HumidCity

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

Since when do we need to have a government representative along for a press interview? This has just got to be illegal, or at least would have been in Pre-Bush America. I don’t know which angers me more, this Orwellian supervision or the Harrah’s sponsored KAtrina Anniversary plans recently unveiled.

FEMA a Disaster for Freedom of the Press

The Federal Emergency Management Agency prohibits journalists from having unsupervised interviews with Hurricane Katrina victims who have been relocated to FEMA trailer parks, according to a report in the Baton Rouge Advocate (7/15/06).

“If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview,” FEMA spokesperson Rachel Rodi is quoted in the article. “That’s just a policy.”

The Advocate report, by reporter Sandy Davis, describes two separate attempts to talk to people displaced by Katrina that were halted by the intervention of a FEMA security guard. In the first incident, in a Morgan City, Louisiana camp, an interview was interrupted by a guard who claimed that residents of the camp are “not allowed” to talk to the media.

Any followup info would be appreciated. All we have right now is hope that the truth will make an impact. Denying people the right to speak frankly about the circumstances they have been thrust into is about as anti-American as it gets. Hardly shocking during an administration which seems terrified of the idea of free speech.

Here’s toast tot he ghost of McCarthy…..