The Spirit Realm

My last assignment before coming hereto Korea was with the organization that its secondary mission was as being the DoD Joint Task Force for natural disasters (we called it consequence management) west of the Mississippi. A category 5 hitting New Orleans was one of our nightmare scenarios (New Madrid fault being another). I really hope that we exercised high on body bags. This could get really really bad.

If people did not leave, they are suicidal. This is not like a hurricane hitting Florida, Alabama or anywhere else. If the levees around Lake Ponch go, then you should just call it Lake New Orleans. You can’t just “ride it out” because you are going to be underwater and there is a world of difference between a Cat 3 and a Cat 5. The wind is the easy stuff (other than helping break the levees). It is the storm surge that will be the big killer. Fires from floating gas and chemicals, disease will be the unhappy aftermath. If it goes real bad, New Orleans could effectively be destroyed.

I am not one real big on the power of prayer, but if you are, they need it down there now.

B

Apparently FEMA's budget has been cut so much that they can't afford a TV or internet connection. The head of FEMA was on all the news channels last night, swearing that his agency was unaware that the convention center was designated a gathering spot for those trapped in the city. I saw that mentioned a hundred times on all the news channels from when the hurricane hit.

And what's going on with the Astrodome? They were saying all day yesterday that it could hold 25,000 evacuees, but they stop taking people after the first 8,000 get there?

Wow Hodur, I missed that stuff.

Pelosi's grandstanding doesn't appear reasonable in light of this ass-kicking Brown got, although this really isn't about kicking Brown's ass (that's just too easy) - this should really be about figuring out what happened when, so to aid in identifying and correcting systemic flaws in our national emergency response capacity. Along the way, some decisions will look bad (like gutting FEMA).

I think Shays made a key point here: "I have come to the conclusion that this administration values loyalty more than anything else," Shays said, "more than competence or, frankly, more than the truth. And you have reinforced that view. . . . I'm left with the feeling [that] the administration feels they have to protect you."

He is right. This administration does not value truth, facts, science, or even results.