Author: djuggler

This says it all and it would be an injustice to even attempt to summarize his great writeup. But I will include his closing paragraphs:

So: A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA. Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration’s conservative agenda to reduce the role of government. After DHS was created, FEMA’s preparation and planning functions were taken away.

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It’s the Bush administration in a nutshell.

Please go read the details. I didn’t vote for him.

It’s http_referer not http_referrer. From dictionary.com:

referer

A misspelling of “referrer” which somehow
made it into the HTTP standard. A given web page’s
referer (sic) is the URL of whatever web page contains the
link that the user followed to the current page. Most
browsers pass this information as part of a request.

The best gas parody yet!

Student: It is so hard to appreciate what you have until it is gone.

Wish I had the link for an article I read. It made a lot of sense. Discussed why now is not the time to rush to New Orleans to lead your skills and why we should donate money instead of water or food or equipment. Basically, if you take goods to the American Red Cross then they have to pay to ship them to the disaster area. The ARC has buying leverage that we don’t. They can get the water wholesale closer to the scene thereby saving money by not shipping and also getting more bang for the buck.

So you have skills? Unless you have been trained by the ARC then your skills may not yet be valuable and your presence could actually be hinderance. If you have the skills then the Red Cross has probably already contacted you. You can also contact your local ARC to see if they need you now.

Help prepare for future disasters by becoming trained by the American Red Cross today! Encourage cash donations.

"Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war." So that does that give us grounds to blame Bush for the destruction of New Orleans? Would the funding have provided maintenance to help the levees hold? Would the funding have provided for the backup levee system discussed? Or the redistribution of silt to start repairing the man made damage?

I doubt it. But it is still fun to Blame Bush! So what major city or US landmark do you think GW will strike next? I’m betting Los Angeles or the Hoover Dam.

Student: I can do better!
Master: Then you shall.

I woke last night at 12:34. Not twelve thrity-four but one two three four. Then I woke again at 2:11. That would be 2 and 1+1 = 2. Pretty neat!

Student: I’m a dead man.
Master: Death asks nothing and comes without effort; Life asks everything and requires participation.

Wow! That’s a BIG snowball.

Noah boxes

Bouncing good time.

NASA shares a before and after satellite picture.

a google map showing the location of the live New Orleans blogger.

Update: A description of the buildings seen on the camera.

The live cam by the New Orleans blogger is being reboardcast here.