Thin Lines

I don't possess nearly enough talent to say much useful about the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina.

The pictures and reports coming out of the Gulf Coast are no less than horrifying. I can only imagine the terror felt by the 30,000 people now more or less trapped inside the Superdome. Or those eeking it out in their darkened attics or rooftops.

The most important thing is that each and every one of us make whatever relief donation we can. I have given my donation to an organization that I know well and trust, Operation USA.

Katrina reminds us quite starkly what the real terms be of our relationship to the forces of nature. If nothing else, a disaster of this scale should keep our own swollen self-importance in some sort of perspective.

Tonight, while some wonder if they will be found and saved -- if they can put off dehydration or drowning for another few hours-- some others in West Los Angeles, by contrast, are only panicked that they will have to dial a three number overlay on their prestigious area code.

Such a fine line between "normalcy" and chaos, between civilization and barbarism. Between life and death.

Just a few months ago I spent five days in Biloxi and Gulfport. As I drove the coastal highway I was jarred by the flatness of it all.

Here in Southern California the Pacific Coast Highway is almost always elevated from from the beach. Much of the coast is lined with sloping rises and even palisades that offer at least the illusion of protection.

But as I drove up and down that Mississippi strip of road the flat, gulf waters on one side of the car looked to be absolutely level with the city on the other. Only a small sliver of beach stood in between. I wondered what could keep an elevated tide from simply flooding everything and everyone in its path.

The answer, apparently, was nothing.

Comments

[rosedog]

Operation USA. Good suggestion, Marc. They're the real thing. I've known Richard Walden, the president of Op USA, for almost 30 years. Went with them on two of their first four flights---to Southeast Asia. Nearly nothing goes to administrative costs.

Do give to them, guys, if you're of a mind. You'll know the money has gone straight to where it's most needed.

Not a good week for zydeco music. It's, as you said, Marc, beyond description. Yesterday morning it really looked like everybody'd dodged the bullet. Guess not.

Louisiana's Governor, Kathleen Blanco, looks like an exhausted, devastated mother who’s being strong anyway. Biloxi looks like….I don’t know…. flattened.

Peace.

[Michael J. Totten]

"But as I drove up and down that Mississippi strip of road the flat, gulf waters on one side of the car looked to be absolutely level with the city on the other."

That's spooky. I guess the people who live there are used to it, but the Oregon coast (an hour or so from where I live) isn't like that at all.

Twice in the past year we've been reminded that the ocean is dangerous. All of a sudden I'm glad a mountain range stands between me and it.

[gamekeeper]

Operation USA is good Marc. also I have donated to the Red Cross
Just as important is The Humane Society, for all of you that are worried
about the animals, I am, and have also donated to them this evening. My heart is heavy
for all the people in the gulf tonight who have to endure these very bad times.

[Jay Byrd]

"If nothing else, a disaster of this scale should keep our own swollen self-importance in some sort of perspective.

Tonight, while some wonder if they will be found and saved -- if they can put off dehydration or drowning for another few hours-- some others in West Los Angeles, by contrast, are only panicked that they will have to dial a three number overlay on their prestigious area code."

Never too swollen to make a petty dig, eh?

[Michael Turner]

One of those nights when you shouldn't click on the Google News toolbar icon.

Katrina: New Orleans sounds like the plotline from one of those bad J.G. Ballard potboilers from early in his career. 80% of the city flooded, looting, martial law in some districts. Much of southern-state oil production halted.

Iraq: An estimated 600 dead in a stampede in Baghdad when participants in a Shi'ite pilgrimage panicked on rumors of a suicide bomber in their midst. If that figure is anywhere near accurate, the rumor was more lethal than any suicide bombing so far in Iraq. Great news, with all this "eve of civil war" buzz already, eh?

U.S. economy: The U.S. poverty rate is up for the fourth straight year since this supposed "recovery" began. And the poor are rather vulnerable to the final bit of grim news: Katrina has pushed oil prices almost to $71/bbl, which is only $15 short of one projected "oil shock" price (a figure derived from adjusting 1979 prices for inflation and improved fuel economy, IIRC). Supposedly this oil market is at least partly a bubble. However, in staid journals like the Financial Times, they are talking about how prices may never go back down much.

Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley thinks the U.S. is already in oil shock even at mid-August prices, for all practical purposes.

http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/aug05/352128.asp
---
"In my view, the American consumer is very much at risk in the current oil shock," he wrote. "First, U.S. households have drawn their savings rates down to zero. By contrast, in earlier oil shocks, consumers had a cushion of savings they could rely on in order to maintain existing lifestyles - savings rates that averaged 9.5% in the two shocks of the 1970s and 7% in the shock just prior to the Gulf War in early 1991. Today, the only saving backstop is embedded in an increasingly precarious housing bubble."
---

Let's pray that all this bad news precipitates nothing worse than a general, slow, deliberate climbdown to sanity.

[Abbas-Ali Abadani]

Just, FYI

If you're going to follow Marc's link and give via Operation USA be sure that you specifically indicate that the money is to be allocated for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Towards the end of the form, there is a box labeled "other". Check that and write "Hurricane Katrina" in the space next to it.

[rosedog]

One assumes that no one really knows at this point, if the fixes to the New Orleans levees and building of new pump stations flagged as essential by the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project and being carried out by Army Corps of Engineers, but never completed due to funding cuts directly related to the costs of the Iraq war combined with Federal tax cuts, would have made a significant difference in lessoning the devastation unfurling now in such vast and heartbreaking panoramas. But it bears contemplation:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

[Chip Aster]

Just curious. How much money did you give?

[Marc Davidson]

I'll descend to the depths of what many will regard as political opportunism to point out that there are, as I've heard, 3000 Louisiana National Guard members in Iraq defending us from mushroom clouds, terrorists, and anti-freedom forces rather than in New Orleans helping the folks there.
But so much for that. Let's get united around the leader as he puts on his star-spangled overalls.

[richard lo cicero]

But did you see the Pres play his new guitar with Presidential Seal on it? Paging Nero! But lets guve him a break - he did cut his vacation short by TWO DAYS!

Colonel in charge of Army Corps of Engineers for NOLA says that once the pumps can be started - after the levees are repaired - it will take THREE to SIX months to pump all the water out. That sure knocked Wolf Blitzer on his ass. Three to Six - wow!

[jim hitchcock]

"But did you see the Pres play his new guitar with Presidential Seal on it?"

Did he play `Home on the Grange'?

Aug 29 PDB - "Katrina determined to strike inside United States"

President - "Hey, watch this drive"

Its de ja vu all over again.

[Ezra P. Jackson]

Operation U.S.A. might be a great organization, but I wonder why CEO Richard Walden, in 2003, was paid $110,856 in salary and $21,300 in benefits and deferred compensation. Maybe he could send some of his money to the good people in dire need in New Orleans. (These numbers are from the group's own 990 form that can be found on its website.)

[rosedog]

Genuinely good question, Ezra.

Answer, Richard scrimped, saved, ran through personal savings from his earlier lawyerly days, did whatever it took to run Op USA since 1979, when it was started. So now that he's in his latter 50's, his board of directors allocates him a nice salary that allows him to pay his mortgage without worry and to send his two kids to college (but not to put them in private high schools, trust me), and to pay his ailing youngest kid's medical bills. If you looked at the rest of their numbers, and saw the ratio of $ worth of aide gotten to recipients on the ground in relation to staff/salary ratio, you'd feel okay.

[rosedog]

P.S.... At the risk of sounding like a complete shill for this single relief organization, one more thing. The way Op USA works is that, rather than buying relief supplies, with few exceptions they get all their supplies donated then use their own donated cash to get the supplies to where they need to go. Most aid organizations, instead, buy their relief supplies on the open market at enormous cost and a big markup. International aid, in particular, is big business. It's slightly more complicated than what I'm explaining, but not only does Op USA use a comparatively tiny staff to accomplish a great deal, but all their collected funds are greatly maximized by the nature of their relief supply donation model.

(I hope the above makes sense. I haven't had a great deal of sleep.)

[Patrick]

Here are some numbers that illustrate Rosedog advocacy of OP USA

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/4268.htm

Note the efficiency rating of 39.58 out of a possible 40.00 and with 97.3 of budget going into programs.

Patrick

[patrick]

Chip Aster writes

"Just curious. How much money did you give?"

Could you elaborate on the nature of your curiousity? Your question to (whomever) strikes me as rude and unproductive but maybe I'm not being fair.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Tom Lord]

I've written a comment about how progressives can help prepare for the longer term (probable, not certain) impact of this disaster:

"Aside from the immediate human tragedies in the region struck by
Katrina evidence is accumulating that a nation-wide economic crisis
may be close on its heals which may amplify that human tragedy wildly.

I'll give you a taste for what I've been reading and then suggest some
useful political actions." [....]

full text at:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/dasht_brk

-t

[Benjamin GUIHAIRE]

Marc,
How are you doing?

[Abbas-Ali Abadani]

It's unbelievable.

Just yesterday most of us thought that things weren't going to be as bad as first predicted.

Turns out to have been much, much worse.

At least a million people displaced, everything they ever had gone. Not just their homes, but their home*towns* gone. Thousands, in all probability, killed. A wide swath of the deep south just destroyed. Everything will have to rebuilt from scratch.

It's just incredible.

Is the whole population of New Orleans really going to be relocated to Houston, TX?

Fucking mindboggling.

And this isn't even taking into account the economic devastation that the storm has left in its wake.

[Susan]

Below is an excellent resource link, via fema for info and contributions for the Gulf Coast disaster.

http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/resources_katrina.shtm#canhelp

I am devastated, and feel in terms of NOLA like an old friend passed on -- having lived in New Orleans for many years and purchased a new home there just last October which did not close escrow. I just found out this afternoon that two of my dear friends have passed due to drowning and I have not be able to reach at least a dozen other folks I am extremely close too...

Much poetry will be written about this in the days and years to come, as well as music -- for now the tune that comes to mind for me is the standard that was written the day that Buddy Holly died...American Pie...in particular the line from that tune..."...the day the music died".....

I am beyond heart sick......

[too many steves]

We should do all we can for those affected by this natural disaster. I have given and, fortunately, my company has a matching gifts program that doubles my contribution. But my sympathy has a limit given the choice of those who live in a place surrounded by water that is, on average, several feet below sea level.

And to some of those who left comments above: I do understand now that shrub and his illegal war are to blame. I get it, I really do. Even if it is just that he has diverted resources that could otherwise be deployed to help. I mean, its not like he created the hurricane, right?

[jim hitchcock]

Susan, so sorry.

[Susan]

Jim - thanks much -- it is going to be hard now for so many--- the scope and magnitude of this is something I believe none of us can begin to wrap our arms around.....

[Randy Paul]

Gosh, Susan. Hang in there. My heart goes out to you and everybody affected directly by this.

Marc, I've spent a lot of time in Biloxi, both pre and post-casino. Everything is indeed flat around there.

On the other hand the mountains near the PCH and between the ocean and Portland are a double-edged sword: volcanos and/or earthquakes. Let's not forget it was an earthquake that started the tsunami.

I grew up in Miami where I lived through a number of hurricanes. I lived in Huntsville, AL which is famous for tornadoes and I endured a couple of earthquakes. Here's is how I rate these three natural disasters in terms of sheer terror:

1.) Tornadoes are far and away the worst. They come with little or virtually no warning and are incredibly destructive.

2.) Hurricanes. The only advantage over tornadoes are the advance warnings.

3.) Earthquakes. Initially scary, but mercifully brief (except for aftershocks). Good construction can help survive them.