HumidCity

Today I read Gambit Weekly’s online obituary of Ruth Grace Moulon, more famously known as Ruthie the Duck Lady, formerly known as Ruthie the Duck Girl, and known to friends and neighbors simply as Miss Ruthie.

Gambit included one not-so-minor detail that the Times-Picayune left out, or perhaps did not know at the time of their earlier publication:

“Her doctor said Ruthie’s death was directly related to the stress of evacuation.”

This little sentence is very important, and we all need to really think about it, long and hard.

Although it is not a thing that very many of us like to discuss openly, these mass evacuations are dangerous. Especially for the elderly and infirm. We don’t like to talk about the danger of evacuations because everyone knows that hurricanes are much more dangerous. And in 2005 we all got a good schooling on what happens if we fail to evacuate nursing homes properly, effectively, or at all. But still, mass evacuations are dangerous. It’s just the truth. We need to be able to admit that before we can even begin to make them less so.

Now, I will never imply that nursing homes should not evacuate their residents when a storm like Gustav is approaching the city. They certainly should. But we need to find a better, safer way to do it.

We also need to be more honest about what constitutes a storm-related fatality. Miss Ruthie was very ill at the time of the evacuation. She might not have lived much longer anyway – but now we’ll never know. How many other elderly folks died too soon as a direct result of that evacuation, or other evacuations? Are these deaths “not storm related” because the victims didn’t drown in their own attics? A hastened death is a hastened death. If the death came sooner than it otherwise might have, the death is storm-related. This can be debated, but it’s really pretty simple. Evacuations shouldn’t kill people.

I have heard of many such deaths as a result of the 2005 storm, including the death of the mother of a good friend of mine. These are old folks who lived their whole lives in New Orleans, sometimes never having set foot outside of the city – only to draw their last breath in a strange city, far from home. It’s a terrifying fate, and why so many of our elderly refuse to leave in the first place. And not even having their deaths being counted for the tragedy that it is – gone too soon, due to a monster storm. Storm-related death. The very least we can do is call this what it is. It is disrespectful to do otherwise.

With these evacuations, it is indeed important to get as many people out as possible. But with the elderly and infirm, we need to combine quantity with quality.

Perhaps these evacuation plans can include a way of making the trip safer, smoother and quicker for our elderly citizens. Maybe we can coordinate nursing home evacuations to occur during a specific window of time, a window that includes a special lane in contra-flow for nursing home buses and cars with handicapped license plates. Sort of like an HOV lane. A way to keep these folks from being stuck in traffic for many hours in the heat, breathing exhaust fumes and fretting as they do, a way to get them to their destination in a few hours instead of the better part of a day.

I’m not blaming anyone. I don’t want to play that game. But I wonder if these tragic deaths can somehow be avoided, or at least lessened. And I would like very much for them to be counted for what they are; not swept under the rug, not ignored, not forgotten. Counted. Acknowledged. Addressed. Shown all due respect and love without hesitation or excuse.

These shortened lives do matter. Even if they are only being shortened by a month or a week or a day – it is too much. These are our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, our teachers, our life mentors. These are the people who gave us everything we’ve got; our culture, our livelihoods, our sense of humor, our sense of dignity, our zest for life itself. These are not disposable lives; they are treasures to us; our living history and our blood. They are where we came from, and who we will one day be. We owe them a lot, and we owe them better.

- Louis Maistros

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http://louismaistros.com

Department of Social Services secretary Ann Williamson has tendered her resignation to the Jindal Administration. This comes on the heels of the recent mismanagement of shelters during Hurricane Gustav. From showerless shelters to the understaffed food stamp program, the Gustav Evacuation is widely regarded as only half a success: they got the people out of harms way, but failed to provide for them at the final destinations.

Williamson is one of the few remaining Blanco era holdovers, but I don’t know if that’s truly germaine to the issue. When trying to relocate half a million people, there are bound to be problems and the unpredictable nature of storms can completely destroy even the best laid plans. I applaud the fact that Williamson is taking responsibility for what went wrong, but I think she needs to stay close to the office in order to help her successor pinpoint the parts of the system, (and the people under her command,) which broke down. Governor Jindal has appointed policy advisor Kristy Nichols as the interim DSS secretary.

One problem which is making the headlines is the deplorable conditions of the bathrooms and port-o-lets. Reports indicate that there were insufficient facilities located at shelters. There is a parade of evacuees on the news tonight literally sobbing as if their mother died because they had to step over or in urine and feces to use the bathroom. While I can understand the indignation, the sobbing I can do without. I’m assuming most of these people have never been to a French Quarter bar or Mardi Gras parade.

I may be out of line here, but you can’t blame the Jindal Administration because someone pissed on the floor. If the toilet is backed up or overflowing, move on to the next one. Put a sign on the door and tell someone in charge. Stand guard and point people to a working toilet. During Katrina, we had a dozen people in my mother’s house and her fifty-year old plumbing couldn’t handle the load. (No pun intended.) We peed in the backyard when we had to, visited neighbors if we could, but we didn’t keep overloading the system. If you’re in a situation like this, you need to show some common courtesy, decency and humanity to those you’re stuck with.

-M Styborski, Nation of Morons

this generation of refugees and evacuess is an odd lot…. most of whom have never heard of betsy or camille. AND mention of the great flood of 27 or noah or even gilligan gets a few blanco stares.  don’t dare mention nash roberts. should I ask if they know who ike is? or why we even like him? no, he’s not the guy who owns ikea! duh!

tonight i won’t stand on my soapbox too long… too sick to be tired, too tired to be sick - although the katrina crude (or is that gustav guck) is quite busy wreaking havoc on my lungs with a death rattle that could make many a bipartisan elephant go looking for pasture out on highway 61.  but i’m too manic to stay depressed and too depressed to be suicidal… i think i just want peace of mind.

so i will step down and leave you with the words of dwight d. “ike” eisenhower: “though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and co-operation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

peace indeed, my friends…. and remember to BLOG THIS! 

ph “freddy” fred             

it comes as no surpise that the orwellian curfew, redlight cameras, and brave new nagin are espousing stupid rules.. take a look at these louisiana nuggets from stupidlaws.com:

We are officially out of the cone. For now. Fuck that, we are out of the cone till next year, so sez me, and that’s final.

Until then, I’ll have my rain plain, thank you, with a side of light breeze, hold the pickles and the crazy-ass winds, and keep my surge on the side in a little paper cup.

I know the cone is imaginary, but I’m still damn glad to be the hell out of it.

The 2008 hurricane season has not been as nuts as 2005, but still, plenty nuts. Florida got hit 3 times by the same hurricane (Fay). New Orleans was threatened by a big one on the anniversary of thee big one. Haiti got hit by four different hurricanes. Cuba has had its worst storm season in decades.

Which brings up a couple of other important points that we Americans tend to not think about much.

Everyone in New Orleans is going on about how difficult the Gustav evacation was – and it was difficult, don’t get me wrong. But not much has been said about Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, which has gone through some absolute devastation in these last few weeks – the heartbreaking tragedy of which continues to unfold even as I type this. They need help. Badly. Just because they are used to living without basic comforts does not mean it’s ok to turn a blind eye to this. Because they are poor doesn’t make them less than human. Anyone with a few dollars to spare can potentially make a positive difference by throwing it this way:

http://www.lambifund.org/

Money is tight all over, for me too, but I sent what I was able. My contribution was puny, but if you add your own puny contribution, spread the word, inspire more puny contributions, after awhile it’s all not so puny. So send a few bucks. You’ll feel very good about it if you do, and you’ll hardly miss the money at all with only a tiny bit of passing time.

And regarding Cuba – why does our government insist on insulting these people? What have they really done to hurt us? After these storms, we offered them a ridiculously small amount of aid, and insisted that their own government not be allowed to distribute it, but instead that we be allowed to distribute it ourselves through a private firm. That is a flat out insult, and a heartless one to boot.

The Cuban government said thanks but not thanks (good for them!), but suggested that they would like to be able to purchase some of our produce with their own money to feed their own suffering people in the aftermath of these disasters, if we don’t mind suspending our stupid trade embargo for a few fucking minutes. This does not seem unreasonable to me.

And really, what the fuck are we hoping to accomplish with this half century old embargo anyway? Who are we punishing exactly, and to what end? It is complete insanity and it must end.

It is especially heinous for our American government to continue on with this trade embargo under the current circumstances, and in light of the fact that Cuba continues to honor a century-old treaty that allows us to use Guantanamo Bay as if it is American soil, and for sometimes questionable purposes at that.

Most Americans don’t even know why we have rights to Guantanamo Bay in the first place. If you don’t know, don’t be embarrassed because you are not alone, but here’s the basic story: It is part of a treaty agreement from the Spanish-American War. Yes, the one that ended in 1898. At the time, Cuba was grateful to America for helping it gain independence from Spain, and gave us rights to keep a military base at Guantanamo because they assumed we’d always be their friends and help protect them from the Spanish. In other words, the original intent is now completely obsolete. We are not their friends. They are not threatened by the Spanish.

If Cuba can be good enough to continue honoring that century old treaty (which is now clearly against their own best interest), perhaps we can be big enough to end this cruel and pointless trade embargo.

It’s time.

- Louis Maistros

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http://louismaistros.com

Friends and Allies,

New Orleans filmmaker Lily Keber and I recently completed our first work as correspondents for Democracy Now, with a special report we filmed in the hours before Gustav landed in Louisiana. The report features Saket Soni from the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, Bill Quigley from Loyola Law Clinic, Carol Kolinchak from Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, and many others. We tried to highlight some of the concerns people feel around both the evacuation, and the state of New Orleans three years after Katrina.

The report aired on Democracy Now on Tuesday.  Below are two links to the report, as posted on Youtube. The first was posted by Democracy Now and has higher resolution video, but the end is cut off.  The
second version was posted by us, and is lower-res, but the end is intact.  The third link is the link for the entire episode of Democracy Now that aired the report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxtoUreG-4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtfcMkdoNhk
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9/2

For more info and current updates, including info from much harder hit places in Louisiana like Houma, and also reports from the virtually unmentioned casualties in Haiti, please see the following links:

http://gustavsolidarity.org
http://gustavinfo.org/
http://www.haitiaction.net/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/tropical_weather

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and kind wishes.

in solidarity,

Jordan

well KATRINA III was definitely a disappointment… (rita was KATRINA II for those of you  keeping score) but wait there’s more on the way:

HANNAH the attack of the palindromes!

IKE: dewey winds

JOSEPHINE: the storm that set bones apart!

and KARINA: don’t let the spelling fool you!

coming to a cable station near you… heck the RNC is f’n boring except for the McCain ~ Palin love connection… have you noticed how he leers at her butt while he fiddles with his wedding ring?

BLOG THIS!

phfred@notthat.com

as we breathe a sigh a relief… the politicos pat themselves on the back.  was really a good job, brownie! WTF?

w. (our fearless, peerless, and queerless leader) has canceled his republican national convention appearance… mccain is an american (not a republican) … the four horsemen of the incompetence (i.e. gov. jindal, perry, barbour, and riley) will obviously recieve presidential pardons… i mean accomodations like a gaggle of retraded geese)

still this sequel sucks… no apollo creed, no “luke (or leak) i am your father”…. heck, not even a trace of nash roberts. besides you can’t have a disaster film or an epic because the god-ferain’ gun-totin’ zombie- killin ape-loathin’ charlton heston is dead. bob ‘gilligan’ denver died during katrina,  brownie is retired . and general honore is now a consultant for cnn.  

so tell me, my fellow evacuaees, who’s stuck on stupid???

call your pharmacist and get ready for day 4 of the prozacuation!

now… BLOG THIS!

phfred@notthat.com

from a hotal room in los angeles (hurrication day 2)

alright, here we go again. we all know the premise. a storm of biblical proportions, except instead of the misadventures of noah, this time we’re visiting the lonely onan. he’s the guy who got in trouble for spilling his seed in the sand. hopefully, this exercise in paranoia will prove to be just like onan’s sin ~ masturbation.  people get excited, breathe heavy, moan, groan,,, it’s over soon, you breathe a sign of relief and clean up,,, realizing guiltily it was highly overrated (or was it?)

blog this!

phfred@mcnawlins.com

Okay folks, wile I am still not convinced that Gustav will smite New Orleans many people are still exercising justifiable caution and getting the hell out of dodge. This article by Web 2.0 Security expert W. David Stphenson is a must read. His tips on utilizing cameraphones, twitter, flickr and other online tools to communicate during a Hurricane or evacuation are a must read. Lives could be saved by this information.

In his words:

Looking ahead to the likely landfall of Gustav next week, I want to reinforce how critical it is to know now how to creatively use your personal communication devices and Web 2.0 apps in an emergency when conventional communications may be disrupted.So here, drawn from the VITA Advisory tips I created for the Wireless Foundation and my “21st-century disaster tips you WON’T hear from officials,” — and some new ones to boot! — are IMHO the key things you should learn now to be prepared if and when disaster strikes

Go. Read. Use. Share.

-Loki, HumidCIty Founder

Mandatory Evacuation will be called for St. Bernard Parish on Saturday afternoon.  Residents with special needs can contact the following number to register for the City Assisted Evacuation plan.  These residents with special needs will be bussed to a triage site and then taken to special needs shelters in the state of LA.  Those without transportation or resources to evacuate may also call this number to register. (504) 278-1593 Via Alli