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Lake George
Sep. 4th, 2005 01:21 pmKatrinia and the lack of preparation on the federal level
The following is my introduction to the Shockwave Radio broadcast of 9/3/05, edited for the web. You can hear the entire program on the KFAI archives (scroll down to Shockwave, most current show until next week).
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last week. As listeners remember, I was in Gulfport, MS in July. My brother Dan and his family live near there, and we went up and down the now devastated part of Mississippi and into New Orleans. My brother played host to me, who was playing tourist. Now, I wish we'd done more. Dan bought his house because it was higher than the previous high water mark in the area. Alas, that mark has been obliterated. The house is a mess. It's still standing, but everything on the first floor is smashed against the walls. Sheesh, and that's where I was staying.
( Make backups and hold Bush and co. accountable )
My family knew what was coming and made preparations to reduce the disaster's impact on them. Why couldn't the Bush administration act with foresight? Why did it take so long to mobilize relief efforts? Why couldn't Republicans in Congress heed the warnings and prepare... as they were advised to do four years ago?
I suspect we won't get an answer. We'll just get more whining and finger pointing and charges of "Bush Bashing". Idiots.
Meanwhile, Shockwave Radio Theater has some suggestions, namely:
The Top 11 things that will get a faster government response than dire warnings of catastrophe.
Credit for the idea and several of these from cobaltgreen's Live Journal entry:
11. Announce they are giving late term abortions in the Superdome.
10. Spread the rumor that they're thinking about disconnecting the feeding tube of a white woman in a coma in one of the remaining New Orleans hospitals.
9. Win the Tour de France seven times in a row
8. Proudly announce that without proper government paperwork to hinder them, ministers are performing gay marriages.
7. Out a CIA agent and then whine about the media.
6. Have lots of money and demand to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom
5. Have someone related to Osama bin Laden demand to visit Bush's Crawford compound.
4. Publish a textbook that doesn't mention Intelligent Design.
3. Be a member of the cabinet... no wait, that won't work. Be a former member of the cabinet and publish your memoirs.
2. Hire a gay prostitute to get White House press credentials. Bush can claim a mandate. (With or without the space in "mandate".)
1. Find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, or merely claim to.
In New Orleans, the people cleaning up the mess are really pissed about it, and are naming the flood waters Lake George. I suspect much of the New Orleans area will be Lake George for a while, if not forever. Metafilter (care of Daily Kos) comes a reminder of a book that says the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 provoked a response that paved the way for the New Deal.
Coming soon: Podcasts!
This just in: Chief Justice Wm. Renquist died Saturday evening. Now two of the five justices who voted in the majority in Bush vs. Gore are off the bench. Is g_d trying to tell us something?
Nah. But it's nice to be able to throw questions like these back at the fundies.
The following is my introduction to the Shockwave Radio broadcast of 9/3/05, edited for the web. You can hear the entire program on the KFAI archives (scroll down to Shockwave, most current show until next week).
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last week. As listeners remember, I was in Gulfport, MS in July. My brother Dan and his family live near there, and we went up and down the now devastated part of Mississippi and into New Orleans. My brother played host to me, who was playing tourist. Now, I wish we'd done more. Dan bought his house because it was higher than the previous high water mark in the area. Alas, that mark has been obliterated. The house is a mess. It's still standing, but everything on the first floor is smashed against the walls. Sheesh, and that's where I was staying.
( Make backups and hold Bush and co. accountable )
My family knew what was coming and made preparations to reduce the disaster's impact on them. Why couldn't the Bush administration act with foresight? Why did it take so long to mobilize relief efforts? Why couldn't Republicans in Congress heed the warnings and prepare... as they were advised to do four years ago?
I suspect we won't get an answer. We'll just get more whining and finger pointing and charges of "Bush Bashing". Idiots.
Meanwhile, Shockwave Radio Theater has some suggestions, namely:
The Top 11 things that will get a faster government response than dire warnings of catastrophe.
Credit for the idea and several of these from cobaltgreen's Live Journal entry:
11. Announce they are giving late term abortions in the Superdome.
10. Spread the rumor that they're thinking about disconnecting the feeding tube of a white woman in a coma in one of the remaining New Orleans hospitals.
9. Win the Tour de France seven times in a row
8. Proudly announce that without proper government paperwork to hinder them, ministers are performing gay marriages.
7. Out a CIA agent and then whine about the media.
6. Have lots of money and demand to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom
5. Have someone related to Osama bin Laden demand to visit Bush's Crawford compound.
4. Publish a textbook that doesn't mention Intelligent Design.
3. Be a member of the cabinet... no wait, that won't work. Be a former member of the cabinet and publish your memoirs.
2. Hire a gay prostitute to get White House press credentials. Bush can claim a mandate. (With or without the space in "mandate".)
1. Find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, or merely claim to.
In New Orleans, the people cleaning up the mess are really pissed about it, and are naming the flood waters Lake George. I suspect much of the New Orleans area will be Lake George for a while, if not forever. Metafilter (care of Daily Kos) comes a reminder of a book that says the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 provoked a response that paved the way for the New Deal.
Coming soon: Podcasts!
This just in: Chief Justice Wm. Renquist died Saturday evening. Now two of the five justices who voted in the majority in Bush vs. Gore are off the bench. Is g_d trying to tell us something?
Nah. But it's nice to be able to throw questions like these back at the fundies.