Recommended Reading for FEMA Appointees
39 million people worldwide live as refugees or as internally displaced people (IDPs). For most people living in the United States it can be difficult to understand what the lives of displaced people are...
meehawl all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned
Termites Partying?
The Formosan Termites apparently like moist, hot conditions. Does anybody know if the waterlogged conditions in New Orleans will lead to an explosion in their numbers? Does the fact that their swarming occurs in...
A Bridge Too Far
The Baghdad Al-Aaimmah bridge calamity death toll seems to be hovering between 800 and 900. Slightly less than the 1,426 pilgrims suffocated in a Saudia tunnel during the 1990 Hajj.
Twinkle Twinkle
At night, the stranded shine flashlights that make it easier for Coast Guard crews to spot them … For Skarra, flying at night over the city of New Orleans presents an image as surreal...
Can U Dig It?
Chaos and gunfire hampered efforts to evacuate the Superdome, and, Superintendent P. Edward Compass III of the New Orleans Police Department said, armed thugs have taken control of the secondary makeshift shelter at the...
Ritz’s Thin Blue Line
At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Canal Street, Phyllis Patrick said she and other hotel guests were in “dire straits.” The hotel has been trying to bring in buses to evacuate them, but she said...
Everybody Loves What We’re Doing
In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent...
Private Enterprise
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management. April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration’s goal of...
Dutch Courage
Specialists in the Netherlands expressed surprise that New Orleans’s flood systems were unable to restrain the raging waters … “I don’t want to sound overly critical, but it’s hard to imagine that [the damage...
No Help Please, We’re Americans
Venezuela, a target of frequent criticism by the Bush administration, offered humanitarian aid and fuel. Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a $1 million donation for hurricane aid … in Moscow, a Russian official said...