connecting*the*dots

I found this striking mural a few months back while knee deep in my late night Flickr ritual of browsing imagery by contextual navigation of topical tags. As the night wore on I drifted from tags like art to street art to graffiti, eventually resting on Malcolm X.

After staring at the shot for a few minutes, I realized why this particular image struck me — on two distinct levels:

• The mere existence of such a powerful representation of Malcolm X and his words embedded in the public square for all to see
• The absence of his complete representation, both physical and philosophical, due to elemental deterioration over time

In the real world — before the internet created another dimension for the documentation of expression and our collective histories — all atom based elements had a shelf life.

Street art, by it’s very nature, had even a shorter life span.

But here I was, stumbling across this deteriorating, real world representation, frozen in time (at what point in time I have no idea) by someone who made an explicit decision to digitize the real for the sake of posterity.

Without the internet, this work — this message — might have already drifted away from our consciousness.

Speaking of the message, only a few lines of Malcolm X’s quote remained legible in it’s original format. It seemed familiar to me, so I took a few moments to run a Google search of the words I could decipher.

Thanks to the collective participation of people publishing to the internet, within a matter of moments, I was able to piece together the original context of the quote from the mural:

“With every succeeding page, I also learned of people and places and events from history. Actually the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia. Finally the dictionary’s A section had filled a whole tablet — and I went on into the B’s. That was the way I started copying what eventually became the entire dictionary.”

Context is knowledge, so I circled back to the image and added the text that would have surrounded the original quote on the wall if the wall were 50 feet high.

The Internet On This Day

Eighty-two years ago today, Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little to Earl Little and Louise Helen in Omaha, Nebraska.

Depending on your company, Malcolm X is often remembered as either an inspiration — an educated, revolutionary, evolutionary force — or an extremist that preached hate.

Without the internet, the latter of these two descriptions could easily edify his legacy for future generations to come.

With the internet, we have context of evolution and truth:

The Early Years In The Nation Of Islam

Debating At Oxford University

Returning From Mecca

A New Direction, Seeing Death In The Distance

The Assassination Of Malcolm X

Paying Tribute

Living In His Footsteps

Our Collective Responsibility

Prior to the internet, the reality of our lives drifted into the annals of time and both the discrete and general narratives of history were crafted by those with the power to publish and distribute knowledge.

Today, we must recognize the importance and responsibilities of living in a digital age.

It is our responsibility that we be vigilant in documenting our knowledge for the serendipitous discovery of our fellow man, both today and years into the future — no matter our focus or industry.

Because if it’s not us taking advantage of this platform, the traditional owners of history will be more than happy to seep into play and stake their claim.

And that would be a wasted opportunity to make his-tory, our-story.

Mos Def was apparently performing Katrina Klap without a permit outside the MTV Music Awards, so the cops came to shut his act down.

No authority-drilled cop would like the lyrics to that masterpiece, and a permit is a permit is a permit… but what’s up with the cop grabbing him on-stage?

Maybe they received a tip from a passerby that his mic was full of lip balm and soda and he was heading directly to JFK after the performance?

Assholes.

(via Southern SemAntics)

Donald Rumsfeld spoke at The American Legion National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah the other day (full transcript), attempting to solidify the position of this administration’s war on terror; that we are fighting an enemy similar to Adolf Hitler — an Islamofascist.

Analogies to the attitudes years prior to WWII ebbed and flowed with the greatest of ease from Rumsfeld, all pointing to the absolute righteousness of this administration in their self-assigned task to rid the world of the threat of terrorism.

As a resident of New York City on 9/11, I’d be extremely satisfied with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda lying in ruins before treading any deeper in potentially self-polluting waters, but apparently this administration doesn’t care what me and my former neighbors think about the matter at hand:

[…]

Over the next decades, a sentiment took root that contended that if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and Asia could be accommodated, then the carnage and the destruction of then recent memory of WWI, could be avoided.

It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among western democracies. When those who warned about a coming crisis — the rise of fascism and Nazism — they were ridiculed, or ignored.

Indeed, in the decades before World War II, a great many argued that the fascist threat was exaggerated.

[…]

I recount that history because, once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism.

Today, another enemy, a different kind of enemy, has made clear its intentions with attacks in places like New York and Washington D.C., Bali, London, Moscow and so many other places. But some seem not to have learned history’s lessons.

We need to consider the following questions, I would submit:

With the growing lethality, and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, someway, vicious extremists can be appeased?

[…]

I have many thoughts on this line of reasoning, but first, take a listen to Keith Olberman’s perspective on the matter:

[…]

That about what Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this:

This is a democracy, still. Sometimes, just barely. And as such, all voices count. Not just his. Had he or his president, perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience — about Osama bin Laden’s plans 5 years ago; about Saddam Hussein’s weapon’s 4 years ago; about Hurricane Katrina’s impact 1 year ago — we all might be able to swallow hard and accept their omniscience as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact plus ego.

But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris. Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina to flu vaccine shortages to the entire fog of fear that continues to envelop our nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and their cronies have, inadvertently or intentionally, profited or benefited, either personally or politically,

And yet he can stand up in public and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask for the receipt for the Emperor’s New Clothes.

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

[…]

Rumsfeld, in his eagerness to equate this administration’s strategy in Iraq with Winston Churchill’s call to watch Hitler and a Germany on the rise to destructive power once again, misses the mark entirely. But let’s not waste energy with generalizations; instead, let’s speak to historical fact regarding the nation of Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

The facts are that the United States of America financially backed Iraq in the early 1980’s. President Reagan sent this very same Donald Rumsfeld to speak with Saddam Hussein in December of 1983, during the peak of the Iraq-Iran war, to ensure that all was well in the struggle against that decade’s flavor of tyranny.

Only one month prior to the visit, Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against both Iranian soldiers and his own people. Even though our intelligence confirmed such actions, nothing was said by Rumsfeld at the time.

Donald Rumsfeld doesn’t have a leg to stand on in a comparison with Winston Churchill. If anything, he is complicit in the build-up of aggression that “islamofascists” have against our nation.

Similarly, America, circa 1980 to 2006, is in no way analogous to a European continent that fell into conflict with a powerful, internal rogue state and their techniques of propaganda, fear mongering, terrorism, territorial occupation and mass executions.

If anything, this speech by Rumsfeld — one that holds both loaded arguments and misconstrued analogies of the highest order — is closer itself to propaganda than “the beacon of light in times of darkness” message that both he and this administration so very wishes to convince us of believing.

Olbermann, who might not speak for political analysts, but does for millions of Americans with quelled voices in this nation, put it best when he directly challenged this administration’s self-righteous claim to ownership of truth, by saying:

“And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country faces a new type of fascism. As he was correct to remind us as how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that, though probably not in the way he thought he meant it. This country faces a new type of fascism, indeed.”

The only problem is that if you’re a student of history, it really isn’t that new.

(originally uploaded by armisteadbooker)

Found on page 18 of interesting photos from August 29th, 2005.

The Consumerist
Ma Bell To Shut Down New Orleans WiFi

One of the surprising acts of compassion and competency that came out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was that the city began providing a free WiFi service to business owners and residents whose phone service had been wiped out. The 512 kbps service allowed many business owners to begin struggling back to their feet and corporate sponsors like Yahoo and Google were in discussion to expand the service in the coming months.

Well, no longer. Telecommunication lobbyists from Bell South have put the lean on New Orleans, demanding that the free service be outlawed. Apparently, it violates a law that prevents the public sector from competing with the telecommunication sector. By law, then, cities can provide no more than a 128 kbps service to citizens.

“The vendors, the BellSouths of this world, are not only going to force us back, making our existing Wi-Fi illegal, but also they want to close a loophole for emergencies so that we would not do this again,� says Greg Meffert, New Orleans’ chief information officer. But Greg’s no lily-livered pansy. “If I have to go to jail, I guess I will,� he said. “If they really want to play that game, I guess they are right. But we simply cannot turn off these few lifelines we have to our city and businesses.�

[…]

More sources

• FactoryCity - BellSouth to New Orleans: Let Them Eat Cake
• Sploid - Telecoms out to kill NOLA’s free WiFi
• WebProNews - Telecoms Better Keep An Eye On The Big Easy
• Red Herring - WiFi Fight Brews In Big Easy

(via missrogue)

WE let him steal the election… twice. And WE have let him run loose on:

• Katrina
• Iraq
• the Constitution

I’m not even mentioning the economy and the deficit, the sorry state of education, global warming, Medicare, etc. On a very real level, we’re all responsible for his freedom of actions, reactions, distractions.

US

Brownie was doing a heck of a job.

When I called for his neck last September, I admit I was pretty ruthless. But I’m no dummy; I left myself an exit strategy from my tirade:

And if Brown wasn’t the ultimate decision maker in this scenario, then he needs to step up and expose the machine which was responsible.

All good things come to those who wait.

Now let’s see if George W. Bush gets half the flack that Brownie received from our “misunderstanding” of the situation.

You’re still a crony, Brownie, but I’m man enough to apologize for my misdirected fury.

Make that “Bush Lied, People Died Again“…

I knew this fucker was lying the moment he opened his mouth. Now that there is fucking evidence, the only question remaining is what bullshit line are we going to swallow so that more people — whether here or around the world — are going to become D-E-A-D because of this motherfucking slimeball?

I apologize for the profanity, but I’m beyond words…

If you care *one iota* about your neighbors — from the family living next door, to the families under the scope in Iraq, to the families who faithfully serve our nation, to the families who might be next somewhere around the world — go to the polls and vote Democratic in this year’s mid-term Congressional elections.

For those of you who are frustrated with politics and think it won’t matter or that you don’t have a voice, I have one thing to tell you: you’re *wrong*. The only way Bush will be impeached is if the Democrats regain a majority in one branch of the government. If they do, his ass is as good as gone.

I’m *not* a Democrat, but this is a means to an end.

Vote or Die! For real.

Guardian Unlimited
Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

[…]

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush’s bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced “grave concerns” about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren’t enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

“I’m concerned about … their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe,” Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

-Homeland Security officials have said the “fog of war” blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. “I’m sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done,” National Hurricane Center’s Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.

“I don’t buy the `fog of war’ defense,” Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. “It was a fog of bureaucracy.”

-Bush declared four days after the storm, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility - and Bush was worried too.

Just in case you didn’t catch that deceitful declaration, here it is:

Forget the lies surrounding the Iraqi War.

Forget the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

President Bush’s complete lack of leadership, responsiveness, honesty, hell, simple caring… regarding Katrina is more than enough grounds for impeachment.

At least on moral grounds.

(via The News Blog)

(via cocaine blunts and hip-hop tapes)

Clayton James Cubitt is living in a world of shit.

His mother evacuated New Orleans when Katrina hit and lost everything, including the trailer she lived in, which Clayton bought for her. Now FEMA refuses to provide grant money to her because the trailer is in his name and he lives in New York City; FEMA considers him to be an absentee landlord and his mother a mere tenant.

Un-fucking-believable.

Clayton is doing what he can to keep on rebuilding, one part being a donation page on his blog. It’s the holiday season; do what you can to help.

Here’s a comment I pulled from his blog, left by one of our men in Iraq, which frames these times all too clearly:

clayton,

Although I cannot directly share in the pain you are suffering now, nor the pain that your family will experience in the coming months and years to rebuild the generations of your family that seem to now be lost, I can offer you one glimmer of hope and faith… there are many wonderful people who would be by your side right now if they could.

Unfortunately, we are stuck… because of the decisions of the same bureaucratic SOBs that are making your life hell right now. They are and have been affecting many lives recently. I am serving for a military that has failed to appreciate its members for the better part of a decade, for a people that barely appreciate us, in a country (right now) that wants fiercely for us to just go back to our own home. The worst part isn’t knowing that the destruction we have seen here in Iraq is comparable to that which is found in a once glowing city of vast residency, a landmark of what it truly means to be an American, but it is in fact worse to know that the destruction, while comparable… was caused by US here.

I do my job because I have to help provide for my wife and son… but I’d rather be in New Orleans!

Keep on keeping on, bud. Eventually we will all be home… and to tell you the truth, your pictures and your words have created a connection. From half a world away in a war zone I can somehow feel that every service member would be proud to call a little house between two levees right underneath I-10… HOME.

-feeling the connection, and I’d rather be in New Orleans.

from Iraq,
-josh

Props to Hashim for grabbing this before Atlantic took it down. And if you’re getting ready to dis Juvenile for trying to come correct with a conscious release, pause before going there. I mean, Katrina Klap was dropped on his beat, as New Orleans was his spot.

First, the The Legendary K.O. dropped "George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People." Now subMedia has put together the video to go with it.

(via Guerrilla News Network)

UPDATE: Here’s The Black Lantern version as well…

The master of framing the moment within a gut-felt emotion is back, providing clarity beyond the crystal clear. Take a listen to Chuck’s response to the natural and federal disaster of Katrina, the Children of Eris remix, “Hell No We Ain’t All Right”

Chuck D’s rhymes flow so natural and powerful they take form within your psyche while you latch onto his beat. That’s because Chuck doesn’t twist to the beat of a loop; Chuck’s direct, unflinching words twist a beat of their own.

Can’t you feel him in this latest drop?

I follow his words, like “the new world is upside down and out of order” as a flip from the past, as back then he was taken aghast, as the polar opposites were set-up, the Axis of Evil corrupt…

Man…

I often wonder if the 17 to 23 year-old crowd nowadays gets the same dose of reality in the Hip hop nation.

Sure, the crew of Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and The Roots bring consciousness to each of their narratives on multiple levels. Underground hip-hop, like Head-Roc, sticks to the grimy reality, and J-Live lives and keeps it real as a teacher in Brooklyn, but where is the channeled anger of this generation?

Maybe he/she/they are out there and the gray in my chin is talking all of this junk — if so, feel free to let me know. To the extent that Chuck D and Public Enemy pumped out perspective and knowledge in the late 80’s to the mid-90’s (along with KRS-One and Brand Nubian), I just don’t hear the same form of consistent passion in these modern day cats.

Yes, Mos Def was crazy conscious with his tabulations in Mathematics, and has kept ‘em coming leading right up to the in-the-moment response and drop of Katrina Klap. Artists such as Kanye West have proven to have a conscious, yet even Kanye still goes back and forth with club songs chock full of faux diamond dissing, gold-digging lyrics.

Chuck D earned the lead Public Enemy #1 tag with his straight up, hardcore responses to social issues of the time; I’m talking about consistent responses to real-time events, like:

• dropping “By the Time I Get To Arizona” when Arizona refused to honor Martin Luther King’s birthday
• or when Chuck tried to shut down the malt-liquor industry in “1 Million Bottlebags” for targeting young black males with their poison
• even in their twilight, in 2002 Public Enemy dropped “Son of a Bush” at a time when political commentary in hip-hop was ripe for the picking, but rare due to the climate of blind patriotism. Only Eminem made any Bush accountability waves, but he waited until a safer year of 2004 to drop his Mosh video, pre and post 2004 elections.

Enough.

Like that dude on Enter the 36 Chambers said, “Ah yeah, again and again!”

Bring the noise, Chuck.

UPDATE: Here’s the original Public Enemy release of “Hell No We Ain’t Alright“

May Jon Stewart’s reign never cease. All hail the smartass.

If Condi doles out the bathroom passes, whom did President Bush ask permission in order to "save" New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast? That pass must have gotten lost in the hallway somewhere.

(via Idleatwork.com)

damn! straight…
away
the wind blew in today
weeks past
jazz…
blues…
the funk
y
the skunk
of the streets
ripped out between
heartbeats
the skipped hearts
beat the shit out of me
you still think indivisible is them with us?
when they pry away your child to get on the bus
don’t make a fuss.
you’ve a bunch of sand people left to plug
you’ve a bunch of poor, old, black people left to shrug
away
into the streets of decay…
today
yesterday
cronyism in full effect
a flag of death on the errect
pole…
are eyes
blind to the killers?
deaf to the ’cause?…
i want you!
american people, where you at?
when enough is a black cat?
when enough is a black cat?
deja vu
do you in your home?
with two shots straight to the dome?
no one at home?
get behind the wheel
the cause?
we need
we demand
we take
leadership repeal!

(originally uploaded by dreadfuldan)

Mother nature dropped Katrina.
The federal government dropped the ball.
Kanye West dropped the illest freestyle in the midst of the harshest climate.

And Mos Def just dropped Katrina Klap, a jam that will undoubtedly mark this moment in the annals of hip-hop and social activism.

1, 2, 3, 4 bust it!
This is for the streets
The streets everywhere
The streets affected by the storm called… America, huh.
I’m doing this for y’all
As for me, the creator

Get busy, y’all!

God save these streets, one dollar per every human being
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
Listen, homie
It’s dollar day in New Orleans
It’s for the water everywhere and people dead in the streets
And Mr. President, he about that cash
He got a policy for handling the niggers and trash
And if you poor, you black
I laugh a laugh, they won’t give when you ask,
You better off on crack
Dead or in jail or with a gun in Iraq
And it’s as simple as that
No opinion, my man
It’s mathematical fact
Listen
A million poor since 2004
And they got illions and killions to waste on the war
And make you question what the taxes is for
Or the cost to reinforce the broke levee wall
Tell the boss he shouldn’t be the boss anymore

God save these streets, one dollar per every human being
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
God save these streets, quit being cheap, nigger, freedom ain’t free!
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
Lord have mercy!
Lord, God, God, save our soul, a God save our soul, a God, a God save our soul
Lord, God, God, save our soul, a God save our soul, soul, soul… soul survival!

It’s dollar day in New Orleans
It’s for the water everywhere and babies dead in the streets
It’s enough to make ya’ holla out
Like, where the fuck is Sir Bono and his famous friends now?
Don’t get it twisted man
I dig U2
But if you ain’t about the ghetto
Then fuck you too
Who care about rock n’ roll when babies can’t eat food
Listen, homie man, the shit ain’t cool
It’s like, dollar day, for New Orleans
It’s for the water everywhere, homies dead in the streets
And Mr. President’s a natural ass
He out treatin’ niggas worse then they treat the trash

God save these streets, one dollar per every human being
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
God save these streets, quit being cheap, nigger, freedom ain’t free!
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
Soul survivor!
Lord, God, God, save our soul, a God save our soul, a God, a God save our soul
Lord, God, God, save our soul, a God save our soul, a God, a God save our…

God did not intend for the wicked to rule the world
Said God did not intend for the wicked to rule the world
God did not intend for the wicked to rule the world
And even when they do
It’s a matter of truth
Before their wicked ruling is through

God save these streets
A dollar day for New Orleans
God save these streets
Quit being cheap, homie, freedom ain’t free!
God save these streets
One dollar per every human being!
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
God save these streets
Quit being cheap, nigger, freedom ain’t free!
Feel that Katrina Klap!
Ghetto Katrina Klap!
Soul survivor
Lord, God, God, save our soul, a God save, God save our soul
Feel that Katrina Klap!
Let’s make them dollars stack!
And rebuild these streets
God save these streets
God save these streets
God save the soul!
Feel that Katrina Klap!
See that Katrina Klap!
Soul survivor

Don’t talk about it, be about it.
Peace.

Push it along. You’ve got to push it along…

When is enough, enough?

How many times can Rush Limbaugh get on the mic at a radio station (770AM, WABC in New York and hundred elsewhere via his own network: Excellence In Broadcasting), which is supported by paid advertisers, and not be held accountable to the hateful venom he spews? Every advertiser on his show should immediately pull their sponsorship today. Why? Limbaugh just called Mayor Nagin, “Mayor Naeger.”

“… Mayor Naeger, yeah, Ray Nagin wants…” is the exact quote.

I don’t have access to his radio show to jot down his advertisers, but Barnes and Noble advertises on his website. I’ll never shop there again.

(via Crooksandliars.com)

Finally, the sun will begin to shine for the people affected by this nightmare. Brown is still delusional, though:

Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort that has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: ‘By the press, yes. By the president, no.’

Actually, jackass, it was the people that made this happen. You and the rest of your crony friends better get used to it.

Next step: Provide the best possible relief effort for the Gulf Coast.

Follow up: Replace Brown and Chertoff permanently with competent leadership. I don’t care if they’re Republican or Democrat, just appoint people with the right credentials for the role. Not another dime of the tax payer’s money (including the "looters") should go to death and destruction.

Media Matters clearly describes how Fox News is a major part of the Republican Noise Machine.

If you’re a Republican, please read this article in depth. Everything is based on facts and a timeline. You tell me: Who’s spinning here? The President and his cronies talk about not playing the "blame game," so how would you classify the glare on local government?

Here’s my take on the federal governments response:

Pre-hurricane preparation: Failure by the federal government by:
a) Hiring Michael Brown (bi-partisan failure in approving the hire)
b) Moving FEMA under the Homeland Security bucket (stealing funding to support the War in Iraq)
c) Cutting said funding to the development of the levee infrastructure (80% complete is completely incomplete)

Hurricane response: Failure by the federal government by:

1. Not being proactive based on weather forecasters reports describing the size of the impending hurricane as definitely greater than a category 3 (levees only hold back a level 2 based on years of studies)
2. Not immediately responding to local government cries for evacuation assistance
3. Not using all means at their disposal (i.e. Aircraft Carriers) to assist with the evacuation/rescue efforts in a timely manner
4. Not allowing private business to assist (WalMart, Amtrak, UPS, airlines, Greyhounds, etc.)
5. Not allowing volunteers to do anything aside from posing in photo ops or forcing them to endure with the red tape or go home
6. Not knowing what was happening in NO until TV reports informed them.
7. Considering evacuees as threats ("looters/thieves") before considering them people in a desperate situation
8. Locking evacuees into the city of NO and specific staging areas, causing more death and violence
9. Not allowing the media to report what is happening in the streets (i.e. photos of dead bodies)

A local Mississippian speaking to Dick Cheney in the only language he recognizes, live on CNN:

(via I’m. Your. Idle.)

(originally uploaded by ACKemp)

I’ve now come across two separate stories of levees being torn open (or bombed) by the federal government, so the predicted flooding would spare the tourist areas.

I don’t know if either story can be substantiated, but given the fact that evacuees (not refugees) are being held in the city of New Orleans, not free to leave, one has to wonder if there’s a connection. I’m going to refrain from forming an opinion until I hear a few more, separate corroborating stories.

Original stories:
Boing Boing
Versionist.com

Randy Newman’s song Louisiana 1927:

What has happened down here is the wind have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

CHORUS

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, “Little fat man isn’t it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land.”

CHORUS

Chills don’t describe what I feel right now.

There are people out there, right now, blaming the Katrina disaster on Mayor Ray Nagin; the Mayor of a city whose very existence was strangled by the federal government and their budget cuts.

His hands were completely tied regarding preventative measures, and as Mayor, his resources are completely limited in rescue & relief efforts.

Listen to Nagin for yourself (mp3).

George Bush: "No one could have anticipated the breaching of the levees."

Really?

2001
Preliminary Public Health Issues
2002
PBS Special
City in a Bowl
2002
NOLA.com
Washing Away
2003
New Orleans Hurricane Impact Study
2004
National Geographic
Gone With The Water
2004
Independent Weekly
Disaster In The Making
June 2005
New Orleans City Business
New Orleans District of the US Army Corps of Engineers Faces

It took me 10 minutes on Google to find those references. I’ll just chalk up your statement as another lie, Mr. .. eh-hem… President.

But while we’re talking about the levees, let’s discuss what happened to the funding for the Army Corp of Engineers to finish the construction. Apparently, there was a specific article in the Times-Picayune on June 8th of 2004 which detailed the federal cuts for hurricane preparedness and levee construction and improvement in New Orleans. It’s not available on-line, but TMPCafe put together excerpts of the piece here. Here’s a taste:

The Bush administration’s proposed fiscal 2005 budget includes only $3.9 million for the east bank hurricane project. Congress likely will increase that amount, although last year it bumped up the administration’s $3 million proposal only to $5.5 million.

"I needed $11 million this year, and I got $5.5 million," Naomi said. "I need $22.5 million next year to do everything that needs doing, and the first $4.5 million of that will go to pay four contractors who couldn’t get paid this year."

[…]

The challenge now, said emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri in
Jefferson Parish and Terry Tullier in New Orleans, is for southeast Louisiana somehow to persuade those who control federal spending that protection from major storms and flooding are matters of homeland security.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay," Maestri said. "Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

So apparently, occupying a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction is a higher priority than shoring up a defense structure to ensure that the largest homeland disaster ever doesn’t occur. Your President, George Bush, moved FEMA into the Homeland Security classification bucket so he could draw potential disaster protection/relief funding into his War for Oil… er… Against Terror.

How’s that for blatant disregard for public safety? How many people are in American jails for simple possession of narcotics, while this man runs loose destroying our nation, murdering innocent people around the world, while lining his own pockets?

How pompous and disrespectful is this guy?

George Bush, Governor of Texas, giving the "one finger victory salute" before he addressed the state.

George Bush, President of The United States of America, flipping off the press and anyone watching.

No, Fuck You Georgie Boy. WHEN WILL THIS POMPOUS, INCOMPETENT, MURDEROUS, CRIMINAL, COKE-HEAD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!?

To the House and Senate: Your constituents are becoming furious. It’s time to relieve this man of his power.

Take your time watching this clip. Feel Charmaine Neville keeping a level head regarding the role cause and effect had when it came to the rapes, murders and random shootings she either witnessed or experienced herself.

Listen to her.

Accountability. Now.

(via Idleatwork.com)

Michael Brown, Director of FEMA, needs to be fired. Now.

I’m not one for firing individuals to placate a populace; that’s the bullshit move of governments and corporations throughout the annals of history.

The difference with this Michael Brown firing would be its basis in explicit evidence of inept preparation, leadership and execution. The 2004 National Response Plan (pdf) outlines his (the Federal Government) responsibilities in situation of natural disasters.

Brown’s non-existent plan for evacuating the under the poverty line populace of the New Orleans area once Hurricane Katrina hit the radar, is a scathing example of poor leadership. While a death count was unavoidable due to years of overlooking the issues surrounding the integrity of the city’s levees, his analysis-paralysis greatly added to the numbers.

If Brown were on the ball, doing his job as outlined, he would’ve factored the impoverished population of New Orleans into the evacuation plans. He didn’t. People without the means to leave were left behind to drown, floating about town in a watery grave. And if Brown wasn’t the ultimate decision maker in this scenario, then he needs to step up and expose the machine which was responsible.

President Bush has no recourse but to fire Brown and launch an immediate investigation into the preparation model for potential natural disasters in this region and across the rest of the United States. Even Michelle Malkin is calling for his dismissal.

Accountability. Now.