Katrina Live Threads, Part XV

ITA. I think they should have at least a week or two of rest and semi-quarantine to make sure they are healthy. I don't think they should be revaccinated for the usual stuff (MMR, etc) because if they were in school in NO, they probably were required to be vaccinated. If nothing else, they can do blood tests to see what they are already immune to... I think if I went through what they have gone through, I sure as heck wouldn't want to be rushed right into school/work because I would be physically and emotionally exhausted.

Children with infectious GI infections most definitely should not be in school. Most adults are lousy at sanitary procedures and germ control- kids are horrible at it.

That's not a good poll - which 'authorities'??? Local and state get an F -

I had to make a quick trip out to do some chores. My rdio station was on Savage. He's on live tonight. He's playing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" whenever someone mentions Sean Penn.

No, I don't usually listen, but I am starved for live talk radio.

That is a lot of work for anyone, nevermind someone who is undergoing cancer treatment. Once I was listening to WABC and heard a weekend fellow say he was subbing for Laura from 6 to 8 pm on the following Monday. So on Monday morning I expected to hear him on my local show, and heard a best-of show.

Thanks for getting back to me.

Imagine this scene - Gingrich and OReilly arguing, OReilly saying people need to be more self sufficient - Gingrich saying government can be the "nanny" in incidents like this.

They're both right. We should always be self sufficent for up to 72 hours. In disaster prone areas, like coastlines, you should be selfsufficent for at least a week. Then it's nanny state to help you back on your feet for whatever insurance doesn't cover.

I heard O'Reilly's crapola this afternoon on his radio show...(which I only listened to because Rush's show was a repeat...arggh)...

Anyway, he was going on and on about how Bush dropped the ball, and was too late...and then he even said.

"I don't blame the Mayor of NO at all, not for anything." and then he went on to say that the Governor couldn't get what she needed from Fema or somesuch..

BUT, I couldn't BELIEVE what he said about the Mayor...then on his TV show tonight, Newt brought up the ineptness of the mayor...and Bill just said that the mayor and the Governor don't count...this is all about Bush!!!!

LOL ... I liked this one

One woman, who said she voted three times, groused about how much she was paid. "I was supposed to get $75 and all they gave me was $25." She said they also gave her an "ol' stanky T-shirt" with Landrieu's picture on it.

Well, I don't like stealing of elections, but that's just plain funny.

SE Mom wrote:
points out the federal bureaucracy is nearly impossible to move in a HUGE event like this"

REPLY

I believe General Honore would say something along the lines Clint Eastwood used:

Just a big cluster F--k or SNAFU (Situation Normal All F--ked Up).

Seems funny but the military goes in and saves the day every time.

I bet that makes the liberals left have butt pucker.

Yet it is well known that Hellary hates the military.

I don't even want to think about it. The thing that sucked about the Shoreham nuke plant was that they built the dang thing without designing an escape plan. That was years ago. No way would LI be able to evacuate in the event of a major disaster.

Exactly. Most homes will have to be torn down and rebuilt, esp. if a person has allergies or is immune system compromised.

I really hope she doesn't. I'm not making lists with glee, but rather anger and diappointment at the willingness to succomb to the Beltway and sell out this President and the Truth.

Expected from Liberals. Abhorent from those that should know better.

Peach, what we can do is gather the facts like you just did and e-mail them to the reporter who lies on the air. We have to shove their lies back down their throats to let them know that we are onto them. So, send A. Mitchell what you just wrote on that post.

"BTW, Hillary looks AWFUL. Simply AWFUL."

Thank You! I thought it was just me. For someone that has been on 4 or 5 weeks of vacation, she looked especially bad. She should get another make-up artist and hairdresser.
Looked like she had old crusty on, except instead of a pink blouse, she got a new(?) blue one.

Bill didn't say the military was slow to move- he said the federal bureaucracy is.

Actually it WAS fubar til the military showed up.

and Bill just said that the mayor and the Governor don't count...this is all about Bush!!!!

####

The talking points must be disseminated by pool reporter to every talking head on radio and TV.

It seems to be "accepted wisdom" that Bush Had to return today because of a bungled visit last week.

No problem. :-)

Great story on FOX just now. Some guy drove miles with $3000 of supplies including diapers and generators collected by friends into town. THIS is the story of the real self reliant America, that Lib or conservative, is the majority...NO not withstanding.

Damn. Vitter is on FOX.

That was funny. When I first couldn't get that one to play, somehow I found another one on the same site. It was hilarious. It was a "rant" making fun of the newsmen covering Katrina. I had tears rolling down my face. Did you see it?

Kind of off topic, but don't know if you heard about this yet.

MEMO

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

TO: Bob Mann

Communications Director

Governor Kathleen Blanco

FROM: John Copes

DATE: August 4, 2005

RE: web site project

It’s been a long time since my last memo, Bob, and it’s not like riding a bicycle, so I’ll simply try to restate and expand upon our conversations concerning various ways to more vigorously advance a coherent strategy to promote the governor’s (and, by extension, Democratic) policies, while blunting the increasingly intense attacks upon her and upon her administration.

As we have often discussed, the most serious problem Democrats in Louisiana now face is a Republican Party apparatus – including Republican elected officials – that becomes more organized, more belligerent, and more nakedly partisan by the day.

Just as worrisome is the relentless daily message-peddling by GOP surrogates operating in the traditional mainstream media, on talk radio, and through a collection of web sites on the Internet.

The "right-wing destruction machine," as President Clinton has termed it, with its goal of personal ruin through vicious attack politics, has finally arrived in Louisiana.

So what are we going to do about it? Currently, Democrats have no comparable structure from which to return fire, or even to begin correcting the calumnies hurled against us daily. It is clear that we must develop and wield an offensive capability of our own, as well as develop a much more agile and effective defense.

This would, of course, include our own web site. Such a site will allow us to quickly and cheaply reach several distinct audiences with an entertaining, informative message of our own design.

Overall, the target audience could be described as people who pay close attention to politics in Louisiana: elected officials; government employees, civil servants and bureaucrats at the local, state and federal level; individuals and businesses that rely on various levels of government for a substantial portion of their livelihood; the mainstream media, and more particularly the "opinion shapers," such as editorial writers, columnists and political reporters; and your generic "concerned citizens." Through these groups, the message filters out to the general public.

What we’re talking about could be more accurately described as a web log, or "blog," but since Andrew doesn’t like that term we’ll use "web site" instead.

How would such a web site work?

In operation, it’s pretty simple and not all that different from what we’re already doing in other aspects of our workdays. All we do is look at what’s available to us online or in public appearances or in the record or wherever -- we cast a wide net, regularly -- and that’s essentially our starting point.

We use this material as a starting point from which then we highlight their inconsistencies, or deconstruct their policies and reframe them to our advantage, in our own language. Or we point out where they’re engaged in folly or mendacity or just plain old greed or meanness. Sometimes we just poke fun.

All of this, however, while availing ourselves of the opportunity to exercise our wit. Such as it may be.

There also could be a daily roundup of links to online stories of interest, national and local. These links would help us get through those rare times when more suitable material is scarce, and also give readers a reason to visit the site every day.

At some point we also would open a comments section.

There are a couple key points to this operation, Bob, and No. 1 is that we all should be absolutely clear that entertainment is what engages people and keeps them coming back to the site. People don’t want to be harangued; they don’t want to be preached at. They want to be entertained, and if you can make them laugh or even chuckle, all the better.

Entertaining the reader – and us – is Rule One.

The other key point is this web site cannot be a one-person deal. It just will not work that way. There should be a consistent tone and direction, which I will help us achieve, but the site must have a variety of voices. We must have broad, consistent and engaged participation from a specifically designated group, which we will call the Working Group.

I suggest the Working Group, at least in the beginning, include representatives from the political operations of the governor, the senior U.S. Senator, the lieutenant governor, the state party, maybe the state Treasurer and/or Attorney General, and possibly someone either representing or familiar with the workings of the Legislature.

This group would conference once a week at a specific and regular time of day to discuss the issues and situations to be addressed on the site that week. You and I can establish the mechanics of the conference if you wish. For now, the key point is that everyone contributes to the discussion, and everyone posts to the web site.

On the geek side of this deal, I think at first we should go small, cheap and easy. A ready-made solution, something like Movable Type or Blogger, is pretty much all of those things. Should the site become popular and traffic exceed the limits of the first solution, we could always move to something larger, at which point the site could well become financially self-sustaining.

Also, as we discussed, there is an email component to the project that is just as important as the web site. In a perfect world, each member of the Working Group would bring their office’s file of email addresses, and we would use them to launch the site. I realize we do not live in a perfect world, but it’s something to strive for, don’t you think?

There are a couple of legal issues. Someone or some entity will have to sign up and pay the bills for the site and related costs. (For the reasons we discussed, it cannot be me. I am happy to be of whatever service I can to you and to the governor, and I look forward to whatever future use to which you may be able to put me. I can help you get the site off the ground and get it going in the right direction. But I cannot be out front with this project.)

It has been suggested to me that we consider forming a 527, a 501c7 (which I am told is a "social club") or a state PAC, and operate the site through it or under its auspices. I am ignorant of the advantages and disadvantages of them all and cannot advise. But this might be something to consider.

The other operations issue: pretty much every site I’m familiar with has a section titled "about us" or something of that nature, where the people who actually do the site tell the reader something about themselves, or something calculated to project the image he/she seeks. We’re going to have to decide exactly how we’re going to handle this.

One thought is to try to masquerade as some sort of anonymous non-partisan do-gooder group. That just won’t pass the smell test, especially after two or three months of consistently talking smack about Republicans and talking sweet about Democratic policy and never whacking a Democrat.

The point is, we’re going to have to come up with some kind of story about who’s doing the site and why. A plausible story in which the posters have a believable reason for wanting to remain anonymous.

A few other final items:

If you want specifics on cost, both for the site and for me, I have them.

It sure would be nice to sell this idea in person with each potential member of the Working Group, especially if they’re going to help pick up the costs.

It might also be helpful in selling them to have a site already up and running, with content already posted.

We need to develop a protocol for the Working Group meetings, and for how we’ll use the information we talk about during the weekly conference. Would we do multiple posts on a single topic? What if the governor and the senior senator happen to hold divergent views on an issue?

How do you think we’d handle, say, the feds raiding Jefferson’s car and homes?

You and I understand web sites, Bob, and so possibly in this memo I’ve unknowingly skipped over big portions of this project, or left big blanks. Which is why I’m considering this thing just a draft. After revisions, we might want to use this as a tool to help get folks interesting in both the site and the Working Group.

Finally, just between us, I think the project is doable, and I think it has a fair chance of success. But there are a number of tricky little aspects to be navigated here, and we should keep in mind that what we envision now might bear little resemblance to what we eventually develop.

I’m always available to discuss this or any other project you may have in mind, Bob. As for this document, mark it up, send it back, and we’ll start again!

They didn't anticipate a flood trapping people there for so long. IIRC one post said the guard delivered enough food and water to the Dome before the storm for 15,000 people for one day.

Hard to believe. They knew a Cat 5 was coming and they had levees designed for Cat 3. They had been told over and over that there would be 10-20 feet of water throughout the city with a Cat 5. So there is no explanation for how they expected to move 30K people from the dome to a shelter with 10-20 feet of water in the streets. Plus it is unclear what shelter(s) they expected to move the people into for several months since they had bveen told the city would be trashed of rmonths with a Cat 5 direct hit. They had no plan because New Orleans is the "City that Care Forgot".

LOL- beat me by 30 secs:) WTG!