Kaye Trammell, an assistant professor of communication at LSU, began a Hurricane Katrina weblog as she rode out the approaching storm last weekend in Baton Rouge.
She writes in this morning's Washington Post about the experience:
We on-the-scene citizens don't mean to replace journalism. We don't have the resources. But we can provide first-person accounts in our own voices of what is happening.
Because blogs are so easy to create, they will only grow in number, and many will be covering crises in this personal way. Now that bloggers have figured out how to use the medium, it's time for government officials to do the same.
Dying of Thirst in New Orleans
As thousands of evacuees languished in the New Orleans Convention Center for four days, only one authority came to reassure them, according to NBC photographer Tony Zumbado:I went back with Harry Connick Jr. He spoke to them and told them he would do anything he can to help them. They seemed to appreciate that. He's the only person of authority -- believe it or not, a musician -- to go in there and tell them that things are going to be ok.
Connick's upholding a fine tradition of entertainers keeping their heads in disaster, following the legendary Titanic Band and Robin Boltman, the magician who stayed on the sinking cruise ship Oceanos after the captain and crew left for the lifeboats.
Zumbado told NBC Nightly News he saw things so horrific inside the center he wouldn't film them, knowing the network wouldn't broadcast the footage. They found unbelievable stench from human waste and numerous dead bodies, including two babies who had died of dehydration and a teen dead in a freezer, her throat slashed after a rape.
Harry Connick and a journalist were able to get from Baton Rouge to these 15,000 desperate people, as he described on the Today Show. Until late night Thursday, when food and water was brought for the first time since the storm, no one else could manage it.
Connick:
It's easy to get to the convention center, we got there with no problem ... how hard is it to take a truck with water or food for these people? I don't understand. They told these people to go to the convention center for help and it's been five days. It's unbearable
There's a backlash against anyone who expresses anger about this disaster, as if it's just political gamesmanship to angle for the congressional mid-term elections next year. If anger isn't the proper response to babies dying for lack of water in the U.S., I don't know what is.
I'm getting hammered by some people for my proposal that liberals and conservatives stage comparable relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina victims.One of the conservative bloggers I approached with this idea sent an e-mail that's still cooling off:
You're sick ... trying to make a competition out of other's suffering. You should be ashamed of yourself.
As I told him, competing to outraise another group is a routine charity practice. Look at all the weblogs in competition on TLB's Blog for Relief page. A big reason to rank blogs publicly like that is to spur people to dig deeper into their pockets and help the home team.
Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief has raised $127,000 in 36 hours. That's not bad, but I think we could raise a lot more by having conservatives to challenge us. Besides, any reason to help these people is a good reason. I was glad to discover TLB's efforts this afternoon and see the reported donations of $500,000 from a largely conservative roster of weblogs.
In the interest of balance, I did receive a nice e-mail from Hugh Hewitt, the conservative author whose next book is titled Demoncraps: How to Get Around God's Prohibition Against Abortion When Liberalism is Detected in the Womb.
Go to the Back of the Bus Line
Today at the Superdome:Friday's evacuations began at about 9 a.m., halted for about an hour and then resumed two hours later. At midday, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the line to be evacuated -- much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome since Sunday.
"How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard made him get back in with the unwashed masses as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.
Ed Schultz just made the understatement of the year on his radio show: "This is not going to help race relations in this country."
CNN.Com has begun a Hurricane Katrina survivor's database:If you were in Katrina's path and want to post your name here, please send an e-mail to the Hurricane Victims Desk. For each person you are reporting for the list, include first and last name, age, hometown, state and a brief message. You may also include a phone number or e-mail address where those on the list may be reached.
Since it went online a few hours ago, 380 names have been added.
Rex Hammock has compiled links to several other databases and Internet sites set up to connect survivors and their families and friends.
Rabid Ideologues for Hurricane Relief
The Drudge Retort belongs to a large network of liberal weblogs that's trying to raise $1 million for urgent Hurricane Katrina relief. Donations go to the Red Cross for the specific purpose of helping thousands of people affected by a disaster of biblical proportions -- 90,000 square miles of four states were devastated by the storm, thousands may be dead, and more are dying by the hour. Site visitors have donated almost $100,000 in one day, which is good but still a long way from the goal.Liberal bloggers who want to support this effort can link to the donation page for Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief.
A perpetual argument on partisan political weblogs is whether liberals or conservatives are more generous. This seems like the ideal opportunity to provide some evidence in one direction or the other.
In order for this to happen, we need a network of conservative sites, such as one on Blogads led by Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt, to organize a charity effort to rival ours. They can even use the same infrastructure we did -- Henry Copeland of Blogads told me in e-mail he's ready to help, and they can secure donations through DropCash.
If anyone reading Workbench is a fan of Malkin, Hewitt, or the other members of that conservative network, urge them to take up this challenge, as I'm doing this morning in e-mail.
There aren't many instances where the venomous political climate in this country works to our advantage. This could be one of them.
Dark Clouds Form Over White House
An editorial in Wednesday's Manchester Union Leader criticizes President Bush for "aloofness" in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster:As the extent of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation became clearer on Tuesday -- millions without power, tens of thousands homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews can’t reach some regions -- President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before.
Katrina already is measured as one of the worst storms in American history. And yet, President Bush decided that his plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day with a speech were more pressing than responding to the carnage.
A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease.
The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.
Wherever the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back.
This kind of criticism would not be surprising from a liberal rag, but the Union Leader's a staunchly conservative paper that endorsed Bush in both 2004 and 2000. Insight magazine rated it one of the top five conservative papers in the country along with the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, New York Post, and Daily Oklahoman.
I think it's safe to assume that President Bush's post-election political capital has all been spent, unless aides can find a little in coat pockets and couches around the White House.
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