It's Miller Time

NY Times reporter Judith Miller is out of jail and set to testify. I'm with Orin on this. Something seems fishy...

Just One Minute, Powerline, and Patterico have more.

Hitting Below the Sun Belt: Miffed Brady Bunch Targets Florida Tourism

Miffed at Florida for refusing to bow to their phobias and bad, ideology-driven science, the Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence (and no, I won't link them) has decided to try to strike back at the state by taking out ads in foreign newspapers with the intention of hurting the state's tourist industry.

Via the Scotsman:

IT IS Britain's most popular transatlantic holiday destination, attracting more than 1.5 million visitors a year with its sun-drenched beaches, theme parks and wildlife.

But Florida's £30 billion tourism industry is under threat from a campaign launched by a gun-control group which warns visitors they could be killed.

A series of alarming adverts, to be placed in British newspapers, warns potential tourists about a new law allowing gun owners to shoot anyone they believe threatens their safety.

[snip]

The Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence, based in Washington DC, has pledged to "educate" tourists by placing adverts in US cities, and in key overseas markets such as Britain.

"Warning: Florida residents can use deadly force," says one of the adverts. Another reads: "Thinking about a Florida vacation? Please ensure your family is safe. In Florida, avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads."

[snip]

Peter Hamm, the communications director of the Brady Campaign, said: "It's a particular risk faced by travellers coming to Florida for a vacation because they have no idea it's going to be the law of the land. If they get into a road rage argument, the other person may feel he has the right to use deadly force."

Tourism officials in Florida are furious at the move. Bud Nocera, the executive director of Visit Florida, said: "It is sad that such an organisation would hold the 900,000 men and women who work in the Florida tourism industry, and whose lives depend on it, hostage to their political agenda."

Can anyone point me to any other incident where a political lobby has tried to strike back against an entire state full of citizens who have rejected their ideology? I highly doubt that this will have any impact on Florida's tourism, but it shows just how pathetic some highly-charged, fact-challenged political ideologues have become over the years.

Remember this, folks.

After all, Sarah Brady was the Cindy Sheehan of her day.

Making with the Linky-Love

I'm going to be out of town until Sunday on a camping trip, but I want to pass along some suggested reading on the way out the door.

Generation Why? asks which PD would make you feel safer.

Dan Riehl runs over Texas Prosecutor Ronnie Earle like a Mack truck, making me think Earle should be indicting himself for ethics violations. I've no love for Delay, but Earle's past seems evey bit as sordid, if not more so.

John in Carolina makes the very good point that even though we seem to have defeated the anti-American coalition trying to build the International Freedom Center at Ground Zero, the WTC Memorial still needs guarding.

Remember earlier in the weekwhen I ripped the incompetent hatchet job of Think Progress' "Faiz" on former FEMA director Michael Brown? South Park Pundit and Stephen Burr of Nothing Could be Finer keep on the pressure,picking up a fact I missed, and completed outing "Faiz" one of the most intellectually dishonest bloggers I've ever had the misfortune to run across.

Angry in the Great White North has picked up on the fact that the Eva Yawn of the Left Herself, Cindy Sheehan, has almost completed running through her son's life insurance money, and now has to get a job, which to her means really whoring her slander of her son's beliefs for cold, hard cash. I'll hold my bile... for now.

Speaking of bile, the Anchoress has her ire up (and rightly so) for GOP Senators giving Louisiana's governor a complete pass for her incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina.

I might be able to squeeze one more post in before I hit the great outdoors tomorrow night, but if not, I'll have something up Sunday. Till then surf the blogroll; and try to stay out of trouble, okay?

Hating Homosexuals

Stroll over to Memeorandum today, and you might run into this thread of posts, where a group of highly partisan ideologues are enraged that someone they think might be gay, might move into a top leadership position in Congress.

Some derisively call the candidate a homo, and others blast him for being a closet homosexual, as though being gay was a crime.

You might be surprised to see that every single one of these people blasting Republican David Dreier for reportedly being gay (he has never answered this rumor, nor should he have to) is a liberal blogger.

The worst of the worst is Americablog, run by vicious bigot John Aravosis who feels it is his obligation to hunt down and politically assassinate any and all homosexual politicians, or even suspected homosexual politicians, who do not strictly toe what he considers the gay party line.

Using Aravosis logic, all heterosexuals should be required to vote Republican because the party is against gay marriage. That is all that matters. Forget your stance on free speech, gun rights, the War on Terror, poverty, social security, education, or taxes. You are a heterosexual, and that all that matters about you as a person; as a voter your sexuality alone should define how you vote.

His message is simple, and brutal: You are not allowed to stray off the gay plantation. If you do, overseer John will whip you unmercifully as a hypocrite.

That so many liberals unquestioningly support this point of view, should give readers pause to wonder if all they really care about are gays as a voting block, and not as people.

Not that they is anything wrong with that, of course.

Note: Jeff Goldstein has more (not work safe).

Update: Via Protein Wisdom,Prism Warden has an inside take on the politics of "outing" that is worth a read. One of his readers calls people like Aravosis and Mike Rogers at BlogActive as "gay Borg... driven by anger, envy and hatred."

Yeah, that seems about right.

VICTORY! International Freedom Center Defeated at Ground Zero

Via NY1:

In a story first reported by NY1, Governor George Pataki has cancelled plans to build the controversial International Freedom Center at the World Trade Center site - and representatives of the center say the location change has forced the entire project to be scrapped.

The center had drawn criticism from some 9/11 victims' family members because it would not focus exclusively on the terror attacks. Family members also said the IFC could potentially contain exhibits that were anti-American.

Pataki said Wednesday that he's given the center a chance to clarify its intentions, but there's just too much opposition.

In a statement, Pataki said: “The creation of an institution that would show the world our unity and our resolve to preserve freedom in the wake of the horrific attacks is a noble pursuit. But freedom should unify us. This center has not.”

From a victorious TakeBacktheMemorial.org:

Every since June 8, 2005 when Debra Bulingame's op-ed The Great Ground Zero Heist appeared in the Wall Street Journal, we have fought together for the preservation of dignity at Ground Zero. With your help, we have achieved a major victory toward that goal.

Take Back the Memorial will continue to monitor the plans for Ground Zero to ensure that a fitting and proper memorial is built; one that is respectful of the victims murdered that day, their families, the first responders, and the American people.

Thank you again for your support, prayers, and dedication. This simply could not have been achieved without you.

As a supporter's email says, “There aren't too many happy (or at least pleasing) events associated with 9/11, but sometimes there's justice.”

The Blame America First left have suffered a major defeat. Michelle Malkin has more.

And Hillary... I give credit where credit is due. Thanks.

Update: CNN is obviously saddened by the loss of their vision of the IFC: "Ground Zero 'freedom center' quashed." Poor babies.

"Think Progress"? I Think Not

My response to a poorly-researched, dishonestly-written Think Progress posted about former FEMA Director Brown's congressional testimony yesterday.

BROWN CLAIM: "FEMA doesn't evacuate communities."

FACT: Brown Said FEMA Was Engaging In Evacuations During Katrina

If there is still floodwaters around there, they shouldn't be trying to evacuate those patients by themselves. The Coast Guard, FEMA, all of those continue to do those rescue missions and we continue to do those evacuations and we'll certainly continue to evacuate all of the hospitals. [CNN, 9/1/05]

You can't tell the fundamental difference between a pre-storm evacuation, which is a local/state issues, and the post storm rescue/recovery phase, which FEMA does get involved with. You don't know your subject matter.

BROWN CLAIM: FEMA Was Stretched Beyond It Capabilities

"Mr. Chairman, this event stretched FEMA beyond its capabilities. There's no question about that. It did it in several ways. One is FEMA, over the past several years, has lost a lot of manpower. At one point during my tenure, because of assessments by the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA has lost — at one point, we were short 500 people in an organization of about 2,500. You do the math. That's pretty significant… FEMA has suffered from the inability to grow to meet the demands."

FACT: Brown Said FEMA Had All The Manpower It Needed

BLITZER: Are you ready? Is FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, ready to deal with this new hurricane?

BROWN: We absolutely are. We have all the manpower and resources we need. President Bush has been a very great supporter of FEMA. [CNN, 9/26/04]

Did you bother to even check the storm size and estimated damage from 9/26/05 to landfall? Katrina was just a weak Category 1 or Category 2 Hurricane on 9/26 depending on the time of day the question was asked. It only hit Cat 4 status on 9/28.

What a completely bogus comparison between a comment made about a weak storm, and a comment made about one of the most powerful storms to ever hit land.

BROWN CLAIM: "I can't discuss with you my conversations with the president's chief of staff and the president."

FACT: Brown Spoke to New York Times About Conversations With Chief of Staff

"Hours after Hurricane Katrina passed New Orleans on Aug. 29, as the scale of the catastrophe became clear, Michael D. Brown recalls, he placed frantic calls to his boss, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, and to the office of the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr. … 'I am having a horrible time,' Mr. Brown said he told Mr. Chertoff and a White House official — either Mr. Card or his deputy, Joe Hagin — in a status report that evening. 'I can't get a unified command established.'" [NYT, 9/15/05]

No contradiction here, at all. Read it again. One conversation was just with the C.O.S., which he could reveal. He could not, however and for whatever reason, discuss his conversation with the C.O.S. and the President.

Think Progress is a non-partisan organization? Could have fooled me.

Study: A Belief in God Makes You Immoral

From Ruth Gledhill in the Times Online:

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

What do you want me to say?

Our panel of experts agrees.

Escape from LA

My church is just one of many organizations sending volunteers to help those communities ground away by Hurricane Katrina. Our first team of volunteers was based out of Gretna, LA, and was in and around New Orleans from Sept. 17-22. They got out ahead of Hurricane Rita.

These are some of the images they captured.

This tractor and car were flipped by the storm surge, the garage or barn they were in was completely demolished. The large body of water in the background is probably Lake Ponchartrain.

If you can ever find the carpenter who put down this hardwood floor, hire him.

This railbed buckled under the force of the storm surge.

Even the worst of disasters can't strip some people of their sense of humor.

There are no quitters here.

More pictures are on the church's Katrina Relief Blog, which we will be adding to as we make more trips down to help. Everyone has their own set of talents, and as I am marginally capable of swinging a hammer, I hope to go down with one of the construction teams in coming months.

29, no 28 protestors

Abu Azzam, #2 al Qaeda leader in Iraq and one of the "freedom fighters" beloved by Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan, has gone off to that big protest in the sky.

From the Ditch to the Big House

How utterly pathetic:

Police arrested anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan Monday during a protest outside the White House. Sheehan and several dozen other protesters had sat down on the sidewalk after marching along a pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along. Then, officers began making arrests.

Really? Did they get all 29?

Yes, I'm aware she managed to gather a crowd of 500, including communists, anarchists, undercover officers, confused tourists and members of the media, but can anyone tell me why a misdemeanor loitoring ticket furthers "the cause?"

The Anchoress goes further, and comes up with a disturbing prediction of where Mother Sheehan might end up next.

Update: Now they are saying that hundreds were arrested in front of the White House. These numbers are sure to tribble into thousands by lunch time today, I'm sure.

Ewwww

Suddenly, Officer Barnes got that "not so fresh" feeling... *

Too Close to Home

My brother-in-law was the operations manager at Verla International several years back. His replacement, who was fired about a year ago, just shot up the place today before taking his own life, literally just a few hundreds of yard away from my wife's childhood home.

Three people my brother-in-law knew well were victims. Two of the victims are in stable condition, but one is in critical. If you any of you folks is the praying kind, I'm sure it would be appreciated.

9/29 Update: The victim in critical condition has no brain activity and has been removed from life support, and her passing is imminent. Tonight, I grieve for her family.

Common Dreams, Questionable Sources

Via sharp-eyed Lawhawk and Discarded Lies, I was alerted to this story from Human Rights Watch on the Common Dreams Newswire.

Human Rights Watch claims:

New Orleans: Prisoners Abandoned to Floodwaters
Officers Deserted a Jail Building, Leaving Inmates Locked in Cells

NEW YORK - September 23 - As Hurricane Katrina began pounding New Orleans, the sheriff's department abandoned hundreds of inmates imprisoned in the city's jail, Human Rights Watch said today.

Inmates in Templeman III, one of several buildings in the Orleans Parish Prison compound, reported that as of Monday, August 29, there were no correctional officers in the building, which held more than 600 inmates. These inmates, including some who were locked in ground-floor cells, were not evacuated until Thursday, September 1, four days after flood waters in the jail had reached chest-level.

“Of all the nightmares during Hurricane Katrina, this must be one of the worst,” said Corinne Carey, researcher from Human Rights Watch. “Prisoners were abandoned in their cells without food or water for days as floodwaters rose toward the ceiling.”

Human Rights Watch called on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into the conduct of the Orleans Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail, and to establish the fate of the prisoners who had been locked in the jail. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which oversaw the evacuation, and the Orleans Sheriff's Department should account for the 517 inmates who are missing from list of people evacuated from the jail.

Carey spent five days in Louisiana, conducting dozens of interviews with inmates evacuated from Orleans Parish Prison, correctional officers, state officials, lawyers and their investigators who had interviewed more than 1,000 inmates evacuated from the prison.

Read the rest.

Human Rights Watch claims that guards recklessly abandoned inmates and implied that as many as 517 prisoners are unaccounted for and possibly dead, including 130 thought to have been in Templeman 3, one of the cell blocks where flooding was worst.

While deaths may indeed have occurred in the Orleans Parish Prison, they are nowhere near what Human Rights Watch hints at, nor does there seem to be as many prisoners missing as they allege. This level of exaggeration would be on par with other Human Rights Watch reports of the recent past, and indicative of a sensationalist organizational culture.

Here is what we do know about the situation in the Orleans Parish Prison immediately before and after Hurricane Katrina.

There were indeed breakdowns in disaster planning at the Orleans Parish Prison, apparent even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. We heard rumors of a riot in the prison on 8/30, but at the time, the riot could not be confirmed. By the next day, the prisoners had been readied for evacuation, and by September 1, all inmates and corrections officers had been evacuated with no known fatalities.

A week later, stories began leaking out about the Orleans Parish Prison riot from both inmates and guards. These were the first and only early accounts from somewhat credible named witnesses. Even then, few accounts, if any, were corroborated, while some facts were flatly preposterous, like claims by one of the guards that flooding reached the fifth floor. Only one named source in the various articles I've seen claimed to have seen bodies, and they numbered exactly two in that account.

More recent accounts, including one published 9/25, claim that while some corrections officers did fail in their duties, some performed heroically, including newly promoted Chief Deputy Bill Short, whose eyewitness testimony seem to directly contradict key points of the report from Human Rights Watch:

Chief Deputy Bill Short said Thursday that he could confirm only four escapes, but a full head count by the state Department of Corrections is still under way.

Short was promoted to his new position a week ago in acknowledgment of his steely command of the 800-inmate House of Detention during the storm and its aftermath.

Other deputies said they knew of more than a dozen escape attempts.

One thing Short said he knows for certain is that there were no deaths - not among the inmates, not among the 900 or so employees who reported to work, not among the scores of residents who floated or waded in from the surrounding neighborhood to the relative safety of the veranda of the high-rise Community Correctional Center.

"Did we know exactly what to do?" Short asked. "Nobody did. It was a wild ride, but we must have done some good things because nobody died."

According to the top on-scene official contacted so far, no inmates died as Human Rights Watch has implied, and only four escapes have been confirmed.

In addition, in their attempt to paint prison officials in the worse possible light, Human Rights Watch does not mention the fact that the prisoners were evacuated well ahead of the sick, the very young, and the elderly at the Superdome and the Convention Center. Prisoners, perhaps because of their status as wards of the State of Louisiana, actually received preferential evacuation treatment over the other citizens of New Orleans.

Corinne Carey of Human Rights Watch says of the prison, "Of all the nightmares during Hurricane Katrina, this must be one of the worst."

Not. Even. Close.

Kos Kids Slap Around Saint Cindy

Angry in the Great White North finds that Mother Sheehan's self-centered arrogance has finally become too much for even her fans to bear.

Got Gas?

If you live, or know anyone who lives between Houston,TX and Lake Charles, LA, please go here and see if you can help. It will only take a few minutes, and won't even cost you a phone call.

Thanks.

Huge Waves?

Via ABC News:

Opponents of the war in Iraq rallied by the thousands Saturday to demand the return of U.S. troops, staging a day of protest, song and remembrance of the dead in marches through Washington and other American and European cities.

More than 2,000 people gathered on the Ellipse hours before the showcase demonstration past the White House, the first wave of what organizers said would be the largest Washington rally since the war began.

2,000 protestors? That is hardly a wave; more like a trickle. The following waves must be huge...

Major Update: Sniffy liberal "Maha" blogging from the protest says Reuters claims more than 100,000 protestors and says "The turnout was massive."

The Reuters claim was from reporter Lisa Lambert. Reuters photographer Jim Bourg immediately contradicted that claim with the caption for the photo accompanying Lambert's article, when he claims:

A large rally of anti-war demonstrators gathers on the Ellipse near the White House (top) as seen from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. September 24, 2005. Tens of thousands of protesters [bold added - ed.] gathered in the nation's capital in support of anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, who lost a son serving in the U.S. armed forces in Iraq, and demonstrated for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to the war in Iraq.

As Bourg's photo shows, a large number of protestors near the back of the crowd decided to show up wearing grass-colored unitards.

An unsigned AAP article also agreed with Lambert that there was something over 100,000, and even printed the protest organizers estimate of 300,000. No other reporter from any other news organization has so far claimed anything near this number.

Interesting, because the NY Times claims only "thousands." al Jazerra, who is decidedly not pro-administration, claims just 2,000 [note: from early protest]. The BBC said merely that organized "hoped for "100,000," but would not confirm a number.

Another Update: Other insightful commentary on today's protests from The Anchoress, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, Little Green Footballs, Jeff Goldstein, Gateway Pundit, Ox Blog.

Yet Another Update: Protestors, or booklovers?

Also, poor little Maha couldn't handle her numbers being exposed as cherry-picked, and so I've been banned by another liberal blog. I can't tell you how much sleep I'll lose.

Final Update to this post: Via Smash, a Marine in Iraq talks about those that "Support our troops."

Just So, So Wrong

This one came with the instructions:

I'm sorry, but in order for this to work, you will have to dream about Hillary!

I may never sleep again.

Court Defeats Thugs

Of course in New Orleans, this means the police.

Hamas Contributes to Darwinism

You've got to give it to Hamas: they throw one interesting rally:

A truck carrying a group of armed men and makeshift weapons exploded Friday during a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 80, according to hospital officials and witnesses.

Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, accused Israel of firing missiles at the vehicle from an unmanned aircraft, but witnesses said the explosion did not leave the telltale crater of a missile strike.

Palestinian security officials said they believed mishandled homemade explosives in the truck may have ignited, sending shrapnel slicing through a dense crowd of several thousand onlookers gathered in the Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City.

But just keep remembering that Hamas is just a political party - right, Mr. Galloway?

War Declared in Eastern North Carolina

I speak to you as a North Carolinian in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our Empire, of our Allies, and above all the cause of good and true Barbeque. A tremendous battle is raging in Memphis and other parts of the Country. The Memphians, by a remarkable combination of propaganda and trickery have begun their full fledged assault on the taste buds of America. They have penetrated deeply and spread alarm and confusion in their trick.

It would be foolish, however to disguise the gravity of the hour. It would be still more foolish to lose heart and courage or to suppose that maybe there is room for tomatoes in Barbeque sauce, however much you like the idea of spicy catsup. We may look with confidence to the stabilization of the border known as I-95, and to the general engagement of the masses which will enable the qualities of the only true Barbeque to be matched squarely against those of their adversaries with spicy catsup at hand...

The War of Lateral Aggression has begun.

(Background here)

Complete Hurricane Rita Coverage

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC has what appears to be a complete list of links to local television (including some excellent live webcasts) and newspapers in Texas and Louisiana.

So far , it is the absolute best resource I've found for covering Hurricane Rita on a local level. This torm will hit land and stall, not leaving untli after the weekend. The widespread flooding seen as a result will be on par with that of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, with more than 20 inches expected in many areas.

Please say a prayer for everyone in the storm area.

Help Rita's Rescuers

If you are in southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana, especially coastal areas, and plan to try to ride out Hurricane Rita, please help recovery operations by writing your social security number and name on both of your arms and both of your legs with a permanent marker.

This may assist mortuary teams in identifying your body.

Get Out the Vote

Newsday is conducting a poll:

Freedom Center backers say it will help people understand 9/11 sacrifices. Victims� families say controversy surrounding the museum will dishonor the dead. Do you think it belongs at the WTC site?

• Yes, it will be a learning tool.
• No, the site should be used as a memorial only.
• Not sure.

Last Show No Sell-out on the Magical Misery Tour

Cindy Sheehan's meager cadre of 29 protestors was outnumbered by the press covering them Wednesday, in what has now become a very familiar pattern of stage-managed performances and shameless media hype.

The culmination of this month-and-a-half of self-aggrandizing behavior will culminate this weekend as two communist spin-off groups tries to herd what some hopefully boast will be "hundreds of thousands" of Stalinists, Marxists, anarchists, radical feminists, left-over hippies, oppressed didgeridoo players and hermaphrodite dwarves into something of a unified protest. All of these protestors support the troops, and will gladly prove it if they can get within spitting distance of the White House.

Other sources don't seem quite as optimistic of a turnout that high, dropping that number into just tens of thousands.

So how should one estimate just how many souls Saint Cindy might gather on the final leg of the leg of the Magical Misery Tour? A simple, but effective gauge might be to see how many hotel rooms are still available in the greater Washington, DC area. With a major political protest occurring this weekend, hotel rooms in the greater D.C. area should be few and far between.

But they aren't.

A visit to Orbitz or Travelocity, or other travel sites shows that rooms in the D.C. area could be had anywhere from downtown Washington D.C. out to Fairfax, VA 20 miles out, from $80.00+.

Perhaps the D.C. area has so many hotel rooms that an influx of 100,000 people isn't that much of a problem. I find it far more plausible that Cindy Sheehan's terrorist-appeasing, America-hating rhetoric has finally come home to roost.

Update: Added NY Sun's revised crowd estimate.

The Million Yawn March

The AP, Washington Post, and other news sources gleefully mentioned Cindy Sheehan's march on the White House this afternoon. With the exception of Reuters, however, they were all more than willing to forego this little tidbit of information:

Mrs Sheehan was joined by about 30 supporters in her march down Pennsylvania Avenue to deliver a letter to Bush urging him to pull the troops out of Iraq.

Source: Reuters via Yahoo!

That's all, folks. I count 29 people. This is her entire protest party. Including Cindy.

After a carefully stage-managed vigil by liberal PR firm Fenton Communications, and a pair of 3-week long national bus tours to drum up support for her cause, "Mother Sheehan" managed to bring with her just this tiny gaggle with her to the gates of the White House.

The organizers backing her show hope to draw "ten of thousands" of fellow protestors this weekend, but if this sad crowd and last night's turnout of just 150 in New York are any indication, the fledging anti-war movement of Cindy Sheehan is all but dead.

Update: Welcome lucianne.com, Little Green Footballs and Powerline readers! This is an archive post. Please visit the main page of the site for more.

Screwing Over the Boy Scouts

Do you like the fact that your tax dollars are being used to pay the ACLU to sue the Boy Scouts and Santa? Me neither.

F3

Hurricane Rita has achieved sustained wind speeds of 165 mph, and is now officially a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffer-Simpson scale. This is the highest possible rating for a hurricane.

Rita is so powerful that it might be more descriptive to describe her for what she also is: A massive F3 (or “severe”) tornado on the Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity.

The thing is, most tornados aren't generally large enough to be seen from space...

Via NOAA

If you live in South Texas, a trip north would be a good idea right about now.

Just Like Rosa Parks?

I can't say that I'm familiar with the work of columnist Errol Louis of the NY Daily News, but if his column "She knows the game" is any indication of his work, I haven't been missing much.

His column is a rehash of the new liberal mantra that Cindy Sheehan is a modern day Rosa Parks. He says of the comparison, "The analogy is spot on." Utter rubbish. Cindy Sheehan, if anything is the anti-Rosa Parks, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it.

Rosa Parks... was the figurehead of a cause that fought to free an entire race who were being oppressed in their own country.
Cindy Sheehan... was the figurehead of a cause that fights to defeat one man.

Rosa Parks... fought the system to obtain constitutional rights.
Cindy Sheehan... says our constitution isn't worth fighting for.

Rosa Parks... was "tired of giving in."
Cindy Sheehan... wants for nothing more than for the United States to give in.

Rosa Parks... inspired freedom-loving people around the world.
Cindy Sheehan... inspires freedom-loathing people including neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and Islamic terrorists.

Rosa Parks... to fight against the bigots of the Democratic Party to achieve her agenda.
Cindy Sheehan... firmly supported from bigoted anti-Semitic elements within the Democratic Party.

Rosa Parks... When she was successful, the cause of freedom was advanced.
Cindy Sheehan... If successful tomorrow and U.S. troops were immediately withdrawn, the freedom of 56 million people would be jeopardized.

Rosa Parks... is nearly universally described as having a quiet dignity and grace, was proud to be an American.
Cindy Sheehan... has the mouth of a sailor, and calls America a "cancer."

Cindy Sheehan is a lot of things—a grieving survivor, an estranged wife and mother, wild-eyed conspiracy theorist, and the apologist for both the terrorists who killed her son and a convicted terrorist supporter—but of all the thing she is, Cindy Sheehan clearly isn't anything like Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks had (and has) class, Mr. Louis.

Cindy Sheehan...

Not so much.

Cindy Sheehan: Unplugged

Do not be overly surprised if history decides that September 19, 2005, was the day that the anti-war movement died in the United States.

In a true-blue New York Metropolitan area of 22 million people, the anti-war movement's greatest star, a woman with "absolute" moral authority according to the NY Times own Maureen Dowd and branded the "Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement" by hopeful liberals, Cindy Sheehan managed to draw just 150 supporters, or 0.00068-percent of the tri-state metro area, to her well-advertised speech in Hyde Park. Even then, to this meager multitude, she didn't get to speak.

The NYPD moved in and took away Sheehan's microphone just as she was calling upon her supporters not to lose hope in the anti-war movement. It seems that while speech may be free in the United States, it won't come without a valid sound permit in the Big Apple.

On a day where the police seemed to outnumber the protestors, it may not have made much of a difference.

Lie Like al-Zarqawi , Squeal Like Ali

When you have to kidnap, beat and drug your troops to get them to go into battle, I think it is safe to say that the war is not going well for you:

A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military said its medical tests indicated the man was telling the truth.

Mohammed Ali, who claimed to be Saudi-born and appeared to be in his 20s, said he managed to flee after another suicide attacker set off his bomb, killing at least 12 worshippers Friday as they left a mosque in the northern city of Tuz Khormato.

In confession broadcast on state television later that day, Ali told Iraqi interrogators he did not want to bomb the mosque and hoped to go home.

Results from medical tests on Ali were "consistent with his story and characterization of his treatment," Col. Billy J. Buckner, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday.

So much for al-Zaraqawi being "the greatest" if he has to kidnap and drug people to carry out suicide attacks. It seems that the seemingly inexhaustible supply of willing suicide bombers that we westerners have come to fear is exhaustible after all. Some might even be willing to think that this validates the Bush/Rumsfeld "flypaper" strategy.

Don't let Bill Clinton know.

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! You are on an archived page, but if you jump to the main page, you can find out that according to a poll sure to disappoint Kanye West, Black People Don't Hate George Bush, that I have a very good reason (according to most eastern North Carolinians) for targeting the University of Tennessee Law School with a B-29 bomber named "Fifi," and why pouring money in to rebuilding New Orleans is a very short-term project. Be sure to bookmark or blogroll Confederate Yankee, and come back often. Mom would want it that way.

Hey Kanye, Black People Don't Hate George Bush

Or at least they don't hate the President's federal reconstruction proposal of $200 billion dollars mentioned in his recent speech:

From Rasmussen, via Newsbusters via Instapundit:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of black voters support the federal reconstruction spending while just 17% are opposed. Among white voters, 49% favor the spending and 29% are opposed. This is the first Bush Administration proposal hat [sic] has attracted more support from black Americans than from white Americans.

I'm not a huge fan of polls—the tend to be superficial, and the perceptions that drive them can turn on a dime—but I find it interesting that apparently the same people who shake their fist at Bush with one hand, are more than happy to dip their sticky fingers into the federal honeypot with the other.

Revise and Extend?

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit raised the ire of eastern North Carolina piscatorial blogger Phin this morning with the following loathsome comment:

Here's some North Carolina pork -- though at least it hasn't been soaked in that vinegary stuff they call barbecue sauce.

Professor Reynolds, while a somewhat successful blogger and middling law professor at a forgotten backwoods university, is hardly fit to taste, much less judge, that sweetest delicacy that is eastern North Carolina pork barbeque. Being a magnanimous person, how ever, I will give him a chance to think over his hastily made statement.

So Professor Reynolds...

University of Tennessee Law School, as viewed from the CAF's "Fifi."

Do you care to "revise and extend" your comments?

The City That Should Not Be

As I mentioned of a flooded New Orleans over two weeks ago, rebuilding the same city in the same spot and expecting a different result is the definition of what?

Since then, President Bush has given a speech pledging billions of dollars to rebuild a city that should not be, one built in a swamp, largely below sea level, surrounded by an unnaturally choked Mississippi River on one side, and a rapidly encroaching Gulf of Mexico on the other.

Many people have rallied behind the President for his pledge to rebuild the area "in a sensible, well-planned way."

There is nothing at all sensible about rebuilding New Orleans. It will be on, or under, the Gulf of Mexico by 2050, according to this lightly modified image from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (more here).

Of course, looking at a map is one thing: hearing from legitimate experts is another matter entirely.

Towards that end, I sent an email to some of the top coastal and marine studies scientists in the United States this past Friday, asking them to the following five questions:

1. Are estimates that the continued rate of wetland loss in Louisiana will place New Orleans on or in the Gulf of Mexico in the 2050-2090 time frame accurate?
2. If these estimates are not accurate in your estimation, what do you think the actual time frame will be (ballpark estimates are perfectly acceptable)?
3. The Mississippi Delta is immensely important as a breeding ground for migratory birds and for many species of marine life. Some have suggested that allowing the Mississippi River to "go native" —that is, removing levees and other hardening structures—would allow the Delta to replenish itself with sediments that are currently be lost to the Gulf of Mexico. Is that an accurate theory in your estimation?
4. Are other replenishment efforts more viable for the long-term?
5. If the area of New Orleans outside the port and French Quarter (above seas level) were cleared and cleaned and returned to nature with artificial flood control structures removed, what would be the impact on the wetlands of the Mississippi Delta?

Here is how he responded:

1. Are estimates that the continued rate of wetland loss in Louisiana will place New Orleans on or in the Gulf of Mexico in the 2050-2090 time frame accurate?

The estimates are probably accurate. There are three main factors: Global sea level rise, delta subsidence, Mississippi River sedimentation. Sea level is rising, the delta is sinking and the river is depositing much less sediment on the delta now than in the past (for multiple reasons).

2. If these estimates are not accurate in your estimation, what do you think the actual time frame will be (ballpark estimates are perfectly acceptable)?

They "are probably accurate" (See above)

3. The Mississippi Delta is immensely important as a breeding ground for migratory birds and for many species of marine life. Some have suggested that allowing the Mississippi River to "go native" —that is, removing levees and other hardening structures—would allow the Delta to replenish itself with sediments that are currently be lost to the Gulf of Mexico. Is that an accurate theory in your estimation?

Where the Mississippi mouth is located has shifted at least 14 times in the last 7000 years. It has now reached the point where it is over extended. There is great potential for the river to turn Southwest just south of Baton Rouge and take a short cut to the ocean. The Army Corps of Engineers has been fighting this for decades. It is natural for the river channel to significantly shift its channel. Because the river has so many dams along its course and its banks are heavily diked, sedimentation on the delta surface has been reduced. This has aggravated the problem of completely natural process of delta subsidence because little is added to the top as the bottom goes down.

Note: Here is a map showing where the Mississippi would likely change it's course, taking a sharp turn to the southwest far before it reached New Orleans. Note that if the Mississippi river does change course as suggested, then New Orleans loses much of its value as a port city, along with its only natural supply of sediment. This also means that the large area of the Mississippi Delta to the east (right) of the new course, which is over-extended into the Gulf of Mexico would erode away over time.

Are other replenishment efforts more viable for the long-term?

4. Where would the dirt come from? The natural source is the best and cheapest. [Just to be clear, he means by sedimentation –ed.] All other schemes would require enormous energy output to move the material and probably create a problem somewhere else.

If the area of New Orleans outside the port and French Quarter (above seas level) were cleared and cleaned and returned to nature with artificial flood control structures removed, what would be the impact on the wetlands of the Mississippi Delta?

There would be an immediate increase in shallow fresh to brackish water wetlands. The quality of that increase would depend on elevation (depth) and what could become established on it. If it is an increase in area of low quality wetland or a series of lakes, it may not be worth it for the gain in wetlands alone.

After answering these questions, he also volunteered the following:

If a city planner were choosing a location for a big city, it would not be where New Orleans is today. It is a location that should be largely abandoned as a city.

New Orleans is a doomed city, and even the Mississippi River it depends upon seems to want to abandon it. I'd rather we faced up to that fact now, rather than $200 billion or a trillion dollars down the road.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

So, conspiracy nut Kanye West get's some press attention for his blatantly ignorant, racially-charged remark that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," including here and here. It probably shouldn't be a surprise, then, when another ignorant (but opportunistic) hip-hop artist decides to ape Kanye to make a buck.

Dan Riehl has more, if you can stomach it.

Cindy Sheehan: The Wolves You Feed

From Cindy Sheehan yesterday (9-16) morning of Cindy Sheehan's trip to Algiers, Louisiana on the "Impeachment Express":

One thing that truly troubled me about my visit to Louisiana was the level of the military presence there. I imagined before that if the military had to be used in a CONUS (Continental US) operations that they would be there to help the citizens: Clothe them, feed them, shelter them, and protect them. But what I saw was a city that is occupied. I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me. Sand bags were removed from private property to make machine gun nests. [emphasis added]

This is Algiers, Louisiana:

This is a machine gun nest made as an example for an Australian Army open house.

A machine gun nest is a kind of gun emplacement, a prepared position for siting a weapon. Pillboxes and bunkers are other, more permanent examples.

Machine gun nests are, curiously enough, built for machine guns, big honkin' tripod-mounted, belt-fed stationary weapons used to hold a fixed position against massive onslaughts of troops. Think trench warfare, or the human wave charges of the Japanese in World War Two or the Vietnamese firebase assault from John Wayne's 1968 film, The Green Berets.

When most Americans think of machine gun nest, they get an image in their heads of something like this example from World War II:

While Arthur Lawson's Gretna PD might have fired shots into the air to scare New Orleans evacuees back across the bridge called the Crescent City Connection, no sane person, at any point, would suggest that gun emplacements such as machine gun nests or bunkers were being developed to fortify the west bank of the Mississippi against the citizens of New Orleans.

Could I be wrong? Perhaps. Here is a menacing photo of the 82nd Airborne assault on Bourbon Street yesterday morning.

Notice the aggressive posturing of the disposable cameras at the feet of the soldier on the left.

They just scream genocide, don't they?

Clearly, something doesn't add up between the reality Cindy Sheehan sees in the actions and intentions of the United States military in Louisiana, and what everyone else sees. That wide deviation in perceptions is because of the wolves Cindy Sheehan has decided to feed.

Huh?

A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, “In every life there is a terrible fight – a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.” A child asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder looked him in the eye. “The one you feed.”

Cindy Sheehan chose her favorite "wolf" long ago, and her association with certain groups just encourages her to feed one wolf at the exclusion of all others. Each passing minute he grows more angry, arrogant, and deceitful. Each passing minute, Cindy Sheehan drifts closer to what most of us would consider insane.

More from her latest post:

It is a Christ-like principal to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless. That's what is happening in Algiers and other places in Louisiana...but by the people of America, not the so-called "Christians" in charge. If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened.

I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest. [emphasis added]

Cindy Sheehan is a sad shell of a human being, twisted by hatred, loss, arrogance, and greed. I would pity her except for the fact that she chose the manner in which to handle her grief. She chose the wolf, and it has consumed her.

Update:Dan at Riehl World View and Jay Tea at Wizbang has similar thoughts, as does 70s Kung-fu expert and counterculture icon Billy Jack, Ace of Spades, Lawhawk, and a bunch of other folks on Google's new blog search engine.

Rhetoric vs. Environment

Hugh Hewitt was right regarding President George W. Bush' Speech tonight in Jackson Square; it was A Good Speech by a Good Man:

Perfect pitch returned tonight, and the president's looks backward and forward were on target. As Chris Matthews observed, it sounded a little LBJ/FDR-like in its vows about the underclass of the recovery region, but that is exactly why it worked so well: That is what needs to happen, and he identified the best approaches in the empowerment of entrepeneurs and the retraining of the evacuees. The enterprise zone could prove a turbo charged motor to the effort, and the promise of innovation was well delivered.

For all the heartfelt sentiment however, Bush, his speechwriters, and prognosticators both Democrat and Republican missed one key point: New Orleans is not destined to be around to celebrate it's rebirth, at least not for long.

The picture above is pulled from Louisiana State University, a school that knows quite a bit about coastal erosion. The original picture comes from an online lab, where this image portrays the future Louisiana coastline as envisioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in just 50 years.

More conservative estimates place New Orleans on (or under) the Gulf of Mexico by 2090, and these were both pre-Katrina estimates. Once the environmental toll of Hurrican Katrina is finally measured, years are sure to be shaved from previous estimates.

It was foolish to build a city in a swamp 300 years ago. It is even more foolish now that we could rebuild a far better city, with far fewer problems, and far more potential, with far less money on a more viable location somewhere nearby.

Pouring trillions of dollars into rebuilding a temporary metropolis destined to fail is a fool's game that I would rather not play.

Note I would like to make it clear that I'm not against rebuilding as a concept, I'd just like it to occur at a more viable location than in an eternally sinking hole surrounded by massive bodies of water. Fair enough?

E&P: The "Straight Poop?"

Editor and Publisher reports:

In what seems destined to become one of the most joked about photos of the month, a well-known Reuters photographer on Wednesday captured President George W. Bush scribbling a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a session at the United Nations. On the note is a message revolving around the need to take a "bathroom break."

It isn't until the end of the fourth paragraph that we see the note:

It is unclear if Bush is in the process of responding to that message or wrote it himself.

Focus on that line.

I downloaded the photo and resized it to 800 pixels wide by 458 pixels tall. It is very clear that the comment "I think I may need a bathroom break?" was written in block letters by a person other than the one responding to it in this photo. The hand in the photo, if it is President Bush's, is clearly writing not only in script, but at a slightly different size, with a different amount of force than the person who wrote the block comment. I imagine at trained handwriting analyst could note far more inconsistencies between the two areas of text.

Editor and Publisher clearly has the technical expertise to enlarge a photo, and they almost certainly did. So why on earth would they bury the line that brings the ownership of the comment into doubt into the fourth paragraph? While there, why did they leave the possibility that Bush may have written the "I gotta go" note, when if their photographer can be trusted, his hand is clearly shown writing a separate comment?

The answer to that question is in the very first paragraph of the E&P story when they say:

In what seems destined to become one of the most joked about photos of the month..

Bingo. There's your answer. E&P is not only wrong, they are probably lying... about a potty break note. How childish can these so-called "media professionals" be?

Update: Gary Hershorn, a picture editor for Reuters, explains why he made the call to transmit the story and how Reuters had the picture Photoshopped ("a standard practice").

"There was no malicious intent," he says. "That's not what we do."

Um, yeah..... And Reuter's doesn't stage photos.

I'd just like to ask Mr. Hershorn one simple question: unless your sole intent is to try to embarrass the President, what possibly could have made this story newsworthy?

Update: According to some sources, this note was in Bush's handwriting. My analysis was incorrect. The fact that this story was only publicized to try to embarress the President still remains true.

The Tom DeLay Challenge

So as I'm getting a little static on this from fan of "El Rushbo," I thought I'd ask you to:

• read this, and then;
• read this.

Enquiring minds want to know.

(Inspired by the comments here)

A Fitting Tribute to Flight 93

I never had a chance to meet you, and if things had been different, I never would have know your names, or the heroism that you keep deep inside you. On September 11, 2001, you overcame your own certainty of death to save fellow Americans on the ground, following the firmly understated battle cry, "let's roll."

Because of your bravery in the face of certain death, we have both of these monuments:

Without you, one of these symbols of America would not now be standing, and dozens, if not hundreds more families would spend anguished holidays with empty chairs where loved ones should be. You gave the greatest and most personal of sacrifices, dying like lions, or sheepdogs defending the flock.

If I were asked what a fitting monument to your sacrifice might be, I would not have selected a mixed message in the field where you died, but two simple, solid tributes, one the grounds at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, and the other at the Capital Building.

They might read:

It would then list the names of the heroes of Flight 93.

* * *

These heroes died defending Americans from Islamic terrorism. There was no embrace, there was no bonding, and no contemplation. The was a valiant, violent struggle to determine the fate of those on the plane and the fate of those on the ground, and in that struggle, the boys and girls next door faced the very best operatives Islamic terrorism had throw at them, and they triumphed.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton said it well when she said:

"As I look around this field, there is little that we can do or say or build that can be equal to the courage and sacrifice of the heroes who died on Flight 93, two years ago today," Norton said. "Our hearts tell of a need to honor and memorialize their heroism and to distinguish and identify the importance of this site and what happened here for future generations."

update: Norton apparently remembered her words.

Ideology, or Diarrhea?

"My hope is that he catches the syphilis during a blood transfusion necessary because he was gang raped by a pack of rabid herpes infected squirrels on his way home from group therapy required before he completes his sex change operation."

So, phin, ... you're saying you don't like Ted Rall?

I can't imagine why, with his caring ideology, and all...

Pledge Ruled Unconstitutional

Fellow blogger Dan Riehl is hot that a federal judge has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance containing the words "under God" is unconstitutional. I can certainly understand his frustration, but I'm hardly surprised.

This cased was led by Michael Newdow, the same man who had his case dismissed by the Supreme Court last year. The judge on this case was more or less bound to follow the precedent laid down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

Personally, with John Roberts almost certain to be confirmed as Chief Justice and a seat on the Supreme Court still open for a conservative nominee, I think that the possibility exists that this case could, if circumstances unfold in a particular manner, destroy the liberal myth of a Constitutional separation of church and state once and for all.

The "wall of separation" is a court-mandated wall, not a Constitutionally mandated one. If you doubt this, simply read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The only Constitutional mandate is that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

It was written to make sure there was no formal U.S religion, i.e., the Church of England. It was not written to strip all religion out of American public life. For that, we have only liberals, atheists, and the ACLU.

This case might just be the beginning of the end for those who have been steadily been rolling back American religious liberties over the past decades. Personally, I welcome the challenge and the chance to restore our rights.

Tom Delay: No Fat in Budget

House Majority leader Tom Delay also announced that filmmaker Michael Moore, "has the svelte physique of a modern day Conan." *

What. A. Tool.

Durbinizing the Superdome

Does this scene sound vaguely familiar?

"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

"On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a evacuee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The evacuee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the evacuee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Louisianans had done to evacuees in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Louisiana politicians in the treatment of their citizens."

When these words were uttered by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin in June, he was speaking of Guantanamo Bay, and the alleged treatment of al Qaeda terrorists in the care of the American military. It is sad that by substituting a few words we could so easily capture the desperate conditions Americans forced upon Americans just last week in the Louisiana Superdome.

The allegations of torture at Guantanamo Bay turned out to be false. The desperate situation in the Superdome turned out to be all too real.

I wonder if Dick Durbin and his fellow Democrats will be able to summon the same vigor to prosecute the authorities responsible for the torturous conditions of Louisiana Superdome, as they did for those they felt were responsible for Guantanamo Bay.

Sadly, I don't see that their character will be up to the task.

Your Lyin' Eyes

John at WuzzaDem finds that it's all in the timing.

Nursing Home Owners Charged In Katrina Deaths

Via 2theadvocate.com:

The owners of St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard Parish were charged with 34 counts of involuntary homicide today, announced Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti at a press conference.

Mable B. Mangano and Salvador A. Mangano, turned themselves into authorities and are in custody in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Foti said the arrests were in connection with the deaths of residents of St. Rita's during the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe.

He said it was the owners' duty to "follow reasonable practices" in safeguarding the well-being of the facility's residents.

"When accepting patients, it is their duty to provide a standard of care for them," Foti said.

"The pathetic thing is they were asked if they wanted to move them (the patients) out, and they said they did not," he said, noting that the owners of the nursing home had been repeatedly warned of the dangers of the approaching storm.

"Their inaction resulted in these deaths," Foti said.

These nursing home owners are responsible for their charges, and they failed a sacred trust, not to mention a basic human duty.

Other people also failed those that depend on them in Louisiana... we'll see if they are also charged for their ineptitude that contributed to at least some of the deaths of the 400 people recovered from Katrina's floodwater's so far.

Nagin Bails?

Why has New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin moved his family to Dallas?:

Mr. Nagin was speaking from the Dallas area, where, he told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, he has bought a house for his family and enrolled his young daughter in school. He said he would remain in New Orleans while his family lives for the next six months in the Dallas area and would make visits when possible.

He didn't just move his family out of the flooded area, he moved them 520 miles and 1/3 of the largest state in the Union away.

So the $64,000 question: Why?

I don't think it will take a rocket scientist to see that Nagin might be out as Mayor once his failure to follow the written New Orleans evacuation plan is widespread knowledge among his scattered constituency. As his many failures in leadership are quite arguably to blame for many of the deaths in New Orleans, moving his family might be safety issue as well.

Of course, since the people he screwed over the most didn't even have enough transportation to make it out of New Orleans to Gretna, moving his family all the way Dallas might have been overkill.

Katrina, Liberal Professors, and Other Natural Disasters

“Feel free to circulate my opinion.”

Okay dear, you asked for it.

The following section come from the words of a liberal professor at a nearby university, responding to a colleague that posted a "chain of responsibility" email that explained how the government chain of command ran in New Orleans, and how it should work.

The "chain of responsibility" as the colleague called it, ran from local responsibility to federal responsibility in this order:

• the Mayor (Ray Nagin)
• the New Orleans Director of Homeland Security (Terry Ebberts)
• the Governor (Kathleen Blanco)
• the Head of Homeland Security (Michael Chertoff)
• the President (George W. Bush)

It is more or less accurate, though it is certainly simplified, as the colleague left out the Louisiana Homeland Security office (state level), that reports to Governor Blanco, and she left out a Michael Brown-led FEMA altogether (though as I write this, Brown has stepped down).

Still the colleague's hierarchy was more right that wrong.

Sadly, this liberal college professor, like so many ordinary, non-EdD and PhD (piled higher and deeper) types, is so wrapped up in her partisanship that she can't tell fact from fiction. Read her response first and see if you can spot her errors. I'll provide a proper Fisking on the other side:

Another valid perspective:

How about that the government was studying this (with our money) for 4 years - and cutting the budget to fix the levies [sic] (admittedly this was also cut under Clinton which was shameful)? Why were they budgeting anything at all if this was a private sector issue? And - since the levies protected an entire, extremely vulnerable city - how could anyone in good conscience say - it is the responsibility of property owners only? The buck stops with the person at the top. Always has and always will. In this situation, that happens unfortunately (for me and others) to be GW and his poor administrative choices, Chains of responsibility as a defense for the "blame game" don't make it in most crises situations. Try telling that to the homeless.
This piece sounds more like " blame the victims" but protect the government at all costs. I am glad this kind of thinking wasn't directed toward members of this community during Floyd. Granted, aspects of this article are probably true. The crime and violence in the Astrodome was absolutely horrifying. Given the blatant irresponsibility of some of New Orleans's citizens - why did the gov't issue $2,000 each worth of "get rich free cards" on Wed. (given to countless numbers to "empower them" to buy what?). Fortunately, someone caught the stupidity of that one and cancelled the program on Friday (when they fired the Fema Undersecretary) . When our Pres. visits Trent Lott's house and promises to rebuild it "bigger and better than ever - can't wait to be sitting on his front porch again..." - I think he is absolutely clueless regarding the plight of the poor and general human suffering. That truly frightens me. ...
By the way, watch out for Ophelia - because if we are affected, there will be nothing left for us. Wish we had more National Guard Troops at home to assist those in need right here in the US of A.
The fact that the Republicans feel the need to put forth something like this - which is blatantly political - lllustrates their defensiveness and concerns regarding the next election. Indeed, they need to be very worried.
Obviously, I have strong feelings about this too or would have let it go by. Feel free to circulate my opinion.

So how many mistakes did you find in our little liberal's canned argument? Let's take it from the top.

Another valid perspective

Sorry, but the good doctor (EdD) doesn't make it past the title on this one. You either have a chain of command, or you do not. The chain of command did leave out some key roles, and if the poster was going to address these missing roles, then the title may be valid. As we will soon see, though, the professor completely blows it. She does not in any way understand the hierarchy, and seeks to flatten it completely (everything is Bush's fault) in an effort to assign blame, hence even her title is wrong, as her hierarchy is invalid, making her claim to have a valid perspective incorrect.

How about that the government was studying this (with our money) for 4 years - and cutting the budget to fix the levies [sic] (admittedly this was also cut under Clinton which was shameful)?

Governments at various levels on two continents have been aware of levee problems in the Mississippi Delta at least since 1832 when English novelist Fanny Trollope wrote about New Orleans levees in 1832 (thank you, Michael Kinsley). Levee problems were not suddenly discovered during the Bush administration. They have been a constant concern for the citizens of New Orleans for well over a hundred years… as has been the corruption of New Orleans and Louisiana officials that have failed to secure matching funds, misappropriated the funds they were allocated, and were so poor in money management that they lost the ability to restructure their debt.

In addition, the state of Louisiana thought so little of levee improvements that they spent less than one tenth of one percent of their 1998 budget -- $1.98 million -- to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. In 2001, the Orleans levee board was forced to defer capital improvement project because the locals rejected a tax increase to fix the levees. The levee board did manage, however to spend $2.5 million on one restoration project—of a water fountain. That, too, was well over budget. In short, New Orleans and Louisiana bear almost all the blame for not funding their levee system They couldn't even meet the federal government halfway. Why should someone in Boise or Boston be forced to pay for a Louisiana-benefiting project that won't even sell in Baton Rouge?

It is also worth noting that under the present administration, Louisiana has received more money for Corps of Engineers construction projects ($1.9 billion) than any of the other 49 states. California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times larger.

Why were they budgeting anything at all if this was a private sector issue? And - since the levies protected an entire, extremely vulnerable city - how could anyone in good conscience say - it is the responsibility of property owners only? The buck stops with the person at the top. Always has and always will.

Simply a reading comprehension issue, proving even a EdD can be semi-literate. These lines were responding to the claim that:

…the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain.

The original contention was never just that the landowners were responsible, but that the landowners and the levee board were responsible.

These political cronies, six of eight appointed directly by the governor are the group with primary responsibility for the levees around New Orleans, as noted here:

The Orleans Levee District, a quasi-governmental body, is responsible for 129 miles of earthen levees, floodwalls, 190 floodgates, 2 flood control structures, and 100 valves. The governor appoints six of the board's eight members, and they serve at his pleasure. When a storm approaches it is responsible for closing the hundreds of hurricane protection floodgates and valves on levees surrounding the city. All residents outside of these levees evacuate. The District's General Fund accounts for all operating funds for the daily operations of the Administrative Offices, Field Forces, Law Enforcement and support operations necessary to maintain the Board's level of services for flood protection and public safety.

The District's Special Levee Improvement Projects Fund (SLIP) accounts for the capital funds for major maintenance and/or capital improvements of all physical property and plant owned by the Board that is identified as directly related to flood protection.

So as the levee board was appointed directly be, and serves at the discretion of, the Governor. There is no higher authority for the levee board that the governor that appoints them. Period. This buck stops with Kathleen Blanco, and nowhere else.

In this situation, that happens unfortunately (for me and others) to be GW and his poor administrative choices, Chains of responsibility as a defense for the "blame game" don't make it in most crises situations. Try telling that to the homeless.

While without factual merit, this passage is worth mentioning in that it shows that even a seemingly educated person can become completely illogical when politics are involved, especially when you combine a rabid ideology with a lack of knowledge about the subject at hand. The Executive branch is not responsible in any way for a state's municipal projects. The good professor knows nothing of government, and tries to cover it with an emotional appeal.

This piece sounds more like "blame the victims" but protect the government at all costs. I am glad this kind of thinking wasn't directed toward members of this community during Floyd.

There was a simple reason state and local officials were not blamed for anything during Floyd, dear professor: they responded competently to the disaster. States and individual communities affected by Hurricane Floyd held to their disaster plans. Mayors led their communities; they did not flee to the state capitol. Governor's led their states; they did not toss up their hands and declare the situation "untenable."

In addition, citizens of North Carolina and Virginia and other states did not take advantage of Hurricane Floyd to go on a rampage throughout their cities, looting jewelry stores, pawn shops, and pharmacies of everything of value, which the community of New Orleans, including many law enforcement officers caught on tape, did. Perhaps we didn't blame the victims of Floyd, because the victims of Floyd didn't attempt to rob their cities blind.

Granted, aspects of this article are probably true. The crime and violence in the Astrodome was absolutely horrifying.

It would have been horrifying—if it happened. Luckily, Houston, Texas, home of the Astrodome, was unaffected by the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, or by the looters and gang members that apparently took over the New Orleans Superdome after the New Orleans police department fell apart. Currently, 25,000 evacuees of New Orleans have been evacuated to the Astrodome where they are now being cared-for by big-hearted Texans.

As for the horror stories of multiple murders and gang rapes inside the Superdome, none have so far been confirmed by credible sources, although there were some confirmed deaths, including a suicide. The majority of suffering endured by the people trapped in the Superdome was the direct result of actions, and inactions, in Baton Rouge.

Given the blatant irresponsibility of some of New Orlean's citizens - why did the gov't issue $2,000 each worth of "get rich free cards" on Wed. (given to countless numbers to "empower them" to buy what?). Fortunately, someone caught the stupidity of that one and cancelled the program on Friday (when they fired the Fema Undersecretary) . When our Pres. visits Trent Lott's house and promises to rebuild it "bigger and better than ever - can't wait to be sitting on his front porch again..."

Debit cards of $2,000—hardly "get rich quick cards" by any measure—were distributed as a pilot project in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio where there were plenty of things to buy. Perhaps if the good professor wee a tad bit better in geography, she wouldn't be quite as snarky?

Why were the cards cancelled? Not because there weren't places to use the cards, but because the wonderful social elements created by Johnson's "Great Society" were already abusing them.

President Bush wants Trent Lott's house to be rebuilt, as much as he wants everyone else's home to be rebuilt. Just because a liberal like the good professor hates Senator Lott, it doesn't mean that he has an less value than any other person. I'd ask the professor if she'd rather if Lott not be extended the same right to rebuild as others, but I fear that I might guess her not quite Christian response.

I think he is absolutely clueless regarding the plight of the poor and general human suffering.

Come from a tenured university professor who hasn't faced the real world outside of her sheltered academic enclave and her comfortable upper-middle class neighborhood in decades, she's got quite a bit of nerve talking about the "plight of the poor."

By the way, watch out for Ophelia - because if we are affected, there will be nothing left for us. Wish we had more National Guard Troops at home to assist those in need right here in the US of A.

The fact that the Republicans feel the need to put forth something like this - which is blatantly political - lllustrates their defensiveness and concerns regarding the next election. Indeed, they need to be very worried.

Complete and utter horsecrap, if you pardon my language.

Ophelia, which wobbles back and forth nearly in place, and in strength between a tropical storm and a marginal hurricane, is a threat for minor inland flooding and beach erosion, but no more than the nor'easters that pound the Carolina coast throughout the winter season.

Even if Ophelia came ashore a strong category three or four, there are enough law enforcement and National Guardsmen in North Carolina to take care of our own, and we have done many times before. We have seasoned disaster veterans in all levels of emergency management from the state to the local level, and a citizenry that reacts to save communities, not destroy them. Therein lies the difference.

Over 100 years of corrupt and incompetent Democratic leadership on every level, an incompetent and corrupt law enforcement system, and a gang and drug-riddled population created by Johnson's failed "Great Society" doomed New Orleans.

Mayor Nagin, who failed to follow the New Orleans disaster plan and move citizens out of the city using school and public buses, has fled to Dallas. Governor Blanco who sad the situation was "untenable" and "overwhelming," went on to prove it by refusing to let the Red Cross or Salvation Army enter the city. Other Democratic leaders like Gretna Police Chief, Arthur Lawson, refused to let New Orleans citizens escape the city, and even had officer fire shots at, or over, those who tried to escape.

North Carolina citizens do not have to worry about their leaders trying to starve them out, or trying to trap them in concentration camp-like conditions.

That you would try to coverup the massive corruption, cronyism and borderline genocide committed by the Democratic party of Louisiana and New Orleans, and actually blame it upon a federal government, that actually responded faster and in more volume than any of the past six major hurricanes, speaks ill of your motives, and your knowledge.

Obviously, I have strong feelings about this too or would have let it go by.

You probably should have, professor. You probably should have.

Disasters and Choices

I'd written a post on September 2 in response to Kanye West's ignorant statements made during the NBC telethon that "George Bush hates black people." This post led to an especially spirited comment thread, that I eventually locked down at 323 comments.

After locking down the thread, I received an email from someone we'll call "Spartakus" who took exception to this comment from poster calling himself "Sean John:"

I agree that all levels of the gov't failed NO. But the Federal Gov't knew - before Katrina hit -that the city and state did not have enough resources to handle this alone. We all knew that. FEMA knew that. BTW did you know that the Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

"Spartakus," as an government insider, had this to say in response:

I do not normally respond to blogs but found the thread on the issue of Kayne West's comments interesting. I was intending to respond to Sean John's statement "...the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million."

I work in resource allocation for a major organization of the Federal
Government ($700 billion). I wanted to point out to Sean John that cutting
funding like that is not uncommon. Why? Because (just like our own personal
lives) the total costs of government project requests are invariably always
higher than the funding available. In order to meet the limit of the annual
federal budget programs are reduced (or cut altogether) to meet the
established topline. We call this reduction/cutting of some programs as
"taking risk." What that means is that the program will take a reduction in
funding with the hope (an educated guess if you will) that it can handle its
mission utilizing a lower amount of money. Also, it is not done in an
arbitrary fashion, the reduction is usually taken where the agency requests.

An example is your own personal budget. Let's say that, rather than getting
your annual pay in 26 bi-weekly paychecks, I am going to give it all to you
up front on October 1st (the fiscal year). However, two years prior to that
you need to present me with a plan on how every single dollar is going to be
spent. You may also include items you would like to have, since I can only
give you a rough estimate of dollars you will have to spend.

Also understand you cannot "rob Peter to pay Paul." By that I mean your
"FY2007 Home Budget Plan" must be divided into many subcategories: Home Roof
Repair, Bathroom 1 Plumbing Repair, Fast Food Purchase from McD's, Fast Food
Purchase from Wendy's, Gas for Car A, Gas for Car B, Oil for Car A, New Tire
for Car A, Repair 1 flat tire for Car A.... (See how it works? This roughly
approximates the myriad of agencies vying for Federal dollars every year).

Now, since you planned for only 1 flat tire for Car A what do you do if you
have two? What you cannot do is take money out of your "Fast Food Program"
or "Home Roof Repair" because these are different agencies. You must pay
for the tire out of your Car A Repair funds. By not programming for two
flats you also took risk.

When I know how much money you can "execute" in FY2007 I will give you your
budget "topline." Invariably you will find that your topline is lower that
the available funding. So now you must cut some of your programs and in
doing so you must carefully evaluate each program and take risk when you
decrease the funding.

So the Federal Government and the Corps of Engineers took risk (the Corps
would have to show OMB what specific programs were to bet reduced/cut) when
they cut the initial request by $65 million. As we are now seeing, the
Federal Government will probably spend more than $65 million in direct and
indirect costs (indirect costs are those that we pay to our military and
governments employees who have responded. We would have paid them anyway
but we are paying them to do something in support of Katrina relief). The
government will probably pay these costs with supplemental budget
authorizations (but remember, cannot rob Peter to pay Paul usually applies)
although some of the burden of funding (FEMA, the National Guard, the
military) will be placed on agencies to fund (so they will have to find the
funds within their own organizations to pay, usually fuel costs).

Is it cut throat? Yes, it most certainly can be. But it is the reality of
government budgeting. Everybody wants a slice of the federal budget pie but
there is a limited amount of pie every year. [my emphasis -ed.]

To answer the blog threads of those who like to place blame for the slow
response I say it is too early to say. The problem with disaster response
is you do not get to really practice your plan. You usually have to execute
it in a real time situation and as Murphy's Law states: "No plan survives
initial contact with the enemy." Same is true for a disaster of this
magnitude. In the "hotwash" to come there will no doubt be enough blame
apportioned, but there will be success to highlight as well. Government
agencies usually end up learning from mistakes, it is unfortunate that
people must suffer during the learning process.

Something to think about,isn't it?

The federal government can't be there, at all times, being all things to all people. We've only got so much money to spend, folks, and we try to put it where it makes the most sense at the time. Even liberal Michael Kinsley recognizes that:

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and other Louisiana politicians, for instance, have been flashing their foresight all over the tube. They say they asked repeatedly for more money so that the Army Corps of Engineers could strengthen the levees, but repeatedly the Bush administration actually cut the corps' budget instead.

The Corps of Engineers itself is feeling pretty smug. It has long wanted money to build levees that would even survive a Category 5 hurricane, let alone a measly Category 4 like Katrina.

Sure, and if there were a Category 6 or a Category 473, there would be a dusty Corps of Engineers report in a filing cabinet somewhere, asking for money to protect against that one too. The Corps of Engineers has done many marvelous things. But it would cement over the Great Lakes and level Mt. Rainier if we would let it. Its warnings about natural disasters are like the warnings of that famous economist who has predicted 10 of the last five recessions.

Hinsight is 20/20, folks, but if Louisiana was all that interested in building additional levees, they could have raised their taxes in their states for their needs. They made the choice not to.

That was the wrong choice.

Nine Eleven Zero Five

The Ground Zero Cross

From September 11 News:

You are looking at what some people believe is a miracle.

Two days after the disaster, a construction worker found several perfectly formed crosses planted upright in a pit in the rubble of the heavily damaged 6 World Trade Center.

The large, cross-shaped metal beams just happened to fall that way when one of the towers collapsed. An FBI chaplain who has spent days at ground zero says he has not seen anything like it on the vast site.

As word of the find has spread at ground zero, exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed rescue workers have been flocking to the site to pray and meditate.

"People have a very emotional reaction when they see it," says the Rev. Carl Bassett, an FBI chaplain. "They are amazed to see something like that in all the disarray. There's no symmetry to anything down there, except those crosses."

God be with those who died on September 11, 2001. God be with their families and friends.

Note: Incredible as it may seem, there are forces on the far left that seek to erase the memory of what was lost that day.

The Far Left has attempted ot hijack the Ground Zero Memorial in lower Manhattan and turn it into a "Blame America First" monument. Don't let them Got to Take Back the Memorial and sign the petition.

Don't let leftists desecrate the memory of "The Flight That Fought Back." Go to Michelle Malkin's to see how a liberal L.A. architect is trying to turn the Flight 93 memorial into a tribute to the terrorists.

Update: John in Carolina finds a touching story of friendship worth dying for in the South Tower.

Osama's Mouthpiece

source: ABC News

Orange County, CA environmentalist turned al Qaeda terrorist Adam Gadahn has delivered the latest taped communiqué for al Qaeda, threatening Los Angeles and Melbourne.

Sure, he was brought up a idealistic liberal hippie (goat farm and all), BUT DON'T QUESTION HIS PATRIOTISM!!!

Michelle Malkin has more in this Oct, 2004 post.

Hates Black People (The Conspiracy Show)

It's time for everyone's favorite show, “Who Hates Black People?” hosted by Kanye West.

Here's how we play, audience: pick an offense, and we'll tell you which racist cracker has committed the crime!

This week, we're going to focus on Hurricane Katrina. As you know, Hurricane Katrina was a hurricane created by Republicans and aimed at New Orleans to kill black folks on welfare.

Are you ready? Let's go!

Q: Which racist Republican created Hurricane Katrina by refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol?

A: George Bush*

* Please ignore the fact that the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases (China) was completely exempted from the agreement, and ignore the fact that Russia's influential Academy of Sciences called the protocol “scientifically unfounded nonsense,” or that the Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change by 80 academics and 25 meteorologists was skeptical that global warming even exists. Also, please ignore the fact that we are currently in a 3 million year-old ice age. Hurricane Katrina is obviously Bush's fault.

Q: Which racist Republican purposefully trapped 100,000 black citizens of New Orleans by not following evacuation plans?

A: George Bush*

* Please ignore the fact that it was (Democrat) Mayor Ray Nagin who failed to follow the written disaster plan to use buses to effect an evacuation of the City of New Orleans, even though he knew 125,000 citizens didn't have personal transportation. George Bush should have bought each one of them a car.

Q: Which racist Republican blocked the escape the black citizens of New Orleans that tried to escape over the bridge known as the Crescent City Connection?

A: George Bush*

* Please ignore the fact that those orders actually came from Police Chief Arthur Lawson (Democrat), who said, "If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged." Of course, Bush forced Lawson to say that.

Q: Which racist Republican ordered the Louisiana National Guard and Louisiana Department of Homeland Security to keep the Red Cross and Salvation Army away from the tens of thousands of sick and starving people trapped at the Superdome and Convention Center?

A: George Bush*

* Please ignore the fact that while President Bush is the Commander in Chief of federalized National Guard units, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (Democrat) is Commander in Chief of Louisiana's National Guard until she decides to hand control to the federal government, which she refused then and still refuses to do, despite the problems that has caused with the relief effort. It was under Blanco's orders that the Red Cross and Salvation Army were barred from entering New Orleans with relief supplies. Bush purposefully confused her by following the law.

Q: Which racist Republican violated the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution by denying the remaining people in New Orleans the right to defend themselves from looters and thugs?

A: George Bush*

* Actually, It is New Orleans Police Chief P. Edwin Compass (Democrat) that violated and continues to violate the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, numerous provisions of the Louisiana Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and natural law. Of course, he did so because, um, ah.. oh wait, it is Democrats that hate people having a right to defend themselves, isn't it?

Well, that's all the time we have for today's show, but come back next week after Hurricane Ophelia makes landfall on Myrtle Beach to see Jeff Foxworthy Host “Who Hates Rednecks?”

Update: Via Ace of Spaces, Strange Women Lying in Ponds provides more evidence of the racial nature of Hurricane Katrina. Damn that Bush!

Open Letter to the Vultures

Dear CNN,

Thank you so much for filing suit against the federal government so that CNN can film the recovery of bodies of those killed by Hurricane Katrina. It is imperative that we, the public, be allowed to see the bloated and rotting corpses of those killed in this natural disaster, even though many of us still have loved ones missing.

Your suit was allegedly filed to allow you full and fair cover coverage, and "vigorous reporting," yet your suit didn't seemed concerned with addressing "sympathy for family members" or "respect for the dead." I can only surmise you are completely unfamiliar with the words "compassion" and "dignity," but then again, you are the media, so perhaps that is understandable.

Could it be that as far as CNN in concerned, stripping the last bits of humanity from the deceased isn't quite as important as an attempt to raise your ratings, or perhaps to inflame public passions?

Thank you for once again displaying the kind of class we've come to expect from CNN.

Sincerely,

Confederate Yankee

If you would like to express your feeling towards CNN's exploitive filming of the dead, you can do so here.

Update: Via email an article from the Dallas News, September 14, 1900 after the 1900 Storm in Galveston, TX that left 6,000 dead:

Looters found despoiling the dead were summarily executed by the militia - stood against the nearest wall or pile of debris and shot without the hindrance of a trial. The same brutal justice was delivered to amateur photographers. "Word received from Galveston today indicates that Kodak fiends are being shot down like thieves. Two, it is stated, were killed yesterday while taking pictures of nude female bodies."

Call me old-fashioned, but they had the right idea.

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers. We've got a lot move coverage of Hurricane Katrina-related issues on the main page, from who really "hates black people" (Kayne West might be surprised), to confirmation of the Orleans Parish Prison Riot, to revealing Sean Penn's fake body armor during his much-mocked rescue attempts, and much more. Thanks for stopping by, and please consider making Confederate Yankee a regular read. Thanks!

New Orleans Hurricane Prison Riot Confirmed

First reported by a local ABC affiliate and then discounted as a rumor by a lack of supporting evidence, the story Orleans Parish Prison Riot is starting to slip out in bits and pieces.

"I really didn't think we were going to get out of there alive," 52-year-old Deborah Williams said of her ordeal at the Orleans Parish Prison complex. "It really was a miracle from God." Williams, along with several other guards and the 10- to 17-year-old inmates were moved to an 8-story building at the prison from a less-secure juvenile detention center in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast because the prison was thought to be safer. By the time they were rescued, the building had flooded up to the fifth floor, a riot had broken out and been put down and most of the other inmates had been evacuated.

While flooding to the fifth floor seems to be a gross exaggeration, the rest of the story seems to match other accounts coming to light. Sadly, Williams' story also provides the first evidence of prisoners dying during the evacuation.

"Sometime Thursday morning, we heard helicopters outside," Williams said. "Then I heard someone calling my name — 'Williams! Deborah Williams!' — and I knew we were saved. We all started hugging each other, and soldiers started coming in from the roof."
Williams and the others were given life jackets and, because of the high water and the fact that many couldn't swim, they were tied together and pulled several blocks through the flooded streets of downtown New Orleans.
"It was horrible," she said. "Two of our kids drowned, and there was nothing we could do to help them. One of them was pregnant. There were bodies floating by, and the soldiers kept telling us to hurry, that it wasn't safe."

An Australian tourist, Ashley McDonald, was arrested for minor offenses and since freed, reported that prisoners were virtually abandoned in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck, and also confirmed both prisoner riots and escapes:

"They basically threw away the key to the jail for four days," he said. McDonald said he and the other prisoners were basically abandoned by authorities in the storm's aftermath. "We had no food, no water, no power, no air-conditioning, no toilets," McDonald said. "A lot of people started breaking out and escaping and that's when attention was brought to the jail."

It was only then that the jail was evacuated and the prisoners shipped out, including many with homemade weapons. McDonald himself was threatened with a screwdriver once he arrived at the prison in Baton Rouge.

Perhaps the most disturbing vision of the scene inside the prison from corrections officer Shantia Barnes:

As Katrina raged Monday outside the prison on Perdido Street, water began seeping into the building where Barnes worked. Toilets began to back up. By Tuesday, the water inside was about 3 feet high and about 320 inmates had to be moved to the second floor, she said.

As water rose 5 feet high that evening, the situation became desperate, she said. About 40 civilians, including family members of prison workers, had also taken refuge at the jail. Word spread among the inmates that the Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans, where many had family, was underwater. Unfed for days, the inmates began to riot inside their cellblocks, Barnes said.

"We had no phone lines, no electricity," she said. "There was raw gas in the water ... If it wasn't for the deputies, a lot of people would have died."

She believes many drowned anyway, including inmates housed on the first floor of the Templeman 3 building, where Barnes said that in the chaos, some inmates may have remained locked inside.

"We evacuated everybody who was at the jail as far as we know once we got there," said Pam Laborde, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Corrections, which helped evacuate the prison. Laborde said she could not confirm what may have happened before rescuers from her agency arrived.

Taken together, these accounts seem to paint a picture of scared prisoners rioting in an attempt to get away from rising floodwaters. A skeleton crew of guards was unable to easily put down the uprising, and as a result, inmates may have been trapped and drowned in rising floodwaters.

The media seems unwilling, or unable to present a full picture of the events inside the Orleans Parish prison, with only these fractured accounts from two guards and one inmate presenting a fractured picture of rioting, fear and death that runs counter to official pronouncements of orderly prisoner transfers to other Louisiana prisons.

What once seemed to be a bright spot in the failed evacuation of New Orleans now appears to be just another failure to adequately prepare by Louisiana authorities.

Note: This just kind of confirmed what Dan Riehl reported almost a week ago.

Previous:
Lambs Leading Wolves
Orleans Prison Riot
Hurricane Katrina's Harsh Sentence

Grossly Overstated

A lot of folks are hyping figures tossed out by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana U.S. Sen. David Vitter that deaths in New Orleans are in the range of 10,000 dead.

I'm going on the record and saying that the actual body count will be far lower than these estimates, probably in the range of 3,000-3,500 dead. Why?

The bodies just aren't showing up as you might expect as the floodwaters recede. If deaths were on the order of 10,000 in Louisiana, Reuters photographers wouldn't have to ask to join FEMA on rescue boats to find bodies to feast on; corpses would be piling up like driftwood at chokepoints and finding bodies to exploit would be no problem at all.

But that isn't occurring, and the simplest explanation is that far fewer people died than expected. We heard grossly over-inflated estimates in the hundreds or even thousands when Hurricane Floyd came through North Carolina back in 1999 and caused extensive flooding. 47 died, not 470, or 4,700.

Thankfully, the lack of bodies recovered so far indicate that this might also be the case with Hurricane Katrina.

Dependence + Stupidity, Kills

Listening to WPTF Radio on the way home this afternoon, host Bill LuMaye noted that many of those poor - and now feared dead - citizens of the areas heavily flooded by the levee breaks in New Orleans had refused to leave their homes because they were afraid that if they evacuated, they would not get their government assistance checks.

The reasons they gave were that:

• that they didn't trust their neighbors not to steal their checks, and;
• they were afraid their checks would blow away

*Pop*

That the mail would not be delivered in a city under a mandatory disaster evacuation apparently never cross their minds.

Some people claim that a lot of people drown in New Orleans because of their skin color. Is it impolite to mention that their economic situation might have more to do with their intelligence and education than their melanin content? Quite frankly, many people died not because they were of a certain race, but because they were stupid.

Sorry, but there it is.

The Level of Incompetence WAS Suspicious...

The Volcker Report clears Annan for… flooding?

You know, if the United Nations was involved in dam and levee construction in Louisiana prior to Hurricane Katrina, it would sure go a long way towards explaining the failure of flood control levees in New Orleans.

Thanks for the headline, Google News.

Governor Who?

Stumble across the official web site for the Louisiana Governor's mansion at http://www.gov.state.la.us/mansion/letter2.htm, and you get a wonderful welcoming letter from the Governor—Governor Murphy J. “Mike” Foster.

It looks like levee construction isn't the only thing that is out of date and/or under construction in Louisiana.

And Mike…

Seafoam?

Screwing The Pooch... Again

Via Breitbart:

Recording stars Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, Paul Simon, Neil Young and the Dixie Chicks will headline a telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims slated to air this week on six major U.S. networks and around the world, producers said on Wednesday. But it was not clear whether they or any of the other celebrities booked for Friday's event, including comedian Chris Rock and movie star Jack Nicholson, will be permitted to freely express their opinions during the show or required to stick to the script. The question arose after impromptu remarks last Friday by rapper Kanye West, who used his appearance on a similar NBC network broadcast to accuse President George W. Bush of racism in the government's relief effort.

The Dixie Chicks? You've got to really wonder why they're being dragged out now, since Natalie Maines torpedoed their careers in 2003. Please note: the media didn't torpedo them, their fan base did. Are the media hoping for another celebrity meltdown?

Perhaps the media didn't learn a damn thing from the whole Kanye West episode... or perhaps they have decided that they are willing to trade the damage they do to the charity relief efforts in exchange for some hoped-for damage against President Bush.

I hope the potential "damage" is worth the loss of donations.

Blanco Cried, New Orleans Died

Has any governor's incompetence has ever led to more deaths?

More here

NEW AND IMPROVED!: Now With 100% more FEMA!

A Scary Thought...

I now have blog kids.

Perhaps not surprisingly, one is a politician (local). I'll let you try to figure out which one of the guys it is...

Gutless Wonder

Via Fox News:

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.

As floodwaters caused by Hurricane Katrina began to slowly recede with the ruined city's first pumps returning to operation, 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, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen 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.

Bodies are decaying in a toxic stew of industrial chemicals, spilled sewage, and leaking natural gas. According to the CDC five people have already died from bacterial infections, and e. coli is just one of the potentially deadly biological hazards in the streets. That does not include tthe threat of disease-carrying insects, vermin, poisonous snakes, and alligators. This does not even begin to factor in two-legged predators running and gunning their way through the streets.

Kathleen Blanco is an unserious woman in serious times. Someone should start investigating the procedures for removing a Louisiana governor from office. Her incompetence, indecisiveness, and vindictiveness have led to the loss of far too many lives already.

Media Necrophilia

From Editor and Publisher:

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.

Burke and Hare at least advanced the cause of medicine. The media desire to exploit the dead of Hurricane Katrina cannot even claim that level of social utility.

After reading the barely concealed disdain in this Editor and Publisher article, one has to ask; what is to be gained by displaying the pictures of bloated, putrefying corpses pulled from the flood? Does it serve to advance the cause of future disaster preparedness? Do it help to explain the loss of a family member, by showing his dead child on page 1A for all to see?

What is the media's true desire here, and is that motive worth sacrificing the basic respect we have for the dead and their living families?

The Editor and Publisher article displays a certain journalistic necrophilia in its desire to abuse the bodies of Hurricane Katrina's victims for perceived political gratification.

Interestingly, I cannot recall such a macabre desire of the media to show drowning victims in more northern climes.

Update: The Anchoress has more, and it isn't for the faint of heart.

Another Update: Protein Wisdom says BRING OUT YOUR DEAD, CHIMPY! BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!

Disaster Porn, I & II

Aaron, Jack, Anderson, Paige, Geraldo and Shep

- and -

Alex, Joe, and Carl(os?)

I've got to say I'm a little disappointed, though.

I was kinda hoping for a little Kiran Chetry action, you know?

Disaster Relief Links for North Carolinians

If you are a North Carolina resident and would like to contribute to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund you can follow this link, which will allow you to donate for disaster releif in North Carolina and other states, including those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

General Information here.

Call:

1-888-835-9966

Write:

North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund
Office of the Governor
20312 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0312

Email:

ncdisasterrelief@ncmail.net

Did Don McClean Cover This In A Song?

Shocking, I tell you, shocking.

I drove my chevy to the levee but the levee board was under a federal investigation for corruption because a senator noted "corrupt, good old boy" practices of a bunch of stooges appoint by an incompetent "cry now, decide later" schoolmarm-cum-governor.

It just doesn't have the "hook" I was looking for you know?

Faux Body Armor?

Many people have alternately been amused and disgusted by media hog Sean Penn's Titanic rescue performance on Sunday, where his public relations crew forgot to put the drain plug in their aluminum boat, almost sinking his entourage upon launch of "Operation Scuttle." The debacle led to this now infamous AFP photo of Penn being forced to bail out his founding craft with a red drinking cup. But is there something even more going on in this photo than meets the eye?

If you take a quick tour of top body armor manufacturers Second Chance and Point Blank, you'll quickly learn that most body armor systems are made of two or three main components:

• a carrier
• ballistic panels
• trauma pads or plates

And here is where Mr. Penn's story may become even more amusing or pathetic, depending upon your point of view. In the image above, Peen is clearly shown wearing what appears to be the carrier portion of a body armor system, by the carrier bunches and wrinkles on his back, and the dense ballistic panel that should be in the front of his vest doesn't seem to be present either.

Is Mr. Penn faking it?

In a blow-up of this image from Getty, Penn's vest can clearly be seen. The carrier material is sheer enough for Penn's gray shirt to show through and the only hint of potential ballistic protection is the center front area, which would be consistent with another layer of fabric on the carrier that could hold a trauma plate.

Is Sean Penn "faking it" by wearing a simple cloth carrier to look the part of a daring movie star rescuer? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd make the following observation: if you can see sweat through it, it probably won't stop a bullet.

So Long, Maynard

Bob Denver, who created in 1958 the allergic-to-work liberal prototype Maynard G Krebs (below, right), died today. He was 70.

You might remember him from what many might consider the original version of Survivor (above,left). He will be missed.

(h/t Instapundit)

Nagin Rolls Over on Blanco

(h/t: LGF)

I have made it quite clear that I hold New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in almost complete contempt for his failure to follow the New Orleans hurricane evacuation plan prior to Hurricane Katrina's arrival, but he has performed at least one useful role since he left 100,000 of his poorest citizens to die: he exposed Governor Kathleen Blanco as the incompetent, self-serving hack many held her to be:

From CNN:

S. O'BRIEN: There are people who say your evacuation plan, obviously in hindsight, was disastrous.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: Which one?

S. O'BRIEN: Your evacuation plan before -- when you put people into the Superdome. It wasn't thought out. You got 20,000 people in there. And that you bear the brunt of the blame for some of this, a large chunk of it.

NAGIN: Look, I'll take whatever responsibility that I have to take. But let me ask you this question: When you have a city of 500,000 people, and you have a category 5 storm bearing down on you, and you have the best you've ever done is evacuate 60 percent of the people out of the city, and you have never issued a mandatory evacuation in the city's history, a city that is a couple of hundred years old, I did that. I elevated the level of distress to the citizens.

And I don't know what else I could do, other than to tell them that it's a mandatory evacuation. And if they stayed, make sure you have a frigging ax in your home, where you can bust out the roof just in case the water starts flowing.

And as a last resort, once this thing is above a category 3, there are no buildings in this city to withstand a category 3, a category 4 or a category 5 storm, other than the Superdome. That's where we sent people as a shelter of last resort. When that filled up, we sent them to the Convention Center. Now, you tell me what else we could have done.

S. O'BRIEN: What has Secretary Chertoff promised you? What has Donald Rumsfeld given you and promised you?

NAGIN: Look, I've gotten promises to -- I can't stand anymore promises. I don't want to hear anymore promises. I want to see stuff done. And that's why I'm so happy that the president came down here, because I think they were feeding him a line of bull also. And they were telling him things weren't as bad as it was.

He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action.

And what the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate.

And then, the president and the governor sat down. We were in Air Force One. I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die.'

S. O'BRIEN: What date was this? When did you say that? When did you say...

NAGIN: Whenever air Force One was here.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

NAGIN: And this was after I called him on the telephone two days earlier. And I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two need to get together on the same page, because of the lack of coordination, people are dying in my city.'

S. O'BRIEN: That's two days ago.

NAGIN: They both shook -- I don't know the exact date. They both shook their head and said yes. I said, 'Great.' I said, 'Everybody in this room is getting ready to leave.' There was senators and his cabinet people, you name it, they were there. Generals. I said, 'Everybody right now, we're leaving. These two people need to sit in a room together and make a doggone decision right now.'

S. O'BRIEN: And was that done?

NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."

He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.

S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?

NAGIN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?

NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.

S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.

NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died. [emphasis added]

In other words, Nagin is placing the blame for at least some of the unnecessary deaths squarely upon the head of an indecisive, posssibly incompetent Governor Kathleen Blanco. Based upon this article, Bush is still having problems getting a useful response from a governor who seems more intent on covering her own butt than saving the lives of her citizens.

Thank You

As I type this, Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend is drawing to a close. Thanks to big-hearted readers just like you, blog readers have logged more than $ 1,074,387 in donations, and that does not come close to including all blog donations.

Via Michelle Malkin, I see that Americans have donated at least $404 million dollars to help victims of Hurricane Katrina so far.

I'd also like to thank our generous foreign donors as well.

Thank you one and all.

Pink and Gray

I was wrong, and I freely, and proudly admit the error of my ways. I'd been indoctrinated like the vast majority of you that race and ethnicity mattered. But September 11, 2001 wasn't about ethnicity, and neither was Hurricane Katrina.

It wasn't about black and white, it was about pink and gray.

Skin color doesn't matter. It is about the tribes we choose to belong to.

Go read the single best essay I have ever read.

I do have one, very minor, disagreement with Bill Whittle, however. Afther the battle, even sheepdogs are allowed to cry.

Note: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for pointing these links out.

Who?

(source)

Oh, that Chief Roberts...

Ray Nagin's Legacy

(Source)

These estimated 205 school buses drown in New Orleans, presumably along with the 364 buses of the New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority.

If these estimated 569 buses were truly on hand, and if each carried 60 people, then 34,140 of New Orleans' most needy citizens could have been evacuated completely out of the city each trip.

According to NOLA's official hurricane disaster plans, these very buses should have been used to evacuate the poor and the needy. Ray Nagin couldn't follow written directions. His incompetence was lethal to thousands.

Tell me, legal eagles, how long do you get in Louisiana for 10,000 counts of negligent homicide?

Update: It just keeps getting worse. Bryan Preston of Junkyard Blog, who has done excellent work on the bus scandal, now has more as he posts temporarily at Michelle Malkin's.

He has discovered that under Mayor Nagin's leadership, the New Orleans Police Department has suffered a near-complete meltdown.

Update: Via poster "Cylinder" in the comments:

137 flooded New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority buses in New Orleans in a lot at 2817 Canal Street, as captured from Google Maps.

Additional Update: The New Orleans Disaster Plan? Make and send out a DVD to citizens saying , "you're on your own." Only they didn't make the video in time for hurricane season.

So, screw you New Orleans, only we're not gonna tell your screwed. Thanks, Ray.

The more I hear about the extreme incompetence of the local authorities, the defensive posturing of state authorities, and a federal response which is sounding more and more like it worked as designed, the more I think that we do need a "Katrina Commission," but one that realistically and honestly evaluates the responses of local, state and federal governments to Hurricane Katrina, not just the poltical federally-targeted blame-game Hillary wants to play political football with. Hillary actually does have something of a point - FEMA may very well function better as an independent agency - but an investigation targeted at the federal-level only addresses 1/3 of the problem (perhaps far less than that, as evidence to date seems to indicate).

We need to find the most efficient way to handle a mass casualty event, whether it be weather, or terror related. Weneed this as a nation, and it should be apolitical (yeah, I know...) An investigation of all three levels of government involvement, including honest failure analysis, is needed.

NOLA Looters Killed in Return Fire

New Orleans Cops Shoot Eight.

Those looters (five or six of which were killed) were shot by NOLA police officers becuase the thugs were firing upon Army Corps of Engineers contractors brought in to try to fix the levees.

Genorosity Beyond Words

As anyone reading blogs over the past few days probably knows, many blogs have pulled together to try to raise money on behalf of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Towards that end, my real-life brother Phin and his partner Sadie at Apothegm Designs decided to hold a blog design auction. They would auction off their considerable blog design services to raise money for hurricane relief. The original idea went up and had 32 other bloggers (including yours truly) promoting it. Pixy Misa, who is the benevolent soul who owns and runs the mu.nu domain, generously sweetened the deal with free hosting and a mu.nu domain.

Nugget ($510) and That One Guy ($500) were the two winners, and I have to say that Phin was happy with the results.

And then something else happened. Something really, really unexpected. Let Phin tell you the rest. It will warm your heart.

Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend Continues

$698,330 has been donated so far in the Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend being promoted by at least 1,344 bloggers.

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has a long, long list of links to charities working hard to help those most in need in the wake of the near total devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

I personally made the following recommendation earlier:

My humble submission to Glenn's list is Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief organization run by Franklin Graham, son of legendary minister Bill Graham.

They already have trucks rolling south, and have two disaster relief teams in Alabama. They will base in Mobile, Alabama and will work their way toward the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts, coordinating thousands of volunteers from local churches to rehabilitate as many homes as possible.

They also accept employer matching funds.

Help them help the victims if you can. Samaritan's Purse not only helps rebuild buildings, they help rebuild faith.

We'll be fundraising through Monday, so please give if you can. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all of you who have opened your hearts and your wallets.

9/04/05 Update: THIS LINK goes directly to the Samaritan's Purse online donations page.

The Brilliance of Kanye West

As everyone is now brutally aware, musician, record producer and conspiracy theorist Kanye West had a meltdown during NBC's Hurricane Katrina Relief Telethon last night. He claimed that "America is set up to help the poor, the black people the less well off as slow as possible," that "they've given them permission to go down and shoot us,"and top it off, that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Dan Riehl has the video.

As you may well imagine, many people were turned off by West's assertions, and the Red Cross and NBC were both inundated with rightfully outraged callers angry that West would politicize such an event, and furious that NBC chose to broadcast the footage instead of dumping it.

Of course, West's assertions are each and every one idiotic.

Hurricane Katrina like all major hurricanes, caused widespread, catastrophic destruction in every neighborhood in an area the size of Great Britain. Somehow, West was unable to reconcile the fact that predominantly white resort communities were also destroyed, or that while New Orleans is all but evacated now, these mostly-white communities are still waiting upon aid.

While authorities did call for a stiff response to rampaging looters, shoot-to-kill orders were never issued for a certain race, but only for specific actions including shooting at police officers. Those merely looking for food for survivial were never targeted. Of course, Mr. West doesn't let facts stand in his way.

As for "not caring about black people," Bush's record of appointing more minorities to key positions of power than any president in history, speaks for itself.

His comments were irrational, foolish, and lacking in any credibility, but they do fit a pattern of behavior.

West once claimed this double whammy:

"It's a man-made disease in the first place that was placed in Africa just like crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panther party."

Men made AIDs? God might tend to disagree, as mankind has never been able to synthesize an entirely new lifeform, even something as simple as a virus.

The Marxist-Leninist Black Panther Party subsided in power by the early 1970s and was completely disbanded by 1977. It was only after the Black Panthers were all but destroyed that crack was invented.

Of course, you don't have to bother with providing facts or even making sense if you're Kanye West, college dropout and conspiracy star, because you're JUST THAT BRILLIANT.

Rehnquist Dead

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Rehnquist has died. He had been suffering from thyroid cancer over the past few months. God be with his family.

Blogger Aid Continues

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Matthew 25:35-36

Folks, we bloggers are going to continue to ask you to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina throughout the weekend. A geographical area the size of Great Britain has been all but obliterated, and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people are:

• without homes
• without jobs
• without clothes
• without food
• almost, almost without hope

Please help give them that hope by donating to one of the many fine charities listed here. My personal recommendation is here. Please log all donations here so that we know we're making a difference.

Thank you.

Update: Bumped to top.

Hurricane Housing

Don't let the group behind this dissuade you from participating, it is a very worthy cause. People can offer hurricane victims a place to stay, and people displaced by Katrina can search for housing in areas they've evacuated to around the country.

http://www.hurricanehousing.org

Blog Design/Domain/Hosting Auction for Hurricane Katrina Relief Ends Tonight

Phin at Apothegm Designs has a rather unique fund-raising effort underway for Hurricane Katrina victims, and the fund-raising effort is targeted squarely at the blogging community, with a great payoff for both us, and the American Red Cross.

They are auctioning off a pair of custom blog designs to the two highest bidders through the end of today, Friday, September 2. You've seen examples of their work at the Llama Butchers, The Jawa Report, Naked Villainy and here among many others. Their designs are fast-loading, technically sound, and aesthetically pleasing.

In addition, benevolent dictator Pixy Misa of the mu.nu domain has offered a free .mu.nu domain, free hosting (up to a million visitors a month), and entrance into the Munuvanian blogging family to the top two bidders.

That is an awesome deal, and the funds are going to a great cause.

Thank you very much for your support.

Update: The results are in. Thanks for the generous outpouring of support from the blogging community, and for the time donated by Apothegm Designs.

Red Cross Under Seige Because of NBC

See it for yourself.

NBC allowed these ignorant, hateful comments to go on-air, potentially alientating 1/2 of potential donors, just to get a political dig in at the President. I'm livid, not because of West's attack on the President, but becuase this will cost the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I just spoke to a Red Cross call center supervisor. Call centers have been deluged with complaints. They just released the following statement:

WASHINGTON, Friday, September 02, 2005 — The American Red Cross is incredibly grateful for the support we're receiving in the wake of the catastrophic events caused by Hurricane Katrina. We want to acknowledge the ongoing support of NBC-Universal, which aired a telethon tonight on behalf of the victims of this tragedy.

During the telecast, a controversial comment was made by one of the celebrities. We would like the American public to know that our support is unwavering, regardless of political circumstances. We are a neutral and impartial organization, and support disaster victims across the country regardless of race, class, color or creed. We cannot, and we do not endorse any comments of a political nature.

NBC just hurt poor people. I hope it was worth it to get in a few cheap shots at the president.

Update: Since you asked:

• NBC Contact Page. Reader Toni discovered an email address buried in a FAQ for NBC programming. nbcshows@nbcuni.com.
  
• Red Cross Contact Page, or 1-800-HELP NOW.
  

In New Orleans, Criminals Get Out First

Previous:

Hurricane Katrina's Harsh Sentence

Orleans Prison Riot

Several people have commented on previous posts that they are looking for relatives that were either guards or prisoners at Orleans Parish prison, the central prison in New Orleans located approximately one mile northwest of the Louisiana Superdome. I decided to try to find out what I could to help them. What I found instead made me ill.

I cannot tell you about the location of individual prisoners and guards, but I can pass along the following:

• Rumors of rioting and hostage-taking among the prisoners are false.
• At this time, no prisoner is confirmed among the known fatalities.
• At this time, no guard is confirmed among the known fatailties.
• More than 7,600 OPP inmates were scheduled to be completely evacuated from New Orleans as of September 1 (yesterday).
• Inmates are housed throughout the Louisiana Prison system, except for Washington Correctional Institute near Angie, which was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

It is quite possible, even probable, that all prisoners have been evacuated from New Orleans by this time.

It is unexplained why these 7,600 prisoners got out well in advance of citizens a mile away who are dying by the hour at the Superdome, in beseiged hospitals, and elsewhere throughout New Orleans.

For more information:

Inmate evacuees arrive in area
Storm prompts massive transfer of inmates
South Louisiana inmates bound for lockup in Bossier Parish
Prisoners, public school students displaced by Katrina

Update: CNN's Hurricane Safe List. Those who got it out so far and who have been able to contact CNN or other agencies.

It Ain't Just a Tagline

A wonderul compilation of Katrina-related quotes from Chrenkoff.

Der Commissar at the Politburo Diktat offers a side-by-side comparison of posts on left-of-center and right-of-center blogs.

Michelle Malkin has a compendium called The Blame Game.

Professional "nigger victim" Randall Robinson spreads the sensational lie that black in New Orleans are reduced to eating their dead becuase of white people. I would write a response to this racist, but the Huffington Post routinely censors reasonable fact-based refutations of their rhetoric, so it would be a waste of time.

Among the lowest of bottomfeeders, however, is this scum called "demgurl" (h/t LGF). Her comment in full:

I did not stop to help a * supporter today. I had no idea how deeply my hate for that man ran. My lack of an interaction, with a * supporter is still haunting me a couple of hours later.

I was on my home and was on the ramp getting off the highway. I saw a mini-van on the side of the road. There was a lady standing next to the van and in her arms she held her child. I can only assume her mini-van had broken down. I don't know, perhaps with so many gad stations being out of gas, she had also run out. I slowed down and started to pull over to offer her a ride. At the very last second I noticed a "W" sticker on the back of her vehicle and I sped up and drove off.

I feel really bad as a human being. That child is not responsible for their parent's belief system. They are innocent and do not deserve to be out in the heat. (It is warm but not so bad that they would even break a sweat) I try not to punish people for what they believe.

On the other hand, so many hateful thoughts went through my head. I wondered how a person could see what was going on in NO and still have one of those awful stickers on their car. How could they support an awful excuse for a human being that has let our country down and is letting Americans die after they have made it through the storm? How can someone be so blind and so stupid?

I thought that if she loves * so much, maybe he would come along and help her the same way he is rescuing all of those poor people in the weather stricken part of our country. Let's see what her hero can do for her.

I never did go back. I was so upset with that sticker and with the fact that someone would support an idiot who is so clearly running our country into the ground.

So why am I writing this? It is not to boast, I really feel bad about passing this child and not picking up their mother. Perhaps it is for a catharsis of sorts? That would be an educated guess. I suppose it is because I feel conflicted and I am writing this to try and sort through what I am feeling. There are two emotional sides, for me, on this incident and neither seems completely right or wrong to me. Even writing this, I am still not able to work through what happened. I feel like I am floating between right and wrong and am unable to grab either side.

Thanks for listening.

I hope she's not a nurse or a doctor.

It will come as a shock to good people, but the liberal message board this was posted on had all the compassion in the world... for her.

Liberalism is a persistent vegetative state.

Disaster Guns

The original Battle of New Orleans was a victory for a mixed bag of regular Army units, frontiersmen, former slaves, and outlaws. 190 years later, gunshots echo over the same patch of ground, as their descendants of the winners fire upon one another.

Armed gangs of violent young men rape and pillage their way across a city shattered by Hurricane Katrina. National Guard units and police officers trying to evacuate trapped citizens have come under gunfire, as have ambulances and rescue helicopters. Looting prevails. Bodies lie in the street, some apparent drowning victims, some clearly victims of gunshot wounds.

This is to the Second Battle of New Orleans.

There will be no winners, only survivors

Local, state, and federal government plans seem to have failed in almost every possible way, and continue to fail those rocked by what will be likely be remembered as the most destructive hurricane in American history.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was late in issuing a mandatory evacuation order, and when one was given, he failed to provide to provide the resources to make that evacuation possible for those most in need. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, perhaps the person single most responsible for the citizens of her state, has completely failed to implement or coordinate either an evacuation or a rescue and recovery effort. The federal government failed (perhaps in an impossible bid) to conquer Mother Nature, and failing that, has been slow to marshal forces and deliver aid. The layers of government failed, and the administration of law failed as well.

There is only one law now along the Gulf Coast, and that is the law of strength, the law of the gun. It has happened before.

Glenn Reynolds:

NEW YORK TIMES: Owners Take Up Arms as Looters Press Their Advantage

If you've got a week's supplies, and a gun, you'll usually do okay after a disaster. If you don't, you're in much bigger trouble, because it generally takes that long for some sort of order to be restored. We saw that after Andrew, and we're seeing it again.

It will happen again.

It will come in the form of another hurricane, or an earthquake, an outbreak of disease, or another eventuality of which we have not dared dream, even in our darkest thoughts. When that time comes, the only thing that may preserve your life and property may be the possession of and willingness to use a firearm.

Not all firearms are suitable for civilian defense. Most, in fact, are entirely unsuitable for the kind of situation brought about in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

A civilian defense firearm must:

• be easy to load, unload
  
• easy to make safe
  
• be easy to clean
  
• be rugged and tolerant of abuse
  
• use common, readily available ammunition of sufficient power
  
• carry a minimum of five rounds of ammunition
  
• be reasonably abundant (for acquiring spare parts)
  

Easy to Load and Unload
Loading ammunition into a civilian defense firearm must be easy. Most civilians will not handle their firearms often in the course of an average year. They must have firearms that are designed with enough ease of use so that once the loading and unloading process is once learned, it is easy to recall even after extended amounts of time. Almost all firearms meet these minimum criteria.

Easy to Make Safe
Firearms must be able to easily store, with the ability to chamber and fire a round of ammunition blocked, to keep it safe from access by children and Howard Dean supporters—a gun lock of some sort. Firearms should also ideally have a recognizable loaded-chamber indicator and easy-to-engage and/or redundant safety systems. Most modern firearms meet the former criteria of being able to accept gunlocks, and many firearms meet the later.

Be Easy to Clean
Civilian defense firearms must be able to be field-stripped and cleaned, and reassembled with minimal tools or no tools at all in a short amount of time, with a minimal danger of losing or damaging critical parts. More difficult in some older designs, or newer designs that will not long last.

Be Rugged and Tolerant of Abuse
Civilian defense firearms in a survival setting are likely to suffer accidental abuse, face improper storage and cleaning, use less than perfect-quality ammunition—and still perform flawlessly when needed. A hard task for many firearms.

Use Common, Readily Available Ammunition of Sufficient Power
This dual criteria is essential to meet. You cache of ammunition may get damaged or lost, or in nightmare Snake Plissken scenarios, you might even shoot it all up. You should choose a caliber of ammunition common to your area. That ammunition must be capable of killing animals both wild and domestic that are common to your area, from alligators to pit bulls. It must also be capable of stopping humans quickly and lethally, but must not be overly powerful for the task at hand. This I one of the more difficult criteria to satisfy.

Carry a Minimum of Five Rounds of Ammunition
You may not always hit what you aim at, and you may have multiple targets. If you cannot hit your target with five shots, significantly more ammunition only contributes to environmental lead poisoning downrange. In addition, after five rounds, your target, if human, is not likely to stay within range. If an animal, it will either be feasting or running as well. This

While a surprising number of firearms did past these tests, a few designs stood out.

12-gauge Pump-Action Shotgun

A 12-gauge pump-action shotgun is perhaps the most common, powerful, adaptable, and useful firearm available for person defense. The unmistakable shuck-shuck sound of a pump shotgun chambering a round makes even the most thuggish brute reconsider his intentions, and should he continue down the wrong path, a simple point and squeeze will arrange an immediate consultation with the deity of his choice.

Pumps such as the Mossburg 500 series and the Remington 870 series (pictured) are used to hunt everything from birds the bears, and are in common use by police and military units worldwide. Ammunition is readily available and can be specialized to certain tasks, an advantage most other weapons lack. Pump action shotguns typically carry sufficient amounts of ammunition, and they can be fired extremely rapidly in trained hands.

SKS

The choice of the cheap, tawdry Simonov carbine might be off-putting to some, but it might be the perfect rifle for our stated purposes. It uses the universally accessible 7.62x39mm (.30 Russian) military round found almost everywhere in the world in bulk, for cheap. The round reasonably duplicates the ballistics of the lever-action .30/30s, while the rifle itself has the advantages of being easier to load, and unload that the lever guns. The simple safety can be checked by touch. It carries its own cleaning kit in the butt of the rifle, and is compact in design.

.30/30 Lever-Action Rifle

A staple of hunters for years, the .30/30 lever-actions from Marlin (pictured) and Winchester are perhaps the most common rifles in the closets of American hunters today. They are easy to load, easy to carry, have good power at reason ranges beyond what a shotgun can provide, and are quick to use. The downside is that they are a bit more difficult to fieldstrip than most pump shotguns, and while the ammunition is common, they are also harder to easily unload.

9mm Safe-Action Pistols

Any handgun is at a distinct disadvantage against shotguns and rifles for many reason starting with practical accuracy, and knock-down power. On the other hand, they are far more easily concealed. Of semi-automatic pistols, the so-called "safe-action" designs from Springfield Armory and Glock (pictured) are nearly identical in appearance and function. Both feature similar, though proprietary safety systems that prevent accidental discharges while enabling the user to get the weapon up and ready to fire quickly. They are lightweight, and having polymer frames, are extremely resistant to corrosion. They are also relatively easy to shoot, load, and clean ,The 9x19mm NATO round is also nearly universal, making it easy to obtain while still providing acceptable stopping power.

.357 Magnum Stainless Revolver

Once nearly universal among police forces, the .38 Special/.375 Magnum police type revolvers (Smith & Wesson pictured)simply refuse to fade completely away. The can use both .38 and .357 Magnum ammunition (in the .357 chambered guns only) and are very easy to load and unload. Shooting a revolver is not as intuitive as shooting a pistol, but its simple reliability and legendary stopping power, along with a reasonable amount of concealablity make it an acceptable choice.

In Review
Pump-action shotguns are the best all around personal defense weapon. Lever –action and semi-automatic carbines are the best rifles for a multitude of reasons not perhaps the least of which is a proven track record in killing other humans when the need arose. Pistols and revolvers common to police agencies are also often the best choice of handguns. And while not a conscious criteria, the rifles and shotguns mentioned in this post can all be purchased for less than $300 (often under $200), making them quite affordable as well when compared to other firearms.

If you are black and poor like most disaster victims seem to be, that is an important factor, even if nobody wants to talk about it.

Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Durham Gas Prices

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina has a gas price forum to discuss gas prices, and now supply.

If reports are accurate, some stations in North Carolina are already running low or dry.

Blog Auction for Katrina Victims

My brother Phin of phin's blog and Apothegm Designs is holding a blog auction to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. I'll let him tell you about it himself:

On Monday Hugh Hewitt suggested the blogging community band together to raise funds and awareness for the charities helping provide relief to the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Glenn Reynolds suggested the date of Thursday, September 1st and offered to provide links. The Truth Laid Bear has setup a tracking page to help keep count.

In trying to do our part we, your friendly Apothegm Designers, are auctioning off a custom blog design (within reason) to the highest bidder. Samples of our work can be seen at the Apothegm Designs Website.

The bidding starts at a bargain of $150 and the funds will be donated to The American Red Cross, or the winning bidder's charity of choice.

Bidding is open in the comments of this post until Midnight September 2nd.

They do good (very good) blog and web design work (here, The Llama Butchers, The Jawa Report, and others), and the money raised goes to the winner's charity of choice.

Besides, your blog looks like crap. ;-)