Flight 93 Memorial...

Mr. Atos

Much is currently being made of the proposed Flight 93 Memorial design. And rightly so, it might seem. The selected scheme, by Los Angeles architect, Paul Murdoch, borders on being flippantly obscene. Michelle Malkin links to a graphic that puts the designer's idea into simple perspective.

The design consists of red maples forming a crescent wrapped around the crash site near Shanksville, Pa., where 40 innocent people were murdered at the hands of Islamic terrorists. The red crescent, an overt symbol of Islamic faith, might seem to be a profoundly offensive reference in light of the justification of its fundamentalist perpetrators who murdered over 3000 innocent people in the name of their religion.

Over at OKIE on the LAM, OkieBoy sums up the sentiments of many regarding this concept,

I actually like to give folks the benefit of the doubt about intent and all that, but these guys are professionals, with large planning projects in their backgrounds. It’s not defensible to say that they created this without knowing that the crescent was a major symbol of Islam. With that firmly in mind, makes you wonder which of the dead these architects are trying to memorialize!

He's absolutely right. As designers, it is necesary to be acutely sensitive to the complete context of every opportunity. In this case there would seem to be a degree of insensitivity if not indeed bias involved in the conceptual process. And yet, as professionals, they are hired to manifest artifacts that will define human culture at a moment in time for generations into the future. What, afterall does the Athenian Parthenon tell us now, some 2500 years after its erection. What story does the Chrysler Building contain that is similar or different from the destroyed towers of the World Trade Center? Most artifacts are tools of utility, and convey a functional honesty of the task for which they served. Architecture serves a function in addition to glorifying itself before men, gods, or God. In that respect it is art. And as art, it is highly subject to the eye of the creator... as well as the beholder.

There is certainly subjectivity involved in any creative process, but architects unlike artists, must convey honesty, thoughtfullness, and beauty. Clearly, this particular creator superimposed an additional set of values on his work, perhaps not appreciated by most beholders in this case, as Murdoch's own philosphy suggest...

A primary task of this generation is to create new patterns of development that sustain human habitation on this planet. Towards this end, the principles adopted for our practice are intended to ensure that each project contributes to an overall goal of environmental responsibility while striving for design excellence. As architects, we are uniquely qualified to help formulate and translate policy into tangible form; mitigating pressures of urbanity with the need to heal the natural environment. Each design solution is seen as a contribution to the human condition; as it exists today and evolves into future generations. Our goal is to define and study problems both in terms of clients’ direct needs and relative to long term effects on natural and man made surroundings. More than problem solving however, we aspire to emotionally affect and uplift our lives through poetry and beauty. It is through these transcendent qualities that we optimistically strive for ways to enrich life and fulfill our original purpose for engaging in the practice of architecture.”

One might attribute his mission statement to the whims of narcissistic folly on the part of the designer's approach to the historical significance of this place. The jargon, meant to impress the professional courtesans, obscures the substance of the intention with meaningless pretension. Often architects are the first to inject ego in the form of condescension in the place of context. Here Wretchard writing at the Belmont Club, serves as arbitrator providing the necessary overlay of cultural implication regarding the Flight 93 Memorial design concept.

If you look at the video provided, you'll see that the orientation of the "Crescent of Embrace" is determined, or at least very strongly suggested by the contours of the ground. (The PDF map shows the same thing). The contours run right through the opening of the crescent. Unless you wanted the park visitors to climb up and down contour lines the opening was exactly where it had to be. So the simplest explanation it seems to me, is that the orientation of the Crescent of Embrace is coincidental....

I am reminded of all those "Freudian" symbols that everyone suddenly noticed in High School, or about calculations showing the Great Pyramid had this or that occult meaning. Looking at the architect's portfolio and the topography it was better than even odds he was going to come up with a semicircle somewhere and if you allowed for twenty degree arcs as the limit of suggestion, there was a 1 in 9 chance of an accidental orientation to Mecca because any azimuth has a reciprocal.

But memorials are what we perceive them to be; they rarely have an intrinsic value. They "remind" us of things, and it so happened that a design which was probably innocently conceived triggered certain unfortunate associations. Symbols are powerful and dangerous to the unwitting. During the Stalin era, one man was sent to the Gulag because he hung his hat over Stalin's picture. It didn't matter that he was blind. It was the symbolism of his act that counted then. Perhaps years from today no will object to Red Crescents displayed in conjunction with the victims of September 11, just as someday people may remember that Swastikas were widely employed as ancient religious symbols. One day, but probably not in 2005.

Upon first hearing about this latest 9/11 Memorial controversy, I too was inclined to jerk from the knee at the design. But, upon extended reflection, I came to a simliar conclusion as did Wretchard. And looking at the site and its physical context, I am not surprised about the selection of the form. In fact, sweeping arcs have been a trendy feature of design for quite a few years.There is something quite evocative about such a form in the landscape as perceived from the perspective of the human eye and rarely from the sky. Add to that the manifestation of that form with the red maple, and there is a bit of somber genius at play. If I recall from my trips to Lost Maples State Park in Central Texas, there is a fiery brilliance about the red maple when isolated and contained... it's contrasted fury comes to life for a brief instant at the beginning of the Fall igniting passion. Even if that fury symbolically defines the spirit of Islam , as perhaps was intended here, it does so momentarily, only to dissolve into the skeletal remains of stripped glory stolen by the winter of discontent. Perhaps I am being to gracious, but there are degrees of brilliant propriety in that approach, I think.

But, then I too am an architect.


UPDATE...
It is both necessary and appropriate to question the propriety of those monuments that are erected to represent our culture and ourselves. In this Republic, everything can be subject to debate. Discourse is the fertilzer of American liberty. So when Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) questions the propriety of a selection for the Flight 93 Memorial, he does so both as an individual and as responsible member of public representation. But when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) invokes the charge of bigotry in the form of "anti-Muslim bias" in an attempt to silence his input, CAIR is demonstrating that they have no respect for this nation, its people, its culture, its traditions, and the foundations of liberty that maintain the Republic for our posterity. In this fourth year of conflict with radical elements of the Islamic faith, I submit that this organization has worn out its welcome.

We the People of the United States will decide how our culture is represented... not the apologists and public relations wing for global facsists butchers.

Choosing Your Rescuer

Major Mike

Below was captured from Friday's Oregonian...

"For the man in the mirror, the woman in the mirror, the child in the mirror -- still devastated from the Gulf Coast storm and flood -- to travel more than 2,000 miles to Oregon and not see reflections of themselves, a new form of devastation is created.

I was compelled to write this in response to the insensitivity to locations for placement of African Americans displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Locations such as Oregon lack a culturally diverse majority to act as a hospitality group having the competency to truly relate to the social, spiritual and cultural healing these evacuees will need.

Some readers will interpret my use of "insensitivity" as charged language. That in itself supports the argument that there's a lack of understanding about the needs of mankind extending beyond the basic requirements of food, clothing and shelter.

You don't need a course in statistics or a review of a census report to realize that the majority of the citizens of New Orleans, Biloxi and surrounding areas are African Americans. Those assigned to make placement decisions for these evacuees are rendering a disservice to them and showing disrespect to African American civic groups in Oregon that seek to embrace the men, women and children in the mirror.

My intent here is not to damage caring hearts. It is not to provoke anger or set a prejudicial tone. After listening to communications from the director of the area's American Red Cross and from those commissioned by Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Portland Mayor Tom Potter to locate emergency housing, my intention is to publicly educate them that the needs of these survivors extend beyond what is being offered.

I agreed with the Red Cross director's comment that the survivors need time to rest and process what they have experienced. This healing should involve the support of a group reflecting, embracing and mirroring their life experiences. Such a bond tends to soothe and expedite the healing process.

For an African American to leave the South, where she or he has been rooted, and relocate to Oregon -- as gorgeous as it may be -- is an unimaginable cultural shock. After 30 years of Southern living, I married an African American native Oregonian, which prompted my move to this state, where I experience this jolt of the culture.

The perception most African Americans have of Oregon is that there are no African Americans here, which often equates to an assumption of ill treatment of African Americans by white Oregonians. At the very least, there is ignorance. For example, some well-trained Northwest television news anchors have described survivors coming to Oregon as "refugees," a hurtful label that would foster resistance to temporarily residing in our great state.

Do demographics, cultural differences and impoverished conditions cause Oregonians to believe that these people are "coming to America"? The term "refugees" suggests as much, even though these survivors sing "America," too.

In TV interviews, residents of Portland neighborhoods where placement facilities are located have asked, "Are we going to be safe?" These remarks are stereotyping indicators and are barriers to the healing process.

These survivors have lost enough to the bayous and the Gulf and do not need their sense of worthiness and self-esteem washed away on our Oregon shores.

Those of the majority culture in Oregon have practiced the process of diversity competency, but they have not mastered the art of it adequately enough to fulfill the extended needs of African American evacuees."

Deborah Harris is a Portland State University graduate student.

I came across this piece in the Oregonian Friday morning and I was a bit stunned by it. Portland State University student Deborah Harris makes, what I believe is a sincere attempt to explain why evacuees from the Gulf Coast may be reluctant to come to Portland for refuge, but I think, in the end, she has done more harm than good.

In her first paragraph, she immediately implies that race is a factor even when sheer survival is at stake…that rescue and relief efforts are somehow negated if those being helped are not being helped by those of the same color. I am taken aback by this on several levels.

First, I understand any gulf coast resident’s reluctance to leave the area. Nearly everything here is different…the weather, the topography, the general culture, etc. But more importantly, a displacement of this distance induces other logistical problems for the evacuees…cost to return, cost to connect with and visit with relatives, who may also be in the same situation, or enduring the pangs of the simple desire to return to where one grew up. All very understandable.

But certainly, trying to incorporate over 400,000 evacuees within a few hours of their immediate homes, is also a near impossibility. Local services are already stretched, and the ability of the cities and communities in the southern region to immediately embrace significant population changes is dubious. It is extremely likely that surplus housing does not exist in those areas that the evacuees would prefer to live. In that case, temporary, and I think I correctly view Portland as a temporary refuge for the evacuees, refuge must be found spread across the near entirety of this nation.

Four hundred thousand, needy, evacuees cannot just assimilate into Baton Rouge, Meridian, Lafayette…today. In time, yes. But to relieve the strain on all of the services in the region, many of the evacuees will have to move to unfamiliar territory, at least temporarily…Portland being one of the likely spots.

Secondly, I am insulted by her statement. When I was flying ejection seat equipped fighters, I had no choice whom worked on those life-saving devices…man/woman, black/white/Hispanic/Asian. I had to trust in each and every specially trained mechanic regardless of their socio-economic or racial status. At their core, race neutrality, racial blindness, and racial accptance hinge on the idea that those barriers are rapidly disassembled in extremis. This has been proven time and again in combat, in our emergency services, and on our sports fields. Trust is the building block that moves race relations forward faster than any other factor. Faster than the wholey created business of "diversity." Faster than the near continuous din of "racism" that permiates post-Katrina.

Embracing “diversity” (our buzzword for racial harmony), means not looking in the mirror, but looking out the door. Sometimes this means taking risks…trusting strangers, reaching out even though you are unaccustomed to it…getting outside your comfort zone. And in this emergency, this might be a good exercise for both the evacuees from the south and caregivers here in Portland. The volunteers sure seem willing. Couldn’t this connection actually strengthen racial ties here in Portland?

A study of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, will show that meeting the basic needs of life, supercedes higher level needs in time of crisis. It doesn’t mean the relief agencies are entitled to be insensitive, but it does mean that the evacuees need to prioritize their needs…it is hard to eat a “diversity” sandwich. Let’s deal with the immediate needs, then we can move on to the higher level needs. Not ALL needs can be adequately accommodated all the time.

I suggest that the African-American population in Portland is sufficient in size to tend to the very specific cultural needs of any diverse evacuees, but is color required to tend to all needs? If this is the standard, then should all monies to support African-American evacuees come only from African-Americans? I think we would find, because of the size of the African-American population in this country, that this standard would result in a significantly lower level of care in meeting basic needs. Why not agree that cultural support could come from within the culturally unique communities, and that the bascis needs could come from the relief agencies already equipped to tend to the basic requirmentst?

As for “damaging caring hearts”, how would African-American volunteers feel if whites declined shelters offered in black neighborhoods? One word, offended. I understand that it may be impossible for some African-Americans to see past color…I understand what a profound impact race has played in their lives, and I understand they may feel more comfortable in black neighborhoods, but when food and shelter are declined in a time of emergency, because of race, it is hard not to be offended. And it is nearly impossible for that attitude not to do irreparable harm to race relations. Without the multitude of white volunteers throughout the country where would the rescue/relief/recovery effort be? Tread lightly here, the harm you do may not be measured until the next crisis.

As for mis-labeling of evacuee as refugees…a minor nuance in the dictionary…I looked it up. Maybe insensitive, but not unexpected at the local level by MSM wannabes. I doubt it was intended at all to imply a different class of citizenry. The blathering idiots on local TV stations, often misspeak dozens of times in their reports. Be insulted if you want to, but this should not be a barrier to needy evacuees receiving help and a place of respite.

I also think, based on the images of the looting and lawlessness, that was readily apparent in the Superdome, the Convention Center, and the streets of New Orleans…asking about safety is a legitimate question by neighbors, and possibly caregivers. It is easily put to bed by the experienced institutions handling the crisis. But it is legitimate to ask, answer, and put behind us. No reason to ignore the legitimate concerns of care givers and shelter neighbors, in light of the violence presented on TV, simply because one group might get insulted. When we mature as a racially neutral country we will come to miss these “insults” rather than see them at every turn.

Ms. Harris comes very close to espousing the idea that only African-Americans should, or can, adequately care for other African-Americans in need. If this is true, I am sure there are many white Americans out there that would let them carry the entirety of the burden…and it comes with a significant price tag, one I am not sure that the African-American community can carry alone.

This idea, is, regardless of intention, divisive to its core. As our country continues to move farther from the bonds of slavery, the inequities of segregation and pains of discrimination…these kinds of ideas need to be more closely examined before they are espoused, because, regardless of the beliefs in the black communities, a vast majority of whites are not bigots or racists, and to be eyed as one at every turn is becoming insulting in the extreme.

Regardless of whether the Portland shelters are occupied or not, they will be predominately manned by whites, who seek only to help, and to profit only by the good they feel in their hearts…as it will likely be out into the future. But our country and our diverse communities will never connect as they should, until we can graciously accept help in the good light that it is offered.


UPDATE...
It turns out that Portland will not receive any evacuees via official programs...was the printing of this OpEd piece worth the damage it may have caused to the relief organizations who toil away, everyday within our very liberal, and caring community? It is hard to imagine...perhaps behind Ann Arbor, and Eugene...any more progressive and socially involved community than Portland. I am not sure how this involved and committed community will feel about their warmest, and most welcoming efforts being dismissed soley because most of them happend to be white.

UPDATE...
Michelle Malkin links to this story from Nashville's News Channel 5,

"The Red Cross has been praised for its tireless efforts assisting storm victims in Middle Tennessee. But there are concerns in the black community that the organization lacks diversity, especially in an effort helping mostly black evacuees. A number of minority churches and groups are offering to help, but say they've been left out.

But Reverend Enoch Fuzz says in times like this, the volunteer corps should be more diverse, “Who in Brentwood would know where a black beauty shop or barber shop is?” asks Fuzz. The Red Cross acknowledges most of it’s volunteers are white, but says training is open to anyone. Since then, Joyce Searcy went through training, and is signing up others.

A number of black churches are helping evacuees on their own even though it isn't through the Red Cross. "

(shaking the head)

Sunday, September 11th, 2005...

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

There is the foundation.

There is no building!

Hurricane Politics: The Chiles' Gambit...

Mr.Atos

"Disasters are very political events."

-FEMA Director James Witt, congressional testimony, April 30, 1996

Major Garret of the Fox News Channel has been exposing a disturbing aspect of Hurricane Katrina response efforts that the rest of the Old Busted Media is ignoring. In a series of breaking stories, Garret demonstrates that both the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army were prevented by local distaster officials - LOCAL OFFICIALS - from providing emergency relief supplies of food and water to the major refuge centers. Garret spoke about this story with Hugh Hewitt on his show both yesterday and today. Hugh summarizes the story on his website as follows,

The Fox News Channel's Major Garrett made another appearance on the program this evening, following up on his blockbuster story yesterday. Among other things,
Garrett got confirmation from the head of the Red cross --on camera-- of the Louisiana State Department of Homeland Security's blocking of the delivery of relief supplies to the Superdome and the Convention Center. In addition, Garrett received confirmation from senior Salvation Army officials in Washington, D.C. that the Salvation Army's efforts at supplying the evacuees were also repeatedly blocked. Radioblogger will have the transcript up later,

Here is the transcript of yesterday's interview. If you did not hear the interview or see Garret's Fox segment, read them both over at Radioblogger.

Incompetence, disorganization, bureaucratic paralysis... or inadvertant malice? All of these are possible explanations for the actions of local officials, but not one is a legitimate excuse for the devastation that resulted from their actions. And one has to assume that if this was the condition of the local response at the emergency shelters, city and state reponses throughout Louisiana to Katrina's disaster was equally deplorable. Is it any wonder that these same officials began feigning righteous indignation in an effort to obfuscate the reality of their own poor judgment. For as nature's impact passed and the subsequent calamity of malfeasance began, the world was a witness to a crime unfolding before their eyes.

Furthermore, there is an additional aspect of Garret's story that begs the attention of the curious students of history. And while everyone is entertaining the seductive folly of hindsight, do let's turn the 'wayback machine' way back to 1992 and Hurricane Andrew. In an MSNBC story by national affairs writer Tom Curry, posted August of last year, entitled,"In election year, hurricanes, too, are political," the author reviews the 1992 criticism of Bush the elder's delayed aid for Florida.

President Bush and his brother Jeb, Florida’s governor, know the lessons of August 1992, when their father, President George H.W. Bush, reacted too slowly with federal aid to help speed recovery after Hurricane Andrew ravaged Florida.

The now-famous quote that August from Dade County's emergency operations director, Kate Hale — “Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? For God's sake, where are they?'' — summed up the frustration that many people in Florida voiced in the days after Andrew hit. (Some of Floridians’ anger was also directed at then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, who delayed asking for federal troops.) [emphasis mine]

Mentioned as an end note, was the fact that the Governor of Florida delayed the necessary request for aid from Federal authorities (FEMA). The blame, however, was deliberatly pinned on the President both at the time, and again by Mr. Curry even in retrospect. Implied in the story, is the Democrat's (and MSM's) tendency to make a political issue out of a delay in disaster response. Considering the criticism at the time, the evidence exists to suggest that Governor Chiles deliberately delayed such requests for Federal assistance in order to fabricate a political issue for the Democrats in an election year. Do let's recall that Bush the elder lost that election to Bill Clinton.

With that in mind, consider the current contentious political environment. Then take note of an active upcoming legislative season, with open and extreme animosity on the part of Democrats for the current Republican President. One must wonder if Katrina presented a tempting, albeit dangerous, gamble for local officials; a gambit perhaps floated by the political leadership. Granted this foray into speculation is unsupported to date by factual verification, the circumstantial and historical evidence is enough to beg serious consideration.

Consider for instance, this story from The American Spectator archives, from September 1996, "FEMA Money! Come & Get It!" describing the infamous history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:

FEMA was the brainchild of Jimmy Carter, who announced plans in 1978 to form afederal agency to cope with disasters. Before 1950, other than sporadic flood and other disaster relief provided by Congress in special appropriations bills, there was no consistent federal relief effort. That year, however, Congress passed a law giving the president the power and discretion to determine when a disaster had occurred and how much aid Washington would provide. From that point on, federal disaster involvement slowly expanded until March 30, 1979, whenPresident Carter, spurred to action by the Three Mile Island nuclear debacle, issued an executive order to create FEMA. The new agency was to be an amalgam ofthe Civil Defense Preparedness Agency, the Federal Disaster AssistanceAdministration, the Federal Preparedness Agency, the Federal Insurance Administration, and the National Fire and Control Administration.

Within just five weeks, the Washington Post was reporting that the new agency was already a shambles: "The air is thick with memos, counter-memos andcriticisms alleging that the new anti-disaster agency is on the verge of becoming a disaster itself."

From 1979 to the late 1980's, FEMA stumbled from one boondoggle to the next. It carried out the Environmental Protection Agency's infamous buyout of all the homes in Times Beach, Missouri--after the EPA had mistakenly concluded that trace elements of dioxin in some of the dirt in town were a deadly threat.Press coverage of FEMA during these years was pretty much summarized by this1984 New York Times headline, "A Disaster Agency's Image Disaster."...

But the event that truly transformed the agency into a federal behemoth was Hurricane Andrew, which devastated southern Florida in August 1992. Though the storm left an estimated 160,000 people homeless, and destroyed or damaged 82,000 businesses, Gov. Lawton Chiles initially refused to request federal aid to clean up the $30 billion worth of damage (far greater than the figure for the Northridge, California earthquake of 1994). It was not until Bush TransportationSecretary Andrew Card implored Chiles to request FEMA assistance that the governor asked for the region to be declared a disaster area. [emphasis mine]

Bush honored the request, but the agency proceeded to bungle the relief effort. For several days, thousands of people were left searching for food and water. Victims of the storm quickly resorted to gallows humor, posting makeshift signs in front of their ruined homes: "What do George Bush and Hurricane Andrew have in common? They're both natural disasters." Even a visit to Florida by FEMAboard member Marilyn Quayle was not enough to reverse public opinion.

Sound familiar? Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters demonstrates the risks of the Chiles' Gambit by illustrating how even a seemingly brief delay during a distaster, can lead to cataclysmic results (HT: OKIE on the LAM):

ABC also asked Governor Kathleen Blanco’s office about their response to the evacuation. They responded that they never asked for evacuation assistance from the federal government as part of their interaction with FEMA, only for assistance with shelter and provisions. They assumed that the city of New Orleans had followed its own evacuation plan. [Emphasis mine]

That assumption wound up costing lives. Did they ask Nagin if his administration had followed the plan, and if so, what kind of response did they get?If ABC’s report is correct, then the feds may not have known of the evacuation breakdown until the flood on Tuesday made it a critical situation — and then were forced to respond by getting the correct assets in place within 72 hours for evacuation while almost all the roads and bridges were unusable. By that time, FEMA had begun to use what roadways were left open to move in the supplies and temporary shelter they had prestaged in the area. The feds would have had to quickly shift to a massive evacuation effort instead, a difficult and time-consuming transformation.

I repeat for emphasis... "they responded that they never asked for evacuation assistance from the federal government as part of their interaction with FEMA, only for assistance with shelter and provisions." And yet, Major Garret demonstrates that relief organizations acting in conjunction with Federal emergency response efforts, could not get those provisions to survivors in the city of New Orleans.

Consider for a moment, the morning of Monday August 29th. Hurricane Katrina, a category 5+ event on a direct course for the City of New Orleans shifts east, and is sheared by a wave of dry air reducing her intensity to a low category 4. The News networks report her weaknening. She makes landfall east of the city, thrusting the brunt of a massive anti-cyclonic storm surge (right to left in the northern hemisphere) into the Mississippi coast at places like Gulf Port and Biloxi. The News networks report New Orleans to have dodged a bullet. Meanwhile, the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama are noticeable devastated and local and Federal emergency services respond immediately. Rescues take place throughout Monday night and into the week that followed. Federal and private relief personnel and supplies start pouring into those areas. That night, Fox's Shephard Smith is chatting with revelers in the French Quarter on camera, proudly defiant of nature's wraith. Experts are paradeing across network coverage chastizing the doomsayers for predicting the worst proclaiming that New Orleans dodge another bullet.

What happened Tuesday?

The Big Easy was real easy as people emerged to survey the damage. Meanwhile, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, had pre-positioned a litteral vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items in expectation of disaster relief, according to Major Garret. But, they were denied from delivering those shipments to the local refuges. Why?

Do let's recall the 1996 testimony of FEMA director James Witt, "Disasters are very political events." In light of a bullet dodged, perhaps Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco considered upward pressure (ala Governor Chiles) to delay relief requests for a few dozen hours. Might we imagine the leader of the DNC, Howard Dean, advising party officials that a delay of request would be politically expedient to seed the issue of Federal confusion and thus establish the charge of the Administration's incompetence with emergency response efforts? It worked before. As with President George Bush the elder, political blame could be nailed to the feet of Bush the younger. And, in recognition of a lighter disaster than was expected, the human expense from delay could be kept to a minimum...

... at least until the levee along the 17th Street canal, collapsed, pouring the fetid contents of Lake Pontchartrain into the depression of New Orleans.

That's when the political gambit turned into a calamity beyond control. See Major Mike's previous post to get a glympse of the sysiphian task at hand for FEMA officials in the wake of the storm. When expectations failed miserably, the natural tragedy became a man-made travesty. And it became a political CYA for Democrats aided by all willing accomplises in the Old Busted Media still intent to pin the tale of blame, not on the guilty donkey, but on the noble elephant. Now it was no longer convenient. It was imperative to conceal their own malfeasance on the part of Nagin, Blanco, and Landrieu - both situational and historical

Incompetence, disorganization, bureaucratic paralysis... or inadvertant malice? Regardless, the official Democrat strategy never changed. If they cannot gain legitimate political control of this nation, they will seize upon tragedy and the misery of victimhood to generate a fury of their own and rip America to shreds. That is malice! And the question the nation must ask, is how deep does that malice extend. With a party that openly dismisses the virtue of moral principle, to what extent are any means justified by their ends?

We may never know if the Chiles' Gambit was played here with Katrina. Barring an honest assessment of the situation in its aftermath by the Mainstream Media, and members of Congress the truth will never be known about the full details of the response. And that will never happen as long as the irrational voices like Jack Cafferty's speak for cable news, the juvenile conjecture of Campbell Brown speaks for the networks, the knee jerks like Tancredo speak for Republicans, and as long as the Democrats embrace the rhetorical vitriol of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as a replacement for statesmenship. And problems in emergency coordination will continue to be camouflaged by hurricane politics until the next great disaster claims more lives and opens a breech that can never be closed.


UPDATE...
The number of dead have yet to be counted along the Gulf Coast, yet this is the number that the Associated Press, the Left and their willling accomplises in the media have been consumed with all along, lending further evidence to the indictment that Democrats played an obscene game with people in peril in order to fabricate a political disaster.

Katrina Rant

…Pack A Lunch for This One…Maybe An Emergency Preparedness Kit Would Be Better

Major Mike

Football coaches run reverses because they count on the dynamics and flow of the play to make gains. In the reverse, the flow of the play, save one player, begins in one direction. This flow then demands the same directional flow from the defense. As the offensive flow blends with the defensive flow, suddenly one player, on cue, flows in the other direction. At this point the serious blocking takes place. The offensive line then tries to trap the defensive players in their flow…freeing the end with the ball to run unimpeded in the other direction. The classic reverse.

A couple of things on reverses. The observer should note the logjam of bodies at the point that the defense catches on to the reverse, and the offensive blockers try to keep them from reversing their flow and catching the runner with the ball. The resulting collisions usually result in a heap of bodies at the specific point on the field where this occurs. It might result in a successful gain, but it certainly results in a tangle of bodies that takes time to unravel.

Note what happens when the defense catches on prior to this point…the offensive line ends up near the sidelines by themselves, and the reversing end is generally thrown for a loss.

Major Mike you say…what is your point? Regardless of what you want to believe, it is prudent for emergency response agencies to wait until the situation is fully developed prior to over-committing resources in one specific direction or another.

Example. Last year, Ivan turned north and east prior to making landfall…giving New Orleans about thirty minutes of wind, and about fifteen minutes of rain…I know, I was in the Canal St. Marriot on the eighth floor.

Now had all the resources been committed to New Orleans too early, the resulting counter-flow of goods, likely would’ve resulted in exaggerated delays of the needed materials in Pensacola. As all commuters know…once traffic slows down…it usually stops. Trying to halt momentum, then reverse field in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster is not the way to go. Wait for the situation become clear, then commit assets on viable MSRs. Otherwise, you take a huge chance of getting materials impossibly stuck on the roads. Sometimes waiting is the best course of action…sorry, but true.


Another truth… at some point in time, in some disaster, nature will overwhelm our planning and our resources. Bite down hard on this, and all the blame gamers swallow hard on this. Putting men on the moon turned out to be an exercise in engineering and mathematics. So, even though we are more than capable of capturing those two variables in a controllable situation, the conflagration of variables that are involved in almost every natural disaster, are impossible to calculate and predict to a level that could guarantee results…the impossible standard that people are measuring against.

Nature does not provide us with a guarantee, and neither does our government. Nature promises to challenge us at every turn, our government promises to “do its best.” What did the carpers and complainers in New Orleans promise themselves…to rely on others?

Hard truth...corollary to above. In extremis, there will be challenges that make the usually simple, impossible, or nearly impossible. Geraldo Rivera…how do you evacuate all of the patients in all of the New Orleans hospitals and nursing homes, including those in intensive care, neo-natal, the frail, and elderly, AND guarantee their care, and indeed their lives?

And who is responsible if they die on the evacuation trip? What if they died in evacuation and the hurricane turned in a different direction? What is your response to their families?

There are going to be more examples of those lost in nursing homes…the resources, and the execution windows didn’t correlate with the resources and time required to pull off such evacuations across the vast area that this hurricane impacted. Normally these patient’s safety and health can be assured, in a case such at this, they unfortunately, climb to the top of the potential victims list. Don’t be surprised as this scene is repeated time and again.

Truth continued…my combined military experience and my involvement with the Red Cross locally, lead me to conclude that there are going to be times when even the best organizations bog down, or encounter confusion. This truth does not mean that well-meaning institutions are incompetent, it means that at times…FEMA, the National Guard, the military, the Red Cross…you pick, may stumble, but they are not incompetent nor failures.

All of the institutions that routinely respond to these events attempt to execute well thought out plans. They are sometimes stymied by the disaster itself, sometimes by state and local governments, and sometimes by strained budgets…but NONE are incompetent or deserving of investigation. Get out of their way, and let them execute. BUT, be realistic…while you sit in your lazy-boy, senate seat, or TV anchor chair, remember they are exposing themselves to all the dangers that the victims encounter, all of the same living conditions, and all of the loss of personal control over their lives, that abound in the disaster areas. Your institutional slams eventually, negatively impact the esteem of those on the ground doing good work. Don’t step on it. If the volunteers don’t show up next time…whom will, and how well will it work?

More truth. The distance from the western edge to the eastern edge of Katrina’s severest impact is over 120 miles. A two-hour drive, now nearly impossible to make. Imagine 120 miles of the conditions that you see on TV every night from New Orleans. This is HUGE. Those displaced, number nearly ten times those of Andrew. Remember, this is not simply New Orleans, and getting relief to victims all along the coast is the mission…not just providing relief to those immediately in front of the television cameras. This makes the problem immense, and the solutions to the difficult conditions laborious, and necessarily guarded. Running willie-nillie into the fray will not produce results.

Add truth. Nearly all of those for making state and local decisions in Louisiana are Democrats. All elected predominately through party and local machines. You get what you get paid for. If you think for an instant that competency is an issue in any Louisiana election, you are out of touch with reality. There is no sugar coating this...you got what you elected locally…good or bad. Nuff said.

Individual truth. While residents of this nation can expect assistance, both during and after such events, they are not necessarily entitled to it, nor does this exempt them from assuming some personal responsibility. And, oh-by-the-way, relief is what shows up at your door, or the plate in front of you. It is not made to order, nor is it personalized. It is bulk delivery…and it is what it is. Higher levels of expectations are unrealistic. You can’t have it your way. Relief agencies are sensitive to individual needs, often bringing medical specialists and mental health specialists with them, but excessive expectations and bad-mouthing of volunteer efforts, only diminish the desire of those volunteers to help you in the future. Be civilized and polite. Be thankful. Be realistic. Be more prepared to help yourself.

Final truth. I heard the National Weather Service announcement on Sunday morning, August 28th…it was hair-raising. Does the MSM send the wrong message as their trucks are pouring into New Orleans or as their crews are filming the surfers off the Alabama coast? Realistically, doesn’t this undercut the meager efforts of the incompetent state and local leaders as they are finally trying to evacuate the cities? Doesn’t the accepted power of their medium carry with it an unspoken condition to be responsible? Why do they insist on these hurricane condition background shots in their coverage? What do they prove? What eventual impact does this have for, or more likely, against all governmental efforts? It occurs to me that their actions are often at odds with competent authority desires. Shouldn’t local emergency officials assess these as counter-productive and shut them down at some point?

Please, please, please…let’s continue on rescue, and move on to recovery where we can, but can we please skip recrimination?

Signal Towers...

What If Bloggers Unified A Modern Civil Defense Network?

Mr.Atos

In ancient times, civilizations like Rome and China maintained fortifications along the fractal edge of the frontier of chaos to provide a front line of defense against the onslaught of barbarism. Unlike the Great Wall, most of these barriers provided little in the way of physical defense. They established an objective line of demarcation between the two perceived extremes of reality to be acknowledged by defenders moreso than attackers. This was the line that shall not be breached, for beyond it is chaos and destruction.

A major feature of these fortifications, was the signal tower. Positioned along the frontier, these fortified towers were located such that each was visible, regardless of conditions, from its adjacent towers. The towers did not contribute anything to the fortifications in the way of substantial capability. What they did provide for the Armies defending the line, was the essential function of communication. The signal tower superimposed a telegraph network across the line of fortification. In times of crisis at any one portion of the frontier, fires were lit in the nearest signal towers. Adjacent towers picked up the signal by immediate ignition. The alert travelled down the line directing help to the place it was needed calling legions and citizens alike to the defense of the breach.

America watched last week with shock and amazement as Hurrican Katrina battered the central Gulf Coast along three states. We watched with disbelief and horror, the aftermath of her destruction; both the physical destruction in Alabama, Louisianna, and Mississippi as well as the civil destruction in the City Of New Orleans. Katrina opened a breach in the levee there; the fortifications that hold back water from land... and the one that holds back monsters from within men.

Much is being made of it all in the aftermath. Emerson's aversion to consistency not withstanding, hindsight is the hobgoblin of little minds. The discussions, debates, and abject idiocy will continue to churn for months. Its both inevitable and somewhat proper. but as sand and dollars are poured into the breaches, it is important to ask ourselves...

What have we learned from it now?

If nothing else, Katrina was wielding a warning in addition to nature's sledgehammer. She pummelled communities all across the Gulf, but opened no breaches there. The fortifications held firm despite the onslaught. We look closely at New Orleans now, not to the exclusion of those places nor their suffering, but because the signal fire burns there still. Something ugly poured through the breach in that place; far more putrid and toxic than the wormwood from Lake Pontchartrain. Cthulhu itself slithered through the breach last week for a lovecraftian orgy of primeval metaphysical devastation... consuming souls honed thin by the a plague of valueless progressive depravity. Beasts and victims were devoured together until the breach was manned, and the demon forced to retreat once again beyond the frontier.... to wait.

It will come again.

In addition to the myriad of natural bludgeons that can be hurled against a major American City – tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, blizzards, epidemic – there are very real man-made calamities that are far more likely now. A WMD deployed against any one of the nation’s major cities could make Katrina look like a tempest in a teapot relative to the loss of life… and the size of the breach it could expose.

Certainly the government at all levels needs to review the lessons of New Orleans, and determine what worked and what did not. But, we all need to acknowledge the signal on a personal level as well. Every American has been urged to prepare an emergency plan and survival kit for them and their families. For over two years, Local and Federal authorities have asked us to be prepared for 3 days without essential services – food, water, power, communication, and security. The Red Cross maintains a guide for this purpose. FEMA has one for kids and schools. Survival ultimately is an individual’s responsibility… as well as civility. Moral fortitude in times of crisis is as critical a provision as food or water, so don’t forget to include a dose. And while you’re at it, indulge a dose of imagination and think about the conditions that might descend on your world in times of extreme crisis and recall that disaster is little more than a systematic collapse of expectations. If you need help with that, look at New Orleans.

The Signal Tower Project...

All that being said, I would like to float an idea for extended consideration and discussion. How might we bloggers be the signal towers that communicate emergency messages from areas touched by calamity? Granted it already happens to some degree. Certainly, many great bloggers stepped into the breach themselves with Katrina and the Tsunami before that. Whether local or remote, motivation was the only mechanism necessary to participate. But, is it possible and even useful to have a preassembled network of regional bloggers ready to react in particular locations feeding into a hierarchy of outposts?

Similar to a volunteer Civil Defense network, the Signal Tower Project could help to maintain local emergency information, link regional plans, coordinate response efforts, disseminate information, and broadcast news directly into the sphere. We have been discussing this among ourselves (Dueler, Major Mike, and myself) and intend to develop our ideas further. But, we would like to open a preliminary discussion on this post about how this idea could work. Please use the comments to contribute your thoughts and ideas and we will include them in future posts on this topic. Also, feel free to extend the discussion on your own blog and with any additional ideas that you have. We think the idea has tremendous potential to protect the frontier from a future and possible lethal breach of the moral fortifications that separate civilization from chaos, and men from monsters...

... the ones that lurk within.

UPDATE 09.21.05: RITA SIGNAL TOWER BLOGGING

As Hugh Hewitt is currently reporting, the Houston Chronicle is trying out this idea regarding blogging Hurrican Rita.

Do you have a blog, live in the Houston-Galveston area and plan to ride the storm out?If so, we'd like your help with an experiment in citizen journalism.We're launching a blog this afternoon called Stormwatchers. We'd like volunteers in key parts of the area with experience blogging to tell us what they're seeing as the Hurricane Rita comes closer, makes landfall and moves on.

Whether it was our idea that spawned this or not, the Signal Tower Project is underway. We'll be watching to see how it works out.

Private Sector Recovery Effort...Attention Cigar Smokers

Major Mike

I have fired off an email to the Cigar Factory New Orleans http://www.cigarfactoryneworleans.com/ . I have yet to receive a reply, but that doesn't surprise me...I am sure they will in due time. Here is what I propose to other Katrina recovery minded cigar smokers. I am going to order a box. I don't expect my order to be immediately filled, but I am hoping, that when they get back to their computers, they will be happy to see a backlog of orders. This may help them make decisions that will keep their employees on the job. I think that this type of capitalistic focused recovery effort will be every bit as important as the immediate relief that is taking place now.

I also don't see where this wouldn't be helpful for other New Orleans based businesses...Perlis for example...crayfish logo apparel...http://www.perlis.com/ . Mardi Gras beads, artwork. etc.

Make you next order...even if its a backorder, from New Orleans. I am ording my box of Vieux Carre Rothhchilds now.

Declaration of Dependence

dueler88

As I returned to work Friday morning with a headache and general fuzziness caused by lack of sleep and gnawing anxiety, several of my co-workers were expressing their concern to me about the events unfolding in New Orleans. Most of them were wondering about the friends and loved ones I have in that city. Luckily, I can report relatively good news in that respect. A small few of my colleagues are asking me, as a former New Orleanian, how such a desperate situation could have occurred. At the risk of being lumped in with all of the armchair blame-game quarterbacks, I will throw out an opinion.

New Orleans is a city that has a large population that is dependent on government for their personal welfare. When the entire infrastructure that provides assistance vanishes, there is nothing left but anger, hostility, desperation and violence. If somebody else was providing for your personal welfare, surely somebody else is also responsible for your lack of personal welfare at that moment. And if they’re not providing for you, your only recourse is to demand their assistance. If you’ve got a gun, even better, because then you can attempt to force them to assist you.

I don’t blame the President. I don’t blame the Governor. I don’t blame the Mayor. I don’t blame the victims. I almost don’t blame the looters. I do, however, blame a mindset that permits dependence on others to be the default paradigm for one’s existence.

Maybe I’m naïve and nostalgic, but I envision some time in our past where people in isolated communities had a clear sense of personal responsibility and pride. There was a clear line between necessity and luxury. People weren’t a burden on others. They made certain that they were able to take care of themselves. But bad things always happen to people in life, and it is at those times that the community or government should help out. In most cases, people went out of their way to help each other because they knew everybody had that sense of personal pride and accountability to take care of themselves and their families. The moment that help is expected or demanded, however, is the exact moment of social downfall.

I don’t mean to detract from any of the suffering of my former fellow New Orleanians – what I am seeing is a disaster for the city and its citizens that I can barely comprehend. But in order to move on, recover, and prevent further catastrophe, we should look at our own amorphous ideological/social structures before we look at any of the shortcomings in our institutional, political, financial, and built infrastructures.

Rehnquist's Passing...

Mr.Atos

Tha AP is reporting that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has passed away at his home this evening surrounded by his family.

Thank you, Sir, for your service to this nation. Godspeed!

Amidst all that is happening in our world in this 5th year of the third millenium, this seemingly minor event of one man's passing holds the kernel of a curse long respected by the culture of China, cultivated for Western Civilization here and now...

"May You Live In Interesting Times."

Update:
Captain's Quarters, Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Carol Platt-Liebau and Free Republic provide early commentary.

What Is Being Left - Hideous Desperation...

Mr.Atos

"You heard that the flooding in New Orleans is Bush's fault, right? Yeah, the governmnet earmarked the money two years ago to repair the levess, and Bush took the money and spent it on his war in Iraq."

-Portland Trimet Commuter, Thursday September 1, 2005

"Is it true that the government designed a damn to hold back flood water and Bush spent 80% of the funding on the Iraq War?"
-Coworker, Thursday September 1, 2005

Where might you ask, does inanity like this originate? From Sydney Blumenthal for starters. In a recent article for the German Magazine Spiegel entitled, "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming," He expands on the Left's comprehensive meme, "Its Bush's Fault!"

A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995,Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a reportstating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.

In the midst of this tragedy, it would be equally as senseless as Blumenthal himself ,to refute his simplistic and erroneous charges with the facts. But if we must, then look here, here, and here. Sufficed to say that the geographic flaws of the city of New Orleans have been recognized and discussed for the better part of two centuries. The levees themselves as one solution, have become the primary problem. The final solution has evaded everyone, both in terms of method and motivation. The issue at hand today revolves around national unity. In a functional civilization, cultural unity is a prerequisite. In times of crisis, civic unity is an imperative. And Blumenthal further demonstrates that what is being Left has no interest in solutions nor solidarity. For them, tragedy is opportunity... for a hideous form of profiteering.

Blumenthal is not unique with his unconscionable persuasions. It is fermented by Will Bunch at Philadelphia Editor & Publisher, who runs further with Sydney's notions. Even Cindy Sheehan spreads herself again with a post entitled, "It Was the Oil, Stupid" (HT. Hugh Hewitt)

George is finished playing golf and telling his fables in San Diego , so he will be heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused. Recovery would be easier and much quicker if almost ½ of the three states involved National Guard were not in Iraq. All of the National Guard's equipment is in Iraq also. Plus, with the 2 billion dollars a week that theprivate contractors are siphoning from our treasury, how are we going to pay for helping our own citizens in Louisiana , Mississippi, and Alabama? And, should I dare say "global warming?" and be branded as a "conspiracy theorist" on top of everything else the reich-wingers say about me. (emphasis mine)

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. takes a sidetrack and declares “For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind” to deounce the Republican's environmental policy as he blames the President for unleashing Katrina himself.

As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2. ..... Well, the science is clear. This month, a study published in the journal Nature by a renowned MIT climatologist linked the increasing prevalence of destructive hurricanes to human-induced global warming. Now we are all learning what it’s like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and--now--Katrina is giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children.

Jack Cafferty of CNN, for the second time this week, again dons his half of a mule costume today and launches on another on-air anti-Bush tirade. Ted Koppel joins in on Nightline last night. The cacophony continues to eminate from the black heart of the fetid core of what is being Left. Michelle Malkin logs some of the most notable examples this morning.

Jessie Jackson is losing what little of his malicious mind remains. But his son takes the fruit cake with this Soliloquy. Charges of racism and genocide, and overt condemnations of Capitalism and American Democracy are today's matras for what is being Left... and it gets worse every moment. There can be no further talk from the Left about the President being a great divider, when the truth is that what is being Left is solely responsible for ripping this nation to shreds in time of war, crisis, and now even disaster.

When I began this illustration, I submitted this:

"Take a political movement that was developed via modern sensibilities and enlightened ideological exploration, that flourished during a cultural orgy of unbounded depravity and ultimately - due to a natural shifting of cultural sensibilities - lost touch with mainstream ideas and was in the process of being discarded. What would happen to that movement? Pardon the apparent hyberbole for a moment and recall what happens to sewerage. Once the water is filtered from the solid waste, that sludge is deposited in ponds where it evaporates to a superconcentrated paste of septic waste. America is well into the turning of the Cultural Revolution resulting in a maturation of sensibilities, and a renewed appreciation of ethics, morals, values, and integrity. As more and more 'good' citizens evaporate from Liberalism and the Democrat party, all that will be left is the filth...

That which is untreatable, not compatible, will go nowhere else...

and stinks unbearably of rot and decomposition.What is being Left is a toxic poison that is attempting to feed itself to humanity...

... by force!

Indeed it has come to pass. At this moment, when the people of the nation (and especially the victims along the Gulf Coast) desperately desire - indeed need - the empowerment of unity, what is being Left sees opportunity in disunity in the midst of tragedy. It is disgusting. They see the halo of two election results superimposed over everything that happens in this nation

What America sees is the hideous visage of malevolent ruin in the desperation of what is being Left. And it stinks unbearably.


See Also:
What Is Being Left v.12.0
What Is Being Left v.11.0
What Is Being Left v.10.0
What Is Being Left v.9.0
What Is Being Left v.8.0
What Is Being Left v.7.0
What Is Being Left v.6.0
What Is Being Left v.5.0
What Is Being Left v.4.0
What Is Being Left v.3.0
What Is Being Left v.2.0
What Is Being Left v.1.0

Tulane NROTC Clearing House

Major Mike

I have received a request from a 1996 Tulane NROTC grad for info regarding status of the Navy Building. I would like to move all discussions about this to www.majormikeusmc.blogspot.com . I'll put up an initial post...and for now, use the comment section of that post to share information about Tulane, Tulane grads, and more specifically NROTC alum and any needs the unit and or the mids, and staff might have. If there already is a site, let me know, and we'll shift the CP...if not, I guess I am it until relieved by higher (or more competent) authority. Pass the word...let's connect. Hat tip to Jim A. NROTC '96 for the prompting.

Nawlins Realities

Major Mike

My previous post on New Orleans was, obviously, a fond retrospective of the city that saw me through my formative years…the Wonder Bread of cities. This piece is going to be as frank as a Louisiana shrimper about poor catches and government regulations.

Louisiana and New Orleans are arenas of political machinations that are likely understood by but a few total insiders. But, suffice it to say, most pols in Louisiana and NO are not elected for their previous, proven leadership. Their ascension to their current posts is less likely because of some trial by fire, and more likely because of the strength of their political machines and support. So, the finger pointing, lack of direction, carping about Federal aid, and the virtual throwing up of their hands, is to be expected. New Orleanians know this. It likely seems impossible for those who don’t reside in New York and Chicago to comprehend, but completely political politicians are not always at their best in crisis. New Orleans almost continually proves this point…Katrina is only shedding national light on the issue.

The lamentations by CNN commentators about lack of upkeep on city systems and levees seems logical, but to anyone exposed to even a modicum of New Orleans/Louisiana politics knows that without impetus, action in that direction would be able to get about the same momentum that a snail could get on 60 grit sandpaper. Without tragedy, the now obvious, upgrades would never be made. Of course there would be costly studies granted to local engineering firms. Environmental impact studies would be done…also granted to local firms. Staffs would go on junkets, and monies would be spent, BUT no improvements would be made. This is how New Orleans works.

The levees and city systems will now get the attention they deserve, and the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana are both victims of past malfeasance and their own lack of leadership. They are in charge and they are fumbling, but in reality, that is all they were equipped to do.

Nobody, and I mean nobody could’ve have anticipated the specific types of obstacles now facing public and private entities in providing relief services. It was anticipated that, some time, the levees would give way, but no one could’ve accurately predicted the results. Which levees? Where? How wide a breach? How deep the water? All variables, while envisioned in some regard, impossible to calculate. Nobody…Nostrodamas, Yuri Geller, nor George Bush, could’ve envisioned that the floodwaters would have created dozens of islands of victim communities…some orderly, some lawless. No one was prepared (and realistically expected to?) to get to victims by a combination of land, sea and air. When was the last time the Red Cross was forced to use Waverunners to create a ferry across standing water in a city? Pundit all you want. Politic all you want. But if all you Monday morning Einsteins can see it so clearly today, where were you last week, last month, last year?

I have been blessed with a pretty good imagination, and there is no way I could have anticipated more than about 40% of the problems that the government agencies, and relief organizations are experiencing. So, as painful as it is to watch, understand that it is not going to get appreciably better in the near term and that the individual tragedies that would normally be avoided, will mount over the next few days, and all your lamenting will not change it. AND it is nobody’s fault. It is a result of a culmination of faults, failures and unavoidable circumstances. It cannot be easily explained, and it is difficult to stomach, but it is nonetheless true…there is no one to blame. So attempting to lay blame is an off-target and un-helpful endeavor that distracts from the main effort and serves no one. Knock it off.

New Orleans has always had an excess of ruffians. Always. Prosperity spurts, city growth, and welfare programs have not dented the size of this population. In the best of times, the NOPD is able to manage this population by a combination of tolerance and law enforcement. This takes a nearly continuous deft touch and engagement policy, which manifests itself in a mild peace that is most closely akin to the rumblings of a semi-dormant volcano. In the absence of law enforcement, this tenuous peace crumbles faster than a cookie in a toddler’s hands.

Without the lid held precariously over the garbage can, these elements are unleashed upon the weak. At any time, lawlessness is of course…criminal, but in extremis, this kind of lawlessness deserves the harshest judgment. I mean shoot to kill. I mean maximum sentences…without compassion or parole. I mean take all necessary means to re-gain control, and at no mercy to the ruffians and criminals who prey on the weak.

New Orleans should not be judged by the acts of a few, but they may want to review their strategies of engagement and tolerance of the criminal and near-criminal elements that do abound in the city.

Let’s get past the pundit-ing, and the politic-ing. There is serious work to get done, and blaming, name-calling and making fun does not help. Some of what is going on in New Orleans traces it roots back generations. Some was truly unimaginable. And some is unforgivable, but very little of it can actually be blamed on anyone.

Heart of Darkness

dueler88

Both the anguish and the alcohol numb my senses. I sit here, contemplating what is happening to the City that Care Forgot, the city where I came of age. It is pure happenstance that Major Mike and I, two sons of New Orleans, found each other in the same blogosphere and hemisphere. Of further coincidence is our shared love of Gin & Tonics, which I am currently using, in the true spirit of New Orleans, in a vain quest to assuage my fears.

News from friends and loved ones continues to reach my email inbox sporadically. Refugees, mostly. They are the lucky ones that left early. Meanwhile, the beautiful city that I love is being torn apart by the Heart of Darkness.

I have also been reading pleas for assistance all over the blogospheere. The most chilling one I have read so far concludes with a request for .45 ACP. That’s large-caliber semi-automatic pistol ammunition for those not in the know. That tells me that things are particularly desperate down there.

Human suffering knows no skin color. Anybody that takes advantage of such disparities on display is both ignorant and irresponsible.

Atos and I have ongoing discussions, as fathers of young children, how we would be holding up in a flooded, hot, stench-ridden, sticky, pitch-black-in-the-middle-of-night nest of anarchy. Somehow, some way, we would find a way to protect our families to the death. But such are only musings done by people who sit in the absolute comfort of the 80-degree, low-humidity, running-water, stocked-refrigerator comfort of home.

Those watching the news and the blogs should have no trouble concluding that darkness exists within us all. It is a constant societal, and sometimes personal, struggle to overcome it. But overcome it we must, lest we all see New Orleans played out in our home towns if they are ever forced to such a breaking point.

So fragile and interconnected is our society. The necessities of existence are passed over in our thoughts for the acquisition of symbols of power and wealth. Which is worth more – a DVD player or a gallon of potable water? It all depends on the circumstances, doesn’t it?

My hope is that order will be regained as soon as possible. What is now Mogadishu must once again become the Warehouse District. But I’m not sure how that will happen. Any relief will mean further suffering. Food and water will be met by riots of starving, thirsty, dying people. But we must start somewhere.

Could I ever be patient enough to resist hostility if my young daughter were dying of thirst? Hopefully I will never know the answer.

New Orleans will rebuild. Her sons, daughters and lovers have too much pride and sentiment toward her to abandon her. It will be a long and difficult time, but she will return to her glory.

May her difficulties be a lesson to all of us, both in knowing what is truly important and in being aware of the darkness that lies in all of us.

Cafferty, Nuts, and Nincompoops...

Mr.Atos

Hugh just played a clip of CNN's Jack Cafferty ranting about his belief that the Federal relief efforts have failed the victims of Hurrican Katrina. And as he demanded that the National Guard drop sandwich bombs and water bottles on the mobs at the Superdome, I couldn't help thinking of that episode of WKRP where the news crew dropped live turkeys on a crowd from a helicopter for Thanksgiving.

But seriously... I watched some CNN footage today with their crews driving through town like video vampires preying on misery. But, not once did I see them deliver anyone a box of sandwiches or give them a bottle of water.

Hypocrites riding asses. The mainstream media preying on N.O. victims while ignoring 10,000 other tragic and heroic stories throughout the Gulf Coast further illustrates their profound folly!

My faith in human nature is stretched thin on days like this. I guess I am no Anne Frank. Perhaps that is why we here My Sandmen chose to direct charitable contributions to Canine Search & Rescue organizations.

Radioblogger has posted the audio and transcripts of Cafferty's collapse into a semi-epileptic stupidity fit. Listen and remember what CNN really represents. Then donate to the many wonderful relief efforts that are taking place, and recall Anne Franks words...

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. "

New Orleans...the Beginning of My Life

Major Mike

At seventeen, I boarded a red-eye in Detroit and headed to college. A hockey bag full of clothes, my orders to my ROTC unit, and a fresh trim were all I had with me. I was leaving Michigan in the late summer, on my way to freshman NROTC orientation…about week before registration and classes beginning.

I was leaving the relative calm of a Michigan summer, because the fall promised a turmoil I wanted no part of. It was 1974, and I was not going to college at U of M…home to repeated ROTC building burnings, and nearly continuous campus unrest. I was not going to my first choice on my NROTC list either…Holy Cross put me on a waiting list…a lucky break for me.

I was headed to my second choice, for in the interim, I had decided that the northern states were not the place for me to jointly enjoy my college and NROTC experiences. I would return to the south. A part of the country that nearly without fail has supported and respected military service. I was heading to a school I had never seen, and to a city that was as foreign to me as space travel.

As I emerged from the terminal in New Orleans I was immediately showered in blinding sunlight. I was embraced by a humidity and brackish wafting, that an experienced Creole cook could likely wring a gumbo from. Breathing generated a sweat.

I immediately hailed a cab and began the trip to Tulane University…then self-dubbed…the Harvard of the South. The cabbie, at 7:00 in the morning, took a route from the airport I never took again. Later, I would come to understand he was avoiding I-10 morning traffic, but the route seemed unnecessarily circuitous. There were times during the trip that I felt I would not make it to the NROTC building…the trip along River Road does not give the unfamiliar passenger a comfortable feeling that he will arrive at his destination.

The winding trip along the Mississippi River levee was an introduction to the neglected and poorer areas of the western edges of the city. Level porches and plumb walls were as rare as a fresh coat of paint. Rust was feeding on rust. Corner bars managed to flicker one in five neon signs. And those visible at such an early hour were uniformly dressed in wife-beaters, dirty long trousers, suspenders, and the occasional straw hat. To a middle class, suburban Detroiter, I had just been beamed to Mars.

At no point during the trip did I have the feeling that I would actually arrive at the University. I wasn’t overly concerned for my health and well being, but I was pretty certain that Tulane was not located in this third world country I was traveling through. So, I figured when the cabbie had driven my $20 worth, I would be left on my own to learn the language, retrace my way to the airport, and then return home. Instead the cabbie stopped on Ferret St. and pointed to the east…I had arrived, intact, to the rest of my life.

Aside from the continuous, overbearing embrace of the world record level of humidity, I would soon be embraced by a unique and wonderful tribe called the Marines. Midshipman Schneider greeted me at the door, and I was grateful to hear that I wouldn’t need much of my hair trimmed. My elation was almost immediately quashed when Midn. Schneider quickly added, “Only about 4 inches all around.” My ears would not be touched by hair for the next 24 years. I was welcomed into my service with four days of PT, drill, study, and shoe shining. But, I was hooked. This new tribe was energized and professional, and what I would learn in the next four years, would set me up for all of the successes I have enjoyed since.

I would become inculcated into the flow of the University. I would survive fraternity rush in a place where the standard rush program was boatloads of boiled shrimp and crawfish, and the beer supply for the Cannae wedding.

I almost immediately changed my major from Engineering to Cultural Appreciation. I frequented The BOOT, where nickel beer night only occurred five nights a week. I single handedly paid for several pinball machines in Tin Lizzies by my frequent and nearly continuous deposits made into the coin slot of the Odin machine. I discovered Bruno’s and The Maple Hill restaurant, where the “Killers” (16 oz beers) went down like water. The streetcars, Camellia Grill, gumbo, po-boys, crawfish, oysters, and Bourbon Street soon followed. For a meat and potatoes kid from Michigan this was a flight on the Concorde.

Miraculously, I managed to stay in school as the semester went along. I was floored, when for the first time since arriving in New Orleans, I was turned away from a bar…a mere two days before my 18th birthday …I went next door.

I was swallowed up by art, music, food, ambiance…although a bit rudimentary, the smells, the taste, and of course the partying.

I did manage to graduate in the usual four years. But you don’t leave New Orleans and New Orleans doesn’t leave you. You are prisoner to the juxtapositions. It becomes part of you, and you become part of it.

New Orleans can be a bit ominous, but inviting. It is part Southern charm, and part Cajun crass. The meals can be seven course or eaten with ten fingers. The doughnuts are square and without voids. It is interspersed with dive bars and historic churches…neither regarding the presence of the other as particularly out of place. It has street performers, scam artists, and winos. It is also has jazz, some very fine artists, and the most innovative cuisine in the world.

And yes, it has Hurricanes. It is frequented by the hurricanes that Mother Nature provides, and it is home to the ones that Pat O’Brien’s sells. The ones made locally at POBs are, of course, preferred over those that nature brings, but nonetheless, each are New Orleans fixtures.

New Orleans has been devastated by Katrina, but it is not destroyed. New Orleans is really more about attitude, history, culture and people than it is about buildings. The city was illogically built on the most unsuitable site, but any effort to correct that engineering and social mistake would meet with a resistance only matched by the force of the hurricane that has damaged her. New Orleanians, a completely eclectic mix people, heritage and culture, have a mettle that has been tested over hundreds of years. The city, and its people, will come back…and likely stronger.

As a son of New Orleans I am in pain when I see the devastation that Katrina has wreaked. But I also know that this wonderful city has all that it takes…with the help of all of its transplanted sons, adopted sons, past visitors, and the kindness of the rest of America, to come back as America’s favorite, unpainted lady.

God bless those in need. Help where you can.