Hobo Jungle

[Tramp]

Jon, we're thinking about you.

[San Diegan]

I spoke with Jon's family this evening. With the exeception of some downed branches and only recently (hours) restored power and phone service, things are in reasonable shape. Jon is serving with the Guard on the coast and will be doing so for a tour of 7-10 days. There is other family in the immediate neighborhood, so those at home are not alone.

At this point, I acknowledge Jon for carrying out his service obligation, wish him safety and security in performing it, and hope for an early return to his loved ones.

San

[P&R Pete]

The worst in people, but the best in people.
I'm still riveted to the news coverage, and the mobilization of aid in every sense, and the efforts by people to help each other, in gestures both great and small.

I can't help but be drawn to the similarities with the tragedy in NYC. The very day after the planes brought down the trade centers, I had a pre-planned occasion to drive a friend into Yonkers, to retrieve his car that had been stolen and which had turned-up there in that borough. Driving east on Rt 80 in Pennsylvania, exactly 24 hours after the disaster, we passed a convoy of trucks and rescue vehicles, K-9 units and personnel, headed toward Manhatten. Amazingly, this convoy was from MICHIGAN, and they had organized, mobilized, and gotten that far, that incredible distance, in only 24 hours. I was stunned. And mightily impressed with those humanitarians.

We weren't allowed to go to Yonkers over the George Washington Bridge, for security reasons, as all those downtown approaches were closed to traffic, just as the airways had been cleared of all aircraft. We used the Tappan Zee Bridge to get into Yonkers, and recovered the car. On the way out of the city, we WERE allowed to use the George Washington, as the security concerns were for those heading in the other direction.
But another scene to thrill the broken heart, with the pall of smoke still rising and hanging over the whole lower half of the city- because for the entire length of the bridge, and for considerable distance beyond, was an absolutely solid line of dumptrucks and front-end loaders making their slow way into Manhatten and toward the scene of the devastation.

Jon, If you're well, I'm sure you're right in the middle of it all, with the same intent and purpose as those folks from Michigan. Stay safe, you hobo, and again, our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes. You make us all proud.

[Frank53]

Glad to hear Jon and family are all ok. And he's out doing noble work as well.

I have a friend in Gulfport, I can only hope she had teh good sense to get out before it hit.

[Tramp]

Peter, I didn't want to call too late. We just got finished with supper--corn left in the husk grilled over coals, chicken skewers marinated, dipped in peanut sauce, coal-roasted potatoes.

Feels odd to eat these lovely things when people in New Orleans are starving. I just want the shrub to be forced to stay there in the streets for a few weeks. But I doubt anything would wake him up. What will wake this country up before it's too late?

[P&R Pete]

Never in my lifetime have I seen a president so seriously out of touch with his country. It took him two days to cut short his vacation, and he was in the state NEXT DOOR. He couldn't do a fly-over that first day? Instead, the media gets a photo of him laughing and strumming a guitar in Crawford.
Four days later, he finally shows up, and gets his photo-op, (a picture of him hugging a black woman in Mississippi), and sound-bytes, (after he'd been nowhere to be found, his grandiloquent quote: "We're going to make it right").
He knew better than to show up at the SuperDome or the Convention Center. No photo-ops there.

He's certainly no Giuliani. Not by a country f-ing mile.

And for a person who claims to live his life by rich Christian principles, I call him bankrupt.

He'll never get it. But I think the country is getting it. His hoped-for Grand Legacy is heading in the tank. And Iraq ("Mission accomplished!") and a huge deficit will get dropped in his successor's lap.

[P&R Pete]

Hey, I finally found a black person willing to defend Bush's actions:

During a tour of damaged parts of her native Alabama, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended President Bush against charges that the government's sluggish response to Katrina showed racial insensitivity.

"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," the administration's highest-ranking black said.

[Frank in Steam]

Pete, Giuliani was able to exert leadership because he had a strong & competent set of department heads and their management subordinates in place w/ disaster plans in place eg. how to set up command posts quickly , alternate communication methods etc. New Orleans had 0 worst case disaster plans in place. It is my understanding that local officials (governors) have to request federal assistance before the feds can 'invade'. Also the feds had declared the Gulf coast a disaster area prior to the storm hitting, to shorten any required response time on their part. And that's probably the last time I will defend our Feds.

[Frank in Steam]

PS: Pete I know that your posts were your opinion, but I think that politicizing a natural disaster is an insult to the dead, homeless, responders and volunteers.

[Forum Moderator]

Guys:

Opinions, facts or whatever, let’s not fall into a trap and begin to politicize any events around Hurricane Katrina. Let's talk trains.

Thanks for your understanding.
Bill

[Tramp]

Pete, thanks for speaking out.

[P&R Pete]

Out of the utmost respect for our moderator Bill, I'll reluctantly shelve my several paragraphs of response.

[Forum Moderator]

Thanks Pete!
Let's keep things on topic...at least close to on topic, and leave the politics to some other forum.
Bill

[P&R Pete]

Frank in Steam, no hard feelings.

Meanwhile, I'd like to get this back on Jungle-topic, and say this about the redhead:

[P&R Pete]

She blinded me with science.