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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I'd like to use this thread to look at news reports of the new orleans disaster. And also to see when texas is also recognised as needing aid because it is becoming a refugee state.
I'm going to start with a UK thread (well I live there) and suggets the first US poster starts a US thread, etc
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Two main news channels here. ITN and BBC.
Each has reporters on the ground. Each set of reporters is commenting in the total inadequacy of the uS Government's internal aid efforts.
Each has carried Bush hugging a pair of black girls.
Each expresses disgust at the lack of humanitarian relief. Local people who have escaped realtively unscathed have ben interviewd "What would you say to President Bush right now?" Repsinses have been remarkably restrained and polite. One suggested that the many thousands of dollars spent on his trip to Biloxi could better have been devoted to real aid, not a handshake and hugs trip.
Bush has been highlighted as unable to go to the disaster zone because his life would be in serious danger. I suspect that will hold good after the clean up.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Dallas Morning News
"As a federal official in a neatly pressed suit talked to reporters in Washington about "little bumps along the road" in emergency efforts, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued an urgent SOS. The situation near the convention center was chaotic; not enough buses were available to evacuate thousands of survivors, and the streets were littered with the dead.
Moments later, President Bush took center stage and talked at length about the intricacies of energy policy and plans to keep prices stable. Meanwhile, doctors at hospitals called the Associated Press asking to get their urgent message out: We need to be evacuated, we're taking sniper fire, and nobody is in charge.
Who is in charge?
Losing New Orleans to a natural disaster is one thing, but losing her to hopeless gunmen and a shameful lack of response is unfathomable. How is it that the U.S. military can conquer a foreign country in a matter of days, but can't stop terrorists controlling the streets of America or even drop a case of water to desperate and dying Americans?
President Bush, please see what's happening. The American people want to believe the government is doing everything it can do -- not to rebuild or to stabilize gas prices -- just to restore the most basic order. So far, they are hearing about Herculean efforts, but they aren't seeing them."
The Washington Times
"Troops are finally moving into New Orleans in realistic numbers, and it's past time. What took the government so long? The thin veneer separating civilization and chaos, which we earlier worried might collapse in the absence of swift action, has collapsed.
We expected to see, many hours ago, the president we saw standing atop the ruin of the World Trade Center, rallying a dazed country to action. We're pleased he finally caught a ride home from his vacation, but he risks losing the one trait his critics have never dented: His ability to lead, and be seen leading."
Philadelphia Inquirer (and other Knight Ridder papers)
""I hope people don't point -- play politics during this period." That was President Bush's response yesterday to criticism of the U.S. government's inexplicably inadequate relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Sorry, Mr. President, legitimate questions are being asked about the lack of rescue personnel, equipment, food, supplies, transportation, you name it, four days after the storm. It's not "playing politics" to ask why.
It's not "playing politics" to ask questions about what Americans watched in horror on TV yesterday: elderly people literally dying on the street outside the New Orleans convention center because they were sick and no one came to their aid.
The rest of America can't fathom why a country with our resources can't be at least as effective in this emergency as it was when past disasters struck Third World nations. Someone needs to explain why well-known emergency aid lessons aren't being applied here.
This hurricane is no one's fault; the devastation would be hard to handle no matter who was in charge. But human deeds can mitigate a disaster, or make it worse.
For example: Did federal priorities in an era of huge tax cuts shortchange New Orleans' storm protection and leave it more vulnerable? This flooding is no surprise to experts. They've been warning for more than 20 years that the levees keeping Lake Pontchartrain from emptying into the under-sea-level city would likely break under the strain of a Category 3 hurricane. Katrina was a Category 4.
So the Crescent City sits under water, much of its population in a state of desperate, dangerous transience, not knowing when they will return home. They're the lucky ones, though. Worse off are those left among the dying in a dying town.
The questions aren't about politics. They are about justice."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"But whatever the final toll, the wrenching misery and trauma confronting the people of New Orleans is much greater than it should be -- as it is, in fact, for tens of thousands of people along the strip of Mississippi that was most brutally assaulted by the storm. The immediate goal must be to ease that suffering. The second goal must be to understand how we came to this sorry situation.
How do you justify cutting $250 million in scheduled spending for crucial pump and levee work in the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA), authorized by Congress in 1995?
How do you explain the almost total lack of coordination among federal, state and local officials both in Louisiana and Mississippi? No one appeared in charge."
Des Moines Register
"The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was the first practical test of the new homeland-security arrangements and the second test of President Bush in the face of a national crisis.
The performance of both has been less than stellar so far.
Katrina was a disaster that came with at least two days of warning, and it has been more than four days since the storm struck. Yet on Thursday, refugees still huddled unrescued in the unspeakable misery of the New Orleans Superdome. Patients in hospitals without power and water clung to life in third-world conditions. Untold tragedies lie yet to be discovered in the rural lowlands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama."
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4211528.stm
A number of excuses, but a fairly unbiased report regarding the chaos. A lot of symptoms of dividions between national and local government.
"Mr Bush said the 7,000 extra troops, including paratroopers and marines, would arrive in the area over next 24 to 72 hours to supplement the 4,000 regular troops and thousands of National Guard soldiers already working in the disaster area."
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=642
"The anarchy in New Orleans is deepening. Police say they are in a state of siege.
Many officers have abandoned their posts, as troops deployed to restore order have still to arrive. A massive explosion and fire has broken out on the riverfront.
On the streets police officers are turning in their badges in rather than face the growing number of looters armed with guns."
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13428121,00.html
Also Do take the polls on bush. Interesting results indeed
"George Bush said 4,000 troops were already in the region, but admitted that was not enough.
He said: "The enormity of the task requires more resources.
"In America we do not abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need."
His remarks seemed to be a direct answer to the many critics who have rounded on Mr Bush for the perceived slow federal response to the disaster.
With rats eating the bodies of victims lying in the streets, New Orleans has seemed anything but a major city in the world's only superpower."
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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"He said that with the additional National Guard and regular troops sent to New Orleans, there was "no question... we've secured the city", following an outbreak of lawlessness that saw looting and reports of murders and rapes."
Excuse me? How was it ever allowed to get out of control? I cam imagine the total terror and distress of the police force who all have families and loved ones, but logic says that any contiongency plan should take this into account.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4213932.stm
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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United States of Shame
NY Times
By MAUREEN DOWD
Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.
America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.
W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.
Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.
Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.
Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.
Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.
Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.
In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.
Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's response to Katrina if they had not prepared.
Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.
When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.
When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.
Who are we if we can't take care of our own?
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Coverage is now fading out. Newsworthty items are easing. We saw a strange black gentleman leaning on his gate thigh deep in water, but that was the extent. And a little sanitised horror at people shooting at those who were trying to sort some stuff out.
I can't help thinking "Team America..."
OK we Brits have sent a plane load of stuff. But why only today? Maybe we didn't want to steal the US limelight?
I love the headline "Israel sends Aid to the USA" that I was told about earlier today.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Offers of Aid From Around the World
CNN.com
(CNN) -- Countries and international agencies -- including several coping with major adversities themselves -- have offered money and supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Allies such as Britain and Germany as well as adversaries such as Cuba and Iran say they are willing to provide resources and manpower to help with the recovery.
War-wracked Afghanistan and countries slammed by the December tsunami such as India, Thailand and Sri Lanka also offered help.
In addition, the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States and the International Energy Agency are contributing to the relief effort.
However, Cuban President Fidel Castro said the United States had not responded to his offer to send more than 1,500 doctors and tons of medicine and supplies as of Sunday night.
Speaking to doctors in Havana, Castro said: "You could all be there right now lending your services, but 48 hours has passed since we made this offer, and we have received absolutely no response."
Castro recently refused a U.S. offer of help after Hurricane Dennis killed more than 10 people on the island nation in July.
Here are some of the offers:
International agencies:
A U.N. offer of help has been accepted by the United States, the United Nations said. A U.N. coordination team is consulting with government officials in Washington, and the agency's team "will be based at the newly established USAID Hurricane Katrina Operations Center."
The International Energy Agency on Friday announced that all of its 26 member countries agreed to make available 60 million barrels of oil and gas products over the next month.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said "more than 80 disaster experts from the Red Cross societies of more than 10 countries are already in place or making plans to travel to the United States in response to a call from the American Red Cross."
NATO said it has been asked by the United States to send emergency relief supplies -- including first aid kits, blankets and food supplies. A NATO liaison officer has been sent to the United States to coordinate aid requests and work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a NATO statement.
The European Union has offered to help the United States with any assistance required.
The Organization of American States, comprised of Latin American countries, has ordered special measures to back rescue and relief efforts and to restore order, and is establishing a fund for Katrina victims.
Africa
Nigeria: Africa's most populous nation has pledged $1 million for disaster relief.
Americas
Canada was contacted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials to request National Emergency Stockpile System supplies. Requested were "blankets, gloves, gowns, batteries, needles, surgical dressings, bandages, tongue depressors, and bath towels and cloths."
Cuba: Fidel Castro, an adversary of the United States during his decades in power, has offered at least 26 tons of supplies and mobilized 1,586 doctors experienced in disaster assistance, each of whom would bring 27 pounds of medicine.
Mexico has offered $1 million and is sending 15 truckloads of water, food and medical supplies via Texas. The Mexican navy has offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of the United States, offered to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers to the disaster area.
Asia
Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have been battling Islamic militants in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, pledged a $100,000 donation.
Bangladesh: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia announced a donation of $1 million and said the government "will stand by for extending any help and support which includes sending of military, medical and construction personnel.
India: The government is offering $5 million to the American Red Cross and donations of essential medicines, water purification systems for household and community level operations, and a medical team.
Japan has offered to provide $200,000 to the American Red Cross. It is ready to provide up to $300,000 worth of items such as tents, blankets, power generators, portable water tanks and more from a supply depot maintained by the Japanese government in Florida.
Sri Lanka: The country still recovering from the tsunami offered what it called a "token contribution" of $25,000 through the American Red Cross.
Thailand: The office of the prime minister confirmed Monday that the Thai government is offering 100 doctors and nurses to go to the United States next week to help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Europe
Britain: A plane carrying rations left Britain Monday morning. Britain has said that other kinds of assistance it might be able to offer "are those which focus on areas of specialist and technical expertise, such as medical, urban search and rescue, water management, oil and gas, utilities (water, electricity), port handling, disaster management and emergency response."
France: It has offered a wide range of supplies and services from its mainland and the French Antilles, relatively close to the affected regions. One French non-governmental organization that specializes in restoring phone lines and Internet service is ready to send a team. Veolia Equipment, which has facilities in Louisiana, has offered to make its water management resources available.
Germany: The government has offered a wide range of assistance, including evacuation by air, medical services, transportation services, water treatment capabilities, assistance in searching for victims, vaccination teams and supplies, and emergency shelter.
Italy: A plane carrying aid left Rome Sunday night headed toward the United States.
Spain: A six-member Spanish Red Cross delegation is traveling to the United States to assess the needs of hurricane victims and coordinate with the American Red Cross on what Spain can provide in coming days and weeks.
Sweden: Rescue Authority said it was on standby to supply water purifying equipment, health care supplies and emergency shelters if needed.
Middle East
Bahrain: $5 million donation to assist with relief.
Iran: Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza-Asefi said Sunday his country is willing to help, if "there is a need for such relief assistance." The aid would be given through the Red Crescent Society, he told reporters.
Israel: Offers medical assistance, such as personnel, equipment and medicines.
Kuwait: Government has asked parliament to approve an emergency aid package of $500 million in humanitarian aid and petroleum. "We as Kuwaitis feel that we must stand alongside our friends to alleviate this humanitarian hardship," Minister of Energy Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd said in a statement to the Kuwait News Agency.
Qatar: Offers $100 million to assist in the humanitarian crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina.
Other nations that have offered help include Austria, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, China, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hungary, Jamaica, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, according to the U.S. State Department.
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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I just watched a rather daming indictment of Bush on Channel 4. The newsworthiness is rising again with every false step that idiot takes.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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Whilst Timmy is correct in saying that coverage is reducing, this applies only to the press, and even then is not true of all newspapers. In the broadcasting media, BBC and ITV news continue to treat the disaster as a lead story, and both channels are increasingly critical of the actions of the US administration. Trevor MacDonald, father-figure of ITV newscasters, presenting this evening's 10.30 bulletin, could barely contain his contempt for GWB's announcement that he would personally lead a commission of enquiry. Still, it's good to see some slapstick humour in these tragic times!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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cossie wrote:
>Trevor MacDonald, father-figure of ITV newscasters, presenting this evening's 10.30 bulletin, could barely contain his contempt for GWB's announcement that he would personally lead a commission of enquiry.<
Bush will lead a Commision of Inquiry? This sounds like the cat heading a commision of Inquiry to determine who killed the mouse and ate the cream.
Pardon my cynicism.
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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cossie wrote:
>Trevor MacDonald, father-figure of ITV newscasters<
I must be old and decrepit if I can remember Ludovic Kennedy and Robin Day!
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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