I Want To Believe...

[dr_phil_physics]

... that people don't do terrible things to other people, whether with a weapon, a word or the callous stroke of a pen. I want to believe that something good can come of terrible times. I want to believe that my neighbors are good people. I'd like to believe that I'm an okay person, too, and not part of the problem.

But I do worry sometimes.

Down But Not Counted Out

I hadn't planned on being All Katrina All The Time -- there are so many websites, TV shows and blogs which are doing so -- but here I am again.

Whether merely determined, choosing not to be blinded by the naysayers or simply being idiots, there are people in and around New Orleans putting things back together in some areas much faster than the news stories of last week would have you believe. While I've no doubt that the still submerged areas are damaged and contaminated, some of the others are in better shape and people are returning to work on cleanup and repair, whether wanted or not by Those In Charge.

There May Yet Be Hotels

"Every hotel window in the main business/convention districts is broken," was how I'd heard it described. But maybe they aren't in such bad shape. Right now hotels are opening up some rooms in order to house FEMA and other personnel who need a place to sleep and live, in between their duties. The American Library Association (ALA) has a conference scheduled in New Orleans for Summer 2006. Word passed around that there was still a chance the ALA conference might still happen in New Orleans. They were waiting on more definitive word on what state the hotels and restaurants will be in by then.

But ALA doesn't want to cancel yet, in case they really can throw their millions in convention and conventioner dollars to support and help out New Orleans. (Relief and aid are one thing, jobs and income and a viable economic future are quite another.)

Pie-in-the-sky? Wishful whistling whilst the disease-infested waters still float by in some areas? Who can say? I suspect the damage is both less and worse than we know at this point. But you know, if they really end up having to bail out of New Orleans after all, I do wish ALA would consider trying to get convention space in Toronto. Poor Toronto hosted an ALA mid-summer conference a few years ago and the SARS scare dropped the attendance way down. My wife "bravely" faced down the specter of SARS and went anyway. (Oh I know when it was -- people were bringing back to the States their brand new copies of Harry Potter 5.)

And Then I Got Really Mad

So I was going to post the above as an upbeat kind of thing and move on, but in surfing around, I somehow got linked to a much darker and murkier sidestory. The Web is full of politics and misinformation, and I do so not want to get caught up in other people's agendas. So I'll just provide the next couple of links with a few side commentaries and leave it at that. If these be urban legends or hoaxes, then they're damn good ones.

Why didn't people just leave? Some people did try to leave and the governmental units kept saying NO and taking their stuff. Much of the commentary deals with (a) worrying the original postings were available on...(whisper the Dark Words) sfsocialists and (b) trying to independently verify some of the details.

The people in the above are apparently connected with the San Francisco EMT community and were attending a conference in New Orleans. The comments here include quite a few rounds of Very Old Disagreements Amongst The Regulars, but even that is telling in its own way.

and...

This from a conspiracy theory site about what was happening to an Oklahoma church camp, which rings too true to ignore out of hand -- recall the WW II Japanese-American internment camps in remote locations.

I read these things and want to scream... "I want out of this sci fi dystopia movie!"

Finally, It's Irony Time:

Apparently, September is National Preparedness Month. The Department of Homeland Security says so.

9/13 Tip Of The Day - Food for thought, or think food

Hey, Honey! I think maybe we should gather up some water and non-salty food (salt could dehydrate you, after all) just in case. Where would we put it? I dunno. How about in the basement? Never has flooded there...

Reality Chit

Managing a disaster, natural or manmade, is not fun. And one man's organization is another man's foul cry of Stalin! Nazis! Bastards! And communication is always key to these things.

But if I give any of these stories any credence at all, it is because media people, even Geraldo for gosh sakes (!!), managed to keep finding case after case and asking why after why? This has been the most public of disaster disasters -- and the fallout is going to be intense.

Perhaps I'll bunker down and gather my supplies of preparedness foods with me.

Dr. Phil

Comments

New Orleans Hotels and the worst case

[wendyb-09.livejournal.com]

On hotels- my college business fraternity (Delta Sigma Pi) also has future convention plans in New Orleans for our Centennial Celebration in 2007 - at the New Orleans Hyatt - that's right, the hotel next to the Superdome that is providing the spectacular footage of a high rise with all its windows blown out, blinds & curtains blowing in the wind. It is also the hotel that provided safe shelter in its central ballroom for stranded employees and tourists, and where the Mayor maintains a suite "just in case" he needs to stay downtown for something.

They are now using this same hotel to gear up as the center for the recovery effort, and the ballrooms/meeting rooms are being converted into tech-heavy headquarters for the various entities that have to be involved, including the government of the City of New Orleans. Yes, the windows are still missing from the upper floors, but every square inch in that building that is available is still being used to get the city back on its feet.

I've stayed in that hotel, eight years ago when the fraternity had a prior convention there. It's HUGE (has to be, it is physically attached to the Superdome by a series of walkways and a mall). Kudos to the Hyatt staff and management for their efforts.

Will our convention be there in 2007? Hard to say at this point, but the Hyatt convention/event planning department has assured our leadership that as soon as they know if or when they will rebuild, they'll iron out the details. Which probably means that if for some unforseen reason the New Orleans property cannot be considered, they will go that additional mile and find a place in the country for the over 2000 projected attendies (mostly college students) for our celebration. Although believe me, we'd all rather go to New Orleans and support the fine dining & wining establishments there!

As for survival gear topic - for many years I've kept a small propane camp stove and a couple of cylinders of fuel in a corner of a closet. I also always have on hand varioius canned foods (tuna, soup, etc) and lots of bottled water & gatorade, candles & batteries for a radio. So I'm good to go. All could be quickly tossed into a rolling suitcase for quick escape if needed, although if my second floor home on a hill needs flood relief, they better be bringing an ark!

And, last but not least - As for the governmental blame game going on at the moment - even though the Prez accepted partial blame for a few things yesterday...mistakes were made at all levels and there will be plenty of blame to go around once the body count is done.

Re: New Orleans Hotels and the worst case

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't mention your conference in this piece because it's for 2007, and ALA comes in the year before. Not too soon to worry about Summer 2006 (!). Besides, I just knew you'd chime in, dear sister.

The other day the excuse mongers were trying to explain that when they said "no one expected this", it was because the levees didn't break the first day and they'd "dodged the bullet." The problem with that, is there were out of the region National Guard troops geared up and ready to go STILL, there were busses and trucks on their way in STILL and continuous 24-hour multi-channel media coverage going on STILL -- which begs the question how some of the aid got turned away or requests/clearances weren't made when it became clear the bullets had boomeranged.

"Uh, honey? Could you answer the door? It's the Worst Case Scenario knocking and I'm still in my underwear."

Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil

Re: and the worst case award goes to...

[wendyb-09.livejournal.com]

And let us not forget the several hundred EMPTY school buses that were left parked at their service centers & schools...and are now useless pieces of scrap metal after standing in that nasty deep corrosive water for all this time. Could have saved countless lives AND the school buses...which methinks will be needed to get the schools back up and running.

PS - I lost track of how many people said they commandeered abandoned buses all over the region after the flooding started and it was obvious no one was coming to help them - they just helped themselves.

Re: and the worst case award goes to...

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if some racist decided that if the busses were left to be ruined, then "those awful other kind of children" wouldn't have to come into my nice neighborhoods -- but that's just because I have been hearing such nasty stories for days that I don't think everything got screwed up by accident...

Dr. Phil