I think what the hurricane shows us, is how vulnerable America really is. In spite of lip service being paid to how important “homeland” security is, fhe fact remains that we are completely unprepared and ill equiped for any major disaster, either natural or “man-made”.

This also shows how sensitive we are as a country to anything that negatively impacts our oil supply. I don’t know about anyone else, I know that I would sure sleep better at night if we had real alternatives in the pipeline for fossil fuels - biofuels, hydrogen, whatever. A single event could cut our oil supplies by 20% to 50% driving the price of gas to over $8, which would plummet the country into a depression worse than 1929.

The book, “Changes Ahead” gives us, I believe, our best approach. It’s a
no cost (download), small (160 page) and practical “getting-our-life-together” kit–a guide for, among other things, options for housing, a supportive neighborhood, economic security and a positive future.

This isn’t a single-topic technical manual. It’s a personal book, intended for the body, mind and spirit–the entire person, right now.

I believe that getting this free book out to more people means more help for us all through this difficult time, especially those who have lost everything. The book also helps individuals and whole neighborhoods take more responsibility for themselves, for what they need and want.

This is a universal book, but its contribution, here-and-now, is to assist in the rebuilding of New Orleans and other Katrina devastated cities and towns, rebuilding them to be the successful and attractive communities they’re capable of being.

So, go to ( changesahead.net ) to see the book.

Then, start reading on page 66 (that’s page 66) to see how “neighborhood activation” holds a key for us here.

Then, think of others who might be interested in this link (changesahead.net).
Use all or parts of the book, as you see fit.

With best wishes

Olaf Egeberg
( oegeberg@earthlink.net )

http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html

“The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.”

“The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access. ”

“The state Homeland Security Department had requested–and continues to request–that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.”

“As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.”

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

This was written on August 28, 2005. Katrina made landfall on August 29. So much for “invasion”.

I said before and I say again - The local govt, the state govt are most certainly not blameless. They mismanaged the situation probably as much as the federal govt. Who mismanaged it how much - hopefully we’ll know when there is an independent investigation into this unavoidable disaster. (Note that I’m referring to the post-hurricane fallout, not the hurricane itself).

The one agency most culpable in all this appears to be FEMA, IMHO anyway. And the reason for that appears to be Mr. Brown, who appears IMHO, to be a crony of Mr. Allbaugh. My question is - would you entrust Mr. Brown with disaster relief in your hometown, in case of a terrorist attack / natural disaster. It appears as though the President himself is saying “no” to that question, by pulling him from the operation today.

If this person was so incompetent, why was he put in charge of this very critical agency? What were his qualifications? How many more Brownies are in this administration?

Both the Red Cross and Salvation Army have testified before camera that they were ready to feed and water those trapped. Immediately. Someone stopped them. The State of Louisiana turned them down over and over. The end. Bush gave her 24 hours before invasion.

As far as I can tell:
- FEMA is “the federal government’s primary disaster response and recovery resource”
- FEMA “responds only when the president issues a federal disaster declaration”, “moves quickly to position staff and determines what other federal agencies are required”
- The president infact did make this declaration on Saturday, August 27. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
- Monday August 29 - Katrina makes landfall
- The head of FEMA (Brown) started his response 5 hours after the hurricane makes landfall
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_disaster_response;_ylt=Ak_rIryMDAzLga9hk7jGKdms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ-
- Monday evening - levees break
- FEMA urges first responders to not respond to hurricane impact area unless urged to by state/local authorities - whats up with that!? http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470
- Firefighters who came to the area to help, were made to go through training on sexual harassment and equal opportunity employment procedures! WTF!?
http://www.nbc5.com/news/4946511/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news
- Every step of the way FEMA failed to act like it should
- Brown is now revealed to be a through-and-through political appointee. The only reason he was appointed to a job, where he’s responsible for disaster response to a significant natural/terrorist disaster affecting american lives, was that he’s a friend of someone who matters? Whatever happened to letting competent people handle the job ? And he was confirmed by Senator Lieberman, with comments about how he has experience handling this sort of a job, when he was an intern assistant to the city manager?

I’m not saying Brown or FEMA was solely responsible for everything that happened. The officials of the city of NewOrleans and the governor of LA share responsibility, as do the federal officials and President Bush. It however seems fairly evident that FEMA failed miserably on every count, and the primary reason seems to be the fact that the head of FEMA is a bozo. If you don’t see that, try and go through a thought exercise where, god forbid, there is a terrorist attack on your hometown, necessissating a response on a major scale. And imagine this guy heading up the response. If you’re honestly comfortable with that happening, well.. good luck!

The other question that comes to my mind is, how many Browns ARE in this administration? If such an obvious crony was put in charge of the emergency management / disaster response, which is arguably among the most important tasks in the government, considering all the threats this country faces today, what is the character of hundreds of the other appointees?

Where the hell was the president? When he finally made his way to the disaster sites, he mumbled something to the effect that his sources had not fully explained the problems. Strange that President Bush would not have access to a television set–all he had to do was watch Tony Zumbado and it would have been crystal clear that something was not working.

As an American, the reaction sickens me. What could we expect with a major terrorist attack? Bend over and kiss your butt goodbye. Folks, if you think your government protects you, dream on. The reporters on CNN and MSNBC did an outstanding job of informing the public. Too bad no one in power watches television any more.

I strongly believe in the old Japanese ethic of ritual seppaku–when one fails, one dies by his own hand. May I please be the one to present the sword to Michael Brown.

Congress should do closed door hearing. Nary a reporter in sight. Then fix whatever they find wrong. We already know why those reporters were allowed to show day after day of starving people. The legal power, the State of Louisana, stopped the food and water.

Then someone should put out a government booklet, that lays down exact powers for what in every situation. All in one place so we can go look at pecking order of who is in charge, legally, when, of what. Because next time, Bush is going to invade Louisiana with all guns blazing. He will take that state house. Then when they say Bush the Dictator, I will say yep. Lessons learned from the difference between 16 acres in NY and 90,000 sq miles. I have noticed he may not admit mistakes but he does learn……example….UN.

Problem with the blame game is that’s an obvious attempt by interested parties to shovel all the blame on someone else. Game of hot potato, basically.

Quite frankly, I’m struck by the incompetence of just about everyone I’ve seen on television. They all make Rudy look like a stud.

That’s some serious BS!!!! I know for a fact there are very poor white people that live in outer areas of NO. You, like so many other libs, think if you have pail skin your have endless supplies of money falling out of your ass! One of the stations showed about a 2min clip of an area of MS or LA that the houses were not any nicer or better off than those flashed on our screens every other shot of NO. But because these people are labeled “white trash” their needs are secondary. I am sorry but if there is going to be white trash, then you have to agree there is going to be black trash too. The problem with our society today is we curse and make fun of the white trash but feel sorry for and blame any/everyone else for the black trash.

Then you said “4) What is it with you chowder heads that insist on using ‘liberal’ like it’s a swear word?”

Liberal should be a swear word in politics, it’s worse than a swear word to me. A ‘liberal’ politician to me means, ” lets label the $H!T out of everything untill NO-ONE is responsable for their on actions! Lets throw money at it until we run out, then blame some guy in a suit for going to college and working hard and getting a job to support his family.

This disaster should have never had ANYTHING to do with race, but you can thank the ‘liberal’ mayor of NO, The Rev. Jeese Jackson, and others for this.

Now why did it take the media this long to find this out? That answers my burning question…..What made the State of Louisiana so helpless when the capitol is only 70 miles away? I have yet to hear a reporter ask that .

Since you appear to be in a generous mood and allow a possibility that 200% of fault might not lie with Bush, I will say that I was not impressed with FEMA’s appearance. Do not have a clue about facts of performance yet. Browne certainly does not inspire confidence in me for speed. But I do need to know more facts on FEMA. I need to study their operating rules, length of time, what they are suppose to supply, etc………how much and when. And I could use the practical knowledge of the pecking order.

This brings us back to topic. The media. Why do I not have clear answers about how much, when, how and where? Unless laws have changed, I have a fair knowledge of the pecking order of power, locally. School buses. Even school buses by the hundreds 70 miles up the road for sure. NO did not have a human crisis until after that levee broke.

So I ask you, if all the officials in LA knew 100,000 might not have transportation………..and the seat of power of LA is 70 miles away, and they did not a)drive those people out or b)drive several hundred buses a couple of hours to drive those people out………what explains this? What explains all those thousands of state troopers/police not flooding NO? Hey, I have another whole list of questions on some issues that could and should have been addressed on a state level.

I think Bush was 24 hours off the mark. I think they had moved on in their minds past crisis in NO. to position in other areas of disaster. Ya do know there were other areas? I think they did not show well. I think the media played into this. I also think the media actually did some good work on this one, but they also did their usual……..constant…….blame Bush dance. I am still waiting to see these vicious attack dogs snarl their questions at the locals. You know, the thing they do best with Bush & Co.

So I am willing to play Russian roulette with every single American life that depends on FEMA, etc. Yep, I sure am. What exactly is the alternative? You want the false security of a Nanny state, go for it. It is an illusion. The poor victims of Katrina found that out. Here is a shocker for you. I not only think the Feds did a fair job, I think they did a superior job. I do not think another single country in the world could experience a natural disaster of this scope and could have produced this quickly. And that after I have already said I thought Bush was 24 hours off mark.

Did FEMA deliver as fast as they should have? They looked slow but what do I know……..the governor 70 miles up the road couldn’t even move people out of the Super/convention center. I have yet to see a reporter get in her face and ask my questions. I think a little more locally when it comes to survival. Jersey, are you going to answer which country could have handled this better?

Shell……our media has been terrible about explaining the usual order of government. I have yet to see pictures and front page articles of The Buses. Wonder if they can cover the Katrina Commission Hearings? Yeah, but the question is……can they find another Clarke to idolize?

I also enjoyed how the MSM brought us all together by dismissing odious attempts by black “leaders” to accuse whites of racism.

And, I especially enjoyed all the time they spent covering the other areas that were ravaged by the storm. That coverage provided a glaring lesson that the “liberalism” and corruption practised in NO was part of the problem.

The only thing that would have made their coverage better? If they’d picked up the HuffPost’s cannibalism charge and run with it.

I can’t speak for the quality of coverage of the other media outlets, but as an American living in England, I can report on the BBC. They definitely have an anti-Bush bias, but that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the socialism bias that colors everything.

I’m sure most Brits aren’t terribly familiar with our structure of government, and don’t understand how much power and responsibility the local and state governments have. However, I would expect the journalists, especially any who have spend a significant amount of time in the US, to understand this and try to explain this to their viewers. This has not happened. The governors have barely been mentioned at all. Ray Nagin only made it onto the news when he gave the famous “pardon my french” interview. As far as anyone over here knows, the federal government is it. They are fully responsible for the storm’s aftermatch, and also fully responsible for all of the relief work that has been done. No mention of the local and state governments, or of the many many volunteers. Everyone caught in the storm is a victim (or a looter, or a victim of looters), and everyone waited passively for the US government to show up and rescue them. Every bit of food and water and medical care was delivered by Uncle Sam. Every person plucked off a roof was rescued by Uncle Sam. No mention of all of the people who have opened their homes to strangers. No mention of all of the heroism shown by people who managed to rescue themselves and their neighbors without government help.

Instead, we get reporters standing in New Orleans saying things like “America has been brought to its knees” (without mentioning how much of America stepped up to help) or “It’s too little and much, much too late” (when the evacuation was only half complete) or my favorite, the dire warnings that despite the first pump being in operation for a few hours, the reporter could not see any visible sign that the water was going down.

I think I could forgive them leaving out the layers of government below the President. The news has been dumbed down so much that it seems natural to see them reduce a complex situation into the least common denominator such as government = George W.Bush. But leaving out the volunteers and true heros I can’t forgive.

I hope the US networks are doing a better job. The BBC is appalling.

“America’s failure to conserve energy is a disgrace. And the Bush administration has done little to encourage conservation.”

“This country uses 25 percent of all the world’s oil as we hop around in gas-guzzling cars and generally waste energy all day long.”

“So obviously the president didn’t answer Ms. Sawyer’s question.”

Yup. Typical right-wing Bush lapdog-speak. (Eyes roll sarcastically and such.)

Come on. Stop being so broad.

————-

Aaron Brown aired the following clip of a statement by President Bush:

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our judgment, we view this storm as a temporary disruption that is being addressed by the government and by the private sector. We have taken immediate steps to address the issue.

BROWN: But, in truth, immediate has not come fast enough, and, fairly or not, explanations from Washington sound to many in New Orleans like excuses.

In fact, Bush was referring to the energy issue. Here is his comment in context:

And finally, we’re moving forward with a comprehensive recovery strategy. We’re working hard to restore electric power, repair transportation infrastructure, restart energy production, and of course, strategize as to how to provide housing for these folks. I met with Chairman Greenspan at lunch, as well as the economic team, to evaluate the impact of Hurricane Katrina. We particularly spent a lot of time talking about the damage done to our energy infrastructure and its effect on the availability and price of gasoline.

In our judgment, we view this storm as a temporary disruption that is being addressed by the government and by the private sector. We’ve taken immediate steps to address the issue. The Secretary of Energy is approving loans of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The EPA has provided a temporary nationwide waiver for fuel requirements so supplies of gasoline can move more easily within our country and so that we can attract more gasoline from overseas.

—————–

It is easy to make anything look bad when you tell half the story and ignore the facts. The fact is that the President repeatedly begged Blanco (D) to allow the federal government to take over command and control of the disaster and she exercised her right to retain her lack of control. But the liberal press refuses to bash Blanco, it’s still Bush’s fault. What Bush did wrong was fail to violate federal law - the autonomy of the state. He should have told Blanco it was out of her hands and the feds taking control. Then he would have had to deal with the political fallout of violating federal process. But it would have saved lives.

1) People are quick to blame Bush because he has marketed himself as the war/crisis/fighting/take charge president. He was quick to grab credit for everything that went right with the 911 response, but doesn’t seem to be rushing to the spotlight now. If a coach is going to claim credit for his team’s victories, he better be ready to accept the blame for their losses.

2) There are few if none ‘poor white peoples’ faces displayed in the media because there aren’t very many. Period.

3) It’s not about black and white, buddy, it’s about rich and poor. The fact that most of the black people in New Orleans were poor, and were therefore ill equipped to even leave, should tell you something.

4) What is it with you chowder heads that insist on using ‘liberal’ like it’s a swear word?