Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Katrina the hurricane, Sparrow the poet, "Grizzly Man" the movie...and Mickey Z. at the US Open?

Posted by Mickey Z on 09/01 at 05:23 AM

Things are getting even worse in Louisiana. Local and federal government preparation for an event like this seems to have been minimal. The nerve of their governor to say that she “will not tolerate this type of behavior.”

Shots fired at military helicopters:

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap09-01-024606.asp?t=apnew&vts=9120050543

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/01 at 08:19 AM

and, while Bush won’t immediately promise and deliver money for relief efforts, he will spend $204 billion of war efforts in Iraq…

“If the $204 billion appropriated for the war so far had been used instead for social programs, according to the report, it could have paid for the health care of the more than 46 million citizens without medical insurance, the hiring of 3.5 million elementary school teachers, or the construction of affordable housing units for nearly two million people.

The same amount of money would also be enough to effectively cut world hunger in half and still cover the costs of life-preserving anti-AIDS medication, childhood immunization, and the clean-water and sanitation needs of the world’s developing nations for almost three years.”

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=7134

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/01 at 08:26 AM

In a less indoctrinated society, such a situation would certainly inspire and provoke some kind of changes...but as I go from gym to gym where I train clients, I see people staring slack-jawed at CNN while condemning the looters, hero-worshipping the Coast Guard, and mocking those who “should’ve left the city.”

Four year ago we had 9/11, now Katrina...with the Iraq debacle in-between. All we get is more flag waving and charity concerts?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/01 at 10:10 AM

If the html doesn’t work I’ll repost…

The following was left by someone as a comment to Paul Street’s recent blog entry Natural Calamity and Human Folly:

“Yahoo and AP have recently pointed out to me that black people and white people are inherently different.

Black people loot.
White people find."

Sorry to be off-topic, but I thought I’d pass this severely heart-breaking find onto others.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 09/01 at 01:12 PM

Thanks, Keir. I’d like to use those images and captions in a post tomorrow. Okay with you?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/01 at 02:50 PM

Bravo to Harry Connick, jr...he just said on CNN that if he had to live like some of those people, he’d steal a plasma TV too...........There is increasing panic at the pump.I just arrived home. Stopped for gas, after looking all over town for the lowest price. I was lucky, paid $2.82. Prices are rising quickly.....big signs in front of hardware stores offering locking gas caps for $15 or $20. Some rural places have NO public transportation. When the heating oil season sets in, it will get even more interesting. HAS THE U.S. BECOME A FOURTH WORLD COUNTRY YET, or are we just on our way?

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/01 at 03:27 PM

For the 15,000 people in the Superdome it sure as hell is:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102801_pf.html

And they have known that this would happen for years, but our government is using the money and man/womanpower that was required to help in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not sure if this attempt to post this picture here is going to work, but did anyone see this shot of Bush flying OVER the devastation instead of landing?:

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 09/01 at 03:46 PM

Even the corporate media is somewhat criticizing Bush (a little, at least). From Newsweek:

“...the Bush administration faces some immediate, urgent challenges—and serious questions about its response to the disaster. For all the president’s statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans—a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city’s Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore—on Navy ships for instance—in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city.

“Then there’s the speed of the Bush administration’s response to such disasters. Just one week ago the White House declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, specifically most of the areas (such as Jefferson Parish) that are now under water. Was the White House psychic about the disaster ahead? Not exactly. In fact the major disaster referred to Tropical Storm Cindy, which struck the state a full seven weeks earlier. That announcement triggered federal aid for the stricken areas, where the clean-up had been on hold for almost two months while the White House chewed things over.

“Now, faced with a far bigger and deadlier disaster, the Bush administration faces at least two difficult questions: Was it ready to deal with the long-predicted flooding of New Orleans? And is it ready to deal with the long-predicted terrorist attack that might some day strike another of our big cities?”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/01 at 04:11 PM

Mickey, I didn’t do the research. Someone else posted it, apparently a 20-year-old from Milwaulkee who posts on the ZNet Blog system as
mtrmsd. I cannot answer for him, but my guess is that his comment was posted in the spirit of exposing the extent to which racism is deep-rooted and institutional in the US.

People are now buying locking gas caps? Is that a JOKE? Reminds of what I saw as early as 1997 in London: people cycling through the city with doctor’s masks over their faces to protect themselves from the horrible air. Gas masks and gas caps: whose fucking sci-fi flick are we living in (and why is Arnold Schwarzenegger only a co-star)?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 09/01 at 04:19 PM

Thanks, Keir. I’ll post it and if there’s any call for me to add more specifics, re: sources, I’ll gladly give credit where credit is due.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/01 at 04:22 PM

Thanks for this post Mickey - and thanks for the whole site! Great links and quotes

Hope you have fun at the US Open. You bear a certain resemblance to Mr Agassi btw - excellent physique for starters ..

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 09/01 at 04:54 PM

Great conversation, guyz -
I’ve been out all day, but my wife tells me that the Head of Homeland Security (Mr. Goebbles? Mr. Goering? ) was interviewed, very briefly, on NPR, about the situation in the South. The interviewer mentioned reports of people desperate for food and water, and people still stranded on rooftops and in various buildings and hospitals. It seems he blew his stack and, with a loud, harsh voice, declared that no such situations exist: Everything is under control, and everyone who needs assistance is receiving it.

Thought you’d want to know that it’s all taken care of. We can go on to the next topic, now.

I hear there’s a new ultra-lash formula about to be introduced by Revlon. Under these circumstances, A True Patriot will go shopping…

Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/01 at 06:48 PM

Locking gas caps...just goes to show how filled with fear we are becoming...Vermont Attorney General just said that in this state there are no laws against price gouging....Has anyone noticed that all of the newsreaders on TV today are misusing the word “anarchy”? They should be calling it chaos. They are giving Anarchists a bad name........Yep, locking gas caps and duct tape and all will be OK again.

Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from crossing the line 09/01 at 07:06 PM

Report from the Astrodome:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/humblebumble/202268.html

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/01 at 10:20 PM

Thanks for the link, Mickey -
It’s reassuring to know that, finally, some people with skills and expertise have begun to act.
Billmon, at “The Whiskey Bar” has posted a number of links to organizations which, I guess, are now, or will soon, help out down there:
http://billmon.org/

And, a “better than most” piece on the situation by Chris Floyd - “The Perfect Storm”:
http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php

Enjoy the games, Mickey & Michele -

Posted by joe on from somewhere sane 09/01 at 11:49 PM

A longer “version” of “The Floyd’s” article is posted on the front page at CounterPunch…
( The version I “thought” I was just linking to. )
Sorry.
- joe

Posted by joe on from somewhere else 09/01 at 11:55 PM

this may have nothing to do with others comments but i hope someone will use this idea.i think that someone, perhapse the american red cross, should come out with a support bracelet for the hurricane katrina victims. like the armstrong bands that say “be strng”. and all of the money could go to the katrina victims. i’m only 14 but i know that all of the teenagers are wearing some kind of support bracelets whether it be support our troops from sopporting brest cancer. i would buy it, would you?

Posted by megan parkman on from georgia 09/03 at 01:05 PM

Hi Megan. I like your idea but the first question I’d have is: Who gets the money?

Btw, how did you find this site?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/03 at 02:08 PM

i don’t know who should get the money, everyone. how would you decide? what would you do?

Posted by megan parkman on from georgia 09/03 at 05:40 PM

i just kind of stumbled upon this site, wasn’t really looking for anything. why, mickey z?

Posted by megan parkman on from georgia 09/03 at 05:42 PM

Are you asking me why I’m called “Mickey Z.” are why I asked you where you found the site?

As for the bracelets, the key would be to fund a group that does grass roots work. During the tsunami, I tried to publicize groups that were already on the ground in, say, Indonesia or Sri Lanka as opposed to someone who’d come in just for the crisis and then leave.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/03 at 05:45 PM

why you asked me where i found this site.

whats grass roots work, i don’t understand?

Posted by megan parkman on from georgia 09/03 at 06:04 PM

“Grass roots,” for the most part, is a label for efforts that start from the ground up. In this case, that would mean smaller relief organizations that were in the area long before the storm and have a strong familiarity with the situation.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/03 at 07:34 PM

Here’s wat I mean, Megan:
http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/03 at 07:36 PM

I think health awareness is a key area where about every thing which related to health care are visible progress has been made in modern time.

Posted by Andrew Spark on from 03/29 at 12:19 AM