I had just walked into the phone company office in St. Croix when the first image flashed across the screen. Peter Jennings was saying that a small plane may have crashed into the World Trade Center. As the next hour unfolded, most of us could not believe what we were seeing.
One day out of the year, I am a New Yorker. This is that day.
Scammers thrive on greed AND misery. Helpful article from CNN on Hurricane Katrina relief scams. Make sure that your money is going to help, not being stolen.
Now estimates are saying that the death toll may be substantially lower. With everything else so screwed up, it would be nice to know that the death estimates were as screwed up as the preparations. A cynic would say that the easy way to make a bundle would be to overestimate the losses. Just a thought.
Philadelphia was prepared, but it looks as though not many Katrina evacuees will spend time here.
Philly gets an A for effort. But I do understand why people would not want to evacuate this far north. Same goes for the people who were shipped to Utah. Good heavens, if my house were blown down and I woke up the next day in Utah, I would believe it was the wrath of God.
Utah? Give me Philly any day.
Want a good analogy for what is wrong with this country? This jackass calling on the radio is going on and on about the oppressed racial minorities being crushed under the boots of the evil capitalist American system. The root of his assertion was that there were no jobs to be had. The radio host then said that millions of people every year immigrated to America because there were all kinds of jobs.
This is where I get pissed:
The jackass replies: You mean you want them to work in the fields for low wages? He sounded horrified, shocked and offended. Hey, dickhead, my grandfather (gasp) worked in the fields for low wages. Had a bunch of kids, some of whom grew up to make good money doing other things.
Yes, I know it is a pity he couldn't do something honorable like, say, defend drug cartels in Federal Court, design video games or create a better tasting cigarette, but hey, not everyone gets to have the good jobs. America is lost the moment an honest job is reduced to something beneath us. Boy, I'm pissed.
GREAT INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WHO WISH TO ASSIST WITH THE CRISIS IN NEW ORLEANS FROM THE CHARITY NAVIGATOR. If you haven't been involved, PLEASE HELP.
I work too much, some people desperately need a job. A smattering of the rhetoric online right now:
"Yet the problem is much deeper. For half a century, free-market purists have to great effect denigrated the essential role that modern government performs as some terrible liberal plot. Thus, the symbolism of New Orleans' flooding is tragically apt: Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and Louisiana Gov. Huey Long's ambitious populist reforms in the 1930s eased Louisiana out of feudalism and toward modernity; the Reagan Revolution and the callousness of both Bush administrations have sent them back toward the abyss." - READ THE FULL COLUMN - ROBERT SCHEER at Alternet
"In the U.S., the devastation caused by Katrina forces us to confront not only the domestic costs of a diversion of resources to imperialistic adventurism, but also a harbinger of the devastating consequences to come from Bush’s denial of global warming and oil-industry-friendly energy policies: Irreversible Ecological Decline." - READ THE FULL COLUMN - CHARLIE CRAY, at Guerilla News Network
"The real tragedy of Katrina is that most of the people you see stranded on rooftops, starving in the tropical sun, are the poor, mostly black and creole. Not everyone had a car to escape, or a place to go. When all those people evacuated the Big Easy, where were all the schoolbuses, Greyhounds, and taxicabs? Shouldn't the poor have been evacuated this way instead of being left alone to fend for themselves? And where is the National Guard? They're all in Iraq, that's where! CNN and FOX are doing a bangup job of trying to convince us that "Authorities" are doing all they can, but it's obvious that only a handfull of rescue crews are available at all. They keep showing that same Coast Guard chopper rescuing the same guy over and over, meanwhile screams emanate from within the miles of wreckage, pleading for rescue. Welcome to the Third World of the American South." - READ THE FULL COLUMN - a nony mouse at IMC Portland
This could go on for a long column.
On behalf of the people of New Orleans, I'd like to thank these people for all of their much needed criticism. It is, after all, far more valuable than working to get people back into homes and a normal life. Really, much appreciated. Can you smell the sarcasm?
It has been my hard earned experience that criticism costs nothing and constructive engagement costs a fortune in hard work and thought. The lack of maturity and gravity from the crybabies on this issue is frustrating.
Because I have friends that are deeply involved in volunteering for the American Red Cross, that's where my donations are going. However, if you are looking for a way to give locally, this is it:
Contributions to Philadelphia's Project Brotherly Love can be sent to the Fund for Philadelphia Inc., 1515 Arch St., 12th Floor, Philadelphia 19102. Cash, checks, money orders, Visa, MasterCard and American Express will be accepted.
The scope of this disaster is becoming almost unbelievable. Trudy Rubin in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer really pissed me off with her "How dare anyone" question with regard to people saying that pointing fingers right now is playing politics. I DARE, Trudy. When you begin your column with a comparison to Iraq, I DARE.
There will be a time to fire people and some people had bloody well be polishing the sword upon which they will fall. If I were the president, I'd be rushing to find a new Homeland Security secretary so that I could fire Mr. Chertoff at earliest convenience. But when 22 people are found lashed together (dead) and there may be more people on the edge of death trapped in attics, I'm not going to sit on my fat butt behind a computer keyboard and snipe at the president over Iraq. Can Ms. Rubin say the same (fat butt or no)?
I was going to discuss the toxicity of New Orlean's water today, but the truth is, it is hellish. Sheriff's deputies received burns from exposure to it. This is a nightmare. I fear that the environmental damage may be more catastrophic than the flooding or hurricane itself. And yes, I've seen the pictures from New Orleans. This entire scenario is horrifying.
So I'll be blogging quite a bit over the coming months about the environmental state of New Orleans and its surrounding ecosystem. Right now, I'm just hoping that the rescuers can reach people before they die. That is the scope of my ambition.
I never thought I'd see the day on American soil that we'd see this kind of destruction. It is sobering.
That's all I have for now.
Hell will be paid, like it or not, on the Gulf Coast. The hell is in the water and there is no way to take care of this problem easily. Let's start with a circumstance that occurred in the U.S. just a little over 10 years ago.
Milwaukee had a severe cryptosporidiosis outbreak when the bacteria was released into the drinking water supply by a sewage spill. 400,000 people became ill and over 100 people died. Read about it at CNN Health.
One of the interesting factors in this particular case was that the Cryptosporidium was a difficult form to kill. It had developed an armor plating that made it difficult to kill. It was impervious to many common treatment forms. The estimated cost of that outbreak was $96,244,000. That is difficult to bear for a local economy. Read the full CDC PDF file on the cost of the Milwaukee outbreak.
Bacteria in sewer water can lead to serious disease outbreaks. Some of the culprits, derived from long study, are:
E coli - a nasty common bacteria that kills the very young and very old and makes life miserable for those in between. My own experience with E-coli included almost incontrollable diarrhea, vomiting and a hideous weakness that knocked me down for almost two weeks. I caught it while photographing a sewage bypass.
Hepatitis A - Attacks the liver and produces diarrhea, vomiting and jaundice.
Salmonella Typhi - Commonly known as Typhoid Fever. Yeah, yeah, gone from America. Not, however, gone from places that deliver thousands of illegal immigrants each year.
Crytosporidium - See Milwaukee above.
I could take the list on for a long run, but you should have gotten the point by now. Sewage is dangerous. Sewage is filling New Orleans. When the city is drained, that sewage will be pouring into water supplies around New Orleans. Suffice to say that shellfish from the mouth of the Mississippi and the gulf coast will be on the "Bill does not eat" list for a long while.
Then there is the cleanup. For persons living in the affected zone, this will be a nightmare. An interesting little piece on chlorine and cleanups. But for the government, the cleanup will cost a fortune.
It begins with the sewage system. First, a good bet is that the pumps are shot. This means that pumping stations will need to be replaced. To get the water out of New Orleans, everything will have to be pumped uphill. We all know that poop runs downhill. Those pumping stations aren't cheap.
Then comes the exhausting repair of damaged or destroyed lines. There is a logistical problem with this, insofar as actually locating the lines can be problematic. Consider the infrastructural grid in a city as old as New Orleans. A safe bet is that the blueprints will be essentially useless. Often, the blueprints do not reflect the reality of field repairs. A line was shifted here or moved there based on need and availability of space. Workers from the public works department will literally have to search for the breaks with tactics like: walking and feeling where the soil is soaked (hard in a flood zone), following the stench to the broken pipe and searching for the sounds of running water and bubbling. Getting a handle on the damage is going to take time.
All the while, the health conditions will deteriorate. This is a dangerous mess for humans to encounter. It could take a long while to get it under control. New Orleans will have to commit serious resources to solving these problems. And with health conditions like that, there will be a need for much medical care.
This is one mess that could have serious health consequences. Not just for New Orleans, but for people around the region and consumers around America. I hope they're on top of this.
I'll post on the toxic element next.
I will be writing about the water in New Orleans a little later this evening.
En este momento, quiero hablar con los pollitos del equipo de futbol de Mexico. pollitos, YOU SUCK.
Ustedes siempre estan llorando que el EEUU no puede jugar bien. Siempre estan diciendo cosas malas contra nuestros jugadores. La ultima vez, unos de sus pollitos le dijo que va a matar la mama de un jugador del EEUU. Ustedes juegan sin dignidad y abilidad. Por que? Porque YOU SUCK.
Los numeros anoche que importan? EEUU 2, los pollitos de Mexico 0. No entienden? Mexico 0. Por que? Porque YOU SUCK.
Recuerdan el libro que se llama "El Gringo Feo?" Ustedes son los jugadores feos. Siempre juegan como criminales Y sin abilidad. Por que? Porque YOU SUCK
He vivido in Honduras, Costa Rica (Donde los Saprissistas estan los hijos de Dios) y he visitado casi todo de este hemisfero. Y sabe algo? Me encanta eses lugares. Me encanta mucho, como la verdad. La verdad es, acerca los pollitos de Mexico, YOU SUCK.
2-0 y El EEUU estan llendo a la COPA MUNDIAL. Por que? Porque YOU SUCK. Eso es todo. Gracias por su tiempo.
Just a few quick points this morning:
1. Be worried about the right things to be worried about - America's Chemical Makers' Statement on the Impact of Hurricane Katrina. The fact that they felt compelled to make one scares the hell out of me.
2. Here we go with the economic "fallout" - "Katrina may trigger recession," from the Monterey Herald. They may be right.
3. We can all do our part. I'm in for $25.00. American Red Cross Donation Page, Click here to give.
I'll run the poop post tomorrow. Don't miss it.
When every complex idea falls short, get back to the basics.
Wondering what Hurricane Katrina has demonstrated over the last four days? Let's review.
In times of extreme disruption and danger, it is naive to think that the government is capable of providing for every need. Ask the people stuck in New Orleans. I've watched in shock as third world chaos has spread throughout the city. There has been a complete societal collapse. We could - and as I'm known to do, I probably will - discuss in detail exactly how the handout society breeds a helplessness that manifests in inability to think clearly.
We are trained to think in certain ways. If we come to believe that everything must go through the government, in crisis, we will seek out the government. The government in New Orleans collapsed when its police force ceded power and retreated. There was no government to do anything.
The end result was a mayor pleading with people to walk a short distance to be rescued. All people had to do was to leave the convention center and walk a short distance and they would have found help. Some could not and for them I feel great sympathy. It must be hell to be physically unable to care for oneself in that kind of chaos. The dead man in the wheelchair brought on a melancholy that knocked me back a step. I was sad and horrified at once.
And another thing: some people didn't want to walk that distance out of a fear for their lives. Ask yourself this question: Do you really believe that the people toting the firepower in New Orleans right now actually filled out the paperwork and did their three day wait for the guns? Someone reading this just thought - "Yeah, but this is an extreme circumstance." DUH. That is precisely when I want moral, ethical and law abiding citizens armed like the 101st Airborne division.
That pesky little Second Amendment comes in quite handy at times like these. Setting that aside, how many people avoid owning firearms because of the intrusion of government and the legal liability of owning them? Yep, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the single best argument I can imagine for doing away with silly laws that serve only to disarm the people least likely to do harm with weapons. I'll also wager that survivors of the Superdome and Convention Center will be far more sympathetic to the NRA in the future.
Let's talk cleanup. This is an environmental catastrophe. Over the next few days, I'll be blogging about what I do know and I can assure you that I know about toxic and crap filled water, compliments of my stint trying to clean up the waters around the Virgin Islands. The level of the catastrophe may not be known immediately either. Consider this: I've seen small service station/junkyard combinations that have become Superfund cleanup sites. How many pollutants are in the water filling New Orleans right now?
I'm saving the comments on sewage for a different entry, because if there is one thing in which I have become an expert, it is poop in the water. I had an E-coli infection compliments of a sewage bypass that I was photographing on St. Croix. Just my little lecture on the bugs in the water is enough to make you cringe. Don't miss that post.
Societal breakdown. Yep, that's in effect here too. What on earth prompted shooting at rescuers? Why in the hell didn't we put the Navy Seals in New Orleans to work doing what they do best? Posse Commitatus. Right, the solution to the breakdown that we are witnessing is not the short term "kill them all, let God sort them out" solution that appears so attractive with low-lifes that try to kill rescue workers. This kind of breakdown requires a return to some basic principles as well. I say we dump them in Cuba. Hey, it worked for Castro in reverse.
Seriously, a return to a society that is more connected is the only solution. How? No clue. I'm working on it, but I suspect the guys at CATO will beat me to it.
Energy. OK, remember that post where I said to invest in the new techs? Well? There you have it.
My biggest reaction to all of this is that I am overloaded with information. From Anderson Cooper having a nervous breakdown (which, in fairness, I may have had in his shoes) to Shep Smith doing the "Officer, Officer" questioning on the interstate, I'm fried. This is so immense that it is impossible to comprehend. I do not know how they will rebuild New Orleans. And to the folks in Mississippi, God be with you. I've been through a dozen hurricanes and in my life I have never seen anything like the pictures out of Mississippi. Unbelievable.
That's it for today. I'll be back to blogging on a daily schedule tomorrow. See you then.
