It's that old slippery slope thing....

This is just for those that say homosexual "marriage" will not lead to other strange relational permutations:

First Trio "Married" in The Netherlands

From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2005-09-27 00:08

The Netherlands and Belgium were the first countries to give full marriage rights to homosexuals. In the United States some politicians propose "“civil unions" that give homosexual couples the full benefits and responsibilities of marriage. These civil unions differ from marriage only in name.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands polygamy has been legalised in all but name. Last Friday the first civil was registered. Victor de Bruijn (46) from Roosendaal "“married"” both Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35) in a ceremony before a notary who duly registered their civil union.

"“I love both Bianca and Mirjam, so I am marrying them both,"” Victor said. He had previously been married to Bianca. Two and a half years ago they met Mirjam Geven through an internet chatbox. Eight weeks later Mirjam deserted her husband and came to live with Victor and Bianca. After Mirjam'’s divorce the threesome decided to marry.

Victor: "A marriage between three persons is not possible in the Netherlands, but a civil union is. We went to the notary in our marriage costume and exchanged rings. We consider this to be just an ordinary marriage."”

Asked by journalists to tell the secret of their peculiar relationship, Victor explained that there is no jealousy between them. "“But this is because Mirjam and Bianca are bisexual. I think that with two heterosexual women it would be more difficult." Victor stressed, however, that he is "“a one hundred per cent heterosexual"” and that a fourth person will not be allowed into e "“marriage."” They want to take their marriage obligations seriously: "“to be honest and open with each other and not philander."”

Who does that guy look like?

And what if the girls want a little variety? What is this about not allowing a fourth person in the relationship? Oh, that's right. They are bisexual; they have variety. A second man is not needed. Sheesh.

World. Hell. Handbasket.

---Katie

Why did so many police officers in NO not show up for duty during Katrina?

Perhaps because they did not exist. A story that is breaking today says that as many as 85% of the 250 cops who "went missing" during Katrina do not actually exist. Up to 700 cops may just be names on the roll in NO. I wonder if salaries were being paid to someone...

Katrina is going to be the equivalent of looking under a rock when it comes to the amount of corruption that is going to surface during the recovery.

Click on the title for what little info I have been able to find. I'll update later.

---Katie

But they're so cute!

The politically correct in the UK want people to stop cooing over babies.

A hospital has banned visitors from "cooing" over newborn babies to protect their dignity and parents' right to confidentiality.

People have been told they should resist the temptation to touch or be too familiar with the new arrivals. They are also being warned to respect patient confidentiality by not talking to staff or parents about babies.

Cards have been issued to visitors at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, West Yorks, bearing the words "Respect My Baby" on the front. On the back are the lines written as though from the baby: "I am small and precious so treat me with privacy and respect. My parents ask you to treat my personal space with consideration. I deserve to be left undisturbed and protected against unwanted public view."

The measures were introduced as a result of a Government booklet, Essence of Care, that explains extra protection for patients

But the hospital's interpretation has prompted criticism from mothers.

Lynsey Pearson, 26, from Halifax, who gave birth to her first child, Hannah, four weeks ago, said: "This ludicrous idea is taking confidentiality to the extreme. If people did not ask me about my baby I would be offended. I am so proud of Hannah and I want to show her off. I imagine all new mums feel that way."

Debbie Lawson, the neo-natal manager at the special care baby unit, said: "We know people have good intentions but we need to respect the child.

"Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me."

Some folks have way too much time on their hands!

(A funny aside, when I did spell check, the system wanted to change the name of the hospital to "Coldhearted" - ha!)

---Katie

Is anyone surprised (Why does the ELCA support the Palestinians Part III)

So, Israel pulls out of Gaza, hoping to secure peace...the Palestinians are now lobbing rockets from Gaza at Israeli cities - and we think the Pali's are the poor, oppressed good guys???? I hope Israel crushes them.

Click on the title for the story.

---Katie

I'm conservative...

...no kidding!

I took the political test at OK Cupid and discovered that I am socially and economically conservative, with a rather strong leaning to live and let live.

"You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness."

I really did not need to take a test to know this. It was fun, though, and gave me something to do other than housework.

Click on the title if you want to play.

---Katie

New Orleans is flooding again.

This is just too sad.

---Katie

Fundamentalism redefined?

Here is a quote from the new pope:

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said Monday. "Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards."

Hmmm.

---Katie

Hurricane Alpha?

Can you believe that we have had so many named storms this year that we might run out of names? When that happens, we go to the Greek alphabet. Click on the title to read more about it.

---Katie

Bill Clinton for First Lady?

Here is a backhanded campaign for Hillary for president. Click on the title. I take no responsibility for what you might find there.

---Katie

The MSM must hate this!

The mainstream media must hate it that people they interviewed don't blame Bush for the problems with Katrina:

To ABC's Surprise, Katrina Victims Praise Bush and Blame Nagin

ABC News producers probably didn't hear what they expected when they sent Dean Reynolds to the Houston Astrodome's parking lot to get reaction to President Bush's speech from black evacuees from New Orleans. Instead of denouncing Bush and blaming him for their plight, they praised Bush and blamed local officials. Reynolds asked Connie London: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" She rejected the premise: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in."” She pointed out: "“They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."

Not one of the six people interviewed on camera had a bad word for Bush -- despite Reynolds' best efforts. Reynolds goaded: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?" Brenda Marshall answered, "No, I didn't," prompting Reynolds to marvel to anchor Ted Koppel: "Very little skepticism here."

Click on the title for the entire article at NewsBusters.

---Katie

Why Don't We See People Like These?

The Katrina coverage doesn't tell the whole story. Here is an excerpt from a story you can read in its entirety by clicking on the title:

Back at his mother's hospital room, Lodoen saw television reporters interviewing victims who appeared angry and indignant. "I thought, 'Where are they coming up with these people? I'm not seeing them.'" He was also shocked at the shrill finger-pointing on the news. "All around us, politicians are focused on the blame game. Yet the victims themselves are blaming no one. I didn't hear one complaint. In fact, I was overwhelmed by the love, faith, determination and compassion that everyone shared."

What could be the reason that the mainstream media in general wants us to hear only about the angry, dissatisfied people?

---Katie

What is obvious must be labeled simplistic.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON - The architect of the memorial to a plane downed in western Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, said Wednesday he would work to satisfy critics who complained that it honors terrorists with its crescent-shaped design.

Designer Paul Murdoch said he is "somewhat optimistic" that the spirit of the design could be maintained.

"It's a disappointment there is a misinterpretation and a simplistic distortion of this, but if that is a public concern, then that is something we will look to resolve in a way that keeps the essential qualities," Murdoch, 48, of Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.

-----------------------
So, I guess looking at the design and seeing a red crescent is simplistic, but that is ok as long as we can stop this thing in it's tracks!

---Katie

Let the race baiting begin!

From News Max:

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is telling his followers that the levees in New Orleans may have been deliberately "blown up" to kill the city's black population.

The influential preacher was in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday, where he detailed his Hurricane Katrina conspiracy theory.

"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan explained. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."

Farrakhan didn't say who he thought was behind the plot to blow up New Orleans' levees.

The Muslim minister also blasted both FEMA and the Red Cross, saying their response to Katrina victims after the levees were blown up was inadequate.

The sad thing is that people believe this guy in spite of the fact that he believes that white people were created by a black mad scientist and that UFO's circling the earth will one day rescue the black population. I guess people will believe anything as long as it fits their preconceived notions (prejudices).

---Katie

Sola Cultura?

I love Os Guinness!

From Virtue Online:

CHRISTIAN APOLOGIST AND AUTHOR BLASTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH

By David W. Virtue
Http:///www.virtueonline.org

NEW YORK, NY (Sept. 8 2005)--Christian apologist and author Dr. Os Guinness blasted the Episcopal Church telling several hundred persons at a Kairos Awards dinner that among mainline denominations it was the worst and most extreme capitulation to the spirit of the age in its abject surrender to the sexual mores of the modern world.

Calling them “kissing Judases” (from Soren Kierkegaard) -- followers of Jesus betray him with an interpretation. Guinness ripped the ECUSA saying, "we have seen a troubling growth of those who bend every nerve to reach successive generations of the cultured despisers of the Gospel: and then join them and become like them and no longer faithful to Jesus Christ. Some have surrendered to Enlightenment ideas, and become skeptics about God’s sovereignty, or skeptics about human sin, or skeptics about the possibility of the supernatural and any world beyond the here and now."

Guinness, an Episcopalian who attends The Falls Church in Northern Virginia, said that at one level, the result was an Alice in Wonderland church in which Christian leaders now openly deny what all Christians have believed and many have died to defend; Christian leaders who celebrate what their faith once castigated; Christian leaders who advance views closer to their foes than to their founder; and Christian leaders who deny the faith, but stay on shamelessly as leaders of the faith they deny.

"At a deeper level, these treacherous leaders are a shame and a disgrace to their Master and their fellow-believers, and like Judas are pursuing a suicidal path by surrendering to the spirit of the age leading to triviality and transience." Guinness cited Dean Inge who said, “He who marries the spirit of the age soon becomes a widower.”

"Surrender to the spirit of the age leads to infidelity – what the Scriptures speak of as apostasy-as-adultery, cheating on God as a husband or wife cheats on his or her spouse. Surrender to the spirit of the age undermines the authority of faith, so that “Sola Scriptura” is replaced by “Sola Cultura” and the church has no fulcrum outside the world from which to speak and act in the world."

Guinness said that surrender to the spirit of the age severs the continuity of faith, cutting off its advocates from the faith of their fathers and mothers and making them captives to their culture and children of their times. "Surrender to the spirit of the age destroys the credibility of faith. There is little distinctively Christian to believe, and the intellectual of today can say as Oscar Wilde said to a trendy clergyman of his day, 'I not only follow you, I precede you.'"

Pointing the finger directly at the Episcopal Church, Guinness said that surrender to the spirit of the age obliterated the very identity of faith. In the words of an English philosopher and atheist, "At that point the creed becomes a way of saying what the infidel next door believes too.”

"In the sorry ranks of the revisionists, the loss of anything identifiably Christian is now almost complete."

Guinness also blasted the broader Christian community, saying that many had surrendered to political ideologies, and become the conservative or liberal party at prayer, or the Marxist party at the barricades.

"Some, including a growing number of recent evangelicals, are surrendering to modern insights, techniques, and fashions -- as if we could become more “relevant” by doing the Lord’s work in the world’s latest way."

Guinness praised four Anglican Archbishops from the Global South: the Most Reverend Henry Luke Orombi, (Uganda); The Most Reverend Datuk Yong Ping Chung, (SE Asia); The Most Rev. Gregory Venables (Southern Cone) and the Most. Rev. Peter Akinola (Nigeria) "who in their own countries and cultures have dared to stand up in the present controversies of the church, who have spoken out faithfully and clearly, and who have become leaders and beacons of faithfulness to their own people and far beyond -- towering examples of men made great by humbly submitting themselves to God and to his Word."

The Kairos Journal awards are given annually by businessman Emmanuel A. Kampouris in recognition for a bold and consistent stand for historic orthodoxy. The Kairos Journal Awards is given to individuals who demonstrate exemplary fidelity to the authority of Scripture and exceptional pastoral courage in their efforts to restore the prophetic voice of the Church.


---Katie

The ELCA needs a strong, loyal opposition.

A letter from the Word Alone Network:

ELCA needs strong, loyal opposition

by Dr. Frederick W. Baltz
WordAlone Board member

One of the important things the ELCA seems to have lost is an openness to dissenting opinion.

People from earlier generations tell of church conventions where people argued long and hard, stopping just short of fistfights. Despite the apparent disunity, the people then went forward to do the will of the majority. Everyone had been heard. Today if you raise an objection to something like the mandatory historic episcopate you may be told that you should stop, "The church has spoken." You will not be encouraged to continue to voice your concern. On the contrary, you will feel pressured to keep silent. You will no doubt have the impression that the leadership does not want to listen to you or contribute in any way to your being heard by people beyond your local congregation. It may seem that people consider you disloyal.

In the Lutheran tradition we have always considered our leadersfallible, just like the rest of us. We have rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine that says that the Pope, when speaking ex cathedra (from the chair) on matters of faith and morals that must be held by the whole church, cannot be in error.

The ELCA culture offers a subtler outlook on infallibility. We believe our leaders not only can make mistakes, but have made them. It's just that when you try to give an example, you find that your example couldn't possibly be one of the mistakes (for example, Called to Common Mission, the full communion agreement with The Episcopal Church USA). The church has spoken. "The church" here is a churchwide assembly, which is about one five-thousandth of the membership of the ELCA. Since Luther rejected the notion that popes and councils were mistake-proof (the famous Worms speech), it stands to reason that he would say the same of the churchwide assemblies. Therefore every viewpoint needs to be heard, the loyal opposition included.

Our only real hope is to look to Scripture for our direction, and to realize that even then we all can make mistakes as we interpret the Scripture. We must be most careful not to mandate what is not required in Scripture, and not to allow what is forbidden in Scripture.

Gaining and keeping a hearing will be a matter of continual effort for the WordAlone Network. In the meantime we have established some things.

The information is sketchy at present, but there is now good reason to believe that WordAlone-thinking people know what they are doing in their congregations. It now appears that there is more benevolence sent, greater participation in the life of the congregation and greater growth where WordAlone thinking is heard. (see "For the record," Network News,
July – August 2005
<http://www.wordalone.org/newsletters/2005/JulyAug05.pdf>, p.7)

We have also established that we can make a difference, even if some don't want to listen to us at all. Passage of recommendation 3 that would have granted ordination by exception for practicing gays and lesbians was not the "done deal" that some forecast. It was defeated 490 for adoption to 503 against. There is strength in our network. And we have established that there is more to do.

I tend to think it will be harder and harder for anyone to paint us with an "ugly brush" as the truth of what we intend to do within this church becomes clearer--continue to stand strongly with the loyal opposition.

We need to be a voice among others who would stop the ELCA's drift away from Scripture and the Lutheran confessions. To be loyal is to recognize both the good and the bad in the institutional church, and to keep working as long as it takes to make the present situation better.

-------------------------------

How does one choose between moving to a church that better follows the lead of Scripture and remaining in a church that one loves dearly and can hopefully be moved in that direction? That's where I am now.

Click on the title for the Word Alone Network website.

---Katie

This is heartbreaking.

Arlington, VA (LifeNews.com) -- Little baby Susan Torres died last night after battling a severe infection. She became the subject of international attention after her father decided to allow her mother to remain alive to give birth following a tragic car accident rather than letting both mother and baby die.

In an email provided to LifeNews.com, Justin Torres, baby Susan's uncle, said she passed away following an infection. An emergency surgery was unsuccessful.

"I am saddened to have to report that, following emergency surgery that we had hoped would correct a sudden deterioration in her condition, my niece Susan Ann Catherine Torres has passed away after only five shorts weeks with us," Justin wrote.

Click on the title for the whole article.

(If I remember correctly, this is the mom who decided not to get treatment for cancer so that she did not have to abort her child...I am not sure where the car accident comes in.)

---Katie

Why is it that the ELCA supports the Palestinians? Part II

I really don't understand the "poor, oppressed Palestinian" theme...

From the Jerusalem Post:

It's almost a foregone conclusion that the synagogues of demolished Gush Katif will be destroyed. Remaining to be determined is only how and who will lay them to ruin. The underlying assumption is that whatever Israel leaves behind will be instantly vandalized and devastated.

Even the dead weren't considered immune from postmortem violation. That is why Israel removed the graves of Israelis from Gush Katif's Neveh Dekalim Cemetery.

This is no manifestation of baseless paranoia. In 1948, after the Jordanian Legion occupied east Jerusalem, forcibly expelling the Old City's ancient Jewish community, it showed the world what could be perpetrated even by moderate Arabs, as the Hashemites were reputed to be.

They destroyed no less than 58 synagogues, including the magnificent Rabbi Yehuda Hahasid Synagogue (the Hurva).

Synagogue remains were used by the Jordanians as cowsheds, donkey stables and public lavatories. This wasn't neglect, a charge that can be leveled at Israel regarding some mosque structures in abandoned and emptied Arab hamlets. This was deliberate abuse with intent to desecrate and humiliate. While Israel's record in 1948 and 1967 may not be perfect, jubilant desecration was never the motivation.

Even the ancient and hallowed Jewish Mount of Olives Cemetery wasn't left alone. No less than 75% of its tombstones were ripped out.

The international community was outraged a few years ago when Afghanistan's Talibans blew up giant Buddhist statuaries. But outrage was conspicuously absent against the destruction of Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount. Nor was there any particular international notice, let alone concern, when Nablus mobs ransacked Joseph's Tomb in 2001.

The wish to spare the Israeli public scenes of jubilant terrorists and their admiring disciples wreaking vengeance on synagogues is what prompted the government's original decision against abandoning any synagogues to the marauding rioters' predations. But why must it be assumed that such barbarism is uncontrollable, or even understandable?

To find a counterexample, one need look no further than Tel Aviv. The Hassan Bek Mosque was built about a century ago by Ottoman Turks on the border of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. During the British Mandate, Jaffa's Arabs had no qualms about using this house of worship to sow death and destruction. Arab snipers regularly fired into Tel Aviv streets from the minaret, killing and wounding passersby. After the War of Independence, Israelis had every reason to pull down the infamous mosque. But they didn't.

Israel even allowed Saudi money to finance the mosque's renovation and expansion. It's an operating mosque today. The police reportedly suspected that the suicide bomber who killed 22 youngsters at the Dolphinarium had been harbored there. When a known underworld character recently deposited a pig's head in its courtyard, he was summarily arrested.

Yet the rights and courtesies Muslims request aren't readily reciprocated. The PA is reported to have snubbed Israel's inquiries about whether it would protect Gush Katif's synagogues from harm.

Who will actually wreck them is much less relevant than why this has become almost inevitable. Why cannot Palestinians show the entire watching world that they are capable of rising above base instincts and conducting themselves according the civilized standards they so aggressively demand from others? Why does the world not expect and rigorously require these same standards of them?

Assumed Palestinian savagery, not to mention presumed international indifference to it, do not inspire Israeli confidence and do not augur well for the future of a negotiated peace.

Israel is committed to treating its Arab citizens with full equality and Muslim and Christian religious sites with utmost respect. Palestinians want Israelis to believe that all they want is to live peacefully in a state beside us.

They will have trouble convincing most Israelis of their peaceful intentions when they not only cannot tolerate living Jews in their midst, but also cannot even tolerate buildings or graves, without tearing them to bits.

Click on the title!

---Katie

Who gets the blame?

Interesting article about the LA governor's role in the Katrina issue:


As more information continues to dribble out, in reference to the breakdowns in emergency plans surrounding Hurricane Katrina (you won't hear it from many-if-any mainstream press sources), one person in the middle of the debacle stands out--Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.

As Democrats, the mainstream press, and their leftist contingents continue to scream for the head of FEMA's Michael Brown and President Bush, they have "conveniently" forgotten that it was Governor Blanco who fought and blocked any rescue-effort plans, even before the storm hit her state.

I wonder why the media conveniently ignores her idiocy in this whole debacle. Could it be that she is a Democrat? Hmm.

Click on the title for more.

---Katie

Katrina Tetris

This is in bad taste.

I'm posting it anyway.

If you want to be offended, click on the title.

Don't say I did not warn you.

---Katie

Keep your personal info private!

Here is a scam my husband got a notice about from work:

Identity theft scammers are finding new ways to get information from individuals. The latest example is the jury duty scam.

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you have failed to report for jury duty. They tell you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information, such as a Social Security number and birth date, for "verification" purposes.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for Social Security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.

You should never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal information when you receive a telephone call. This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their personal information.

Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this information out when you receive a phone call.

I can see how some people might get taken in by this. Be careful out there.

---Katie

I've never owned an $800 purse...

or a $100 one for that matter. Check this out:

Profiteering ghouls have been using debit cards distributed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - intended to buy essentials for evacuated families - in luxury-goods stores as far away as Atlanta. "We've seen three of the cards," said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday." The distinctive white cards were distributed by the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and carry a value of up to $2,000. "It doesn't say anything on the card other than alcohol, tobacco and firearms cannot be purchased with it," the store employee told me. "There's nothing legally that prevents us from taking it, unfortunately. Other than morally, it's wrong." The source told me that the two women who had made purchases with the card each bought a signature monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag in the $800 range. "They didn't look destitute by any stretch. You would never have said, 'They must be one of the evacuees.' Â… The one that I dealt with yesterday was 20. She'll be 21 next month." The source described the reaction of other store-keepers in the mall - which includes luxury brands Ferragamo, Burberry, Judith Leiber and Neiman Marcus - as "outrage." "It doesn't say anywhere on there, but it would have to be a good amount to be shopping in here," the source said with a dark chuckle.

No comment.

---Katie

Crescent of Embrace

Click on the title and tell me what this Flight 93 memorial looks like to you.

Unbelievable.

---Katie

Tales from the Front III

One more story:

There are two shelters opening up with a mile of my home. I visited both this afternoon, with an eye to seeing what I could do to help. Actually I had been to one, the Good Samaritan ministry, on Monday, when I had first heard of it. This is a Christian ministry that has existed for years. Has a food and clothing bank. Helps with rent and utility bills for those in need. Coordinates with other agencies for medical care.

Well before the disaster, the GS had acquired a large new space that formerly housed the electric company’s offices. A rehab was making slow progress over the weeks until last Wednesday when the director received a call asking if she could host 100 people – family people. She put the word out to the community and things began to happen, and happen fast.

Carpenters showed up to build bedrooms; electricians showed up to wire them; plumbers showed up to build bathrooms. Tons of building supplies and fixtures were donated. As this was going a steady stream just plain folks were backing up to the loading docks delivering food, water, clothing, beds, tables, chairs lamps, rugs, appliances, toys, cleaning supplies, bed linens..in sum, about all you could need for making a most comfortable environment for our brothers and sisters who are in a tight spot right now.

The bedrooms are something the families will need – have their own little space and a door to close, after days of being moved en mass. The one I saw had two beds nicely made up, a chest of drawers, bedside tables with lamps, throw rugs on the tile floor. On one of the beds was the coolest stuffed Bengal tiger!

As I walked through the place, I saw self organized groups of people working to carry the donations from the loading dock, which was overflowing, to other groups who were sorting and storing.

I wanted to volunteer for food service, so I asked to see the kitchen. They had one 4 burner electric range, I said, “We’re going to need another stove.” A doctor, what was working on setting up a clinic there overheard. He said, “You need another stove? Lowe’s will donate that. Just e-mail me so I don’t forget”

Then I went to the other shelter. This one is run by the Red Cross in conjunction with FEMA. They have a U-Haul truck unloading cots which I assume they are setting up in the gym. I say “assume” because I was not allowed inside until I talked to the man. And after waiting, I was told that the man was resolving some logistics problems. I did hear one person who was unloading say, “This is not going to be nearly enough.” So maybe that is what the man was working on. I left.

My point is while I am glad for Red Cross / FEMA the contrast with their effort and what I saw at Good Samaritan is striking and telling. I am sure that at some point the RC will get their cots set up in the gym and get a good supply of MREÂ’s.

Meanwhile, back at the GS ministry, without directives, rules and regulations, or any real boss on the ground that I could find, Americans rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

---Katie

Tales from the Front II

Some folks don't want to go to Iowa where jobs and apartments are waiting:

Bruce Widbin headed south expecting hopelessness, misery, and desperate need.

Instead, he found Hurricane Katrina evacuees at a Red Cross disaster relief center watching big–screen TVs, shooting hoops, listening to live music and choosing between ham, roast beef or barbecued turkey.

Widbin, a Wever resident, took a charter bus Sunday to Jackson, Miss., intending to return with a full load of southerners ready to start a new life in Iowa.

But, despite promises of houses and jobs waiting, only one family among the roughly 300 people at the Mississippi Coliseum relief center accepted a ride north.

And they had relatives in Dubuque.

"I walked around the center and there were big–screen TVs, three full semi–trucks pulled up serving pizza out the windows, medical areas, basketball courts and balloon tying and activities for the kids," Widbin said Wednesday. "The meal line was huge, like a big church buffet."

A member of Grace Bible Church in Wever, Widbin organized the bus trip with help from his congregation and the faithful at Harmony Bible Church in Danville. Trailways Bus System in West Burlington donated use of a bus.

This was no fly–by–the–seat–of–your–pants mission. About 50 families from the two churches had agreed to welcome evacuees into their homes. Additional apartments were set aside if needed. And several businesses were ready to hire people fleeing the hurricane.

Widbin worked with a sheriff from the Jackson area for three days prior to the trip to make sure everything was in order.

"She said, 'Oh, come on down, we'll have no trouble filling your bus,' " he said.

The sheriff spoke on the radio, appeared on TV and posted fliers around the shelter promoting the Iowa effort. But when the time came to leave, most evacuees preferred to stay.

"The people had it so good," said Widbin, who returned home Monday night. "They were just so comfortable."

Most families living in the center had evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit, Widbin said.

The bus carried a load of relief supplies, gathered in large part by an African–American church in Burlington, that were loaded on a truck in Mississippi and sent further south to the Gulf Coast.

Not one to quit easily, Widbin wanted to look elsewhere when he realized people in Jackson were not excited about a move to the Midwest.

But when he asked about nearby relief centers, the top Red Cross official in the city did not know the locations.

"... The size and bureaucracy and territorialism within the Red Cross just really encumbered our ability to take action," Widbin said.

The largess heaped on the evacuees also left Widbin wondering: What happens when the philanthropy ends?

"There is no way the volunteers and the businesses can continue to provide that level of service and facilities for more than a couple of weeks," he said. "When the Red Cross goes to close the center, if the mentality of the people is, 'The government will take care of us,' and not to go out and fix the problems themselves, then you are going to hear a clamor when the services disappear."

The two churches are hardly alone in their failed generosity. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said last week his state would welcome 5,000 evacuees from the Gulf Coast. As of Tuesday, only about 40 had arrived.

Widbin is on the hook for the diesel burned on the run south. And he still feels the clinch of disappointment from accomplishing so little.

But he has found reasons to be thankful.

There was the pleasure of watching his 15–year–old son Jeremy, who went along on the trip, play with the children in the relief center and interact with the police officers standing watch.

There was the joy of meeting that lone family that did come to Iowa.

And there is the comfort of believing he acted on God's will, no matter what the outcome.

"We saw a need, we acted, and we did it in faith," he said. "There's nothing else I can say."

Of course, I don't know if I could relocate to the cold north.

Also, a poster said a family in Dallas who took in evacuees had their 13 year old daughter raped by one of them. He (the rapist) is now in jail.

I wonder, could I take in an absolute stranger in this situation?

---Katie

Tales from the Front

I thought I would start posting personal accounts from folks involved in the recovery from Katrina. A good place to find these stories is Free Republic. Here is number one:

A friend who has been working as a missionary in the inner city for the last 18 years sent this e-mail to me about her experience working with the Red Cross.

_____________________

As you know we work in the inner city with 99.9% low income, welfare and poverty stricken people. So I am just supposing (no other explanation) that that is why we had many calls from people that need help or know someone that needs help with the Katrina relief.

We were in Bible study on Tue and some of the ladies from the Bible study brought me cans of their food to give to these Katrina victims. First I had to hold back a lot of emotion because many of these women are giving out of their poverty. I encouraged them to keep their food if they were in need that God wants to bless them for their hearts longing to help, but not to take food from their family to do it. (you may or may not agree) but I know that one 76 yrs old lady who brought three cans of food and gave it to me in a bag so no one knew she was giving it said, "Here I have no car and no MARTA money to get this to the drop off spot but will you get it there for me."

On behalf of the ladies, T [her husband] and I instead, volunteered with the Red Cross that CALLED us on Mon night for help.

Here is just a brief synopses of what took place. Mind you again, they called us and asked if we could help out because they had some hostile folks the day before and they thought (because of what we do) we could defuse some hot tempers.

We prayed and God sent us.

We first set up a PA system so every one of the more then 200 folks could hear all the announcements and numbers being called for processing, we asked if we could play some soothing music and it was frowned upon because they thought we would play Christian music. Well, we didn't wait for an answer because we saw the need was great for some calm. So we played Kenny G (for 9 hours!!!!!!)

People, including the volunteers that had been there, said how wonderful and helpful it was, Okay that was good, Then I announced that they should give themselves a hand clap for being survivors, they did and it was the first smiles we saw since we pulled up. Then I said T was here and if anyone wanted to pray, felt like they needed prayer that they could see him. Instant loud applause shot through the crowd, EXCEPT from the Red Cross, they jumped on us like a flea on a dog! They said we COULD NOT say anything of the sort and further more that they do NOT in any way promote any religious activity. My heart sank and I wanted to leave but the Lord said NO we had to stay. All I know how to do is talk about the Lord so my vocabulary was very limited. Then God showed us that the parking lot where the volunteers were parking did not have anything to do with the Red Cross so we set out on a mission. We had designated jobs we had to do for them but every time we could step away we took someone out there and prayed for them.

Then we were given (by a Coke company representative), some cards with their web and offering jobs, I made that announcement and they jumped me again and said they were not affiliated with Coke and NOT to make such announcements.

Now go figure, these people need jobs but I couldn't tell them where to get one. Feeling so frustrated and sick at my stomach I got a little mad too! I said okay Lord we're just going underground!!!! We got the info to those that wanted it one by one.

Then we saw literally hundreds of cars, trucks drive up to give food and clothing and they were turned away in HASTE. I understand that they had no training nor room to take these donations but they were not interested in thanking these folks at all. I went outside their building and I watched the dejected people walk back to their cars. Some were crying some were mad and some were just downright confused, because all they have heard is how much all this is needed.

People came to volunteer and they turned them away.

A crippled man came to help and they turned him away I watched his face as he walked (limped) to his car and left.

I said, “Lord for some reason you slid us in here and I'm not gonna let You down.”

One lady (actually many) that came, wearing the only clothes she had, and had been wearing them for over a week! It had been washed once, she needed toiletry items and I thought I might better ask this time and they said she had to go through the" process" before they gave her ANYTHING! Which meant that she has to wait another week to get clothing with voucher!

WHAT!!!!!!!!!??????????

Mind you when I say, a lady, a mother or a man, that there were many more in the crowd that represents them but I tell you just the one story so you get the idea! Multiply all these stories by the hundreds and you will have the picture.

A mother needed diapers and by the time the "PROCESS" was down the baby had urine and feces running down his leg!!!!!! One of there volunteers walked around for hours with RED Cross color books and RED CROSS stuffed animals and didn't give many away. She was looking at the children and assessing weather or not they needed the item. I asked for a coloring book for a little girl that had a birth defect that leaves opened wounds all over her body, she couldn't go and color with the other kids and the "volunteer” would not give me one!

T made a dash for our warehouse and brought back clothing, toys, diapers, etc., and I started sneaking (don't know a better word) the stuff to these people.

MY GOD people!!!! Don't worry about who gets credit for what and your numbers games MEET THE NEEDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was a nervous wreck by the time the day was spent, I was dehydrated and hungry. I took my own snacks for the day but never had time to eat them.

I finally realized that the red cross needs to make sure they get the credit for anything done so they get more money from people like you and me. Their were people needing many things and it seem that the items the red cross did get in from "their" resources, were being hoarded and rationed while countless hundreds with truck loads were being turned away!!!!

Please help me understand this!!!!!!!!!

They didn't give out one shirt, and the people were desperate for a change of clothing. The red cross leader then began to tell the people were they could go for clothing.

BUT the evacuees came to me and said, “How can I get there with no transportation???????????”

My hands were so tied I got sick!!!!!

Well, I may not have made some of you happy by voicing this opinion but I had to say this to say this, pray for us, I don't know what would happen to this city if something of this magnitude ever hit us.

I know the churches are doing things but they are not being vocal enough for the Christian public to know what to do in that circle!

At the end of the day I was pleased knowing that the Lord just allowed us to do what I call mole Christian witnessing, and many lives were touched and blessed and many made a point to hug JUST T and I before they left.

There was a New Orleans seminary student there waiting to be processed, Two semesters from his masters in divinity, I wish I'd have gotten his name. If he by chance should get a hold of this note (I hear my letters get passed around a lot) please call us xxx-xxx-xxxx we have a place for you to stay and some suits for you to try on. Just in case he hears this message!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I know this is long but we have already gotten two calls for help. We'll write more later, gotta go.

OH by the way by phone while at Bible study Tues. we were trying to place 250 families. Simpsonwood worked with us to house 100 of these in their conference facility. Thank you and God bless.

I am sorry if you disagree with me but I think we should send our money to those of Christian faith so we can use this opportunity to be a witness for Christ. When you give at Publix and channel five, you are giving to the Red Cross!

Ask where your money is going and be smart when you give. Make sure it's getting to the people you intended to get it!

WELL, I love ya and I hope ya love me too, after voicing my opinion only because we didn't go on hearsay, we are in the middle of this. So until next time . . .

Your MOLE MISSIONARY, signing off, P

I encourage you to give to Lutheran World Relief.

---Katie

I have a freezer full of ice cream.

Therefore, Ophelia is going to dilly dally around and make a big loop and come back here and slam us. I still have not gotten over what Jeanne did last year....

At least I still *had* a freezer, unlike the many unfortunate folks in the gulf.

So I should stop complaining.

But would that thing spinning out there please just go on and MOVE!

And if we lose power...ice cream party at our house!!!

---Katie

Why are they blaming Bush?

I thought this was worth passing along. I found it on Free Republic.

Folks, I'm sorry for the semi-vanity post, but THIS NEEDS TO GET OUT THERE. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell perfect strangers. Tell everyone. Frankly, I'm absolutely stunned that this isn't the top article on every single news site. I'm stunned that the blogosphere isn't buzzing about nothing else. Why hasn't this gotten the attention it deserved?

In short: the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security BLOCKED THE RED CROSS from bringing desperately needed food, water, and supplies to the Superdome and the Convention Center. This was done to deliberately make conditions worse. Why? Because they wanted people to evacuate, and I guess they figured that if the people there had the luxury of, say, CLEAN WATER, they'd be less likely to leave. So they made a willful decision to starve and dehydrate the people in the Superdome so they'd be miserable enough to leave... or, if they were weak, miserable enough to die, as a few of them did.

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. Check the Red Cross site:

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?

• The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Governor Blanco doesn't deserve electoral defeat. She doesn't deserve impeachment. She deserves to sit in prison for the rest of her life... or to hang by the neck until dead for inflicting on Americans what would be considered an atrocity if Americans inflicted it on anyone else.

And while this was going on, both the Mayor and the Governor were crying, "Where is the food? Where is the water?" The food and the water were sitting on trucks which were prevented from delivering them by the State of Louisiana.

Tell everybody.

---Katie

Was the Red Cross blocked from helping New Orleans?

Check out this interview by clicking on the title. It sounds like the Red Cross was ready immediately after Katrina with supplies for the victims, but the state government would not let them in.

Of course, all the Bush haters will just keep blaming it on the feds.

---Katie

Why is it that the ELCA supports the Palestinians?

We are so concerned about them being treated unfairly by Israel (who, understandably, would like to keep the bombers out), but we don't seem so concerned about this:

Who will speak up for the Arab Christians?

The Jerusalem Post reports a pogrom by Palestinian Muslims against the Christian Arab village of Taibah near Ramallah. Although no-one was injured, many were forced to flee the village. The attack was triggered by the murder of a Muslim woman from the nearby village of Deir Jarir who was apparently killed by members of her family for having had a romance with a Christian man from Taiba.

'"When her family discovered that she had been involved in a forbidden relationship with a Christian, they apparently forced her to drink poison," said one source. "Then they buried her without reporting her death to the relevant authorities..."

‘More than 500 Muslim men, chanting Allahu akbar [God is great], attacked us at night," said a Taiba resident. "They poured kerosene on many buildings and set them on fire. Many of the attackers broke into houses and stole furniture, jewelry and electrical appliances." With the exception of large numbers of PA policemen, the streets of Taiba were completely deserted on Sunday as the residents remained indoors. Many torched cars littered the streets. At least 16 houses had been gutted by fire and the assailants also destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Click on the title for the entire article.

---Katie

The Soft Underbelly

This article reinforces a conversation we had at a party last night about the importance of men (dads if possible) in our sons' lives. Here is an excerpt:

Government is not a real dad. Or husband, for that matter. We have countenanced for too long those who accumulate political power by nurturing a dependent and shiftless underclass, and the chickens have finally come home to roost, only they aren'’t chickens,— they are vipers. We are talking about strong able-bodied men whose assistance, whose muscle power, was needed for that very thing God gave them muscles for -— the protection and care of the weaker -— and who could find nothing to do to be of service and help in a disaster. Who bent their will to pillaging and worse.

This idea that who raises the children does not matter is a dangerous one. Kids, especially boys, need dads, and if dad is not fit (drug addict, etc.) other men need to step up to the plate and help single moms out. What we really need to do, though, is nip this idea in the bud that having a mom *and* a dad is not important. Click on the title to read the whole article.

---Katie

Lessons of smaller states

I will be teaching a government class for homeschoolers starting on Friday, so I have been paying attention to articles about government and political theory. Here is an excerpt from an opinion piece that lends credence to the theories of Hayek and Friedman:

"In a just-concluded meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Iceland, some leaders of small states that have developed very successful economies met with some of the worlds' leading free-market economists and policy institute professionals, partly to discuss what lessons the rest of the world can learn from these small states. Mart Laar, former prime minister of Estonia, was the principle architect of his country's remarkable economic transformation from impoverished vassal of the Soviet Union into one of the world's freest (No. 4 in the world according to the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom) and most dynamic economies. Mr. Laar said he succeeded by following the teachings of Nobel Prize-winning economists F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman.

After obtaining freedom 15 years ago, Estonia rapidly moved to establish a rule of law, protect private property and create a sound currency. Estonia removed most price controls, discarded useless regulations, privatized most state-owned enterprises and established a free-trade regime. The result has been the largest percentage increase in real per capita incomes of any of the former communist states."

What I find interesting personally is that I have heard nothing about the success of Estonia over the past 15 years. I have only heard of the struggles of many of the former communist states, not about any successes.

Click on the title to read the entire article.

---Katie

Chief Justice Rehnquist is dead.

He fought a good fight. God bless him.

---Katie

An E-mail from an Orlando resident who escaped NO

Found this on Free Republic:

This e-mail received in the past hour from a local couple who just escaped from New Orleans. They wanted to stress how poorly Louisiana's Democratic controlled government handled the situation...

My husband and I have an unbelievable story about the situation in New Orleans.

We were stranded tourists that ended up stranded due to Delta canceling our flight on Sunday at 11:25am. That was the beginning of our nightmare.

We were in a city we weren't all that familiar (where are the stores, no local knowledge, no local network) and were unable to leave. I won't spend time discussing having to stay in the midst of a category 4 hurricane (something we would NEVER do, being from Florida and being wise to hurricanes). But what is more upsetting is what happened to us afterwards...........

We were staying in a small hotel 3 blocks off of Canal on Tchopotoulis Street in the Warehouse/Art District. This hotel did not have a generator, nor did it have any provisions for food. We were on our own.

For 2 days, we did our best on the streets trying to scrounge some water and food and tried our best to find out how to get these supplies and more importantly, to get back to the airport when it opened (we were under the false hope that the airport would open and we would somehow fly out when that happened).

Tuesday was the beginning of our delusion fading and the quick realization of what was coming. We saw the looters going into the athletic store on Canal (while Brian Williams was doing a segment for the nightly news) and the police exerted minimal effort to stop this as we came to realize - they had no where to put the looters/criminals. That was probably the first of our realization that those in charge (which still trying to figure out just who is), is not doing anything and planning for anything. There is absolutely NO LEADERSHIP.

But we did our best to endure the heat, no AC, the little food that we could get and talked to as many people as possible to get any information we could. We at least had a hotel room. When ever we asked the National Guard and police where was the help, the water, the food, all they could say was "it is coming" and be happy as we were in the driest part of the city and "the water is coming" (meaning the levy broke).

On Wednesday, we were desperate, out of food, out of water, and could not now flush a toilet. My husband and I set out on our morning walk to Canal Street to see the news media (that was the only way we could learn anything). We realized that there were less people that day. As much as we wanted to leave the media alone to do their job, we were increasingly frustrated as to how they obviously had water and probably food. How come? Where was ours. My husband finally asked one of the crew (no one would even give us eye contact at that point -(Side note - we are in our 40s, white and friendly looking). how they got in - as we were figuring that one of the reasons there was not any support and more supplies was the roads were still down. That guy told us that they drove in from Tampa and they had no problem coming in. Then where are the supplies? Where is the Red Cross?

We were dumfounded, but knew we had to leave as soon as possible - if we had to walk.

We saw some buses at the W Hotel and asked if we could go, we would pay whatever necessary. They were full and were taking guests/families out of the W and the Sheraton hotels. Sorry. What?????? We could not believe this. We ran around and asked the police again when is anyone coming? "They are coming; they are bringing in buses to the Superdome and busing people out to Houston". (We did not go to the Dome as the Mayor said that was for people with special needs and for hotel guests to stay put). But we could now possibly walk there (we still heard there was water up to the dome, but we could go there and wait for buses).

Somewhere around this time, we saw another police person and as a pharmacist I told him I was concerned about the people that were going without meds and I would volunteer to go into the WalgreenÂ’s on Canal (the looters had already broken into the front part for supplies) and if a police personnel was there I could dispense and emergency supply to anyone showing a Rx bottle with maintenance medications. He said the supplies "are coming". I got very angry and said they need to be here NOW. He asked for a suggestion and I said I already told him mine. He said that would take a lot - we would have to get approval from WalgreenÂ’s corporate, yada yada. I said, can't you see out here, this is like a 3rd world country. WalgreenÂ’s won't care; they'd love the publicity (I work for the competitor CVS and I know they would feel the same way). They want patients to have meds. The policeman said even if they could do it, he had no way to get any kind of "approval" for something like that as they all had no communication. What?????????????

We got very annoyed, depressed and made the short trek to the Convention Center to see about any person in charge to see if there was any medical, buses, water, food, etc. We went there and there was NOTHING except for people waiting. We tried to ask for anyone in charge, who knew anything and there was NO ONE. (By the way, the national guardsmen that we had seen earlier that morning, 3 hours later still did not know anything or give us any other information).

We could not believe. But we knew one thing; we were getting out anyway possible. I felt like the people who were going down the steps of the World Trade Center thinking they were really going anywhere when in reality our fate was set and officials had sacrificed all of us left in the city.

We called collect to my mother in law and I unleashed a lot of tears of frustration and she told us some obvious: Look for someone in charge - we did that THERE WAS NO ONE (she did not believe) Ask police and national guard - we did that also - no information

She said buses were coming. I said that was not true - there were no buses, there was NO water, NO food, NOTHING, unlike the TV was showing her of all of the relief that was "coming". Where were they?

She told us to hang in there, she was going to stay glued to the TV and we could call her back.

As prayers were being raised for us, about 45 minutes later we saw some people on the street near a few vehicles (we had already asked everyone that morning near a car if we could pay to go with them, never any room). These people took pity on us and allowed us into their hotel shelter. Come to realize this was the hotel the police had been staying in for the last several days. They had food, water, alcohol, generators. We could not believe our luck. We also could not believe what these people were now telling us about the looters. They were afraid. They also had pistols (I have never seen a pistol in my life). They were awaiting a SUV that a person was letting them take as he was not leaving. They promised us if they had enough room they would take us out of the city. We were elated.

At that point 4-5 policeman came back into get the rest of their clothes and belongings and said, we need to get out of there as the looters (gangs of New Orleans) had gotten guns from a store they broke into and they were coming this way. The policeman said he was getting out of there and would not be coming back as there was nothing they could do. He then asked how many weapons we all had, and for about 12 people there were only 3 guns. He gave the men 2 more guns, a shotgun and a pistol and said we would need it.............

I felt like we were in a Hollywood movie. Not that much longer as we awaited the SUV, another vehicle came and we all knew we needed to be ready to go at any moment. We all piled in the vehicle while the guys stood watch with the guns. We were transported then to another hotel about 2 blocks away. We were hurried out and told that we would not be able to fit into the vehicle they were getting but that we needed to get our names on the list that the guy was taking and we would be bused out. That was fine with us. We did that and within 1/2 hour we were on the bus, and heading out of the city.

I won't describe the looks on the faces of those who saw this bus as they knew someone was leaving and they were not. I was horrified for them. I wanted to let them on as they were walking over the bridge.

We asked where we were going and they told us, Baton Rouge. We got a cell signal and called our mother-in-law to tell her to book our flight on Delta to get out of Baton Rouge.

The bus was paid for by the Marriott Corp who was dedicated to getting their associates and guests out of the city. Rumor is the CEO or Mr. Marriott, or someone high up at Marriott got buses ready on Tuesday and had to get special permission from the governor to allow the buses in. They had to make more than one phone call to make that happen, but that is what they did.

They allowed all of us to stay in the ballroom. We decided to go to the airport and sleep there and hopefully get an earlier flight. That is what we did and we got back into Orlando today at 11am.

We had not been able to hear/see any of the news and were flabbergasted to see the Governor and that woman Senator get on TV and talk about all that they were doing. All of that is hogwash. They aren't doing anything for all those poor people there still in the city and nothing to stop the looting. I believe I saw prior to the hurricane that the Governor could go to the highest level and get the military to come in and take the security over and be in charge of such if she declares it to be at that state. Why has she not done?

We just got back from eating with my in-laws and my mother-in-law told us she frantically started calling everyone she could to get us some help in there. She told us something very scary, on Wed when she was calling at about 10:30am, she actually (you have to know her to know that only she could do this) got to talk to a man with the Red Cross with trucks, supplies, etc in their trucks only awaiting the Governor to allow them to get in.

My husband and I are exhausted as we haven't slept in days and are emotionally drained, but can't help but think if it weren't for the Grace of God and a little good timing, we would still have been there. And today is one more day past and NOTHING HAS CHANGED. SOMETHING IS WRONG. There is no reason they don't have church buses that can come in and get these people, let the Red Cross in, let supplies in, etc..........

Please help them. Call us if you want even more details.

Thanks- God Bless- [name withheld]

---Katie

Yeowtch! That's gotta hurt!!!

From Worldmag blog:

Cutting-edge condoms

With more than 50,000 rapes reported every year, South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world. In order to reduce that statistic, inventor Sonette Ehlers created the "rapex", a latex device that is worn like a tampon and contains sharp barbs that hooks onto the rapist'’s skin and can only be removed from the man through surgery. So far, the prototype has only been used on a plastic male models since no men were willing to test the product.

I just cannot think of anything witty to say...but I am sure someone will!

---Katie

A Lesson about Government.

Will we learn anything from the experience in NO? Click on the title, etc., etc.

New Orleans has provided a corrosive lesson about government. At all levels, government is overbearing and nagging, paying for people's prescription drugs and telling us whether we can smoke in restaurants or not. But when it comes to its most elemental task of maintaining order and protecting property, it might not be up to the task when it is needed most.

Keep that in mind and buy a gun, just in case.

---Katie

Doug Giles pulls no punches.

This guy has it right. Click on the title for the entire article.

New Orleans Saints and Sphincters
Doug Giles

September 2, 2005

The horrific devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has shown New Orleans’ true saints, and it has also revealed her veritable sphincter, i.e., the looters. What a sorry and disgusting, must-have-an-all-access-laminated-pass-in-hell-waiting-for-them, dregs-of-humanity lot these looting losers are. What a glut of soulless, pathetic hyenas this carousing compost heap is.

I’m sorry. I think I just offended all hyenas by grouping these bipod genetic glitches with our four-legged furry scavengers.

I think we’re all big boys and can understand legitimate looting when one’s entire world has just collapsed and he’s forced to survive or die—but surviving is not what these savage swamp rats are doing. No, these festering zits see this as their big chance to get a plasma TV and a Rolex—and even worse, an occasion to rape someone and get away with it.

---Katie

An Explanation, Perhaps, for the Chaos in NO?

This is rather brutal, but perhaps it is a reasonable explanation for the behavior of some of the folks in NO. Click on the title for the entire article.

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State

by Robert Tracinski
Sep 02, 2005

by Robert Tracinski It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster. If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild. Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting. But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster. The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong. The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view. The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

The rest of the article is well worth reading.

---Katie

The return of consequences?

From The American Thinker:

Perhaps the Old Testament-style destruction of an entire city can steady our nation. Not because New Orleans was lost. What matters is why it was lost.

We established ourselves precariously, well below water level in unstable land, and our labors – first gradually, then suddenly and unstoppably – came undone. It'’s a chance to grasp that grand indulgence brings catastrophe. Allow courts to break free from the Constitution and the rule of law will fail. Leave the borders open and we will lose America. Burn the social fabric and society will ignite. Retreat from our enemies and they will kill us.

Babylon always falls. The memory of Mardi Gras and the city'’s pleasure-seeking, Big Easy ways may join with this tragedy to gift “New Orleans” to the national consciousness as a byword for the certain fruits of improvidence.

And, perhaps, when you stop grounding the faith and practice of your church in the inspired Word of God? When you say that eight passages of scripture should not keep us from indulging ourselves in political correctness? hmmm...

---Katie

Letter from a Physician in NO

From the Texas Medical Association:

Aug. 31, 2005

This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting, but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement.

This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV convention. We have commandeered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police escort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the French Quarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard? We hear jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of cliche way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care physician. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will take. And the horror of so many dead people.

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THINK MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH.

Greg Henderson

---Katie

Just in case...

...you were thinking that the damage from Katrina is all "Bush's fault!" Here is an article from last year after Hurricane Ivan. The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of LA knew what problems they would be facing for almost a year before this horrible disaster.

Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press

Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land.

New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm exposed what some say are significant flaws in the Big Easy's civil disaster plans.

Much of New Orleans is below sea level, kept dry by a system of pumps and levees. As Ivan charged through the Gulf of Mexico, more than a million people were urged to flee. Forecasters warned that a direct hit on the city could send torrents of Mississippi River backwash over the city's levees, creating a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste.

Residents with cars took to the highways. Others wondered what to do.

"They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Latonya Hill, 57, said at the time. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either."

Advocates for the poor were indignant.

"If the government asks people to evacuate, the government has some responsibility to provide an option for those people who can't evacuate and are at the whim of Mother Nature," said Joe Cook of the New Orleans ACLU.

It's always been a problem, but the situation is worse now that the Red Cross has stopped providing shelters in New Orleans for hurricanes rated above Category 2. Stronger hurricanes are too dangerous, and Ivan was a much more powerful Category 4.

In this case, city officials first said they would provide no shelter, then agreed that the state-owned Louisiana Superdome would open to those with special medical needs. Only Wednesday afternoon, with Ivan just hours away, did the city open the 20-story-high domed stadium to the public.

Mayor Ray Nagin's spokeswoman, Tanzie Jones, insisted that there was no reluctance at City Hall to open the Superdome, but said the evacuation was the top priority.

"Our main focus is to get the people out of the city," she said.

Callers to talk radio complained about the late decision to open up the dome, but the mayor said he would do nothing different.

"We did the compassionate thing by opening the shelter," Nagin said. "We wanted to make sure we didn't have a repeat performance of what happened before. We didn't want to see people cooped up in the Superdome for days."

When another dangerous hurricane, Georges, appeared headed for the city in 1998, the Superdome was opened as a shelter and an estimated 14,000 people poured in. But there were problems, including theft and vandalism.

This time far fewer took refuge from the storm - an estimated 1,100 - at the Superdome and there was far greater security: 300 National Guardsmen.

The main safety measure - getting people out of town - raised its own problems.

More than 1 million people tried to leave the city and surrounding suburbs on Tuesday, creating a traffic jam as bad as or worse than the evacuation that followed Georges. In the afternoon, state police took action, reversing inbound lanes on southeastern Louisiana interstates to provide more escape routes. Bottlenecks persisted, however.

Col. Henry Whitehorn, head of state police, said he believes his agency acted appropriately, but also acknowledged he never expected a seven-hour-long crawl for the 60 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

It was so bad that some broadcasters were telling people to stay home, that they had missed their window of opportunity to leave. They claimed the interstates had turned into parking lots where trapped people could die in a storm surge.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged the need to improve traffic flow and said state police should consider reversing highway lanes earlier. They also promised meetings with governments in neighboring localities and state transportation officials to improve evacuation plans.

But Blanco and other state officials stressed that, while irritating, the clogged escape routes got people out of the most vulnerable areas.

"We were able to get people out," state Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc said. "It was successful. There was frustration, yes. But we got people out of harm's way."

From a Doctor in New Orleans

This is not documented, but I thought it was interesting for those who are thinking about giving money to the relief effort...again, I urge you to consider Lutheran World Relief. Here is what the doctor has to say:

A lot is going on down here that is not in the news. First, our esteemed governor and the mayor of NO are both idiots. This is the real reason for problems. Second, the NO police force is second only to the mafia in corruption and much of the looting and theft are coming from them as well as their lassitude in doing their job. Third, all Louisiana communities need clothes of any kind. See if your local Salvation Army will send to the shelters throughout the state and blog to give any clothes to the [Salvation] Army. You notice I did not say the Red Cross, they do not have a sizable presence here and are only fishing for money like after 9/11.

---Katie

Lutheran World Relief

If I remember correctly, I heard during the tsunami relief efforts that Lutheran World Relief is one of the best organizations to give money to because they have one of the highest percentages of a dollar actually going to the needy. Just thought I would pass that along since I know many people will want to help the hurricane victims.

---Katie