Update from Houston

Ceds called back. Some medical staff were attacked a convenience store near the Astrodome. Baylor has requested that the first-years not return to volunteer until there's a bit more oversight. At least the volunteers can leave. There's still not enough security for the refugees.

Are You Fucking Kidding Me?!

No.

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Amidst anarchy, negligence, and carnage Halliburton manages to pull a profit. I can't believe these people. By now I should know better but I can't believe it.

The View from Houston

Sometime blogger, full-time sister, and first-year med student Ceds is in Houston and spent the day volunteering at the Astrodome. She says that it's pretty grim. A lot of people are going to get sick from wading in raw sewage with open wounds. It's crowded and dirty. Security is scarce. There are reports of theft. People are restless and fights are breaking out. She says she's never seen anything like it. Today she washed out the cuts of a four-year-old boy who was trapped in an attic for two days. He doesn't know where his parents are. Another man had a broken collarbone, and received painkillers but nothing else. He also has no idea where his family is. That's what she heard over and over again. Everybody there is searching for family. The one thing they have is medical attention due to the promixity of Baylor Medical Center. But the sense of disorder is pervasive. Nobody know's who's in charge. People wander around aimlessly.

Things that they need ASAP are:

Toothbrushes
Tampons and pads
Hand sanitizer and baby wipes
Batteries (AA and AAA)
Socks
Underwear (kids and adults)
Toys

Here's a link for where to drop stuff off in Houston. Meanwhile Ceds is going back tomorrow. She's tired, she's shocked, she's a little frightened, but she's going back. Everybody hope that she stays safe.

Unbelievable

Can we for a moment stop talking about the looting and talk about something truly criminal?

Hundreds of Katrina evacuees who fled to Tallahassee seeking refuge from the storm have been politely told by their hotels and motels to leave this weekend to make room for a football game: FSU vs. Miami.

Hotel space is traditionally scarce any time the Florida State Seminoles take on the University of Miami Hurricanes, one of the choicest tickets on the college football schedule.

But with hotels packed with families from Louisiana and Mississippi, and room space booked for Monday's game for months, hotel operators say they are trying to accommodate the evacuees but have no choice but to nudge them out.


''We have to let them know what's going on in town and they're going to have to leave,'' said Angie Rayman, manager at the Howard Johnson. ``Many of them are trying to get closer to home anyway.''

Jesus
While this is happening...

The evacuation of patients from Charity Hospital was halted Thursday after the facility came under sniper fire twice.

A physician at the hospital said that despite the incidents staff members and patients were eager to get out after three days with no water and electricity and sparse food rations.

...and this...

That official told me they were able to take a couple of people out. One woman so desperate that she actually handed up her 2 month old baby and said take my child. I can't get on this bus, but you've got to try to save this child. She didn't even know the woman's name.

..Condi was doing WHAT?

Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.

There's got to be a special corner in hell where this kind of callousness is punished. I hope when Condi gets there, she's wearing those shoes so Satan can shove them down her throat.

.

It's nice to know that something has finally gotten Junior to cut short his vacation.

President Bush will cut short his vacation to return to Washington on Wednesday, two days earlier than planned, to help monitor federal efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Tuesday.

"We have got a lot of work to do," Bush said, referring to the damage wrought by the hurricane along Gulf Coast areas.

The president had been scheduled to return to the nation's capital on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his ranch in Central Texas. But after receiving a briefing early Tuesday on the devastation Katrina unleashed, the president decided that he needed to be in Washington to personally oversee the federal effort, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Yup a natural disaster. Because it's not enough to have a mounting body count in Iraq. I'm guessing it's hard for a man who believe's he has the Almighty at his beck and call to ignore evidence of His wrath. I wonder if there's anyway we could use this to our advantage and convince him to end the war or face locusts next.

One Foot in the Grave

Sergeant Thomas J. Strickland was killed in Iraq on Aug. 15. He posted the following two days before he was killed:

The insurgency is on the rise in our area, with a most impressive coordinated assault on one of my sister FOBs (St. Joe) under their belt. ...

What the fuck has my chain of command been doing? We were winning somewhat when I left. And now we're being pinned down in our own fucking homes? Insurgents are pushing locals out of their homes and taking over my area at will? What kind of fucktarded plan have we been half-assedly executing? Obviously the kind that neglects sound contact with locals. Obviously the kind that gives further distance to unbridged gaps between soldiers and locals. Obviously the kind that has shown enough weakness when confronted by the insurgency that it has been encouraged to grow.

Back home (the USA kind) I have no home, no job, and my commander in chief is on vacation (he's about 20 days behind Ronald Reagan right now in the race to become the most vacationing president ever. Hey W! we all got our fingers crossed! Here's to you and two more years of presidency...er vacationing!). Luckily pretty much everything that is important to me can fit into the back of a truck. Luckily I just paid off one of those.

In their fear to build relationships and get out of their hiding holes the FOBbits above me have fucked my friends and I.
We've just completed the first 1/4 of our tour. we've sent 4 of 24 members of this platoon home with injuries.

Thankfully we're not like another who has sent 8 home in body bags...but we got 9 months to go.

Stay true lambs,
REV

This breaks my heart.
Thanks to Tim for the link.

Homeward Bound

It has very much been A Long Hot Summer, without the benifit of a shirtless Paul Newman on my balcony. Moving twice in three months takes a lot out of a person. Mix in trying to apartment hunt and job hunt together, add a dollop of financial aid panic, and voila. Mini nervous breakdown ensues. So in the interest of not blowing a gasket right at the start of my second year of grad school I am taking a mental health break and heading back to Chicago for a few days. The good news is that life seems to be finally winding down a bit and as of yesterday I am fully internet active thanks to a couple of maverick installation guys.

So I hope to be blogging more. Thanks to red rabbit and the professor for keeping up the place.