Author: stand strong

What started out as a simple additional image posting for Friday Foto Flogging turned into a large comment and then into a piece large enough for a diary in and of itself as I didn’t want to necessarily just drop it inside a diary as a very large comment. It seems to be a slow Sunday, so far, so I hope it isn’t pushing something too important off the list.

Here goes…

I don’t know how people feel about these types of images I’ve been posting lately so I figured I’d ask your thoughts on these images (high dynamic range and/or tonemapped images), explain why I’ve been posting them more frequently, and a little more info on the picture itself.

For starters, I’ve been very impressed with some of the finer work done by others that is available online, despite the fact that some of it appears to be completely computer generated. Oddly, there’s a certain amount of truth to any pictures like those and the one above as it’s constructed on a computer using program algorithms to blend images of varying exposures together and yet, it’s really no different than some of what Ansel Adams did by dodging and burning a specific frame to obscure or pull out more or less of the exposure range in any given frame to provide more viewable realty than might’ve otherwise been available in a single exposure, as taken.

Secondly, I tend to personally like some of the HDR and tonemapped images I’ve seen to the point that the whole niche of this type of photography is something I want to explore, become better at and see what it holds for me.

Third, my schedule has really not been conducive to getting out alone with my camera and as such, I have to grab images when and where I can. Not having a lot of new material to work with, I’ve started going through my archives and, in the case of the image above, started recycling either older images I posted or older images I didn’t post. It’s like doing new with old.

As for the theme – What Moves You:

I suppose one could look at this shot and think of it a million different ways. It’s a rail line, of course but is it active or abandoned? If active, what type of use does it get? Passenger? Freight? Military? Leisure? Tourism? Fortunately, I can tell you it’s a little bit of both freight and leisure/tourism.

This line is part of the Cape May Seashore Line and this picture was taken just north of the Tuckahoe, NJ station. (Image of station at link)

From their site, it’s stated:

The Seashore Lines’ new service complements national growth patterns for freight rail service through the safe, effective, efficient and reliable movement of goods between New Jersey shore industries and the global market. The Seashore Lines’ freight rail service promotes multi-modalism by providing a viable alternative mode of transportation for both existing industries and future commercial opportunities at the New Jersey Shore.

With three transload terminal locations over 27 miles of railroad, the Seashore Lines stands ready to serve all industries seeking the competitive edge to sell their goods at the New Jersey shore. The Seashore Lines is also working with its modal partners in trucking to assist them in expanding their reach and reducing their costs, while they support their customers in moving freight throughout the region and across the country.

Cape May Seashore Lines is your gateway to markets throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Seashore Lines welcomes the opportunity to discuss further your freight rail transportation matters. Industrial sites are available and service is tailored to meet your needs. Cape May Seashore Lines provides a timely interchange with CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Corporation.

It sounds pretty impressive. Seeing it in person, one wouldn’t expect all that. It’s really a tiny station where one line comes in from the North (Satellite image via Bing, head a little North to see the bridge pictured above), branches into a few short sidings at the local train museum, and then leaves the area South with two lines.

If you follow those lines South, you’ll see they go two ways – to the left and to the right. Where it goes to the left (Vineland area, I suppose) you can look yourself as I really am not familiar with that side of the tracks but to the right, I’m more familiar with.

(Fyi – you can research the Cape May Seashore Lines for more info and the age of the rail line, the various services it’s performed, etc. This is just my own little shpiel.)

If you follow the line to the right (East) instead, you’ll end up going one of two places. If you take it literally as far East as you can, you’ll eventually come across the beginning of the “end of the line” which in this case means where Route 9, South of Marmora (S. Jersey) cut the line off and the right of way continues on the other side of the street. At this location, it’s mainly just the existing right of way through the woods with various pieces of tie scattered left and right until you cross under the Garden State Parkway and what remains of the line previously serving tourism into Ocean City, NJ continues across the salt marsh into the city.

Here’s that line, shot from the middle of the salt marsh looking West back towards the Garden State Parkway:

(Here’s that same line and same area from where that picture above was taken from the sky. You’ll notice just to the right is a defunct rail bridge which I would consider the end of the line, so to speak, but it actually does continue into Ocean City and then heads some ways North up the island. Play with the map and take a look.)

This line served tourism from Philadelphia and farther West (I believe) all the way down to Ocean City, New Jersey. There’s also another abandoned rail line that goes to Wildwood which I assume is accessible via the other branch off I mentioned above.

Side note: Kind of interesting to see, as far as I’m concerned. Top image is an active line and the second image is what is almost the end and long unused segment of that same line.

However, before you reach this really old line, you’ll have one more branch off to the North. This is the coal car feeder line for the Beesley’s Point Generating Station in what Wikipedia says is “Upper Township, Cape May County, New Jersey” but what I call Marmora.

The line I initially pictured is the line that the coal for the power station comes in on and when I was walking that line with my older son and his friend the day I took that photo, there was chunks of coal scattered all over both sides of the line, most likely fallen from coal cars piled high with fresh unburnt coal for the plant.

So what moves me? Well, trains, rail lines, especially abandoned rail lines certainly “move” me in that I love them and have always had a fascination with them ever since I was a child. Floyd, my oldest, isn’t that concerned with the coolness of rail but Elliott, my 4 year old, is absolutely bonkers obsessed with trains and so sharing that interest, even if it’s a child’s vs. man’s perspective on what’s cool about it, certainly “moves” me.

From a different perspective, knowing about this line and the purpose that it serves also moves me. The ingenuity of man to both create and maintain rail transportation, even through difficult terrain, to provide a service (for the power plant, ultimately) which in turn provides electricity to heat our homes and run our businesses also “moves” me in that it is a piece of infrastructure that keep everything running that we take for granted on any given day.

Food for thought, I suppose, or maybe just fodder for some of us photo and train geeks. Or would that be saying the same thing twice?

;p

(Cross-posted here, on Phillybits and here, on DailyKos.)

It’s been a long time since I posted here but since the Kossacks really enjoyed this one, I’m going to share it here with all of you as well.

Lately on RedState, they’ve been pushing this “biggest WMD story of all time,” with regards to Iraq and intel, that’s going to be released at the Intelligence Summit on Feb. 18th, 2006. I covered this a little while ago in a diary entitled New WMD Evidence Surfaces

Well, I saw someone at RedState drop a comment about it again and so I started doing some Googling to find some more info on this Intelligence Summit. What I found was…almost eerie.

Found at FreeRepublic. Yes, I’m probably quoting way more than I should but A) I’m saving you the trouble of visiting FR but more importantly B) shit like this ought to be pointed out.
Interesting how things change, huh?

Seven judges on a secret court have authorized all but one of over 7,500 requests to spy in the name of National Security. They meet in secret, with no published orders, opinions, or public record. Those spied on May never know of the intrusion. Now, Clinton has expanded the powers to include not only electronic, but physical searches.

The aftershock of the Oklahoma City bombing sent Congress scurrying to trade off civil liberties for an illusion of public safety. A good ten weeks before that terrible attack, however with a barely noticed pen stroke President Bill Clinton virtually killed off the Fourth Amendment when he approved a law to expand the already extraordinary powers of the strangest creation in the history of the federal judiciary.

Clinton. Why am I not surprised to see his name…

Since its founding in 1978, a secret court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA rhymes with ice -a) has received 7,539 applications to authorize electronic surveillance within the U.S. In the name of national security, the court has approved all but one of these requests from the Justice Department on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency. Each of these decisions was reached in secret, with no published orders, opinions, or public record. The people, organizations, or embassies spied on were not notified of either the hearing or the surveillance itself. The American Civil Liberties Union was not able to unearth a single instance in which the target of a FISA wiretap was allowed to review the initial application. Nor would the targets be offered any opportunity to see transcripts of the conversations taped by the government and explain their side of the story.

Without access to such materials, said Kate Martin of the ACLU, targets of FISA searches are denied any meaningful opportunity to contest the basis for the execution of the FISA search.

Wait…you mean…we should give them access to materials that might provide in their defense? We want to provide them with tools to get out of trouble?

Get ready for one hell of a kicker. I bet you didn’t even see this one coming, either.

Granting new powers to the FISA court was accomplished quietly and treated as a non-event in the national media. The lack of reporting was somehow fitting, though, following as it did the silent debate last year when Congress rubberstamped the annual Intelligence Authorization Act.

Some legal minds found the whole exercise positively refreshing. The fact that this was done with a minimum of fuss and posturing on both sides, and without having to have a debate that tries to roll up the corners of classified information is very impressive, cheered former NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker.

Reportedly, the Clinton administration had not always been enthusiastic about expanding the court’s powers. Like its predecessors, it operated under the assumption that the executive already had inherent authority to exempt itself from Fourth Amendment constraints and could order warrantless searches to protect national security. Nonetheless, the government avoided allowing this inherent authority to be tested in the courts.

What else do we have here? Hmm…

Physical searches to gather foreign intelligence depend on secrecy, argued Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick. If the existence of these searches were known to the foreign power targets, they would alter their activities to render the information useless. Gorelick went on to explain that A [traditional] search can only be made when there’s probable cause to believe a crime is involved, whereas a national-security search can be made at a substantially earlier stage. We often don’t know what we’re looking for when we go in, she observed.

and…

The possibility of FISA-sanctioned fishing expeditions was only one of the potential abuses that alarmed legal scholars and people concerned with civil liberties. It’s absolutely ripe for abuse, said New York City defense lawyer Ron Kuby. There are hundreds of solidarity groups that American citizens work with, and all of those groups could be targets under FISA. 16 These groups and individuals, engaged in legitimate dissent and solidarity work with the victims of U.S. foreign policy around the world, fear that their First and Fourth Amendment rights will be eroded.

Others worry that under cover of secrecy, the court would exceed even its own broad legal mandate. Clearly the FISA court was strengthened to allow the government to conduct searches they would not be allowed to conduct under the traditional constitutional provisions, said Turley. That means the government could attempt and fail to secure a search warrant under traditional constitutional arguments, then go to the FISA court and convert the case artificially into a national security investigation and secure approval for the very same search.

Let’s see…what else…

The Supreme Court, however, has never endorsed the concept of a national security exception for physical searches. In 1972, it ruled that the Fourth Amendment prohibits warrantless surveillance of domestic targets. The Court specifically warned that the danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts under so vague a concept as the power to protect `domestic security.’

It continues…

In another case, people not themselves targets of a FISA-authorized telephone tap were hauled into court for having the misfortune of calling somebody who was under electronic surveillance. In 1988, after activists Vernon Bellecourt, Bill Means, and Bob Brown phoned a member of the Peoples’ Committee for Libyan Students, they were ordered to testify before a grand jury investigating the group. When the three men refused to cooperate and testify even with immunity, they were slapped with a citation for contempt. James Cacheris was one of the federal judges who issued that citation in support of the FISA warrant. Five years later, he was appointed to the secret court.

The comments are even better, though.

comment

This is beyond frightening. Thank you for this find.

comment

This does not bode well for continued freedom.

This one made me laugh out loud.

comment

Any chance of Bush rolling some of this back? It sounds amazing on its face. Why didn’t Wen Ho Lee just “disappear” into one of these Star Chambers, never to return?

Wait! Wait! It’s getting better now.

comment

I don’t see that as a possibility. This is wherein the danger lies in the precedent set by the Clinton criminal administration. God only knows who will be in power next, but there are no checks and balances anymore. This is exactly the SORT of thing I’ve been protesting all along. Libs just don’t see this!

But when and where do they find this in the major media? They don’t even know!

God forbid it gets too easy to get one of these warrants.

comment

Good question! Don’t you remember? When the FBI asked Reno to get surveillance authorization for Lee from the FISA court, Reno refused. In fact, as a result of the China “spy scandal”, Congress is currently working on legislation to make it even easier for the feds to get FISC warrants.

Something like this…why…could surely be abused!

comment

This is one of those ideas that has a valid purpose behind it, but is wide open to terrible abuse. And there’s no way to check to see if it is abused.

Like all things that don’t have the light of day shining on them, you can be sure that it is being twisted to suit the purposes of those who hold the power.

Thank god we still have Congressional oversight, right?

comment

Dog Gone, the article doesn’t seem to say, but isn’t there a Congressional subcommittee in charge of overseeing these operations? Or is Congress just passing the bills then turning its collective back?

Denies info to the White House? Shouldn’t that be the White House denying info to the rest of the government?

comment

Congressional oversight of ALL intelligence issues is virtually non-existent. The intelligence community routinely denies information even to FBI and White House…… when Congress makes demands they just smile and wink at one another.

Chuck Grassley, Republican U.S. Senator from Iowa and one of the most honest members of Congress has tried in various ways to penetrate various classified compartments, but most of what he has gotten he’s gotten through leaks from sympathetic pros/insiders who want the mess cleaned up.

I thought leaks were bad. I mean, those who leak are traitors and should be hanged or killed on the spot, right?

And god forbid there’s activities like spying directed at harmless, innocent American groups, right?

comment

The targets need not be under suspicion of committing a crime, but may be investigated when probable cause results solely from their associations or status: for example, belonging to, or aiding and abetting organizations deemed to pose a threat to U.S. national security.

This was discussed previously on FreeRepublic along with a Justice Department list of organizations to target. I saved it but unfortunately have lost it.. there were a lot of pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment groups on the list if I recall correctly. One group they targeted was a pro-life organization run by Catholic priests!

My the hypocrisy is thick in these here parts. Now, by no means am I surprised by this. Here we see conservatives voicing concern about the very thing we’re raising issue about. Yet this time around, it’s the war on terror, liberals hate America, we’re traitors, Ann Coulter is a truth speaking deity, terrorism calls for “unprecedented” actions against “unprecedented” enemies and there are no limit to how far the government can, will, and is legally permitted to go to protect it’s citizens, right?

So why was this wrong when Clinton did it, as it seems they’re saying, but it’s ok now when Bush does it? Do these people not remember their own words?

Could someone please explain this one again to me?

Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

(Cross-posted here on DailyKos)

I was reading this piece at Talking Points Memo and was getting to write something up about it as well, when I saw AMERICAblog also put up the story.

I’m cross linking to AMERICAblog, but it’s certainly something to pay attention to. The washer is in full-spin mode.
The Lie

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.

Via AMERICAblog, The Media Are Rove-aholics

Yesterday, Josh Marshall exposed a serious error in both the Washington Post and Newsweek which was obviously put out by the White House. The Post actually ran a correction later in the day, which was documented also at E&P. Clearly, Rove’s smear strategy was accepted by reporters without question. Think about that for a second. The same guy who has lied to them about the Plame affair (even though most of them already knew) is now able to lie about Katrina.

Why am I NOT surprised Rove’s name comes up in this whole mess?

(Cross-posted here, on DailyKos and here on my site, Phillybits)

After work today, I got into my girlfriend’s mother’s car (the ‘rent are on vacation) and started heading back to the house to pick up my girlfriend. We had an apartment to look at tonight, as we can hardly pay the rent we have now.

As I usually do when I get in the car, I turned on NPR, 90.9 FM here in Philadelphia. The story I tuned into left me feeling absolutely empty during, and long after through dinner where I decided to do a little research into the topic and report back here.
After searching both NPR’s main search bar, and also searching by NPR programs, I cannot find the transcript or even a summary of the story, so I will jot down here what I remember of show.

What is going on down in the Gulf was the basis for the story. It was one of those shows where the narrarator is someone telling their personal experiences. In this case, it was a male triage nure, working in a Disaster Triage situation, discussing the real scenarios that the medical personnel are dealing with right now, as we speak.

There are these makeshift triage centers being set up all over the place and injured refugees are being taken here for evaluation and subsequent transport to proper facilities.

According to the narrarator, and using online sources as a reference, there are various levels of triage. In this case, given the situation, we’re talking Disaster Triage. Although this particular link deals with earthquakes, the gist of the article can apply equally here, I believe.

Triage of mass casualties in situations in which patients must remain on-scene for prolonged periods of time, such as after a catastrophic earthquake, differs from traditional triage. Often there are multiple scenes (sectors), and the infrastructure is damaged. Available medical resources are limited, and the time to definitive care is <u>uncertain</u&gt. Early evacuation is not possible, and local initial responders <u>cannot expect significant outside assistance for at least 49-72 hours</u&gt. Current triage systems are based either on a shorter time to definitive care or on a longer time to initial triage. The Medical Disaster Response (MDR) project deals with the scenario in which specially trained, local health-care providers evaluate patients immediately after the event, but <u>cannot evacuate patients to definitive care</u&gt.

There’s a much more informative set of information here; Start System. According to this, and I’m just going to cut to the meat of my post here, there are four levels (colors) or triage, what they mean, and how to respond to them.

Green – Minor – delayed care / can delay up to three hours
Yellow – Delayed – urgent care / can delay up to one hour
Red – Immediate – immediate care / life-threatening
Black – Dead – victim is dead / no care required

So how do you decide who meets what criteria? The above linked site explains…

<u>Green</u&gt
The first step in START is to tell all the people who can get up and walk to move to a specific area. If patients can get up and walk, they are probably not at risk of immediate death.

In order to make the situation more manageable, those victims who can walk are asked to move away from the immediate rescue scene to a specific designated safe area. These patients are now designated as MINOR (green tag). If a patient complains of pain on attempting to walk or move, do not force him or her to move.

The patients who are left in place are the ones on whom you must now concentrate.

<u>Red</u&gt
Begin the second step of START by moving from where you stand. Move in an orderly and systematic manner through the remaining victims, stopping at each person for a quick assessment and tagging. The stop at each patient should never take more than one minute.

REMEMBER: Your job is to find and tag the Immediate (Red Tag) patients –those who require immediate attention. Examine each patient, correct life-threatening airways and breathing problems, tag the patient with a red tag and MOVE ON!

The next section, <u>Immediate</u&gt, comes at the very end, but not after doing some initial checks which include:

The START system is based on three observations: RPM–Respiration, Perfusion and Mental Status. Each patient must be evaluated quickly, in a systematic manner, starting with Respiration (breathing).

Breathing:    It all STARTS Here.

If the patient is breathing, you then need to determine the breathing rate.  Patients with breathing rates greater than 30 per minute are tagged Immediate (Red Tag). These patients are showing one of the primary signs of shock and need immediate care.

If the patient is breathing and the breathing rate is less than 30 per minute, move on to the circulation and mental status observations in order to complete your 30-second survey.

If the patient is not breathing, quickly clear the mouth of foreign matter. Use a head-tilt maneuver to open the airway. In this type of multiple- or mass-casualty situation, you may have to ignore the usual cervical spine guidelines when you are opening airways during the triage process.

SPECIAL NOTE: The treatment of cervical spine injuries in multiple or mass casualty situations is different from anything that you’ve been taught before. This is the only time in emergency care when there may not be time to properly stabilize every injured patient’s spine.

Open the airway, position the patient to maintain the airway and — if the patient breathes — tag the patient Immediate (Red Tag). Patients who need help maintaining an open airway are Immediate (Red Tag).

If you are in doubt as to the patient’s ability to breathe, tag the patient as Immediate (Red Tag). If the patient is not breathing and does not start to breathe with simple airway maneuvers, the patient should be tagged DEAD (black tag).

Circulation: Is Oxygen Getting Around?

The second step of the RPM series of triage tests is circulation of the patient. The best field method for checking circulation (to see if the heart is able to circulate blood adequately) is to check the radial pulse.

It is not large and may not be easily felt in the wrist. The radial pulse is located on the palm side of the wrist, between the midline and the radius bone (forearm bone on the thumb side). To check the radial pulse, place your index and middle fingers on the bump in the wrist at the base of the thumb. Then slide it into the notch on the palm side of the wrist. You must keep your fingers there for five to ten seconds, to check for a pulse. If the radial pulse is absent or irregular the patient is tagged Immediate (Red Tag).

If the radial pulse is present, move to the final observation of the RPM series: mental status.

Mental Status: Open Your Eyes:

The last part of the RPM series of triage tests is the mental status of the patient. This observation is done on patients who have adequate breathing and adequate circulation.

Test the patient’s mental status by having the patient follow a simple command:

“Open your eyes.” “Close your eyes,” “Squeeze my hand.” Patients who can follow these simple commands and have adequate breathing and adequate circulation are tagged Delayed (Yellow Tag). A patient who is unresponsive or cannot follow this type of simple command is tagged Immediate (Red Tag). (These patients are “unresponsive” to verbal stimuli.)

That pretty much covers the levels of triage that are available for the sick, injured, and dying. To get back to the story, especially the part that made me sick, was this part.

As the narrarator continued and got to the part about Black Triage, he explained it like this. Suppose you have a person with an open head wound.  In a non-disaster situation, in a staffed hospital, sure…they could call a neurologist, perform a brainoscopy (??), some surgery, and the patient may or may not live.

That’s important wording – may or may not. Why? That’s what happens when you have the proper available care and you can be taken right to those people to perform that care. In the Gulf right now, they don’t have that level of care. As such, as explained by the narrarator, the dead aren’t the only ones being tagged BLACK. Those who are dying or for whom death is imminent are tagged BLACK.

They are then passed by. So in a row of people, even if you’re alive, but deemd to sick too help anyways, you get the black tag and are left alone.

How do you feel now about the refugees? How does it make you feel to hear people on the right say it’s the fault of the refugees for not leaving in the first place?

Sorry to ruin your buzz and bring you down. I just had to share this.

(Cross-posted here on DailyKos and here on Phillybits)

John Aravosis….some love him, some hate him. Personally, I like what he writes and find he takes a no-holds barred approach to saying what he feels, and taking a situation and grabbing the inside, and pulling it through to the outside for everyone to see.

In regards to Hurricane Katrina, the rescue effort, and the response time of the Bush administration in dealing with this crisis, I almost see no better.
Here on [Insert Blog Here], we’re doing our part in trying to motivate people to donate and get the word out for opportunities for people to get down to the affected areas and help out any way they can. We’re pushing blog ads, we’re linking to the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies.

We’re also bring up the role of who’s responsible and while that’s all well and good, honestly, it doesn’t compare to what Aravosis is doing. In case DailyKos isn’t making you mad enough, just go to John’s site where you’ll see such headlines and articles as:

BREAKING: Sec of State Condi Rice caught buying several-thousand-dollar pair of shoes in NYC moments ago, spends last night at Broadway show!

The president, finally, has decided that the hurricane is a problem. He claims yesterday at 5pm, finally, that he’s going to be devoting his entire administration to saving the lives of the people currently dying in this growing national disaster. And what does a top member of his cabinet do? She goes to a Broadway comedy and today is buying multi-thousand-dollar shoes on 5th Avenue at the same time CNN is showing dead grandmothers in wheelchairs abandoned on the streets of New Orleans.

This is more than just a cheap shot at Condi. What in the blazes is this woman doing at a Broadway show in the middle of a national emergency?

White House: We have NOT requested international aid

UPDATE: Bush administration REFUSING to let Canada send emergency aid.

McClellan just told the press briefing that we have not requested international assistance.

Why not? Other nations don’t have troops and aircraft and boats that can help us protect New Orleans and get people out of that death zone?

So now Bush’s pride is going to risk the lives of even more Americans.

“I don’t treat my dog like that”

The White House is now refusing to respond to concerns about their having dropped the ball. “This is not the time for criticsm.” Oh my, he just said this was about “people seeking partisan gain in Washington.”

Really Scott? People are dying in New Orleans because your boss decided to stay on vacation until yesterday afternoon and because people are upset about that, and want your boss to finally be held responsible for his repeated lack of nerve, his propensity to run and hide every time a crisis hits, because people would like him to finally stop running and start doing his job, that makes us partisans.

BREAKING NEWS: FEMA suspends rescue operations in New Orleans

CNN just announced that New Orleans has now become so dangerous that FEMA is calling off its search and rescue operations in the city.

-snip-

Glad Bush decided TODAY to send those extra troops on the aircraft carrier that should arrive, oh, when?

John goes on…and on….and on. I commend him for his hard-hitting style of writing and pointing out what needs to be noticed and brought into the spotlight.

Of course, you can all go and see for yourself. It’s hard to stay so on point here, given the size of this community, the number of diarists, and the wide spectrum of diary topics that get thrown around here. We’re doing a great job informing people of current conditions that either are being under-reported, or not being reported at all.

Not for one minute should we let up on our push for accountability. Funding was cut, levee project coordinators were scrambling to get funds and complete the projects on time; before the next natural disaster.

We’re all aware of what Bush just said. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” And we’re all aware that Lake New Orleans is Bush’s fault and DWCG did an excellent job of proving it.

My point? Don’t let up. Now is the time to push. People don’t want it politicized? We are dealing with a horrible disaster right now but this administration has gone on far too long being impervious to criticism and accountability. The drums need to start being beaten again. We need to push through the TRUTH that this administration is incompetent, irresponsible, and outright dangerous to America, it’s people, it’s allies, and the entire world.

We’ve seen that danger in terms of the military response to 9/11, the bait-and-switch with Afghanistan funds to Iraq, the missing WMD’s, the still-on-the-loose Anthrax mailer, Bin Laden (on the run, what, 1500 days or so now?), The Downing Street Memo, outing of a CIA agent, endangering environmental areas, tax breaks for the rich, deepening pockets for corporations and now…one of, if not the worst natural disasters in this country’s history, and the President and Friends has done an almost negligible amount in terms of response, both visual and physical.

A real president would have come straight to New Orleans after the storm had passed to survey the damage and offer condolence. A real President, seeing the forecast, talking with advisers and experts, wouldn’t have left in the first place, but instead, would have stayed in Washington to coordinate efforts and create a plan BEFORE the hurricane even hit. Instead, the President boasts of his ability to carry out all the functions of the President from his ranch in Crawford.

You know what? I’m so fucking tired of the Vacation President and his Crawford ranch and whether he can or cannot commit the functions of the President from his ranch. Your job is in Washington. Your office is in Washington. See, when your job is done, you can go back home…to Crawford. Until then, your office is Washington D.C., where the people employ you.

You’re job is in D.C. Your office is in D.C. You belong in D.C. during a time of crisis. But you’re home, home on the range.

Way to go, George Bush. Way to let the country down. Yet again.

Cross-posted here at DailyKos, where’s there’s some good discussion and interesting comments by oil-industry types. Also cross-posted here at Phillybits and here at PhillyFuture.

Update [2005-8-31 18:38:42 by Stand Strong]: – Just heard on CNN gas prices in places as high as $6.00/gal.

Hat tip to a Brendan @ Operation Yellow Elephant for forwarding me the email with this site linked in. This site details the devastation upon the oil wells and rigs in the Gulf area.

This is from an oil industry insider I consider quite credible.  She was definitely right about everything in her last post.  If she’s right about this one, we may finally start to get a true picture of what’s going on.

Update [2005-8-31 18:45:27 by Stand Strong]: – Gonna pull this one out of comments and hat-tip to Marcus Junius Brutus for the tip and link.

20 oil rigs missing in Gulf of Mexico: US Coast Guard

WASHINGTON (AFP) – At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region, a US Coast Guard official said.

“We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was,” Petty Officer Robert Reed of the Louisiana Coast Guard told AFP.

Onto the diary…

Newest (and very informative and very scary) report from an anonymous insider

There are MANY production platforms missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10’s of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf – they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms – HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone… Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place’ status for these wiped out structures.

Sounds like an ecological disaster to me.

In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production…

There’s more to the article but I think what this basically says is that oil production in the Gulf is going to be affected in a much larger way than is being reported, and also for a much longer time.

(Cross-posted here at DailyKos and at Phillybits)

For Philadelphians, and also for Kossacks (and apparently Boomans now too, with this cross-post) who have been desensitized (including myself at times) that government, be it national or local, government does not work, I have personal testament that it does.
Of course, while there are still many, many different things that need work, it’s good to see government stand up to important initiatives and support them.

Follow me…
To bring you up to speed, See You Out There had published two diaries (Sprouting Sedition: Cities Adopting Kyoto and 131 Cities Adopting Kyoto) in which he informed us of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels initiative for Seattle to adopt the standards, locally, that were set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.

His earlier, and also later mentioned diary informed us of the Initiative itself, as well as the challenge (letter) issued by Mayor Nickels that US Mayors across the country either sign onto this initiative, bringing their municipality more in line with Kyoto Protocol standards, or to at least support the initiative.

After I read these two diaries, I became interested in findout out my city’s role in this initiative. I checked the list of mayors currently supporting the initiative and saw that my mayor, Mayor John F. Street was not on the list. So being an interested citizen, I called my local government.

Through that phone call, whether it was fate or mistake (over whether I was a member of the media or not), I received a return call from the Acting Director of Communications, Spokeswoman to Mayor Street, Mrs. Deborah Bolling.

I informed her of my reason for calling and that I was curious to Philadelphia’s current role or knowledge in this initiative. As I was not a member of the media and having no deadline, Mrs. Bolling felt that I could excercise some patience and told me she would keep a note on her desk, and get back to me.

Now, anyone who has ever called local or even national government offices has probably experienced the problems that perhaps some of us have commented or diaried about. Even me.

Fortunately, in this case, I can honestly say that my comment I just linked to above, was wrong. Philadelphia Government does not “have it’s head up it’s ass.” And I need to explicitly thank Deborah Bolling for both being very understanding, overall, while actively looking into the US Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, seeing my above linked comment. and then still showing me, personally, that government does work and that often, it’s the fact that things don’t “just happen” that people often have a hard time with.

So in the meantime from when I first spoke to Mrs. Bolling, even through a tense phone call when she called me out on my above linked comment (whereas her impression of me was almost completely destroyed), she had taken my interest seriously and had been researching ths US Climate Protection Agreement and creaating a proposal to deliver to Mayor Street.

Yesterday, I got a phone call that she was preparing to deliver in today.

Today I got a phone call that Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street had signed on.

Excellent, excellent news, in my opinion, for both Philadelphia, Philadelphians, the environment, and also for anyone and everyone else interested in seeing a greener, cleaner environment and politicians who takes those issues seriously and do their best to increase efforts to meet such environmental goals.

So now I just want to take the time to give thanks to those who deserve it. After all, I didn’t do the legwork here. I only moved that legwork along in a specific direction.

My thanks go out to:

See You Out There, for the diaries he provided us with here on DailyKos which highlighted the US Climate Protection Agreement that Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has adopted and pushed outwards to other mayors.

As well as:

Deborah Bolling, Acting Director of Communications and Spokeswoman to Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street for going the distance, doing her research, and being dedicated to this environmental initiative enough, even in the face of all the other complexities that are involved with her job, that she still presented it to the Mayor. Mrs. Bolling is a dedicated, intense, caring, intelligent, and powerful woman who, certainly knows her stuff, does her research, will go to task for important issues, and most importantly, dedicated to Philadelphia.

Being the Spokeswoman to the Mayor isn’t an easy job, and the Philadelphia Citypaper has a piece, Time Trials which can give you a little insight into who Deborah Bolling really is.

Holla!!

And last, but most certainly not least:

Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street who is as committed to Philadelphia as anyone could be, who understands the many problems that our citizens have, and that really is committing the very best to the City of Brotherly Love.

And for your viewing enjoyment, I offer my city. Look at those beautiful skies!

Cross-posted here at DailyKos.

While I didn’t watch the Rose Garden conference, I’m seeing a lot of diaries in a lot of places and I’m also reading about it online at some news sources.

Before I could even finish this article, I already was contemplating what I would say to Mr. President, if only I was in the Rose Garden during this Press Conference.
From Yahoo story, Bush Calls Human Rights Report ‘Absurd’:

President Bush on Tuesday dismissed a human rights report as “absurd” for its harsh criticism of U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the allegations were made by prisoners “who hate America.”

Mr. President, these are allegations made by prisoners “who hate America” you say? Which prisoners? Are they the same prisoners that the Red Cross and Newsweek cited as having lodged complaints about Koran abuse, torture, and abuse?

Let me retract that question. Seems retractions are the fastest way to finding yourself not at the end of the microphone through which Scotty McClellan will admonish me.

Well…it’s not wonder they hate America, not to mention the unjust, illegal war you got us into.

“It’s an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world,” Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.

Ah yes, your do-all, save-all catch phrase, Freedom. Freedom for whom? Iraqi’s who have to worry about daily bombings and assination attempts, wrongly fire by our troops, sewer, water, and electrical infrastructures that are practically non-existant?

Mr. President, do you have any comment on the situation in Sudan right now?

Will Amnesty International now be an organization that also hates Freedom and America? Shall we expect Rumsfeld or McClellan to issue a Press Statement saying that Amnesty International got their facts wrong? Will Amnesty International workers or prisoners come forward and make retracting statements?

In a Rose Garden news conference, Bush defiantly stood by his domestic policy agenda while defending his actions abroad. He repeatedly pledged to press ahead — “The president has got to push, he’s got to keep leading” — despite mounting criticism.

Yeah, it’s no wonder he has to keep pushing on. He’s now realizing what type of situation we’re really in now. Stay in Iraq, and more people die. Pull-out of Iraq right now, the terrorists win, deomcracy “fails”, and perhaps civil war breaks out. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

“I think the Iraqi people dealt the insurgents a serious blow when we had the elections,” Bush said. “In other words, what the insurgents fear is democracy because democracy is the opposition of their vision.”

A serious blow? Are you serious? I’m sorry, but unlike you, I watch the tv and read the news – a variety of sources, not your Faux News and I have yet to see one shred of Democracy! I see fighting, I see death, I see this war costing anywhere from between $600 Billion and $1 Trillion dollars by 2010. And that’s only five years away. That’s more than our federal deficit for christ’s sake!

On another foreign policy issue, Bush shot back at critics who suggest his diplomatic approach to North Korea is allowing the communist regime to expand its nuclear program. “If diplomacy is the wrong approach, I guess that means military. That’s how I view it as either diplomacy or military. I am for the diplomacy approach,” he said. “And for those who say we ought to be using our military to stop a problem, I would say that while all options are on the table, we’ve still got a ways to go to solve this diplomatically.”

You’re for diplomatic means? Like what, isolation? Fear? Condescending behavior, like Cheney’s comment about Kim Jong?

Mr. President, you sir, are stirring a hornet’s nest. You’ve got Iraq, which is a disaster, we’ll throw in Afghanistan at no extra charge, N. Korea, and also Iran to deal with. Zarqarwi went to Iran you say? Sooooo….that means we go to Iran too, right? Gotta chase those terrorists all over the world, right? That is what you said, correct?

And what about that military option? Would you care to elaborate on your plan from entry to exit? Troops lev…oh, I’m sorry Mr. President, I know that’s a sore point with you. There are no troops to have a military option in North Korea with because everyone realizes the mess your lies have gotten us into and now nobody wants to sign up for service. Well, I don’t blame them.

“Here, you’re innocent until proven guilty and it appeared to us, at least people in my administration, that it looked like he had been judged guilty prior to having a fair trial,” Bush said. “We’re watching the ongoing case.”

Mr. President, you have absolutely NO room to talk about how “here, you’re innocent until proven guilty.” There are suspected terrorists, both foreign and domestic, who have been in detention, god only knows where, since shortly after 9/11. They haven’t seen or talked to their family or friends, they barely have access to lawyers, which aren’t independent, and they’re not allowed to view evidence or request testimony from the prosecution.

How exactly does that fit your “claim” that –  here in America, you are “innocent until proven guilty?”

On the Amnesty International report, Bush said, “It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of the allegations by people who were held in detention, people who hate America.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah – heard that already, Mr. President.

The president opened the news conference by urging Congress to pass his stalled energy legislation, restrain the growth of government spending, approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement and overhaul Social Security with a partial privatization plan.

“Restrain the growth of government spending.” This speaks for itself, so I feel no need to comment on this one. I’ll just revert your attention back to the possible costs estimates for this war up to 2010.

Despite democratic opposition and Republican skittishness about his plans for Social Security, he said he would push forward. “It’s like water cutting through a rock. I’m going to keep working and working and working,” he said

Don’t you mean “blood from a stone” Mr. President? Or would that be “oil from the blood from a stone?”

Turning to the controversial issue of embryonic stem cell research, Bush said that the extra embryos created during fertility treatments — estimated to now number around 400,000 — should be adopted.

Why exactly? So you can further show such a poor example of initiative such as No Child Left Behind? So we can have 400,000 more children without healthcare? 400,000 more children getting educations from poorly funded schools and poorly paid teachers?

400,000 more deaths from cancer, Alzheimers, heart disease because we adopted these 400,000 children instead of opening up a new line of stem cell research which offers possibly the greatest achievments in modern medical science? And then when another country makes advancements in stem-cell research, you have the gall to admonish them too?

Sadly, you are the President of this country, not any other country. How about acting like a President and taking care of some domestic problems for a change? There are struggling Americans who need freedom and democracy to work for them right here in this country!

“There’s an alternative to the destruction of life,” he said. “But the stem cell issue is really one of federal funding, that’s the issue before us, and that is whether or not we use taxpayers’ money to destroy life. … I don’t believe we should.”

So fetuses are more important to you than the troops and innocent Iraqi’s who are dying every single day in Iraq? That’s the message you’re sending out, Mr. President.

And my final note:

Mr. President, given all your shortcomings, your rhetoric, your lies, your pandering, your proclamations that “you’re either with us or against us”, terrorists should “Bring it on!”, that “freedom is on the march”, and that “major combat operations are over”, and “mission accomplished”, your unwillingness to work in a bipartisan manner, your erosion of freedoms and rights for Americans here, and your utmost ill regard for the image of this great nation, both here and abroad, Mr. President I have come to this conclusion:

It is YOU who hates America.

Just want to make my presence known. I was forwarded this site by Apian, SusanHu, and a few others and just want to say hello.
So here I am. I am Stand Strong over at DailyKos. I’d like to know more about this site. Apian told me it was SusanHu’s design, to serve as a sister site to DailyKos.

A little more info on this site would be greatly appreciated. How long it’s been here, where else it’s linked to or mentioned, etc. I’m well familiar with the workings over at DailyKos but if there’s anything definitively different over here, I’d love to know.

So help me out!

Great to be here, otherwise, and look forward to contributing, cross-posting, and spreading the progressive and democratic movement!

And for those who are aware, I made a reference error that Susan has not yet corrected in her diary. I was cited as the source of my diary, DOD Emails Show Plot To Blame FBI For Torture. The proper reference credit goes to Up2Late, over at DailyKos, although this link is to his DailyKos account, and not his DU account.