The Story of the Hurricane

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a 10-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That’s the story of the hurricane...
-Bob Dylan

Obviously Bob was talking about a different "Hurricane," and a different brand of injustice, but I haven't been able to get it out of my mind all week.

The programmer I share an office with is married to a woman from New Orleans. Let's just say his in-laws (parents as well as an aunt, no less) are with him for an extended stay. And his wife is pregnant, so she's freaking out just a little bit anyway. I thought this sounded like as close to Hell On Earth as I'd personally want to get, until I started reading The Interdictor.

I've heard downtown New Orleans compared to Baghdad, but to me it sounds more like Escape From New York. This post in particular makes me think that someone had better contact Snake Plissken to go in after Fats Domino. A brief quote from a phone interview The Interdictor had with "Bigfoot", a bar owner and DJ from New Orleans:

Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.

The next time the US government says they're sending aid to some foreign country during a time of crisis, remember this bit:

For three days, [Army Corps of Engineers] officials had lamented the difficulty of gaining access to the canal, but yesterday a local contractor, Boh Bros. Construction Co., apparently drove to the mouth of the canal and started placing a set of steel sheet pilings to isolate the canal from the lake. This job was finished yesterday afternoon.

And remember Boh Bros. next time you have some construction you need done in Louisiana. Talk about great marketing... "Boh Bros. Construction: We Saved The City. No, Really."

So yeah... what a mess. In the What-Can-Ya-Do department... well, not much. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to drive down and get all Mad Max on the bad guys' asses. But I guess if N'awlins can take this kind of hit, my bankroll can as well. PokerStars is running a 20% bonus ($120 max) through Sept 8, and four charity tournments with buy-ins of $5, $20, $50, and $100 September 12-16. The origin story is over on Wil Wheaton's blog, and Otis will keep you up to date on the PokerStars blog. PokerStars is matching all contributions, so if you're not playing poker online (or there) currently, this might be a good excuse to start. They're definitely one of the best sites around, and I got my start playing the .05/.10 limit hold'em games there. I just caught word from Bill Rini's blog that FullTilt will be doing a similar tournament tonight, so if you're in a hurry to donate you can hit that one as well.

And if poker isn't your thing, a group of FOAF's that call themselves The Zombie Squad are pulling together their own donation. No corporate matching here, but their site lists some good answers to the question "Why should I donate through ZS?":

• Pooling our donations together will hopefully allow us to give a larger gift as a group than we would as individuals.


• If you donate $15 or more we will send you a cool gift to show our appreciation. We're mailing out a special edition black military style Dog Tags with a ZS logo on one side and "Zombie Squad Relief Drive - Hurricane Katrina 2005" on the back.


• You will get your name (or whatever name you choose) listed on this website as a donor to this fundraiser.


• If you are on our disaster preparation forum you will get an image under your name showing that you are a donor.


• You will get 50% off Zombie Con 2006 if you donate $100.00 or more.


• We have ZERO adminstrative costs for this fund drive unlike a lot of fundraising organizations out there. Every cent we raise here will go directly to relief charities. All of our staff are volunteers.

And the most important reason:

• We hate zombies.

Guess that's about it for now. Hmm... three entries in three days. Soon, people may think I actually write a blog or something.

posted by Captain Freeman @ 10:33 AM