How a Russian might see the post-Katrina primitivism

"The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says: "You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires." That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants."

-- from "The Brothers Karamazov" by DOSTOEVSKY

Hat tip Rod Dreher at The Corner.

Katrina PODcast listening without the POD

Ok, this is more than shameless self-promotion.

Mrs. Salamander won't let me play with her POD (Skippy, keep your comments to yourself), and where I work I can't bring one with me ... so I have been a latecomer to PODcasting.

While guesst blogging over at Greenwich Village Idiot, Chapomatic has a great music/commentary POD cast going on. Here is of some of the things he mentions.

Randi Rhodes

Kanye West

CNN feed

Countercolumn

CDR Salamander

Funky 16 Corners

Ad Council PSA

KBON Ville Platte, Louisiana

JACKIE CAILLIER and THE CAJUN COUSINS:FRENCH BLUES

Mudville Gazette on post-hurricane critique

Kaus on same


Brendan Loy was right

BBC on situation

Mia Doi Todd

WWOZ, on line with help from WFMU

Opinion Journal with some scathing commentary

Chrenkoff on hurricane quotes

He has a list of links on his site to download it, but if you still don't fully understand the whole PODcasting concept, click here to download the MP3 and listen to it on about any computer.

Chap, well done; and you have outstanding tastes in music for a submariner.

American Hostage Roy Hallums Rescued in Iraq!

For those who have not been following the reports from Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report, shame on you. He was the first, and really the most consistent, blogger keeping an eye on the lost hostages in Iraq.

Great news, Roy Hallums is free. From the AP:

When former hostage Roy Hallums called his daughter early Wednesday from Iraq with news of his rescue, he apologized for causing her so much grief and pain.

"He apologized to me for putting me through any hardship," his eldest daughter, Carrie Anne Cooper, 29, said in a telephone interview from her Westminster home. "He got to say he was sorry, and I got to say I loved him. We got to say things we never thought we would be able to say."

Coalition troops rescued Hallums Wednesday in an isolated farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad, according to the U.S. military. He told his family the kidnappers escaped without a gunbattle.

Hallums had been bound and gagged for much of his time in captivity, but doctors gave him a "clean bill of health" after the rescue, Cooper said. He planned to return to the United States within days.

"I've been waiting for this day, hoping for this day for a long time," Cooper said.

Just wish we could have killed the SOBs that took him. Odds are, we will. The J2 guys will find all sorts of goodies there I am sure.

Bravo Zulu, and Godspeed.

Eating crow about eating people

As New Orleans slowly comes back to life, the retraction are starting to come from those that took every wild rumor and tried to make it into a political club to pound their pet issue.

So far, my favorite (give him some credit for doing it at all) retraction is from professional race-baiter and Amerika-hater Randall Robinson.

RETRACTION: The claim in the first sentence in my post was incorrect. I had been told this was happening, but these claims have turned out to be unsubstantiated. I therefore retract them -- but stand behind everything else I wrote without reservation.

And what, you ask, did he need to retract? (always thinking the best of his countrymen)

It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive.

Details, details, details. Want to see what he does stand behind?

I am hopeless. I am sad. I am angry against my country for doing nothing when it mattered.

This is what we have come to. This defining watershed moment in America's racial history. For all the world to witness. For those who've been caused to listen for a lifetime to America's ceaseless hollow bleats about democracy. For Christians, Jews and Muslims at home and abroad. For rich and poor. For African-American soldiers fighting in Iraq. For African-Americans inside the halls of officialdom and out.

My hand shakes with anger as I write. I, the formerly un-jaundiced human rights advocate, have finally come to see my country for what it really is. A monstrous fraud.

I will buy into the first two sentences.

I quoted most of the screed, but read it all at the above link. It will give you a nice look into what hate can do to an otherwise talented mind. Don't discount him or his thoughts, a not totally insignificant percentage of this country (say 13%) thinks like he does.

Hat tip The Corner and Dog of Flanders.

BBC - The Bush Bashing Corp?

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of time in the car going between the BBC World Service and NPR. Yes, I know. I know.

Anyway, I was about to launch into a screed about the BBC in general, but online there is this article that is balanced and to a large extent, fair in pointing fingers all around.

The breakdown of the relief operation in New Orleans was the result of multiple failures by city, state and federal authorities.

There was no one cause. The failures began long before the hurricane with a gamble that a Category Four or Five hurricane would not strike New Orleans.

They continued with an inadequate evacuation plan and culminated in a relief effort hampered by lack of planning, supplies and manpower, and a breakdown in communications of the most basic sort.

That is fair, I think. The rest of the article is even better. Read it. Very balanced - a good summary.

The BBC WC though, was all Bush bashing, all the time. I don't know what stew of institutional bias, reporter Bush hate, or British ignorance of our Federal system of government - but it was like listening to MoveOn.org/democraticunderground.com radio.

Did I mention NPR? To give them credit, they were telling both sides. They had a professional (if there is such a thing) relief worker that has done work in Africa and SE Asia on (after some Bush bashing journalism professor from California). He basically said, "Americans are spoiled and have no clue. Nothing is perfect, but no other country in the world could have responded faster or better than we have. People's ignorance of logistics and desire to make political hay out of this are resulting in demands for the impossible. Americans should say "thank you" and wonder at the capabilities our nation can harness in such a few days."

They did finish with a snide comment that "....and he is a Colonel in the Army Reserve....", well, maybe not snide. But that is my anti-NPR bias slipping in, natch.

Abandon New Orleans?

No. Simply put. No. GO to maps.google.com. Zoom in on New Orleans. There is a red tab called “Katrina.” Use that to see the extent of the flood on New Orleans.

It’s easy to find the Superdome. Go about 1km NE of the Superdome. That is where the French Quarter starts. Look around. High and dry. Look around a lot of the “old city” outside the FQ. The city that was meant to be lived in. It is high and dry as well.

Restructure New Orleans as a city as it was meant to be, yes. Let the swamps take the rest. NYC has "Central Park." Can't the "new" New Orleans have a "Perimeter Bayou?

There are city planners that can do the hard business.

That is where the designers and city planners earn their pay – if they are brave enough.

There are hundreds of thousands that no longer have homes. Make something valuable and long lasting worthy of their loss. Buy out the owners of the land that cannot be realistically protected from a CAT5.

This is a once in a century chance to make a world class city. It will take a 50-100 years to finish, but it can be done.

All it takes is leadership. Alas, in New Orleans and LA, we are missing both. That is where it is going to happen. Who will step in to provide the local leadership?

“We're going to make a stand in the lower garden district.”

A first hand account from a retired Navy Captain (O6) sent from one of my readers from the Potomac Strike Group late last week. He sent with his name from a .navy.mil address, so I am going to take him at face value. This is online with other reports I have read.

So shipmate, does this match with what your response would be?

BTW, the Garden District in N.O. is/was a grand old neighborhood that was expanding its “gentrification” of restored and livable blocks. If there is any justice, the slums burned and fell apart and the Garden District will stand and expand. A great urban neighborhood, I hope the good Captain and his band have long term success.

Folks,
I got out of New Orleans yesterday after having fun there since Friday (with an 8 hour break during the height of the storm to drive up to St. Francisville to check on my Dad and was back in The City by 1000 Monday A.M. before the authorities had the chance to close The City).

It was a freak show, and one of the most disgusting things that I've seen in my life. I saw uniformed law enforcement officers, firemen, and EMTs looting the SuperWalMart on Tchopitoulis Street in the Lower Garden District. I saw looters in the Walgreens on St. Charles at Felicity. I saw looters in Roberts on Annunciation. I saw looters shooting looters on Magazine above Camp Street. I saw marauding groups of shitheads just looking for fun and terrorizing the "haves." This is the doomsday scenario that was replayed time and time again in my head while I was growing up in The City.

Well folks, The City may recover from this, but the racial tension there may never be healed. I spent two days armed to the teeth (M1911A1s X 4, four shotguns of various persuasion, two semi AR-15s, and two fully-autos not to be mentioned) defending a two block radius of friends and neighbors houses. My folks are still there, but their position may get overrun. But they won't go without a fight.
It's THAT ugly.

A war zone. And maybe unsavable. And MAYBE, just MAYBE, not worth saving. And I'm from there. And I'm disgusted. But I'm going back, and I'm going back in "hot" and if you think that I was armed before ya ain't seen nothing yet.

Convoy. Generators. Gas. Supplies. EXTREMEMLY VERY well armed. We're going to make a stand in the lower garden district.
Sincerely,
(initials withheld)

Godspeed.