The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Friday, September 09, 2005
One Nation, One Family
In a private act of mercy, former Vice-President Al Gore evacuated 270 Hurricane Katrina survivors. Chartering two airplanes, Gore moved 140 people, many sick, to Knoxville, TN on Sept 3rd and another 130 people to Chattanooga, TN on Sept 4th.
Mr. Gore became involved when Dr. Anderson Spickard, Gore's personal physician, contacted him for help in cutting through government red tape. Dr Spickard told an AP reporter, "Gore told me he wanted to do this because, like all of us, he wanted to seize the opportunity to do what one guy can do, given the assets that he has."
Gore ponied-up $50,000 for each of the two flights. Later, the founder of California Pizza Kitchens, Larry Flax, pledged to underwrite one of those flights. Greg Simon, president of the Washington-based activist group FasterCures wrote an account of the story that was posted on a Democratic Party web page. Simon wrote, "None of the airlines [American Airlines] involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews ... One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."
Col. Dar LaFon (Ret), Gore's cousin, was also recruited. At one time, LaFon was head of the military hospital in Baghdad. He is an Internal Medicine specialist and accompanied the evacuees to their destinations along with Spickard and Gore.
Vice-President Gore's act of private charity, caring, and giving exemplifies the very heart of America. He acted because he was dissatisfied with the speed and quality of the government's response to the hurricane damage in the Gulf Coast region. The spirit of American giving was at one time the norm, but beginning with the FDR Administration, the Federal government began taking on more of the charity work private relief organizations once performed. With the increased government involvement, the quality of the relief has declined, the speed of the response has been extended beyond reason, and the red tape has increased exponentially.
Organizations like the Red Cross were, in years past, the first source of aid and were on scene within hours of any disaster because the volunteers lived in the stricken area. People took care of their own. In the ensuing days, State and Federal aid was forthcoming after the damage was assessed, helping with the clean up, rebuilding, and offering low interest loans.
Today, government is expected to be the rescuer of first resort. Large amounts of free cash is thought to be a right that government (the taxpayers) owes the victims, as if government caused the hurricane, flood, earthquake, fire, landslide, as if there were a conciousness of purpose behind the act of destruction. The government is now held responsible for all Acts of God because now, without God, we have no one else to blame but the government. We could blame ourselves, but heaven forbid we actually take personal responsibility as that might harm our precious self-esteem.
We should all applaud the charitable actions of our fellow citizens no matter what political party they have chosen. Al Gore's generosity is in the finest traditions of America and her people. Ironically, his act of personal responsibility and personal charity to his fellows demonstrates the core values the Republican Party espouses rather than the failed collectivist charity of the Democratic Party Village.
Thank you, Mr. Vice-President. Now perhaps we can begin the hard work of dismantling the nanny state that has proven once again to be unequal to the requirements of disasters and the needs of real human beings, returning to the people the helping responsibility to whom it belongs.
As I write, Shelter from the Storm - A Concert for the Gulf Coast is being broadcast from coast to coast and across the entire planet to raise money to help those in need and to rebuild the cities and towns of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. All of the performers are donating their time, performances, and talent in personal acts of charity. Because we are compassionate souls we will get through this tragedy as one nation, as one family.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
Mr. Gore became involved when Dr. Anderson Spickard, Gore's personal physician, contacted him for help in cutting through government red tape. Dr Spickard told an AP reporter, "Gore told me he wanted to do this because, like all of us, he wanted to seize the opportunity to do what one guy can do, given the assets that he has."
Gore ponied-up $50,000 for each of the two flights. Later, the founder of California Pizza Kitchens, Larry Flax, pledged to underwrite one of those flights. Greg Simon, president of the Washington-based activist group FasterCures wrote an account of the story that was posted on a Democratic Party web page. Simon wrote, "None of the airlines [American Airlines] involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews ... One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."
Col. Dar LaFon (Ret), Gore's cousin, was also recruited. At one time, LaFon was head of the military hospital in Baghdad. He is an Internal Medicine specialist and accompanied the evacuees to their destinations along with Spickard and Gore.
Vice-President Gore's act of private charity, caring, and giving exemplifies the very heart of America. He acted because he was dissatisfied with the speed and quality of the government's response to the hurricane damage in the Gulf Coast region. The spirit of American giving was at one time the norm, but beginning with the FDR Administration, the Federal government began taking on more of the charity work private relief organizations once performed. With the increased government involvement, the quality of the relief has declined, the speed of the response has been extended beyond reason, and the red tape has increased exponentially.
Organizations like the Red Cross were, in years past, the first source of aid and were on scene within hours of any disaster because the volunteers lived in the stricken area. People took care of their own. In the ensuing days, State and Federal aid was forthcoming after the damage was assessed, helping with the clean up, rebuilding, and offering low interest loans.
Today, government is expected to be the rescuer of first resort. Large amounts of free cash is thought to be a right that government (the taxpayers) owes the victims, as if government caused the hurricane, flood, earthquake, fire, landslide, as if there were a conciousness of purpose behind the act of destruction. The government is now held responsible for all Acts of God because now, without God, we have no one else to blame but the government. We could blame ourselves, but heaven forbid we actually take personal responsibility as that might harm our precious self-esteem.
We should all applaud the charitable actions of our fellow citizens no matter what political party they have chosen. Al Gore's generosity is in the finest traditions of America and her people. Ironically, his act of personal responsibility and personal charity to his fellows demonstrates the core values the Republican Party espouses rather than the failed collectivist charity of the Democratic Party Village.
Thank you, Mr. Vice-President. Now perhaps we can begin the hard work of dismantling the nanny state that has proven once again to be unequal to the requirements of disasters and the needs of real human beings, returning to the people the helping responsibility to whom it belongs.
As I write, Shelter from the Storm - A Concert for the Gulf Coast is being broadcast from coast to coast and across the entire planet to raise money to help those in need and to rebuild the cities and towns of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. All of the performers are donating their time, performances, and talent in personal acts of charity. Because we are compassionate souls we will get through this tragedy as one nation, as one family.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
September 9, 1776
The United Colonies of America, by order of the Continental Congress assembled, September 9, 1776, would be known henceforth as
The United States of America.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Gilligan!
Bob Denver died September 2, 2005 .
For only three television seasons, Denver played the ever innocent, bumbling, well-meaning, kind hearted everyman Gilligan on "Gilligan's Island, but it seems so much longer.
Through the miracle of modern technology, 'Little Buddy' will be with us for a lot longer. Somewhere on this earth, Skipper is yelling, "Gilligan!"
Let's all sing.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
Monday, September 05, 2005
City Hall says: You're on your own
New Orleans Times-Picayune July 24, 2005:
After having run a mock killer storm emergency drill in New Orleans last year involving 250 emergency personnel and costing $250,000, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had planned to address the unresolved problems of evacuating the sick and injured from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens. However, " funding for that planning was cut," said the disaster chief for North Carolina.
FEMA knew about the plan and its deficiencies, but it did know that Mayor Nagin had no intention of doing something about it on his own? Probably not. Sure the budget was cut; does that mean the Mayor could not have picked up a pencil and pad of paper and written a plan and passed it around to his people in city government just in case something happened before the planned meeting to fix the problems? Absolutely not.
The city transportation buses that could have been used to get the poor to higher ground outside of the city were used to take them as far as the Superdome. All the while Mayor Nagin acknowledged the conditions at the Superdome would deteriorate. New Orleans also has a train system that could have been utilized, but wasn't. The hundreds of school busses that ferry thousands of school children to school and home again were left to the rising water - unused while potentially thousands of poor people - black and white - died.
It seems that in the city of New Orleans the bigotry was not racial, but economic. Poor folk cost too much to save.
Sources:
attytood
RawStory
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
"City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans' poor a historically blunt message: In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own.
"Their message will be distributed on hundreds of DVDs across the city. The DVDs' basic get-out-of-town message applies to all audiences, but it is especially targeted to scores of churches and other groups heavily concentrated in Central City and other vulnerable, low-income neighborhoods, " said the Rev. Marshall Truehill, head of Total Community Action.
"The primary message is that each person is primarily responsible for themselves, for their own family and friends," Truehill said.
"In addition to the plea from Nagin, Thomas and Wilkins, video exhortations to make evacuation plans come from representatives of State Police and the National Weather Service, and from local officials such as Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, and State Rep. Arthur Morrell, D-New Orleans, said Allan Katz, whose advertising company is coordinating officials' scripts and doing the recording.
"The speakers explain what to bring and what to leave behind. They advise viewers to bring personal medicines and critical legal documents, and tell them how to create a family communication plan. Even a representative of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals weighs in with a message on how to make the best arrangements for pets left behind. "
After having run a mock killer storm emergency drill in New Orleans last year involving 250 emergency personnel and costing $250,000, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had planned to address the unresolved problems of evacuating the sick and injured from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens. However, " funding for that planning was cut," said the disaster chief for North Carolina.
FEMA knew about the plan and its deficiencies, but it did know that Mayor Nagin had no intention of doing something about it on his own? Probably not. Sure the budget was cut; does that mean the Mayor could not have picked up a pencil and pad of paper and written a plan and passed it around to his people in city government just in case something happened before the planned meeting to fix the problems? Absolutely not.
The city transportation buses that could have been used to get the poor to higher ground outside of the city were used to take them as far as the Superdome. All the while Mayor Nagin acknowledged the conditions at the Superdome would deteriorate. New Orleans also has a train system that could have been utilized, but wasn't. The hundreds of school busses that ferry thousands of school children to school and home again were left to the rising water - unused while potentially thousands of poor people - black and white - died.
It seems that in the city of New Orleans the bigotry was not racial, but economic. Poor folk cost too much to save.
Sources:
attytood
RawStory
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Thanks to the Nations
To the Nations that have already pledged, contributed, or delivered aid to the devastated US Gulf region - Thank You.
To the Nations that will make donations in the coming days and months I thank you in advance.
I, also, extend my gratitude to all the individual citizens from the many and various Nations of Earth who have donated beyond the contributions of their collective State. Thank You. Thank you all so very much.
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Austria
- Australia
- Azerbijian
- Bahamas
- Belgium
- Britain
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Cuba
- The Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominica
- The Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Georgia
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Israel
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- The Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- The Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Slovak Republic
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- South Korea
- Sri Lanka
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Venezuela
- United Arab Emerates
Finally, my sincerest gratitude goes out to those Nations in the direst of need themselves that have given or pledged aid to the US disaster relief effort. Your selfless contributions are most gracious and kind. My countrymen and I are humbled by your generosity. Thank you.
If any good can come out of catastrophes such as the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, it is the knowledge that we all live together on this big blue marble we call Earth. Each of us need each other and none of us are alone. What comes out of these disasters is up to us.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.
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