Thomas Friedman On New Orleans

In the NY Times:
Osama and Katrina

Besides ripping away the roofs of New Orleans, Katrina ripped away the
argument that we can cut taxes, properly educate our kids, compete with India and China, succeed in Iraq, keep improving the U.S.
infrastructure, and take care of a catastrophic emergency – without
putting ourselves totally into the debt of Beijing.
So many of the things the Bush team has ignored or distorted under the
guise of fighting Osama were exposed by Katrina: its refusal to impose a gasoline tax after 9/11, which would have begun to shift our economy
much sooner to more fuel-efficient cars, helped raise money for a rainy day and eased our dependence on the world’s worst regimes for energy; its refusal to develop some form of national health care to cover the 40 million uninsured; and its insistence on cutting more taxes, even when that has contributed to incomplete levees and too small an Army to deal with Katrina, Osama and Saddam at the same time.

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Keith Olbermann On New Orleans

Continuing in his great tradition of being the only one to have the cahunas to say in plain english what needs to be said, Keith Olbermann had a few important words to say about the New Orleans situation — and Bush’s utter failure in dealing with it.

But, nationally, these are leaders who won re-election last year largely
by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping the country safe.
These are leaders who regularly pressure the news media in this country
to report the reopening of a school or a power station in Iraq, and
defies its citizens not to stand up and cheer. Yet they couldn’t even
keep one school or power station from being devastated by infrastructure
collapse in New Orleans even though the government had heard all the
“chatter” from the scientists and city planners and hurricane centers
and some group whose purposes the government couldn’t quite discern…
a group called The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror
government. It promised protection or at least amelioration against
all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological.
It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological
weapon called standing water.

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Andrew Raseij For NYC’s Public Advocate

Andrew Raseij is running for Public Advocate in New York City on a platform of free wireless for all — as a public service. Nice progressive thinking.
The NY Times just profiled him too.

For Mr. Rasiej (pronounced ra-SHAY), being public advocate – the person who succeeds the mayor if he or she is incapacitated – is not just about triaging complaints from the public. It is also about fostering a revolution in the way people and government exchange information.
“The traditional model is that we elect a public official and they’re going to solve all our problems,” said Mr. Rasiej, 47. “I don’t believe that model works anymore. I don’t believe that one politician can solve the problems of eight million New Yorkers. I do believe that eight million New Yorkers can solve their own problems.”
He thinks that the Internet can help people organize and share ideas, and that the public advocate should make it possible for New Yorkers to use it. He has ideas aplenty about how that high-speed Wi-Fi could look.
For instance, Mr. Rasiej has begun a Web site (www.wefixnyc.com) where people can e-mail pictures of potholes with their locations, which become part of a photographic map.
After he found himself the sole person to testify at a City Council public hearing on education early this year, he created a new way for people to submit testimony over the Internet that produced about 700 submissions to a Council commission on school reform, said Melorra Sochet, the commission’s deputy director. Mr. Rasiej said that as public advocate, he would encourage people to submit testimony and view hearings over the Web.

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Meet The Press Covers The Incompetence Of The New Orleans “Rescue”

Here’s Aaron Broussard, President, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana on Meet the Press from yesterday morning, September 4, 2005.
Here’s an article about it in the Kansas City Star.
Video (Crooks and Liars)

My archive of this video

Tim Russert: First Mr. President Broussard. Let me start with you. You just heard the Director of Homeland Security’s explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?
Aaron Broussard: “The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonment of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.”

Clips On New Orleans From CNN

Here are some clips from CNN that ran this afternoon (September 4, 2005).
(Hopefully I’ll get some more up tonight, but now I want to get 60 min and meet the press up first, now that these are up.)
1. The Mayor of New Orleans blaming the Bush Administration for not providing proper assistance.
(video, MP3)
2. A rescuer explaining how he doesn’t even really consider what he’s doing “a real rescue,” because he’s “just moving people languishing on their roofs to languishing on the expressway.”
(video, MP3)
3. A general overview of the situation down there. (But note that today’s 60 Minutes program** challenges the allegation that the levees broke, giving the alternative explanation that it was two or more of the city’s 2 feet thick floodwalls that actually gave way.
(video, MP3)
(**This 60 minutes includes in interview with Al Naomi, who manages Flood Control for the Army Core of Engineers.)
(video, MP3)

Oops. Did another month just go by?

Damn. How’d dat happen?
Oh well, too late now. But I’m back for real this time (a likely story).
I’m at home working on some of my graduate projects, when I couldn’t help but turn on CNN to check in on whatever the hell is going on in New Orleans.
The result of which is a series of video clips that I’m about to put up here, that I would love it if you helped me follow up on, as my time is limited today and tomorrow, but, you know, timing’s a bitch 🙂
I’m trying to determine what is actually going on over there so I can determine how I can best help out. I read an article questioning the effectiveness of giving money to the Red Cross (like a “they’re not going to actually be there helping out, so don’t give them money” story) — that also contributed to my apprehension about just throwing money at the problem (my first response).

Nice Review of Primal Deconstruction In BPM

Yippie. The first review is in, and it’s a goodin’ I don’t think the online version is up yet, so here it is:
BPM – September 2005
“Dissent is back with their forth long player, Primal Deconstruction. If you enjoyed their last journey through emotion and sound this’ll surely treat you right. Gregory Howe, the brainchild behind the blunted, sonic landscape (who also happens to serve as el jefe for the label), delivers the sort of musical variety that makes a lasting impression. Between the brushed drums, loose horn arrangements, syrupy jazz licks, guitar strums and memorable beats, many arenas are dabbled in – it’s one big harmonius nuptial. But, without Howe’s clear vision and passion, the album would, no doubt, come off as yet another generic broken beat excursion. Thankfully that’s not the case-spectrum of sound serves as a sonic narrative, but the message is fully realized through the hauntingly sultry voice of Nathalie Sanchez. Highlights include the rhythmically adventurous uptempo jam “Native Time” and “Pouvez-Vous Voir Le Soleil,” which serves as a low-key coda to an elegant album.” (Jackie Chiles)