Katrina Live Threads, Part XV

U.S. commercial air carriers continue transporting tens of thousands of evacuees from the New Orleans airport to destinations throughout the nation.

Rooftop air rescue efforts continue. One rescue chopper crashed late today. Crew members are reported safe. Gunmen who fired upon bridge repair contractors were killed by law enforcement.

To date, an estimated 70 countries and U.S. businesses have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, supplies, food and equipment to assist the United States' efforts in Katrina's aftermath. Lt. General Honore described the damage to Mississippi today, "all infrastructure south of Jackson, MS is either damaged or destroyed." Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited the devastated areas, and attended Sunday church services in Mobile, Alabama.

Elsewhere, Sean Penn's rescue boat, sans plug and full of his personal entourage,reportedly sank during launch in New Orleans. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) threatened to punch President Bush, and Jefferson Parish President Broussard decried that the bureaucracy of FEMA has committed murder.

New Orleans Emergency Operations Center - is now open:
504-463-1000
504-463-1001
504-463-1002

All information is subject to change. Many stations are relying on their corporate parents to configure and maintain Internet streaming. Because of the intense interest in the feeds, they may be unavailable at times because of network congestion or a problem feeding the video to the streaming servers.

WWL-TV New Orleans - WWL-TV is operating from studios at Louisiana Public Broadcasting. CBS has a relay during the morning and afternoon. When available, use the CBS relay first as they have greater streaming capacity. They have a secondary stream from Yahoo. WWL-TV is also offering a special low-bandwidth audio-only stream for dial-up users.

WDSU-TV New Orleans - The news staff has started to return to temporary news studios near New Orleans. However, expect evening coverage from Hearst-Argyle sister stations WAPT Jackson and WESH Orlando when the New Orleans staff needs to take a break.

WGNO-TV New Orleans - New Orleans' ABC affiliate has returned to the air with WBRZ-TV and launched video streaming with continuous Katrina coverage.

WPMI-TV Mobile, AL - WPMI is webcasting from 5:30am - 10:30pm CDT. When off air, you can view pre-recorded reports on demand. This feed is often unreliable.

WKRG-TV Mobile, AL - This station is providing good coverage of the situation to the east in Mississippi and Alabama. However, the station is now signing off at around 10:30pm CDT like WWL and WPMI.

WJTV-TV Jackson, MS - The CBS affiliate in Jackson is providing live coverage for both the Jackson area and south Mississippi (knowing a lot of media in that area is off the air).

WFAA-TV Dallas, TX - WFAA-TV is here because Dallas is one of the evacuation cities.

United Radio From New Orleans: WWL-AM, WNOE-FM, "KISS-FM," WRNO-FM, WYLD-FM, and WJBO-AM (Clear Channel & Entercom) who have joined forces as United Radio From New Orleans, and they are streaming.

Gulf Coast Storm Network (Clear Channel Radio) - Clear Channel offers radio listeners across the gulf coast access to a simulcast emergency radio service. This service seems primarily focused on Alabama and Mississippi, but does cover Louisiana to some degree.

Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.

www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow, and lines are busy
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/ Southern Baptist: NAMB - http://www.namb.net/
Samaritan's Purse - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Moon Griffon had it posted on his website and talked about it on his radio show. Here's an article about it.

http://www.businessreport.com/newsDetail.cfm?aid=6670

Web site of deceit
By John Maginnis , Columnist

08.31.05 -

Not only does the governor have a black mold problem in the Mansion, causing her to live in a rented house for the summer, but her offices in the State Capitol appear to have a plumbing problem, following the embarrassing leak of a confidential memo on how to deal with partisan opposition.
The memo was sent to the governor's communications director Bob Mann by his friend and former journalist John Copes, who refers to their conversations about "the most serious problem Democrats in Louisiana now face." According to the memo, that would be a "right-wing destruction machine" consisting of a Republican Party "that becomes more organized, more belligerent and more nakedly partisan by the day" coupled with "daily message-peddling by GOP surrogates" in the mainstream media, talk radio and Internet web sites.

The writer recommends that Democrats develop "an offensive capability of our own" and "a much more agile and effective defense" through a web site that would rally the troops and return fire on opponents.

Up to this point, the memo makes perfect sense, recommending a communications strategy no more pernicious than that deployed by both national parties.

But then the memo heads for the deep end by exploring how to conceal the web site's source, including "to masquerade as some sort of anonymous non-partisan do-gooder group." Though the writer doubts such a ploy would "pass the smell test," he sees the need "to come up with some kind of story about who's doing the site and why" without identifying the state's top Democrats behind it.

While state officials wrote none of the above words, the memo refers to frequent if not-so-recent discussions with the governor's communications director about how to deal with the administration's critics.

Some of those critics on talk radio and the Internet blasted the administration's consideration of the web site project, however nascent, as deceitful and chilling. How much the administration even entertained the idea is unknown, though you can be sure that any discussion of it on the Fourth Floor now is strictly verboten.

That's too bad for the administration; distancing itself from the memo does not deal with the problem of a lack of an effective offense or defense in dealing with its critics. The question raised in the missive, "So what are we going to do about it?" goes unanswered.

Of course, the best way for the governor to foil her critics is to not fuel them with her bad decisions, such as trying to quadruple the tax on cigarettes in order to raise teacher pay in the face of $360 million in newly recognized revenue. There was a different way she could have achieved the same end that would have provided less ammunition for the Republicans.

As for the Republicans, why shouldn't they be "nakedly partisan," as opposed to Democrats masquerading as non-partisan do-gooders? Maybe it's time for the Democrats to get naked and act like the party in power.

The memo is right on when it speaks of the need for an informative, entertaining web site that comments on the news of the day, promotes the good deeds of Democratic officials and takes on the opposition by "correcting the calumnies hurled against us" or "sometimes we just poke fun."

There is no better bunch to handle such a project than the Louisiana Democratic Party, whose current Internet offering needs both some serious work and to not take itself so seriously. Perhaps our centrist governor doesn't want to be too upfront about being, you know, a Democrat. But she either defines herself as such or the Republicans will do it for her in time for the next legislative session and her next election.

If the Democrats ever present such a hip, informative, entertaining web site, the Republicans just might respond in kind. Imagine, a competition of ideas and wits for the hearts and minds of an electorate that, judging by recent voter turnout, badly needs to be engaged. That's no chill running down my spine, it's a tingle

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