← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · confederate_commando
Thread ID: 19900 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2005-08-31
2005-08-31 10:24 | User Profile
[COLOR=DarkRed][lots of Southrons, and aliens & strangers among us in need...][/COLOR]
Hurricane 2005 Relief and other Related Events:
Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the massive storm that is still making its way across the Mid-Atlantic States. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina's destruction, supplying hundreds of thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to Hurricane 2005 Relief, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need.
[url]https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp[/url]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me...That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave" - Stonewall Jackson
2005-08-31 17:00 | User Profile
Agreed.
2005-08-31 18:53 | User Profile
[QUOTE=weisbrot]Agreed.[/QUOTE] In my opinion the Salvation Army gets the help, to the people we want to see get the help.
2005-08-31 19:18 | User Profile
The Neocon war on Iraq is now hurting us directly in the homeland. I'm with Pat Buchanan: Impeach Bush now!
[QUOTE] Courtesy of [URL=http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/articles/canon_fodder/0944_hurricane_katrina_storm_front.html]The Simon [/URL] internet magazine. This is written by Matt Hutaff
Excerpt
[B]...What I find most troubling about the devastation, however, is that some of it was preventable. In February of this year, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers announced it had "identified millions of dollars in flood and hurricane protection projects in the New Orleans district." Projects that would strengthen infrastructure for storms such as the one bearing down on the United States right now. Projects that would bolster New Orleans from hurricanes and flooding.
Projects that were never enacted because of President Bush's budget cuts[/B].
That's right. Our federal government has once again placed blowing up a foreign country higher on the priority list than keeping our own country from falling apart. And as we have sown the wind, so shall we reap the whirlwind.
I am fed up with the money pit that is Iraq. I was never a proponent of war, and any dollar spent overseas on destruction and carnage is better spent within our borders building industry, education, technology and infrastructure. Imagine if the billion dollars we spend weekly to maintain our armed forces abroad were devoted to feeding the poor or teaching children in new schools? Imagine if the money spent to secure oil fields outside Baghdad was turned towards researching alternative fuel solutions?
I'm starting to sound like John Lennon.
New Orleans needed $65 million in 2005 to complete projects that would save billions in the long run. Those billions in relief will now come from taxpayer pockets. [B]And the cuts get deeper in the next fiscal year. In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will face a $71.2 million reduction in federal funding, the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district.[/B] -end of excerpt
[/QUOTE]
[U]And the results of such government stupidity and carelessness are............[/U]
[SIZE=5][COLOR=Red]New Orleans mayor fears thousands dead[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[B]Health emergency declared across Gulf; 25,000 evacuees to go to Houston[/B]
NBC, MSNBC and news services Updated: 2:48 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2005 NEW ORLEANS - In a surprising assessment of Hurricane Katrinaââ¬â¢s lethal destruction, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Wednesday he feared that thousands had died in his city alone.
ââ¬ÅWe know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,ââ¬Â Nagin told reporters, adding that there are others dead in attics.
Asked for a number, he said, ââ¬ÅMinimum hundreds, most likely thousands.ââ¬Â
The mayor's estimate of the number of dead was far higher than those of other public officials and there was no immediate way to confirm its accuracy. In Mississippi, officials said that at least 100 people were killed by the storm and indicated the toll will almost certainly go much higher.
Shortly before Nagin's remarks, the Bush administration declared a public health emergency across the Gulf Coast, as flooding in New Orleans delayed rescues and forced authorities to lay plans to evacuate 25,000 refugees to Houston's Astrodome.
Health Secretary Michael Leavitt told reporters that 40 medical centers with 10,000 beds would be set up to treat victims. Experts will also be sent to monitor potential disease outbreaks.
In New Orleans, officials plan to evacuate those in shelters using buses. But floodwaters surround the Superdome, so getting buses to the ramps will be difficult, if not impossible. That could mean using boats to ferry evacuees to the buses.
The flooding also threatens the generators providing electricity for the remaining lighting.
The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers rose as did temperatures.
New Orleans was filling with water after an initial attempt to stop one leaking levee failed, while police fought to stop widespread looting in the stricken city.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said everyone now huddled in the Superdome and other rescue centers needs to leave. She said she wanted the Superdome evacuated within two days.
[URL=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/]REST OF STORY[/URL]
2005-08-31 20:09 | User Profile
I take your point, X. Thousands of soldiers in a stupid, no-win war, when they are needed here at home for a genuine crisis. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Do Democrats have the guts to impeach? Why not? They owe Republicans one.
2005-09-01 14:27 | User Profile
XM
Thank you for the link pointing to ACoE budget cuts in the lowlands. How disgustingly short sighted, and I bet that if you peel back the onion, you will find a group of Congressmen and Senators who are trying to force the infrastructure function to contractors from their districts.
The ACoE has its problems, but their big picture stance and reasonably neutral approach strikes me as the kind of stewardship our national infrastructure needs.
This makes me ill. Stupid budget cuts are stupid budget cuts. Infrastructure is one of the key functions of government, even minimalist government envisioned by our libertarian friends.
AE [QUOTE=xmetalhead]The Neocon war on Iraq is now hurting us directly in the homeland. [url="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/"]REST OF STORY[/url][/QUOTE]
2005-09-01 14:48 | User Profile
AE, your welcome. And I agree with you that one of the minimum functions of government, federal or state, is to maintain infrastructure to the very best standards, as well as develop, and then implement, new infrastructure designs to protect the people from unnecessary damage due to natural disasters. In New Orleans case, there's sufficient evidence to show that their infrastructure was woefully inadequate and that the extreme damage could have been minimized, or at least greatly reduced if the US government wasn't cutting ACoE funding.
When's the last time a disaster of huge magnitude hit below-sea-level Netherlands?
2005-09-01 15:40 | User Profile
[QUOTE=xmetalhead]AE, your welcome. And I agree with you that one of the minimum functions of government, federal or state, is to maintain infrastructure to the very best standards, as well as develop, and then implement, new infrastructure designs to protect the people from unnecessary damage due to natural disasters. In New Orleans case, there's sufficient evidence to show that their infrastructure was woefully inadequate and that the extreme damage could have been minimized, or at least greatly reduced if the US government wasn't cutting ACoE funding.
Not to let the Chimp off the hook, but I wonder how much of the allocated funding simply disappeared into corrupt city and state officials' bank accounts before it ever got spent where it was intended.
When's the last time a disaster of huge magnitude hit below-sea-level Netherlands?[/QUOTE]
The 1950's I believe. No looting as far as I know.
[URL=http://www.delta2003.nl/index.php?url=/delta2003/welcome/index&lng=en]1953 flood disaster[/URL]