Katrina Live Thread, Part XIV

Various ^ | 2 September 2005 | Various

[NautiNurse]

President Bush continues to assess the catastrophic damage by air and on the ground in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Bush spent the day meeting with search and rescue personnel, relief commanders, and displaced residents in Mobile, Biloxi, and the New Orleans area. U.S. Congress passed a $10.5 billion relief package for the hurricane ravaged areas. First Lady Laura Bush issued a press statement from an evacuation shelter in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Patient and staff evacuations continue from numerous New Orleans Hospitals. Thousands of patients are being airlifted to a field hospital at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport for triage, staging, and transport to hospitals throughout the United States.

The U.S. Coast Guard and civilian volunteers continue to evacuate thousands of survivors from their flooded homes in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to repair the damaged levees.

The nation's airlines today began an operation intended to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans. The airlines are volunteering their aircraft and crews for the program. Long convoys loaded with relief supplies arrived throughout the day into New Orleans, while convoys of buses are moving survivors out of the city.

Several large fires are burning in the city and greater New Orleans area. Reports indicate snipers are holding down firefighters. Reports of shots fired with LEO down in the St. Bernard Parish area. Rescue operations are underway. A bus carrying NOLA evauees rolled over in Opelousa, LA.

Links to various news, local and state government websites:

WLOX TV Biloxi, Gulfport, Pascagula has link to locate family and friends
2theAdvocate - Baton Rouge Includes Slidell, St. John Parish, St. Bernard Parish updates, and other locations.
NOLA.com
Inside Houma Today includes shelter and volunteer updates
WLBT.com Jackson MS
WALA Channel 4 Mobile, AL Includes links to distribution centers, Emergency Ops, etc.
Sun-Herald Gulfport MS Includes link to town by town reports
Gulfport News via Topix.net
WAFB Baton Rouge
Mobile Register via al.com
Mississippi updates via Jackson Ledger
Lafayette LA Daily Advertiser
Pensacola News Journal
St Bernard Local Government
Alabama Homeland Security Volunteers can sign up online
Alabama DOT
Alabama.gov
Louisiana Homeland Security
Louisiana State Police road closure info
State of Mississippi Website has traffic alerts, emergency contact numbers

Streaming Video:

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

WWL-TV New Orleans (via WFAA Dallas) - 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. Yahoo has also provided a relay.

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).

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

Related FR Threads:

FYI: Hurricane Katrina Freeper SIGN IN Thread FReeper Check In thread
Discussion Thread - Hurricane Katrina - What Went Wrong?!?
Post Hurricane Katrina IMAGES Here
Looting Begins In New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina HOUSING Thread
Martial Law Declared in New Orleans

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/

Previous Threads:
Katrina Live Thread, Part XIII
Katrina Live Thread, Party XII
Katrina Live Thread, Part XI
Katrina Live Thread, Part X
Katrina Live Thread, Part IX
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12

[plushaye]

I posted the article and it got pulled. Perhaps it was because it was dated yesterday, however no-one had posted it at FR.

The full article is at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/weather_katrina_crime_dc

I did like that comment from Jim Letten too.

[s2baccha]

This was transcribed from a scanner feed

11:39 - First Hand Account - A stand off occured between the Military and Jefferson Parish police. When it was over we asked a JP officer what happened and he told us the military were bring more Refugees to the airport. JP police told them not too because they couldn't handle anymore refugees and it was going to cause more problems... The military wouldn't listen and the JP officers said they were going to make sure the media is aware of this.

[Spktyr]

Many states have similar requirements. Remember, it's up to the states to prepare the groundwork.

Even if there were such requirements in LA, do you *really* think the government there would have actually *had* the supplies in there, given the corruption, incompetence, and gross stupidity that we've all seen?

[BlackRain]

The military wouldn't listen and the JP officers said they were going to make sure the media is aware of this.

---

They had 8,000 at the airport last night. The NG and LSP were looking for ways to get them out. It seems the airport is now what I-10 and the Causeway were -- a temporary staging area.

[Darnright]

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/002593.html

This is long, but an excellent read. Here's a quote:

"In today's modern, increasingly socialist democracies, nanny-state legislation (if it saves one life!) and cradle-to-grave "social safety nets" are the opiate of the middle class, while the politics of race and identity, envy, and "social justice" are the stock and trade of the economic underclass.

The net result is a society of entitlement that absolves the individual of personal responsibility and creates an illusion that consequences are made to be avoided. There is always "failure of society", a previous generation, or corporate dynasty at whose feet the blame for personal failure lies, always someone else with more "ability to pay" to pick up the tab.

"They owe you" .

Consider a city built, unwisely, below sea level, protected by massive levies and powerful pumps provided by the state, maintained by the state, with all the apparent permanence of the state.

In the unthinkable event that those fail, experts and engineers plot strategies for worst case scenerios. They conduct disaster drills, with fake victims and fake blood. The state provides modern highways and mass transit, and communications systems and weather satellites.

Then, when the day comes that the unthinkable becomes possible, the planning and technology move into high gear. Government officials, with the assistance of private and public media, warn of a tremendous hurricane as it grows in strength. The images are available world wide as satellites track its path, and local TV records the destruction of those it has already battered.

Government officials and elected leaders urge the citizens to evacuate to save their lives. They warn of the scope of the impending storm and the potential of devastation. They mobilize and priorize. Hospital staff stay on duty to care for the sick and infirm. The doors to the largest facility available that may withstand the storm are opened in hopes that those who had no way of escaping, or somehow learned of them too late, can find refuge.

And tens of thousands ignore them and remain in their homes.

Many of them have cars parked in their driveways. Many who don't are able-bodied and capable of walking. They ignore the warning and simply remain where they are, though they have children and elderly in their care.

With the storm passed, the waters rising faster than the heat, electricity failed and supplies running out, when the truth begins to dawn on the survivors - that the state is not all-powerful, that the mere human beings charged with coming to their aid,are, in fact, mere human beings who cannot come sweeping to their rescue like the cavalry over a Hollywood hill, that there are so many to rescue, because like they, so many have ignored the warnings - do they pool their resources? "

[Spktyr]

It would take a while to reposition a KH-11/12 to hover over the US from where they currently are orbiting. And then we get into legal questions about the CIA operating in America, etc., etc.

Those restrictions were put in place by, surprise, the Dems.

[s2baccha]

Do the cops have a right to complain? Aren't the feds in charge now?

[Cboldt]

From the interdictor ...

Sunday - 11:32 AM

A confidential source reports that the Mayor of New Orleans and Oprah Winfrey will be sharing a helocopter flight over the city today. Also, he tells me that the NAACP is asking for permission to fly over the city to evaluate.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

[Spktyr]

Oh, I do hope for these people's sakes that not all of the snipers have been cleaned out just yet. They deserve to get the "full experience".

[jhny7]

Un real NO International is a big place.There is no reson it could not be used as just a staging area but temp hospital.the storm is gone get those planes on tarmac and use space for releif and temp hospital how big is just one hanger.Just an obversation.May not be plausible?

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Yes indeed. I thought it odd that the USMC was being sent in. Marines are not renowned for humanitarian operations. They are really good at engaging combatants, breaking stuff and killing enemy combatants. Actually, the best in the world.

[Spktyr]

The Marine definition of "self-defense" is a little broad. Someone shoots at them, they level entire blocks. Remember, under posse commitatus, they can't patrol to restore law and order, but they can defend themselves if attacked.

That, and they're amphibious troops by definition and equipment, so they're perfect for SAR in Lake Nagin.

[LA Woman3]

Per WBRZ (Baton Rouge TV station)
Special FBI agents are in the Crescent City....

[SE Mom]

Hhhhmmmm...

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Methinks some gangsta's are gonna have an epiphany soon. I would not expect to see standard close air support. These will be up close and personal. No matter who they give their soul to, their @** will belong to a Marine.

[tentmaker]

wow - read the rest...

---

...
Do they find strength in human dignity and sanctity of life? Do the strong come to the aid of the weak? Do they summon patience and resolve in the knowledge that help is on the way, if only they can find the courage to help themselves a little longer?

What is their response to this consequence that has befallen them, a consequence largely of their own making?

"You owe us" .

They take what others have failed to provide, those things required to sustain life - jewelry and television sets. And when taking isn't enough (it never is), they devolve into predation and anarchy, abandon the weak, turn upon the innocent and each other - and all in a matter of days.

In former times entire nations found the strength to rise to the occasion, ordinary people understood that survival depended on their shared common decency and respect for their fellow citizen. That, by co-operating and persevering, they might create coping mechanisms through pooling skills and resources, and to be sure, the majority of those trapped in New Orleans will have done just that.

But, in former times, whole nations were not living in a time of entitlement, where all and any are provided for by an all-encompassing "social safety net", funded by those faceless others with more, who have life easier, whom we have been trained to envy.

Those human failings, irresponsible and anti-social behaviors that once brought consequences in the community - shame, ostracization, and deserved personal deprivation - are today excused, assigned new and neutral nomenclature (all the better for medical diagnosis), prescribed "tolerance", and if possible, assigned the politics of race or class, so that collective guilt may be mined to ensure that self-destructive behavior gains not only acceptance, but state funding.

The predatory violence and anarchy befalling New Orleans is not the result of a freak convergence of forces brought on by unnatural disaster.

It's a warning.


http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/002593.html

[LA Woman3]

Methinks some gangsta's are gonna have an epiphany soon. I would not expect to see standard close air support. These will be up close and personal. No matter who they give their soul to, their @** will belong to a Marine.


Wonder how long until the MSM refers to the gangsters as "Freedom Fighters"??

[lainie]

They're calling New Orleans "Lake Nagin"

~bump~

Some more scanner links here
http://wiki.nola-intel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Louisiana_Radio_Communications_Audio_Live_Feeds

Some updated info here
http://www.katrinadisaster.info/

[cgk]

The owners, not the players. ;).

Members of the New Orleans Saints bow their heads during a moment of silence for victims of Hurricane Katrina, prior to a preseason game with the Oakland Raiders, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, in Oakland, Calif.

There is at least one New Orleans Saint who is going out of his way for the victims:

Saints Receiver Joe Horn Visits Refugees

"Anybody can throw money around at these people, but they need love," said Horn, who spent three hours signing autographs, holding babies and playing games with children. "They need to be able to feel me. So when I leave, I hope they feel a little better."

New Orleans Saints' receiver Joe Horn signs a football for Aaron Carter, age 3, from New Orleans at the Houston Astrodome Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005 in Houston. Horn visited the dome to give the displaced residents from New Orleans hope and for thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees inside the Astrodome, meeting him was a much-needed morale boost. (AP Photo/Donna Carson)

New Orleans Saints receiver Joe Horn talks to an unidentified family at the Houston Astrodome Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005 in Houston. Horn visited the dome to give the displaced residents from New Orleans hope and for thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees inside the Astrodome, meeting him was a much-needed morale boost.

[JerseyHighlander]

From the article you posted:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/cda/article_print/0,1983,KNS_347_4054083_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html

it looks like Al Gore's efforts are quiet sincere. The very fact that he isn't being brought into the loop in any more substantial way speaks volumes for his standing in the southern Democrat's power circles. Afterall, as VP he was tasked with Witt in preparing FEMA's y2k responses, building huge amounts of capacity into the FEMA system in Clinton's second term. He probably has a better understanding of FEMA than Sen. Landrieu and Sen. Vitter, and governor Blanco.