CricketBeautiful
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Registration Date: 04-04-2004
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I'm seeing a *bit* of sense in *some* of the delays now. Having a Canadian team go in and take out Canadians would cause the rest to cry "preferential treatment". And seeing how bad some of the evacuation centres were, I can't see anyone saying, "I'm fine, help the ones who need it." No one in those centres was fine. Now, if they'd let folks in to help, they'd have gotten people out before things got so bad. Or what about telling the Canadian team to do the search and rescue, or do infrastructure or deliveries -- keep them away from situations where they might rescue Canadians preferentially.
Note: Not that there weren't other countries ready to help out quickly, but I watch the local station.
Good to see that the media is being recruited. I know a lot of them were feeling helpless.
When they do evacuations like of that hotel, they could do a better job of the PR. Move the people to a different hotel. Fill the buses half tourists, half people in greater need. Tell the people in need to line up at the hotel (those that can walk). Tell the media FAST why they're getting the tourists out.
Right now, a bit of time spent on PR would be useful. Raised tempers get in the way of rational thought.
Not saying the tempers aren't justified, but a bit of advance thought of the PR kind would help. Like the big blackout a few summers ago; yes, some blocks got power days before others. Hospital, radio station, and the central command post for the emergency services. Instead of being angry and confused that we were last on the list, we were impressed that they were so well organized.
I hear you about the rich black people.
I hear universities helping the students from the disaster area by going easy on tuition and such. Yes, it helps some -- those who don't need to earn money for their family or look after others who no longer have the infrastructure they relied on. It's a good gesture, but I hope they continue the gesture for the next few years, when those students will have the time to go, and the high school students of today who won't be able find jobs to earn tuition.
Kudos to the teenagers who are starting a drive to get kids backpacks and school supplies!
__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
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06-09-2005 15:03
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Elvin Ruler
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As far as I know, no buses were going around before Katrina hit. People were asked to evacuate. Those who couldn't leave were to go to the Superdome. I don't think anyone really expected the levees to break. They expected the city to flood, because it's below sea-level. But no one was prepared for it to be as bad as it was.
This does show some obvious problems concerning the poor. Obviously, they would be the ones who couldn't leave. They would also be assumed to be the ones taking the most damage (physically, at least - because sure, monetarially the rich are going to win the "look how much I lost" fight. They're rich.). If New Orleans is ANYTHING like Texas, the poor housing of a town near water is in the flood zone. Since, monetarially, the state won't have to pay as much to rebuild the housing there, that's where the poor housing goes. (Ignoring the rich idiots who put their 2 billion dollar houses in the middle of a ravine with only a couple of feet of concrete blocking millions of gallons of water from said house.)
But as far as I know, no buses before Katrina hit. There are some people who say that the mayor refused it (being unnecessary) and there were others who say it was refused by different people (Bush, various officials, etc). I've been trying to track it down via CNN.com's search feature, but I'm having to go waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the logs. Of course, anything anyone might have said that might get fingers pointed at them has now been retracted, negated, erased from the memories via jedi mind tricks, etc. When chaos is involved, facts are easily obscured, and I believe it's safe to say that ALL sides are wanting to be the "good guys who saw it coming." Hindsight and all that, it's easy to point out where people went wrong.
For information, what I would do is look at various news sources. Look waaaaaay back in the archives of them, when Katrina was first predicted to hit Louisiana. I'm interested in how many officials' responses beforehand contradict with what they say they said in later articles.
As for their being a place for the poor, I'd look up various newspaper articles from Waco, San Antonio, Houston for responses to the refugees. I've seen them range from wishing there was more they could to to help to wishing that the refugees had never come (including worries about people *gasp* staying in the city, and taking jobs, and rebuilding their lives) and wondering why they had to come to *insert town name here*.
This situation is allowing people to show their true colors. Some of them have hearts of gold. Too many of them don't have hearts at all.
__________________
What if there is a spoon? 
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15-09-2005 01:47
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CricketBeautiful
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I am a Zark.
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Don't diss tax deductable. I consider it making the government give to the causes I do. As in, by the time you get your refund, you've given $83 and the govt has given $17.
Now, I wonder if TPTB will compare the cost of maintaining the levies (which they had accepted responsibilty for by building them and allowing people to assume they were being maintained) to the cost of rebuilding? And the cost of running a proper FEMA in case the levies did fail?
Nah, they'll probably be all gushie about the fact that they're giving humanitarian aide. Personally, I'd have prefered them to do it properly in the first place.
Ronin, if your friend starts getting anonymous money in her paypal account, she's going to wonder what's going on. Also, I'm donating to the people who have lost everything, who don't have friends who can send her art materials and such. (I'm not knocking art materials -- dignity and distraction are important.) So, if you do post it and don't get a lot of activity, don't take it as lack of caring.
__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
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19-09-2005 15:19
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Elvin Ruler
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Looks like it's pretty much going to miss my place now. Might rain and be a little windy. We're a center for the refugees from Houston/Corpus/Galveston now. I'm not sure how many are here, but many of the churches are full, and the student gym is packed.
My sister's friend made it to his folk's home at 4 in the morning. 135 miles in 25 hours. They're still in the path a bit, but I think he'll probably sleep through it.
Still watching and waiting. At this point, they know where it'll hit land. It's just kind of questionable as to what it will do after that. It will either:
A. Follow the NHC path predicted
B. Follow the path, hit the front, and stall out
C. Follow the path, hit the front, and turn around and go to Mexico
D. Push the pressure system out and move west instead of north
Fortunately, it's been downgraded to a category 3 now, so once it hits land, it *will* weaken considerably.
There are still people evacuating. One tragedy that has already occured is that a bus full of evacuees literally exploded. None survived.
Other than that, we're all just waiting. At least the most dangerous zones have been evacuated. I'm glad that people are taking this seriously. We'd grown a bit complacent concerning hurricanes until Katrina. Hard, terrible lesson to learn, there.
__________________
What if there is a spoon?
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23-09-2005 22:23
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Elvin Ruler
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Didn't even sprinkle here. One could say that the wind picked up a bit, so yes. Sorry. *is sheepish*
Everyone I know has checked in. Some lost power for a while, but it was quickly restored. They're saying that people can return to the various areas, but they're asking people to do it slowly, so as to avoid the traffic jams of the evacuation. Those in Port Arthur having troubles are in the minority. Most people heeded the mandatory evacuation, and with the government providing as much gasoline as possible to evacuees with vehicles and providing buses for those without vehicles, there isn't much I can say about those who decided to stay. EVERYONE is having a gas shortage because it was used for the evacuation. Now that the power and water are gone (there are complaints that it's taking to long to come back up), they're impatient. That's the risk of deciding to stay. Everyone had plenty of warning and opportunity this time. That may sound callous, but there it is.
Anyways, I'm safe, my family's safe, and my friends are safe.
Sorry again for the lack of an update.
__________________
What if there is a spoon?
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28-09-2005 03:29
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Mallanox : "My mother was Irish and my father was an alien. I was an only child and I dress funny." 
