Four years: another perspective

Not only do we always need to remember what happened to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on this day in 2005, I think it's important to recall what the president was doing on that very day ... and with whom:

President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small celebration of McCain's 69th birthday Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, after the President's arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. White House photo by Paul Morse

Disgusting, despicable, and quite likely criminal.

Four years

Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: Days of swine and roses

Saturday marked the 135th "Run for the Roses," the Kentucky Derby, an event that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Dementia) surprisingly missed, given that he's a Kentuckian presumably running for reelection ... although it looks more like retirement is in the offing. On the other hand, maybe the senator merely was being prudent and avoiding crowds who may be infected en masse with the swine flu. So, there's your "day of swine and roses" ... get it?

Well, what you really ought to get is in front of a computer at 4:00 Eastern today for another exciting edition of Blast Off! Radio. Today we'll talk about that crazy swine flu scare and how it reflects Republican strategy (believe me, there's a connection -- and it's not that the GOP caused swine flu, despite the pigs they keep choosing as officeholders), and we'll also see how those nutty Republicans, led by none other than Jeb! Bush, are trying to "restore the luster" to their increasingly marginalized party, especially following the defection of Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to the Democratic side of the aisle.

Naturally, we'll discuss some topics of Florida interest as well, including a look back at the recent contentious budget struggles in Tallahassee: what passed and what didn't? And why exactly do Republicans want to keep the electorate stupid and ill-informed? (I'll bet you can answer that one on your own ...) And I'll have a look back at my trip last week to New Orleans, with some discussion of how the city is coping with life nearly four years after Katrina.

You'll get all that and more on the show today, plus of course your phone calls, emails, and chatting. And it's so very easy to listen and participate:

TIME: 4:00 pm Eastern TODAY

Click here to listen

Call in number: (646) 716-7543

E-mail: blastoffradio-at-gmail-dot-com

As far as I know, the swine flu can't be transmitted through the internets ... so there should be nothing stopping you from listening today to Blast Off! Radio! Hope you'll join me this afternoon ...

(cross-posted at FPC Blog)

1773 Sere St., New Orleans: two years later

Since Miss July was busy all day and evening and there wasn't anything I had to do today that I couldn't put off till tomorrow, I decided to make a spontaneous day trip to New Orleans. In fact, I'm writing this from my table at lunch in the French Quarter. But my first stop in the Crescent City today was to a house that is special to me and some friends of mine, but which I'd wager no tourist ever sees.

The last time I was here was April Fool's Day weekend in 2007, just over two years ago, when I joined up with Athenae (and Mr. A.), Racy Mind, Spork Incident, dear Grandmére Mimi, scout prime, and others, all of whom I was meeting for the first time, to assist in some small way with the massive rebuilding process New Orleans then was (and still is) undergoing following Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing malfeasance of the Bush crime syndicate. So upon arriving in town today, I headed directly for 1773 Sere Street.

The last time I saw it, I was helping to gut it from the inside out (as part of a group organized by those horrible Communists, ACORN). Situated immediately beside the London Avenue Canal, the house was completely submerged when the canal overtopped the levee wall during the storm. I was profoundly moved by the experience, as I shared here, but I never knew the Rest of the Story. Until today.

1773 Sere St., New Orleans, and its Gutting Crew, March 31, 2007

I forgot my camera card that day, but Spork has some more pictures and memories of the house two years ago, as does Athenae. Please go look at them first before you see how it looks today ... when I remembered to bring my camera, my memory card, and extra batteries.

***********
For all pictures from this point forward, click on images for larger versions.

Today I went back to 1773 Sere for the first time since that day in '07. I can't even describe my feelings upon seeing the house as it is today. Here, let me show you:

Landscaped, painted, fully restored, and up for sale. But I didn't even know the whole story yet -- not until I met the owner of the house.

Bianca was heading out to her car when I approached and introduced myself. She explained that she and her husband, a local attorney, owned several properties in the area and were renovating them for resale. In fact, she had purchased this home from the people who owned it at the time we did the gutting work, and when they saw it after the renovation, they cried. It's that good.

Bianca delightedly explained that there was a contract on the house right now, a young family eager to make it their home. Then, to my surprise, she invited me to view the inside. Remembering how it looked the last time I saw it, I readily agreed, and we stepped through the door.

It was nothing short of spectacular. To go from moldy, rotten, well, everything to this was awe-inspiring. If you didn't know the story, you'd think it was just another modest three-bedroom house like so many others. But this one -- oh, this one does have a story.

This was my first sight upon entering. The wall to the right has been moved forward a couple of feet; it used to be basically flush with the doorway behind it. I vividly remember pulling out the walls and pipes in the old kitchen. And check out the new tile flooring! But, boy, does the kitchen look different now.

Did I mention that the kitchen looks different now? I wish there were pictures from before so you could see the difference. It's just breathtaking.


This is the Great Room or living room at the front of the house. The only things I really recognize from 2007 are the fireplace and the window (you can see the window and chimney in the 2007 pic above). I clearly remember ripping the sodden drywall out of this room -- walls and ceiling -- and taking it right down to the studs. Bianca said she and her husband essentially rebuilt the entire house -- and it shows.


Here's a look at the house (on the left) from a short distance up the street. The gray wall in the background is the levee wall at the London Avenue Canal, and the brown roof just visible above the wall on the right is the chapel at Dillard University, on the other side of the canal.


Bianca graciously allowed me to photograph her in front of the house. We may have taken the house apart, but she's the one who put it back together again so beautifully. This view of the house also shows the stonework around the front door, which Bianca said they pressure-washed and painstakingly restored to as good as new.

I've seen a lot of devastation still painfully evident as I've driven around New Orleans today; perhaps I will take some pictures to post here later. There still is a tremendous amount of work left to do and, indeed, it is not hyperbole to say that New Orleans never will be as it was before The Storm. But through the work and determination of people like Bianca, New Orleans is recovering, slowly but surely.

I rejoice to see that the work we did two years ago is turning into a pristine new home for a young family. And, after all, isn't that what "urban renewal" is all about?

UPDATE (10:28 pm 4/28/09): Too tired to put together a coherent post tonight, but tomorrow I will post some pics that I took in Chalmette, in St. Bernard Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas. It's difficult to absorb ...

I'll also describe what I saw as I drove eastward along the Mississippi Gulf Coast this evening, viewing the damage that's still visible all the way to Biloxi. (No pictures, unfortunately, as it was too late in the day to get decent shots ...) So, kindly stay tuned tomorrow. Thanks.

UPDATE (11:51 am 5/4/09): Whoa. I totally forgot to post the pictures from Chalmette and environs. Sorry. Will get to it ASAP, hopefully today or tonight.

Follow news from Hurricane Gustav on Twitter

A quick tip: you can get real-time updates from people preparing for Gustav on Twitter by following gustavfeed. I'll be thinking of the Gulf Coast folks, especially all those wonderful bloggers I met a year and a half ago, and keeping a wary eye to the east on Hanna and anything else to come, too ...

(h/t newscoma)

Huggy Bear is an asshole

Dessicated, goiter-ridden, near-death GOP nominee Huggy Bear visited New Orleans yesterday and had a few words to say about the Bush crime syndicate's response to Hurricane Katrina:

In an effort to distance himself from a signature failure of the Bush administration, Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain on Thursday called the initial federal response to Hurricane Katrina "disgraceful" and endorsed more federal intervention to restore affordable housing, health care and wetlands in southeast Louisiana.

During a whirlwind visit to New Orleans, McCain laid out some priorities for the city's recovery. He said the Army Corps of Engineers can "refurbish its image" if it follows through and provides upgraded levee protection by 2011. He also called for investment in more extensive Category 5 hurricane protection and the restoration of the barrier islands and wetlands that protect New Orleans from storm surge.

McCain said health care services must be restored in struggling areas, such as the Lower 9th Ward, so displaced residents can feel confident about returning home.

"I want to assure the people of the 9th Ward, the people of New Orleans, the people of this country: Never again, never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way this was handled," he said.

So, Huggy, what would you do differently?

McCain, putting some distance between himself and President Bush, said if he had been president during the 2005 catastrophe he would have immediately visited New Orleans after the killer storm.

While he said he was not being critical of Bush for not visiting New Orleans, "I'm just saying I would've landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally."

Fuck you, John McCain. Just fuck you. Do you think we don't remember what you were doing at the exact moment Katrina was making landfall and devastating New Orleans? Here, you fucking douchebag, let me refresh your faulty memory:

President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small celebration of McCain's 69th birthday Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, after the President's arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. White House photo by Paul Morse

Now do you remember, Huggy? I guess since you weren't president at the time, it was just fine for you to mug with your Favorite Drunken Derelict for the cameras, eh? You think a "whirlwind visit" while you're campaigning for president makes up for this shit? New Orleans remembers, Huggy. I remember. And I hope America will remember in November.

Huggy Bear: No integrity. No strength of character. Not fit to be president.

And he's a lying, pandering son of a bitch to boot.

Another federal slap in the face to New Orleans

It never fails to shock and anger me to see what the government has done and continues to do to the city of New Orleans. I was there. The people need help. And the federal government, under the "leadership" of Drunky McStagger, creates obstacles at every turn.

The latest outrage is yet another chapter in the government's effort to prevent African-American residents (read: Democratic voters) from returning to their homes.

On the 12th day before Christmas, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is planning to unleash teams of bulldozers to demolish thousands of low-income apartments in New Orleans. Despite Katrina causing the worst affordable housing crisis since the Civil War, HUD is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4,600 public housing subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units - an 82 percent reduction. HUD is in charge and one HUD employee makes all the local housing authority decisions. HUD took over the local housing authority years ago - all decisions are made in Washington, DC. HUD plans to build an additional 1,000 market rate and tax credit units - which will still result in a net loss of 2,700 apartments to New Orleans - the remaining new apartments will cost an average of over $400,000 each!

Affordable housing is at a critical point along the Gulf Coast. Over 50,000 families still living in tiny FEMA trailers are being systematically forced out. Over 90,000 homeowners in Louisiana are still waiting to receive federal recovery funds from the Road Home. In New Orleans, hundreds of the estimated 12,000 homeless have taken up residence in small tents across the street from City Hall and under the I-10.

In Mississippi, poor and working people are being displaced along the coast to allow casinos to expand and develop shipping and other commercial activities. Two dozen ministers criticized the exclusion of renters and low-income homeowners from post-Katrina assistance: "Sadly we must now bear witness to the reality that our Recovery Effort has failed to include a place at the table ... for our poor and vulnerable."

The bulldozers have not torn down any buildings yet and New Orleans public housing residents vow to resist. "If you try to bulldoze our homes, we're going to fight," promised resident Sharon Jasper. "There's going to be a war in New Orleans."

But surely the rationale for tearing down these homes must be legitimate, right? Even the maladjusted Bushies wouldn't destroy people's homes for political reasons, would they?

Why even bother asking?

A federal court has refused to stop the scheduled demolitions. Residents offered evidence to show the three-story garden-style buildings were structurally sound, and pointed out the local housing authority itself documented it would cost much less to repair and retain the apartments than demolish and reconstruct a small fraction of them. The New York Times architecture critic described them as "low scale, narrow footprint and high quality construction." HUD promised to subject plans for demolition to 100 days of scrutiny - yet approved demolition with no public input in less than two days. The court acknowledged some questions about the fairness of the process but concluded that if the demolitions turn out to be illegal, residents can always recover money damages later.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill that requires one-for-one replacement of any public housing demolished, but Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) has stopped the Senate version cold.

The Institute for Southern Studies reports the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act, S. 1668, sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), had the support of the entire state's delegation and - until September, when HUD and Vitter suddenly withdrew their backing. There's been much speculation over Vitter's sudden about-face on the measure, especially since he's been reluctant to disclose his objections in much detail.

The Congressional Quarterly Weekly offers partisan politics as one explanation for his actions: "... [P]olitical experts say the senatorial flap is not unexpected, given Louisiana's rough-and-tumble politics and Vitter and Landrieu's chilly relationship. Landrieu is up for re-election next year and has emerged as the GOP's top target among incumbent senators, in part because of the state's rightward shift in recent elections."

"The fact that Mary Landrieu is widely identified as the most vulnerable Democrat coming into the next election cycle, you certainly don't want to give her big victories in helping the state," said Kirby Goidel, a professor of political science at Louisiana State University. "He probably feels safe enough to hold it up as long as it's not too obviously political and he has some policy-related cover. He's a pretty hardball political player."

Republican interests are clearly not served by the return of all African-Americans to New Orleans. Louisiana was described before Katrina as a "pink state" - one that went Democratic some times and Republican others. The tipping point for Louisiana Democrats was the deeply Democratic African-American city of New Orleans. Immediately after the hurricanes struck, one political analyst said, "the Democratic margin of victory in Louisiana is sleeping in the Astrodome in Houston." Tiny turnout by African-American voters in New Orleans in recent elections has led white Republican interests to calculate immediate new political gains. Demolition of thousands of low-income African-American occupied apartments only helps that political and racial dynamic.

Unbelievably, the primary motivation appears to be the chance of limiting the Democratic vote in Louisiana. And for the courts to refuse injunctive relief when a home is going to be destroyed? "You can recover money damages later if it turns out to be illegal?" I can't believe this is America. It's not my America, not anymore.

It's unconscionable, yet every day the Bush crime syndicate does something unconscionable, something so heinous that it's become part of the normal course of business. It's become a part of life, you know, wake up, brush your teeth, Bush crime syndicate commits a crime against humanity. And it sucks.

The purported policy rationale for destroying public housing, which is taking place around the country, not just in New Orleans, is that the Republican-led Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to reduce public housing in favor of increased privatization. The real reason is far more sinister, though, and the fact that Diaper Dave Vitter is out in front of this one compounds the evil.

I hope Sharon Jasper is right. I hope New Orleanians fight this tooth and nail, in the courts and, if necessary, in the streets. And I'll gladly stand up with them and face off against the bulldozers.

Right into the Danger Zone

Out along the edges
Always where I burn to be
The further on the edge
The hotter the intensity

The southern California fires of 2007 have dominated media coverage lately in much the same way as Hurricane Katrina did in 2005 and the Florida hurricanes the year before that. Just turn on CNN or MSNBC or go to their websites and it's pretty much all fire, all the time. Certainly that story is as newsworthy as its hurricane-related predecessors.

But one meme is conspicuously absent from the fire coverage, at least from what I've seen: that's the specious argument that it's the fault of the residents of southern California for living in a dangerous environment. "They should move or "we" shouldn't have to subsidize their insurance," goes the refrain. Remember that from Katrina?

Well, allow me to remind you:

A better model would highlight the fact that a policy of federal disaster relief encourages cities—and the individuals who populate those cities—to locate in potentially disastrous regions.

Let me offer myself as a case in point. I travel to San Francisco once or twice a year, and every single time I visit, I resolve someday to move there. I think my resolve has been substantially weakened in the past several days. Having seen how ineffective disaster relief can be, I am suddenly disinclined to live someplace where I might need to rely on it. And that's a good thing. The horror being visited on New Orleans today has made it less likely that I (and others like me) will be victims of an equivalent horror in the future. Had the relief efforts been more comprehensive, I might still be a future earthquake victim.

So those are two reasons we might want to rethink the policy of giving federal assistance to disaster victims. It encourages people to live in dangerous places, and it denies people the opportunity to accept higher risks in exchange for lower housing costs. Those abstract principles might be partly offset by any number of real world considerations. But if we want to build a better world, no truth should be ignored.

Steven E. Landsburg, No Relief: Why we shouldn't aid Katrina's victims too much. Slate.com, Sept. 7, 2005

Daniel P. Schrag, director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, said that as coastal areas, and islands, recover "there has to be a discussion of what responsibility we have not to encourage people to rebuild their houses in the same way."

Even the fate of New Orleans should be open to discussion, Dr. Schrag said. "Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild a city that puts it in harm's way once again and relying on technology such as higher dikes and levees seems to me a very dangerous strategy," the more so in an era of global warming.

[...]

"You cannot draw up a worse case scenario for increased property damage, risk to human life and cost to taxpayers," said Robert S. Young of Western Carolina University, who studies coastal development.

Just as a commission was formed to identify military bases for closing, he said, a commission should be formed to identify "those sections of shoreline that are clearly so vulnerable to storm damage that they should no longer receive any federal subsidy of infrastructure rebuilding, they should be yanked out of the flood insurance program, those sorts of things."

Mr. Young said the commission should be made up of representatives from FEMA, the United States Geological Survey, the Army Corps of Engineers and university researchers. "It could not have politicians on it because coastal politicians, even if they are fiscal conservatives, would want to defend their coastal turf," he said.

He said he would propose the idea this month, when he has been asked to testify before a subcommittee of the House Resources Committee. "We need to just make a start," he said.

"Some Experts Say It's Time to Evacuate the Coast (for Good)," by Cornelia Dean, New York Times, Oct. 4, 2005

There are many, many more such articles. And I recall similar sentiments expressed in the news following the 2004 hurricanes in Florida, although I haven't been able to link up specific examples.

Yet, we hear precious little about building or rebuilding in southern California. I found one undated source, from a pro-environment group called the Sustainability Institute, that railed on Californians for living in a fire-prone area:

When it comes to Californians who build half-million-dollar homes out of wood, surrounded by dry scrub and inflammable eucalyptus trees, high on windy hills, I'm finding it hard to work up much pity. Even recent migrants could have contemplated the educational spectacle of the Oakland fires just two years ago.

"Chaparral," it says here in a college biology textbook, "is a Mediterranean-type scrub biome, characterized by mild moist winters and long dry summers. As the vegetation dries out in late summer, fires may sweep the slopes with incredible swiftness."

Another text, written in 1970, says, "Chaparral is subject to periodic fires that maintain the dominance of shrub vegetation. In areas such as southern California people have built homes extensively in chaparral and suffer the consequences of the inevitable fires."

Why don't towns in chaparral country have superstrict fire codes, or better yet zoning laws forbidding expansion out into the combustible hills? Why do people risk their lives and fortunes on floodplains, in hurricane alleys, on wave-bitten barrier islands and beaches, in landslide zones, in all sorts of places where we know that natural forces can be overwhelming and unforgiving?

One could answer that question with just about any of the common human failings. Greed, for example. Developers build houses in places where houses should never be built, because they can sell them to suckers and walk away before the "natural" disaster happens.

If you're disinclined to accuse people of greed, short-sightedness will do. Most of us don't think about natural hazards when we build or buy houses. Poorly schooled, raised on television with its five-second time horizon, ignorant of history, we don't think about much of anything. Maybe it honestly never occurs to builders, zoning officials, or home-buyers that Florida has hurricanes, Missouri has floods, and California has fires.

If you don't like that explanation, you could choose arrogance. Our culture is big on controlling the elements. Somehow our self-respect, our very manhood (even if we are women) requires us to tempt the power of mountains, rivers, fires, and storms. This cockiness leads us to great triumphs and stupid, repeated failures. John McPhee wrote a wonderful book about both the triumphs and the failures, called The Control of Nature -- one chapter of which is about the impossibility of controlling the Mississippi, another of which describes the landslides in the steep, still-rising San Gabriel mountains of California. If the fires and earthquakes don't get you there, the landslides will.

Besides that, it's pretty much crickets.

My point is not that we should blame folks in SoCal for living in a dangerous area. Rather, I raise this dichotomy to point out the inherent unfairness of criticizing the people of New Orleans for living where they do while being comparatively silent about a similar issue in southern California.

And I don't think I have to spell out why the unfairness exists ... do I?

Buccaneer Monday: Domination starts with "D"

Yesterday's 31-14 blitzing of the New Orleans Saints looks even better to this Buccaneer fan a day later, with time to consider what happened. And it wasn't as close as the score would indicate, as the Bucs held a 28-0 lead in the third quarter and pretty much coasted the rest of the way.

Just glancing at the stats reveals some remarkable facts, hopefully harbingers of things to come for the 2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

• QB Jeff Garcia had five completions of 20 or more yards, two of which went to WR Joey Galloway for touchdowns.
• Guys who in my estimation had been struggling, like CB Philip Buchanon and S Jermaine Phillips, showed up in a big way with tackles and coverage.
• P Josh Bidwell showed again why he's the best punter in football, as he allowed the Saints zero returns on five punts that either went out of bounds deep or were fair-caught.
• The defense held Saints RB Reggie Bush to just 27 yards rushing, and RB Deuce McAllister, with 49 yards, fared only slightly better.
• WR Michael Clayton's crushing block to spring Galloway for a 69-yard TD will be shown on highlight reels for years to come.
• LBs Cato June (with a leaping interception) and Barrett Ruud led a tenacious defensive effort, which included key sacks by defensive line newcomers Kevin Carter and Greg White (right, on top of Saints RB and former Buc Aaron Stecker).

Yes, I know it's only one win, and yes, the schedule doesn't get much easier as the Bucs face St. Louis, Carolina, and Indianapolis in the next three weeks (the latter two on the road). But then again, I can see the team being 3-2 at the end of that stretch, including 2-0 in the division and 3-1 in the conference, and that's pretty good for the first third of the season in a relatively weak NFC South.

I've said all along that the Saints are the most overrated team in the NFL this year, and getting blown out by the Colts and Bucs seems to confirm that, at least for me. Don't get me wrong, New Orleans: I love your city, but I don't like your team.

Bring on the Rams!

What could have happened after Katrina

With Drunky McStagger's visit to Australia coming hard on the heels of last week's second anniversary of the devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, it's certainly apropos to consider how things might have been different had the Katrina relief effort been handled, say, by the government of Australia, circa 1974.

On Christmas Day that year, the city of Darwin, capital of Australia's Northern Territory, was flattened by Cyclone Tracy, a Category 4 behemoth that made a direct -- and completely unexpected -- hit on the coastal city. The storm was thought to be passing Darwin to the northwest, and so as late as December 23, no significant preparations had been made for Tracy's onslaught. Only a sudden and historically unprecedented turn to the east (see map) gave Darwin any notice whatsoever, and that happened too late for many to flee the remote city. Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people and caused nearly a billion Australian dollars in damage.

Darwin's location and the extent of the destruction made it extremely difficult for any relief efforts, private or public, to take place. Certainly Darwin was in at least as bad a condition as New Orleans was following Katrina, and the American government was in far better position both financially and logistically to address the tragedy in New Orleans, albeit that city was ten times the size of Darwin in 1974. So think about the U.S. response to Katrina as you read this account of the Australian relief effort, courtesy of the Northern Territory Library, in Tracy's aftermath:

Immediately news of the cyclone reached the wider Australian community, fund raising and "in kind" help efforts began. Community groups of all kinds launched fund raising activities, and other initiatives designed to give practical help to cyclone victims - often by "adopting" members of kindred Darwin groups.

Within the Territory some of the first news of the disaster was conveyed by motorists driving away from Darwin - many in cars not really fit for travel beyond the suburbs. Every Stuart Highway community quickly organised itself to meet Darwin refugees, and to provide food, rest, mechanical aid, and fuel. At Adelaide River the small local population achieved the immense task of providing a hot meal for every person who stopped there.

Major reception centres were set up at Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs. Accommodation was provided at Alice Springs, and arrangements were made for journeys to be completed by air, while cars were railed south. By late on Boxing Day, 26 December, the people of Alice Springs had raised over $105,000 for immediate cash assistance for cyclone victims.

Beyond the Territory, even before news of the disaster was broadcast, radio and television programs were interrupted with announcements recalling armed services personnel from leave. This led to widespread concern that a war had broken out, and the concern was not allayed for several hours.

At each major airport refugees were greeted by Salvation Army and Red Cross workers. Clothing depots were improvised inside the airports, so that those who had flown out in pyjamas or without shoes were able to at least dress respectably before venturing further afield.

Information centres were set up in each state, with the Red Cross taking particular responsibility for maintaining lists of names of refugees and their temporary addresses. Newspapers were published for Darwin refugees, often containing reassuring personal news. Public housing waiting lists were waived so that Darwin families were given priority in allocation of accommodation.

One of the first interstate responses occurred at a Boxing Day test cricket match. During an adjournment in the game players from both teams moved around the boundaries, carrying buckets into which the crowd threw cash for the relief fund.

Support came from even further afield. Some of the world's poorest countries (e.g. Bangladesh, Lesotho) sent money and messages, as did Australia's traditional friends and allies.

Long term Darwin resident and psychologist Ted Milliken says that the overwhelmingly compassionate response of people and organisations throughout Australia "was important in minimising for all Darwin's people the stress of the circumstances of the days of their greatest need. Despair was not a necessary concomitant of devastation."

Major-General Alan Stretton, Director-General of Australia's Natural Disasters Organisation (basically the equivalent of FEMA, so think of Stretton as their Michael Brown, I guess), arrived on the scene and launched an immediate evacuation of three-quarters of Darwin's population:

At the first meeting of the emergency committee held in the early afternoon of Christmas Day it was concluded that Darwin had effectively ceased to exist as a city (at least for the moment) and that a massive evacuation was essential. (Gurd et al p. 643). This assessment was confirmed by Stretton when he arrived that evening to take charge of the emergency.

The scale of the evacuation has been questioned by many cyclone victims, and by subsequent observers. Within two days about 10,000 people had left, about half by road and half by air. It appears that after this initial outflow the desire to evacuate dissipated - there was a growing feeling that it was better to "stay and see it out". However, Stretton was committed to reducing the city's population to a "safe level" of 10,500, and he implemented a number of measures designed to make evacuation very attractive. (Stretton, 107). Stretton was supported by the government, which promised full reimbursement of personal costs consequent on evacuation.

The momentum of the evacuations was regained, and in the end 25,628 people were evacuated by air, and 7,234 left by road. By 31 December 1974 only 10,638 people remained in Darwin.

The Australian federal government suspended certain procedural regulations in order to allow needed supplies and equipment to get to the area quickly, and the government worked closely with private organizations to expedite the evacuation. The Royal Australian Air Force assigned its entire fleet to storm relief and the evacuation, and the federal government began on Christmas Day to restore services to the affected area.

See what similarities and differences you spot in the Australian government's reconstruction efforts vis-à-vis what happened here with Katrina:

Tracy struck Darwin at a tempestuous time in national political affairs. The Whitlam led Labor government in Canberra was becoming increasingly unpopular, and the Opposition parties were signalling the refusal of Supply which eventually resulted in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975.

In this climate the government seized on the cyclone as a political circuit breaker. Prime Minister Whitlam interrupted an overseas trip to return to Australia to announce that the government would introduce special appropriation bills to cover the initial cost of rehabilitating Darwin and establishing a Darwin Reconstruction Commission.

The government also used Tracy to illustrate the need for a national approach to major crises, despite the nuances of the Australian federal system. Political leaders from both sides scrambled to visit Darwin and to be seen to be decisive in relief and reconstruction initiatives. (MacCallum)

The Commission was the government's principal mechanism for implementing Prime Minister Whitlam's January 1975 pledge of "a determined and unremitting effort to rebuild your city and relieve suffering." Its mandate was to reconstruct Darwin within five years - in fact, it achieved the task ahead of schedule, in a little more than 3 years.

How refreshing it must be to see a government willing to commit to rebuilding a city in five years, let alone doing so in two-thirds of that time.

How stirring to see a chief executive, even an embattled one, taking charge and vowing action, then doing it -- not just giving lip service and appearing for photo ops.

How sad that New Orleans is in the Bush crime syndicate's United States and not in Australia.

Two years ago today

image by Suspect Device

Two years later, and New Orleans is still a shell of its former glory.
Two years later, and the Bush crime syndicate remains blissfully unaware of its gross, catastrophic negligence in failing to respond to the tragedy.
Two years later, and our government still is sending soldiers to die and billions of dollars down the drain in Iraq while Americans -- our countrymen and women -- have yet to pick up the pieces of their lives.

This post, with its flag of distress, will remain at the top of Blast Off! throughout this day, as a remembrance of the lives lost and shattered by the storm, the once-vibrant city that is struggling to survive, and the wretched, callous indifference of the Bush crime syndicate.

Please scroll down for new posts. Thank you.

Caption contest

Take a crack at this one. Drunky McStagger arrives in New Orleans.

Like shooting fish in a barrel ...

Suicide rates up in wake of Katrina

As we approach the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, this does not surprise me:

The longer it takes to recover from Hurricane Katrina, the more Gulf Coast residents are suffering post-traumatic stress or even thinking seriously about suicide.

That's the conclusion of a survey by the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group.

The survey is a follow-up to one done six months after the hurricane. It shows that eight percent of people in the New Orleans area have contemplated suicide. That's nearly triple the rate right after the storm.

A psychologist says the underlying optimism in the months after the storm has worn thin. The earlier report had warned about that possibility if rebuilding didn't keep pace with expectations.

And the recovery has been agonizingly slow, especially in New Orleans. In addition to losses due directly to the hurricane, such problems as violent crime and poor schools have added to the distress.

The Bush crime syndicate seems to be taking an attitude of "if we ignore it, it'll go away." But the only things going away are more lives, let alone livelihoods, fully two years after New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were decimated. I saw it myself, firsthand. It's more than a regional thing or a dirty fucking hippie thing or a brown people thing. It's a fucking national tragedy, and the Bushies are making it worse, giving New Orleans nothing more than a giant "Geaux fuck yourself."

The slow recovery is directly due to the failure of the Bush crime syndicate to take substantive steps whatsoever towards directing much needed funds to the area. It all ties together, you know ... if we weren't fighting a needless war in Iraq, literally billions of dollars and thousands of people (soldiers, National Guard, etc.) could have been sent to New Orleans to rebuild part of our country. Instead, we chose to destroy another country.

This is why I'm marching for impeachment and peace on September 15. This is why I'm angry, and why I'm vowing to do more than just sit on my ass and watch the crimes occur. Two years after Katrina, nothing's changed, except the size of the wingnuts' hard-ons for more and more war.

Why does the Bush crime syndicate hate America?

Housing discrimination rampant in New Orleans

I'm saddened, but not surprised.

Blacks already feeling the pinch from a housing shortage in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina are facing racial discrimination in their search for rental property, a survey by housing advocates found.

The survey sent black and white "testers" — paired by matching incomes, careers, family types and rental histories — to inquire about openings at 40 rental properties in metropolitan New Orleans.

The findings, released Tuesday by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, found blacks encountered "less favorable treatment" than their white counterparts in 57.5 percent of those tests.

It's bad enough that New Orleanians, especially in African-American communities, have been abandoned by the Bush crime syndicate. But to face this kind of abuse of the system from their own neighbors is salt in the wounds.

I know racism is a fact in many cities, particularly in the South. But I suppose it was just wishful thinking to believe that the unifying aspects of Katrina, the shared misery, might overcome something as heinously entrenched as racism.

Don't you dare complain that New Orleans got more attention ...

Leonard Pitts' column in today's Miami Herald is a poignant reminder that hyperbole will get you nowhere.

The columnist wants your response to something that's been circulating on the Internet. It was supposedly written by an emergency manager in Colorado, though different versions carry different points of origin.

The e-mail describes how the area has just recovered from a blizzard of "Biblical proportions" -- 44 inches of snow, winds up to 90 miles an hour, utility poles down, roads closed, communities cut off.

And yet, says the e-mail writer, "George Bush did not come. FEMA did nothing. No one blamed the government. ... Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit. ... Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards. No one asked for a FEMA trailer. No one looted. We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks."

What's your response? Your response is to smile. A tolerant smile. A Lord-give-me-strength smile. You point out patiently, calmly, that no snowstorm compares to Hurricane Katrina. "When the snow melted," you say, "your city was still there, so you're comparing apples to transmissions."

But it is hard to stay patient and calm. It just gets to you, how niggardly, stupid and flat-out cold some of your own countrymen can be. Why, you ask, do they play this game of Whose Disaster Was Bigger? "What's the f------ point of that? We have a disaster and we expect help. Are we arrogant, are we wrong for expecting it? Why are you pissed off with us? What did we do other than ask for what anybody else would quite naturally ask for and in all likelihood get quicker than we did?"

People were not this nasty toward Miami after Hurricane Andrew. So what is it about you?

"New Orleans," you say, "has always been known as the place where anybody can come. You're an accountant in real life and you want to be Marilyn Monroe? Do your thing. We ain't gon' say nothin'. But what did we do to you that would make you turn on us, that would make you say something like, 'We had 10 feet of snow, f--- 'em.' What were we, other than citizens in a position where something happened to us same way something could happen to you?"

How dare anyone compare a snowstorm to the complete devastation of an entire city, indeed an entire region, a way of life? I just hope the e-mail in question was not actually written seriously by anyone, let alone an emergency manager. Clearly, whoever wrote that screed hasn't seen New Orleans, walked in the rubble, stood mouth agape, wondering how rebuilding can ever occur.

No, whoever wrote that is ignorant and stupid and thoughtless. And whoever wrote it should be ashamed, as ashamed as I am of their callousness.

How dare you, Mr. "President"?

[rant]

I am appalled and angry at you, Drunky McStagger. How dare you call Democrats "irresponsible" for their stance on the "war" in Iraq? How dare you cast this as a congressional failure, when indeed it is your own inability to see this debacle as a no-win situation costing thousands of lives -- American, Iraqi, and other -- that is irresponsible, sir?

You actually stood outside your ill-gotten house today and spoke with all the indignant, haughty contempt you could muster, and you said things like this:

In a time of war, it's irresponsible for the Democrat leadership -- Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds. The bottom line is this: Congress's failure to fund our troops on the front lines will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. And others could see their loved ones headed back to the war sooner than they need to. That is unacceptable to me, and I believe it is unacceptable to the American people.

and

It has now been 57 days since I requested that Congress pass emergency funds for our troops. Instead of passing clean bills that fund our troops on the front lines, the House and Senate have spent this time debating bills that undercut the troops, by substituting the judgment of politicians in Washington for the judgment of our commanders on the ground, setting an arbitrary deadline for withdrawal from Iraq, and spending billions of dollars on pork barrel projects completely unrelated to the war.

Then you, the creator of so much death and the person who singlehandedly shit all over the image and reputation of this great country, have the repulsive, puerile, vomitous gall to joke around like this:

Bill.

Q Mr. President, a lot of the disagreement over --

THE PRESIDENT: Wrong Bill.

Q Which one, him?

THE PRESIDENT: No, you. The cute-looking one. (Laughter.)

and this:

Dancer. Dancing man. That would be David Gregory. For those of you not aware, Gregory put on a show the --

Q Everybody's aware, Mr. President, thank you. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, maybe the listeners aren't.

Q Yes, that's all right.

THE PRESIDENT: That was a beautiful performance, seriously.

I have only one response that I can muster, without indignance and not at all haughtily, but with plenty of seething contempt: Fuck you, George.

I spent last weekend in New Orleans, a city you and your administration crime syndicate have abandoned, a city whose pain and struggling could have been ameliorated by sending even a fraction of the billions and billions of dollars there that you have wasted on your little escapade in Iraq. You got your trophy already -- why are you still sending our young people to die for no good reason at all?

And to blame the Democrats in Congress for your misdeeds is the most disgusting display of shirking responsibility that I have ever seen from a public figure -- and that's saying something, since you're the champion of shirking responsibility. They are funding your little war, against their better judgment, and giving you what you want. Now, because you don't want Congress (who, in case you've forgotten, has the power to declare war) to put any restrictions on your ability to play war (with real lives and real damage, it's really no game, pal), you're saying you're going to veto a funding bill. How dense can you be? You veto that bill, George, and it's you who is failing our troops, just as it has been since you started this thing five years ago. (Five years is longer than U.S. involvement in World War II and longer than the Civil War. Five years is way too long for a pissing match with your dad, George.)

I'm so fucking sick of hearing you whine about "substituting the judgment of politicians in Washington for the judgment of the commanders on the ground." George, many of those commanders want to get out. They know it's unwinnable, and it's not our fight anymore -- if it ever was. The U.S. Constitution -- you know it better as "toilet paper," George, since you've been wiping your royal ass with it for over six years -- grants certain powers to Congress, like declaring war and making appropriations of federal money. There's no "substitution of judgment," George, it's the valid exercise of constitutional power. Your attempts to frame it otherwise are weak and ineffectual, at least for thinking people (of which you are NOT one, nor are the sycophantic media who lap up every drop of the shit that spews forth from your gaping maw).

The families whose loved ones will stay in Iraq longer than planned, or worse, die over there, will blame you, George. It will be your fault if you veto the spending bill. You will be the irresponsible one, just as you have been your entire life. It's time to wrap this thing up, and your blatant stalling until January 20, 2009 (see the clock ticking at the top of this blog, George?), won't do you any good. All it will do is hand the reins of government completely to the Democratic Party until anyone with a memory of your illegal, unethical, and totalitarian activities is gone from this existence (which, I might add, is fine with me). I will fight you and those who believe as you do with every ounce of energy I can muster for as long as I live.

New Orleans changed me, George. For as many trips as you've taken there, I can't understand why it hasn't changed you. I'm not going to take your shit anymore, George. Your ship is sinking, pal. Your friends are deserting you and your allies are falling by the wayside. Give it up. You are, in short, done, ruined, and fucked.

It couldn't happen to a more evil guy.

[/rant]

UPDATE (9:53 am 4/5/07): Correction made based on Interrobang's comment.

NOLA

I'm very pleased and honored to be joining Athenae and scout prime of First Draft, among others, in a couple of weeks for the First Draft Krewe's trip to New Orleans. We'll be socializing, sure, but the main reason for going is to perform some hurricane relief work -- we'll be gutting a house in (I believe) the Lower Ninth Ward.

New Orleans is a city that I find for many reasons a special, deeply emotional place. It's hard to explain here, but for me, it's a city of romance and music, of culture and cuisine, of friends and lovers, and it remains my favorite city in the world to visit.

However, I haven't been there since Katrina. I've felt a strong yearning to do something, more than just write a check to a relief organization or rant about the appalling lack of response and respect shown to NOLA by the Bush maladministration. Now, thanks to First Draft, I have a chance to do something that, although it's only a tiny bit of what needs to be done, means the world to me.

If you're free March 30-April 1 and want to join us, let me know, or visit the webpage. You'll get in touch with the right people either way.

Chimpy needs to work on his timing

You ever have those days when you see something Drunky McStagger does and you just say, "What the fuck?"

This would be one of those days.

Bush works to assure Katrina victims they aren't forgotten

"Part of the reason I've come down is to tell the people here in the Gulf coast that we still think about them in Washington and that we listen to the governor when he speaks," said Bush, whose first stop was the Mississippi coast city of Long Beach.

"The other reason I've come down is, I want the taxpayers of the United States to see first hand what their money has done to help revitalize a series of communities that were literally wiped out because of a major storm," he said in his first visit to the region in six months.

"This is a hopeful day," he said, adding "there's obviously a lot more work to be done."

"But times are changing for the better, and peoples' lives are improving and there is hope," he said in a region of stark contrast between renewed communities and those still struggling to recover.

According to the article, it was his 14th visit to the area since Katrina. But note ... it was his first in six months. Oh, and Mississippi's governor? You have to listen to him, Drunky. After all, he managed your 2000 presidential campaign, thereby making it possible for you to destroy America.

We don't need photo ops 18 months after the fact, Drunky. We needed action. Unfortunately, you sat in Washington with your head up your ass most of the time, and the vast destruction you just toured is directly attributable to the malfeasance of your administration.

Thanks for nothing. I'll see firsthand how much the victims of Katrina appreciate you when I go to NOLA at the end of this month. Something tells me they won't be speaking glowingly of you, pal.