"Come Hell or High Water"--A Friend Writes Re: Hurricane

I can't sleep. If it wasn't cloudy, the sun would be coming up soon. The first humidity drenched tendrils of Hurricane Katrina are just reaching Newark NJ and I breathe the heavy, death-soaked droplets and they make me very wary. The other day I watched the hurricane on TV, and New Orleans continues to be deluged by broken levees, even as I write.

Doesn't that sound bizarre? That I "watched the hurricane on TV"? Imagine that, that you can witness such an event "live". And the feeling I had was not unlike the feeling I had while I watched the WTC explode on 9-11 - it was the unmistakable feeling of dread, devastation, and inevitability.

What's the difference in these situations? Well, not much, according to FEMA. Here's a quote from
http://www.americanprogressaction.org:

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as
"among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country," directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City.

Imagine that! And to continue the idiocy:

Two months ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped New Orleans prepare
for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million"
eduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001 levels. Reports at the time said that thanks
to the cuts, "major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. ...
Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now."

As I watched the hurricane, on TV, from my cozy air-conditioned bedroom on a sunny morning, one thought kept running through my head: "What's to say that New York City is immune from this kind of disaster?" But the consequences of that scenario were just too too unimaginable for my brain to comprehend. I could not create a reaction scenario for my hypothetical action scenario, as the creators of the movie, "The Day After" were able to do. I hope their scenario was way, way, way over the top!

The fact that the Bush Administration refuses to acknowledge Global Warming as a problem is .... what - Wrong? Well, yes, to me it is. But that's because I value life, I value the world we live in, I value my child's future. But his (their) agenda is different from mine, and to him/them it is NOT wrong. It's not "wrong" to kill hundreds of thousands and maim millions of people via the cloak of "collateral damage", create untold chaos and abject poverty around the world, and wreck the fragile infrastructure of our earth so that a welcome mat is put out for natural disasters that could be avoided with a little prudence.
[To see the whole letter please click on the title of this post.]

Roberta Piket's jazz blog hits politics sometimes

A jazz pianist we know has some great blog entries recently. Please click on the title of this blog to see.

Re: None Dare Call it Stolen

A retired journalist writes:

"I did see this article and read it in some detail -- pretty shocking detail of skull duggery in Ohio voting. Plenty of evidence of vote blocking and machine manipulation. It should still be investigated bya proper inquiry, even if the electoral college vote is over and done."

I finally read the article today, Saturday the 13th of August. It's a very good, damning round-up of tons of evidence of illegal
election procedures in OH. Did anyone ever think to themselves, "I wonder if Jimmy Carter could monitor Florida this year?"
Well, the State Department DID invite foreign vote monitors in 2004, some for Ohio, but those monitors were not allowed to watch any closer than 100 feet.

Not good news, but it's nice to see this finally coming out in a mainstream article.

Summary of Article in August Harper's which puts 2004 Ohio Vote Fraud reports into the Mainstream

I've bought the magazine, and not yet read the whole article, but check it out!
Click on the title of this post.
Harper's magazine website is:

http://www.harpers.org

We think that 2000 was stolen, but Gore made a bad legal decision not to ask for a recount of all of Florida.
Of course, that would have been even less likely to have been allowed. But here....

First Letter to the Blog re: Gore's "Current" channel

Jim Heffler writes:

"Podcasts??? Can you download the audio?

What would you expect from the Wall Street Journal reviewing Al Gore?
Have you watched the WSJ panel on Ch 13 right after "Now" on Friday
nights? I can't watch it. The bias comes right through."

No, these podcasts have been uploded to the station. You can just watch them.

I can see the logic in letting the WSJ have an editorial show on 13, because you'd think it would stop them from revoking PBS funds since they're getting an equal voice, and they do present it as editorial; but I happen to think that it's Tucker Carlson who's so under-prepared and unqualified. That's the one that steams me. Plus, Congress was still trying to revoke PBS funds despite their WSJ show after "NOW".

The latest thing, correct me if I'm wrong, is that they have a neo-con named Tomlinson in charge of Public Broadcasting, and progressive groups are worried that there will now be too much bias to the right. Until now the conservatives always complained it was too liberal. I'd have to defer to Sven on the current state of things (13), but he still seems to appreciate "The Jim Lehrer News Hour" and "NOW" is still great. I do see that, too. Keep me posted.

About "What do you expect?" from the WSJ on Gore's new station: Well, I know. But lots of people read the WSJ and even though we all know it's conservative, I want to be vigilant that they don't let down their guard just because it's "only the Arts and Leisure page" or the Taste page. Their entertainment pages are as conservative as their editorial postitions.

Jim replies:

What perhaps bothers me more than the right wing shows that have been
forced on PBS is the notion that they are showing more and more
entertainment and less and less political or social commentary.

"Antiques Road Show" every night, 60's rock and folk stars, the "Celtic
Woman" show last night. I suppose you can argue these shows bring in
viewers (and I'm not knocking the quality of the shows. I watch them
too.) But I can't help thinking that they're on because they're safer
than political/social stuff. Part of the "duck and cover" that Public
Radio and Television have been practising for some time now.

Al Gore's new channel for 18-34 y.o.'s, CURRENT

We like this new channel, which for us is 103. It has many youthful people doing the audio-video podcasts
which are supposed to help keep everyone in touch with each other. It is not exactly news. It is more
human interest. You can read today's WSJ review on the Taste Page in the Weekend Journal section, but I wouldn't
put a lot of stock in it unless you are about a bizillion years old.

"How many years old?", asks Sven.

A bizillion.

Well, I don't suppose it's the editor's job description to laud Al Gore's latest venture, but sheesh!
We were watching the same channel Eichman was yesterday, but he was so far from getting it.
No, you don't watch it all day, because it apparently does repeat.

Another Democracy for America Leader

Heather Woodfield manages the website of Democracy for NYC and runs a lot of Meetups. Like Tracey she is interested in a wide range of issues. To see a picture of her with Dean, you can click on the title of this post, which is a permanent link.

NY Buddhist Churchand Riverside Church remember 60th Anniversary of Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Friday at 6:30

6:30 PM on Friday. a ceremony will begin at the New York Buddhist Church at 105th st. and Riverside. A big bell
which survived the devastation at the center of the blast will be rung. They will walk meditatively up to Riverside
Church for more ceremonies.

I haven't read the PDF but it should have all the details.

LINK

Tracey Denton, Local Leader, with Howard Dean

This is Tracey Denton, a New York lawyer who went to work for the Dean candidacy in her spare time, founding
dean4nyc.org, which became what is now dfnyc.org, when Dean dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, the night of which I addressed in a recent post(Dean Reconsiderd). Since the current aim of local Dean groups is to get all kinds of progressive candidates elected, Tracey recently helped hold a party for Norman Siegel, who is running for NYC Public Advocate. Along with Heather Woodfield, Ms. Denton runs the Democracy for New York City Meetups, the newsletter and the website:

http://www.dfnyc.org

Speaking of Norman Siegel, Sven and I were sitting in a dark corner at this party, mostly alone, when Norman came up to us
and asked us what we did. I was wondering if this was one of those guys who introduces himself to everyone at parties... but
suddenly it dawned on me that this was the candidate. We both like his record very much. [I don't know the man on the left.]