ravaged hometown to help restore Biloxi’s airport. You, sir, are doing what precisely? One shouldn’t quote Pat Robertson’s hateful words when one’s own come so close to channeling them. You disgrace yourself. For shame.

Levee Breach Can’t be Closed

They expect 12-15 feet of water in parts of NOLA.
CNN is reportng carjackings near the Superdome.
Chaos.

When the Witch of September Comes Early.

I wish I could second DaveJ’s optimism regarding New Orleans, but I can’t. And everyone of my aquaintance knows I am the perpetual ray of sunshine in the midst of any disaster. When Ivan hit here, for example, there was destruction of a magnitude I’ve never imagined being a part of. But there were plenty of things still standing. Plenty of foundations to build on. Plenty of roofs torn up, but fixable. The views of New Orleans don’t hold that same ‘we’ll go from here’ promise. When a wall comes down, a roof flies off or, God forbid, your house is wiped from it’s slab, you can put up a new one. Your neighbor may well still have his house, his roof, something standing around you. Even in Grand Lagoon, the complete devastation held out hope. But miles and miles of houses underwater. Damn. A roof goes, you put it back on. Your house floods to the eaves, it has to come completely down. Your roof goes, your neighbor still has his. Your house floods to the eaves, so does your neighbor’s. And his neighbor’s, and so on, for miles. All those roofs peeking above the waters are houses that may as well have been flattened. They are just as gone, even though standing. All those MILES of houses.
The looters in the city will shortly be turning that city into an island of savages. The city administration has said to every resident ‘get out’. EVERY resident. Well, they can’t. And shortly, as you try on your new Nikes, you’ll realize that the 46 inch TV you just stole can’t be eaten. But your neighbor hit the Robert’s supermarket. He has food and something to drink. And you’ll be going to get it. God Almighty, I can’t imagine it. Two weeks to get just the water out. Before anything can even start go in. The human toll will be beyond imagining.
Essential to the human condition is hope. I know that. I know there’s hope that New Orleans will rise from this. The skyscrapers still stand. The new stuff. But the Bywater, the Marigny and the little ratty parts of the city I love are irrevocably tied to those ramshackle houses; now, those roofs lined up like stepping stones across a brook. You can rebuild…something there. But you can’t replace it. Or the people who opened their arms to us.

Sun Herald

Two reporters from the SunHerald blog Katrina and the aftermath they’ve found.

Dancing With Katrina

Katrina

The bands overhead Sunday night. We were done boarding up.


If one could say there was an advantage to Ivan, it was this ~ our electrical grids were completely replaced. New ways of stringing wire ~ taut to hold the poles upright ~ replaced the old ‘leave it loose so it can swing’. We had power the entire storm, even with gusts well over 100mph. Ebola’s apartment and swaths of town are still out. The downtown flooded and the beaches washed over. Our FEMA blue roof held yet again. Milagro upon Milagro.
We are so hugely lucky.
Cullen darlin’, our hearts go out to you and all our best, best wishes for the happiest of news. Let us know. Rob, check in when you can. You have friends here who want to see your name in the posts.
To our magical Cresent City, beautiful Biloxi, gracious Gulfport and all our Gulf Coast family, bless your hearts. Help is on the way. Hang in there.
UPDATE: While I can get online, let me first thanks Bingster for posting this, but please, please let me add my fervent appeal for your donations to go to the Salvation Army. We have unfortunately gotten to see all the aid agencies in action. The Salvation Army has impressed us tremendously with their selflessness and dedication to people’s immediate needs and their continuing ones. They were literally a Godsend after Ivan and stuck around through thick and thin for months afterwards. For everybody. Feeding people, clothing them, sheltering them, holding hands, getting answers. If you need it, they’re there if there’s anyway on earth possible for them to be.
And you know who else? The little church groups. They were fantastic. If your congregation is part of a larger group that has disaster teams they fund, they did one helluva job here and that’s a wonderful later place for your donations. They get their hands dirty, tarping roofs and getting supplies out, once the areas open to other relief. Wonderful, wonderful people, bless their hearts.

We Can’t Undo The Disaster From Katrina

But we can help. Please give generously to the Salvation Army*.
*THS says give your money to The Salvation Army. They are the first people on the scene and they help everybody everywhere without all the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo of the Red Cross. And she speaks from experience.
These are Americans in need, friends.
Your relatives.
My relatives.
Update: Look at today’s Times-Picayune:
page A1/2
page 4/5
page 6/7
page 8
page 12/13
page 14
page 15
page 16/17
page 18
looters on page a19
page a20