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DONATE!
Instapundit has all your Hurricane Katrina donation points covered. I’m going with the Salvation Army:
A $100 donation to The Salvation Army will feed a family of four for two days, provide two cases of drinking water and one household clean-up kit, containing brooms, mops, buckets, and cleaning supplies.
That’s about $A130.
UPDATE. Reader Jeremy Garrett sends some easy donation news:
I just got an email from Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store where I have an account. Apple is accepting donations for the Red Cross through iTunes and the Apple homepage. Apple set it up where people with iTunes on their computers can donate money to the Red Cross through the iTunes Music Store just like they would if they were buying a song. The donations show up on your credit card statement as a donation to charity.
It’s very simple and takes advantage of the secure payment method Apple already has in place.
UPDATE II. Arthur Chrenkoff compiles the dumbest and meanest quotes in the wake of Katrina.
UPDATE III. An announcement from Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco:
Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans. These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets.
They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded.
These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.
Spells things out kind of clearly, doesn’t she?
I still can’t get over the President having the gall to say, on national television, that nobody expected the levees to fail.
I haven’t been keeping up with all the Katrina-related news, but what’s the problem with what he said? If he had said he was surprised they had failed, then, yes, I could see the reason for outrage. But how do you “expect” something like that? That’s like expecting to be in an accident when you drive on the freeway.
The Salvation Army is a great choice; they really help and aren’t saddled with all the bureaucracy of the Red Cross.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2005 09 01 at 08:29 PM • permalinkI took my son to New Orleans in June for a nice little vacation. Unfortunately a hurricane was coming and we had to pack up in a hurry. While waiting for our car to be brought around by the valet, I asked a lady standing closeby if she was leaving too. She said no, they were checking into the hotel (The Pontchartrain Hotel—I highly recommend it, great breakfast, try the crabmeat omelet, yum). I asked if she knew a hurricane was coming, and she said yes, but the hotel said it would be fine.
I then asked the doorman if they were, oh, I don’t know, maybe crazy for not closing the freaking hotel? He laughed and said, no, the New Orleans natives are very used to storms and hurricanes don’t bother them much. I asked about the levees and he said they’ve seldom had any problems with them in prior storms. He had no fear, no anxiety, not a speck about the impending hurricane. I thought to myself the people of New Orleans are a breed apart from the average American.
So yes, I do believe the rupturing of the levees was a complete shock to the city, and to the nation. Of course, maybe if I lived completely around the world, never visited the city, and was a complete moonbat, I might think a bit differently.
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 01 at 08:33 PM • permalinkThey expected the water to flow over the levees not through them.
It is the local and state governments that are handling most of that mess in the Big Easy. Why don’t you direct some of that rath at the real culprit or simply go back to your blast Bush meeting.
Or simply try to develop some perspective. Everyone knew what could happen there including the Mayor yet he can’t get enough bleeping buses to get people out of there.
The Salvation Army is not being blocked by anybody but the knucleheads in the local power structure. These are your people so why don’t you speak truth to power to those clowns. How many people have those idiots killed by now? Good grief!!david—Yes, well, you were supposed to add tags to my post. You will not be getting paid this week for comment editing services.
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 01 at 08:37 PM • permalinkI’m on the other side of the world, and even I knew what the hurricane could do to New Orleans. Bush is either lying, or he’s as stupid as people claim.
Note to self: In 2008, vote for candidate with expertise in hydrodynamics.
ADDENDUM: Stop paying attention to smarmy armchair quarterbacks who fancy themselves experts on everything yet are unaware after 40 years that African aid is a black hole that has made Africa’s problems infinitely worse.
“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” ...George W. Bush
Biggest. Liar. Ever.
Maybe he anticipated the levees to welcome the rising water with candy and flowers.
Posted by Pastor Maker on 2005 09 01 at 08:50 PM • permalinkWell, fine then. I’ll just do my own tags.
Which I think sums up the difference between a sucessful blog such as Tim Blair’s (do it yourself damn it!) and Margo’s less than successful blog, er, Webdiary, er, whatever it is (money, I need more money!!!).
Actually, that pretty much spells the difference between the rightwing capitalists (you want an endangered manatee, how much will you pay?) and the leftwing indigents (I have a liberal arts degree in Arts History and for some reason I can’t get a job, will the government pay me to do something related to Art History?).
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 01 at 08:51 PM • permalinkPut away the bong, Pastor.
Here’s how to keep your money from going to the American government and straight into evil liar Dubya’s pockets - donate to the Salvation Army.
Then check into your local hospital for immediate brain replacement. Yours appears defective. Maybe it’s still under warranty.
Posted by Crispytoast on 2005 09 01 at 09:03 PM • permalinkSalvos are in the news in Victoria this morning. Railway company Connix won’t let fund-raising Salvo carol singers perform more than twice at any of their stations in the run-up to Christmas. They must be worried commuters will give $2 to charity rather than buy their battery acid masquerading as platform coffee.
Hey, Pastor -
Point #1: It is not clear why the levees failed. This requires some sort of engineering analysis, which is obviously a little low on the priority list right now. But I suppose you in the “reality” based community don’t need to wait for an engineering study to prove the point you want to make: that George Bush is at fault.
Point #2: It is not clear why the levees in the most protected part of the syste (i.e., the canals) failed.
Point #3: Levees fail for a lot of reasons - bad design and construction, general wear and tear, and a lot of other notion. The idea that these levees were—necessarily—perfectly built defies logic in the most corrupt city in the United States. But, again, see Point #1.
Point #4: The fastest and surest way for a levee or a dam to fail is for water to go over the top. This is a dam operators worst nightmare. This is *not* what happened in the canals. They were stressed from high water levels, but there is no report that I’ve heard that the water topped the canal levees.
Point #5: The idea that the President is a “liar” because he said no one anticipated the levees failing is—as the earlier commentator pointed out— a lack of the Presidents experience in dam and water works engineering, but the failure scenario was a swamping of the levees, not a failure in a high water, but apparently stable, situation.
Point #6: I can anticipate (and do) lots of engineering failures - the severing of pipelines from the Sierras to San Francisco in an Earthquake. Most expect that a quake on the San Andreas could sever the Hetch Hetchy pipeline, but if it broke because of a quake on the Hayward, Concord or some as yet undiscovered fault, would that make a person who said “we didn’t expect the pipeline to break because of” a different fault a liar?
Point #7: I hope, Pastor, that you are an American—like me—commenting on Tim’s space, because if you aren’t and you want to assign blame to my President on a domestic matter, why don’t you donate like everyone else here (and I certainly understand why people might not in the face of some gross incompetence and New Orleans corruption) and/or shut your pie hole.
What the hell is wrong with some people? Even this thread about donating to the relief efforts is hijacked by the Bush-bashers, further convincing me they have NO SHAME.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2005 09 01 at 10:00 PM • permalinkBush talked the mayor into declaring a mandatory evacuation Sat afternoon. No telling how many lives that saved. I think the dialogue should be about helping the folks who don’t have a home, job, or family anymore. I gave $500 today and am feeling a bit guilty that I didn’t give more.
Bush declared LA an disaster area on Sat when Katrina was still 30 hours away. FEMA and other orgs were rolling south as soon as the storm passed. What kind of a piece of shit wants to score political points now that dead bodies are floating in the streets?‘Bush lied levees failed’ (I know it doesnt rhyme but hey! I aint getting paid for this you know).
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 09 01 at 10:18 PM • permalinkGosh, I… I didn’t anticipate that an underwater earthquake would create a killer tsunami greater than any in recorded history.
I didn’t anticipate the killer hurricanes that would kill hundreds (and now perhaps thousands, indirectly) over the last few decades.
I didn’t anticipate the collapse of two buildings from airplane crashes.
I didn’t anticipate the styrene leak that emptied a rather large neighborhood in a large city just to the south of me.
I didn’t anticipate this year’s cicada outbreak in my neighborhood.
I didn’t anticipate… well, I must just be stupid. And evil.
Spiny Norman — <u>Nobody</u> pays for all caps, son.
I’m hearing a lot of enthusiasm for the Mennonites’ relief organization, too. Low overhead and good pass-through of money to actual problem.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 01 at 10:19 PM • permalinkSorry, Richard. As you see, I still have my tag allowance.
Or will “abuse” get it suspended?
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2005 09 01 at 10:30 PM • permalinkwhy didn’t louisiana have a diaster response plan, hey? or was it ... ummm ... we’ll just wait for someone else to get organised
and they have:
UN assistance was first offered to Washington yesterday by Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who led the global aid effort after December’s Indian Ocean tsunami.diplomad fans will remember exactly how much use egeland was in the tsunami aftermath
sorry - disaster - but maybe they did have a diaster plan & that’s what caused the problem
Cranfield University, RMCS - Training for Effective Diaster Management
Training for Effective Diaster Management
http://www.rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk/ddmsa/dmc/training/viewThere was a program on pay TV (last year?) about the likely outcome of a hurricane and tidal surges in the New Orleans area. Complete with computer-generated images of how the place would look.
It pointed out that a large part of New Orleans is below sea level, and that the pumps would not be able to handle all the water.
What was predicted in the program is pretty much what has happened.
Posted by pog-ma-thon on 2005 09 01 at 10:45 PM • permalinkCharles Johnson of LGF pointed out:
Some readers have expressed anger with the Red Cross. But please remember—there is no connection between the International Committee of the Red Cross (a Europe-based organization with an anti-American, anti-Israel agenda) and the American Red Cross, who support the United States whole-heartedly, and have even withheld dues from the ICRC, out of disgust at their agenda. Don’t target the wrong group, just because they have a similar name.
It’s a double-shame that the Brogden affair has kept this major crisis out of the news of the last few days. Someone on talkback today remembered the American Starlifters being the first on the scene after Cyclone Tracey and wishes we could return the favour.
I also just bought a Legacy badge.
I’d tell “Pastor Maker” to go fuck himself, but fortunately you guys have taken care of him for me, and much more eloquently, I might add. As for pog-mo-ron: hey, I saw a program on Discovery Science that showed how a giant asteroid could hit the earth and destroy all life for millions of years to come. So I guess we should all kill ourselves now and get it over with.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 09 01 at 10:56 PM • permalinkMaybe he anticipated the levees to welcome the rising water with candy and flowers.
Reading this again, I’m thinking that the brilliant Pastor really doesn’t know what levees are. I think he thinks they’re some sort of natural topographical feature vulnerable to high seas.
Shrug. Either way, he’s an idiot.
Jesus, people, if you want a really chilling blow-by-blow description from an online blog in NO, go here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
(I assume it’s OK to post this, Andrea??)
Frightening stuff.
PMT: It pointed out that a large part of New Orleans is below sea level, and that the pumps would not be able to handle all the water.
Given that that’s been the case for close to a century (the pumps were installed circa 1910) without the aforementioned disaster actually occuring, a certain amount of complacency in that regard doesn’t strike me as especially inconceivable. Then again, I’m not a moonbat raving about Chimpy Nostradamus, either.
One thing I do wonder about, and perhaps some of the US military folk lurking about here can answer ...
Didn’t we just close a bunch of military bases? And aren’t those bases effectively small towns, with housing and hospitals and stores and parks and whatnot paid for out of our tax dollars? What am I not seeing that prevents utilizing some of them as refugee camps?
I agree, Pastor Maker is a friggin’ idiot. And I’ll point out something else about his post—the US Government has nothing to do with private relief. Which is just another point in favor of the conclusion that he is a clueless, US hating leftie.
But, folks, I gotta say this, because it’s true. The gruesome situation in New Orleans is of no surprise to the disaster response community. pog-ma-thon is correct in pointing out that program.
HOWEVER, this is incomplete, and a point in favor of what’s happening. FEMA and other response agencies (official and non-governmental) were pre-positiioned before the hurricane struck. Evacuations were ordered before the hurricane struck.
Unfortunately, a number of fools elected to remain home, in spite of all these warnings. Another group remained because they saw a chance to indulge in quality looting. But it could have been far, far worse. Things ain’t pretty there, but just how many helicopters were flying around Indonesia after the tsunami….and how many are flying around New Orleans now?
The US hating moonbats can squawk all they like. But they are still full of shit.
(Although, after watching the BBC last night, with their live coverage from New Orleans, I had this sudden urge to fly there just to ram a microphone up their sanctimonious arses.)
Andrew makes some good points about the levee failures. Obviously, I’m not there. But I’ve dealt with a few levee failures in the past, real time and post-flood season, and I will make this comment: Every engineered structure has it limits. Every one. There are no exceptions. This is because they are built using materials that have definite failure points, and because the designs are based on certain assumptions regarding the forces said structure must withstand.
When a structure fails (be it a bridge, tunnel, levee, or high rise building), there are one of three basic causes; the structure was not maintained properly; there was an unexpected force applied to the structure (e.g., jet aircraft ramming the World Trade Center); or the design limits were exceeded.
It’s pretty clear that Katrina was not an unexpected force. That leaves two possible causes for the levee system to fail as it did. Speaking from professional experience, I doubt that lack of maintenance is a major contributor. Possibly some defects and issues contributed in some spots; this levee system is decades old, after all.
So, IMHO (with the caveat that I am not there), it’s most likely that this hurricane simply overwhelmed the levee system. Mother Nature does that now and then, and there is nothing that we can do about it.
At a guess, the storm surge sent the water level at or above the crest of the levee, and wave action did the rest (either erosion or overtopping).
But right now the priority is disaster response, so that the survivors in New Orleans can continue to survive. Even if they were foolish enough to hang around during the storm. It’s a human thing, although we are rewarding stupidity. The afteraction report can deal with the levee failures.
So donate to a charity, folks. I have. And I will again. Soon.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 01:14 AM • permalinkAchillea…..the problem with using those bases is that:
(a) Mostly, they aren’t in the disaster area. Those that are, are likely damaged as well. I’ve read some situation reports from them, and being an Official Guvmint Base didn’t prevent them from being damaged…..although said bases are in fact accepting local (non-military) refugees.
(b) The BRAC recommended base closures. A couple of weeks ago. So they aren’t closed just yet. That takes a few years. OK?
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 01:17 AM • permalinkOne minor correction to my rant above…
At a guess, the storm surge and/or heavy rain fall sent the water level at or above the crest of the levee, and wave action did the rest (either erosion or overtopping).
I don’t know which levees failed—those on the inland side, or seaward. My point is, The Water Got Too High.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 01:51 AM • permalinkAchillea — Also, you have the transportation problem to get to the bases which are scattered all over the country.
In addition, many of the actual structures on those closed bases are, to put it mildly, run down. I remember being assigned to barracks (so-called “temporary” barracks, built in 1935) where we had to keep a rotating watch awake all night for the fire hazard.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 02 at 01:57 AM • permalinkI don’t know which levees failed—those on the inland side, or seaward. My point is, The Water Got Too High.
Right. And Chimpy McBusHeilHitler made it to high. Yes. Because of his war in Iraq. And the plastic turkey. It’s all connected. Don’t you all see it?
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 02 at 02:30 AM • permalinkIt has been stated on Fox that the levee was set up for a cat. 3 storm so wind, water, and projectiles probably were the problem. The Storm was one mph under the cat. 5 rating when it hit. For those who are interested here is a rendition of a satellite view NASA
“Projectiles”.....a good term, Mike. Said projectiles come from storm debris, and become hazardous from wind and water flow. Thanks for the reminder on that.
Debris/projectiles can damage a levee badly enough to make the chance of failure almost certain, especially if the levees are unarmored (i.e., no protective layer, such rock).
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 03:32 AM • permalinkPW, I requested that said sub-Antarctic lake be sent here to cool things off. God knows we could use it. If wronwright sent it to New Orleans, I’m filing a complaint.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 03:33 AM • permalinkPastor Faker: I would donate, but the U.S government seems so incompetent right now that I’d be afraid they’d block any immediate benefit my money could provide.
The very first sentence in this thread makes now sense whatsoever.
How long before the sane world understands how irretrievably sick all these lefties are?
Posted by zeppenwolf on 2005 09 02 at 03:39 AM • permalinkNew Orleans was probably the worst city in the USA to have been hit by a natural disaster. On the league tables for worst managed cities in America, New Orleans ranks down there with Washington, DC, and Detroit, Michigan.
Attaining political office in Louisiana has nothing to do with public service, it has everything to do with lining your pockets with bribes and kickbakcs.
The city government of New Orleans subscribes to the Mexican Federales version of pay rates when it comes to the police force. Pay them damn near nothing, and let them make the rest of it in bribes. The NOLA P.D. has been busted for running large scale drug gangs and murder for hire crews. MSNBC has already caught them on film looting a department store.
All in all, New Orleans was, basically, America’s only third world city. Run and managed like a typical third world city, and predomanently populated by a third world people.
If Katrina had hit another southern city, say Houston or Atlanta or Tampa-St. Pete, the outcome would’ve been a hundred times better—by both the local pols and citizens.
Posted by David Crawford on 2005 09 02 at 03:43 AM • permalinkI think this is part of why people are so shocked: there wasn’t this degree of falling apart in communities hit by hurricanes last year (and I lived in the one that got hit by three, one after the other, so I can tell you it’s true—and as well, I lived in Miami during Hurricane Andrew). There was some looting, just as there is a bit of looting in Gulfport and Biloxi apparently (there are bad people everywhere), but there wasn’t any attacking of hospitals or rescue helicopters. (Though, one coworker of mine pointed out that the shot might actually have been fired by someone trying to get the rescuers’ attention—stupid, but Americans tend to get addled by lack of air-conditioning and working bathrooms; as well, according to the briefing I watched on tv last night with the Homeland Security guy, they arrested that particular shooter.)
As well, none of the other hurricane-struck communities got flooded. Also, I take everything I hear from the news media with a grain of salt—they sound almost as hysterical as the people in the Superdome.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 09 02 at 06:36 AM • permalinkA large grain of salt, Andrea. Watching the BBC last night, it was an entire block of salt. Plus anti-nausea medication.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 02 at 09:28 AM • permalinkPW, The Real JeffS — He can’t possibly have spilled it all. I sent him <u>two</u> Dixie Cups.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 02 at 10:31 AM • permalinkwronwright — *sigh* Did you <u>not</u> get the memo? We were not supposed to discuss how Bush and Rumsfield used the orbital battle lasers to amplify Katrina so Hitlerburton could get more big contracts…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 02 at 11:13 AM • permalinkLet’s hear it for the Australian gov’t donating $8 million to the American Red Cross. What a great thing to do, I hope more Americans find out about stuff like this.
Posted by Matt in Denver on 2005 09 02 at 04:50 PM • permalinkRichard,
Pastor WhateverHisName is probably reading this so I should just say that President Bush and all neocons had absolutely no connection with Katrina. None. Except that we’re going to remedy any problems that have been resulted in that great “can do” way that the White House is so famous for. Truly.
But just between you and me, what memo? And what space lasers? We have space lasers???? Would someone, anyone, please let me know these things? I mean throw old Rolly a freaking bone for crying out loud.
I’ve been using that damn weather machine from the 1940’s. I can tell you the lake is much smaller at this point. And I am fairly certain it did not end up in Louisiana or the adjacent states. Well, fairly certain. I mean, even I know I can’t just throw a body of water at some location with an approved Form NEOC 161-A signed by Karl himself. Well, unless the location is Yemen or Iran or maybe Tasmania.
But where it went, well, I just can’t tell. The machine has wording on it that is certainly not English and if I was to guess I would say not terrestial. So I just had to give my old “best guesstimate”. You know?
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 02 at 07:37 PM • permalinkTalking about dippy donations, watching the tennis yesterday one of the Williams sisters said she’d donate $100 for every ace she serves between now and a month or so.
Wow - such generosity, especially considering she does not serve many aces.
Makes Molloch (sp?) and Hewitt look by comparision, with their tsunami donations of $1,000 per ace - and Hewitt hits a lot of aces.
Posted by walterplinge on 2005 09 03 at 12:23 AM • permalinkBetween New Orleans and Gonzales, streets are packed.
Back online! Pretty chaotic and tense here near BR. New residents have doubled city size.
Considering the circumstances, people seem tolerably well-behaved.
Seems like Marat Sade, the inmates are running the asylum, I mean government. Common sense seems lacking. FUBAR’d doesn’t quite convey the unbelievable level of incompetency. Have to come up w/ new acronym.
The situation has been fully exploited now that Jackson appeared, not Michael, and Horrendous Revolver in tears….
No matter what news reports say, white residents trapped there are still being evactuated also. Last night, many brought to BR.
Can’t believe those opportunistic sobs have already started using the race card. Beam me up, scotty.
The real heroes are the medical staffs that stayed, the law enforcement and support personnel and individuals who took charge rather than falling apart into hysteria and pandemonium. HURRAH!Am looking for my favorite “combat veteran” to appear, posing as medical personnel or Navy Seal….
widow1, you live in Baton Rouge? I didn’t know! Glad to hear you’re doing fine. Need anything?
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 03 at 10:24 AM • permalinkGood to hear you’re doing fine…..can’t help with the ticket though. :(
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 04 at 02:13 AM • permalink
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I would donate, but the U.S government seems so incompetent right now that I’d be afraid they’d block any immediate benefit my money could provide. Instead, I’m donating to an African relief charity, because American donors will understandably be shifting their charitable focus locally for a while.
I still can’t get over the President having the gall to say, on national television, that nobody expected the levees to fail. I’m on the other side of the world, and even I knew what the hurricane could do to New Orleans. Bush is either lying, or he’s as stupid as people claim.