Big Picture Time

In the Land of Freedom, We Have a King!

2005-09-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

In a monarchy, the king can throw you in the dungeon on his whim, without trials or hearings or lawyers or any of that pesky stuff that comes with a democracy. Well now, we too have a king - the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals says so!

You, an American citizen, living in the U.S. of A., can be picked up, put in a prison cell, refused a lawyer, can't see a judge, not told what you've been charged with, not told what the evidence is against you, and certainly NO phone calls! Sure, maybe they think you're a terrorist, or 'connected to the war on terror', but as an American citizen, you have certain rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - right? Nope, sorry. THAT was the good ol' days.. starting September 9,2005, the President by himself, can simply decide that you should be tossed into a prison, for as long as he wants, without demonstrating evidence or cause, without proof or trial. On his word, or at his whim, no one can say differently.

Long live King George! And whatever president follows him. So if you feel comfortable with our current President locking up whoever he wants, consider if you feel comfortable with LATER presidents locking people up solely on their say so. So much for our guaranteed freedoms in America.

I know what you're saying - you're saying: What! No way - this is bunk. There's no way this is true, no way this could happen. Well my friend, please refer to the group of links at the end,of legal and news sites. Or, google 'Jose Padilla 4th circuit court decision' so you can see the slew of editorials against the decision which none of us read because we were paying attention to Katrina. But the bottom line is, the court claimed the President was *authorized by Congress* by the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by both Houses of Congress on September 18, 2001. What Congress authorized applied to Afghanistan military combat, not to arresting an American citizen on U.S. soil, where charges were not proved and no evidence was even brought to a hearing - but somehow the court thinks they are the same.

Prominent Republicans and Democrats had filed a brief in the case, stating that it was "one of the gravest threats to the rule of law, and to the liberty our Constitution enshrines, that this nation has ever faced."

I'm definitely against terrorism and terrorists, but we've seen our legal system get things wrong enough times that, hey, I'd like to see maybe some.. evidence?? You know, proof of the charges? They withdrew the charge he was a dirty bomber (2); now they say he was gonna use natural gas to blow things up. That's a pretty big change in the story, so again... proof? And WHY no lawyer? This decision brings down the 5th and 6th amendments to the constitution, which guarantee us a right to due process and a fair trial!

"At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society."
----Justice John Paul Stevens

What I AM a fan of is the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the basic American freedoms we all count on. If you care about these too, it's time to be concerned, because control of our freedoms is being given to the President - and we don't need a President who can act like a king. If you think a king is a good idea, please feel free to go find a monarchy, and live there - but don't drag the rest of us into it, we like this democracy thing we have. Or hope we have.

1. U.S. Can Confine Citizens Without Charges, Court Rules

2. Padilla court ruling threatens our rights

3. Jose Padilla and the death of personal liberty

4.The Unjust Detention of Jose Padilla

5.A Very Dangerous Decision

Reward Accountability, Not Evasion of Responsibility

2005-09-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

It's a tricky one: how to not 'play the blame game' - as though anyone in politics knows how to do that - and still hold accountability as a primary virtue.

First, please refrain from asking others not to play the blame game - and then blame others. We've seen enough of that, and it is annoyingly blatant.

Second, let's realize that while accountability may feel like blame, they are not identical, and it's time we learn to distinguish the two. Blame is an emotional reaction, and a way of shifting responsibility away from ourselves to others. It often confuses the goodness or badness of people, with the actions those people take.

Accountability is the fact-based assignment of responsibility necessary to bring action in line with goals, needs, and intentions. Sometimes accountability does, in fact, feel like blame, but much of that feeling resides in how it is responded to. As people and as a nation, it's time that we not only accept accountability when we should, but reward those willing to accept that responsibility when it is theirs. Why? Because it indicates maturity and wisdom, not just admission of being 'wrong'.

Right now, we reward those who are best able to deflect blame, misdirect attention away from mistakes, scapegoat others, or confuse the issue. Of course, these are techniques for staying in office or succeeding in a bureacracy... do you begin to see the scope of the real problems we face?

Third, even if our politicians can't do it (what *can* they do? oh yeah, see above), We, the People, need to cease thinking along defensive partisan lines. Sure, BE partisan - but please don't disable your thinking apparatus to the point where any hint of criticism results in automatic defensiveness and rejection. Try hearing the comment/criticism - you may, in fact, need to hear it. Listening also has the advantages that you aren't disaffecting your colleagues, irritating your constituents, and endangering everyone by your mental deafness.

Contrary to the belief of many, there are real kernels of information, knowledge, and insight to be extracted from a variety of viewpoints beyond one's own, even critical and opposing ones. It doesn't seem to be a lesson many humans have learned, but there it is: feedback is USEFUL. The constant rejection of feedback from 'the other side' prevents the acceptance of information that could strengthen weaknesses, clarify ideas, and even right wrongs. When did it become so completely accepted to ignore what others say just because they disagree with you? It doesn't mean that they don't have a point!

Let's not blame it ALL on politicians though; we're living in a culture where it works to reject responsibility, to pass it on, dump it downward in the chain, and escape accountability if at all possible. Somehow we have become a nation that refuses to be held accountable for even actions we admit we committed. From the people to the President to Congress, we often prefer to create a delusional reality of our own rather than acknowledge real world facts. IMO, this probably marks our downward spiral as a nation. Because how are we going to grow, evolve, improve, or correct ourselves, if we can't even accept that mistakes were made? How are we supposed to *learn* if everything we do is 'right' and no one is supposed to comment negatively?

It is clear that we aren't learning - and Katrina is a distillation of that reality. We did not learn the lessons of 9/11; we did not learn that communication, cooperation, and coordination are the best safeguards we have against threats that face us. We are failing to learn these crucial truths: that we need and depend on each other, and that cooperation is necessary to our survival.

Today, Thomas Kean, former chairman of the September 11 commission, said (my comments in italics):

"What is frustrating to us is that these are many of the same problems we saw in 9/11, and the response to that disaster.
Number one - we need to provide sufficient and reliable radio spectrum for first responders. ...emergency responders in New Orleans all used different radio systems and they're all operating on different spectra...they had trouble talking to each other, to state authorities, to federal authorities."

{This sounds like the basic problem of our nation and our culture of arguing - we can't talk to each other, OR to those who would save us.}

"It is a scandal in our minds that four years after 9/11 we have not YET set aside spectrum to insure that police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians can commmunicate reliably during any kind of attack or major disaster."

In other words, four years later, we've learned...nothing. What's it gonna take?? I'm afraid to even consider.

Our lives and our security depend on our learning how to live in these times, in this world, not some ancient fiefdom, not a calm untroubled utopia, but the REAL world. That requires talking and listening to those around us, especially in times of emergency, and even if we don't like what they have to say.

Having Fun While Facing Reality? They Said It Couldn't Be Done!

2005-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys, but I've had to stay away from Katrina news, and well, news in general, for the past two days. After a steady diet of CSPAN and annoying news pundits, I start to feel like I'm in a surreal world where no one speaks the truth and nothing can be taken at face value. Oh wait, that is the world we're in. Dangit!

Anyway, I was in desperate need of a mental vacation - and I'm apparently not the only one. My nephew wrote me to say, 'your blog is great, but could you talk about something else besides Hurricane Katrina?' And this is from someone whose house went through the hurricane, has a large tree on its roof, and still doesn't have electricity... in other words, someone you'd normally think would care.

Maybe news fatigue is a fad, something they'll come up with an expensive pharmaceutical to treat. Maybe it's a physiological response to stress in situations we can't respond to, a form of learned helplessness. Or could it just be the feeling that comes with our mental muscles expanding to hold up a larger view, similar to what happens after a couple of days at the gym - you know, rest your muscles to build them bigger?

Because, in this case, in this era of human history, our mental muscles (excuse the inept analogy) do need to get bigger.

Back in Ye Olden Days, it used to be that all you had to care about was your family or your tribe or your village. Now, things happening continents away can shape your freedom, your lifestyle, and the kind of world your children face. And that can be true - is true- even if you don't know or care. Because that war halfway across the world may breed a group of fanatics that decides it needs world attention, and hijacks a few planes. Because the pollutants dumped by factories near and far find their way into the breast milk of nursing mothers around the world, and impact the brains of our newborns. Because the people playing political games for the sake of their own egos are using your money, your resources, and your options for their own benefit, and you don't even realize it if you're not paying attention.

The catch-22 here is that knowing all of the above and oh, so much more, leads to a negative reaction. People tell me their response to knowing these things is depression, fear, panic, anger, despair. Understandable, but I've tried those, and they're just not gonna work for me. For one thing, I reject pharmaceuticals to harness them so I can be a useful cog in the machinery of society. But aside from that, feeling despair/angst/fear/etc. gets boring after awhile. When it comes down to it, those kinds of feelings are NO FUN.

I'm not even kidding. I've been there, and feeling ongoing depression/anger/fear for awhile just plain old SUCKS. You know it, and I know it, and yet our culture and even our 'lifestyle' now supports people feeling like emotional basketcases much of the time. People get used to it; they get cynical and act like it's normal; they take their meds; they spend their savings on consumer toys. They exert huge amounts of energy on trying to forget, deny, ignore. But none of those approaches work - like our medical system, they only treat the symptoms, not the causes. And the causes are our fixed emotional patterns, our beliefs that things must be and will stay a certain way, and a brainwashed mentality that keeps telling us we are helpless, powerless, and too incapable of handling the complexity of the world to even try.

All just more bullshit in a culture that thrives on bullshit. Why, if we could run our cars on bullshit we'd be the most energy-rich nation in the world!!

I choose another way - because no matter what They say, we all still have choices. Choices of how to respond, how to see, how to frame and understand the world. So I choose a way that says, Look here! These are the most exciting, fast-paced, complex, and wacko times that humanity has ever seen. These are the 'interesting times' the Chinese warn about in their fortune cookies! These may be the End Times, or the beginning times, or both - but no matter which, they sure as hell aren't boring. And for a culture that thrives on extreme sports, action movies, horror flicks, super-caffeinated brain-shock lattes, and the adrenaline rush, surely the pure excitement of our times are worth a positive reaction!

If we take it that way - the "Whoooeee! Look at that, *another* intense thing, another end-of-the-world prophecy, another wild and unbelievable stupidity!" approach, then we can shift our emotional response patterns to something more useful than self-defeat, self-righteous judgement, and unproductive self-medication.

I'm saying, choose something different. Let's get out of our mental-emotional ruts, let's take our brains out for a spin in the land of amusement, optimism, and the deepest personal freedom there is: the freedom of choosing how to respond. Because we do have a choice of how to respond, though our conditioning and our cultural beliefs prevent us from seeing just how much choice we have. We can choose knowledge, we can choose humor, we can choose compassion, we can choose understanding. We can choose the unpredictable, the unscripted, the wild intuition and the passionate cause - and again, we can choose humor, that absolute bulwark against our crazy world.

We can, in fact, despite the examples of our government, choose to be adults and react like adults to things we absolutely know are coming down the path towards us. I say it's time we begin to take these intense events in stride- expecting them even! - knowing they will come, and realizing it is time to get into 'deal with reality' mode. It's time to cut through - or at least slide out of - the utter b.s. we're constantly fed, and begin evaluating the world around us with clear eyes that are undulled by news pundits, cynicism, prozac, or the ridiculousness that the U.S. political system has become.

You may, of course, choose to keep your head in the sand, but all you'll get is a chewy mouthful of dirt. Not facing reality, not choosing our mental and emotional responses, not acting in the face of evident onrushing disaster - these inactions will only produce more of the same short-term, insufficient, and all-around-crappy response to our world. In fact, doing those things, at every level, is really what brought us the disaster of Katrina - a good example not to follow.

So let's choose NOT to continously bang our heads on the wall in despair, denial, or disgust. Sure, go ahead and cry, get your tears out, sob out your fears, shriek out your anger, give yourself permission to absolutely scream out your frustration and despair instead of ignoring or suppressing them.

And then, let it all go. Surely you're sick enough of those feelings to let them go. It's time now to choose something different, something creative, useful, hopeful, brilliant, kooky, even. Something that may or may not work, but which in attempting, invigorates us, enlivens us, reminds us how much is possible. Because what we're doing now - the knee-jerk responses, the defensive rejection, the stagnant emotional depths, the pretense that everything is All Right, that everything is Normal - just doesn't work.

What. We. Are. Doing. Now. Does. Not. Work.

I can't say it any plainer. It doesn't work - don't keep clinging to it!! It's time to take a fresh look at the world, to see it with all of its flaws and beauties, its cheap tricks and poignant realities, and embrace it. That acceptance, that acknowledgement of good and bad, right AND wrong, that reconnection with reality rather than talking-head-news-spin-propaganda - that acknowledgement of what IS, gives us the power to change what we see in the world. Not to mention what we see in ourselves.

Because as long as we're pretending we're not hip-deep in crap, we can't start shoveling.

And don't forget, humor makes an *excellent* shovel.

Be well. Have fun. And connect. ;)

Official Cover Your Ass Time (OCYAT): Press Conferences 9/9/5

2005-09-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

First, let me bitch: WHY are these conferences - virtually the only oppportunity the press has to ask questions that We, the People, want to know the answers to - limited in time by those who give them? Let them answer questions for a reasonable amount of time(like hours or DAYS), not 15 or 30 minutes! WE deserve answers, and for them to so restrict the questions of the press - the only voice of the public - is an abuse of power and an abuse of our information channels.

For instance, Chertoff, from the Homeland Security conference below:
"CHERTOFF: I will take three or four questions, so choose those questions wisely."

When did it become the primary purpose of the government to *control* our information, to shape our beliefs and our actions by only giving us what info THEY want us to have? Why not make available somone who can answer all our questions? In fact, why not allow (gasp!) the PUBLIC to ask questions?

White House press conference, Scott McClellan speaking as press secretary:

REPORTER:The President said a week ago that NO ONE anticipated the breach of the levees... it seems to have been well-established that that was just wrong, that there were many federal reports, many stories over the years, saying that a hurricane of this strength , that they would be breeched. Why was the President so wrong, and has he asked his experts how he could be so wrong?

McCLELLAN: I think you've characterized something wrong and interpreted something that he said in the wrong context. I'm glad you brought this question up, because we did respond to one news outlet that had asked this question and most others had interpreted it in a certain way, and it's been interpreted wrong.

What the President is referring to is that Katrina hit, and then it passed New Orleans, and if you'll remember all the media reports that Monday evening and Tuesday morning papers were saying that N.O. had dodged a bullet.. and that's what the President is referring to, is that people weren't anticipating the levees, after the hurricane had passed New Orleans, breaking...So this is one of those issues in this environment where something has been interpreted and interpreted wrongly. (more of the same)

To set the record straight: Hurricane Katria hit Monday Aug. 29, the levee breaches occurred that night, mayor Nagin ordered them filled with giant sand bags and they weren't. Thursday, Sept. 1 - three days later - President Bush gave a Good Morning America interview in which he said No one could have foreseen the levees breaching. So - McClellan's answer makes no sense.

REPORTER: When he (the President) leads this investigation there'll be questions about if he'll be investigating himself, how can that be properly done.. will he enable independent people to look at the kind of question you just addressed?

MCCLELLAN: (he never answers the question --JATQ!!!- Just Answer the Question!)

{see White House transcript for his three paragraph non-answer of the question - I don't have time to transcribe useless doublespeak...

-------------

HOMELAND SECURITY PRESS CONFERENCE:
Michael CHERTOFF:, Homeland Security Secretary:
(Paraphrase: (Tivo burped) FEMA director Mike Brown is being returned to New Orleans ...I have appointed Vice Admiral Thad Alan New Orleans relief effort. End paraphrase }

CHERTOFF: Mike Brown has done everything he possibly could to coordinate the federal response to this challenge.

---
ME:
Hah! Like not having materials there on time - water, pumps, helicopters, boats, people, expertise...
Like dismantling or interfering with local efforts that were necessary, for instance
(according to Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parish President, on Meet the Press)
-turning back truckloads of water sent by WalMart;
-telling the Coast Guard not to give Jefferson Parish diesel fuel docked at its port that had been pre-arranged to be given to them;
-cutting communications lines that Jefferson Parish established directly after the hurricane (still NO explanation of this whatsoever from FEMA.

And, until more clear accounts are available, I personally blame Mike Brown for preventing the helicopters who were ordered to close the levee breaches that opened the night of the hurricane, from doing so. They were ordered by Mayor Nagin to drop 3000 lb sandbags into the breach within hours of the breach occurring, and those orders were countermanded. So the breach widened, and New Orleans, which had survived the hurricane relatively unscathed, was inundated.

Tell me who to blame different, and I will, but someone should be accountable for the unnecessary flooding of New Orleans.

Prevent New Orleans From Being Destroyed by FEMA Inaction

2005-09-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

In a FEMA press conference aired on CSPAN Wednesday, September 7, 2005, Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Dan Hitchings said "it would take 24 to 80 days to pump out New Orleans and its surrounding parishes, an area that sits like a basin below sea level." (1)

Meanwhile, every minute that water stands there, bacterial cocktails brew, mosquitoes breed, buildings disintegrate, and massive amounts of additional pollutants break down their containers and enter the waters.

That 24-80 days is needlessly long, based on using far, far less than our capacity for pumping water out of the city. Currently, FEMA is only using 15% of the city's permanent pumps, and 2% (TWO PERCENT!) of the temporary pumps available to it. (2)

"In the city's 17th Street Canal, which had been the site of the most serious break, only 9 cubic feet per second is being pumped out, compared with a potential capacity of 4,600 feet per second."(3) In other words, that site could be pumped out five hundred times faster than it is right now if FEMA granted it adequate support and manpower.

There is now a pretense that everything is under control, and that continued damage is inevitable. Yet every additional minute that waters cover the streets, the beloved city of New Orleans grows needlessly more toxic and more dangerous.

It is time NOW to take preventive action, to demand better resources and rapid response. We the People can at least act to *minimize* further damage due to government inaction and mistakes. PLEASE contact the media, your representatives in Congress, the White House, and FEMA itself to demand they speed up the pumping effort.

==========
(1) Water Drops, Mayor Hopeful
(2) See CSPAN.org, and this blog's entry with a partial transcript of the press conference, The Sound of Not Planning Ahead
(3)Standing floodwaters are like poison

The Sound of Not Planning Ahead

2005-09-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ahh, I love the sound of not planning ahead -even when you can see it coming.

Comments in italics are mine...these are my quick transcripts, I'll correct any errors (which are not substantive, i've rechecked that much) as soon as I can go over the tapes again.

FEMA press briefing on CSPAN, 9/7/5 - Dan Hitchings, Army Corps of Engineers, speaking on the 'unwatering' of New Orleans'.

REPORTER: How many pumps total are now working? (To drain New Orleans of water)

HITCHINGS: We have 23 pumps - 23 of the permanent pumps out of 148 are operational. We have only 3 portable pumps of 160 pumps available. The rest are being staged and ready to be placed - we estimate they'll be operational within the next 3 to 5 days. Most of the pumps coming in need generators, plus contractors assembled to do the work.

Great, so we have 15% of the permanent pumps, and 2% of the portable pumps working. That will be fast. So, THREE TO FIVE DAYS MORE of New Orleans buildings sitting in water, nine days after the hurricane hit? These guys are fast workers!

REPORTER: Did FEMA not set up a system in place BEFORE the storm to have pumps available to them? (Inaudible) A possibility - didn't you guys know that??

HITCHINGS: uh... well there were no pumps staged of this size and magnitude. We have pumps we use for flood-fighing circumstances where we have levees and such.. but nothing of this size. The pumps we usually have would make no impact.

Hmmm... major city, major port, major underwater, major warnings, major likelihood of levees breaking, major obvious likelihood that pumps and generators would be needed.. and NONE of it pre-staged, none of it ready to respond to a known, likely threat. This isn't just too little/too late - it's either massive stupidity, massive incompetence, or an active agenda.

Brain-Scrambling Political Quotes 2

2005-09-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

I gotta archive these for posterity.. still pulling more of the Tivo, everyone please feel free to post your own. We may never see so clearly into the minds of our leaders and media as we are with the pressure they are under right now. Comments in italics are mine.

1) "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

Except for EVERYBODY...

2) "Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi and Alabama to our help and rescue. We are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts." - Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Aug. 31, 2005" to which Cooper responded:

"...for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And when they hear politicians slap – you know, thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there's not enough facilities to take her up. Do you get the anger that is out here?"

Hurricane Katrina gifts the media with a SPINE! A miracle!

3. "Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue." –MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Sept. 1, 2005

Define 'superpower'. Define 'rescue'. And if that's 'full' .. we are all in bigger trouble than we think.

4. "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's "All Things Considered," Sept. 1, 2005

"Because I only listen to the PRESIDENT and he hasn't said a thing about it!"

5. "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." --FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005

The cluelessness behind FEMA's response begins to make sense.

6. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." –President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

Hmmm... heck of a job... hell of a job... hellish job... horrific job.. is that what he meant??

7. "We've got a lot of rebuilding to do ... The good news is — and it's hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house — he's lost his entire house — there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter) —President Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

Ok, yeah, let's make it a top priority to get Trent Lott's house rebuilt! I suggest we track and see what kind of a house and how much money Trent Lott gets out of this situation.

Brain-Scrambling Political Quotes I

2005-09-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, love them political quotes..The ones that seem to turn our brains off, and we walk away as zombies thinking our questions have been answered, but they haven't. And the responses beg the questions, and attempt to redirect and restructure our thinking along certain safe (for the politicians!) paths. It's linguistic sleight of hand...

First, a new classic :Capitol News Today, Friday 9/2/5

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO,
"We don't need to be trying to think of what we believe the solutions might be, to every problem that's out there, but really working hard to prioritize these problems."

I see - don't THINK about the problems, just prioritize them...although thinking about the possible solutions would
1. tell you how hard they will be to solve
2. tell you how much advance action you'll need to solve them - i.e. WHEN to start solving them
3. tell you, with these above, HOW they should be prioritized.

This is government thinking in action.

I think Blunt's classic words deserve a rap song format:

"We don't need
to be trying
to think
of what
we believe
the solutions
might be,
to every problem
that's out there,
but really
working hard
to prioritize
these problems. "

Anyone care to put this stuff to music?

Levees didn't have to break - could New Orleans have been saved??

2005-09-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's nine days after Hurricane Katrina - and it took 8 of those days to fix a breach in the levee that caused more damage than the hurricane did. Most of New Orleans was dry after Hurricane Katrina passed - and many New Orleanians sighed in relief that 'the Big One' had missed their town. But our relief was too soon, because many hours after the storm had passed, the levees began to break.

I was on the WWL-TV (New Orleans Channel 4) online forums when the levees broke, and people who knew the situation were on there screaming for something to be done. "NOW!" they cried - because the only chance of truly saving New Orleans was to prevent the city filling with water. 'Drop a barge into it! Drop a train car into it! Drop something into it, now, before it widens!' yelled a New Orleans engineer who, as a soldier in Iraq, was monitoring the situation. 'If we stop it while it's small the city won't flood!'. The media were reporting a rise of a foot of water an hour, across the city. Only the swiftest action could avert disaster.

And swiftest action was chosen- the mayor of New Orleans had already ordered 3000 lb sandbags dropped into the breaches by helicopter, enough to close the breach and prevent the flooding. Briefly it seemed the city would truly be saved. But then suddenly more panicked voices joined the forum - 'the mayor is on the radio upset, saying they're diverting the helicopters to save people! They're letting the levee break!'.(1) Yet it was clear to all of us that *fewer people would have to be saved* if the flooding was stopped, becuase it was rising water that was the imminent danger.

A major question then, is who countermanded the mayor's decision?? Who redirected the helicopters away from sealing the breach, to rescue (already taking place by other means)? Long-term thinking, people: first, stem the tide! Then, rescue people. Besides, why weren't there enough helicopters to do both? Is our linear, sequential thinking absolutely gutting our ability to protect ourselves (2)? Or is this turf battle, personal egos, and political maneuvering turned into sabotage?

But there is another factor that precedes all these occurrences. I spoke with an engineer who grew up in the city of New Orleans, who's been observing levee politics all this time. He said that first, they should have immediately checked all the levees as soon as the storm abated, and second, more importantly, that it was clear the levee extentions (extra panels on top) could not possibly hold. The extensions themselves weren't connected (imparting strength), nor were they backed up with earth or other supports to hold them against the lake.(3) Even sandbags behind them at the first sign of a breach could have helped.

In other words, this was planning at its poorest, understanding at its worst, and political infighting at its most heinous. This crucial engineering breakdown may be responsible for the bulk of the Katrina damage to the city - most importantly, the evacuation of the entire population and cleanup of toxins and other debris due to extended immersion in water.
And it could have been prevented.

SPECIAL SECTION:
I'm starting to keep track of the fundamental causes of the Katrina catastrophe -feel free to add in comments
(1)Turf battles?? Bureaucracies?
(2) Cognitive inability or inertia to address the complex problems before us?
(3) lack of long-term or deep or preventive thinking

Destruction of FEMA Enabled Destruction by Katrina?? Part I

2005-09-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

A prescient (?) article by the Washington Post's Eric Holdeman on how FEMA's ongoing destruction under Homeland Security may be related to its utterly crappy mismanagement of the Katrina disaster:

Destroying Fema Aug 20, 2005, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901445.html

"This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that mission."

This occurred months ago...that FEMA was directed to not engage in preparedness.. but neither was anyone else??
So NO ONE was doing 'preparedness'?? That would explain a LOT..

Great, just great...

My Own Little Picture aka Why I Care So Much About Katrina

2005-09-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, i have no personal info on this blog, so it's time to explain a bit why I care about Katrina and the true whirlwind she has spun, so much.

First, I grew up in New Orleans, and most of my family is still there. Thank God, my immediate family in the hurricane zone is safe, they have water and food, and neighbors with guns. I can't believe I need to add that last as a *good* thing, but it sure makes me feel they are safer. No one has heard from various cousins and other relations - but we're pretty sure they evacuated early. Pretty sure. Hoping, in other words.

My sister and her kids and my parents made it through the storm in Picayune, an hour northeast of New Orleans in Mississippi. The eye of Katrina went over Picayune, and they've been without power for 6 days now. But Picayune was probably the safest place to have been on the Gulf Coast, despite a giant tree falling on practically every house. As the storm raged, they listened to dozens of hundred-foot trees snapping in the forest behind them, and the whole town is a deforested wasteland now. Praying in the hallway during the storm- away from all windows and the debris flying through them - they were, relative to so many others, safe.

But I didn't hear from them for four days. I didn't know if they were safe, if a fire or looters ahd reached them, if they had water or a roof in the baking, 98 degree, swampish oven of heat. Let's just say that worry and anger spawned this blog, and it was amazing to finally reach them on a phone. I can't even imagine the worry people feel for loved ones that have no home, no phone, no support.
My other sister had evacuated early from her house in Slidell, 30 minutes NE of New Orleans, where the giant Twin Spans bridge was destroyed. Her house is probably under water (I know I told you different on the phone Sis, because you sounded so depressed.. I couldn't see how a little white lie that relieved your depression was a bad thing, till we know differently). The houses of my cousins and aunts on the West Bank of the city - well, from what I heard, the big mall close by was set on fire, and their houses may be looted or burning. Not a pleasant thought about places where I spent many a Fourth of July filled with hotdogs and happy children.

In some ways, I can't understand what happened with Katrina - my own experiences growing up with many, many hurricanes gave me a healthy respect for their power. One of the earliest memories I have is of Hurricane Betsy, and flooding so extreme that I watched as cars and telephone poles crashed into each other as they floated in front of our house in 5 feet of rushing water. Lightning, shrieking winds, parts of the roof flying off, water making it to the top of the porch and beginning to flood the house - I remember all this with childish wide-eyed wonder at the intensity and excitement of my freaking-out relatives. But the reality of it sunk in.

Thinking back, I can see how that established my 'always be prepared' sense, the four weeks of non-perishable food I keep up here in the non-flooding mountains, and a 'be prepared' mentality that apparently was lost in New Orleans itself.

I can't really express the unholy stress I've been feeling this past week, because in many ways it was intangible, below consciousness, shielded by the phone call I'd been able to get through right after Katrina passed. It felt as though a palpable thread of tension ran through out culture, the knowledge that thousands were suffering a long car ride away, but nothing we could do but watch helplessly. I thought about the looters, and wondered how people could regret them stealing luggage or food or clothing. After three or four days of no water, no food, no help - twll me you wouldn't be out 'looting' for your family??
Four days passed before i heard from my family; four days of no contact, and the subsidence of New Orleans itself into utter chaos and this-is-no-disaster-movie violence, chipped through my facade of calm. When you find yourself happy that a giant bridge has been destroyed because now the looters can't reach your family ... let's just say I've been working out some cognitive dissonance.

So all of you reading this blog who get upset because I'm going lay down some blame on those responsible for this gigantically mismanaged fiasco that is Katrina's post-mortem - TFB. Somewhere the line has to be drawn where people - PEOPLE - are held accountable for decisions they made that resulted in this. In lives being lost, economies ruined, and quite probably incalculable other damage occurring that we have not yet even realized. I don't need those people to 'pay' - i need them to be fired or voted out, I need our system to be reconfigured, I need some understandiong and accountability so that this never happens again.

Finger Pointing Day is coming soon.

Rant: Oh, So NO ONE Should Be Blamed for the Mismanagement of Katrina??

2005-09-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

WARNING: this is definitely a rant. Hopefully a truthful and incisive rant, but I'm afraid I can't help but be snarky to such out and out bull.

I think that nobody should find fault with anybody in this matter.
--Sen. Orrin Hatch, on the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina

So fantastic to see the bipartisan effort to NOT BLAME ANYONE FOR KATRINA. Since there's more than enough blame to spread around, the politicos have apparently decided NO ONE should be blamed. Here's that smug Senator Orrin Hatch - note the number of outright lies and spin: (Cspan, sunday 9/4/5 - my comments in italics

REPORTER: Do you think the FEMA director should be fired?

HATCH: No, oh no, now look, this is a catastrophe that even, even the most far-sighted person could not have figured out.

{WHAT!!! the frickin' CHILDREN of New Orleans knew that this was possible, even likely. Certainly the local, parish (county), state, and federal agencies knew! It was the major scenario for New Orleans!!! Don't LIE like this and say no one could have known! EVERYBODY DID KNOW, THAT IS WHAT IS SO SICK ABOUT THIS!!!}

HATCH: Not only that, there are millions of people involved.. this is no itty-bitty thing here...there's nobody could have been totally on top of everything.

{Nobody? There's NOBODY?? Gee, what about the people whose JOB it was to have been totally on top of it, the FEMA Preparedness and Homeland Security People????}

HATCH: ...I just don't think anybody should be playing the blame game here.. i think what we oughta do is all get together to see what we can do to straighten the mess out...

REPORTER: Do you think response was too slow?

HATCH: ..it's easy to criticize, it's very tough to do. I don't think it's fair to blame anybody in this. It was a catastrophe that nobody anticipated, damages that nobody anticipated, flooding that nobody anticipated.

{Sure, NOBODY but FEMA, NOAA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the city, the parish, the state, or the people knew...)

HATCH: In fact there were scientific papers that said they could take a category 5 hurricane...

{Ok, let's find those papers, because the Army Corps of Engineers said it was only designed to handle a category 3 hurricane. }

HATCH: So to stand here and find fault with anybody is a big mistake. ...
I think that Democrats and Republicans oughta work together. I think that nobody should find fault with anybody in this matter. Probably, if we knew what would happen in advance, we would have done things differently.

{So, great, it's no one's fault! And yeah, probably, if we had a system that worked, and people who cared, we would have done things differently. But we don't!}

Insecurity in the Homeland

2005-09-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

Whatever the other fallout from Hurricane Katrina - environmental, fiscal, and refugee issues - I predict the primary backlash from this event will be the slow realization that Katrina was handled by our so-called "Homeland Security".

In other words, the same people who took days to even *try* to stop the levee break, who took 4 days to get water to 100,000 people, who apparently had NO BACKUP PLAN WHATSOEVER for loss of power and communications - these are the people going to protect us from terrorist attack?

If we allow this, if we don't fully understand how this unmitigated disaster could happen, and if we don't fully hold people, agencies, and yes, politicians, accountable, then all of our actions around homeland security are quite simply, big talk and big hypocrisy, because nothing has changed, and the wrong decisions will continue to be made.

If we want Homeland Insecurity, all we have to do is keep going how we're going. Because apparently, that's what we've got now.

Excellent Photo/Satellite Imagery Websites on Katrina

2005-09-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

This includes everything from recent on-the-ground pictures to satellite imagery and other useful overviews:
http://www.katrinadestruction.com/images/main.php

See also
http://modis.marine.usf.eduweekly/mriver/mriver.index.html
for not-as-detailed, overhead satellite passes

Pres. Bush Fakes Levee Repair Photo ??

2005-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Remember the levee that broke, flooding New Orleans after Katrina 5 days ago?? Supposedly they've been working hard at repairing it... but

United States Senator Mary Landrieu says in a 9/3/05 press release that

"... the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity*; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government.

from Landrieu Implores President to "Relieve Unmitigated Suffering;" End FEMA's "Abject Failures"

Wow! When a President fakes a disaster relief result for the sole purpose of visually persuading the public, and a member of the U.S. Senate calls him on it - maybe these are the End Times!

Could we be finally witnessing the normally well-protected gears of the Bush Presidential spin control team?

*bold is my emphasis

Ted Koppel Asks the Right Questions

2005-09-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone (Ted Koppel) asks the right questions about the absolute disaster mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina- and asks them of the right person,
the head of FEMA, Mike Brown:

From Nightline, 9/1/5
...thousands of people are still stuck and sweating and dying at the convention center in New Orleans, post Katrina

TED KOPPEL: If you didn't have the buses there to get them out, why should it be a surprise to you that they stayed??

{Mikes Brown begins protesting }
TED KOPPEL: I'm not asking you why the city didn't get them out, I'm asking why you didn't...
Why you haven't done it to THIS DAY?!

No good answer followed.
===========

We're going to have to find the answers ourselves, people.

-to be continued

That's It in a Nutshell

2005-09-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

Cathryn Moxley - 5th grader who gives up her vacation money to donate to Katrina victims tells us:

It's important because...
you're saving other people's lives!
ff
And...you're just saving other people's lives.

She may have something there.
But somehow, it seems too.. clear, ya know. Not all muddy, paradoxical, spinning, or weaseling.

hMM, maybe we just need everything to be made very, very simple. Like:

Do Not Kill.
Love Thy Neighbor As Thy Self.
Do Not Steal.
Let the Damn Meek Inheirit the Earth.
Do Not Lie.
Do Not Cast the First Stone.
Do not Rape.
(I always thought that one should be in there.
Big mistake leaving it out.)
Honor Thy Father and Mother.
Especially, Do Not Lie on Camera.
Something About Motes In Eyes...

Ok, that last one I made up, because it's late, man!

Nice, refuse the refugees

2005-09-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

Doug Fernandez, KOAT- news

We're just getting word that about 4-5 buses* just pulled up to the Astrodome - and again, this is a 6-9 hour trip - they are being told there's no more room at the inn, they're being turned away, they're being told to head north, possibly to San Antonio.

I'm glad we're such a Christian nation, it would be horrible if we did unChristian things.

---------
*filled with refugees from New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina catastrophe who have been waiting for days to be evacuated

Why Big Picture Time? Katrina, Katrina...

2005-09-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Why is it time for The Big Picture? Because everything is connected, and we're not seeing that. And if we don't get that... well, we're seeing consequences now.

Here's a small example.

Hurricane Katrina -> New Orleans/Gulf Coast -> oil, gasoline prices-> money, paycheck, *your* budget -> your family

Hurricane Katrina - > New Orleans -> below sea level -> wetlands, barrier islands -> conservation, environmental protection -> flood mitigation -> disaster prevention -> lives & money saved

Hurricane Katrina -> FEMA, federal & local planning -> bureaucracies, governments -> turf battles, policies, partisanship -> poor planning -> no supplies -> looting, rioting -> American crisis

Hurricane Katrina -> Mississippi River port -> 60% U.S. grain shipment -> without it, food shortages worldwide

Hurricane Katrina -> Gulf Coast economy -> shipping, fishing, oil refining, tourism -> grain, oil, shrimp, goods -> U.S. economy -> your job-> your kids' education -> their future -> our future

Everything is connected. We're ignoring that fact, and making decisions based on shortsighted, overspecialized, biased, and incomplete information. What this does is up the odds that our decisions will be wrong, bad, useless, destructive, and stupid.

Let's stop the stupidity!

Because everything is connected, and looking at small pieces of the puzzle that is our world won't change that. Only the Big Picture lets us see the connections, and so it's time we put it together - together!

Katrina: Why looting is happening

2005-09-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

They broke into Winn Dixie Monday Night. Do they steal food? No. Cigarettes and liquor. Store was a mess. All the meats were going to waste so the districts went over there to salvage food for officers. Many cops have been eating MREs.

The Iberville Housing Projects got pissed off because the police started to "shop" after they kicked out looters. Then they started shooting at cops. When the cops left, the looters looted everything. There's probably not a grocery left in this city.
-from http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
-someone actually in the city still

What we're seeing is the inevitable dynamics of feedback coupled to human emotion - people feeling abandoned in the city (where were the poor going to *go*? with what money, to stay where?), taking out their anger on the wrong people (or maybe the right people from their point of view- there are many reports of police etc getting food from groceries while preventing everyone else from doing so - and right or wrong, you can see that would be frustrating), then those people not wanting to help, pissing off people who feel they need and deserve help....

these kinds of feedback loops are practically inescapable unless you know that they are what is happening, and work to switch their direction. Shooting all the looters may work for the short time, but are we creating the basis for literal class warfare in the here and now? The only solution I see is SERIOUS aid and assistance throughout the duration of this 'event' - and we've already blown that. It's time to bring in the psychologists so we can predict the behavior of what is happening here.

Official Cover-Your-Ass time...

2005-09-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

White House press conference just occurred 9/1/05... comments in italics are mine

Whitehouse Press guy McClellan: We took a number of steps prior to the hurricane hitting.. the president issued disaster declarations for the states in the tregion prior to the hurricane hitting.
That enabled FEMA to fully mobilize all the resources needed to preposition assets like disaster medical assistance teams and search and rescue teams so that they would be able to quickly deploy and help. On Tuesday, everybody recognized that this natural disaster is unprecedented.. and that’s why they have a massive federal effort.

{THIS is fully mobilized?? People without water or shelter for 3 days +? And what was 'pre-positioned'? certainly not helicopters, boats, portable communications and control centers, or airdroppable supplies. }

MCCLELLAN:Mike Brown (FEMA head) was working closely with the state and local authorities in the region last week leading up to the hurricane hitting. So there was a lot of pre-positioning of asssets and people and resources prior to the arrival of katrina.

{Note: let's actually determine what WAS pre-positioned and what the plan was-- FEMA ran this exact scenario with New Orleans being hit, last year!}

REPORTER:(we've been told) there were projects underfunded because of the iraq war or for other reasons.. do you find any of this legitimate? What about priorities?

MCCLELLAN: This is not a time for finger pointing or politics.. the last thing people need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. If you’re talking about specific areas, that's different.

{This is NOT PARTISAN!This is *accountability* for what happens on your watch. And please just *answer the question* - anyone with links to underfunding of coastal wetlands, flood control etc due to budget/Iraq, please post}

REORTER: they asked for $60M for Southeast LA flood control and they got $10M.

MCCLELLAN:Yeah, flood control has been a priority of this administration from day 1 – we have dedicated an additional $300 M over the last few years for flood control for New Orleans and the surrounding areas.. and if you look at the overall funding levels for the army corps of engineers they have been slightly over $4.5B that has been signed by the president.

{Good to know that funding 1/6 of what is requested for flood control is 'a priority'.)

REPORTER: Most people were asking for more money over the last couple of years, they were quoted in the newspapers in 2003 and 2004 as saying they were told by federal officials that there wasn’t enough money because it was going to Iraq expenditures.

MCCLELLAN: You might want to talk to Lt. Gen. Strock , he’s the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, because I think he’s talked about some of these issues already.
Some people have tried to imply that certain funding would have prevented the flooding from happening, and he has essentially said there’s been nothing to suggest that whatsoever and it’s more of a design issue with the levees.

{'Some people' - like the governor of Louisiana. It's certainly contestable that nothing could have prevented the flooding from happening!
And note: the design of the levees is DIRECTLY based on available monies..}

REPORTER: would you concede that more could have and should have been done to have resources available to move resources quickly or to be there…?

MCCLELLAN: that’s a good legitimate question.. {which he doesn't answer} but now is the time to remain focused on response and recovery .. there will be time to do more of a critique or assessment of the response efforts later.

{Glad to hear it- let's hold them to that!}

REPORTER: would you agree there will have to be an overhaul to the response plan?

MCCLELLAN: .. of course in the future we’ll take into account everything we’ve learned.

REPORTER Jessica Yellin, ABC News : Correspondents who’ve been in Baghdad and New Orleans say that Baghdad feels safer to operate in ...
Everyone is frustrated that you’re deflecting all of this to FEMA – is the White House properly, adequately concerned..?

MCCLELLAN –No, I’ve given you updates.. they’re (FEMA) the ones in charge of things on the ground - but your characterization is just wrong, Jessica.

REPORTER Jessica Yellin: Why did helicopters stop flying over new Orleans??

MCCLELLAN: Again, the people on the ground will be able to provide you with the information on that.

{As opposed to the people with their heads in the clouds...
Isn't it great how McClellan dodges every direct question??
Proves her point about deflecting to FEMA...
Just ANSWER the question!}

Where were the !+&^! helicopters???!!

2005-09-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

A quick example of utter mismanagement of Katrina disaster handling:

Where were the helicopters Tuesday morning? By 4pm Monday August 29, the hurricane had passed even Picayune Mississippi; supposedly there were still high winds Monday evening, then it was dark. But Tuesday morning, 12 hours post-Katrina- where were the rapid aerial surveys of the area by scores of helicopters?

Where was the ability to airdrop supplies to places like the Superdome, hospitals, tops of hotels, everywhere it was known there was need for immediate assistance??

Where were the airdrops of emergency kits to local officials, with satellite phones and communications infrastructure??

Where was the pre-positioning of aerial resources that could get there within a few hours, KNOWING that with a category 4 or 5 hurricane power would be out, roads would be closed, local communications would be down?

Lt. Gen Russell Honre, First U.S. Army Commander
3:48 pm CST, Thursday September 1 - three days after the storm had passed New Orleans:
"We're building capacity to the tune of about 200 helicopters that are available or will be in service in the next 12 to 24 hours."

Wow, we'll have necessary helicopters in by 4 or 5 days after the event! This is rapid response? This is 'pre-positioning'? Is this planning AT ALL??

All of this effort is AFTER the disaster has happened, when it should have been before. Yet FEMA had used New Orleans as a specific test case of the worst case scenario! So where were the plans, the *adequate* resources to address the complete failure of a major U.S. city and port? Where was everybody standing by, where were the marine pumps, the stored food and water?

For something this size and importance, there should be backup plans and backup-backup plans. If responding poorly to the consequences of a known event by the 3rd or 4th day falls under 'planning', then it's time for accountability.

Katrina failure: it's time for the Big Picture!!

2005-09-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

In Hurricane Katrina we have the perfect test case to assess 'protecting the Homeland' - and we are seeing massive failure, inexcusably poor planning, and the literally catastrophic ineptitude of the people and agencies supposed to protect us.

Hurricane Katrina is showing us that our method of functioning in the world is myopic, life-threatening, and just plain stupid. People are dying, and thousands more may die, through massive lack of foresight and political gamesmanship at every level of our government. Not to mention costing billions of dollars to our government, to us individually at the gas pump, and through what is sure to be a gut blow to our entire economy. I'll be posting details and documentation in further posts (and please don't hesitate to post same, or your counter evidence, in the comments section), but consider just one fact: three full days after the hurricane has passed, people do not have water.

The same systems mishandling Katrina are the very ones responsible for the security of ALL of us, of our property, and of our infrastructure, and their failure has serious implications for our personal lives. If we do not understand this, then our nation, our economy, and our future are in serious trouble. It's time to think clearly, reprioritize for the real world, not the bureaucratic world, and work to understand how the serious systemic problems of our nation can be addressed.

If we don't, we're stupid, and we'll die - or we'll just become a failed empire, a third world nation. Surely we can do better!?!