Austin Bay Blog

I received this email– the post also shows up at blackfive. The email pulls a noteoff the nola.com web log to find people trapped by the hurricane.

The email also discusses the responsibility of the State of Louisiana for activating the National Guard and requesting national assets.

Here’s something I posted around on how The Times is playing active role in rescue effort even though the dead in the water printwise. ***** KATRINA - EXAMPLE OF HT DISTRIBUTIVE COM NET AT WORK FYI - Just sent this to Chief Bueermann Redlands PD re forum/blog site being used to post rescue messages. Wouldn’t hurt to pass on to your contacts in emergency response/recovery effort. (HT Intsapundit) Ron Wright ***** Date: Sat Sep 03, 2005 04:09:58 PM PDT Subject: PE Art - ESRI Deploying to New Orls FYI - link to PE art re ESRI deploying “geek squad” to aid including rescue ops. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_esri03.1dbc9b79.html Might consider giving Lou Nelson or J. Dangermond of ESRI link to blog site with info of folks needing rescuing I sent yst. [HT Instapundit] […] This is readers’ forum site for The Times Picayune Newspaper. Apparently folks needing rescuing have taken it over and posting msgs here. Here’s the latest post on this site. Ron PS This is example of high tech distributive com network at work. ***** Saturday, September 03, 2005 Federal Employees trapped in St. Bernard Ten federal employees are trapped on the roof of the police jury complex in St. Bernard parish in Chalmette, LA. St. Bernard parish has been hit harder by flooding than New Orleans. There has been no coverage. You can contact Kim Owens, who is on the roof, at 504.239.7105. They have a generator and can get cell calls and text messages. Please investigate why they haven’t been rescued or had supplies dropped to them. There have been many deaths in St. Bernard’s parish (county). Another contact is Christie Spegall at 225.664.2736 in Baton Rouge. http://www.nola.com/weblogs/nola/ ***** Here’s a related post Date: Sat Sep 03, 2005 06:13:16 PM PDT Subject: Lay the Blame where it Belongs KATRINA - Fed response may have lacked in some areas but indecision/inaction appears to be more in the realm of state and local political entities of Louisana. OK for the poltical writers. Here’s an intelligent comment posted at Blackfive Blog. Don’t have permlink to comment. Just scroll down the comment thread it’s not that far down. ***** I ran a load of generators and drum fuel down below Baton Rouge earlier in the week. 42 hours from Meridian, MS and back out again. Interesting trip and one that will be henceforth and forever left to someone much younger than me! This blame game just simply disgusts me frankly. Those are AMERICANS in dire straits. The finger pointing and political backbiting could’ve held off until we had everyone out of harm’s way but thus goes the absolute hatred that has divided our Country. Attacking a President while New Orleans flooded! Since it has begun in earnest I do have a couple of my own observations though. First of all there were assets on the ground as early as Monday and Tuesday that were not allowed to be utilized. The Governor of Louisiana refused to give the go ahead for use of force. She refused to declare martial law and place her assets in place. From what I’m gathering from the stuff I’m seeing on tv it was politically based. I just have to shake my head in wonder and amazement. I met some highly irritated folks that had their hands tied and watched the blame game begin as early as Monday. Martial law was not declared until the afternoon on Tuesday and even then the forces were not activated. You have to be from Louisiana to understand the total corruption of any form of government in the state. The fingers are being pointed to the Feds yet millions and millions of dollars have been boondoggled and squandered over the years for the very projects that are trying to be blamed for elsewhere. Do not be fooled. The consequences lie squarely with the local and state government of the state and no one else. Period! New Orleans itself has been a cesspool for 200 years and there was no big surprise over the behavior that followed a disaster. All you would have to do to understand is attend a Mardis Gras down there one time at street level to see what you are dealing with. The local political machine used the police departments as a jobs program even going so far as to only hire officers that lived within the city limits and doing away with other qualified personnnel simply because of address. The corruption of the entire chain of government is nothing new nor out of the ordinary for Louisiana. You have to ask yourself why these same problems were not evident in the other parts of the Gulf Coast that was decimated. Look at how quickly those states managed their assets and placed their areas under martial law. Backed up by force. The inpouring of aid to those areas began quickly and have increased daily. Not so in the areas controlled by a government that even refused to use their own evacuation plan to remove their own citizens and now want to place the blame on the Feds and military. Something about glass houses huh? The Feds mobilized three days before the hurricane hit but they could not move assets until requested, which didn’t come. I met guys that had been sitting on their hands for two days waiting for orders to move. Decisions were being based on political strategy and to hell with the people themselves. Now you are seeing the results of politicalization and a concerted effort at deflecting blame away from the very people that deserve it. Amazing! We’ve really sunken to a new low when people are bickering about politics before we have even removed the bodies. American Citizen bodies. Sometime or another people are simply going to have to take responsibility for their own actions. Politics be damned! Just my opinion. Take it or leave it as you see fit! Posted by: JarheadDad | Sep 3, 2005 12:48:36 PM Link at: http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/09/the_katrina_bla.html