The people of New Orleans and United States Gulf South are staggering from the blow of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. The devastation defies description. The loss of life is only beginning to be measured. Entire communities are wiped out, a city of a million people is facing a reconstruction many orders of magnitude greater than any this nation has experienced.
Please consider donating money or materiel to the relief of those lives that are ripped apart but not ended: http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html If it is any indication of the effectiveness of the current Administration, I would note that Azerbaijan is among the countries contributing to the relief effort. The musicians of New Orleans have been momentarily silenced, but we will be heard again. Stuart LeBlanc A few footnotes: ____________________________________ Gov. Jeb Bush sought federal help Friday while [Hurricane] Charley was still in the Gulf of Mexico. President Bush approved the aid about an hour after the hurricane made landfall. St. Petersburg Times August 17, 2004 ____________________________________ Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan may count as some of the biggest political contributors to President Bush's reelection campaign, according to a poll. The post-hurricane survey shows Bush surging ahead of his Democratic challenger by 49 to 41 percent -- an about-face from August, when Bush trailed Sen. John Kerry 41-47 percent. Miami Herald September 24, 2004 ____________________________________ Media survey on the lead-up to the New Orleans catastrophe: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content _id=1001051313 ____________________________________ Commentary on federal disaster preparedness and response to this event: http://billmon.org To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
