Ken Schram on Katrina

[Capt_Picard 0]

Report 1

It's A Razor-Thin Line

 

September 1, 2005

 

By Ken Schram

SEATTLE - It's a razor-thin line between compassion and contempt. There are the people who contact me wanting to know where they can send money to help those who've been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And there are the people who contact me to say: "Screw 'em. Everyone was told to evacuate. Those who were stupid enough to stay don't deserve 'free handouts." It's a razor-thin line between looting and surviving. I'm not talking about the low-life's helping themselves to electronics and jewelry. But if pilfering bread, diapers and something to drink is looting, then I'd bet we'd all be looters in similar circumstances. Also interesting is how the media fuels the nation's racial imagery. Here's one news photos of a white couple with the caption: "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store..."

Here's another photo of a black man with the caption: "A young man walks through chest-deep water after looting a grocery store..."

It's a razor-thin line between selfish and selfless. As in those who think if the rest of the world doesn't help us now when we need help, it can go to hell the next time something happens and it expects us to help. Yes, it's a razor-thin line. And all it takes is a hurricane to show how close to the edge we really are. Want to share your thoughts with Ken Schram? You can e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com

Report 2

Ken Schram Commentary: It's About People, Not Politics

 

September 2, 2005

 

By Ken Schram 

 

SEATTLE - I'll be blunt. I've never had high expectations of President Bush's leadership. But then I never expected he'd be completely worthless at a time when the country needed him most. I'm just not up to being polite after so many days of watching the inept, incompetent and insensitive government reaction to the deplorable conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi. Days of doctors begging for generators and fuel to keep hospital patients alive; days of people abandoned without food and water; days were thugs and criminals were allowed to gain a violent foothold in the midst of chaos and despair; days where the sick lay dying and the dead lay untended. And what was the initial White House response to concern that there were too many days with too little help? It was: Don't turn this into something political. Excuse me? What a profusely pitiful attitude. This isn't about politics. It's about people. And it's about a Bush administration that doesn't know the difference. It's about a President who doesn't have the ability to lead a nation in a time of crisis and catastrophe. I honestly didn't think that George Bush could disappoint America more than he already has. I was wrong. Want to share your thoughts with Ken Schram? You can e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com

Listen to report 2 here So, what do you think?

[APW 0]

I think if anyone is to blame (and there is blame a plenty to go round),the mayor of New Orleans,that city's council,it's chief of police,and the state government of Louisiana...all who knew dang well,how ill-prepared New Orleans was for this big of a storm should accept their responsibility in the devastation.Perhaps even Louisiana's reps in Congress.How often did they bring up the subject of modernizing the levy system or making preparations for the possibility of a disaster such as this?

 

The President is doing what he can.He isn't all powerful.

Blaming Bush and turning this into some sort of a Bash Bush-game is sickening.

 

As for the media calling white looters "finders" of goods, and black looters "looters"...it all depends on what you have in your hands when you exit that store.I can't tell from those pics what anybody has,so I think it was wrong to label the images differently.But the media sources are different.I think the AFP is a French news agency,while AP is International.Maybe the AFP also called blacks with necessities "finders".Maybe the AP also called whites "looters"....Ken's playing a game with his pictures.

Edited September 3, 2005 by admiralpeewee

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I do think the admiral raises a good point on the difference in newspapers. Although I see Schram's point as well.

 

However, as regards preparation for the storm - I found the following quote in an article at my church's humanitarian aid website. I added the italics.

 

Past experience with severe hurricanes in the Southeast prompted the Church to pre-position relief supplies in its regional storehouses in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida.

 

Obviously, we don't have enough boyscouts in the government. In case you don't get that - the BS motto is "Be Prepared"

 

I don't think anyone predicted just how bad things would get - although I've read some things that suggested the government was aware of the possibility.

 

Even so, you don't wait until it's over to start preparing. Of course, I have to wonder about the people too - if I had to go to a shelter I'd have my 72 hour kit -

redcross not that after watching the stories about Katrina I'd ever consider going to a shelter.

 

I can not even begin to imagine the suffering of these people. To sit and watch elderly people die of dehydration right in front of you - it's incomprehensible. If they were going to use a place as a shelter - it should have been stocked with water and non-perishable food and there should have been medical attendants with extra emergency supplies onhand because this was an emergency situation and it is usually assumed that people going to shelters are probably at higher risk than the average person or they wouldn't be going to the shelter to begin with.

 

Too many people don't take hurricanes seriously - because in the past governments have issued warnings and the damage ended up being relatively minor. I have to wonder if as many people as did would have left New Orleans if not for last years severe hurricanes in Florida. IMO it is better to ship in trucks of supplies and have them unused than to go through what the victims of Katrina have been going through.

 

IMO, those men and women who have been working since the storm to try and rescue people or provide aid are true heroes - words are insufficient to describe the depth of goodness of what these people have been doing.

[trekz 7]

UH I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think the government is full of BS, but that's not the Boy Scout abbreviation. Local authorities should have been far more aware of local conditions and potential problems. It seems to be common sense that you over-prepare for a crisis, not under-prepare. It was obvious that this category 4 or 5 storm was going to hit the coast somewhere near New Orleans, so why not evacuate and be prepared (though UH's point about previous false alarms is a partial explanation).

 

Two people at my workplace have close relatives in the hurricane area - one in the NO area, one in Mississippi. Both have gone to help their relatives and one mounted a three van relief effort with water, generators and other supplies that left Friday - the same day the federal gov't finally made it into NO. IMO the federal gov't, whether it was FEMA or higher, deserves severe criticism for not responding sooner in NO, although they appear to have done better in other states.

 

For now this nation needs to do all it can to relieve human suffering, stop lawlessness and then actually analyze and learn from this awful experience so no other city or citizens ever suffer to the extent those involved in Katrina have suffered through lack of a coordinated government effort - local, state and federal.

Setting up better communications across this country for local police and state emergency organizations would seem to be one major way the federal government can do what is should have been doing long ago with homeland security money.

[APW 0]

A bunch of guys from around here,all former U.S. military loaded up and headed off for New Orleans to help out yesterday.One of them,a good friend of mine wanted me to go,too...but I have kids to watch,and nobody to look after them while I'm away.

 

So,I made a contribution to a Christian relief fund.

 

On one positive note,I have finally confirmed that my relatives down there in that general area of southern Louisiana are all accounted for and well.Thank God for that.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I have to say this...I just HAVE to. 1. the Louisianna National Gaurd SHOULD have been activated and standing by NLT the Saturday before it hit. Even just as a precaution. 2. On Monday, the day after, Everyone said things looked pretty good, all things considered. so yes, there were some relief efforts planned, but some were also shelved, because "It looked Okay". Tuesday was when the whole situation really started to go to hell in a handbasket. and it happened slowly. by the time anyone realised what was really happening, folks were starting to set up camp on their rooftops.

 

Now, as for federal aide, alot of the troops coming in are National Gaurd Troops. as far as activating them, you can't just snap your fingers and POOF! There's a Battalion. It takes TIME. You have to contact everyone in said Battalion, inform them that yes, you are being called up, so they can make arrangements with their family and work (since the National Gaurd is not a regular military force that is on call 24/7/365, and many of these guys have jobs in the civilian world.) then you have to set a report time, when all hands must muster in. you have to set up a plan of attack, in this case, form a convoy, load supplies (which again, can't be accomplished just by saying "Put supplies on the trucks", it takes people loading those Six-Bys with the MREs and Water and Medical gear, which if you've ever loaded a U-haul, you know takes....Time...)

 

to mobilise a Battalion, it would probably take 48 hours. Then, you have the problem of coordination. Okay, we've got 3 Battalions from the ILNG, 4 from Missouri, 6 from Arkansas, and 10 from Louisianna. Who's in charge, though? cus with that situation, you've got 23 Majors, how do you determine who's in command? You have to set up a chain of command, and set up coordination between these 23 battalions and FEMA (Who has no excuse, by the way) and the Red Cross (again, no excuse), and the Coast Gaurd and Navy (who had Helicoptors flying since Day 1. the Navy even went so far as to pre-possition an Amphibious Assault Ship off-shore for relief efforts.)The fact is, Response takes time. and on top of that, WE'VE NEVER WITNESSED ANYTHING ON THIS SCALE BEFORE IN OUR LIFETIMES AT THE VERY LEAST!. This disaster is on a larger scale than 9/11. It's on a larger scale than Hurricane Andrew. It's larger than the Northridge Quake in California. At least folks there still probably had somewhere to go within the city, AND many city roads were still useable! Just look at the satellite photos, and explain to me how, on Wednesday, you'd get a National Gaurd Convoy to where it needed to go? Those trucks can only ford water so deep. people expect things to happen with the snap of a finger. It doesn't. That's life. and death, too, I'm afraid.