Camp Howdy

So, Monday, the 29th, 1am our time, Katrina passed the mouth of the Mississippi. I have often used NOLA for Saints info, Webcam highjinks (I've taken screenshots of webcams outside bars during Mardi Gras and emailed them to the bartenders), I've ordered King Cakes 'cause I ate the baby a few year back. See? I even get the accent after a couple seconds.
I go to NOLA preceeding all the hurricanes. Check out the parties in the quarter. See how long it takes to lose power.
The link up there for the Breaking News was giving news in real time. Read from the bottom up. There were reporters downtown all the time. This paper used Weblogs to chronicle a major catastrophe and also try to spread the word. Just listing things that may have slipped by us out here. Like the head of the National Hurricane Center saying, "This thing is scary." I mean isn't that FEMA's job? You NEVER hear the National Hurricane Center freaking out. Business as usual as far as they go. Maybe Andrew gave them a shove. Someone needs to blow the horn, bang that gong, ring that bell. The Mayor and Governor telling people to evacuate. Old people dying during the EVACUATION? It's all there. In a row. As it's happening. 4000 Guard troops mustering in Memphis the 28th. Flooding in the 9th Ward (17 st. canal break) at 7 am our time on Monday the 29th. By the time Liz and I got to work there was a hole in the Superdome roof. Brown from FEMA on the ground in Baton Rouge Monday morning at 9 am our time. At 11:30 our time, 1:30 there:"...Arabi resident Donald Bordelon told a Times-Picayune reporter via cell phone that at 8:30 a.m. there was just wind damage the homes on his block of Schnell Drive. But 40 minutes later, floodwaters had risen over the stove in his kitchen, as he scrambled to ready his boat for an evacuation..." Right about the time Brown was in BR...coincidence? Fair and Balanced, you be the judge.
Noon, our time, "...- 11 a.m. - The National Weather Service reported that a levee broke
on the Industrial Canal near the St. Bernard-Orleans parish line
(Tennessee Street)..." How did the NWS know? Storm Spotters. Somehow the locals were reporting the growing flood while FEMA was in conference with said locals. Also just about the time we get the word "looting". Now a word about Fucking Vitter. Sending out a stock form letter of a "thank all the little people now let's roll up our sleeves and work together." Doesn't know a thing about what's going on. Here's the local guy from Homeland Secuity with the "responsible, tough love" response "...Everybody who had a way or wanted to get out of the way of this storm was able to,'' Ebbert said. "For some that didn't, it was their last night on this earth.'' Now that was at 1 pm our time Monday. By 7pm our time, everybody's new favorite bar in Nawlins ''Johnny White's" was offering free hamburgers.
"...Monday
11:18 p.m.

American Red Cross spokesman Victor Howell said 750 to 1,000 Red Cross personnel are now at work on hurricane recovery in Louisiana, and 2,000 more volunteers will be here in the next few days.

The Red Cross will bring in three large mobile kitchens to prepare 500,000 meals per day. There are 40 shelters statewide, housing about 32,000 people, "and you're going to have more," Howell said."

The Red Cross is mobilized. At midnight Monday, all we have from FEMA or the DHS is quotes from the morning press conference. Now all day Tuesday, we read about flooding and looting. No word about the 4000 troops from Memphis. By 5:50 Tuesday evening, Bush has had his "give money to the Red Cross" speech twice and Fucking Vitter has issued another statement, "... Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said that he's satisfied with the federal response to the hurricane..." He may be talking about the Army Corps of Engineers banging their heads against the 17th St. Canal or maybe just the way the spokesmen are dishing out the quotes. Wednesday was the worst day. By then, all the water that could flow in had done so. No word on the Guard taking control. Bush takes a plane ride. The city was alone all day it seemed. I doubt that it was. I know there were a lot of local cops working all by themselves. No centralized communications, no fuel, water, supplies other than what they could find. The big news was the bus caravan to Houston.
Call me cynical or something but why Texas? Louisiana wasn't wiped clean. There were other places besides Texas. Tell you what. The price of workers just dropped in Houston. If you thought it was hard to live there before, now you're fucked. College graduates are asking if you'd like to supersize this morning. More of the lower class are getting hammered today. Right now. The whole South has seen this. If there's a job to be had from Dallas to Memphis to Atlanta to Tampa, someone is standing in line for it and the wages are going down, prices going up.
One last thing, I belong to the Veterans For Peace and today they are marching on the Astrodome to protest the Armed Forces Recruitment drive at the job fair today. Now, I wouldn't mind a table there with pamphlets or a soldier and a sailor maybe but that's not what's going on. Hardcode sales. Need a bath? Sign here. You can work to help clean up New Orleans and save for college too. Learn a trade in the Army. Hell, just 18 months active duty then you go into the reserves. Two weeks of campout a year. Sign here.