Hurricane Katrina

[Sonny]

I know that lil lady lax fan briefly stated that we all have to be aware of scamming, be it by phone or by email or whatever form it comes in. For example, I got an email from someone yesterday in which an email purports that the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) is giving out free food stamps and free gasoline to evacuees. It also had a link, so I decided to test it and found out that it was a broken link.

Don't click on those links you get in random emails. Most of them are pure scams at worst. At best, they are phising for valid email addresses for more spam.

[mbuff]

We don't have a TDHS here in Texas. We have Texas Department of Health (TDH) and a Department of Human Services (DHS). DHS deals with food stamps I think. Since I work for a county hospital, I know that TDH has nothing to do with the food stamp program. We have social workers that will refer a patient to DHS but that's it. The scammers are out in force it appears. If you are donating money, I'd only go with the Red Cross. Maybe Catholic Charities because they are big, well known, and I think they were pretty big into the NO area. I'm not catholic but this is the south and it seems like the churches are better connected to the disaster areas than are the backslapping bureaucrats at this point.

Billy or Matt- Do you have any command & control info in the NO area? I have a 3 day weekend and can drive down and help if they require any of my skillsets but can't find out any useful info. Our swift water rescue guys are still sitting here b/c they can't find out any staging info either (as of yesterday afternoon). Is your cell up and working?

PS - Thanks for the vid. Plaquemain looks much like I thought.

[Tarzan]

Buff you can call me at the office 985-446-6868. I am here all day and have even slept here a couple of times! My sister's roommate is a nurse here in Thibodaux and has been splitting time between the Hospital and NSU (which has about 1,000 refuges). She has been working non-stop. I can contact them and see if they need help. You are more than welcome to crash at my place!

[TexOle]

Good point about donating. I know the United Methodist Church is running a drive. The Salvation Army is another good group. I am still waiting for the response that we got after 9/11. You know the one about coming to New York and spending money. If someone tells me to drive to New Orleans this New Year's eve and hit up Bourbon Street I am going to laugh. It is not that I do not want to help, but I am not going to go there and get in the way of those working. I liked Woody Paige's comments on Around the Horn yesterday where he told everyone who planned on watching football that if they would donate a few dollars to help with the relief effort then it would go a long way to helping everyone in New Orleans.

[Sonny]

From another thread...

I have signed up to help house a small family with my family in Seabrook. I ask others in the LSA Lacrosse community to do the same. You will get support from the American Red Cross and FEMA regarding food and clothing for the refugees. Help give these poor people back their dignity in their time of need. As the good lord says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It could have been us on the Texas gulf coast. Billy, how are you and the boys doing? Prayers to Tulane, NSU, Loyola and LSU. We here in Houston are here for our sister city on the gulf! Please go to the link!
http://www.shareyourhome.org/

[KerrLax]

Sonny, about your concerns for the government bailing the coasts out all the time, while living in Florida this summer I heard that insurance companies in Florida are going to sell limited numbers of policies in the next few years and then sell none. This could be potentially terrible, since our government couldn't possibly say no to helping these people. The scary part is that people would still live in Florida and have no problem not having insurance.

On another sports note - what about the NO sportings team's seasons? The Hornets are already looking at OK City and the Saints are looking at the Alamodome. Think the city will lose both franchises? The Saints need to tell Joe Horn to stop talking to the media. He said something on ESPN about being amazed at how long it took the proper powers to respond and put the relief in motion, and then he talked about how he is buying meals for people and stuff but it came off incredibly cocky the way he said it.

Primetime Deion Sanders said every professional player needs to donate at least $1,000 of their money. I like the way those who have are contributing. The Mannings sent 31 tons of non-perishable items to NO, Warrick Dunn is giving a few hundred thou, and Steve McNair did some thing. It's amazing how this thing has brought out the best of some people and the worst of others.

They are thinking about sending active Army infantry to NO. A friend of mine's husband is in the 4th infantry and he is waiting to go over to Iraq in November, but they said they might send them to NO for the time being. The General down there made a key point to make sure people know "this situation will not be Iraq." Let's hope they don't open up on the looters.

[mbuff]

I sure hope they send in the 4th ID or an active unit that has a leader that can take charge of this mess. We need a Patton, McArthur, or S'kopf that will go in there leading from the front and tell the folks face to face "I'm here now to get you out", because that's what my Army does.

I've spent the better part of this evening talking to Tarzan on the phone trying to get a tasking in LA since my orginal plan of driving a bus to NO fell through. Tarzan is working his town y'all. He hooked me up with a nurse at the Thib hospital and they are fine staff wise there. They do need relief nurses at their shelter though. I'm not a nurse but if you are a nurse and can go to LA, and either Tarzan or I can get you the numbers to hook you up.

The nurse gave me the local Red Cross number but it's taking me about an hour per call to get through right now. Our shelter here is doing fine and we have about 1200 LA residents in town now.

If anybody knows of a central volunteer clearinghouse, not every msg board in the web but one that is specific and lists taskings and contacts, could you please post the detail here?

[mbuff]

Right after I posted above, I turned on the TV and I see an real Lt General standing in the middle of a flooded street with a convoy of HEMITTs rolling through the water.

LTG Honoree(sp) has arrived in NO. Heard Mayor Nagin said "he came off the chopper and started cussing and people started jumping". The good general is from LA so he's a stakeholder in this. MSM said the convoy was 50 trucks with food and water. Now we're getting somewhere.

Another correction - Lil Lady you had the right agency in your earlier post. Brent PM'd me and I confirmed it at the hospital that TDH and DHS have been merged. Funny but TDH must be using up their supply of letterhead and they still need to change their automated phone message.

[Jay Wisnieski]

Was anyone watching NBC tonight? Did anyone see Kanye West? Here's a link that explains it if you didn't see it:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... rtainment/

The look Mike Myers gave Kanye right before the director cut to a shot of Chris Tucker was hilarious.

[mbuff]

I saw that West guy and I don't know who he is but WTF?

He called them "MY PEOPLE". He sure does not live in my neighborhood and my "hood" goes from NM across to LA and AR and up to OK. I had to look this guy up and he's from Chicago. Mr. West these are not "your people" they are my neighbors and my neighbors are dying in the streets.

So Mr. Big Rapper or Hip Hopster or whatever you label yourself, bring yourself down south and make sure that you don't forget your checkbook because I need a big bus with a wheelchair lift so I can drive to NO and get my neighbors (oops your people since it's your money) out of the soup.

Now my plan was to get the folks to a decent shelter, but since you're so hooked up maybe you can get them all checked into the Anatole in Dallas on the Hollywood dime. My buds and I can't do that but you could and maybe even get a tune out it. I didn't understand much that you said on TV because your speech was sort of incoherent but maybe that is part of your flow. I listen to oldies like Led Zep and AC/DC so please don't be offended. It's just a generational thing.

My cell is 936*371*1724. Give me a call because we need to get this done asap. I only have a 3 day weekend and the bus I had lined up has an electrical problem. If you call me tonight and commit the funds, I can have the bus over to Ford first thing and be on the road by noon.

I'm counting on you at this point Mr. West. Don't let "Your People" down.

----
On a serious note, they've opened the airport and when my dad finishes his DFW-MIA run tomorrow, his name will be on the list to fly relief flights out of DFW.

If there is any nurses out there that can go to LA to work in a shelter, Tarzan or I have a contact phone number to a nurse that can get you hooked up. Everybody in the USLIA should give Billy a hand because he's working the Thibadoux - Houma area like he was elected or something.

[Brent Burns]

I am looking at the "after-hurricane" satellite map of New Orleans. I can see that Tulane University and Loyola University are flooded, but what about the University of New Orleans that is right to the lake? The satellite map shows that UNO may not be flooded. What about Xavier University?

I am curious as to how many students are approximately enrolled at the combined universities (TU, LNO, UNO, and XU).

[Tarzan]

West, Jesse Jackson and the black Caucus are making the same argument and it makes me sick to my stomach. I expect this type of nonsense from Jackson, but I want to scream at him: THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS TYPE OF TALK!! The people in the impacted areas don't need another spark under an already volatile situation. Instead of feeding the fire they should get off their butts and do something!
I have heard some compare this tragedy to 9/11….This thing is 40 times the scope of 9/11. The news mainly reports New Orleans, but rarely shows the parishes of St Bernard, Plaqumines, St Tammany, St Charles, Jefferson and the States of Mississsippi and Alabama, which were all actually hit harder than New Orleans. This event is huge and there is culpability to be spread in all directions….WHEN WE ARE DONE SAVING PEOPLES LIVES!!! So shut-up or get out the way!

BTW- Thanks Buff for your kind words, but I am just another piece of the vast machine trying to put our lives back together!

One more place to give (they take paypal):
http://www.2theadvocate.com/relief/

[lil lady lax fan]

West, Jesse Jackson and the black Caucus are making the same argument and it makes me sick to my stomach. I expect this type of nonsense from Jackson, but I want to scream at him: THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS TYPE OF TALK!! The people in the impacted areas don't need another spark under an already volatile situation. Instead of feeding the fire they should get off their butts and do something!
I have heard some compare this tragedy to 9/11….This thing is 40 times the scope of 9/11. The news mainly reports New Orleans, but rarely shows the parishes of St Bernard, Plaqumines, St Tammany, and the States of Mississsippi and Alabama, which were all actually hit harder than New Orleans. This event is huge and there is culpability to be spread in all directions….WHEN WE ARE DONE SAVING PEOPLES LIVES!!! So shut-up or get out the way!

BTW- Thanks Buff for your kind words, but I am just another piece of the vast machine trying to put our lives back together!

One more place to give (they take paypal):
http://www.2theadvocate.com/relief/

I know that it seems like Jesse and the others are beating a dead horse, but unfortunately that's what you sometimes have to do up on Capital Hill--be the irritating squeeky wheel. If you wade through the political rhetoric you will see that they are hoping to get some additional support--in the form of long-term legislation--to try to prevent this from happening again. You have to hit early and hit hard to make an impression on some of these folks, otherwise they forget in no time flat. At least that is probably true of the Black Caucus in Congress. Congressional members have a short attention span when it comes to tragedies such as this. Once all the hullabaloo has settled down they will go back to business as usual. Hopefully the stink being made by Jesse and company will keep the events in peoples minds a little longer. It's just too bad they have to play the racial card so prominently to make their point.

I have to agree with you--this is no 9/11. What happened in New York and DC was much more contained and, quite frankly, easier for the law enforcement officials to deal with in part due to the faster response keeping folks tempers in check. The response to Katrina's devistation was also much slower than it should have been. Learning experiences are often painful. Let's hope that this keeps history from repeating itself in the distant future.

I have to say, mbuff, I'm envious of you. I think it's great that both you and your Dad are helping out in a more physical way. It's folks like you, Tarzan and all the others helping out in the trenches that are the unsung heroes. I wish I could do more than make a donation and post on the board. Unfortunately, living so far from what's going on kind of ties my hands. I'll do what I can though. My company's planning on helping out with the clean-up once the waters recede. With the amount of buildings that were damaged I'm sure we will have lots of samples heading our way in a few weeks. Good luck to all in LA, MS and AL.

[Tarzan]

They are free to say what they want (and even play the race card if they feel they must), but my main point is: Now is not the time!! The volatility of the situation is such that these types of words will only make things worse!

Get things done now...Point fingers later!

BTW- I personally know of specific blame that should be placed on certain people, but you will not hear me say a word about it till everyone is safe....To do otherwise would be reckless, irresponsible, and inconsiderate of the situation.

[mbuff]

Tarzan - phone situation is still FUBAR. Tried to call you this AM. Looks like busses are rolling now so we may be getting more folks up this way from HOU unless they go to SA.

The local number that Laurie gave me told me to show up and they would find something. Decided that since the trip was not worth it unless I could go long term there. Instead I took all the the gas money I laid out for the bus and called the ex and we raided all of the dollar stores in town for stuff like towels, liquid soap, linens, contact and denture solutions, water, sodas, kids underwear, fem pads, toothbrushes, Coke, Sprite, etc.

We just kept loading the truck bed until we spent all of the money and we pretty much filled the bed. Took it all down to the shelter here in town. Someone has setup on of those enclosed bouncing things for the kids and there is a music fest downtown and it looked like the city busses were running folks out that way.

There was a semi-official notice on the dollar store doors that said if you are from LA, MS, AL you can go to the Human Services office in town and just show your drivers license and they will give you 2 weeks worth of food stamps (Lone Star Card) and chits for free fuel. I think Lil Lady mentioned this but I guess this confirms it. Someone had penciled a FEMA number on one of them also.

BTW- That Kanye West guy never called.