Hurricane Katrina: America Is The Shelter From The Storm

Reports are bleak and a certain panic has set in - that's to be expected. Everything from the price of fuel to rampant looting and growing damage and loss of life accompanied by a long road to recovery with concerns for health issues and stresses on our National Guard are making their way into the coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

That's to be expected - it is the nature of the news. But it is not the nature of America.

From a turbulent founding, through a destructive civil war, on up through two World Wars and any number of International, as well as National conflicts and calamities - America has always and will always show her true heart, strength and compassion.

Just as she rose most recently from the ashes of 9/11 to take a commanding role within the world through the Global War on Terror - she will now care for, protect and mend her own ... She always has.

As is so often true of the individual and has always been true for America and Americans in general, it is always the worst of times that bring out our best. Not once in our history have the forces of light failed to outshine any force of darkness - and it will be no different this time. We, as Americans, must take heart in that and know its simple truth.

Sometimes disparaged for her arrogance, even sometimes rightfully so, perhaps - She has never failed to light the light of, not only freedom, but comfort from the storm for so many around the world over so many bleak tragedies, they are too many to number or fully recall. And She has always been capable of looking inward when needed to provide the same relief and solace for her own - time after time after time.

That will be the end of this, it is already assured. Yes, doubt, confusion, fear and a certain skepticism will undoubtedly surface along the way ... so, let it be. But let America simply be herself and she'll reach down and find whatever it is that's needed and also provide as much as She can of what is wanted - and in the end, lightness will prevail.

It's been that way for two-hundred and twenty-nine years - it will be that way now. Take stock, dig deep - whether with your hands, your money, or simply your hope - for we are Americans. As overly-bold as it may seem to say to some, or as premature to others, and albeit not immediately comforting to the many now suffering ... in the end, simply being ourselves will be enough.

It always has been. It always will be. Let the naysayers stand aside and watch ... and we will get it done. God Bless America.

   

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Comments

[usmcmom]

CancunGirl,
Call the local radio station, I heard on Fox some folks did that and were getting help that way.

[!]

THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH ! ~YOU ARE A DECENT AND MORAL MAN~

WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS.

UNITED WE STAND~ DIVIDED WE FALL !

Great job dan. !! Keep up the good work.!!

[anchor]

CG - I'm so sorry. Does she have medical needs? If so, contact your state senator immediately for assistance and/or resources.

I would also like to let the victims of Katrina know that many members in my community are willing to "adopt a family" until it is safe for you to return home. Private rooms, health care available, public education for your children in uncrowded schools, personal items provided, etc. Healthy, happy homes to ensure yours and your children's emotional and physical health.
There is nothing more we would like to do, than to help. It's the American way.
Information regarding this goal, would be greatly appreciated.
Dan Riehl knows how to contact me for those seeking assistance.

[ellewoods]

Betsi and all-
I have heard for years that the reason the Red Cross et all requests money is that it costs more for them to organize material donations (ie clothes) and to transport them then to provide food/water etc. I have heard in the past that the best places to take such items are churches that are collecting.

Hope this helps!

[DeeDee]

The Salvation Army helps locate the lost:

http://www.tsasw.org/qso/healthandwelfare.asp

ham radio network I think

Betsi, I think the local churches would be thrilled with your donations. I know of one big church in Gonzales, La, not too far from shelters called Household of Faith. They do a lot of local missions work. I bet they could help you out.

[MySearcher]

Last month when the hurricane victoria move close to Aruba you guys ask to god if it can sweep Aruba aruba from the map. And now look what happend. May good bless America.
Posted by: Pearl | Aug 31, 2005 5:43:33 PM
"you guys" did no such thing. Ignore the vicious hardhearted sorts, they've their own misery to bear.
ACTUALLY, I did read people making remarks like that + terrible terrible other remarks fit for the trash can.
Grannytoad, I wll not stick up for the people that made those cruel remarks. They know who they are.
We are all her to help with finding Natalle, and so many got out of hand with their nasty remarks.
What happens in this case is still very important!

[betsi]

Thank you Everyone for the information and advise.

[CancunGirl]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Mark, my aunt does have a little money but she is stubborn and would NOT evacuate with everyone. She has no family in NO, she's from Guatemala as I am.

I was able to get in touch with the police for a second time today. They took all her info and put her back in the system. They told me that they are going street by street and may have gone by there already and it seems it's getting harder to go through.

Bless her heart, she's under the impression that someone could just take her to an airport so she could fly to Guatemala and be the family. She has NO idea what is happening around her.

Thanks guys!

[*flo*]

Posted by: want to help | Aug 31, 2005 3:09:40 PM

Posted by: betsi | Aug 31, 2005 4:13:10 PM

Posted by: anchor | Aug 31, 2005 5:32:59 PM

Until Dan can update on temporary lodging offers, this is the only link here providing several organiztions:

http://instapundit.com/index.php

[usmcmom]

Bless her heart, she's under the impression that someone could just take her to an airport so she could fly to Guatemala and be the family. She has NO idea what is happening around her.

Thanks guys!

Posted by: CancunGirl | Aug 31, 2005 6:32:23 PM

Make sure you let us know her status. I pray that she gets rescued soon.

[CancunGirl]

usmcmom:
Thank you for your prayers. We need it right now. I will post as soon as she gets rescued. Thanks again.

[usmcmom]

CancunGirl,
One more thing, my daughter told me to tell you (she works for Rite-Aid) have your aunt to put any prescriptions she has in a baggie and take with her. That way the Red Cross/out-state pharmacies can go online and look up all her info.

[stellartrack]

Why the flags, Dan? What does this have to do with patriotism? Why politicize this when people of all ilks are rallying to help those in need.

Posted by: Glenn | Aug 31, 2005 3:28:22 PM

The last time I looked everyone that is coming forth ot help live in the good ole US of A. The flag is a symbol. Quit trying to turn this into a politcal debacle.

You nauseate me with your bringing up the political aspect of someone wanting to post a flag, on his OWN blog no less.

You sound like Robert Kennedy Jr, who is now blaming the hurricane itself on Bush.

This isn't about YOU, or what you want others to do, it is about the helping our fellow man.

stellartrack

[stellartrack]

well at least hurricane k. knocked natalee holloway off the news, THANK GOD, no more sniveling beth, jug, ect, and lets not forget the people living on the overpasses in new orleans with no shelter, water, ect are not being helped becayse BUSH sent 50% of the national guard to iraq, where they remain, while the poor people die of thrist and dirty water in new orleans, FOX news is already spinning the disaster and blaming it, on the people themselves for living below sea level.

Posted by: fran | Aug 31, 2005 6:09:44 PM

Is someone forcing you to read this website?

You might want to call the police and tell them you have been held hostage and are being forced to read a blog site about a subject you don't want to read about anymore. I am sure they will rescue you.

I bet Dan will even help out and ban you if you wish, so you do not have to read the blogs he posts!

C'mon Dan, step up to the plate and help this poor soul so she won't have to worry about posting or reading your blog anymore.

[Alee]

In Jackson the power came on in the colisium today.. HOORAY!! Last night they were almost out of food and water. The news media announced they needed help. We took things down there this morning and you would not believe how people have responded. Pallets everywhere stacked up with water.. food, clothes, toys, blankets, toiletries. I believe they are going to use the colisium as a drop off site to supply the many shelters around. NO ONE is going to go hungry!

We saw power trucks from all across the country. National guard convoys headed to the coast and New Orleans.

I don't think this has been mentioned here but even if it has it won't hurt to say it again.
Call the MS Emergency Management Service @ 601-352-9100 if you can not locate a loved one. They will ask for the person's name and home address and when they are located you will be contacted.

[ustt]

Unbelievable. I have heard what Shep Smith has said today.......for 2 days on the overpass he's been on.....there has not been one Red Cross truck for water or supplies....and yet people are being just dumped off at the overpass and left with no directions.

Now I'm hearing on CNN people are walking aimlessly with no instructions on where to go or what to do.

Last night I listened to a security guard who was still at a nursing home and happened to have a generator and was able to watch TV - and he said he is really angry at the leaders of New Orleans because they aren't giving out any directions on how to be rescured even if you DID have a radio (which most the batteries have run down).

the are putting people from the Dome there in NO and telling they they are going "west" - not even telling them they are going to the AstroDome!

I wonder have we gotten so unbelievably reliant on phones, text messaging, TV, radio.

that we can't remember how to MAKE A SIGN?

I mean put some big paper signs up on sides of building with some clue as to where to go and what to do!

I will send them all my red lipstick and freezer wrapping paper and duct tape, hammer, nails, stapler........and put up some darn signs and let people know what is going on.

Unbelievable.

I loved what ANDREA said tonight - she said she couldn't believe Congress couldn't bring themselves back in from their vacation or summer break or whatever they want to call it (that's just how she put it)....to address this. Instead they are going to come back "next week" to help where they can! She herself that was even unbelievable

DID YOU KNOW LOUISIANA DOES NOT HAVE MARSHALL LAW CAPABILITIES?

I heard one rescurer who had gone into a house to see if anyone was still in there.......was confronted with looters stepping over the dead bodies of the owners of the house......the rescurer said "I'd like to just shoot them point blank, put a toe ID on theme saying "LOOTER" and just go on!

[*flo*]

people are walking aimlessly with no instructions on where to go or what to do.

Congress couldn't bring themselves back in from their vacation or summer break or whatever

Posted by: ustt | Aug 31, 2005 8:12:40 PM

call it RECESS...no ustt, its not unbelievable

[ellewoods]

Most of the Congressmen/Senators from the southern states were right here in there states trying to help with the situation. They, too , have suffered losses to their homes and many are without power. I think they are better serving their constituents by being on the frontline. It has not been recess for them.

[ustt]

flo the real point i was trying to make in my post was really this:

CAN'T SOMEBODY WHO IS IN SOME WAY IN CHARGE........WRITE ON LARGE PAPER.....PUT IT ON SIDES OF BUILDINGS..... THAT WILL GIVE THESE PEOPLE SOME CLUES AS TO WHERE TO GO FOR WATER? UPDATES? ANYTHING?

IT'S BASIC......IT'S SIMPLE.....WE HAVE BEEN USING THAT METHOD OF COMMUNICATION SINCE CAVE MAN DAYS FOR GOODNESS SAKES....

IS THAT TOO DIFFICULT FOR THESE HIGHLY PAID CITY LEADERS TO DO?

IT APPEARS TO ME THAT IF THAT CANNOT BE DONE......THEN THERE TRULY IS NOBODY IN CHARGE.....RIGHT?

[ustt]

Most of the Congressmen/Senators from the southern states were right here in there states trying to help with the situation. They, too , have suffered losses to their homes and many are without power. I think they are better serving their constituents by being on the frontline. It has not been recess for them.

Posted by: ellewoods | Aug 31, 2005 9:08:59 PM

___________

I know Trent Lott lost his home. I know all that.

But it does not come across that the leaders of our country are taking this thing seriously at all. When the President "cuts short his vacation by a few days".......huh? and the congress can't get back to town because they are on recess and see about this "problem" NEXT WEEK.

WELL, I'll have to tell you, I am underwhelmed with what I'm seeing.

And I literally had to turn off the news when I head that 2 UTTERLY USELESS WORDS come out of Bush's mouth.......TASK FORCE.

We used to throw up our hands at the State when our directors would offer WE WILL SET UP A TASK FORCE.....as a solution to anything. That meant, "we are going to put another level of bureauracy between US AND THEM". And that's about all it meant. "if in doubt, set up a task force"

It wasn't hard to see the immensity of the devastation as reporters showed it on Monday and Tues.

This is Wed night sports fans. The president just finally decided to fly over it in AF One with do a little "fist clinch" for his photoop....and i'm sorry, but watching him disembark off that helicopter with A DOG IN TOW, is just not the picture I wanted to look at!

[!]

I found this article on the net. A good read.

THE REAL TRUTH

SPECIAL ANALYSIS

! - post a link - that's way too much for here.

[clintcarter]

USMCMom: My post about the flag perhaps Not blowing in the wind was some weak humor about WIND, OK?
You know, as in hurricane?

And my post about everything being politics did not mean just Federal politics. State and local issues are politics, too.
Personal responsibility or not, the ability of govts. to respond is politics, is it not?

There are degrees to most issues, yes? Shades of gray that make reality. I do not live in a black & white world. I do not expect the President or any official to work miracles. My stance on the waste that is the Iraq war is well known. Can you say that our presence there does not greatly affect our ability to respond to this crisis?
As such, That is my point whether you agree with it or not.

??It is the President's job to protect the country from 'outside forces' and the State's job to take care of the people??
Gotta think about that.

[clintcarter]

DennisAOK and Cindi, stop referring to me unless you wish to address me.
You know that I will respond to all issues I'm asked about as best I can and will contribute to this blog as best I can.

Are people either Liberal or Conservative and never the two shall meet? How convenient for easy thinking.

But the petty sniping? I ask you respectfully to chill.

[Alee]

Just so you all know. The president was in New Orleans and Mississippi today. Feel better now?

[stellartrack]

Just so you all know. The president was in New Orleans and Mississippi today. Feel better now?

Posted by: Alee | Sep 1, 2005 12:02:52 AM

Alee, That is not good enough for some it seems. I guess he was suppose to be there when they announced it was going to hit land. They fail to mention that the senators are going to "wait" and "help" when they get back from their "recess" next week.

Robert Kennedy Jr is now blaming the event of the hurricane on Bush and the Governor of LA now as well.

I suppose the next thing we will hear is from Teresa Heinz to again say let the children in LA, MS, and AL to go naked as she did when the hurricane occurred in FL last year.

[Alee]

Guess you're right stellartrack. No matter what happens it seems some people believe it is always the government's fault. I have news for them... Mother Nature doesn't care who is President of the United States when she decides to pay a visit.

[Alee]

Posted by: Carol | Aug 31, 2005 2:48:51 PM

Carol, thanks so much for the information. We have been trying to get through to Mandeville since the storm hit and so far haven't had any luck. If anyone has any more information on that area please post.

Jenelle, Joni, Terry and Perry.. call your relatives in Jackson or Lafayette.

[bethany]

Now, Fidel Castro is no angel. He's like all the rest of the politicos. BUT when the cat. 4 hurricane swept through the western third of Cuba last year, he had already sent caravans of military trucks through the countryside and evacuated ALL of the people. No one was killed in spite of the total devastation of the countryside there. Here, the governments of LA, MS and AL tell the citizens they have a mandatory evacuation and then 20% of the New Orleans folks are still there when Katrina strikes. Many didn't have money for a bus ticket. A bus ticket shouldn't have been needed. The 500 buses sitting there trying to remove victims from the downtown dome at this moment should have been used BEFORE THE STORM to help ALL people get completely out of New Orleans. Have any of you noticed what color most of those rooftop folks are? AND Why would anyone bother to steal a tv or a computer in the middle of a flooded city that has no, and obviously won't have any, electricity unless that person is someone who is totally fed up with always having watched from the outside as the "haves" proceeded gaily on with their lives while s(he) struggled daily for years BEFORE the storm? Look at the face of poverty.
As for the aftermath of the storm, we now have at least a million American refugees in our country. Looking at the damage in New Orleans, it is hard to believe it will ever be (or should ever be) rebuilt. What can we do as fellow Americans in organized ways to help these new refugees find new livings in our society and how quickly can it be done? After Hurricane Floyd in North Carolina in 1999 or 2000 (?), many promises were made to those folks. Years later, they still struggle mostly on their own.

[jawpopper]

Are they screening who goes into the Astrodome? I foresee thousands and thousands illegals in Texas getting free care and aid under the guise as being from LA.

[DennisAOK]

clintcarter,

I did address you specificly in an earlier post. I'm very chilly. I just disagree with you on a few issues.

coconuttree,

Those who perpetrated the Enron fraud have been prosecuted. So should looters. BTW, Enron is a good example of why people whould be allowed to control their own retirement through expanded IRA's and private Social Security accounts, and not have to rely on their employers and the government.

[DennisAOK]

AND Why would anyone bother to steal a tv or a computer in the middle of a flooded city that has no, and obviously won't have any, electricity unless that person is someone who is totally fed up with always having watched from the outside as the "haves" proceeded gaily on with their lives while s(he) struggled daily for years BEFORE the storm?

Posted by: bethany | Sep 1, 2005 2:19:21 AM

Maybe they are not particularly bright, which is why they chose to ignore the warnings to leave the city in the first place. And is it okay to steal if you feel you have been left behind in society?

[clintcarter]

Jawpopper: Are they SCREENING who gets into the Astrodome? Free Care and Aid?

Have you lost electricity for your widescreen?

[bethany]

Dennisaok: No, I didn't imply that it is okay to steal if you feel you have been left behind in society. You miss the point. You fail to understand how the thinking of a person changes when under abject poverty for a long time. And your comment, "maybe they aren't particularly bright..." Not everyone is as gifted as "we" are in terms of opportunity, education, god-given brains, experiences, access, etc. Until you have worked down in the streets and seen and felt the heart of the people, I guess you can't be expected to really understand but the least you can do is to have some compassion for them and for the 100,000 people that were still trapped in New Orleans come Tuesday morning and not lump them all together into your stereotype of the bad guys. I can't believe the amount of sarcasm and hatred toward people of little means that runs through the blogs in this Riehl column (less in this thread than in others). Come on folks, have a little heart for your fellow citizens regardless of their place in society. The small bad element of looters has the run of everyone's minds but the bigger picture is much more important. How about helping me answer the question of how we might help the 1 million + Americans who are now refugees in their own country?

[want to help]

I posted yesterday about how I could offer a place for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
I received excellent help and advice from this blog.
Thank you.
If you know anybody who would benefit from my offer please pass the word along.
http://neworleans.craigslist.org/roo/94787649.html