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Hey guys, I'm alive. I actually live in Kenner, outside of NO. I am CURRENTLY living in my office as my house is still flooded. Working as part of the government through this lends a different perspective of what's going on.

Hey, lectric, you Louisiana Republican! It is very excellent to read your post here. And I mean that. There is so much 2nd and 3rd hand information.
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For the record, then National Guard WAS deployed before the storm hit. I have become friends with our contingent here as is bound to happen to people when they are living under these conditions. Unfortunately, the NG was intended to be here on a humanitarian effort only. They were not planning on needing ANYTHING like they need now. Despite what is being reported, I have seen massive federal aid coming in. For a long while it was more than our airport could handle. Our government is not holding out on us, it as just caught ith its pants down.

What I have to say comes from an unaffected citizen sitting high and dry in the Northwest, so you can keep your grain of salt handy.....

I have nothing but thanks for the members of the NG who are trying to do what they can. I do have issues with the "pants down" problem, though. DHS' Chertoff said something like "Katrina broke the mold...blah, blah, blah" but I think that is complete BS. DHS and their diminished stepchild FEMA ran sand table exercises and from what I can tell (and I wait to be contradicted) the parties simply were not interested in following the scenarios through to their worst conclusions. Mad Max anarchy conclusions. That is too bad.

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Also, communications here are a complete nightmare. We cannot make phone calls out from here. We can only recieve some phone calls. This will vastly slow response time.
One thing I am grateful for is that I have no access to TV. I don't think I could handle atching hat is going on. 2 police officers here commited suicide last night as a result of the stress. I know of 5 other people personally who did the same because they couldn't take it.


This is really, really bad. I don't know what else to say.
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Yesterday I was assigned to escort our media person to the media trucks. I had to see first hand the destruction in Orleans Parish. The pictures you are seeing are still likely current. As of last night, the water is still past the rooflines of all the homes I saw. I also had to go to the airport. I can't describe the suffering I've seen. Ya'll, please, we need your support. Forget about placing blame for now, please. We need your efforts to be used in a better manner. Understand, we have FEMA and police and firefighters being fired upon while they're trying to help save people. I just recieved word that the police chief of NO committed suicide. Still a rumor at this point, but unfortunately a believeable one.

I hope any such rumors at this point are just rumors -- that help is being felt.

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As to the numbers of people dying, the initial estimates are ranging from 15-20 thousand, but that number will surely rise as more people are found trapped in their attics and drowned and further still from the disease that is sure to come.

I'm trying but words fail to describe what horror I'm being witness to. My access is very spotty, but I'll try and give updates when I can.

Thanks very much for what you've told us. I can't imagine the words that would describe.

I should probably apologize. I think that there are times whn I take all of this personally - like the pains of Katrina are designed to bring Jim down. As if I Jim should feel so sorry for himself as he sits here in high-and-dry Seattle sipping lemonade. I do feel really sad over all of this, though. I sooo wish that we could have done better. But enough...

I have tried to figure out how to respond/help in my very limited terms. I have to say -- so shoot me -- that I wouldn't give a freaking *dime* to the Red Cross given their horrible track record over the past decade. So what is a secular humanist to do? Giving money to "faith-based" soup kitchens is not an option....

So a few mights I watched news coverage of a town in Louisiana as they took in refugees and set them up on cots in the high school gym. The folks fluffing the pillows all seemed like really nice people just trying to help other humans - white, black, yellow, brown -- in need. So I emailed the Chamber of Commerce and they emailed back right away saying "You bet, we're gonna have a fund at the local bank starting Tuesday AM" and the woman included the phone number. So Tuesday I can send a few bucks to Louisiana to help out the folks camped out in the gym. I am not sure this is the best, most systematic way to respond. I would like to think that there is a very scientific, carefully-thought-out way to support these folks in need. And what about all of the other towns in Louisiana and elsewhere that didn't manage to get their names on network news? So maybe there's a place to develop a Katrina sister city program. In the meantime, I figure I can direct a few bucks to real people and, for better or worse, they can figure out who could use the help.
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Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.