listening to npr, or reading all those confounded books, my pals sk smith and dan are… whats this… volunteering?!?!

apparently busloads of evacuees from the gulf coast made it to Austin on Saturday night and sk and her man were not only nice enough to be there but good enough to write a few paragraphs about it

yes it was just a little thing, but every little bit counts. im sure that there are thousands of little stories like this, if not tens of thousands, but heres one.

a portion:

On Saturday night Dan and I were watching a horrible rerun of Saturday Night Live and mostly falling asleep on the couch when an emergency message scrawled across the bottom of the television screen. A hundred volunteers were urgently needed at the Convention Center downtown—evacuees were coming in by the busload and a large number were expected around 5am, and the Red Cross needed people to set up cots. I mentioned this to Dan, who wasn’t really paying attention, in the hopes that he would let us both off the hook by saying “Enh, let’s just go tomorrow.” But no, he is a Boy Scout, and so we put on our shoes and hoofed it down to the Convention Center.

When we got there, the line at the volunteer sign-in was maybe 10 people deep. By the time we were signed in, the line stretched all the way outside, and the Statesman later reported that over 400 people showed up. As a Red Cross coordinator led away my little group of volunteers, we walked past this incredible line, and it was a lovely thing indeed to see that the only thing these people had in common was that they were all homebodies who’d been spending their Saturday night watching television. Collegiate Asian hipsters, middle-aged Hispanic women, young black couples…I was relieved to see it wasn’t just a bunch of bleeding-heart KLRU subscribers ministering to the poor and disenfranchised.

as the good professor says, read the whole thing

buzznet and the mississip sun-hearld have teamed up + blog of the year + destroying FEMA

ladies ringer (pictured) + men’s baseball shirt + mug + t-shirt

all profits will go to the Red Cross

to read the latest on the busblog click here

President Bush on 9/2 to FEMA Director Michael Brown (pictured, pointing)

uh…what?

Even right-wing cheerleader Michelle Malkin is calling Brown “utterly clueless” while calling for his head… but Michelle if Brownie is clueless and deserving of a resignation, then what’s Bushie for not only hiring him but complimenting him on Friday?

While we wait for that answer, here’s a rundown on some troubling news that came out yesterday, followed by some good news.

But first watch this clip from today’s Meet The Press of a grown man who has had enough and cant even keep it together any more based on what you will read below, and after you watch it you should ask yourself why is the president still in washington, and moreso, why are we still allowing him to be our leader now that it has become absolutely plain that he cannot help us when we need help or where we need help.

He hired Brown, who had no experience. He sent the Nat’l Guard to Iraq where there were no WMDs, he flew away from the South a day after the hurricane, and he still hasnt stepped foot in New Orleans as people continue to literally drown in his failures.

9/3 Chicago Sun-Times: “Daley ‘shocked’ as feds reject aid”
All FEMA allowed them to send was one tank

(Chicago) Mayor (Richard) Daley said the city offered 36 member s of the firefighters’ technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies.

9/3 RedCross.org: Red Cross Not Allowed in New Orleans

Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested–and continues to request–that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

9/3 AFP: Angry LA Senator accuses President Bush’s visit as a Staged, Phoney “Photo-Op”

Perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street Levee.

Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.

Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity.

The desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.

9/3 Race has nothing to do with this? Army Times, Brig. Gen Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told the Army Times on Friday that hundreds of armed troops were going to “take this city back”

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” he said. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

9/3 CNN.com DHS Has Failed to Release Nine Stockpiles of Emergency Gear

Nine stockpiles of fire-and-rescue equipment strategically placed around the country to be used in the event of a catastrophe still have not been pressed into service in New Orleans… The gear — including generators, radios, breathing apparatus, cots and other items — is stockpiled by DHS in nine locations. The three closest to New Orleans are College Station, Texas; Columbia, S.C.; and Clearwater, Fla. The gear is intended to replenish or sustain up to 150 first responders.

Contractors who maintain the gear are required to transport it to a disaster site no later than 12 hours after the initial request is made by local authorities and approved by DHS.

9/3 NO Times-Picayune: Tons of Food Delayed When Bush Arrived

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melancon’s chief of staff, Casey O’Shea.

9/3 DailyKos: NorthCom had millions of meals and supplies available, but no order from the President to deploy

A: Now I’m sure you’re aware of the criticism that the authorities have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relied work?

K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were plaining, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you’ll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it’s search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

9/3 AP: Federal Paperwork Stalled Nat. Guard Response

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn’t get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.

8/17/04 SP Times Hours After Hurricane Charley Hit FLA, Bush Approved Aid to Bush

Gov. Jeb Bush sought federal help Friday while Charley was still in the Gulf of Mexico. President Bush approved the aid about an hour after the hurricane made landfall.

By Monday afternoon, the cavalry seemed to be in place.

Heroes

9/1 Houston Chronicle 20yr-old Jabbar Gibson drives school bus packed with flood victims from NO to Houston

Jabbar Gibson, 20, said police in New Orleans told him and others to take the school bus and try to get out of the flooded city.

Gibson drove the bus from the flooded Crescent City, picking up stranded people, some of them infants, along the way. Some of those on board had been in the Superdome, among those who were supposed to be evacuated to Houston on more than 400 buses Wednesday and today. They couldn’t wait.

The group of mostly teenagers and young adults pooled what little money they had to buy diapers for the babies and fuel for the bus.

After arriving at the Astrodome at about 10:30 p.m., however, they initially were refused entry by Reliant officials who said the aging landmark was reserved for the 23,000 people being evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome.

“Now, we don’t have nowhere to go,” Gibson said. “We heard the Astrodome was open for people from New Orleans. We ain’t ate right, we ain’t slept right. They don’t want to give us no help. They don’t want to let us in.”

9/3 CNN: Foul Mouthed 3 Star General – the Black John Wayne (more on IronMouth)

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls Lt. Gen. Russel Honore a “John Wayne dude” who can “get some stuff done.”

“He came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving,” Nagin said.

Getting food and water to the people at the city’s convention center was a difficult process, Honore said.

“If you ever have 20,000 people come to supper, you know what I’m talking about. If it’s easy, it would have been done already.”

9/3 Video of Normal People with Boats Volunteering to Help

Strange Bedfellows

9/3 CNN: Castro Offers To Send 1,100 Doctors and 26 tons of medicine and equipment.

“Others have sent money; we are offering to save lives,” (Fidel) Castro said.

Castro — an enemy of U.S. President George W. Bush and frequent subject of condemnation from the White House — said he would not comment on the U.S. government’s response to the tragedy because “this is not the time to kick an adversary — while he’s down.”

donate blood via red cross + Flickr Photo Auction for Katrina + “bureaucracy has committed murder here“

and he did a pretty good job.

and even though randy newman is more known for his songwriting than his singing, i have always loved his version of this song, the original. and i totally love the record that it came from “good old boys”. but all his records are good.

and because kanye stole the show last night, i wanted to stoke people with this

randy newman
good old boys
reprise records, 1974 (mp3)

remastered version by rhino, 2001

“louisiana 1927”
(newman)

What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, “Little fat man isn’t it a shame what the river has done
to this poor crackers land.”

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

lyrics to good old boys, a concept album about the south + guilty, the randy newman box set + melting dolls

I think you’re a great writer and deserve everything you have earned.

However, i am sickened by those who want to start casting blame with everything that is going on. Even more, the finger pointing that is going on, particularly at Bush.

I am a Dem who believes in fair play and i am stunned how everyone wants to bypass any responsibility that rightly belongs on the city (mayor of NO) and state (governor of LA) when no one knows the story. If he screwed up there will be plenty of time to find it out and we most certainly will not hear the end of it. But, until that day comes, i just can’t bring myself to read your writing any more.

You’ve got a great future and i am a bit sad that i’ll have to skip your blog.

I wish you best of luck!

Robert | Email | Homepage | 09.02.05 – 5:59 pm | #

——————————–

Robert,

when the President of a country is 500 miles away from the epicenter of the biggest natural disaster in the history of his nation and decides to remain on vacation you shouldnt be so stunned at some finger pointing being sent his way.

when that President has a history of making the wrong choices when unprecidented tragedy befalls his people, you shouldnt be so stunned to see some criticism when his behavoir doesnt change.

we do know part of the story in relation to the Bush administration. we know that up to four years ago FEMA warned about the dangers to New Orleans and last year Bush cut the $27 mil budget requested by the US Army Corps of Engineers for improving the levees in 2005 by more than 80% to a paltry $3.9 million,

we also know that the $100 million 2005 budget requested by the Southeast Louisiana Flood control project was slashed to $16.5 million by Bush.

but mostly we know where the president’s priorities are: in Iraq. not in Afghanistan, not in Saudi Arabia and certainly not in the USA. even when he was one state away it took him 5 days to get his ass to New Orleans.

you can run away from this blog all you want Robert if you “cant bring” yourself to read my writing anymore. but what youre doing is judging me on what bloggers are meant to do: provide an opinion to current events.

not only have i done that but i gave constructive criticism to the president as to what would best serve this country and his public opinoin.

if you cant handle that then good riddance and dont bother coming back here because let me tell you something, what you have seen this week on the busblog is pure tony pierce and if youre sincere in saying that i deserve everything that ive gotten based on my writing, this week is what my writing is all about – handling serious issues head on without blinking.

the funny thing about Bush is we do hear the end of his screw ups. Osama is running around free, we dont hear about him; we tortured people in Gitmo and in Iraq, we dont hear about that any more; Bush had a friggin President’s Daily Briefing in August of 2001 titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike US” that we dont hear about; his cheif of staff outted a CIA agent that we dont hear about; we went to fucking war over WMDs that we dont hear about; gasoline is $3 a gallon and there isnt a mob outside the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

and instead the busblog loses a reader?

good.

dont come back.

and when you’re waiting for help, starving, thirsty, wet, sick, desperate, in danger, freaked out as dead bodies float by, with cops looting and quitting, with no one to help you, and the president is an hour flight away, i wont say shit on your behalf – five days later – because omg what happens if i lose a reader.

then you’ll know that ive become the PC sellout fake dem.

and then you should really be “a bit sad”.

bush chose iraq over new orleans + jason toney + Nat’l Guard Won’t Let Red Cross into New Orleans?

so he could poke his head in at the devistation happening to texas’s next door neighbor, louisiana.

it must be tough to be the president when everything you do is wrong.

it must suck to freeze up every time theres a tragedy. to sit there as cameras roll and listen to children read about a goat after your dude tells you that america is under attack.

it must suck to tell everyone that the usa needs to invade a country because of its threat to this find land, and then discover that the evil nation didnt have any weapons of mass destruction and had no relationship to the terrorism that happened nearly 4 years ago.

and it must truly suck to end your monthlong wake’n’bake so you can fly to washington dc to get briefed on how to handle the misery going down back in the south.

tonight i spent most of the evening watching the news. i was a little behind in current events because last night i hung out with an old girlfriend and we enjoyed the rock music of my favorite band tsar at the house of blues in anaheim.

and since i no longer work at a television network i dont have constant access to tvs where i earn my keep, so i turned on msnbc tonight and i had tivoed some other stations and saw reporter after reporter describe how the flooding and devistation in new orleans was like nothing they had ever seen.

i saw crowds chanting how they needed help, i heard people say that they went where they were instructed and they couldnt get food or water or shelter. i watched grown men break down and cry as they described how they watched dead bodies float past their homes.

but one thing i didnt see was the president. he had apparently flown right past louisianna for some reason.

some on the tv rationalized the violence and looting and rage and misery as being due to the idea that the stranded felt ignored and abandonded. im sure if any of the flood victims had heard word that the speaker of the house had on wednesday suggested that it might be a mistake to rebuild their city, that much of it should just be bulldozed, their frustration would have increased – if indeed it was possible to be more pissed off at the administration.

as i watched i had a hard time sitting still, i kept finding myself in front of my computer, i wanted to do something, anything. i made a small donation to the red cross, i warned those on a messageboard about how FEMA was hyping Pat Robertson’s “charity” on their donations page, i called friends to find out what we could do… and i watched on my local news how some of our rescue workers were shipping machettes to new orleans to help kill the water snakes who could be deadly to those who had to travel through the flooded streets.

the whole time i wondered, doesnt the president feel like i do? doesnt he want to actually fucking do something? doesnt he want to hop on one of his airplanes or helicopters and just help a few people if he can?

does he seriously not give a fuck? do his handlers not care about even surfacy things like his approval rating being lower than nixons during watergate? how simple would it be for him to pilot one of those same choppers that he landed on that “mission accomplished” carrier several years ago and rescue desperate americans all night? not only would it improve his numbers, but for once he would actually be helping people.

yes i had heard that helicopters were being shot at. some say those were just rumors, but if i was president i would either a) shoot back, or b)suck it up and keep saving people anyway, and if i died, what a way to go down: actually helping someone. but surely the white house would know if those were just rumors or not, and certainly if it was that dangerous over there, the commander-in-chief would want to help the innocent citizens, not hide out in his big fat house. right?

isnt that why you become a public servant? to help?

how ironic that in the last post i was challenged to write something inspirational to aid my fellow african americans, when the president of the united states wasnt even helping his own people. has it really come down to that? when FEMA and the President have failed the nation, the next in the chain of command of superheroes are the bloggers?

and why would i only write something to help my brethren, why not write something to help everyone? just because im Black doesnt mean that im not interested in all people. do i really come off as being that sort of person?

whatever. well hopefully the President will be inspired by this blog post and get in his helicopter and put on his flight suit and accomplish the mission in front of him: go to new orleans and dont leave until everyone is safe.

wouldnt want to cut and run in america if youre not cutting and running elsewhere.

you can donate right now to the red cross + what bush was doing this week + blogging from the astrodome

Lets review what we have learned.

We’ve learned that some people have a very difficult time discussing racial bias in journalism. We’ve learned that some people have a very difficult time realizing that the media’s influence in public perception is stronger than some believe.

And we’ve learned that some people have a hard time believing that the press can make such blatantly racist blunders, which could be symptoms to the underlying racism that still exists in American culture.

We were also reminded that the anonymous negative commentors are just as clueless and worthless and cowardly as we always remembered them as being. In fact the usually logical Abner Delecroix for some reason refused to read the entire post that he chose to comment on, and decided not to click the link that showed the AFP had indeed called Blacks looters and whites “finders”.

I spend so much time writing, do the anonymous commentors Only look at the pictures and choose which words they are going to read? Lately I have only written one or two posts a day. Do us all a favor and read them before you put your foot in your mouth.

Yes in the initial post I provided two pictures, but I linked to a third. That third one showed that AFP was capable of calling alleged looters looters, and that, unlike some have claimed, it was not an issue of two different agencies defining terms. The problem at hand was that AFP had called Blacks with goods looters and whites with goods finders.

Not only had I explained that in the body of the post supported by links, but I also answered this in the comments. But at the root of anonymous negative commentors is something twisted that makes them poor readers, poorer critics, and that might lead to their cowardice of refusing to play the game like everyone else and putting their real name/email/blog next to their bullshit.

Abner went a step further and alleged that I was a race-baiter. Because as we all know, if you see the press call whites “finders” and Blacks “looters” and you call the press out on their bullshit, and if you link to other discussions where others have concurred, then you are a race-baiter.

Bloggers and wanna-be bloggers out there learn from this lesson: no matter what you do to prove a theory or write a post there will be snipers that will come at you from the weeds. They will attack you when you are making a clear and valid point. Instead of aiming at the issue at hand they will name-call and try to distract the audience away from the point. Ignore those critics, especially when they don’t have the nads to put their real name/email/blog next to their distortions. They will try to smear and discredit you and all I can say is ignore them, theyre just slapping at your arm as youre driving the lane. Go for the hole and tick tock don’t stop.

But ultimately we learned that racism still does exist. In fact its so pervasive that it is deep inside of respected journalism and it seeps out when even they don’t see it coming. Which means its probably in more people’s hearts than we all think. Therefore think about your perceptions and your biases and if youre a journalist, just tell the damn story and keep your opinoins to the Op-Ed page.

And bloggers, definitely call out those who deserve to be called out, especially those who propigate stereotypes to millions through captions of photographs. Odds are there are far more people who will read the caption than the story, so those words are the most powerful in the grand discussion that we are all part of.

danielle + ben + blogger unknown